Since the 1990s I have been very involved with fighting the military "don't ask don't tell" policy for gays in the military, and with First Amendment issues. Best contact is 571-334-6107 (legitimate calls; messages can be left; if not picked up retry; I don't answer when driving) Three other url's: doaskdotell.com, billboushka.com johnwboushka.com Links to my URLs are provided for legitimate content and user navigation purposes only.
My legal name is "John William Boushka" or "John W. Boushka"; my parents gave me the nickname of "Bill" based on my middle name, and this is how I am generally greeted. This is also the name for my book authorship. On the Web, you can find me as both "Bill Boushka" and "John W. Boushka"; this has been the case since the late 1990s. Sometimes I can be located as "John Boushka" without the "W." That's the identity my parents dealt me in 1943!
A Facebook friend shared a performance of John Rutter's Psalm 150.
The 8-minute composition seems to be in the unusual key of F# Major. It is performed by the St. Paul Cathedral Choir in London. The music is somewhat modal at times, and is suggestive particularly of Ralph Vaughn Williams.
I presented Bruckner's treatment of the Psalm here Jan. 25, 2014.
Monday Night, WETAFM broadcast a March 22 concert from the
National Gallery of Art, “Three By Three: The Music of Amy Beach”. The cellist was Rachel Young, with Alexandra
Osborne, violin and Lisa Emenheiser, piano (older writeup).
The program started with the Five Pieces for Cello and
Piano, which are “La Captive”. “Berceuse”, “Dreaming”, “Pastorale”, and “Mazurka”. On YouTube, I-Hsuan-Hsieh plays them.
Then they played the massive Violin Sonata in A Minor, Op.
34, in four movements, composed in 1896. The style is Brahmsian, and wants to
be a full violin concerto. The work runs
33 minutes, with four movements. The
Largo, in the dominant E Minor, is the third movement, and is a massive
post-romantic slow movement. The Finale has an intricate fugue before a
triumphant conclusion on the tonic A Major.
The YouTube video above was filmed at Indiana University in
Bloomington with Justin Bird, piano; the violinist is not identified.
The concert also played the Piano Trio, but that was
reviewed here May 23, 2016.
On Sunday, August 13, 2017 the First Baptist Church of the
City of Washington DC performed an anthem by Ludwig van Beethoven, “The Heavens
Are Declaring”, in C Major, with Lon Schreiber
directing the Chancel Choir and soloists Kelly Curtin and Aurelio Dominguez.
I cannot find an opus number for the work or any indication
that it is extracted from a larger choral work. The most definitive reference ishere.
Later Schreiber played an independent Scherzo by Beethoven,
not obviously extracted from any larger work (Sonata or Symphony), no opus
number.
But both pieces are familiar to my ear, even since boyhood.
By comparison, Haydn's "The Heavens Are Telling" does come "The Creation".
The First Baptist Church has been offering breakfast Sunday
mornings in August for the “Faith in Action” series of common Sunday school
lessons. The teacher had been to
Charlottesville Saturday.
Vox Media and Ezra Klein posted a 6-minute video explaining
the compositional techniques of Hanz Zimmer in some of his scores, especially
the recent film Dunkirk, here.
The video explains some compositional techniques like the
Shepherd’s Tone.
These are probably used by other younger modern
composers. I sent the link along to the
Metropolis Ensemble in New York City.
The music is particularly interesting in Christopher Nolan’s
films, which often deal with ambiguities in time and reality layer.
Here is Sebastian Letocart’s Prelude and Fugue in G Major
for Organ, played by Edward Vanmarsenille at the Bruckner Organ of
Saint Florian in Austria.
The embedded video is a recent 2017 recording. There is an older 2011 recording. The Prelude has a fast section, and the Fugue
starts at about the 4 minute mark. The
Belgian composer has said that in some of his music he was influenced by Vaughn
Williams (sort of the world of the Fourth Symphony), but there is a density
here that suggests Reger and also shows the composer’s (he calls himself “Tracotel”
on Facebook) work with Bruckner.
Sebastian has some YouTube postings of some other Bruckner
symphonies with “appropriate tempi”.
Here is the Fifth, taken a bit faster, with some new inner voices at the
very end.
Here is Letocart'sFugue in 5/4 Time for solo piano, in C Major. It sounds like a take-off on Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier. He now calls himself "Abes Tracotel" on Facebook.
