French Quarter, Bourbon Street, New Orleans. 1998. By Paul Goldfinger.
LOUIS ARMSTRONG:
Archive for the ‘Music: The Power to Enchant’ Category
Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans?
Posted in Music: The Power to Enchant, tagged Photo: Bourbon Street on October 8, 2024| 1 Comment »
9-11 Memories. Ocean Grove, New Jersey
Posted in Music: The Power to Enchant, Ocean Grove events, tagged 9-11 service in Ocean Grove, John Rutter orchestral piece on September 11, 2024|
Auditorium Park. September 9, 2011. By Barbara Brennan (OG photographer). Click for large view.
JOHN RUTTER. Orchestral Collection: “Distant Lands.”
Fire Fighters #2 by Blogfinger photographer Michael Goldfinger
Posted in Classical Music on Blogfinger, Music from the movies, Music: The Power to Enchant, Photography by Moe Demby, tagged A tribute to fire fighters, Music from Lorenzo's Oil on August 6, 2024|
By Michael Goldfinger, Blogfinger staff. Embedded with the Asbury Park Fire Dept. © Click on photo to enlarge. Undated
YO-YO MA AND FRIENDS. “Dona Nobis Pacem”
Eileen: A Portrait
Posted in Music: The Power to Enchant, Photographic Gallery, Black and White, Portraits of Eileen, tagged A portrait of Eileen on June 15, 2024|
All the things you are…
Posted in Music from the Broadway stage., Music from the movies, Music: The Power to Enchant, Photography by Paul Goldfinger, Photos: New York City street series, tagged TONY BENNETT ON BLOGFINGER on June 6, 2024|
Central Park. Summer, 2014. By Paul Goldfinger © Click once to enlarge
TONY BENNETT: (Music by Jerome Kern; Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein III. 1939 for Broadway and the movies)
Yo-Yo Ma explains how he thinks about his music. (New York Times interview)
Posted in Blogfinger News, Music: The Power to Enchant, tagged Goat Rodeo Sessions with Yo-Yo Ma, Yo-Yo Ma NY Times interview on May 7, 2024|
Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Ovation
- Yo Yo Ma gave a fascinating interview to the New York Times about his life and his music. The quote below is from that interview called “Yo-Yo Ma and the Mind Game of Music” link below.
- Yo-Yo interview link
- “I’ve come to think of music in a way that’s a little clearer now. I would say the sound part of it, what you hear, the measurable part of the sound, is equivalent to the tip of an iceberg, less than 10% of the whole mass. So what’s below the surface is actually what is the music, what’s above is just the sound. I think about what is behind Bob Dylan’s voice.”
“A goat rodeo refers to a difficult situation that works out, such as merging classical music with country. ”
In another interview, Yo-Yo said, “If there were forks in the road, and each time there was a fork, the right decision was made, then you get to a goat rodeo.”
Below, the ensemble plays “Attaboy” from the Rodeo album.
Monterosso, Italy
Posted in Music: The Power to Enchant, Photo gallery: Europe, Photograph by Paul Goldfinger, Photographic gallery Italy, Photographic Gallery, Black and White, Photography: Black and White gallery, tagged Photo: Monterosso Italy on May 5, 2024|
Cinque Terre, Italy. c. 1996. By Paul Goldfinger. Blogfinger.net. Click once for larger view.
HOT CLUB OF SAN FRANCISCO. “Souvenir de Villingen” from the album Yerba Buena Bounce (composed by Stephane Grappelli)
In the vineyards of Tuscany, Italy.
Posted in Music: The Power to Enchant, Photographic Gallery, Black and White, tagged Photo: Tuscany, Ronald Naldi on January 24, 2024|
Tuscany, Italy. The vineyards in the foreground are probably Chianti grapes, but also they grow Brunello and many other varieties. By Paul Goldfinger
Soundtrack: Here is Ocean Grove’s finest tenor (artist-in residence) and, by the way, also of the Metropolitan Opera, singing Santa Lucia. Santa Lucia is a Neapolitan song from the 19th century—not exactly Tuscan, but when you hear this, it won’t matter at all.
Wikipedia link re: Ronald Naldi
Paul Goldfinger, Editor, Blogfinger.net
Morning light…
Posted in Music: The Power to Enchant, Photographic Gallery, Color, tagged MUSIC. Paul McCartney's new album, Photo: Morning Light on January 16, 2024| 3 Comments »
Morning light. Fayettville, North Carolina. by Paul Goldfinger. click for full view.
By Paul Goldfinger.
The light in the morning, soon after the sun comes up, lets you see after the darkness. It is soft and new. It has promise.
You hold a cup of fresh, hot coffee and you breathe in the cool air. The sky is partially lit, and there is one area that is especially bright.
What piece of music would fit best to capture a mood that a new day may bring something wonderful? Since the mood contains some uncertainty, I think it needs to be a little sad, just to avoid too much optimism.
This does it for me: Paul McCartney with Irving Berlin’s “Always.”
Movies to Watch Again: “Once Upon a Time in America”
Posted in Blogfinger Presents, Music from the movies, Music: The Power to Enchant, tagged Ennio Morricone, Once Upon a Time in America on December 6, 2023| 4 Comments »
Directed by Sergio Leone.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
This movie was made in 1984 by the great Italian director Sergio Leone. It owes a lot to the 1972 film The Godfather, but it is wonderful in its own right.
The soundtrack is by Ennio Morricone whose association with Leone is well known. (As in “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly”)
Here is a link to my still portrait of Elizabeth McGovern in black and white:
The video below shows the wonder of movie-making as done by a master, even if viewed as still images. The acting is great, especially with the stunning Elizabeth McGovern (the adult Deborah), DiNiro (Noodles) and James Woods (Max.).
“Deborah’s Theme” is magical and plays in the background of this video and, during the movie, when the beautiful Deborah glides across the screen.
Jennifer Connelly as Deborah
Here is our description of the ballet scene from our previous article about this film:
“There is an early scene where the teen-aged Deborah (played by Jennifer Connelly) is practicing her ballet moves while wearing a tutu. Noodles (later played by Robert DiNiro) is watching her through a small portal in the wall. It is shot in a storage area behind her parents store.
The whole scene is done as if in slow motion, and the music playing then is the song “Amapola.” The clarinet carries the solo while a violin plays the counter melody. A lone guitar provides the rhythm. The total effect is exquisitely beautiful.
Jennifer Connelly plays the young Deborah in this marvelous movie. The ballet scene is filmed in a dusty storehouse. Paul Goldfinger still photo 10/6, 2021 from the streaming movie.
Ballet scene in Once Upon a Time in America. Paul Goldfinger photo from the movie. Oct 6, 2021. M-9 Leica digital camera.
This version of “Amapola” is done in a nearly identical tempo and effect as in the movie, although this cut, by Stuart Matthewman, is from the soundtrack of another film called Twin Falls, Idaho.
Warm weather winter colors at the Ocean Grove beach
Posted in Music from the movies, Music: The Power to Enchant, Photography portraits, tagged Mozart's clarinet concerto in A major, Warm weather colors at the Ocean Grove beach on November 25, 2023|
Ocean Grove beach. By Michael Goldfinger. December 21, 2013 Special to Blogfinger.net
BELA KOVACS. Mozart’s “Clarinet Concerto in A major—Adagio.” From the movie 27 Dresses.
Remembring Eydie Gormé….
Posted in Blogfinger Presents, Music: The Power to Enchant, tagged NPR podcast and video about Eydie Gorm, Remembering Eydie Gorme on November 17, 2023|
Eydie Gormé. Internet photo.
As a teenager working a summer job in Times Square, I would go into a little deli hole-in-the-wall down 48th Street which was so small that it just had a counter–no chairs or tables. I’d order something and while waiting, I would stare at a photo on the wall. It was of Eydie Gormé, autographed, in her 20’s—just gorgeous.
I thought she was beautiful and so talented as a singer with that effortless voice and smooth/precise intonation and phrasing. She was from a Sephardic Jewish family, so she often sang in Spanish including the song below from an album with the Trio Los Panchos.
—Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
EYDIE GORME´ with LOS PANCHOS
Light-show at the OG Beach. 2002–pre-Sandy (2012)
Posted in Music: The Power to Enchant, Postcards From Ocean Grove, tagged John Rutter's music, Sunrise at the Ocean Grove beach on July 14, 2023| 2 Comments »
Beachfront sunrise. 7:53 a.m. 2002. Ocean Grove, New Jersey. Click image for full view. This image became a widely distributed postcard.By Paul Goldfinger, MD, Editor, Blogfinger.net.
As a photographer, I much prefer sunrises to sunsets. Maybe it’s because photographs of sunrises are rarer than sunsets. After all, most people are still awake when the sun sets, but hardly anyone is up and about when the sun reappears early in the morning. But also, in my opinion, sunrises are more beautiful than sunsets, and speaking philosophically, more uplifting because beginnings are happier than endings.
Yet people love to see images of sunsets. To be honest, I almost never photograph a sunset or accept one for publication on Blogfinger with rare exceptions as when the sunset is contributory to something else in the photograph, such as special lighting for a back-lit portrait.
Some of you will probably sneer at my opinion and consider me to be an effete snob. One of the definitions of effete is “decadent.” I like that, although I have never actually tried it — except when I sneak over to Days for an illicit hot fudge sundae, twice or thrice each summer.
Of course, this image has some special meaning since the portion of the pier that is seen here is no longer present due to hurricane Sandy (2012,) and compare to the recent total rebuild. I think they both went out 500 feet.
The picture reminds me of the song from Annie –“Tomorrow” (“The sun will come out tomorrow; bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there’ll be sun…”). But that’s not the song for this photograph.
Instead, I’m in the mood for John Rutter’s music, and here is his “Blow, blow thou winter wind.” — Paul Goldfinger, MD, Editor, Blogfinger.net