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When it comes to musical dynasties, it's tough to top the Bach family. From town fiddlers to court composers, the Bachs dominated German music for seven generations. Today, towers above all his relatives, but there's another important Bach we shouldn't forget especially today, on the 300th anniversary of his birth. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, C.P.E. for short, was the second surviving son of Johann Sebastian, whose sturdy, impeccably built music made a great impression on the young composer. Still, C.P.E. seemed to chafe against the old Baroque restraints by forging an innovative and dramatic new sound, especially in his keyboard music and symphonies. So where did C.P.E. get all his radical ideas? Not from his father. Although Johann Sebastian personally gave his son a complete music education and moral support Harvard professor and Bach scholar says C.P.E. had a mind of his own. "I think he became fascinated by modern trends," Wolff says. "His father actually supported that, and that was, I think, part of his educational concept not to make clones. And C.P.E. Bach became his very own character." One of the modern trends C.P.E. helped design while he was bored with his 27-year job as harpsichordist to Frederick the Great in Berlin was something the Germans called empfindsamer Stil. The literal translation is "sentimental style." But it's not about being delicate, Wolff says. It's more about plugging raw emotions into music by pivoting from one mood and dynamic shade to another. "With staccato and slurred phrases, small motifs are pitted against each other," Wolff explains. "And that is something completely new in the compositional style of the mid-18th century and had a huge impact on European music." Pianist , who has recorded two albums of keyboard sonatas by C.P.E., says the music have felt like a roller coaster to people listening at the time. "The most striking thing about it is the very quick change of character and the very quick change of harmony," Driver says. "It's like a stream of consciousness internal dialogue in a way." While listening to C.P.E.'s F-sharp minor sonata, Driver noted some of the composer's quirky characteristics: "Well, here you've got this rather manic, energetic fantasia-like passage that suddenly, abruptly stops. And then, a lovely aria melody comes in, like a singer with a light accompaniment. And because the juxtaposition happens so quickly we're left guessing as to what comes next. Are we
going to carry on in this sort of vein? And again, the way the harmony suddenly changes, he just changes a single note in a chord that completely turns the emotional effect upside down." Hans-Christoph Rademann, who's just released an album of C.P.E.'s sacred choral music, says that Bach's restless, radical new style fits within history with the upheaval of the Seven Years' War, the shifting of nations and the Enlightenment, which encouraged individualism. "I think it was a question of this time," Rademann says. "The time was also a time of change and new ideas. And this music, it was a new feeling, a very good feeling." Writing a dull piece of music didn't seem to be part of C.P.E.'s playbook, even if he did fall into that peculiar crack between the old-fashioned Baroque period of his father and the newfangled freedom of the Classical era, which would star and . In his double concerto, C.P.E. actually bridges that gap. It's for harpsichord old school and fortepiano, the keyboard of the future. Driver, who performed the concerto recently in London, says the two instruments chase each other's tails. "It's literally, from the very first movement, one bar piano, one bar harpsichord, a little bit of orchestra, then something else. The exchange of ideas is so quick," he says. The music is old but Driver insists it's relevant: "It's not postmodern, but it almost feels postmodern in the sense that there's this sort of collation of different ideas and different feelings all sort of rolled into one. I think it's of today as it was of its time." And who would have thought that all those weird juxtapositions and breakneck mood swings in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach's son C.P.E. would end up, some three centuries later, making a surprisingly apt soundtrack for our fractured, multi-tasked, 21st-century lives.
Muse sign new deal with Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers management
Matt Bellamy and co have been managed Brontone founder Anthony Addis outside North America for over a decade, but have now left to sign an international deal with Q Prime - who have managed the band in North America since they released Absolution in 2003. "After a successful 12-year relationship, Muse will be parting company with Brontone, until now their manager for all territories outside North America," a Muse spokeperson told Music Week. "As of March 2014 Muse will be managed worldwide by Q Prime, who have been managing the group in North America since 2003. Muse wish to thank Brontone for its support in developing the groups hugely successful career so far, and Brontone wish Muse every success for the future." The future looks interesting for the Devonshire trio. Not only is there a great deal of speculation around whether the band will act on rumours of them celebrating their 20th anniversary with an intimate tour in 2014, but last year the band revealed that they had 'no concrete plans' regarding what to do now that their six album record deal is up. Warner Bros. Records bought Muse's six album deal from original label Taste Media in 2005 meaning that The 2nd Law will be their last contracted record with them. Now in a new interview with Billboard, frontman Matt Bellamy said that the band were 'at a crossroads' and planned to take time off to think about where to go from here. "Early next year I think we'll probably take a break for a few months and at some point next year we'll start writing new music," he said. "I think if everyone is up for it, we'll start recording music sometime next year." Many believe that Muse are likely to release future music via their own record label, Helium-3. Helium-3 is a sub-division of Warner formed by the band before the release of Blackholes And Revelations.
Wahid, who was elected president three weeks ago, has said he would consider allowing a referendum in Aceh, but he has emphasized that the province would be better off if it opts to remain part of Indonesia as an autonomous region. Analysts say that while Wahid is in the United States, he will try to persuade Clinton to resume military ties that Washington suspended following the outbreak of Indonesian-backed violence in East Timor in September. "Indonesia is a very important country that we want to help move forward both in terms of democracy and economic reforms," said one U.S. official who asked not to be named. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was also due to participate in the meeting. "Now that we see progress is being made in East Timor, I think the president is looking toward improving those relations, to restoring better relations," said another U.S. official who asked not to be named.
small dance halls, barrooms, rent parties, and juke joints, where new styles such as "barrelhouse" and boogie-woogie were performed by pianists such as Clarence "Pine Top" Smith.
Electric Blues After World War II, the center of blues activity moved to cities such as Chicago, where musicians such as Muddy Waters, Riley "B. B." King, and Buddy Guy intensified the sound by amplifying the guitars and adding more emphasis to the drums. During the 1950s this style was adapted by white musicians as well, and rhythm and blues hits were often rerecorded ("covered") by white musicians such as Elvis Presley and Bill Haley, transforming rhythm and blues into rock and roll. A decade later British musicians such as the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and Eric Clapton returned to the blues roots as the source for their heavily amplified hard rock style. Although much of the energy of blues has been channeled into rock and rhythm and blues styles, traditional blues musicians such as John Lee Hooker, Etta Baker, Junior Wells, and Buddy Guy enjoy successful careers. Blues has also developed into a major force in contemporary music through the rock-edged style of Robert Cray, as well as roots-oriented jazz by musicians associated with Wynton Marsalis (see Marsalis, family), the zydeco sound, and some rap groups.
Rock musics origins can be traced back to the late 1940s, when the popular styles of the day, country and blues, morphed into a new sound aided by electric guitars and a steady drum beat. Pioneering rock artists of the 50s, such as Chuck Berry, leaned heavily on classic blues structures while demonstrating a flair as natural-born entertainers. As opposed to the safe pop music of the era, rocks aggressive attack suggested a sexual freedom that proved shocking during that conservative age. By the early 60s, Berrys followers, most notably the Rolling Stones, expanded rocks scope by transitioning from singles artists into musicians capable of producing cohesive albums of songs. Embracing sex and youthful rebellion in their music, the Stones courted controversy but also elevated rock to new cultural heights.
Rock Music's Evolution (1970s)
As rock music became the dominant form of popular music, new bands built on their predecessors strengths while branching out into new sonic territory. Led Zeppelin gave rock a darker, heavier tone, becoming one of the 70s most popular bands and helping to kick-start a new genre known as hard rock or heavy metal. Around the same time, Pink Floyd added psychedelic elements and complex arrangements, creating concept albums tied together by a single theme and meant to be absorbed in a single sitting. Records like Dark Side of the Moon were credited with spawning the progressive rock movement. In the late 70s, as a response to what they perceived as pretentious hippie bands such as Pink Floyd, groups like the Sex Pistols and the Clash simplified rock down to its core ingredients: loud guitars, rude attitude and enraged singing. Punk was born. And while all three movements enjoyed different degrees of mainstream acceptance, a fourth, less-recognized style was beginning to take shape as well. Spotlighting atonal noise and
unconventional rock instruments such as drum machines, groups like Pere Ubu became the pioneers of industrial rock, an abrasive subgenre that didnt enjoy widespread popularity but would inspire future rock bands.
Rock Music's Splintering (1980s)
As the 80s began, mainstream rock music was losing commercial steam, its sound growing stale. In such a creatively stagnant environment, subgenres started to assert their dominance. Inspired by punks outsider status and industrials eclectic instrumentation, keyboard-driven English bands like Depeche Mode demonstrated a more introverted songwriting style, creating postpunk, which is also described as new wave. Meanwhile, American groups like R.E.M. toyed with postpunk elements, balancing introspective lyrics with traditional rock-band arrangements. These bands were dubbed college rock because of their popularity on college radio stations. By the end of the 80s, college rock had become such a lucrative alternative to mainstream rock that it received a new moniker: alternative rock. It was also referred to as indie rock because the bands were often signed to small, independently-owned labels. Significantly, alternative rock cemented its cultural standing when the music magazine Billboard created a new chart in 1988 specifically for alternative rock, which the publication classified as modern rock. For most music fans, terms such as modern rock, alternative and indie are synonymous ways of describing this popular subgenre.
Rock Music's Reemergence (1990s-Present)
With the ascension of Nirvana's Nevermind in 1991, alternative rock became the dominant popular music. But while other bands soon sprung up as part of the so-called grunge movement (a merging of hard rock and punk), other groups, like Soundgarden, straddled the worlds of alternative and mainstream rock music. Exacerbated by the suicide of Nirvana's frontman, Kurt Cobain, alternative music started to lose its luster by the middle of the decade, setting the stage for mainstream rock's reemergence. One of the first bands to capitalize on mainstream rocks comeback was Limp Bizkit, which melded hard rock and rap into a new hybrid call rap-rock. Groups like Staind and Puddle of Mudd followed in Limp Bizkits wake, though these bands focused on melodic hard rock rather than integrating rap into the mix. At the same time, bands that had thrived during grunges heyday but didnt easily fit into the alternative subgenre, such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, continued to find audiences throughout the 90s. Additionally, groups that rose from the ashes of grunge, like Foo Fighters, incorporated alternative musics outsider energy to reenergize mainstream rock music.
As rock music enters the 21st century, the most successful acts possess the same spirit as their 60s predecessors, even if they sound quite different. Linkin Park fuses hip-hop and metal, while 3 Doors Down emulates hard-rock traditions of the past while providing a contemporary spin. Undoubtedly, rock music will keep evolving in the future, drawing from its rich history while continuing to keep its ear open for the next sonic reinvention.