This a wonderful piece of music, from a French animation filmed presented in 2003, “Les infants de la Pluie” (Rain Childs). Didier Lockwood, its composer, is a French jazz violinist. He played in the progressive rock/jazz fusion band Magma in the 1970s and is known for his use of electric amplification and experimentation on different sounds on the electric violin.

“Money for Nothing” is a song recorded by British group Dire Straits, which first appeared on their 1985 album Brothers in Arms and subsequently became an international hit when released as a single. It peaked at number one for three weeks in the United States, becoming their most successful single, and also peaked at number one for three weeks on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart. In the band’s native UK, the song peaked at number four. The recording was notable for its controversial lyrics, groundbreaking music video and a cameo appearance by Sting singing the song’s falsetto introduction and backing chorus, “I want my MTV”. The video was also the first to be aired on MTV Europe when the network started on August 1, 1987.

“Money for Nothing” won the Grammy for the Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with a Vocal in 1985 at the 28th annual Grammy Awards. Knopfler described the writing of the song in a 1985 interview with critic Bill Flanagan:

The lead character in “Money for Nothing” is a guy who works in the hardware department in a television/custom kitchen/refrigerator/microwave appliance store. He’s singing the song. I wrote the song when I was actually in the store. I borrowed a bit of paper and started to write the song down in the store. I wanted to use a lot of the language that the real guy actually used when I heard him, because it was more real….

(song proposed by Alex, thanks x 1000)

Children’s Corner (L. 113) is a suite for solo piano by Claude Debussy, completed in 1908. A typical performance of the suite will last around 15 minutes. It is dedicated to Debussy’s daughter, Claude-Emma (known as “Chou-Chou”), who was three years old at the time. The pieces are not intended to be played by children; rather they are meant to be evocative of childhood. Emma-Claude was born on October 30, 1905 in Paris, and is described as a lively and friendly child who was adored by her father. She died of diphtheria on July 14, 1919, scarcely a year after her father’s death.

There are six pieces in the suite, each with an English-language title. This choice of language reflects Debussy’s anglophilia, and may also be a nod towards Chou-Chou’s English governess. Technically, this piece is quite difficult as it requires precise staccato playing in both hands, which is meanwhile accompanied by delicate voicing. This is a somewhat sad piece as it is written in D minor and contains rather ‘doubting’ harmonies.

(Song proposed by Panos, thanks x 1000)

OTHON is a composer, songwriter and a pianist. During the last few years Othon has been performing increasingly less as a conventional pianist and more as a creator of his own works. He has collaborated with a diverse range of artists, from poets and dancers to fellow composers and bands including Peter Christopherson (Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV, Coil), Stephen Montague, the Elysian Quartet, Lee Adams, Julie Tolentino, Current 93, Black Sun Productions, Dominic Johnson, Vaginal Davies and Fabrizio Modonese Palumbo.

In 2006 Othon formed a long-term collaboration with actor/singer/performer Ernesto Tomasini. Othon & Tomasini have been performing Othon’s songs around the UK and in Europe in venues as diverse as churches, concert halls and theatres (Queen Elizabeth Hall – London, Teatro al Albeitar – León, Riverside Studios – London, Royal Exchange Theatre – Manchester, Palacio de la Ahondiga – Zamora, Festsalen Concert Hall – Copenhagen), museums and art centres (Centro de Arte Contemporànea – Santiago de Compostella, International Museum of Applied Arts Today – Turin) and even in seedy London underground club nights (Kaos, HustlaBall). In November 2009, Othon & Tomasini performed at the Roundhouse, London, as Marc Almond‘s special guests, in front of a captive audience of 3000.

That’s where this performance is from, a nice experiment on piano. (Song proposed by Sophie, thanks x 1000)

“Send in the Clowns” is a song by Stephen Sondheim from the 1973 musical A Little Night Music. It is a ballad from Act II in which the character Desirée reflects on the ironies and disappointments of her life. Among other things, she looks back on an affair years earlier with the lawyer Fredrik. Meeting him after so long, she finds that he is now in an unconsummated marriage with a much younger woman. Desirée proposes marriage to rescue him from this situation, but he declines, citing his dedication to his bride. Reacting to his rejection, Desirée sings this song. The song is later reprised as a coda after Fredrik’s young wife runs away with his son, and Fredrik is finally free to accept Desirée’s offer.

Sondheim created the song specifically for the actress Glynis Johns who created the role of Desirée on Broadway. The song is written in four verses and a bridge, using a complex triple meter. It became Sondheim’s most popular song after Judy Collins recorded it in 1975. Subsequently, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Shirley Bassey, Zarah Leander, Tiger Lillies and many other famous artists have recorded the song, and it became a jazz standard.

(Song was proposed by Chris, thanks x 1000)

Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff (1 April 1873 [O.S. 20 March] – 28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. He was one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, the last great representative of Russian late Romanticism in classical music. The piano figures prominently in Rachmaninoff’s compositional output, either as a solo instrument or as part of an ensemble. He made it a point to use his own skills as a performer to explore fully the expressive possibilities of the instrument. Even in his earliest works, he revealed a sure grasp of idiomatic piano writing and a striking gift for melody. While still a student, he wrote the one-act opera, Aleko, for which he was awarded a gold medal in composition, his First Piano Concerto, and a set of piano pieces, Morceaux de Fantaisie (Op. 3, 1892), which includes this famous Prelude in C sharp minor. The composer later became annoyed by the public’s fascination with this piece, composed when he was 20 years old. He would often tease an expectant audience in the days when it was traditional for the audience to request particular compositions, by asking, “Oh, must I?” or claiming inability to remember anything else.

This work was one of the first the 19-year old Rachmaninoff composed as a “Free Artist”, after he graduated from the Moscow Conservatory on 29 May 1892. He performed this new work for the first time at one of the concerts of the Moscow Electrical Exhibition on 8/20 October 1892. It was printed the following year as the second of five Morceaux de Fantaisie (Op. 3), all dedicated to Anton Arensky, his harmony teacher at the Conservatory. Because at the time Russia was not party to the 1886 Berne Convention, Russian publishers did not pay royalties, so the only financial return he ever received for this piece was a 40 ruble ($1.64, £0.80) publishing fee.

The prelude became one of Rachmaninoff’s most famous compositions. His cousin Alexander Siloti was instrumental in securing the Prelude’s success throughout the Western world. In the autumn of 1898, he made a tour of Western Europe and the United States, with a program that contained the Prelude. Soon after, London publishers brought out several editions with titles such as The Burning of Moscow, The Day of Judgement, and The Moscow Waltz. America followed suit with other titles, such as The Bells of Moscow. It was so popular that it was referred to as “The Prelude” and audiences would demand it as an encore at his performances, shouting “C sharp!” Some say Rachmaninoff came to hate the work for this reason. Most, however, agree he would simply shrug in resignation and play it.

That’s a heart breaking song, composed by Nino Rota, in a film that everyone must watch. A great story, with amazing acting and very realistic atmosphere. Love and Anarchy (Italian: Film d’amore e d’anarchia) is a 1973 film directed by Lina Wertmüller and starring Giancarlo Giannini and Mariangela Melato. The story, set in Fascist Italy before the outbreak of World War II, centers on Giannini’s character, an anarchist who stays in a brothel while preparing to kill Benito Mussolini. Giannini’s character, while preparing to assassinate Mussolini, falls in love with one of the whores working in the brothel. This film explores the depths of his emotions concerning love, his hate for fascism, and his fears of being killed while assasinating Mussolini. Love and Anarchy was nominated for the Palme d’Or at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival and Giannini was awarded Best Actor.

All time classic soundtrack from an all time classic film. I think it’s one of the most famous soundtracks. The Godfather won the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Writing (adapted screenplay) for Francis Coppola and Mario Puzo, and Best Actor in a Leading Role for Marlon Brando, who declined to collect the award and sent Native American actress Sacheen Littlefeather to the Oscars in his place to explain his reasons. The film had been nominated for eight other Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor for Al Pacino, James Caan, and Robert Duvall, Best Director, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, and Best Sound Mixing.

The film also had a Best Original Score nomination but was disqualified when found out that Nino Rota used another score. Nino Rota‘s score was removed at the last minute from the list of 1973 Academy Award nominees when it was discovered that he had used the theme in Eduardo De Filippo‘s 1958 comedy Fortunella. Although in the earlier film the theme was played in a brisk, staccato and comedic style, the melody was the same as the love theme from The Godfather, and for that reason was deemed ineligible for an Oscar. Despite this, The Godfather Part II won a 1974 Oscar for best original score, although it featured the same love theme that made the 1972 score ineligible.

This song comes from the soundtrack of the Greek movie “Quartet in 4 movements” from the Greek director Loukia Rikaki. The title is a greek on, meaning “Music that creates the world”. Even thought the film was not so known, the music written for it is one of the best that Preisner has written. Enjoy it.

I think there’s no one who cannot see Kraftwerk‘s genius. These guys were just so much ahead of their era. They made their own synthesizers, and invented techno in its full meaning. The signature Kraftwerk sound combines driving, repetitive rhythms with catchy melodies, mainly following a Western classical style of harmony, with a minimalistic and strictly electronic instrumentation. The group’s simplified lyrics are at times sung through a vocoder or generated by computer-speech software. In the early to late 1970s and the early 1980s, Kraftwerk’s distinctive sound was revolutionary for its time, and it has had a lasting impact across many genres of modern popular music.

I remember listening to this song when I was a kid, and I was astonished. So minimalistic and atmospheric! Kraftwerk were formed in 1970 by Florian Schneider (flutes, synthesisers, electro-violin) and Ralf Hütter (electronic organ, synthesisers). The two had met as students at the Düsseldorf Conservatory in the late 1960s, participating in the German experimental music scene of the time, which the British music press dubbed “Krautrock”.

Despite the new innovations in touring, the band took a break from live performances after the Radioactivity tour of 1976. The band did, however, appear on television shows to promote the albums Trans Europe Express and The Man-Machine.

The band returned to the live scene with the Computer World tour of 1981, where the band effectively packed up its entire Kling Klang studio and took it on the road with them. Around this time, Wolfgang Flür was heavily involved in designing customised modular housing and packaging for the group’s touring equipment. The band also developed an increasing use of visual elements in the live shows during this period. This included back-projected slides and films, increasingly synchronised with the music as the technology developed, the use of hand-held miniaturised instruments during the set, and, perhaps most famously, the use of replica mannequins of themselves to perform onstage during the song “The Robots“.