Tag: #BelindaGaliano

Mamma, C. A. Bixio

Belinda GalianoLeave a comment

It is amazing how many beautiful compositions and songs have been written for the Italian movies! Often, the music has become more popular or better known than the films themselves. In the previous post I published my recording of Parlami d’Amore Mariu, a song originally written for the soundtrack of the film “Gli uomini, che Mascalzoni” (The men, scoundrels).

Now I recorded Mamma, a very popular song that was also written for a movie. It was composed in 1940 with music by Cesare Andrea Bixio and lyrics by Bixio Cherubini, for the soundtrack of the film with the same name “Mamma”, directed by Guido Brignone where the main actor Beniamino Gigli interpreted it.

And for my part, I dedicate this interpretation to Delinda Molina, my mother!

Continue reading “Mamma, C. A. Bixio” →

Santa Lucia. Teodoro Cottrau

Belinda GalianoLeave a comment

Santa Lucia, a famous Neapolitan song, was published in Naples in the year 1849.

It is said that it was the first Neapolitan song to be translated to Italian.  That act helped the song became popular throughout Italy and famous all over the world.

Sonata Quasi una Fantasia, Opus 27 No.2 in C-sharp minor “Moonlight Sonata”. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Belinda GalianoLeave a comment

Sonata Quasi una Fantasia, Opus 27 No.2 in C-sharp minor is one of the best known works of Beethoven.

Completed in 1801, it was popularly known as the “Moonlight” sonata, but it wasn’t Beethoven who gave this name.  Five years after Beethoven’s death, when the music critic Ludwig Rellstab talked about his impressions of the first movement of this sonata, he said that it suggested the reflection of the moon on the surface of Lake Lucerne.  The publishers used the name in subsequent publications, and that is how the name became so popular. But there can not be a more inappropriate name than “Moonlight” to describe the second and third parts of this Sonata.

The sonata has three movements:

  1. Adagio Sostenuto. It’s a contemplative, intimate movement.
  2. Allegretto – Trio.  It’s a dance, a delicate, playful movement.
  3. Presto agitato. The final is a fast, stormy and energetic movement.

O Sole Mio! Neapolitan Serenade by Eduardo Di Capua

Belinda GalianoLeave a comment

O sole mio! was composed in 1898.  I can say it is the most famous Italian song or it’s better to say the most famous Neapolitan song in history.

Lyrics by Giovanni Capurro (Italian poet)

Music by Eduardo Di Capua (an Italian composer,singer)

When Eduardo Di Capua composed the music for O sole mio! he was in Odessa (Ukraine). Maybe that influenced the strong feeling of the song?  When you hear this piece, you may feel the joy or a nostalgia for a beautiful sunny day….

Nocturne Opus posth.72 Nr.1, Frédéric Chopin

Belinda GalianoLeave a comment

Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) composed this Nocturne in 1827 at the beginning of his career, but the piece was published in 1855, six years after his death.

This Nocturne is intimate and melancholic.  It has a middle part that is passionate and very lyrical.  It is a piece where you can see the beginnings of the Romantic style that characterized the work of Chopin.

I hope you to enjoy listening to my performance of it.

Waltz No.2 from the “Suite for Variety Orchestra No.1” (Suite for Jazz Orchestra No.2) by Dmitri Shostakovich

Belinda GalianoLeave a comment

This is an arrangement for piano of the Waltz No.2 from the “Suite for Variety Orchestra No.1” (or “Suite for Jazz Orchestra No.2”) (1938) by Dmitri Shostakovich.

The original work consists of a collection of eight movements: 1. March; 2.Dance I; 3.Dance II; 4.Little Polka; 5.Lyric Waltz; 6.Waltz I; 7.Waltz II; 8.Finale. It is in fact a compilation of arrangements from other works by the composer.

Dmitri Shostakovich was a Russian composer and one of the greatest composers from XX century.

Mañanita Caraqueña. Evencio Castellanos

Belinda GalianoLeave a comment

“Mañanita Caraqueña” of Evencio Castellanos, is a Venezuelan waltz that with a language of our time reminds us those exquisite sounds of Venezuela from the nineteenth century.

Evencio Castellanos (1915-1984) is one of the most important Venezuelan composers of the twentieth century.  He was also a pianist, choir conductor and orchestra conductor.

Evencio harmonized and helped spread the sounds of nineteenth century Venezuelan waltz.