Galt MacDermot
Arthur Terence Galt MacDermot (born December 18, 1928) is a Canadian composer, pianist and writer of musical theatre. He won a Grammy Award for the song "African Waltz" in 1960. His most successful musicals have been Hair (1967; its cast album also won a Grammy) and Two Gentlemen of Verona (1971). MacDermot has also written music for film soundtracks, jazz and funk albums, and classical music, and his music has been sampled in hit hip-hop songs and albums.
Biography
MacDermot was born in Montreal, Quebec, the son of a Canadian diplomat. He was educated at Upper Canada College and Bishop's University (Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada). He received a Bachelor of Music from Cape Town University, South Africa and made a study of African music his specialty. He also studied the piano privately with Neil Chotem.
MacDermot won his first Grammy Award for the Cannonball Adderley recording of his song "African Waltz" (the title track of the album of the same name) in 1960. He moved to New York City in 1964 where, three years later, he wrote the music for the hit musical Hair, which he later adapted for the 1979 film. Its Broadway cast album won a Grammy Award in 1969. His next musicals were Isabel's a Jezebel (1970) and Who the Murderer Was (1970), which featured British progressive rock band Curved Air. MacDermot had another hit with the musical Two Gentlemen of Verona (1971), which won the Tony Award for Best Musical. For that show, MacDermot was nominated for a Tony for best music and won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music. His later musicals, however, including Dude and Via Galactica (both 1973) and The Human Comedy (1984), have not been successful on Broadway.
Piano Concerto (Dvořák)
The Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in G minor, Op. 33, was the first of three concertos that Antonín Dvořák completed—it was followed by a violin concerto and then a cello concerto—and the piano concerto is probably the least known and least performed.
As the eminent music critic Harold C. Schonberg put it, Dvořák wrote "an attractive Piano Concerto in G minor with a rather ineffective piano part, a beautiful Violin Concerto in A minor, and a supreme Cello Concerto in B minor".
Background
Dvořák composed his piano concerto from late August through 14 September 1876. Its autograph version contains many corrections, erasures, cuts and additions, the bulk of which were made in the piano part. The work was premiered in Prague on 24 March 1878, with the orchestra of the Prague Provisional Theatre conducted by Adolf Čech with the pianist Karel Slavkovsky.
While working on the concerto, Dvořák himself realized that he had not created a virtuosic piece in which the piano does battle with the orchestra. Dvořák wrote: "I see I am unable to write a Concerto for a virtuoso; I must think of other things." What Dvořák composed instead was a symphonic concerto in which the piano plays a leading part in the orchestra, rather than opposed to it.
Piano Concerto (Ravel)
Maurice Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major was composed between 1929 and 1931. The concerto is in three movements and is heavily influenced by jazz, which Ravel had encountered on a concert tour of the United States in 1928.
Background
The concerto was deeply infused with jazz idioms and harmonies, which, at the time, were highly popular in Paris as well as the United States, where Ravel was traveling on a piano tour. Ravel remarked that "The most captivating part of jazz is its rich and diverting rhythm. ...Jazz is a very rich and vital source of inspiration for modern composers and I am astonished that so few Americans are influenced by it." After his well-received tour, Ravel wanted to give the first public performance of this new work himself. However, health issues precluded this possibility, with his preparatory practice of Liszt's and Chopin's etudes leading to fatigue. He then planned a premiere for March 9, 1931, in Amsterdam, but these plans also were canceled due to his work on the Concerto for the Left Hand, his many public appearances, and his performances of his other works.
Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments (Stravinsky)
The Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments was written by Igor Stravinsky in Paris in 1923–24. This work was revised in 1950.
It was composed four years after the Symphonies of Wind Instruments, which he wrote upon his arrival in Paris after his stay in Switzerland. These two compositions are from Stravinsky's neoclassical period, and represent a departure from the composer's previous Russian style of The Rite of Spring.
This concerto numbers among many works for piano written about the same time to be played by the composer himself. This is also true of Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra (1929), his Sonata of 1924 and his Serenade in A (1925). He kept the performance rights to himself for a number of years, wanting the engagements for playing this work for himself, as well as urgently desiring to keep "incompetent or Romantic hands" from "interpreting" the piece before undiscriminating audiences.
Orchestration
The orchestra is scored for two flutes, piccolo, two oboes, cor anglais, two clarinets, two bassoons (second bassoon doubling contrabassoon), four horns, four trumpets, three trombones and tuba and accompanied by timpani, cymbals. Although combining winds and piano was unusual at the time, the form had been explored earlier in the twentieth century and would be explored later.
Galt MacDermot
ALBUMS
- Hair released: 2009
- Galt MacDermot In Film 1969-1973 released: 2004
- Woman Is Sweeter released: 2003
- Up From the Basement: Unreleased Tracks, Volumes 1 & 2 released: 2002
- Hair released: 1999
- Das ganze Hair: Deutsche Original-Gesamtaufnahme München released: 1998
- Hair: The Musical released: 1993
- Hair released: 1993
- Hair: The Tribal Love-Rock Musical released: 1992
- Hair: Broadway Musical Company New York released: 1992
- Cotton Comes To Harlem (Original Motion Picture Score) released: 1970
- Haare (Hair): Originalaufnahme der deutschsprachigen Uraufführung released: 1968
- Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical released: 1968
- Shapes of Rhythm released: 1966
- Hair released:
- Hair released:
- The Human Comedy (1984 original Broadway cast) released:
- Hair released:
- Woman Is Sweeter/Shapes of Rhythm released:
- Hair: The American Tribal Love Rock Musical released:
Hair
Released 2009- Aquarius
- Donna
- Hashish
- Sodomy
- Colored Spade
- Manchester England
- I'm Black / Ain't Got No
- Sheila Franklin / I Believe In Love
- Ain't Got No Grass
- Air
- Kama Sutra / The Stone Age
- I Got Life
- Initials
- Going Down
- Hair
- My Conviction
- Easy to Be Hard
- Don't Put It Down
- Frank Mills
- Hare Krishna / Be-In
- Where Do I Go?
- Electric Blues
- Oh Great God of Power / Manchester England (reprise)
- Black Boys
- White Boys
- Walking in Space
- Minuet / African Drums
- Yes, I's Finished on Y'alls Farmlands
- Four Score / Abie Baby
- Give Up All Desires / Hail Mary / Roll Call
- Three-Five-Zero-Zero
- What a Piece of Work Is Man / How Dare They Try
- Good Morning Starshine
- Aquarius Goodnights / Ain't Got No / Yip Up the Sun
- The Flesh Failures / Eyes Look Your Last / Let the Sun Shine In
- Curtain Call: Hair (reprise)
- Curtain Call: Let the Sun Shine In (reprise)
Galt MacDermot In Film 1969-1973
Released 2004- Fragments II
- Cathedral
- Tango
- American Express
- Never Die, Desire Not
- Cambodia
- Dead End
- Ed And Digger
- Stockyard
- Harlem Medley (Part I)
- Coffin Ed
- Golden Apples (Part II)
- Bedroom
- Fishing
- Golden Apples (Part I)
- Duffer
- Mona's Theme
- Queenie's Theme
- Meard Street
- Rhinoceros Theme Version A
- Rhinoceros Main Theme
- Rhinoceros Theme Version B
- Fortune And Men's Eyes (Vocal Version)
Up From the Basement: Unreleased Tracks, Volumes 1 & 2
Released 2002- Ripped Open by Metal Explosions
- Duffer in F (version 2)
- Never Die, Desire Not
- There Was There
- Come Away Death
- "Cool It With Contac" Radio Spot
- DD-2-01
- Lost Dreams
- Ghetto Suite Medley
- Wurly
- Ba Ba Black Baby
- DD-2-03
- Prison Life
- Rhinoceros Main Theme
- DD-2-02
- Water Fight
- Love Knows No Season
- Let the Sunshine In
- Cleanly and Plump
- Piano Concerto, Part 1
- Piano Concerto, Part 2
- Woe Is Me
- And He Will Not Come Again
- St. Valentine's Day
Hair
Released 1999- Aquarius
- Sodomy
- Donna / Hashish
- Colored Spade
- Manchester
- Abie Baby / Fourscore
- I'm Black / Ain't Got No
- Air
- Party Music
- My Conviction
- I Got Life
- Frank Mills
- Hair
- L.B.J.
- Electric Blues / Old Fashioned Melody
- Hare Krishna
- Where Do I Go?
- Black Boys
- White Boys
- Walking in Space
- Easy to Be Hard
- 3-5-0-0
- Good Morning Starshine
- What a Piece of Work Is Man
- Somebody to Love
- Don't Put It Down
- The Flesh Failures (Let the Sunshine In)
Das ganze Hair: Deutsche Original-Gesamtaufnahme München
Released 1998- Vorspiel
- Wassermann (Aquarius)
- Auftritt Berger: Dialog mit Tribe
- Donna
- Haschisch
- Sodomie
- Auftritt der Farbigen
- Ich bin ein Farbiger
- Auftritt Claude: Dialog
- Manchester
- Ich hab kein…
- Dead End
- Auftritt Sheila mit Tribe
- Ich glaube nur an Eins
- Friede…
- Ich hab kein…
- Hallo Luft
- Claude: Dialog mit Müttern und Vätern
- Ich bin reich
- Ich und Luzifer (Uni-Sketch)
- Sketch über Einberufung
- Auftritt Touristinnen
- Haare
- Touristen Ladies' Dialog
- Wenn ich bemerken darf
- Auftritt Sheila mit Tribe
- Hemd-Sketch
- Nein sagt sich so leicht
- Dialog
- Frank Mills
- Hare Krishna
- Wo geh ich hin
Hair: The Musical
Released 1993- Aquarius
- Donna / Hashish
- Holy Orgy
- Coloured Spade
- Manchester, England
- Medley: I'm Black I'm Black / Ain't Got No / Dead End
- Medley: I Believe in Love / Ain't Got No Grass / Air
- I Got Life
- Initials
- Going Down (High School Heaven)
- Hair
- My Conviction
- Easy to Be Hard
- Frank Mills
- Hare Krishna
- Where Do I Go?
- Electric Blues
- Black Boys
- White Boys
- Walking in Space
- Yes, It's Finished / Abie, Baby
- All You Have to Do
- Three Five Zero Zero
- What a Piece of Work Is Man
- The Bed
- Good Morning Starshine
- The Flesh Failures (Let the Sun Shine In)
Hair
Released 1993- Aquarius
- Donna
- Hashish
- Sodomy
- Coloured Spade
- Manchester, England
- Ain't Go No
- Dead End
- Sheila Franklin / I Believe in Love
- The Rally
- Air
- Initials
- I Got Life
- Going Down
- Hair
- My Conviction
- Easy to Be Hard
- Don't Put It Down
- Frank Mills
- Be-In (Hare Krishna)
- Where Do I Go?
- Electric Blues
- Black Boys / White Boys
- Walking in Space
- Abie Baby / Gettysburg Address
- Three-Five-Zero-Zero
- What a Piece of Work Is Man / Walking in Space (reprise)
- Good Morning Starshine
- The Bed
- Eyes Look Your Last / Ain't Got No (reprise) / The Flesh Failures (Let the Sunshine In)
Hair: The Tribal Love-Rock Musical
Released 1992- Aquarius
- Donna
- Hashish
- Sodomy
- Coloured Spade
- Manchester England
- Peace Chant
- I'm Black
- Ain't Got No
- Peace Chant (reprise)
- Ain't Got No (reprise)
- Air
- Initials
- I Got Life
- Going Down
- Dead End
- Hair
- My Conviction
- Easy to Be Hard
- Frank Mills
- The Be-In
- Where Do I Go?
- Electric Blue
- Black Boys
- White Boys
- Walking in Space
- Abie Baby
- War
- Three-Five-Zero-Zero
- What a Piece of Work Is Man
- How Dare They Try
- Good Morning Starshine
- The Flesh Failures (Let the Sun Shine in)
- Let the Sun Shine In (reprise)
Hair: Broadway Musical Company New York
Released 1992- Introduction / Aquarius
- Donna / Hashish
- Sodomy
- Colored Spade / Manchester, England
- I’m Black
- Ain’t Got No
- Dead End
- I Believe in Love
- Ain’t Got No Grass
- Air
- Initials 1940’s
- I Got Life
- Hippy Life
- Going Down
- Hair
- My Conviction
- Easy to Be Hard
- Frank Mills
- Hare Krishna
- Where Do I Go
- Electric Blues
- Oh Great God of Power
- Manchester (reprise)
- Black Boys / White Boys
- Walking in Space
- Three-Five-Zero-Zero
- Good Morning, Starshine / Ain’t Got No (reprise)
- The Flesh Failures
- Let the Sunshine In
Haare (Hair): Originalaufnahme der deutschsprachigen Uraufführung
Released 1968- Wassermann (Aquarius)
- Donna (Donna)
- Manchester (Manchester)
- Ich bin ein Farbiger (Colored Spade)
- Ich hab kein… (Ain't Got No…)
- Luft (Air)
- Ich bin reich (I Got Life)
- Bergab (Goin' Down)
- Haar (Hair)
- „Nein" sagt sich so leicht (Easy to Be Hard)
- Frank Mills (Frank Mills)
- Hare Krishna (Hare Krishna)
- Wo geh' Ich hin? (Where Do I Go?)
- Black Boys (Black Boys)
- White Boys (White Boys)
- Schweben im Raum (Walking in Space)
- Rot, blau und weiß (Don't Put It Down)
- 3500 (3500)
- Hat's der Mensch nicht weit gebracht? (What a Piece of Work Is Man?)
- Die letzten Sterne (Good Morning Starshine)
- Finale (We Starve Look und Flesh-Failures)
Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical
Released 1968- Aquarius
- Donna / Hashish
- Sodomy
- Colored Spade
- Manchester England
- I'm Black / Ain't Got No
- Air
- Initials
- I Got Life
- Hair
- My Conviction
- Don't Put It Down
- Frank Mills
- Be-In
- Where Do I Go?
- Black Boys / White Boys
- Easy to Be Hard
- Walking in Space
- Abie Baby
- Three-Five-Zero-Zero / What a Piece of Work Is Man
- Good Morning Starshine
- The Flesh Failures (Let the Sunshine in)
Hair
- Ain't Got No
- I Got Life
- Air
- Going Down
- Hair
- Dead End
- Frank Mills
- Hare Krishna
- Where Do I Go
- Electric Blues
- Easy to Be Hard
- Manchester
- White Boys
- Black Boys
- Walking in Space
- Aquarius
- Good Morning Sunshine
- Exanaplanetooch
- The Climax
- Opening (previously unreleased)
- Red Blue and White (previously unreleased)
- Sentimental Ending (previously unreleased)
- [interview with Galt MacDermot (1)]
- [interview with Galt MacDermot (2)]
- [interview with Galt MacDermot (3)]
- [interview with Galt MacDermot (4)]
- [interview with Galt MacDermot (5)]
- [interview with Galt MacDermot (6)]
- [interview with Galt MacDermot (7)]
- [interview with Galt MacDermot (8)]
- [interview with Galt MacDermot (9)]
- [interview with Galt MacDermot (10)]
- [interview with Galt MacDermot (11)]
- [interview with Galt MacDermot (12)]
- [interview with Galt MacDermot (13)]
- [interview with Galt MacDermot (14)]
Hair
- Aquarius
- Donna
- Hashish
- Sodomy
- Colored Spade
- Manchester England
- I'm Black
- Ain't Got No
- Air
- Initials
- I Got Life
- Hair
- My Conviction
- Don't Put It Down
- Frank Mills
- Be-In
- Where Do I Go
- Black Boys
- White Boys
- Easy to Be Hard
- Walking in Space
- Abie Baby
- Three-Five-Zero-Zero
- What a Piece of Work Is Man
- Good Morning Starshine The
- Flesh Failures (Let the Sunshine in)
The Human Comedy (1984 original Broadway cast)
- Act 1: Opening (instrumental)
- Act 1: In a Little Town
- Act 1: Ulysses Reaches the Crossing
- Act 1: Hi Ya Kid
- Act 1: The Black Man Waved
- Act 1: He Didn't Think
- Act 1: Hi Ya Kid
- Act 1: Home for Him
- Act 1: Homer, Homer
- Act 1: We're a Little Family
- Act 1: Bicycle Ride
- Act 1: The Assyrians
- Act 1: Noses
- Act 1: Fourteen Words Collect
- Act 1: Can You Sing?
- Act 1: Carry a Tune
- Act 1: Happy Birthday
- Act 1: What Do I Sing?
- Act 1: Anniversary Song
- Act 1: I Think the Kid Will Do
- Act 1: Beautiful Music
- Act 1: Here, Boy!
- Act 1: Coconut Cream Pie
- Act 1: When I Am Lost
- Act 1: I Let Him Kiss Me Once
- Act 1: Mama
- Act 1: Daddy Will Not Come
- Act 1: Death Is Not an Easy Thing
- Act 1: The Birds in the Sky
- Act 1: Mama
- Act 1: Remember Always to Give
- Act 1: Long Past Sunset
- Act 1: In Our Little Town
- Act 1: Don't Tell Me
- Act 1: Train
- Act 1: You Want to Go to Corbett's
- Act 1: The Fourth Telegram
- Act 1: Give Me the Money
- Act 1: You Coming Here Now
- Act 1: Remember Always to Give (reprise)
- Act 1: Everything Is Changed
- Act 1: The World Is Full of Lonliness
- Act 1: Hi Ya Kid (reprise)
Hair
- Hair
- Good Morning Starshine (feat. Petula Clark)
- Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (feat. The 5th Dimension)
- Hara Krishna (feat. Anthony Anderson Orchestra)
- Donna
- Hashish
- Colored Spade
- Manchester England
- I Got Life
- My Conviction
- Don't Put It Down
- Frank Mills
- Be-In
- Where Do I Go?
- Black Boys
- White Boys
- Walking in Space
- Three-Five-Zero-Zero
Woman Is Sweeter/Shapes of Rhythm
- Lady, You Look Good to Me
- Farmland
- Coffee Cold
- Marsh Gas
- If Our Love Is Real
- Mouse Roared
- Tender Meeting
- M'Babam
- Field of Sorrow
- Alive in Dar-Es-Salaam
- Spanish Nights
- I'm Through With You
- Tango
- Fragments 1a
- Fragments 1b
- Fragments II
- Bass
- Cathedral
- Woman Is Sweeter
- Moving Clothes
- Bathtub
- Radio Rock
- Princess Gika
- Mery-Go-Round
- Space
- Perfume Bottles
- Coffee Cold
Hair: The American Tribal Love Rock Musical
- Aquarius
- Donna
- Hashish
- Sodomy
- Colored Spade
- Manchester, England
- I'm Black
- Dead End
- Air
- I Got Life
- Hair
- My Conviction
- Easy to Be Hard
- Frank Mills
- Be-In / Hare Krishna
- Where Do I Go?
- Electric Blues
- Black Boys
- White Boys
- Walking in Space
- The War
- Three-Five-Zero-Zero
- Good Morning Starshine
- The Flesh Failures (Let the Sunshine in) / Eyes Look Your Last
- Hippie Life
- Aquarius (director's cut)
The Flesh Failures (Let The Sunshine In)
We starve-look
At one another
Short of breath
Walking proudly in our winter coats
Wearing smells from laboratories
Facing a dying nation
Of moving paper fantasy
Listening for the new told lies
With supreme visions of lonely tunes
Somewhere
Inside something there is a rush of
Greatness
Who knows what stands in front of
Our lives
I fashion my future on films in space
Silence
Tells me secretly
Everything
Everything
Manchester England England
Manchester England England
(Eyes look your last)
Across the Atlantic Sea
(Arms take your last embrace)
And I'm a genius genius
(And lips oh you the
Doors of breath)
I believe in God
(Seal with a righteous kiss)
And I believe that God believes in Claude
(Seal with a righteous kiss )
That's me, that's me, that's me
(The rest is silence
The rest is silence
The rest is silence)
We starve-look
At one another
Short of breath
Walking proudly in our winter coats
Wearing smells from laboratories
Facing a dying nation
Of moving paper fantasy
Listening for the new told lies
With supreme visions of lonely tunes
Singing
Our space songs on a spider web sitar
Life is around you and in you
Answer for Timothy Leary, dearie
Let the sunshine
Let the sunshine in
The sunshine in
Let the sunshine
Let the sunshine in
The sunshine in
Let the sunshine
Let the sunshine in