Vincent Prinzivalli Song Comparison

Billy Joel- Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LraZEoRnkPc

The King's Singers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2V5D6BHOrA

Alexander Balla (MasteroftheMood)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5zJeoYymjs

Rob Mahlum (ahsgolf2010)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezz6GPRq7lQ

I chose to compare three different arrangements of Billy Joel’s “Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)” from his 1993 album, River of Dreams.

A lifelong Billy Joel fan, I have always loved this song and consider it to be one of my favorite of his ballads. The song features an emotional text, inspired by Billy Joel’s daughter, for whom he wrote the song, as he and his wife were experiencing divorce. It was recorded with Joel on piano, adding strings and possibly synthesizer in the background. Characteristic of Billy Joel’s writing, the accompaniment explores the entire range of the piano and uses borrowed chords. The piano part usually consists of chords in rhythm with the melody, filled in with interesting suspensions and passing tones that support the vocal line by adding color and flavor to the harmony. Beethoven’s well-known influence on Billy Joel’s music becomes evident in the instrumental bridge midway through the piece.

The King’s Singers do a fantastic arrangement of this song. Sung in their famous a cappella style, the arrangement really shows off the talent and skill of the ensemble. The six vocalists are able to effectively imitate some of the same expanded harmonies and suspensions heard in the piano of the original recording. The King’s Singers perform the song with remarkable phrasing and impeccable blending, especially in the homophonic section of the arrangement. They also use a neutral syllable to replicate the middle instrumental bridge. Countertenor David Hurley does an impressive job when he takes over the melody as a solo and the entire group fades out together beautifully at the song’s conclusion.

Next, I compared two solo guitar/voice covers of the song, starting with Rob Mahlum. I thought Rob did a pretty good job with his rendition. His singing was pretty good for a live recording and his guitar arrangement worked well with his singing style. However, I felt straight block chords all the way through was a little too plain, and would have liked to see some more movement in the accompaniment. Alexander Balla, in my opinion, had a better approach in his arrangement, as he used more finger picking, creating a more interesting accompaniment. By doing this, Alexander was able to incorporate more of the moving lines found in Billy Joel’s piano part, particularly with respect to the introduction. I also liked the way Alexander handled the section at 1:55 by singing “du’s” while bringing out his finger picking technique. Balla’s technique and more elaborate ideas made his guitar cover much more enjoyable to listen to.

Music Comparison

I listened to “Hymn to the Sea” by James Horner, from Titanic. The first arrangement was from the soundtrack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wz1xA5kxVI&feature=related

It begins with soft, deep piano chords, a singer and a trumpet on the melody. Then the tune is taken up by uilleann pipes, with strings on harmony. A flute doubles the pipes, and a higher violin counter-melody is heard. Lower wind instruments begin a scalar pattern in the bass. A choir of boys enters in harmony, and all the instruments drop out except the strings. Later the trumpet is again in harmony with the choir, barely audible. The pipes and strings carry the final statement of the melody, joined by a few notes of a harp. The strings and the trumpet play the finishing cadences.
This arrangement is wonderful; I particularly like the ending, which to me resembles the end of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, with the bass notes and the high violins. The singer is essential to the piece; she sets the mood and states the melody. Both she and the uilleann pipes add a quality of sadness and simplicity to the piece.
The second arrangement I listened to was by the solo singer on the soundtrack, Norwegian singer Sissel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tis7uLQD4Yc&feature=related

She begins with the melody from the movie, very similar to that on the soundtrack, accompanied by strings and a women’s choir. The last note transitions to a modern arrangement of the folk song "Eg Veit I Himmerik Ei Borg," the song which inspired Horner to compose “Hymn to the Sea.” It uses drums, electric guitar, organ/synthesizer, and the women’s choir. Just as soon as this ends, however, Sissel repeats a verse of “Hymn to the Sea.” This creates unity between the pieces, and juxtaposes an ethereal wistful song with a much stronger one.
I admire this piece very much. Using a familiar piece like this one from “Titanic” with a rather obscure Norwegian folk song is, in my opinion, fantastic.

Georgia On My Mind-Comparison

For my three comparisons I tried to use tunes that I personally enjoyed, and from an original version that I loved. I didn't want to listen to any half-effort arrangements. So the tune I choose as my forefront is Ray Charles version of "Georgia On My Mind." Which is based off of Ray Charles piano accompaniment and voice of course. The tune I heard was live behind a backing big band. Ray sings with such soul, earthiness, and ease that it boggles the artistic mind. By hearing Ray's expression through his gospel nature, it brings anyone as close to church as they can be without actually going.

The next arrangement of this tune that I chose to compare was by The Spencer Davis Group. A rock band in the late 60's led by organist Steve Winwood. The organ was the featured instrument on this live performance in 1967. Steve Winwood has a powerful voice, and didn't miss a beat on singing this tune. He accompanied his singing with smooth blues licks on the organ. The band also switched the tune up by adding a swing section featuring Winwood's organ solo. I always knew Winwood to be a great backup organist, but didn't know much of his solo style, and in this recording he impressed me with standard jazz licks and great motivic devolopment with his phrases. I really enjoyed hearing this version.

The last arrangement that I chose to compare was by Gerald Albright. Albright does this rendition on the alto saxophone. There was no vocal part. Albright has an incredible tone, and fully improvises around the "Georgia On My Mind" melody. After this, he went over the chords backed by a full band and ripped an incredible solo, improvising with smooth blues lines and difficult jazz licks. Following his solo was a righteous guitar solo that was a constant blend of dimished scales followed by smooth melodic blues scales not straying away from the original minor blues feel of the song. Albright came back in with the melody and ended the song beautifully. I like this version despite the lack of vocal content.

Music Comparison - David B.

I choose to compare the 3 versions of the song When the Saints Go Marching.


The first is the classic Louis Armstrong version. Louis Armstrong was one of the first musicians to actually popularize the song as a pop tune, and his influence surely helped the song also become a Jazz standard.

Louis’ version is in the classic Dixie land style, with multiple soloist add their own melodies simultaneously, namely the clarinet and trombone, while Satchmo sticks to the melody mostly. He adds his own flourishes to the melody and after a run through the melody on trumpet; he goes on to sing the melody, with call and response style. The Bass Piano and drums serve as a rhythm section, stick to accompaniment throughout the piece, and while the clarinetist and trombone player go on to take actual solos before Louis takes his own trumpet solo. Overall the song has a relaxed and joyous feel, and is pretty enjoyable to listen to.

The next version is the worst version, featuring WMI Chorus 2006 led by Dorothy Nancekievill of the International Staff Songsters. It is a bad choral version, with corny piano accompaniment, and just looses the spirit of the song. It trades of the melody between the male and female voices, and adds multiple melodies at once later in the song, maybe to emmulate the multi-soloist style of Dixieland jazz. The melody is moved around quite a bit, with new sections being added here and there for no paticular reason. It is a piece of music, I would very much not like to listen to again, and the piano is played is such a corny style, it almost sounds like the performer is joking and mocking the song being played.

The final version is actually by Bruce Springsteen. This version is the most liberal in the interpretation. It begins with an intro of Bruce noodling on his guitar and singing a little bit before going into a somber version of the classic melody. Two other singers take a crack at the melody, with some light organ and piano accompaniment, all with their slightly different interpretation. There is a trumpet solo later in the piece, which some semi-bluesy jazzy rambling. Overall it is a somewhat interesting interpretation, but nothing to listen to more than once.

Musical comparison

I chose to review the piano solo called Django. I am going to write a paper on Django Reinhardt, the gypsy jazz guitarist for another class, and so am interested in learning as much as I can about his style of sound. I have developed a new appreciation for jazz as a result of my research. The two contrasting pieces are played with a lot of improvisation and differ in technique.

The first one simply titled Django, starts out with the basic melodic introduction of the minor key and about half way through he starts to improvise the chords using substitutions. You can feel the passion he has for the piece due to the pick up of the rhythm. It seems that he then becomes more contemplative as the tempo slows back down and he returns to the original melodic line. This version has a more full sound than the next one. He seemed to be a young man and was playing a grand piano on a stage in modern times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AWnyGsxTkI&feature=related

The second one was done in the 50’s or 60’s by the John Lewis trio and includes accompaniment on upright bass and drums. It starts out in a similar fashion as the first one and then morphs into a very improvisational and more obscure impression of the melody. It has a lot more syncopation and less classical style arpeggios and chord progressions than the first. I actually enjoyed this one much more because it took me out a lot farther from the original melody and into a contemplative and serene space of new melodic possibilities that I otherwise would not have imagined.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siU4m39B89o&feature=related

Kyra Wagstaff Song Comparison

For my song comparison, I chose Elton John's "Tiny Dancer."

The first recording, which is by far my favorite (it's Elton John, after all!), was the original piano part performed by the singer himself. I think there's something definitely more genuine about this recording BECAUSE it's Elton John, the man who wrote the music, performing it. Every line seems to follow the lyrics accordingly, telling a story in a way that you are not focusing so much on the music as you are on what it's making you feel which, I believe, is one of the most important things and separates him from the other people who have taken on this piece, on piano or in a different form. It has a certain easiness and natural movement that I find to reveal the vulnerabilty of the composer, which also reflects in the lyrics, in this case.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqiQcJ-d8r8

Next I listened to a guitar cover of Tiny Dancer by a random guitarist on youtube. I felt that his vocals were really harsh at times and the guitar part was actually a lot weaker than I expected. Nothing really moved me, honestly. However, I suppose all songs are open to interpretation and, in this case, I'm not really a big fan. It sounded very choppy at times and the dynamics were lacking in all ways, pretty much.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV79SOMdEcc&feature=related

Finally, I listened to a remix version of the song, which, as you can probably imagine, was interesting. Surprisingly, though, I really enjoyed it! Not quite the same, but then, it did have a feel to it that still did the song justice, just in a different sense. Honestly, it sounded like what they play over the loud speakers at Abercrombie and Fitch, meaning it was catchy and danceable. The vocalist had a very modern voice which I would consider a cool choice for it. It no longer told a story like the original, however, it still kept me listening without wanting to cringe at parts, as I experienced with the guitar cover. The version was much longer with all of the added remix beats, so it got a bit boring to listen to after the first few minutes, but all in all, I didn't mind it so much.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aFrAH8Wdss&feature=related

Don Bradner- Arrangement Comparisons

I chose to search for arrangements of the most famous organ piece every written, JS Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. Besides this piece having the great significance that it has, I look at it and reminisce of my days in theory class and how Bach wrote the rules on counterpoint and voicing. With that knowledge, it is hard for me to listen to this great work without a baffled look on my face. To see how other musicians interpret and perform Toccata and Fugue is impressively entertaining.

The first video I chose to write about was an acoustic guitar arrangement performed by Michael Fix. I looked forward to seeing how well the guitar could cover all of the voices, especially the full chords near the end. Fix had to use multiple picking techniques to accommodate the varying styles of the piece. The tempo related liberties taken were very characteristic of the organ at times which was nice to see.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUmyxpEXtTw

The second video was perhaps the most interesting musical performance I have ever seen. The performer was Robert Tiso playing the “Glass Harp”, commonly known as a collection of pitched wine glasses. The virtuosity shown by Tiso was purely amazing as he moved his hands effortlessly across the glasses while playing an arrangement that stayed close to 100% true of the original composition. To me, the best part of a Glass Harp is the resonance that the glasses give off. The tone is very similar to that of an organ or chimes in a church.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKRj-T4l-e8

The last video is certainly my favorite as it is an arrangement for trombone quartet. The group is known as the Trombone Quartet of Costa Rica. Before viewing, I had many questions as to how a trombone quartet could perform this intertwined fugue while breathing and passing the passages from one player to another. The synergy of the quartet has to be perfect to avoid rhythmic inaccuracies and inconsistent intonation. I have to say, the quartet did a great job sticking to the original composition as much as their instruments allowed for it. The darkly thick and powerful chords were wonderfully supported by the bass trombone player, thus helping the quartet to produce a sound characteristic to an organ.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRSA48Njh7o