achievements any guitar player can attain is an immediately recognizable signature tone and style. And though many guitarists have realized this goal, few have done it as emphatically as Police guitarist Andy Summers (b. 1942). From the chord stabs of ‘Roxanne’ and ‘Don’t Stand So Close To Me’ to the arpeggios of ‘Message In A Bottle’ and ‘Every Breath You ...
One of the 1980s’ most successful British bands, The Police were founded in London at the height of the punk boom in 1977 by former Curved Air drummer Stewart Copeland (b. 16 July 1952) with singer/bassist Sting (b. Gordon Sumner, 2 October 1951) and original guitarist Henry Padovani. After one independent single ‘Fall Out’, they were joined by veteran ...
which gives a rumbling sound when shaken. Gershwin wrote for four tuned car horns in An American in Paris (1928), and Leonard Bernstein (1918–90) instructs the timpanist to blow a police whistle to break up the fight scene in West Side Story (1961). There is a starting pistol in Erik Satie’s (1866–1925) ballet Parade (1917), which also includes a typewriter and ...
, causes regular fluctuations in the air stream. The Brazilian samba whistle is similar, but with the addition of two finger holes that give it a three-note capability. The police whistle emits two notes differing slightly in pitch that interact to create a third, lower, difference tone. Water whistles, in which the air-stream bubbles through water, ...
Fall of the city of Mahagonny’ Composed: 1927–29 Premiered: 1930, Leipzig Libretto by Bertolt Brecht Act I Leokadja Begbick, Trinity Moses and Fatty, all wanted by the police, found Mahagonny. They recruit men in search of whisky, gambling and women to join them in the ‘city of gold’. Jenny’s price, thirty bucks, is too ...
‘her’ bodice, faces stare at him from the walls and Annina bursts in, dressed as his long-lost wife with her four children. There is uproar. Ochs tells a police inspector that ‘Mariandel’ is his fiancée. Faninal is horrified. To the inspector’s amusement Mariandel’s clothes are handed out from behind a curtain. The Marschallin enters, followed by Sophie, ...
Polly’s lover, ‘the Captain’, fits the notorious gang leader Macheath (Mack the Knife). Polly has married Macheath. The gang furnishes a stable for the celebrations. ‘Tiger’ Brown, the police chief and Macheath’s old army friend, offers his congratulations. He leaves to prepare for the coming coronation. Their wedding night begins. Polly’s marriage is enough to wreck Peachum’s business. ...
demands repentance; Giovanni, refusing, is consigned to the flames of hell. Leporello emerges from hiding and Elvira, Anna, Ottavio, Zerlina and Masetto enter, with police, for Giovanni. When Leporello describes what has happened they announce their plans for the future, and recite the moral – that evildoers come to a sticky end. Recommended ...
demands to see it, Rosina hands him a laundry list. Figaro enters with the news that a crowd has gathered outside to see what the commotion is about. The police arrive and arrest the count, but he quietly informs them of his identity and is released. Act II A young music teacher, Don Alonso – in fact the ...
rotting corpse. Katerina is marrying Sergey. The policemen are annoyed at not being invited. The drunk tells them about the body. Katerina notices that the cellar lock is broken. The police arrive before she can flee. She confesses and Katerina and Sergey are arrested. Act IV A convict column halts beside a river in Siberia. Sergey tells Katerina she has ruined ...
and the White Minister are teaching Prince Go-Go the alphabet. They bully him and he has a disastrous riding lesson. He is always feeling hungry. The coloratura Chief of Secret Police enters, panic-stricken and unable to tell them intelligibly that a comet is about to fall on the city. Sirens sound the alarm. Nekrotzar terrifies the people by prophesying doom. ...
only Crown goes to help, still threatening to ‘get’ Porgy. Act III Jake and Clara have been drowned. Porgy is waiting when Crown returns and then kills him. The police take Porgy to identify Crown’s body. Sportin’ Life tempts Bess to come to New York. One week later Porgy comes home looking for Bess, and his neighbours eventually explain ...
Composed: 1949 Premiered: 1950, Philadelphia Libretto by the composer Act I John Sorel has been shot by the secret police at a political meeting. His wife Magda and his mother hide him in their apartment. A secret police agent threatens Magda. John decides to escape abroad. Magda will need a visa to join him. If the window is broken they ...
the kind of musical description at which he excelled. It is a brutal work, full of strong dissonances and twisting harmonies. Scarpia, the barbaric, scheming chief of police, pervades the work both musically and dramatically. Puccini’s use of the Wagnerian technique of leitmotif allowed him to introduce Scarpia’s threatening presence before he is seen on stage. Amongst ...
to establish the foundation of the standard approach to bop piano playing. The mental instability and introverted character that dogged his life are often ascribed to a beating by the police in 1945 but may have preceded it. He was part of Dizzy Gillespie’s seminal bebop quintet in 1945, recorded with Charlie Parker in 1947 and made a series of ...
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David Bowie
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