Plenty of music passes through your ears every day at the grocery store, mall or on TV without you even noticing. Every so often, though, one very special piece will pop out at you, grab you by the collar and become forever unforgettable. Those moments are what Music that Rocked Your World is all about.
Tempo shares your stories of world-rocking music each Friday. Do you have a story about the music you feel most connected to? Tempo wants to hear it. If you have an experience to share, send it to host Julie Nesrallah at tempo@cbc.ca and you could make your Tempo debut!
We put the question to tenor Ben Heppner, pianist Jonathan Biss, and Chuck Daellenbach of the Canadian Brass. Watch the videos below to hear their stories of being musically rocked.
Music that made Ben Heppner pull off the road
Backstage after a recital, Heppner muses to Nesrallah about baritone Juan Pons as he “sang the spots off the page” in a spectacular performance of the prelude to Pagliacci. Heppner also recalls a memorable Verdi from Renata Tebaldi.
Watch Juan Pons as Tonio in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci.
Hear Renata Tebaldi performing O don fatale from Verdi’s Don Carlo.
Jonathan Biss shocked by Martha Argerich’s electricity
Biss describes being a teenager and seeing the great Martha Argerich at Carnegie Hall two nights in a row. Biss buys his second ticket from a scalper, paying much more than any poor student should, but Argerich's charismatic performance of Ravel’s Piano Concerto becomes one of his most vivid memories of the concert hall.
Watch Martha Argerich performing an excerpt from Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major.
Chuck Daellenbach discovers the organ's powerful sound
Daellenbach, the figure behind the tuba in the Canadian Brass, describes stepping from New York’s hectic Fifth Avenue into the serene space of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. His world was both rocked and blown when the pipes opened up and standing in the organ loft felt like “being in the draft of a jet engine.”
Hear Canadian Brass with the St. Patrick’s Cathedral organ playing the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah.
Music That Rocked Your World can be heard every Friday on Tempo on CBC Radio 2. Don’t forget you can keep in touch on Twitter, Facebook or by email.
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