Just listening to Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 26 (and old favourite I used to play over and over) after a rough day. Could do with a glass of wine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKUqUYDg-jo
Just listening to Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 26 (and old favourite I used to play over and over) after a rough day. Could do with a glass of wine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKUqUYDg-jo
Never mind Mozart, Neely, this would have blown his wig through the ceiling. It's all played with the left hand and is one of the greatest concerto's ever written. It's been haunting me for a couple of weeks and, unlike anything by Mozart, has even kept me awake at night. I've only managed to get it out of my head by repeatedly playing some things by Mendelssohn, Bach and Saint-Saens on the piano.Originally Posted by Neely
http://youtu.be/2ENNXLb3pXI
"L'art de la statistique est de tirer des conclusions erronèes a partir de chiffres exacts." Napoléon Bonaparte.
"Je crois que beaucoup de gens sont dans cet état d’esprit: au fond, ils ne sentent pas concernés par l’Histoire. Mais pourtant, de temps à autre, l’Histoire pose sa main sur eux." Michel Houellebecq.
Ravel is quite marvelous... one of the greatest orchestrators ever... and this concerto makes it clear just how far Ravel heads into the realm of Modernism. Having said that... I'd far and away take Mozart over him... to say nothing of Bach. I'm still digging through the Marie-Clare Alain box set of Bach's complete organ music and the Helmuth Rilling box set of the complete cantatas.
Beware of the man with just one book. -Ovid
The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.- Mark Twain
My Blog: Of Delicious Recoil
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Great stuff. I've just clicked on the Ravel link. Hope my internet lasts to hear it (my internet is down, my internet is down.)
Your internet is down? Hell my computer has crashed. I've only been able to access the net through my laptop... but it looks like I'm going to need to pick up a new tower.Luckily I just backed up all my files last weekend on an external hard-drive. My anti-virus program is corrupt and wont function. The printer program is the same... as is Mozilla. The computer goes to blue screen a few minutes after being on. I suspect an over-heated CPU as I've had some problems with one of the fans for a while now. It will likely coast more to have the computer diagnosed and the problems fixed... even if it takes reloading everything through the recovery discs... and then having the fan replaced than it will to buy a new computer. I'd just go with a tablet and the laptop... except I have a huge crapload of images (art) and YouTube videos (classical music, etc...) saved and I also need to tower for connecting the printer, modem, back-up external hard-drive, wi-fi, speaker system, etc...
Beware of the man with just one book. -Ovid
The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.- Mark Twain
My Blog: Of Delicious Recoil
http://stlukesguild.tumblr.com/
Jesus that sounds like a nightmare, sorry about that. Good job you backed everything up though. As you say it would work out cheaper to get another tower and it would probably be of a higher spec anyway, with the rate of technology improvements.
It's only my router that is broken as it is 7 year old. I banged it against the floor and unplugged it again and I've just managed to get a spark of life out of it, it's sure to go down again in a minute though I think. When it does I'm back in the cave.
I put up a recording of Poulenc's organ concerto not long ago and here's her recording of it with Jean Martinon conducting. I bought this recording on a French label years ago and, although it's not the best currently available, it's good to see it on YouTube. Truly terrifying at the beginning, there are some nods to Brahms and Tchaikovsky along the way to the fairground and its reflectively abrupt ending. You might be interested in the accompanying Bernard Buffet pictures.
http://youtu.be/GYomeaSZ4VA
"L'art de la statistique est de tirer des conclusions erronèes a partir de chiffres exacts." Napoléon Bonaparte.
"Je crois que beaucoup de gens sont dans cet état d’esprit: au fond, ils ne sentent pas concernés par l’Histoire. Mais pourtant, de temps à autre, l’Histoire pose sa main sur eux." Michel Houellebecq.
I've been listening to Dialouge des Carmelites recently - that's really the only exposure I've had to Poulenc:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEGlkTxOuZ8
I wrote a poem on a leaf and it blew away...
Poulenc was a major figure among the 1920s Parisian set of composers, who underwent a Damascene conversion following the death of one of his many male companions, leading to much of his work taking on a religious aspect. Les Biches, the piano and organ concertos are among the more secular oriented works, but I think it's true to say that many of his compositions appear to have been relegated to the unplayed.
"L'art de la statistique est de tirer des conclusions erronèes a partir de chiffres exacts." Napoléon Bonaparte.
"Je crois que beaucoup de gens sont dans cet état d’esprit: au fond, ils ne sentent pas concernés par l’Histoire. Mais pourtant, de temps à autre, l’Histoire pose sa main sur eux." Michel Houellebecq.
After the "Austro-Germanic Hegemony" and the Italians, the French are next in line among my favorite musical traditions. I'm especially fond of late 19th/early 20th century French music. Poulenc most certainly is not been overly ignored from what I have seen. Among my own recordings, I could count:
There are perhaps a few more if I were to check the shelves.
Beware of the man with just one book. -Ovid
The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.- Mark Twain
My Blog: Of Delicious Recoil
http://stlukesguild.tumblr.com/
Well yes he has been well recorded but, apart from the occasional performance of the Les Biches ballet, his other works do not seem to feature as regular fare except perhaps among a narrow band of enthusiasts. His name is rarely mentioned on the BBC music channel whereas his contemporaries, Satie and Ravel are more prominently featured. Its interesting that of the group known as Les Six, it's Georges Auric who had the widest public exposure through his numerous film scores for French, British and American films, notwithstanding his more serious work which has been overshadowed by music such a this from the film Moulin Rouge:
http://youtu.be/WEVNbeNJ0rM
"L'art de la statistique est de tirer des conclusions erronèes a partir de chiffres exacts." Napoléon Bonaparte.
"Je crois que beaucoup de gens sont dans cet état d’esprit: au fond, ils ne sentent pas concernés par l’Histoire. Mais pourtant, de temps à autre, l’Histoire pose sa main sur eux." Michel Houellebecq.
Satie is almost overrated. He seems to be a favorite of new-to-classical-music fanboys who want to appear hip. There is a marvelous recording of the ballets,
L'Éventail de Jeanne and Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel which were composed collectively by Les Six and others. The work can be fun... witty... and oh so French.
Poulenc is certainly the best of Les Six... although honestly I need to listen more to Honeger. The others... even Milhaud... are minor at best. Some other composers of the era that I quite enjoy include Gabriel Pierne and Jacques Ibert. Ibert's music can be so audaciously irreverent... and so atmospheric and sensuous that I quite wish he had composed more. For some reason... a rejection of Wagnerian/Straussian/Germanic bombast and epic scale?... so many of the French composers of this era worked as miniaturists. In some ways this is even true of Stravinsky whose essential oeuvre seems rather puny in contrast to Richard Strauss, Shostakovitch, Prokofiev, etc... I guess this is preferable to Philip Glass who could surely use the aid of a good editor or two.
Beware of the man with just one book. -Ovid
The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.- Mark Twain
My Blog: Of Delicious Recoil
http://stlukesguild.tumblr.com/
This weekend, the HBO featured movie was "Moonrise Kingdom," quite an endearing film, but one of the most striking thngs about it was the soundtrack-- almost exclusively culled from the works of Benjamin Britten (and Hank Williams, Sr.) Not to diminish the excellence of Mr. Williams, the British composer's music was absolutely gorgeous, as well as accessible to a Yahoo such as yours fooly.
Hank Williams and Benjamin Britten? That sounds like a playlist I would chose for a day painting. Followed by Thelonius Monk, Donizetti, Muddy Waters, and J.S. Bach (Always J.S. Bach!)
Beware of the man with just one book. -Ovid
The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.- Mark Twain
My Blog: Of Delicious Recoil
http://stlukesguild.tumblr.com/
When we draw up lists of favorite (or most important) composers, the nationality of each choice almost always comes from a country on the European continent: Germany, Russia,Austria, Italy, France, with a few from Hungary and Scandinavia. We don't think of British composers, at least not immediately. BUT--
along with Mr. Britten:
Henry Purcell (1659-95)--Dido and Aeneas
George Frederic Handel (1685-1759) Originally from Germany before making Britain his home
Edward Elgar (1857-1934) Maybe "Pomp and Circumstance" --played ubiquitously this season of the year--ultimately did him a disservice in that his significant compositions aren't appreciated enough. His Cello Concerto is one of the most beautiful pieces in "modern" music, and Enigma Variations was far ahead of its time.
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Gustav Holst (1874-1934)-- "The Planets"
Sir Michael Tippett (1905-1998) Variation on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
(I just discovered that Samuel Barber was an American, but I was under the impression that Samuel Barber was British, perhaps because "Adagio for Strings" was played at Princess Di's funeral. The piece has been called "the saddest music of all time," but its poignance is undeniably beautiful.)
Last edited by AuntShecky; 05-21-2013 at 04:24 PM.
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