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Naxos has some really great recordings. Might I suggest you look into the Kodaly Quartet recordings of Haydn's string quartets (they are among the best at any price). For something a bit more modern, check out any of Antoni Wit's recordings of Penderecki (Wit studied under Penderecki). Istvan Bogar's recording of Brahm's Hungarian Dances are also among the best. Naxos is also great for recording new composers that rarely ever get recorded by the major labels.
This a great transcription of Beethoven's symphony by Franz Liszt, a man who was capable of transcribing virtually any orchestral piece for the piano. Beethoven was a much better composer than Liszt but Liszt is acknowledged to be a better pianist than Beethoven who was one of the 19th century's greatest pianists.Quote:
Originally Posted by Neely
Great will do.Quote:
Originally Posted by stlukesguild
I don't know what I'll do when I lose the Naxos connection next year - I might have to enrol on something just to keep it (and my student card) alive!
Been exploring Tristan und Islode.
Wagner's concept of gesamtkunstwerk and music-drama is in fact a bit different from traditional grand-opera, and we have it on authority from G. B. Shaw ('The Perfect Wagnerite') that in Wagner's late work (i.e., after Lohengrin) the voice is treated as an equal instrument with all other orchestral instruments--hence Wagner's design of the stage and orchestra pit at Bayreuth: the orchestra is not only sunken, but there is a large overhanging shell which looks something like this:
\~~~-G-----/
which pushes the orchestra's sound waves on to the stage as the vocalists' sound waves are projected towards the audience, thusly achieving an equal acoustic intensity.
Wagnerian vocalists are a separate category of opera singers due to the long rôles, stamina and physical requirements needed.
But in any case it is often unseemly how some hyper-enthusiasts tend to treat vocalists as if they are thoroughbred racehorses, handicapping their performances at the track as it were.
It's the wrong approach to art appreciation, which should be one of gratitude and humility.
One would imagine that any vocalist invited to perform with great orchestras at major venues would be entirely qualified, and therefore any performance of a major Wagnerian work should be appreciated for its individuality all round, including the unique timbre and tessitura of the vocalists' instruments: meaning, each singer brings something special to the table.
Of Tristan recordings, some have greatly favoured the Furtwängler--although it is virtually an 'antique' recording it's been remastered--featuring the famous Flagstad (although she couldn'd hit her high-Cs which were dubbed by Schwarzkopf):
http://www.amazon.com/Wagner-Tristan...=cm_lmf_tit_28
The 1966 Böhm set is justly admired:
http://www.amazon.com/Tristan-Isolde...f=cm_lmf_tit_8
(The previous year 1965 Böhm's complete Niblung's Ring cycle ditto:
http://www.amazon.com/Wagner-Ring-Ni...=cm_lmf_tit_27 )
Kleiber's white-hot realization is incredibly admirable:
http://www.amazon.com/Wagner-Tristan...f=cm_lmf_tit_9
Finally, the Karajan and Bernstein readings have their merits, but the three CD format of the Böhm and Kleiber have their attractions.
http://www.amazon.com/Richard-Wagner...9810034&sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/Tristan-Isolde...9810104&sr=1-1
(Bernstein set is OOP and therefore $$$$, although Hildegard Behrens was definitely a great Wagnerian dramatic soprano...)
Which one to get for a novice? Quick answer: Kleiber or Böhm.
Tristan was recently discussed in the opera thread - the recent Barenboim production from La Scala is really quite an incredible production, if you're interested. Waltraud Meier is a stunning Isolde, but the entire cast is excellent.
J.S. Bach
Cantata 205
'And, turning neither left nor right, he continued...'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33nKaU7UDwE
I prefer the Karajan recording of Tristan to all others. Nothing can equal the berlin Philharmonic under the control of such a perfectionist as Karajan... and as you note, the late Wagner works are as much about the orchestra as the vocalists... or rather the vocalists are but one more instrument within the whole. Karajan's recording has a certain icy eroticism that strikes me as perfectly suited to the work. After Karajan... I'd probably go with Bohm... and as you probably know... Bohm's set is cheaper than Karajan... or the out of print Bernstein... which I have not heard, but know is considered to be quite a controversial recording.
J.S. Bach
Cantata 205
'And, turning neither left nor right, he continued...'
I must admit that Musicology has at least one redeeming quality... his unfailing passion for Bach... which I can certainly not fault.
it is often unseemly how some hyper-enthusiasts tend to treat vocalists as if they are thoroughbred racehorses, handicapping their performances at the track as it were.
Opera fanatics are far more obsessed than fanatics of almost any other field outside of sports and politics. Where a classical music buff may disagree as to which recording of Beethoven's piano sonatas is best they are not likely to refer to Gilels and Rubinstein as talentless hacks, "sluts" or "whores" if they happen to prefer Kempff. This, however, is quite common among opera fanatics. All one needs to do is read the comments on nearly any YouTube video of an opera performance... especially those involving contemporary female singers. While I surely have favorite singers... singers I prefer to others... I can't imagine the need to so viciously attack the efforts of any other singer... especially when... as you note... nearly any singer who attains a certain status... performing with leading orchestras and at major international venues most certainly has a degree of ability that is well beyond that of most.
Hi StLukesguild,
I am of course an ignorant man. But I have been humbled by the fact of it over and over again. Whether that counts for anything is an open question. In the meantime I marvel at what seems, to me, beyond criticism.
Regards
http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=Y-AI...eature=related
Los Angeles Opera recently completed a Niblung's Ring cycle--which was great--so I've been listening to a lot of late Wagner lately.
Also exploring Russian Romantic opera with Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov, comparing Abbado's Boris Gudonov with Karajan's.
Meier's a fine vocalist; she sang Marie in Berg's Wozzeck under Barenboim (who's a great Wagnerian conductor as well).Quote:
Originally Posted by Lokasenna
What lovely music and music discussion it seems I've been missing lately. Thanks for the madrigal, St. Luke's. I had never heard that one before. You made me break my budgetary ban on i-tunes and spend the 99 cents on that track so I can carry it around in my i-pod. Was good and resisted buying the whole 2 CD collection it's on. Are the rest of the selections as good? Should I put it on my list of possible things to buy when grant money from kind patron comes in?Quote:
Originally Posted by stlukesguild
I've been listening to some early English music this afternoon in hopes it will inspire more rapid dissertation writing. I thought I would post "O Mistress Mine" from Shakespeare's 12th Night. It's one of the few of the many songs that appear in Shakespeare's plays that we can match with a high degree of confidence to an original tune, in this case one by Thomas Morley. Here's the best I could find of it on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxuab...eature=related
I will take my hat off to anyone who can explain to me why the song is accompanied by photographs of what I think are sloths (though I'd also like to know if they are something other than sloths, since I'm no zoologist). The much better, and sloth-free recording of the tune and other either original or contemporary setting of Shakespeare's songs (with the original pronunciation) is the CD I am listening to and use for teaching purposes:
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e3...170x170-75.jpg
In 2000... the 250th anniversary of J.S. Bach's death, the International Bach Academy of Stuttgart commissioned new settings of the 4 passion narratives of the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These commissions went to four very different contemporary composers: Wolfgang Rihm, Sofia Gubaidulina, Tan Dun, and Osvaldo Golijov:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4098/...40255f0e0b.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4115/...e356c4cbc6.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4118/...fc979be67c.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4141/...f4c4742a12.jpg
I have owned Tan Dun's Water Passion After St. Matthew for some 4 or so years now. It is a strange... yet somehow compelling work. The other three have been on my wish list for a good length of time now. Today my copy of Golijov's La Pasión según San Marcos arrived and I have been giving it a first listen. Where Tan Dun's effort was decidedly challenging... at times difficult... clearly within the Modernist tradition, Golijov's work is decidedly populist... employing the rhythms, instrumentation, joyful choruses, language (it is largely in Spanish... with some Latin and Aramaic passages) of Latin American Music.
The reviewer of The New Yorker exclaimed that Golijov's La Pasión según San Marcos "drops like a bomb on the belief that classical music is exclusively European art. It has a revolutionary air," while the Boston Globe critic declared the work to be "the first indisputably great composition of the 21st century." I agree on all accounts. It is along with Peter Lieberson's Neruda Songs and David Lang's Little Match Girl Passion one of the strongest and most moving works of classical music written since the turn of the millennium.
The piece is truly revolutionary... in the same manner in which Gershwin's Porgy and Bess was revolutionary in that like Gershwin's constuction of a serious opera based upon the jazz and other native American popular and classical music traditions, Golijov has the audacity to construct a work of "serious" music... a passion play in homage to that greatest of European masters: J.S. Bach... from the traditions of folk, pop, and classical music of Latin America.
Osvaldo Golijov was born and raised in Argentina of Jewish Romanian and Russian heritage. In the 1980s he moved to Israel where he absorbed the musical traditions of the Middle-East: ancient Hebrew, Arabic, and Christian. Over his career, his music has merged elements of this tradition with those of Latin-American and Spanish music, klezmer, Western classical, and pop. Golijov stages the entire drama of the Passion of Christ within a Latin-American setting that displays his affinity with the music of this aspect of his heritage far more than any other work that I have heard by the composer.
Golijov argues that Christ was a man of the people... a man of the streets... and should be presented in decidedly populist manner. Christ himself is often represented by the voice of the entire choir: as everyman. The composer employs a large choir that at times divides into two or even three choirs which echo or even argue with each other. The composer states that he thought of the distinct choirs as being based upon South American Easter processionals rooted in the Latin American synthesis of Catholicism and the Yoruba religion brought by African slaves. He intends something connoting the rituals and joyful processions coming from various villages as opposed to the Protestant tradition of somber meditation.
The initial effect of La Pasión según San Marcos is somewhat disconcerting... as if the take on the most sacred of narratives was almost blasphemous. The composer, after all, has the audacity to set this most sacred of narratives within a musical frame that at times suggests a rowdy South American night club with blaring horns and singers with sensuous smokey voices mouthing songs of seduction. But the music is also very effective.
There are sudden shifts in mood... going from the most uproarious and passionate, to passages of simplicity and quiet. In the scene of Gethsemane, the music suggests a delicate English choir with voices sailing high above. In the face of this, a mezzo sings the most haunting tune... suggestive of the Spanish lament or "deep song".
The most moving moment comes with the aria, Lúa Descolorida (Colorless Moon... the Aria of Peter's Tears). This aria sets a poem by Garcia-Lorca's beloved Rosalía de Castro written in Gallego (the language of the Galicia region in Spain) and defines despair in a way that is simultaneously tender and tragic. The soloist sings her haunting lament against the muted sounds of a string quartet. The aria was originally written for and performed by the singer Dawn Upshaw. Golijov states "the strongest inspiration for Lúa Descolorida was Dawn Upshaw's rainbow of a voice... I wanted to give her music so quietly radiant that it would bring an echo of the single tear that Schubert brings without warning..." It achieves this quite well... and in the context of the Passion... following Peter's 3rd denial of Christ... it powerfully conveys his emotions... his regret, pain, torment, and mourning. In a sense, it stands as the emotional climax of the entire work.
Where Lúa Descolorida is preceded by a moment of silence that makes it all the more powerful, it is followed by vicious voices... almost hissing and spitting... as they mock Christ. The Passion rapidly unfolds at this point. The journey to Golgotha and the crucifixion are accompanied by a raucous... at once mocking... yet joyful chorus that at once suggest Christ's tormentors... but also the joy of the believers who celebrate the Crucifixion as the penultimate event in the life of Christ... and ultimately humanity.
In the final moments the Crucifixion is portrayed... as it might be in a Latin-American passion play. The choir as the crowd shouts in derision: "Come down from the cross if you be the King of the Jews." And then: muerte... and Christ calls out, "Elohi, Elohi, Lama Shabachtani"... "My God, my God, why have you foresaken me?" In the final movement, Kaddish, a haunting Prayer for the Dead sung in Christ's own language of Aramaic as the women mourners repeat Christ's final words.
This particular recording comes complete with a DVD recording of a 2008 live performance of the work in Holland. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvTiWPV2da0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5FgO...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qceyTSpNxik
What lovely music and music discussion it seems I've been missing lately. Thanks for the madrigal, St. Luke's. I had never heard that one before. You made me break my budgetary ban on i-tunes and spend the 99 cents on that track so I can carry it around in my i-pod. Was good and resisted buying the whole 2 CD collection it's on. Are the rest of the selections as good? Should I put it on my list of possible things to buy when grant money from kind patron comes in?
The aria in question is undoubtedly the centerpiece of the entire cycle... but the 8th book of Monteverdi's madrigals as a whole is one of his supreme masterpieces... and the la Venexiana performances could not be better. Following the purchase of this and the 7th book... combined with the Vespers and L'Orfeo has me now thinking that Monteverdi may just be the most underrated of composers... ranking along side of Tchaikovsky, Debussy, Verdi, and few others among the greatest non-German composers.
[QUOTE=stlukesguild;926801.....Opera fanatics are far more obsessed than fanatics of almost any other field outside of sports and politics. Where a classical music buff may disagree as to which recording of Beethoven's piano sonatas is best they are not likely to refer to Gilels and Rubinstein as talentless hacks, "sluts" or "whores" if they happen to prefer Kempff. This, however, is quite common among opera fanatics. All one needs to do is read the comments on nearly any YouTube video of an opera performance... especially those involving contemporary female singers. While I surely have favorite singers... singers I prefer to others... I can't imagine the need to so viciously attack the efforts of any other singer... especially when... as you note... nearly any singer who attains a certain status... performing with leading orchestras and at major international venues most certainly has a degree of ability that is well beyond that of most.[/QUOTE]
This is keeping an old tradition alive, I think - it was not uncommon in the nineteenth century to have rival factions in Opera houses disrupting performances with cat-calls and raucous comments. I can't help feeling it is a custom that should be more honoured in the breach than in the observance, as someone once said, :), especially in the twentyfirst century.
Hector Berlioz (1803-69)
'Shepherd's Farewell'
'L'Enfance du Christ'
(King's College
Cambridge
England)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0vO4LDImrc
Hector Berlioz (1803-69)
Duet
"Nuit paisible"
Opera
'Beatrice and Benedict' (1862)
http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=JtZl...eature=related
///
To be fair, hanging, ducking witches, trial by ordeal, burning at the stake and Whig or Tory parliaments were traditional here, but fortunately, we've moved on a bit since then. Nor do we refer to people as a "bull's pizzle" any longer, as the Bard did, so hanging on to something objectionable just because it is "traditional" is less than desirable. By the way, where I live, up until fairly recently the outside toilet was traditional, but somehow, in the middle of the night when it was chucking it down with rain and blowing half a gale, we never really felt that connected to history.Quote:
Originally Posted by kasie
Don't tell me you have done away with the ty bach, Dafydd.:shocked:
I get obsessed with "Gymnopedies" every now and then:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7DBo...eature=related
Hector Berlioz
Overture
'Le Corsaire' (1844)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCkfi3uR7yY
I'm falling back on an old favourite while I work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5C99JyP2ns
Elgar's Cello Concerto - this is just the first movement, but everything else is on Youtube. This is probably the most famous recording - Jacqueline Du Pré on the Cello, with Barenboim conducting.
It's very unlike Elgar's usual jovial style, but that makes it all the more special. It is a profound piece of music, filled with deep emotion, and never fails to move me.
There is an anecdote that says of Elgar, during his final illness, that he remarked to a friend: "If ever after I'm dead you hear someone whistling this tune on the Malvern Hills, don't be alarmed. It's only me."
It is a sentiment I can understand.
Abbado's Carmen with Teresa Berganza (and Plácido Domingo).
http://www.amazon.com/Bizet-Carmen-G...1626345&sr=1-1
Can't get Carmen out of my mind since seeing Elina Garanca (with Alberto Alagana) in the MET's recent staging.
Elina Garanca is Carmen for me now--oh mamma!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elina_Garanca
Take it away, little Kapellmeister ! Amazing bass line. Amazing parts. Amazing vocal line. You heard it first. And that is all.
J.S. Bach
Ebarme dich, mein Gott
Soloist - Maureen Forrester (contralto)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_tXq...eature=related
Now: some little-heard, little-known Viennese chamber music:
http://www.amazon.com/Twilight-Roman...1907102&sr=1-1
Why do you always direct us to Amazon rather than Youtube where we can actually hear the music?Quote:
Originally Posted by Sebas. Melmoth
Incidentally, I read in the French press that the Hotel d' Alsace has recently been renovated and now costs considerably more than formerly.
Honestly I don't really 'do' YouTube (nor Facebook, nor Twitter).
I started collecting records (LPs & 45s) in the 1960s; in the 1980s I went CD, and that is what I use now--hard copy CDs (not downloads) with loudspeakers (not iPod with earbuds).
The download/iPod thing is for a younger generation than I.
(Besides, the techne involved in compressing and downloading over the internet distorts the sound, so I'm told.)
The reason I give Amazon links? Well, it's just something I'm familiar with.
If you wanted to find the music elsewhere I'm sure you probably could.
I'm still exploring the Baroque in some greater depth. Once again I'm listening to Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber and Jan Dismas Zelenka:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4093/...bc0d6946e1.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4082/...1ba29eba35.jpg
I went into a little background of both of these composers earlier this summer:
http://www.online-literature.com/for...=47822&page=27
At that time I was exploring mostly their choral works. Now I am listening to their instrumental pieces.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT7T2qa2ZuE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9wKF...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw9Fz...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLc0m...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUo50eZZNao
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A29rhG-Nqk0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsoqJga4-DY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g9PK...eature=related
Composers such as Zelenka and Biber offer a context for the great J.S. Bach... who as great as he was... did not exist of compose within a vacuum. Rather there were any number of greatly talented... even brilliant... composers who were essentially his peers... writing music worthy of exploration... and not involved in some great conspiracy involving the Knights Templar, the Rosicrucians, the Jesuits, the Freemasons, or any other secret society.
J.B. Vanhal (1739-1813)
Symphony in G Minor (c.1777)
Finale
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwrsj...eature=related
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Symphony No. 2 (c.1811)
Finale
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgY9c...eature=related
Gustav Mahler
Symphony No. 4
Finale
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boqy-...eature=related
//
While I should be working, I am in fact listening to music, as usual. Right now, I am listening to the wonder that is Haydn's 'Nelson' Mass in D Minor.
Have a listen to this wonderfully dark, tempestuous Kyrie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JRDB09pZB0
Carl Philip Emanuel Bach (1714-88)
Symphony for Strings & Continuo in E minor 'Hamburg'
H. 652, Wq. 177
Freiburger Barockorchester
Gottfried von der Goltz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KJTs...eature=related
Carl Philip Emanuel Bach (1714-88)
Cello Concerto
Wq. 172
3rd Movement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OdOa...eature=related
Chandos records has done a marvelous job of rediscovering a wealth of composers of the "classical era" beyond Mozart and Haydn... composers including:
Francois-Joseph Gossec
Johann Baptist Vanhal
Johann Nepomuk Hummel
Adalbert Gyrowetz
Joseph Myslivecek
Paul Wranitzky
Vaclav Pichl
Leopold Antonin Kozeluch
Franz Krommer
Leopold Antonin Kozeluch
Christian Cannabich
Antonio Salieri
Franz Xaver Richter
Carl Stamitz
Honestly, this is not an era I have explored in much depth beyond Mozart, Haydn, Rossini, early Beethoven, Boccherini, and a few others. Like many who came to classical music, it was the Romantic era that I first began to explore in great depth and since then I have put a good deal of effort into a greater exploration of the Baroque, Renaissance, Medieval, and Modern/Contemporary eras.
Lokasenna... I love Haydn's mass as well... but for some reason your link isn't working... at least not for me. I thought I'd post a version with the Conservatory of the LSO:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsvUguOVLa0
and a second version with Simon Preston, Tom Krause, Sylvia Stahlman, Wilfred Brown
Conducted by David Willcocks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSU_vQ7aT1s
Since Schubert recently popped up... let's give a listen to his lieder... where he remains unrivaled... and his Winterreise is perhaps his supreme achievement in the genre:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0uxvHQFQKU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pze4NxCOjg0
Thomas Quasthoff is phenomenal! I have had the chance to see him live twice now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLsaSm5iG9o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF6eN...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TF5Du...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSHdV...eature=related
Ian Bostridge, a tenor, brings a unique approach to these lieder commonly sung by baritones. He also presents the entire cycle in a beautifully realized film available on YouTube
How strange! It isn't working for me either anymore. But thank you very much for the alternative links!Quote:
Originally Posted by stlukesguild
Frederic Chopin
Valse Brilliante
Dinu Lipatti
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r08Z...eature=related
CPE Bach
Concerto in F
3rd Movement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMkzy...eature=related
CPE Bach
Sinfonia in E Flat
Prestissimo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS4_1...e=more_related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok24iv3Fcxc&NR=1
I find myself listening to various Bach cello suites - seems to have put me in a strange sort of sombre/thoughtful-like mood.
Ha, ha. I was in the library yesterday and a walked passed a small "junk" box of a few CDs for sale for 50p. I had a quick peek and I happened on, coincidentally, a double CD of Bach's cello suites 1-6!!! They are played by some guy called Trules Mork and seems a good quality CD, just playing it now. At 50p it was an insult not to buy it anyway!
#And then from the cello to the piano. Bach's English Suites, quite wonderful:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXSJf-1EzNU
Dmitri Shostakovich
Symphony No. 8
3rd Movement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYfli...eature=related
Truls Mørk is generally considered one of the finest cellists around; however, last year he was tragically infected with Lyme disease and can now no longer play the cello.Quote:
Originally Posted by Neely
Now: Russian piano music by Balakirev (mazurkas) with Alexander Paley.
Really? That's a sad story. It must be awful for a musician not to be physically able to play. Poor chap.Quote:
Truls Mørk is generally considered one of the finest cellists around; however, last year he was tragically infected with Lyme disease and can now no longer play the cello.
Terrible indeed.
Well, you snapped up a lucky break with Mørk's Bach's solo cello.
Now: Karajan's Rimsky's Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov.
http://www.deccaclassics.com/cat/sin...UCT_NR=4757718
J.S. Bach
Cantata 211
Coffee Cantata
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx36s...eature=related
This is from the film Rhapsody in Blue which was the usual Hollywood biopic. However, Oscar Levant's playing of this work is incomparable and easily the best of the many posted on Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIqnqabXCiQ
I have mixed feelings about Gershwin. He was really a pop song composer who attempted to pass himself off as "serious" classical composer... and yet his famous Rhapsody in Blue was actually orchestrated by the composer Ferde Groffe. The best version of Porgy and Bess, in my opinion, is that of Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald who recognized that the work is a piece of popular music, and succeeded in bringing out the strength of the jazz elements and the great melodies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIDOEsQL7lA
Unfortunately YouTube doesn't have a version of the brilliant version of "It Ain't Necessarily So."
Currently listening to Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's famous Stabat Mater... written literally upon the composer's deathbed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLKw6...next=1&index=1
His use of expressive dissonance was quite innovative... and considering that he died at at 26, one can only imagine what he might have achieved.