And the Solti recordings are so superb, too... That really isn't a bad price for that amount of music.
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And the Solti recordings are so superb, too... That really isn't a bad price for that amount of music.
Her technique is truly amazing. But she's all about the fireworks and not the insight. It's not surprising that her outfits get so much attention; her playing only draws attention to her too. Whether people watch her or listen to her, they're only supposed to be thinking about Yuja Wang.Quote:
Originally Posted by Emil Miller
Much the same was said of Franz Liszt's performances but he is also often referred to as the greatest pianist in the history of the piano. Noted for his flamboyant dress when young, he gradually toned down his appearance with the passage of time; as Yuja Wang has said: " I'm not going to be wearing short dresses when I'm forty so I might as well wear them now."Quote:
Originally Posted by Anton Hermes
In any event, she doesn't always wear short dresses and often appears in traditionally long gowns.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ9EUBXckB8
Just listening to Glenn Gould and Bach again, such a civilizing process.
I've just come across this film thing about Glenn Gould, it sounds interesting I wondered if anyone had seen it?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Short-Films-...3197719&sr=8-2
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108328/
Edit: possibly my most listened to and favourite piece of all time - well certainly the first movement:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnRIU4u7B9o
I really liked Thirty-Two Short Films about Glenn Gould. It avoided the usual pitfalls of the conventional biopic by focusing on different aspects of his life and work in each chapter. The actor who portrays Gould doesn't look at all like the pianist, but his mannerisms and speech rhythms (sometimes he's even miming to actual recordings of Gould speaking) are quite appropriate. Some fans may complain that it's an arty, self-conscious movie, and Gould comes off as an inscrutable eccentric at odds with his audience and celebrity more than a genuine human being. But the film, like its subject, is fascinating nevertheless.Quote:
Originally Posted by Neely
Excellent thanks. I'm going to watch it, it sounds interesting. I am beginning to love some of the Amazon reviews too. Take this one on the film I read yesterday:Quote:
Originally Posted by Anton Hermes
I love the last bit especially.Quote:
Available at last on DVD in the UK! I have been raving about this film for years. I video'd it off the TV years ago because it was on one afternoon while I was at work. I was astounded by it and I literally wore the tape out watching it. I have never been able to buy it because it is rare on VHS and has been noexistant on DVD in the UK until now. The film is a masterpiece and the actor playing Gould (Colm Feore) is a genius here at portraying the inner life of a genius. The non linear format of the film is structured like a piece of music and you just need to go with it. If you love Gould already, you will love this.
If you don't love Gould already, you will after watching this. Turn down the lights, lock the door and step into the mind of a genius. It is a profound and deeply moving experience that you will return to.
I write this review as I wait for my copy to arrive. When it does it will not be a good idea to disturb me for at least 93 minutes :)
Whilst on the subject of Amazon reviews (or such reviews in general) I have to share this even though it has nothing to do with music. I was looking at chess clocks for Christmas (I know, I know, but I have always wanted one) when I came across this one. I've been thinking about it all day.:lol:
What the hell??:lol: I just can't get the image of this bloke walking around his house tapping the clock from left to right. Brilliant.Quote:
Great timer. I don't play chess - I wanted something that would have two timers that could count upwards. I work from home so I use the left side for when I'm doing work and the right side for when I'm messing about, so that it guilts me into doing more work. The design is nice and sturdy. It's quite big but not stupidly so - check the dimensions before you buy to make sure it's OK for you.
I'm about 3/4 through the Glenn Gould film thng, I've had to pause it for now because I'm dong something else. It's interesting. It's a little fragmentary and erratic for my tastes exactly, but that of course matches Gould's personality and is presumably is the point of the production?
Oh he had to be autistic. I was reading briefly that his autism was disputed by some but he surely was. He reminds me of Fischer, another disputed autistic genius who was clearly autistic.
Anyway, all week I've been listening to...guess what? Yes Gould and Bach - various - so the film thing was certainly not out of place.
I always feel a little frustrated with these genius type loner figures though. I mean so much potential to go way beyond and they always fall short of their own massive potential. We should be grateful and are to a degree, but there is something so frustrating about unfulfilled genius (unless that's just me). I mean take both Gould and Fischer as I mentioned them. Gould stopped playing live in his early 30s and his own original compositions fizzled to nothing. Fischer could have been the undisputed, greatest ever player of chess the world has ever known but quit after his world storming victory in fear that the Russians were trying to kill him (or whatever paranoia it was - regardless, we don't forgive him for it). And of course, we all know that true genius always seems to die early, like Mozart for example. How inconvenient for us.
Anyway...
Again! Let them play on!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnRIU4u7B9o
St Luke's and I have in recent years proclaimed the virtues of various pianists and, while everyone has their favourites, there must come a point where individual preference is overruled by a performance that is so great that all others, whatever their musicality, remain as also rans. Such is the performance of Van Cliburn in the Tchaikovsky’s first Piano Concerto, which is also an historic performance because it heralded a breakthrough in East/West relations. The work’s dynamics have never been better realised than this, and the overall presentation is so majestic as to remain the greatest performance on record. If human greatness means anything at all, then this is it.
http://youtu.be/f7MAriotZyE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpOtuoHL45Y
Liszt Liebestraum. Another old favourite piece.
Beat this:
http://youtu.be/weBcmhMwGnY
Yes... the Chinese are set to surpass America in crass bombast and vulgarity.
Yue Minjun... one of the rising stars of the Chinese art world:
http://www.initialaccess.co.uk/admin/artistimg/46.jpg
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/g...yueminjun2.jpg
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/g.../AAA/yue-1.jpg
I prefer this one myself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBaHPND2QJg
[QUOTE=stlukesguild;1191449]Yes... the Chinese are set to surpass America in crass bombast and vulgarity.
:lol: I doubt it, that was a Japanese performance.
I've been digging on Chopin (Nocturnes, especially) and Brahms' chamber music lately... I guess that's pretty boring and safe as far as classical goes, but I'm enjoying it. Brahms' chamber works has especially given me a whole new appreciation for him as a composer.
I've been listening to a lot of Jonathan Harvey's orchestral work. This phenomenal British composer passed away last week. Body Mandala (2006) is a great testament to his creativity.
I doubt it, that was a Japanese performance.
Acckk! My bad. I should have looked at the text closer. Clearly not Chinese. Surprising, however. The Japanese usually have far greater taste when it comes to classical music.
I've been digging on Chopin (Nocturnes, especially) and Brahms' chamber music lately... I guess that's pretty boring and safe as far as classical goes, but I'm enjoying it. Brahms' chamber works has especially given me a whole new appreciation for him as a composer.
What performer on the Nocturnes?
Brahms' chamber works is quite likely the strongest aspect of his oeuvre. It was only after hearing his symphonies by John Eliot Gardiner that I came around to them... although his German Requiem is absolutely magnificent.
Currently listening to another volume of Bach's cantatas... also by John Eliot Gardiner:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...DL._SS400_.jpg
Two major losses to music this week: Dave Brubeck and Galina Vishnevskaya:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obit...hnevskaya.html
Garrick Ohlsson on Hyperion, which is currently the only set I have.Quote:
Originally Posted by stlukesguild
I'm starting to think the same about his chamber works, though I've always been drawn to the symphonies. I personally like Klemperer's approach to them. The German Requiem I'm quite ambivalent about; I love about half the movements (1, 2, 4, and 7) and don't care for the rest. Its best moments are wonderful, though.Quote:
Originally Posted by stlukesguild
Klemperer is a great "old school" approach to Brahms. Bohm, Kleiber, Karajan, and Walter are equally valid choices. Gardiner takes a historically-informed approach... basing the interpretations on what musicologists have discovered of the instruments, playing styles, orchestral sizes, etc... of the composer's life-time. His performances are more muscular... lean.. and transparent... cutting through some of Brahms notorious density. Now I'm not saying Gardiner is the last word on Brahms... but it opened up my grasp of his work so that I have a new appreciation of it... even in older performances by Klemperer, Bohm, etc...
Gardiner's performance of the German Requiem, by the way, has become the gold standard.
The essential recording of Chopin's nocturnes is that of Rubinstein by which all others are measured.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg
You'll want to give it a listen to at some time.
They say deaths come in threes, and the music world suffered a third major loss in less than a week: Ravi Shankar:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/13/ar...anted=all&_r=0
I really don't understand what the 'notorious density' of Brahms is. I have never heard reference made to it before and I don't personally find his orchestral work dense. Yes, there is a lot going on but its all thematically and logically interwoven. If you want to hear what over scoring really sounds like try listening to much of Delius.
http://youtu.be/4t9QUr0YPx4
I'm sorry this thread is going through an obituary phase, but Charles Rosen just passed away on Sunday at age 85. He was a musicologist and author as well as a pianist. Skilled in the standard repertoire, he was also dedicated to modern and contemporary works too.
I saw him perform in Elliott Carter's Double Concerto at Tanglewood for the composer's centenary festival. And his performance of Webern's Variations for Piano op. 27 was particularly sensitive.
I am aware of the divide between HIP vs. modern approaches, but unlike many I'm not dogmatic about either, but rather base my preferences on a case-by-case basis. I love Gardiner as a conductor, especially with the classical and pre-classical era, but when it comes to the Romantics I tend to prefer the modern approaches of the Klemperers, Karajans, Bohms, etc. Klemperer, even more than Karajan, I think, nails my own perception of what Brahms' symphonies are; of course, everyone is entitled to their conductors who nail their own vision.Quote:
Originally Posted by stlukesguild
I definitely plan to. I tend to start listening to composers through complete collections and then base my future purchases on the works that most strike my fancy.Quote:
Originally Posted by stlukesguild
I think the fact that there's a lot going on is why they're considered dense. Brahms was an extremely intellectual composer, so of course everything is thematically and logically interwoven, but that doesn't make it any less dense. Beethoven's Gross Fugue is logically interwoven, but still dense as all hell.Quote:
Originally Posted by Emil Miller
This is an amazing performance in which Toscanini brings his immense authority to give the piece classic status. Although the sound doesn't match that of Karajan's, I can hear things here that I don't on the 1976 Deutsche Gramaphon recording. The battle scene is truly terrific and Toscanini takes no prisoners.
http://youtu.be/Yf4bnU-D_Tw
Emil Miller- I really don't understand what the 'notorious density' of Brahms is. I have never heard reference made to it before and I don't personally find his orchestral work dense. Yes, there is a lot going on but its all thematically and logically interwoven. If you want to hear what over scoring really sounds like try listening to much of Delius.
MorpheusSandman-I think the fact that there's a lot going on is why they're considered dense. Brahms was an extremely intellectual composer, so of course everything is thematically and logically interwoven, but that doesn't make it any less dense. Beethoven's Gross Fugue is logically interwoven, but still dense as all hell.
Emil... I think that Morpheus has hit upon what I mean by "density". I am not speaking of lushness of orchestration... which is nothing in comparison to Ravel, Rimsky-Korsakov, Wagner, Richard Strauss, or even, as you note, Delius. Bach can also be incredibly dense... although the Baroque formal structures may make the complex underlying forms quite a bit more clear than with Brahms. Still, if one compares Bach to Vivaldi or Handel or Alessandro Scarlatti is is clear that Johann Sebastian is far more complex... knotty... dense while the other composers are lighter... more transparent. Obviously, as I acknowledge Bach as the greatest composer ever, I am not making a negative value judgment when I speak of a composer as being more "dense".
I participate on several classical music forums, and with a number of classical music lovers IRL... and I have repeatedly come upon those who find themselves stumped... or even put off by Brahms' symphonic works... much in the same manner as they are put off by Bruckner and Schumann. Many of these same individuals love Wagner and Mahler... and I suspect there is something more open... airy... transparent... even lyrical to their work. It may also have something to do with the very formal classical structure of composers like Brahms and Schumann vs the more open-ended compositions of Wagner and Mahler. The same individuals who have expressed a dislike of Brahms' and Schumann's symphonic works repeatedly express the highest admiration for their chamber works... and one suspects that the complexity of form becomes clearer with fewer instruments. Something similar occurs with the HIP approach to Brahms' symphonic works... as with the recordings by Gardiner. This is not to say that I imagine Gardiner as the last word on Brahms. I personally found that after hearing Gardiner's interpretations I was relate better to performances by Karajan, Bohm, Walter, etc...
Personally, I have no bias for or against HIP recordings. I prefer Bach played by Gould, Hewitt, Perahia, and Schiff... all on piano as opposed to harpsichord. I love Bohm's and Karajan's "old school" performances of Haydn's Creation and Seasons... but I also love Gardiner, William Christies, Marc Minkowski, and other HIP practitioners. Ultimately, it comes down to the individual performance... and what it brings to the music.
*****
Death notices seem to be a recent theme. Unfortunately, I cannot ignore the latest great loss to the classical music world:
Lisa della Casa (2 February 1919 – 11* December 2012)
http://www.iletisimhaberajansi.com/h...87_510_310.jpg
Lisa della Casa was a Swiss soprano most admired for her interpretations of major heroines in major operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Richard Strauss, of German lieder, and for her great beauty. She was dubbed “the most beautiful woman on the operatic stage”. Della Casa sang the part of Zdenka in the performance of Richard Strauss's Arabella at Zurich Municipal Opera House at the Salzburg Festival in 1947, in a performance starring Maria Reining and Hans Hotter. After the premiere, Richard Strauss himself commented, "The little Della Casa will one day be Arabella!" Indeed, Arabella became della Casa's defining role. She made the first commercial recording of Richard Strauss's Four Last Songs (Karl Böhm) in 1953 for Decca, and many classical music lovers claim this recording to be the greatest available. It has been suggested that Strauss may have composed these songs with della Casa's voice in mind. The singer established herself repeatedly as one of the greatest performers of Strauss' music. On 26 July 1960, the newly-built Salzburg Festspielhaus opened with a performance of Der Rosenkavalier under Herbert von Karajan. She sang the part of the Marschallin in this performance with Sena Jurinac as Octavian and Hilde Gueden as Sophie. Originally, Karajan and film director Paul Czinner planned to make a film of the performance, they asked Della Casa to sing the part of the Marschallin in the film too and she gladly accepted. But due to Walter Legge, well-known recording producer of EMI and husband of Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Della Casa was replaced by Schwarzkopf for the film. Shocked with being betrayed by this last-minute decision, although she sang the scheduled performances of the season (the Marschallin and Countess Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, Della Casa decided never to sing there again. When asked several times subsequently to do so, she declined, replying: "No, sir, for me, Salzburg is dead." The singer was also particularly admired for her performances of Mozart and Johann Strauss.
I only came upon Della Casa's work over the last two years... and immediately found her performances as beautiful and aristocratic as she herself was. Among her "essential" recordings, I would include:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGeCjq3uYX0
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012...isa-della-casa
(* There seems to be some confusion as to whether della Casa dies on December 10 or 11)
For whatever reason, Bach has never really gelled with me, even though I continue to listen to him with somewhat frequency. I keep thinking it will eventually click, but of all the greats he certainly leaves me the coldest. I much prefer Handel, Vivaldi, and Purcell, even while acknowledging they are certainly much less intellectually complex and demanding.Quote:
Originally Posted by stlukesguild
I think that's a good analysis. Schumann and Brahms both certainly took very intellectually acute approaches to the classical forms, so unless a listener is inclined to listening to that kind of language, it can sound difficult and severe. Schumann was a bit more experimental than Brahms, though, especially in his solo piano works and some of his chamber music.Quote:
Originally Posted by stlukesguild
Shame. I have her Mozart recordings and they are wonderful.Quote:
Originally Posted by stlukesguild
Since my answers to this question would include mostly classical music I thought I'd cross post this question here:
I have long thought of Christmas and the holidays in general as accompanied by a musical soundtrack. What music are you listening to for the holidays?
For me Bach has always been intimately linked with Christmas. My first real exposure to classical music took place in the Lutheran Church I attended as a child. My mother sang in the church choir (soprano) and as a result I developed a love for Bach and choral music in general. Today I listened to Monica Groop's marvelous performance of Bach's alto cantatas... some of his greatest achievements in the genre... and one of my favorite recordings:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg
right now... I am listening to the joyful Christmas Oratorio performed by Philippe Herreweghe:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg
And you?
I can't go a Christmas without listening to Handel's Messiah. This Christmas it was the Linn version conducted by John Butt. It's a much pared down version, but sung and recorded with such purity and clarity that I don't miss the sonic bombast of more classic interpretations. Susan Hamilton is quickly becoming one of my favorite sopranos, as well. Besides that I have various compilations of traditional Christmas songs/music by classical performers. One of my favorites is Christmas at Carnegie Hall with Kathleen Battle, Frederica von Stade, Wynton Marsalis, and Andre Previn.
I also was brought up with Bach in a Lutheran church where father and grandfather played pipe organ and conducted the choir. Classical musical was played occasionally at home but playing a Reader's Digest record set of classical symphonies converted me to Classical, late in high school. All except Bach.Quote:
Originally Posted by MorpheusSandman
Only a decade later, hearing by chance a Bach cantata (they're all fabulous) did the penny drop. For me the difficulty with Bach lay in his using the outdated polyphonic style of his predecessors (Heinrich Schutz, for instance). Once I began to consciously separate the two or more, simultaneous strains of melody, Bach's music suddenly made sense. Other baroque music tends to be less polyphonic and no harder to grasp than music of the Classical and Romantic periods.
I actually LIKE polyphonic music. I'm a huge fan of Monteverdi, Byrd, Josquin, Palestrina, and the polyphonic writing of Handel and Purcell (which, admittedly, isn't as frequent or as dense as Bach's), so it's not the polyphony for me. So much of Bach just sounds mechanical to my ears; a friend of mind described it as clockwork, which is a good adjective. While I can listen and admire the complexity and compositional intelligence, I rarely feel that emotional gut-punch that I get with the others mentioned. However much talent Bach had for pure musical expression, I do feel he wasn't much of a dramatist. Monteverdi, Handel, and Purcell were very much influenced by opera, so they infused much of their polyphony with that kind of drama, and even the others showed an interest in word painting, which Bach rarely seemed interested in in his vocal music.
Bach's music fascinates me, but I agree with the comments above. His appeal for me is the subtlety and intricacy of his music. It's not as exciting or dramatic as that of Monteverdi or Mozart, but I don't find it dry or academic.
ETA: Of course, I'm also a fan of Schoenberg and Babbitt, so I have a higher tolerance for cerebral music than many folks. YMMV.
I think Bach's partitas and cello concertos are more than "clockwork" - but I do see where you get the idea.
Bach's music can indeed be quite complex... almost mathematical in terms of structure... but is can also be quite delicate... and emotional:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZS-HWIFyLsE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fCDV4Mw8W8
However much talent Bach had for pure musical expression, I do feel he wasn't much of a dramatist. Monteverdi, Handel, and Purcell were very much influenced by opera, so they infused much of their polyphony with that kind of drama, and even the others showed an interest in word painting, which Bach rarely seemed interested in in his vocal music.
I agree with this. Listening to Handel's oratorios I am struck at just how dramatic... theatrical... operatic they are.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5HefO1_W4M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB0cPhSYRss
Bach... in contrast... can be far more dense... but he also can be far more intimate. I recently attended a performance of the complete St. Matthew Passion at Oberlin College. This work is generally acknowledged as one of the pinnacles of not only Bach's oeuvre but also of the whole of choral music. yet what struck me is just how reserved Bach was with regard to his use of the entire orchestral/vocal forces. There are but a few movements in which he pulled out all the stops and gave us the whole orchestra and chorus. For most of the work, we are presented with something akin to chamber music: small ensembles of singers and instruments in an endless array or variety. This is true of much of his choral works. Undoubtedly, this was owed to the composer working with the talents he had at hand in the small town church orchestra and choir. When he had a particularly talented alto vocalist on hand... he wrote music that made the best use of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCSj0fu4sHs
at another time... in another movement... he might employ a combination of soprano, bass and violin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDZED15I8eU
Oddly enough, while my preferences lean toward the symphonic and operatic, Bach remains my absolute favorite composer.
Because it came up recently, I've been listening to Monteverdi's settimo libro di madrigall: forgot how good it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79nKpA71ryc
(not the best recording, but....)
I have trouble reading english but I can assure you Bach and his son Carl are by far the best. Take my word for it. I'm sorry I didn't read all that everyone said I was say window shopping.
.
Happy Birthday Mozart
The mention of your name brings back so many fond memories from a couple years ago.
Hilary Hahn & Natalie Zhu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7xPIyePmNk
Kyrie Eleison
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL-ttyIhSYk
http://i963.photobucket.com/albums/a...-R02-040-1.jpg
Ha! I was just about to bump this thread by saying this as well! Anyway, allow me to echo the sentiments: Happy Birthday to, IMHO, the greatest composer that ever lived. I only wish we would've been privileged to hear another 20 years or so of his genius. Mozart turned me on to classical music back in my early teens, and he remains the composer I still come back to the most after all these years. There are so many gems in his oeuvre--many of which are under-appreciated to this day--that it's difficult to tire of his work. A good example is his String Trio K. 563, which is still probably the finest trio of any type I've ever heard.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gilliatt Gurgle
Happy Birthday to, IMHO, the greatest composer that ever lived.
I share your sentiments in wishing Wolfgang a Happy Birthday (although, sadly I must demote him to the rank of second greatest composer ever, J.S. Bach firmly standing above all:smilewinkgrin:) I agree that there are so many gems by Mozart that are not well enough known... or heard. One of my favorites:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLdTf2JjrYI
Mozart's operas are the pinnacle of his oeuvre... and among the finest works ever produced within the genre. Over the past year a body of work that I have been rediscovering is his collected concert arias. These brilliant works virtually add up to another one... if not two operas worth of marvelous operatic arias:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zsts8BK1lVs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-i7HbAYVbLM