Classical Listening

Wonderful stuff Brian. And this -

Johannes Brahms
Variations on a Theme of Haydn
Berlin Philharmonic
Furtwangler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF9-x...eature=related

Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) -
Secular Madrigal/Duetto
Zefiro Torna E Di Soavi Accenti
c. 1640

http://www.mediafire.com/?8ri8swbzerqnrjn

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)

http://www.last.fm/music/Gustav+Mahler

Symphony No. 4
3rd Movement
Ruhevoll, poco adagio

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Leonard Bernstein

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zyw7b...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUlAW...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0uxQ...eature=related

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Musicology

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)

http://www.last.fm/music/Gustav+Mahler

Symphony No. 4
3rd Movement
Ruhevoll, poco adagio

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Leonard Bernstein

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zyw7b...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUlAW...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0uxQ...eature=related

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Thanks for posting this Mahler, it is a symphony that I have neglected for his more frequently recorded works. It is quite magical and when Edith Mathis sings:
" Wir fuhren ein englisches Leben.
" Sind dennoch ganz lustig daneben."
I really did laugh out loud, remembering the fun I had in the Germany
of my younger days.

It's a quite wonderful symphony, yes ? One of those great works that never seems to end, and never should.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCsnp...eature=related

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Brian Bean

Thanks for posting this Mahler, it is a symphony that I have neglected for his more frequently recorded works. It is quite magical and when Edith Mathis sings:
" Wir fuhren ein englisches Leben.
" Sind dennoch ganz lustig daneben."
I really did laugh out loud, remembering the fun I had in the Germany
of my younger days.

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Jean Sibelius
Karelia Suite
Op.11 (1893)
Alla marcia

(Must take one every day, with fresh water) LOL !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIois...eature=related

Just been listening to Francesco Geminiani's wonderful cello sonatas, there's one here (not the same performance I've been listening to, from Naxos, but just thought I'd share it nevertheless).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWprj8JJMM8

I have recently been struggling to play this piece on the piano and have just found this video of the late Maureen Forrester singing it. I was blown away by her appearance in a performance of Mahler's 2nd symphony in London some years ago. Hers was truly a great voice as evidenced here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhN-fOdD7Jc

Jean Sibelius
Karelia Suite
Op. 11 (1893)
Opening
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Sir Charles Mackerass

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtIw5...eature=related

Ludwig van Beethoven
Concerto No. 1
1st Movement
Soloist: Murray Perahia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYg2FxJVN2c

Ludwig van Beethoven
Concerto No. 4
(End of 1st movement)
Soloist: Murray Perahia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdfpaMpRvpo

Ludwig van Beethoven
Concerto No. 3
Soloist - Murray Perahia
1st Movement (ending)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaiL0...ext=1&index=10

Ludwig van Beethoven
Concerto No 5
Second Movement
Adagio un poco mosso
Soloist: Murray Perahia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ideg2...eature=related

Johann Sebastian Bach
Magnificat
BWV 243

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUEFs...eature=related

JS Bach
Aria
Cantata 34

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2JfLwVvcl8&NR=1

I've been spending the last hour or so listening to several different versions of Scarborough Fair, it's such a great song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JgaZ...eature=related
I'm in that mood...

It's Kreisler for me tonight, as I re-read King Lear.

Far, far above, and ever present.

Chorus from BWV 248

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLLYs...eature=related

Antonin Dvorak
Symphony
'From the New World'
Scherzo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSSVS...eature=related

Antonin Dvorak
Nocturne for String Orchestra in B Major
Op.40

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DayCXpRoE_c

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wilde woman

It's Kreisler for me tonight, as I re-read King Lear.

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Does Kreisler's violin pair well with Lear, or is this simply coincidental? Your post makes me realize that I don't believe that this thread has ever involved a discussion of something I imagine its participants do constantly, which is listening to music while reading. Do people here consciously choose certain pieces to listen to when reading certain types of literature or specific literary works? Or are there musical pieces you associate with certain books or passages because you were listening to that music when you read them the first time? I often have music playing in the background while reading, and find it's important to have a fairly good match between the music and the text (though if I'm reading poetry for the first time or in a particularly attentive way I generally need to have a quiet room so that I can hear only the language). Sometimes when re-reading something I already know well I have a whole play list going and go back and forth between pieces as though I was making my own personal movie score for my reading experience. I know that when I was doing my reading for my oral exam year, I thought a lot about how to pair my music and my reading because pretty much all I was doing was listening to music and reading. A certain passage in Mozart's Requiem still reminds me of Camilla's death in the Aeneid, for example. I also tended to listen to certain types of scenes with the same piece. For example, for scenes of pleasure loving ladies tempting knights (something that happens a lot in Medieval literature) I tended to turn on the flower duet from Lakme:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Qx2lMaMsl8

or an appropriate excerpt from Wagner's Parsifal:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ3gisZoIws

I found that an unintentional benefit to was that the music helped me remember where similar types of passages appeared in different works, which helped me in my exam. So...classical music as the path to doctoral exam success.

Does anyone else think about the music reading pairing thing, or am I just betraying my phenomenal geekiness? :D

I very rarely listen to music and read together at the same time. I will listen to music and do other things, like write or browse the internet, but when it comes to reading I like it quiet.

JS Bach
A Little 3 Part Invention in G Major
BWV 796/10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pdQu...eature=related

JS Bach
Invention in A Major
BWV 783

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc7Zk...eature=related

JS Bach
Chromatic Fantasy in D Minor
BWV 903/1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtKS5...eature=related

I went to a university-sponsered concert the other evening, where Raphael Wallfisch gave a complete run-through of Bach's cello suites. It was... not brilliant, and certainly not a patch on the previous year's visit by Pascal Rogé (who produced a very thoughtful programme of Chopin, Debussy and Fauré, and was probably the finest concert I have ever been to in my life).

I have a reasonably difficult relationship with Bach at the best of times, and the cello suites really aren't designed to be played back-to-back. Maybe I was expecting too much, but even my fairly average ears could pick out the many dissonances, wrong keys and off notes. Of course, the suites were not designed for a modern cello, which does make them harder to play. But Wallfisch himself seemed distracted... at times, we were listening to a world-class cellist playing beautifully, and at others he seemed to either be barely in control of his instrument, or else functioning on auto-pilot. His rendition of the 5th suite was utterly masterful (and worth the price of admission alone), but it seemed a completely different creature from his rather jarring, chaotic interpretation of the 2nd suite.

One of the friends who went with me is a musicologist, and he wasn't impressed either. But maybe the fellow was having a bad day? Who knows...

Anyway, right now I'm consoling myself (and putting off some work) with a wonderful selection of Saint-Saens that my friend has lent me - I'm really falling in love with his style.

Hi Lokasenna,

To me, those Cello Suites are often inaccessible. But at other times I really get in to them. It's a strange relationship I have with them.

The Rach Man arrived today via Amazon