Classical Listening

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05-12-2011, 09:16 AM
Musicology

''And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; Of whom the world was not worthy - they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth'' - (Book of Hebrews)

JS Bach
Aria
Mache dich meine Herze rein
BWV 244
Thomas Quasthoff

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjoGs...eature=related
05-12-2011, 11:41 AM
Lokasenna

I agree when it comes to Strauss - I've been listening to some of his stuff recently. Last night I listened to the Four Last Songs and Metamorphosen - incredible, poignant, sadly beautiful and profoundly moving.

As to whether he was the best of the century, that's a hard one to call.
05-12-2011, 01:21 PM
Emil Miller

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lokasenna

I agree when it comes to Strauss - I've been listening to some of his stuff recently. Last night I listened to the Four Last Songs and Metamorphosen - incredible, poignant, sadly beautiful and profoundly moving.

As to whether he was the best of the century, that's a hard one to call.

I too have Metamorphosen as well as the Four Last songs, both written when Strauss had seen opera houses and concert halls in Germany reduced to rubble and all the more remarkable in consequence. What is even more remarkable is that he took the musical world by storm at the age of 21 with his tone poem Don Juan and was only 25 when he produced Death and Transfiguration. His early study of aesthetics enabled him to produce sounds that no other composer, with the possible exception of Mahler - and setting aside the twelve-tone works of Berg and Webern- and raise the emotional impact of orchestral music to a new level. I would agree with StLukes that he is the twentieth century's greatest composer
05-12-2011, 04:45 PM
LitNetIsGreat

I have unanimously decided that it is Puccini night in the Neely household tonight. With a nice bottle of Chablis flowing, a 60 play list of Puccini fully loaded and two naked ladies rubbing my toes; life doesn't get much better than this. :yesnod:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu5Tk...CYbgY0252rPfMB

OK, so I was lying about the naked ladies, but everything else is true!
05-12-2011, 06:36 PM
Emil Miller

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neely

I have unanimously decided that it is Puccini night in the Neely household tonight. With a nice bottle of Chablis flowing, a 60 play list of Puccini fully loaded and two naked ladies rubbing my toes; life doesn't get much better than this. :yesnod:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu5Tk...CYbgY0252rPfMB

OK, so I was lying about the naked ladies, but everything else is true!

If you are looking at music that speaks from the heart, rather than from the brain, then Puccini is your man. Romanticism is the apogee of musical development for those who instinctively relate to music as opposed those who have to think about it first.
05-12-2011, 07:03 PM
LitNetIsGreat

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emil Miller

If you are looking at music that speaks from the heart, rather than from the brain, then Puccini is your man. Romanticism is the apogee of musical development for those who instinctively relate to music as opposed those who have to think about it first.

Ha, ha, ha you cold hearted fellow. I make it my mission to fall in love at least once a day!

I formally declare May 12th as Puccini day and I am happy for it. I am sorry with all my heart to find you so resolute, but I'll keep my Puccini day to the last. So a merry Puccini day uncle Emil and god bless you all!!

:cheers2:
05-12-2011, 07:14 PM
stlukesguild

In the case of Vaughan Williams, it's not just a few brilliant works. All his symphonies are highly rated. Having listened to these, and most of Strauss' tone poems, Vaughan Williams just edges it for me (today!) Don't you think Strauss' output is rather lacking when it comes to symphonies? Or do you count his tone poems as symphonies?

Yes... I quite love Vaughan-Williams' symphonies... although I doubt that any of them is really overly innovative. Perhaps the symphony was rather a dead form in the 20th century... at least in the sense of being the form where one is presented with major innovative works... compare this with the symphony under mahler, Bruckner, Brahms, Schubert, Beethoven, etc... I agree that Strauss' symphonic work is not enough to make him a contender for the title of "greatest" composer of the century. IT is the operas that are his greatest achievement.

I agree Shostakovitch is a contender... great breadth, and long cycles (!)... I'd put in a word for his string quartets as well...

Yes... I forgot the quartets... and I would also add the quartets to the major works of Bartok's oeuvre that make him a contender.

And Stravinsky... I listened to the Haitink "Decca Double" recently... great stuff... he's not just a one work wonder, though "Rite" is the highlight...

What about Rachmaninov?

Certainly a worthy contender. He was long dismissed by many as too conservative, but lets face it, his is a major body of work that outweighs many of the more innovative composers. You have several great symphonies, several brilliant piano concertos, 3 brief but worthy operas, a great body of Romance (or Russian art songs), the Preludes, the Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini, and the great choral works including The Bells and the Vespers.

Delius, Bax, et. al, tend to get a fairly bad press, still, in the UK. But I usually like what crops up on BBC Radio 3. I just bought Beecham's "English Music" box ... mostly Delius ... and Bax is in my sights... Benjamin Britten is a bit too atonal for me... so far...

Britten's Cello Suites and his violin and piano concerto are particularly fine. His greatest work is as a composer of vocal music... this includes a good number of marvelous song cycles, his brilliant choral works (perhaps culminating in the War Requiem) and his operas.
05-13-2011, 08:32 AM
Musicology

Nikolai Rimsky Korsakov (1844-1908)
Shéhérazade
2nd Mvt/Part 2
Kurt Masur
Leipzig Gewandhausorchester

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f03we...eature=related
05-13-2011, 09:34 AM
mal4mac

New World Symphony II (part 1) by Antonin Dvorak (1841–1904). Wiener Philharmoniker. Herbert von Karajan, conductor

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYl4Xb4cDQ8
05-13-2011, 09:35 AM
Emil Miller

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neely

Ha, ha, ha you cold hearted fellow. I make it my mission to fall in love at least once a day!

I formally declare May 12th as Puccini day and I am happy for it. I am sorry with all my heart to find you so resolute, but I'll keep my Puccini day to the last. So a merry Puccini day uncle Emil and god bless you all!!

:cheers2:

You misinterpretd my post. I am fully in agreement with your comments on Puccini as representing music that is readily accessible to millions of people, as opposed to that which isn't. Music is at the same time both cerebral and emotional, but the tendency to downplay the emotional side should be left to musicians who are more likely to be concerned with the technical aspects of a composition.
As music speaks much more than words, here is what I mean: the first piece being something I am always willing to play and the second something that I would never contemplate as I prefer to keep my piano unsullied by anything that has no emotional input no matter how clever we are told that it is.

http://youtu.be/HH2pOUxmAHM

http://youtu.be/n4Nx-unHOOM
05-13-2011, 10:03 AM
mal4mac

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emil Miller

... I prefer to keep my piano unsullied by anything that has no emotinal input no matter how clever we are told that it is.

What if you were offered a free helicopter ride?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13D1YY_BvWU

Phew. Now I need:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUJagb7hL0E

Full orchestral version :)
05-13-2011, 11:43 AM
Emil Miller

Quote:

Originally Posted by mal4mac

What if you were offered a free helicopter ride?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13D1YY_BvWU

Phew. Now I need:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUJagb7hL0E

Full orchestral version :)

The first piece brings to mind the celebrated saying attributed to P.T.Barnum.
As for the second, the least they could have done was to give an encore.
05-13-2011, 12:17 PM
TacoButt

Obviously, she hit a wrong note right there at the pick-up to letter "B". But who cares...:drool5:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4Nx-...eature=related

Quote:

Originally Posted by TacoButt

Obviously, she hit a wrong note right there at the pick-up to letter "B". But who cares...:drool5:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4Nx-...eature=related

Oh, and can any German speakers help settle something that my friend and I were wondering?

Is it pronounced "Stockhausen" as in "stock house en"

or is it "shtock house en"?
05-13-2011, 12:36 PM
LitNetIsGreat

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emil Miller

You misinterpretd my post. I am fully in agreement with your comments on Puccini as representing music that is readily accessible to millions of people, as opposed to that which isn't. Music is at the same time both cerebral and emotional, but the tendency to downplay the emotional side should be left to musicians who are more likely to be concerned with the technical aspects of a composition.
As music speaks much more than words, here is what I mean: the first piece being something I am always willing to play and the second something that I would never contemplate as I prefer to keep my piano unsullied by anything that has no emotional input no matter how clever we are told that it is.

http://youtu.be/HH2pOUxmAHM

http://youtu.be/n4Nx-unHOOM

Oh yes I understand, sorry, silly me - too much wine. I had assumed that you were not a fan of Puccini, but then again how could I think that with the likes of Madam Butterfly and all...;)

Quote:

What if you were offered a free helicopter ride?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13D1YY_BvWU

Phew. Now I need:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUJagb7hL0E

Full orchestral version

Oh dear me. I can imagine some of the folks in the audience after in the bar, talking about how "profound" it was, like the silly commentators afterwards, oh dear.
05-13-2011, 02:30 PM
Emil Miller

Quote:

Originally Posted by TacoButt

Oh, and can any German speakers help settle something that my friend and I were wondering?

Is it pronounced "Stockhausen" as in "stock house en"

or is it "shtock house en"?

The pronunciation in German would be Shtockhowzen

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neely

Oh dear me. I can imagine some of the folks in the audience after in the bar, talking about how "profound" it was, like the silly commentators afterwards, oh dear.

Yes I can imagine the conversation between Cage and his agent:

"But John, we would never get away with it."

"Look Hymie, we're in the second half of the twentieth century. Of coure we'll get away with it."

Out of interest, I've checked out Cage and he seems to have spent his life hanging around with various arty types and some who are, quite frankly, weirdos. Here is a typical extract from his autobiographical writing:

"It was in the fifties that I left the city and went to the country. There I found Guy Nearing, who guided me in my study of mushrooms and other wild edible plants...."

To which one can only add, hmm...?

[QUOTE=TacoButt;1034001]Obviously, she hit a wrong note right there at the pick-up to letter "B". But who cares...:drool5: QUOTE]

Yes I see what you mean, with a suitable set of ear plugs I could watch her for hours.

http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/8...ne3800x600.jpg

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