Classical Listening

[Musicology]

Ah, yes. Very nice. You may care to hear the Mozart violin concerto. KV 268. (Known as number 6). It's excruciatingly and really Mozart. Honest ! The score is so bad, so banale, it had to be 'worked on' by the industry before it was publicly released, of course. (You know, expert orchestration to replace what was actually written etc. Cutting out the comic, abrupt, crude writing). Basic, clumsy writing. Don't tell the children. But, hey, it sells CD's.

So here, for discerning ears, is Mozart's real Violin Concerto. (His only one). Repaired, re-orchestrated and newly harmonised. For the faithful. Don't ask about the contents of the actual score.

And here is the 'official' list of Mozart's works (a fairly recent version of the Koechel Catalogue). Note that KV268 is not there. Sorry about that !!!

http://www.mozartforum.com/Koechel%20part%202.htm

Well, well, somebody must have removed it. It's that awful in its original form I guess it can't have been by him. Right ?

W.A. Mozart
Violin Concerto
KV268
1st Movement

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_kqL...7A44D77A4B36AF

Grumiaux, Mozart concertos:

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

[mal4mac]

I think the first movement of KV268 is nice. Not enough to have me running to Amazon to make a purchase though, especially after the disappointment of the second movement! Alfred Einstein believed “the excellent first movement" to be genuine, but "it is not likely that a single note of the obsolete and superficial second movement was written by Mozart”. The Cambridge Mozart Encylopedia doesn't list it at all, not even the first movement - and it's comprehensive, they list fragments of which they are "certain".

[Musicology]

Hi there mal4mac,

KV268 is something of a joke within studies of 18th century music. I assure you that if you were to hear the manuscript first movement (rather than this heavily sanitised version) you would wonder how the legendary Mozart could possibly have composed such stuff. Ludwig Kochel (whose celebrated catalogue of 'his' music was the product of decades of study) had the fact that the manuscript was definitely in Mozart's hand. Good enough for him. But there are a whole series which had the same fate.

I could mention many examples. Take for example the awful slow introduction to the Symphony KV444 (also deleted from the Mozart catalogue) when it was finally discovered in 1908 ! that only that slow intro was in Mozart's hand. So much for the expertise of Mozart publications, right ? It's such poor stuff. So, as far as the 'experts' were concerned KV444 was a genuine symphony by W.A. Mozart. One of close to 100 'Mozart' symphonies that have been published, sold, eulogised and performed in his name. The survivors numbering far less than 50 today. Even in the most conservative catalogues. Of which hardly one, in fact, is actually by Mozart.

At some point the penny will drop.

Regards

I think the first movement of KV268 is nice. Not enough to have me running to Amazon to make a purchase though, especially after the disappointment of the second movement! Alfred Einstein believed “the excellent first movement" to be genuine, but "it is not likely that a single note of the obsolete and superficial second movement was written by Mozart”. The Cambridge Mozart Encylopedia doesn't list it at all, not even the first movement - and it's comprehensive, they list fragments of which they are "certain".

[Emil Miller]

Some great playing here.

http://youtu.be/2DFnrdZZj_8

[Musicology]

Really fine stuff !!!

Some great playing here.

http://youtu.be/2DFnrdZZj_8

Sergi Prokofiev
5th Symphony
Allegro marcato
Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra of Venezuela


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e0c4...eature=related

Arturo Márquez
Danzón Nº 2
Simon Bolivar Orchestra
Proms Festival (London)
Gustavo Dudamel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vwZA...eature=related

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Tomorrow night I'm seeing a "Classical's Greatest Hits" being performed tomorrow night at Powell Symphony Hall in St. Louis with the folks. Here's the setlist (is that what it's called for a symphony?):

WAGNER -- Prelude to Act III from Lohengrin
BIZET -- Selections from Carmen Suite No. 1
SARASATE -- Zigeunerweisen, op. 20
BERLIOZ -- Hungarian March from The Damnation of Faust
DEBUSSY / arr. Caplet -- Clair de lune
DUKAS -- The Sorcerer's Apprentice
MOZART -- The Magic Flute Overture
MOZART -- Allegro from Eine kleine Nachtmusik
J. STRAUSS, JR. -- On the Beautiful Blue Danube
ELGAR -- Nimrod from Enigma Variations
MUSSORGSKY / orch. Ravel -- The Great Gate at Kiev from Pictures at an Exhibition

Once I saw part of Pictures at an Exhibition was being played, I just had to go.

[stlukesguild]

I had the good luck to see the Mussorgsky/Ravel Pictures at an Exhibition by the Cleveland Orchestra some years back on one of those nights when their playing was simply transcendent. The climax absolutely sent chills down my spine and left my wife in tears. I believe the orchestra was called back 5 times by the standing ovation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rVci4h8TkM

[WyattGwyon]

The Musorgsky is wonderful in the Ravel arrangement. (Great in the piano version, too.) There are some other pretty good arrangements too that are worth hearing. The Gortchakov is admired by many who think it sounds more like Musorgsky in the style of its orchestration—raw, unsophisticated, not so heavy on the confectionary department as the Ravel. Vladimir Ashkenazy made an interesting version as well. There are like 30 or more published arrangements apparently . . .

[Lokasenna]

Tomorrow night I'm seeing a "Classical's Greatest Hits" being performed tomorrow night at Powell Symphony Hall in St. Louis with the folks. Here's the setlist (is that what it's called for a symphony?):

WAGNER -- Prelude to Act III from Lohengrin
BIZET -- Selections from Carmen Suite No. 1
SARASATE -- Zigeunerweisen, op. 20
BERLIOZ -- Hungarian March from The Damnation of Faust
DEBUSSY / arr. Caplet -- Clair de lune
DUKAS -- The Sorcerer's Apprentice
MOZART -- The Magic Flute Overture
MOZART -- Allegro from Eine kleine Nachtmusik
J. STRAUSS, JR. -- On the Beautiful Blue Danube
ELGAR -- Nimrod from Enigma Variations
MUSSORGSKY / orch. Ravel -- The Great Gate at Kiev from Pictures at an Exhibition

Once I saw part of Pictures at an Exhibition was being played, I just had to go.

That sounds like a pretty awesome concert - let us know how you find it!

[mal4mac]

WAGNER -- Prelude to Act III from Lohengrin
BIZET -- Selections from Carmen Suite No. 1...

I prefer programme or 'play list', 'set list' sounds bit like homework

I have a CD of "MUSSORGSKY / orch. Ravel Pictures at an Exhibition" and all of it is well worth a listen, here's part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5r8sa863Ts

I have problems with Wagner 'in bulk', but like his orchestral interludes. My favourite listening from Radio 3 over the last few days has been the prelude to "Master Singers". My 'I hate Wagner' stance put into question again:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nhcTllJgIY

If you like Claire, try some more of Debussy's piano music. Gordon Fergus Thompson's set is a favourite of mine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIdS0KzZGVU

"The Magic Flute" is a source of endless wonder, has to be heard in full...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGMz8OlunO0

"Nimrod" is the only Enigma variation I like. Maybe I haven't listened to the right set - any recommendations? Elgar's Cello Concerto, though, is not to be missed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5C99JyP2ns

[Emil Miller]

I"Nimrod" is the only Enigma variation I like. Maybe I haven't listened to the right set - any recommendations? Elgar's Cello Concerto, though, is not to be missed:

Nimrod is obviously one of the great set pieces of English music but as the same, yet to be discovered, tune links each and every variation, they are all connected in a work which is greater than the sum of its parts.
I don't see how anyone interested in music wouldn't like this:

http://youtu.be/59BLe5BQ3ak

[mal4mac]

Here's the latest BBC Radio 3 BAL winner:

Schubert - Piano Trio Op. 99 - Beaux Arts Trio (II)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12xe2osfq1w

The cellist, Bernard Greenhouse, died last week.

Encore:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12xe2osfq1w

[Musicology]

NASA abandons expensive programmes in search of aliens and also ditches the Shuttle programme. It also stops broadcasting images of young heroes floating around in space suits - this after a broadcast was unexpectedly received from outer space of a high volume Bach concert -

A small step for man but a giant leap for all mankind.

'When Bach played from his fancy, all
twenty-four keys were within his power; he
did with them what he pleased. He
connected the most remote as easily and as
naturally together as the nearest; the hearer
believed he had modulated with the
compass of a single key. He knew nothing of
harshness in modulation; even his transitions
in the chromatic style were as soft and
flowing as if he had wholly confined himself
to the diatonic scale. His Chromatic Fantasy
may prove what I here state. All his
extempore fantasies are said to have been of
a similar description, but frequently much
more free, brilliant and expressive.' "

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OP2o4...eature=related

Gustav Mahler
4th Symphony
Finale

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

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

I'll write a mini review of last night's symphony later tonight ... so look forward to that! Preview: I loved it.

[stlukesguild]

Vivaldi should never be underestimated. His Four Seasons may be overplayed (through no fault of his own) but there is clearly a reason for this. Contrary to Stravinsky's snide comment that he wrote the same concerto 100 times (Stravinsky should be lucky to survive as long as Vivaldi) his concertos are laden with any number of absolutely marvelous moments. His vocal music, however, has been ignored for far too long. Currently, I'm listening to Juditha Triumphans... one of his best operas. I am especially struck by the aria, Quanto magis generosa... here performed by Magdalena Kozena.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH03Ol_DBNk

Some other lovely moments:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rub-wLrz_Kg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqfpYO8_j5w