Classical Listening

[Musicology]

'An elemental power that was timeless and had no home in space'.

Mmm !!

Something like this meets that description. This music even brings to mind that famous verse -

'The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof'. (Psalm 24)

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

[Patrick_Bateman]

I would like the opportunity to be boring and mundane about a work that is already revered for the brilliant piece that it is.


Ladies and Gentleman here is (something you all know well) the most beautiful and moving piece of ART ever composed. The euphony of the strings in harmony with the gentle piano play moves me literally to tears every time it embraces my ear. The music penetrates the atmosphere like no other sound you will ever hear as even the air is inspired to twirl in a slow, melancholic waltz in awe of the beauty that surrounds it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY3W22uu0iM

[Emil Miller]

I would like the opportunity to be boring and mundane about a work that is already revered for the brilliant piece that it is.


Ladies and Gentleman here is (something you all know well) the most beautiful and moving piece of ART ever composed. The euphony of the strings in harmony with the gentle piano play moves me literally to tears every time it embraces my ear. The music penetrates the atmosphere like no other sound you will ever hear as even the air is inspired to twirl in a slow, melancholic waltz in awe of the beauty that surrounds it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY3W22uu0iM

This recording is very well known and was for many years considered one of the best in the catalogue. It is a work of chrystaline beauty and of course very moving, as shown by its use in David Lean's great British film Brief Encounter.

http://youtu.be/hubyFqSUaGA

[TacoButt]

Here's some music that has stuck with me for some odd reason...

Robert Helps "Hommage a Faure'" (1972)

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

[Emil Miller]

While we are on Rachmaninov, here's his great Paganini variations, truly one of the greatest works written for the piano with orchestral accompaniment. When the Dies Irae kicks in at the very end, it simply leaves the listener staggered.

http://youtu.be/TJ2dY5wRfm4

[Musicology]

Oboe Concerto
BWV 1053/1

''The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul'' (J.S. Bach)

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

[Patrick_Bateman]

While we are on Rachmaninov, here's his great Paganini variations, truly one of the greatest works written for the piano with orchestral accompaniment. When the Dies Irae kicks in at the very end, it simply leaves the listener staggered.

http://youtu.be/TJ2dY5wRfm4

Going to London Philharmonic at the end of June to listen to Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto #3 as well as Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony.

I can't go to this Thursday's performance of Rach 2. Which is devastating.

[Emil Miller]

Going to London Philharmonic at the end of June to listen to Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto #3 as well as Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony.

I can't go to this Thursday's performance of Rach 2. Which is devastating.

Presumably you will be seeing it at the Royal Festival Hall if you are in London.
I don't think you will be disappointed with the third concerto which, to my mind, is even better than the second. Rachmaninoff had one of the greatest musical minds of any century and it takes, not only a musical sensibility but also a prodigious technique to play him. Who is the soloist on June 6th?
Tchaikovsky's 6th is another great work in the Russian repertoire but it ends in a somewhat a negative way. Strangely, it's the one that conductors seem to prefer as it's the most frequently performed but I think that the last movement is too much of a change after this very typical Bernstein performance with the NYSO, at which the audience applauded before the last movement was played.

http://youtu.be/EbEGSbipAA8

[Patrick_Bateman]

Presumably you will be seeing it at the Royal Festival Hall if you are in London.
I don't think you will be disappointed with the third concerto which, to my mind, is even better than the second. Rachmaninoff had one of the greatest musical minds of any century and it takes, not only a musical sensibility but also a prodigious technique to play him. Who is the soloist on June 6th?
Tchaikovsky's 6th is another great work in the Russian repertoire but it ends in a somewhat a negative way. Strangely, it's the one that conductors seem to prefer as it's the most frequently performed but I think that the last movement is too much of a change after this very typical Bernstein performance with the NYSO, at which the audience applauded before the last movement was played.

http://youtu.be/EbEGSbipAA8

I've always thought the same with regard to the 3rd. But the 2nd movement of the 2nd concerto moves me like no other piece for piano and it must be such a transcendent experience to hear it live in concert. I enjoy Tchaikovsky's 6th and it will be a fantastic warm up prior to the 1812 Overture at Highclere Castle in July (complete with 200 live cannon and fireworks.)

Yes it will be at the HUGE Festival Hall on the Southbank. Looking forward to the Saison Poetry room as well that is housed within the Hall.

[Emil Miller]

I've always thought the same with regard to the 3rd. But the 2nd movement of the 2nd concerto moves me like no other piece for piano and it must be such a transcendent experience to hear it live in concert. I enjoy Tchaikovsky's 6th and it will be a fantastic warm up prior to the 1812 Overture at Highclere Castle in July (complete with 200 live cannon and fireworks.)

Yes it will be at the HUGE Festival Hall on the Southbank. Looking forward to the Saison Poetry room as well that is housed within the Hall.

If the cannon aren't kept at some distance from the orchestra, they might well drown them out at the end , but everyone should see the 1812 played at some time in their life. It may seem hackneyed but the audience response is always amazing.

I've just checked out the pianist for your concert and here he is playing the final part of the Rachmaninoff 3rd, I don't know the orchestra but the conductor is Lorin Maazel.


http://youtu.be/GjRGip5aNhs

[Emil Miller]

Some years ago I was with a friend driving along the rocky north coast of Devon just after a terrific rainstorm and we were ploughing through huge pools of water. She switched on the radio and this music was playing, which perfectly caught the mood of the moment.

http://youtu.be/2-F5dmRV5Bc

[Musicology]

"The organist Bach has previously played here rather too long, but after his attention was called to it by the Superintendent, he has at once fallen into the other extreme and has made it too short."

J.S. Bach
"Gott der Herr ist Sonn und Schild"
Cantata
BWV 79/1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tmio2...eature=related

[yanni]

More from JSBach's extensive biography:

In 1722 he left Prince Leopold's services to become cantor at St Thomas's church in Leipzig, an important post offering a higher salary which was becoming increasingly necessary for the support and education of his large and growing family. Bach's stay in Leipzig was not particularly happy for him, being marred by constant conflict with the authorities. His attempts to obtain a new position failed, and in 1750 he died of a stroke following a disastrous operation intended to improve his failing eyesight.

[Emil Miller]

Here's something from a brilliant Vietnamese virtuoso. Check out his other videos to see what piano playing should be.

http://youtu.be/drQe8ER57uE

[Lokasenna]

While working today, I listened through the entirety of Die tote Stadt. What a stunning opera - a Korngold fanboy I may be, but it cannot be denied that this holds up well against any of its Straussian predecessors. It really is a masterpiece.

And this is, quite possibly, my favourite baritone aria of them all...