Great performance by Pollini with exquisite tone.Originally Posted by Neely
I was discussing Chopin with my piano teacher yesterday and she's going to do an arrangement of Chopin's 'Raindrop' prelude for me which, giving the ceaseless rain we've been having, seems more than a little appropriate.
"L'art de la statistique est de tirer des conclusions erronèes a partir de chiffres exacts." Napoléon Bonaparte.
"Je crois que beaucoup de gens sont dans cet état d’esprit: au fond, ils ne sentent pas concernés par l’Histoire. Mais pourtant, de temps à autre, l’Histoire pose sa main sur eux." Michel Houellebecq.
Chopin's Nocturnes are surely among my favorite works. I have the iconic Rubinstein recording and the equally marvelous recording by Earl Wild... one of the most under-rated pianists due to his having recorded almost exclusively for a minor record label... yet his Rachmaninoff is absolutely ESSENTIAL!
Returning to Chopin... I agree the Pollini is marvelous... so much so I'm tempted to pick it up... not merely for the Chopin... but to add some Pollini to my library... where he is sorely lacking.
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Wow great stuff. I have some Chopin's recordings but just stumbled on the Pollini on Youtube. The Rachmaninov sounds the next on the list.
Nobody, but nobody, tugs the heartstrings like Puccini.
http://youtu.be/y_ebmTkOtpQ
"L'art de la statistique est de tirer des conclusions erronèes a partir de chiffres exacts." Napoléon Bonaparte.
"Je crois que beaucoup de gens sont dans cet état d’esprit: au fond, ils ne sentent pas concernés par l’Histoire. Mais pourtant, de temps à autre, l’Histoire pose sa main sur eux." Michel Houellebecq.
These broadcasts by Bernstein are priceless for those who think they don't like 'classical' music.
They show exactly how it's put together and, using the first movement of Brahms 4th Symphony,
also what a musical genius Brahms was.
http://youtu.be/wXo2Ab_KFsE
http://youtu.be/0CzB63yCg0c
http://youtu.be/Y9YTjFFyVQk
http://youtu.be/W66wrC3wVCo
http://youtu.be/rHLkkVFhwwU
Last edited by Emil Miller; 03-03-2014 at 12:33 PM.
"L'art de la statistique est de tirer des conclusions erronèes a partir de chiffres exacts." Napoléon Bonaparte.
"Je crois que beaucoup de gens sont dans cet état d’esprit: au fond, ils ne sentent pas concernés par l’Histoire. Mais pourtant, de temps à autre, l’Histoire pose sa main sur eux." Michel Houellebecq.
Speaking of Brahms...
My father's friend, who plays violin in the Santa Barbara Symphony, will be connecting me with her son, who plays cello, and a pianist, and we will play the Brahms Clarinet trio, with me on clarinet. I am very excited! It's a wonderful piece, and I haven't played classical music seriously, or indeed played with anyone but myself, for quite some time.
I can't listen to things like this without the need to reach for a glass of red wine. I don't know they just seem to go together. I've only got San Miguel and some ale in the fridge though.
Been reading a bit of Fry's (Stephen) second volume of his autobiography (and not yet out of Cambridge!). In it he talks about his passion for Wagner...amongst other things. Funny he only ever went to three lectures at university, instead he just cruised through it and had fun. Wagner's not something I have listened to really, but stuck some of this on in the background as I stare at my chess books and board.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L44Ml8K_mDg
Well Neely, the fact that you have only San Miguel is almost a as tragic as Madame Butterfly itself: let me recommend a Moulin-a-Vent from Sainsbury's top range selection, a trifle more expensive but well worth the money. I doubt that Karajan would have been pleased that you are staring at chess books while he was conducting Wagner but, never mind, here's a piece of Wagner that will set you up to get checkmate in three:
http://youtu.be/k5bhKktF1FE
"L'art de la statistique est de tirer des conclusions erronèes a partir de chiffres exacts." Napoléon Bonaparte.
"Je crois que beaucoup de gens sont dans cet état d’esprit: au fond, ils ne sentent pas concernés par l’Histoire. Mais pourtant, de temps à autre, l’Histoire pose sa main sur eux." Michel Houellebecq.
I just got out of a masterclass instructed by Yo-Yo Ma. He is a very entertaining presence whether or not he is playing the cello, but when, as the first group got ready to perform he walked down the aisle to listen from the audience's perspective, a lady behind me half-whispered, "Oh my god, he's real!"
I wasn't sure whether I was amused at the lady's willingness to sound like a fool, or disgusted at the implied hero-worship, which I feel is totally unnecessary when it comes to appreciating the art of music. What say you?
it is true that great performers do arouse hero worship in their students, not to mention the general public. This is understandable as they are the conduit through which the music of the masters is transmitted at its highest level.
"L'art de la statistique est de tirer des conclusions erronèes a partir de chiffres exacts." Napoléon Bonaparte.
"Je crois que beaucoup de gens sont dans cet état d’esprit: au fond, ils ne sentent pas concernés par l’Histoire. Mais pourtant, de temps à autre, l’Histoire pose sa main sur eux." Michel Houellebecq.
Some more Chopin. A slower interpretation it seems from this random find, Brigitte Engerer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdimyyD-ZQk
Not sure if I prefer this yet or not.
While I love Pollini as a pianist, I am not fond of his Chopin for the most part as I find a bit too mechanical (the one exception are the Etudes), just as I find Rubinstein's Chopin a bit too drawing-room (especially in the more expressive pieces; though I think he's a good fit with the pieces more dance-inspired). For Chopin my two go-tos are Arrau for the darker, emotional pieces; Cortot for lyricism; Zimmerman for the longer, expressive pieces; and Ohlsson for an overall "reference" (he's solid on everything).
"As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being." --Carl Gustav Jung
"To absent friends, lost loves, old gods, and the season of mists; and may each and every one of us always give the devil his due." --Neil Gaiman; The Sandman Vol. 4: Season of Mists
"I'm on my way, from misery to happiness today. Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh" --The Proclaimers
Ralph Vaughan Williams' Lark Ascending has been voted the country's favourite piece of classical music. (according to Classic FM listeners, that is).
We English dilettantes love him. All of his stuff seems to hit a chord with our English senseabilities- it sounds like nostalgia - an invocation of a long lost England that probably never really existed. I suspect he is hardly known Internationally.
ay up
Again. It's always being voted number one. That said, it is a gorgeous piece - though there is that one bizarre section where it goes a little mad, and which I always cannot help but think of as 'The Lark Machine-Gunned'...
I think English music is generally less appreciated internationally. It's almost treated as a joke, I think, by some people. I've got a Swiss friend who just loves to wind me up about the poor quality of English music, despite never having actually listened to any VW, Elgar, Britten, Purcell or Byrd.
I know in the past I've also had an amicable barney with our own St Luke's over that book he often recommends to people (Classical Music: The 50 Greatest Composers and Their 1,000 Greatest Works), which I think has a distinctly anti-British bias. Only VW makes the top 50, and pretty near the bottom - surely Britten and (particularly) Elgar should make anyone's top 50, or is Elgar really the inferior of Borodin and Couperin?
"I should only believe in a God that would know how to dance. And when I saw my devil, I found him serious, thorough, profound, solemn: he was the spirit of gravity- through him all things fall. Not by wrath, but by laughter, do we slay. Come, let us slay the spirit of gravity!" - Nietzsche
I think it would be fair to say that English music is parochial but there are individual works that are, nevertheless, brilliantly composed.
It's understandable that the idiom is intensely English and perhaps doesn't travel well but surely something like Nimrod from the Enigma Variations (inspired by a German friend of the composer) is as universal as any other composition.
"L'art de la statistique est de tirer des conclusions erronèes a partir de chiffres exacts." Napoléon Bonaparte.
"Je crois que beaucoup de gens sont dans cet état d’esprit: au fond, ils ne sentent pas concernés par l’Histoire. Mais pourtant, de temps à autre, l’Histoire pose sa main sur eux." Michel Houellebecq.
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