Classical Listening

[LitNetIsGreat]

Yes I quite like Lizst too. I'm currently listening to Stluke's links while drinking a nice cup of tea - enjoying it after today.

[stlukesguild]

Tonight was an all lieder/art song evening. Perhaps its the cold weather... December and the first snow has fallen... that makes the intimacy of this art form seem best suited today.

I began listening to Jake Heggie's latest collection for the second time:



Heggie is one of the fastest rising young composers. He has several operatic successes to his name, including Dead Man Walking and his latest, the Houston opera production of Moby Dick. It is in the field of the art song, however, that he is strongest, and stands along side Ned Rorem and Samuel Barber as one of the leading figures in the tradition of that genre. It is no surprise that many leading singers look forward to working with Heggie and recording his work: Susann Graham, Renée Fleming, Jennifer Larmore, Brian Asawa, Frederica von Stade, etc... This particular collection is marvelously orchestrated with a variety of small string ensembles and piano, as well as voice. For those who recoil from the mere thought of contemporary classical composers, I recommend Heggie without reservation.

My second selection of the evening was a recent collection of Tchaikovsky "Romances" performed by Christianne Stotijn.




While Tchaikovsky is admittedly not among the upper echelon of my preferred composers, I have always liked his songs or "romances," which are stripped clean of the lush and sometimes flowery orchestration that can at times make Tchaikovsky sound too saccharine. What remains is the composer's undeniable and masterful ability to compose the most beautiful melodies... again and again.

The first performance here is by the inimitable Galina Vishnevskaya with her husband, Mstislav Rostropovich on piano.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03DTZno7oYY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew_ox74xufk

I picked up this disc on the recommendation of BBC Music Magazine, and I must concur that the young Dutch singer performs these songs marvelously... with an appropriate rich, full, sensuality of voice. She will certainly be a singer to watch.

After the US and Russia, I headed off to warmer climes with a selection of art songs by Latin-American composers:



I had toyed with picking up this disc for quite some time, intrigued by the less-well-known repertoire and certainly aware of Barnarda Fink's abilities... but for whatever reason, the price of the disc remained consistently high. When it finally fell to around $12 last week, I decided to spring for it... and fully wish I had done so earlier. This is a marvelous recording. The disc includes songs by composers Carlos Guastavino, Manuel Gomez, Carrillo, and a handful of others all unknown to me. Indeed, the only name with which I was familiar was that of Astor Piazzolla who is well known for his tangos. Here we are given three of his efforts in the genre of art song... including two settings of texts by J.L. Borges! The music is clearly rooted in the European tradition of the art song or lieder, but employs elements that are undeniably rooted in the Latin-American musical traditions... especially the rhythm. The music is beautifully performed by Bernarda Fink and her brother, Marcos Fink... both born and raised in Argentina of Slovenian parents.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeAom_k925c

My favorite song on the disc is Pueblito, mi pueblo by Guastavino, which is the final song. Sung as an exquisitely beautiful duet... unfortunately I could not find a recording of it on line by Fink and her brother, but YouTube does have a version which isn't half bad:

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

[Musicology]

Maurice Ravel
Le Tombeau de Couperin
Minuet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9qxy...eature=related

[laymonite]

Hello everyone! I'm new to the thread here, and taking a deeper, more serious interest in classical music. It's taking me a while, but I'm trying to catch-up on this thread. There is a wealth of selections accumulated here!

Lately I've been listening to Schumann, Schubert, and this piece from Chopin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef-4Bv5Ng0w

This Chopin preludes affects me on a profound level.

[Lokasenna]

Hello everyone! I'm new to the thread here, and taking a deeper, more serious interest in classical music. It's taking me a while, but I'm trying to catch-up on this thread. There is a wealth of selections accumulated here!

Lately I've been listening to Schumann, Schubert, and this piece from Chopin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef-4Bv5Ng0w

This Chopin preludes affects me on a profound level.

I love Chopin as well - above any other composer, he's the one I listen to consistently for pleasure.

[stlukesguild]

Yes... I love that prelude myself... although my favorite works by Chopin remain his Nocturnes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnFs85pLmj4

Right now I'm exploring some older music... more specifically, compositions by the German late Renaissance/early Baroque composer, Michael Praetorius (1571-1621):



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3p6nAaOmyU

Quite suited to the season and all that.

[Musicology]

Is there life on planet Earth ? To answer this question we go straight across to mission control -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WrKy...eature=related

[laymonite]

I'm listening to these 21 delightful nocturns at work today! All the hustle and bustle around me is fading into the background.

[stlukesguild]

Me? I'm off in left-field (surely a true Americanism... tied to our national past-time)... listening to the music of Tomás Luis de Victoria and Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina performed by the ever-brilliant Hilliard Ensemble.



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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxe4HnEYbgA

Currently listening to one of the composers who did make Goulding's list of the 50 Greatest Composers.

Part 1 of a work of music that might arguably stand at the very pinnacle of music... if not all art:



A lovely disc of American "art songs":

[laymonite]

Picked up some new CDs today. This is the start of my classical collection!

[Lokasenna]

Picked up some new CDs today. This is the start of my classical collection!

I've got both the Liszt and the Schumann - you will not be dissapointed by either!

[Musicology]

Nice collection Laymonite !

Robert Schumann
Concerto in A Minor

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTeAKJ539Is

[stlukesguild]

Horowitz will also rarely disappoint. Schumann's piano works are quite lovely. The Chausson/Ravel/Debussy disc with Riccardo Muti is I believe a collection of sea-related works... including La Mer, which is a good introduction to Debussy and Impressionism in music. Thumbs up on the record labels here. All solid choices. As you start out keep your eye on EMI, DeutscheGrammaphon, Sony, Naxos, Phillips, Hyperion, Chandos, Harmonia Mundi, Archiv, Decca, CPO, Oiseau Lyre, Alia Vox Spain, and a few others which will usually employ the highest recording standards and the leading orchestras and soloists.

[laymonite]

You guys are spot-on. The Liszt and the Schumann are spectacular! I began my Christmas vacation today (that's right: I'm off for the rest of the year!), so I went to one of my used book stores of choice and picked up Mahler's Symphony No. 5., along with some art books (Gauguin, Degas, and Matisse), and a book of Yeats's poetry.

Life is good.

[stlukesguild]

Mahler? Now you are pushing into some music that can challenge you initially. Where Bach or Mozart or Beethoven or Schumann structure their music around a motif or melody or tune that can be rapidly grasped and then run it through variations, later Romantics like Mahler, Wagner, Bruckner, etc... structure their works on a more sprawling form. Don't get me wrong... I love Mahler and the late Romantics. Recently I've be exploring Richard Strauss' operas. His Salome is a masterpiece of German Expressionism combining the most sensuously lush music with often decadent and unsettling elements... or sheer shock as in the finale:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NI02Rj5xhFM

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op1Vo...eature=related