The Classical Music Recommendation Thread

[Melange 446]

Modest and reserved work. Could do with coming out of its shell a bit more.

[Loert 2,510]

1 minute ago, Melange said:

Modest and reserved work. Could do with coming out of its shell a bit more.

 

Yeah, could end with a louder bang, otherwise how is the audience supposed to know when it finishes?

[karelm 2,903]

6 hours ago, loert said:

 

Fun piece I never heard before.  Would be fun to play.  I played Enigma Variations a few times and that was a "blast".

[Muad'Dib 1,800]

I really love this era of Italian composers in (what I call) their apocalyptic mode

 

 

[KK 3,307]

 

It's familiar territory for Johannsson and not necessarily his best, but it has some lovely ideas.

[Melange 446]

My favourite online version (tempo, etc) of this was removed from YouTube long ago, but this one (a little faster) is a good replacement.

 

Always serves me well to stimulate the mind and perk me up.  I whistle like a maniac bird when playing this. 

 

 

[nightscape94 965]

For anyone familiar with the young pianist Daniil Trifonov, this is his piano concerto, written a couple of years ago.  Very impressive indeed, and seems rare these days for a virtuoso touring soloist to also try his hand in large scale composition like this.

 

 

[Loert 2,510]

 

Such mysterious sounds, I love it!

[Jilal 569]

@karelm Coincidence? Saw this minutes after reading your post.

 

[karelm 2,903]

53 minutes ago, Jilal said:

@karelm Coincidence? Saw this minutes after reading your post.

 

 

Sorry, I don't fully follow.  And what in your list are you referring to specifically?  Berlioz and Beethoven?

[Jilal 569]

8 hours ago, karelm said:

 

Sorry, I don't fully follow.  And what in your list are you referring to specifically?  Berlioz and Beethoven?

 

I was referring to Kol Nidre, which was apparently haunting me!

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I have this classical melody stuck in my head that I cannot identify and it is driving me insane.

 

I tried using Parsons code and the flash-based piano at Musipedia and no luck.

[Dixon Hill 4,232]

Record yourself humming it and post!

[Loert 2,510]

 

I love love LOVE the clarinet in this, especially in the section starting from about 5:00. Such wonderful playing!

[Jilal 569]

I'm totally blown away by this recording of Mahler's Third.

Imagine Williams recording the Star Wars scores with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as featured here!

 

 

[karelm 2,903]

4 hours ago, Jilal said:

I'm totally blown away by this recording of Mahler's Third.

Imagine Williams recording the Star Wars scores with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as featured here!

 

 

 

The 1970's and 80's CSO brass sound is very legendary among brass players both teachers and pros.  Many brass performers grew up with this sound as their role model.  Take this performance from 1981:

 

Solti brought an electric quality to the brass that was bold but refined.  He was a great conductor.  I saw him conduct this band a few times and it was consistently impressive.

[Loert 2,510]

Or this too (careful not to blow out your speakers):

 

 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

On 11/1/2016 at 1:01 PM, Prerecorded Briefing said:

Record yourself humming it and post!

 

I've seriously been trying to place this melody for two days and was this close to figuring out the best way of recording myself whistling it and linking to it here when I finally just now remembered what it is!

 

Nothing obscure, haha.  Just:

 

 

[nightscape94 965]

One of the greatest slow movements in the history of music.  This is not debatable!

 

 

[Wojo 2,453]

Too slow.  Never listened to the whole thing.  

[nightscape94 965]

6 hours ago, nightscape94 said:

This is not debatable!

 

[Loert 2,510]

 

A fun little piece...I just wish it were "bigger"!

[nightscape94 965]

A little Sunday Bach.

 

 

 

 

[Melange 446]

On 01/11/2016 at 5:01 PM, Prerecorded Briefing said:

Record yourself humming it and post!

 

I propose a novelty thread along these lines.

[Dixon Hill 4,232]

I will monitor Other Topics with great anticipation.

[Dixon Hill 4,232]

 

 

 

[Muad'Dib 1,800]

This may be a weird request, but I'm looking for orchestral music inspired by animals, but I'm looking outside the obvious ones like Saint-Saens or Peter and the Wolf, into more obscure -and even challenging perhaps?- stuff, but whatever comes to mind could help.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

 

[nightscape94 965]

1 hour ago, Muad'Dib said:

This may be a weird request, but I'm looking for orchestral music inspired by animals, but I'm looking outside the obvious ones like Saint-Saens or Peter and the Wolf, into more obscure -and even challenging perhaps?- stuff, but whatever comes to mind could help.

 

 

 

 

 

[David Story 57]

This may have already been posted, but it's got drama, energy, and soaring melodies I love. Also a good example of the universality of great music.

 

[Omen II 1,235]

8 hours ago, Muad'Dib said:

This may be a weird request, but I'm looking for orchestral music inspired by animals, but I'm looking outside the obvious ones like Saint-Saens or Peter and the Wolf, into more obscure -and even challenging perhaps?- stuff, but whatever comes to mind could help.

 

Charles Koechlin was inspired by langur monkeys for the Les Bandar-log movement of his The Jungle Book symphonic poems.

 

 

How about And God Created Great Whales by Alan Hovhaness?  The piece even includes whalesong.

 

 

The eleventh movement of Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations is about a dog playing in the River Wye in Hereford (in fact there is a statue of said dog beside the river in Hereford).

 

 

[karelm 2,903]

 

[Marian Schedenig 8,172]

Some obvious ones:

 

 

 

 

Then there's music that's "bigger" in its overall scope, but includes animals in one way or another. Operas are an obvious case, especially when they feature people riding horses. Take Wagner's riding motif from his Ring, famously known from the Ride of the Valkyries, but also used to great effect in other parts of the operas, like the prelude to the 3rd act of Siegfried:

 

 

The recurring theme first heard at the beginning of the finale of Bruckner's 8th symphony also represents riders:

 

 

And the secondary theme of the first movement of his 4th is a bird call, first heard at 2:31 in this clip:

 

 

[Loert 2,510]

Dance of the Tree Frogs by Ravel (from L'enfant et les sortilèges)

 

 

Des canyons aux étoiles... by Olivier Messiaen was inspired by the landscape and birds of Utah (and he was inspired by birds in pretty much everything he wrote, I believe):

 

 

[Will 2,215]

 

This is the first work I heard in the music appreciation class I'm taking at school that I actually enjoyed. (We just finished the Renaissance and will soon be moving on to baroque).

 

The rhythms are so fun! In that general sense I'm reminded of JW's own action writing. 

 

This is also great (it was used in the BFG which I've been analyzing):

 

 

[A24 4,326]

 

 

Alex

[Marian Schedenig 8,172]

On 10.11.2016 at 8:18 PM, Marian Schedenig said:

Then there's music that's "bigger" in its overall scope, but includes animals in one way or another.

 

Richard Strauss' Rosenkavalier prelude features twittering birds in the morning at 3:17 (after the graphic sex music):

 

 

[publicist 4,643]

 

[Loert 2,510]

 

[karelm 2,903]

Sorry, I can't find the whole thing on youtube...

 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I may only be a dabbler in classical music, but man this 2nd movement of Bartok's String Quartet No. 5 leaves me as a puddle in the floor.

 

 

[Loert 2,510]

On 13/11/2016 at 0:35 AM, karelm said:

Sorry, I can't find the whole thing on youtube...

 

 

What a beautiful, lyrical piece of music. 

[karelm 2,903]

2 hours ago, loert said:

 

What a beautiful, lyrical piece of music. 

 

If you thought that was beautiful, you might enjoy this tender nocturne too.  It's a little bit too soft so make sure to turn the volume up:

 

 

[Dixon Hill 4,232]

Goldenthal's symphony does have a breathtakingly dark, lyrical middle movement, though. Fantastic piece.

[karelm 2,903]

I also find it innovative in his orchestration the way he uses an agitato string quartet against the strings and then for the final moments has three sets of roto-toms where two are in the audience to provide an apocalyptic cataclysm.  At the premiere it was very effective.  It reminded me of his teacher JC who had a marching band and 12 trumpets enclosing the audience in Circus Maximus...which of course borrows from Brant, Ives, Mahler, and others who play with the stage/audience relationship.

[Loert 2,510]

21 hours ago, karelm said:

 

If you thought that was beautiful, you might enjoy this tender nocturne too.  It's a little bit too soft so make sure to turn the volume up:

 

 

 

Wow, very nocturnal. Reminds me of being woken up at night to the sound of a rushing freight train (I live close to the railway). I'm only kidding of course, I love the Gothic Symphony!

 

Also, I'm greatly enjoying this album:

 

 

[karelm 2,903]

JW grew up with this sort of stuff:

 

His friends included Previn and Rozsa who were both very personable and exceptionally skilled.  I think some of what Rozsa was doing in these suites is what we hear with the concert arrangements of JW's scores.  These were people who first and foremost considered themselves as Composers and as film composers secondly. 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

The best ones are composers who just happen to made their careers working on films. 

[KK 3,307]

 

[karelm 2,903]

For reasons I can't fully explain, I find Vaughan Williams Norfolk Rhapsody so freaking gorgeous: