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The Classical Music Recommendation Thread


Muad'Dib

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On 7/14/2017 at 11:26 AM, BloodBoal said:

So, any other members that would like to venture guesses about those pieces of music? @KK? @TheGreyPilgrim? @Sharky? @Loert? I thought you guys knew everything when it comes to classical music! Always mentioning obscure composers with unpronounceable names, from countries know one ever heard about!

 

Sorry, just got to see this! Like the others, I can't really identify the clips. They are likely just pieces of early film music, where a lot of them used a lot of familiar tropes of classical music from the Romantic era, but still film music.

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On 7/15/2017 at 3:09 AM, BloodBoal said:

It means it's most likely Lanchbery's own material.

 

That seems to be the case.  None of the remaining samples sounds remotely familiar to me either.

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2 hours ago, karelm said:

 

Fantastic opera!

 

I saw it live a few years ago. The only time I've heard it. I don't remember much, except that it was really, seriously dark.

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32 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

I saw it live a few years ago. The only time I've heard it. I don't remember much, except that it was really, seriously dark.

 

Yes, Shosti had a manic gloom about him that I adore. 

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@BloodBoal I really think these are leitmotif German operatic inspired clones since early movie was basically thought of as an extension of opera/theater.  This is very good pastiche.  I really don't believe #4 is preexisting.  It is stylisticly dramatic music of that period when all they had for this new medium was opera and Wagner was the king of that style then.

 

Do you know how silent movies were scored?  They had books of music representing various musical emotions that the pianist would perform.  Like "tension riser" or "damsel in distress" etc.  They would have stuff like augmented chords representing damsel in distress that the pianist would perform while the film was projected from a book of styles.  I think you are hearing the birth of film scoring...an orchestrated version of adapted preexisting musical devices based on grande tradition.

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Nope, none of them sound familiar to me, except perhaps #8, which sounds like it could be related to some German folk song. They certainly sound very deliberately inspired by the music karelm mentioned; #1 in particular sounds like a Wagner/Grieg hybrid to me, but again without any thematic material I've heard before.

 

(#2 doesn't work for me)

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I remember discovering that concerto years ago I think when Danny Elfman singled it out as a major influence.  Might be remembering that wrong.  Either way, one of my favorite violin concerti. :up:

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11 hours ago, nightscape94 said:

Gets overshadowed by his 4th, 5th and 6th.

 

I beg to differ - to me, 4th is his absolute best and one of the greatest symphonies of all time, particularly the first movement. But hey - to each his own, of course. :P

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Just listened to Copland's "Lincoln Portrait."  One of my most profoundly beloved pieces of orchestral music.  Because I'm nothing if not predictable.

 

The classic recording with the LSO and Henry Fonda narrating.

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Oh of course!  I'm a bit obsessed with Copland.  My only blind spot in his oeuvre are his nonorchestral works.  I know a few but there's a lot I haven't heard.

 

I've been really into his Organ Symphony lately. The scherzo movement is transcendent.

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Gundula Janowitz turned 80 today. I regret I've never heard her live (I think her last public performance was in 1997) - I've never heard such a breathtakingly beautiful singing voice as hers.

 

 

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4 hours ago, Loert said:

 

Henze: Symphony No.3

 

Very exploration-y music; I feel like I'm navigating some ancient ruin in the jungles of Peru!

I quite enjoy this composers music but like most composers who are extremely prolific, his output is varied.  His ballet Undine is quite lovely.  Symphony No. 7 is dramatic.  Overall quite enjoyable composer. 

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6 hours ago, karelm said:

I quite enjoy this composers music but like most composers who are extremely prolific, his output is varied.  His ballet Undine is quite lovely.  Symphony No. 7 is dramatic.  Overall quite enjoyable composer. 

 

I've just been listening to Undine. I admit that the structure sounds mushy to me but some of the orchestral writing is highly creative.

 

Also, call me crazy, but I think there is a slight resemblance here?! :lol:

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, Loert said:

 

I've just been listening to Undine. I admit that the structure sounds mushy to me but some of the orchestral writing is highly creative.

 

Also, call me crazy, but I think there is a slight resemblance here?! :lol:

 

 

 

Hahaha, I missed that.  Yes, that does have a striking resemblance.  The problem is the premiere recording of this ballet was the 1996 recording you link to.  The ballet had only four performances prior to Star Wars and since it was not recorded until the premiere, it is very unlikely this was anything other than a coincidence unless someone can place JW in London in 1958, 64, 70 or Monte Carlo in 1959.   Very few ballets have strong musical structure.  Stravinsky's Rite of Spring is a sequence of "tableaux" rather than a long structured whole.  They tend to be short vignettes that generally align to the drama (Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker, Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliette, Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, etc). 

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On 8/4/2017 at 3:56 PM, Johnnyecks said:

Corrected Thank you!

 

 

Sure thing, only there's something else which I hadn't noticed before: it's Symphony of Sorrowful Songs (not Souls). ;):P

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5 hours ago, Maglorfin said:

 

Sure thing, only there's something else which I hadn't noticed before: it's Symphony of Sorrowful Songs (not Souls). ;):P

 

Corrected again!! LOL Thanks

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Awesome thread - lot in here I wasn't that familiar with and am really enjoying discovering ;)

 

Any Reich fans here??

 

Been into his Double Sextet lately, found this incredible performance - favorite moment? 18:30 to the end! Those suspensions y'all. Bliss. And the modulation at 19:55 - ahhh...I'm ready to float away like a balloon. Love, love this piece.

 

 

And this - um....YES. Tim, you have great taste ;) One of THE composers of our time (and of course, conductors!) Big favorite of mine, even went to the world premiere of the new Cello Concerto, simply amazing piece.

 

On 6/11/2017 at 0:16 PM, nightscape94 said:

Salonen - Nyx

 

 

 

Below is the first work of his that really grabbed me, Foreign Bodies - one of my favorite openings EVER along with Adams' Harmonielehre which it calls to mind. Infectious rhythms and wildly colorful orchestration!

 

I would honestly recommend pretty much any of his music...but foremost probably L.A. Variations, Wing on Wing (for the opening of Disney Hall)...also definitely the Violin Concerto, and the Gershwin-esque Piano Concerto for something a bit different and rather filmic.

 

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Saxbabe's post reminded me of this gem for some reason.  Something about the last movement at 15:02 has some of the excited energy of Foreign Bodies...so many creative ideas bursting through that they interrupt the previous idea demanding attention.  Sort of a manic quality to it that I simply adore when done as well as it is here.  And then such a glorious transcending ending.  I think one of the most glorious and original endings I have ever heard. 

The ending horns are full of these flat sixes which The Rock (Rachmaninoff) used to great effect in his final masterpiece, Symphonic Dances (listen for them at 33:26 but by all means listen to the work in its entirety, such brilliant structure, composition, and orchestration).  Plus as our wonderful JW frequently does, it incorporates the dies irae.  Damn the ruskies were on fire.  Incidentally, the flat six is a staple of sci-fi music and is all over Star Wars, Star Trek, etc.

 

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12 hours ago, TheGreyPilgrim said:

I love that piece.  Such bizarre harmonies.  I wrote far too many knockoffs of it back in the day.

Am I the only one who finds it someone Herrmannesque?  In a little girl lost vibe:

 

Remember Herrmann was a big time anglophile and adored RVW.  He incorporated many of those devices into his own music and I believe this found its way to JW.  This is very motific music by way of RVW who of course was strongly influenced by the french. 

 

I so much love the harp arpeggio section at

 

so gorgeous.  I was lucky to hear this along with Beneath the Twelve Mile Reef (which I believe utilized six harpists (sorry I forget exactly how many) in performance) and it was so glorious.

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