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The Classical Music Recommendation Thread


Muad'Dib

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26 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

Can anyone tell me what is going on with this upcoming album?

 

It's a German orchestra performing 3 of Copland's most well-worn, most recorded pieces.  Why is it called "Father" Copland???  What is that flag??? What is this supposed to represent????

 

eyJidWNrZXQiOiJwcmVzdG8tY292ZXItaW1hZ2Vz

 

Re-posting because Shark pushed the thread to a new page with a pointless response

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I'm fully aware that this is not strictly classical music, but wanted to share  anyway. As part of my succeesful efforts to stay positive during the lockdown, I've been listening to the Chieftains. And I just discovered this glorious track. The energy in the performance is just… so amazing, especially the opening part.

 

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I give my highest possible recommendation to this newly released recording of a 2019 Caroline Shaw "secular oratorio" called The Listeners.  It's a suite for orchestra and chorus/vocal soloists.  Truly wonderful music.

 

Oh and @karelm, while it uses a variety of texts, the piece overall was inspired by Carl Sagan's "Golden Record" greetings included on the Voyager spacecraft and at one point just includes a recording of Sagan speaking (the famous Blue Dot speech).

 

(this is a playlist of all 10 sections)

 

https://open.spotify.com/album/17vOofhJd7YFaUdPsREpw8

 

And as Shaw does with a lot of her pieces, she's put the score up for free on DropBox

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3rikk6bmul1fcs6/SHAW - THE LISTENERS - MARCH 9 2020 - FULL SCORE.pdf?dl=0

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My Good Friday selection for his year.

 

First the Missa Solemnis of Beethoven. Beethoven repeatedly described the Missa solemnis as his greatest work, intended to affect and move people.

Album Beethoven: Missa solemnis, Op. 123 , Ludwig van ...

https://open.spotify.com/album/7KFjJD7cf8FnKBm2PhtNhj?si=L1tWJlqoTAe7hRwJRohjuQ

 

My suggested version for today is conducted by Frieder Bernius.

 

Next, the mandatory St-Matthew Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach.

 

My suggestion version for today, conduced by Jos van Veldhoven:

 

Matthaus-Passion BWV 244 - conducted by Jos van Veldhoven
https://open.spotify.com/album/6E6DHMXAVMMKLq4UTG8KsP?si=hAk1Vox8RSeCwWDRSQ449g

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11 hours ago, Fabulin said:

It sounds like everything.

 

I've performed this!  It's extremely exciting to play especially some of the climactic moments.  Very fun work.  I felt it was a concerto for orchestra.  For example in a normal work you might have the trombone section acting as a unison section but here, we had a fugato where each player was on their own.  So there is a moment where bass trombone begins the fugato then second trombone enters, then first trombone for instance.  This is considerably much more difficult to perform because we all had separate melodic lines that had to completely line up for the harmony to work.  So we have to listen to each other very carefully. Very difficult but it results in really intense focus and excitement and thrill in performance if you pull it off which we did!  LOVE this work.

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3 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

You guys should check out Medtner's three piano concertos, especially the 2nd, dedicated to Rachmaninov:

 

https://open.spotify.com/album/29bR9y0dvdvGLYKKV8fqsU?si=JL1VHBayR5GhOMDhAm5tRg

Yes, they're very good and luscious! 

This is a very dramatic and evocative work by Swedish composer, Gosta Nystroem.

 

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20 minutes ago, publicist said:

It's classical day today...

 

 

Those are some darn good film scores right there!

 

My favorite cues from each:

 

Of Mice and Men - "Death of Candy's Dog"

Our Town - "The Hill Top"

 

The hymn-like theme that starts around 1:55 in "The Hill Top" is one Copland's most solemnly beautiful.  Although I do prefer the orchestration of this theme found in his concert suite from the score.  He also published a solo piano arrangement called "The Resting Place on the Hill"

 

 

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4 hours ago, Sharkissimo said:

 

Serving pandiatonic realness. I wonder if Howard Shore has this somewhere in his record collection.

I LOVE Lepo Sumera, he was a friend of mine gone way too soon.  I wrote a musicological analysis of this work too but what you hear as Howard Shore is really mediant harmonic intervals...the major third which is a sci-fi and fantasy convention.  It is a major third harmonic interval and sounds very spacey.  I use it anytime I want someone to think of sci-fi or fantasy.  Regardless, others should explore this composer's output.  He was also a prolific film composer though mostly of Eastern European art films.  He was very interested in film music, sci-fi, and pop music but also so kind and humorous.  We exchanged multiple emails and then I lost contact only to learn later he had died at the age of 50.  His last email to me was telling me about his upcoming opera which I don't know if he completed.  He was always kind, jovial, and sincere.  Damn, it's so crazy to realize it's been 20 years since he died.  That was the same year as my dad.

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4 hours ago, Sharkissimo said:

 

Serving pandiatonic realness. I wonder if Howard Shore has this somewhere in his record collection.

 

This is absolutely fantastic. My curiosity is piqued. Any other suggestions for exploring, Sharky, Karelm?

 

 

Yoda's Theme anybody?

 

 

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13 hours ago, SteveMc said:

 

 

 

I'm hurt!  You didn't even link to *my* video of the Piano Quartet? :(

 

While I'm here, the wonderful pianist Timo Andres uploaded a "from quarantine" performance of Copland's Sonata to Youtube yesterday.  This is a full meal, and a delicious nutritious one at that.

 

 

 

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8 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

I'm hurt!  You didn't even link to *my* video of the Piano Quartet? :(

Whoops, sorry mate, YouTube just gave that one to me near midnight last night and I did a quick copy-paste.

It's a great piece.  Full bodied harmonically with a wealth of interesting motifs and rhythmic shifts.  

 

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I really hope that one day I can find my way to Tanglewood, so that I can pay respect to my hero.

 

It is so fitting that the memorial to the man whose music is most important to me was commissioned by the man whose music is next most important to me

 

B771CB4D-4439-4C8B-B0FE-1D6CB607F3D4.jpeg

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On 4/30/2020 at 9:48 PM, Disco Stu said:

I really hope that one day I can find my way to Tanglewood, so that I can pay respect to my hero.

 

It is so fitting that the memorial to the man whose music is most important to me was commissioned by the man whose music is next most important to me

 

When you come I'd love to share a drink with you

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This incredible film was uploaded by the Martha Graham Dance Company a couple of weeks ago.  It’s a performance of Appalachian Spring from 1947, less than 3 years after it premiered.  I can tell the audio comes from the late 1950s public television broadcast version.  Still it’s amazing to see a document of the ballet so close to its actual creation.

 

 

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On 4/2/2020 at 3:42 PM, Disco Stu said:

Can anyone tell me what is going on with this upcoming album?

 

It's a German orchestra performing 3 of Copland's most well-worn, most recorded pieces.  Why is it called "Father" Copland???  What is that flag??? What is this supposed to represent????

 

eyJidWNrZXQiOiJwcmVzdG8tY292ZXItaW1hZ2Vz


The classical music critic for the New Yorker is similarly perplexed 

 

BDD4565D-4F74-4C80-B558-E80933C7FDDF.jpeg

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Took me several listens over the last couple years to really get into this, but it's marvelous:

 

 

Love the use of synths and other unconventional orchestration. 

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I know in certain circles the idea of calling Robert Farnon “classical” would raise an eyebrow,  but man the main theme of “Gateway to the West” just tickles me in the right spot.

 

Main theme after the intro at 0:20

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

There is *finally* a commercial recording of one of my favorite orchestral pieces of the last 20-or-so years, Lowell Liebermann's fantastic Trumpet Concerto written in 1999.  This is really the only trumpet concerto that's truly in competition with John Williams' for me (although I haven't heard Goldenthal's yet!).

 

I think Liebermann's music is perfect for fans of the classic Hollywood romantic film score style.

 

It's tracks 2 - 4 on this album:

https://open.spotify.com/album/4K4LWwNxFDemgu61oZ18XV?si=drr9u1E5T7CqgPLLYSBhyg

 

Or here's a playlist

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

The scherzo section of the Symphonic Ode is so good I just wanna disappear inside it forever.  It's very balletic in that way that most of Copland's fast music is.

 

 

(the Tilson Thomas is my preferred recording but it doesn't separate the sections out into tracks, the section starts below at 4:22)

 

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