The Classical Music Recommendation Thread

[KK 3,307]

[A24 4,338]

Stravinsky heals the soul!

"Music occupies a larger part of the brain than language does, or anything else." - Oliver Sacks

Alex

[nightscape94 965]

I was listening to his violin concerto a couple of weeks ago. Great stuff.

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Great Dumbarton Oaks performance.

[A24 4,338]

This opening (00:00 - 01:18) would make great film music.

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

In the "last score" thread I mentioned how much I enjoyed Greenwood's Inherent Vice - I've been seeking out his "art music" efforts and I'm quite taken with them too, what little I can find. Anyone know of any good resources for information on them, or where to hear more?

[KK 3,307]

Wow that's quite something. He's a real talented guy.

Here's a concert he did with the LCO, where he performed his scores for There Will Be Blood, The Master and some Steve Reich.

 

Jonny Greenwood and LCO Boiler Room Manchester... by brtvofficial

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Great, thanks for sharing. I really hope he plans some comprehensive releases of his compositions.

Self-Portrait With Seven Fingers is really... hot.

[KK 3,307]

I stumbled on this too:

There's an interview about it where you can hear more excerpts:

Man, that's some wonderful stuff. I wonder how he got into concert hall/orchestral music.

[Glóin the Dark 1,222]

In the "last score" thread I mentioned how much I enjoyed Greenwood's Inherent Vice

Ah, I can't wait for this film. Didn't realise the score was available...

[KK 3,307]

It's "available", but not available.

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Greenwood seems like he'd be an interesting guy to talk to.

 

[A24 4,338]

Most interesting composer in film today!

His future after the Radiohead days is secured.

[Marian Schedenig 8,198]

We actually had this in our rehearsals at one point. Never ended up performing it in a concert though.

One piece we're actually singing today is this:

I wonder if Menken knew it when he wrote his Hunchback:

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Most interesting composer in film today!

I wouldn't go quite that far. While what he does is great, there hasn't been nearly enough variety yet in it to prove how interesting he can be.

[KK 3,307]

I personally think there's quite a bit of variety in his work. But yeah, there's still time before we start making some extreme claims.

[karelm 2,914]

I think this is extremely gorgeous.

 

Music by Mexican composer Armando Dominguez but the art direction and animation is by Salvador Dali and Walt Disney from 1946.  Some of it almost feels like CGI it's so beautiful. I forget how experimental Disney was.

[Jilal 569]

For those who prefer drier, close-miked recordings, there is the '59 recording of Stravinsky's Petruschka, the Rite and his 4 Etudes under Antal Dorati's baton, wonderfully performed by the London Symphony Orchestra:

London Symphony Orchestra – Stravinsky: Petrouchka; The Rite of Spring; 4 Etudes

This recording really allows you to distill a lot of detail. A highly interesting listen.

---------------------------------------------

This one appears to be more than fairly decent as well:

London Symphony Orchestra & Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos – Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring; Petrushka

The London Symphony again, this time under the baton of the recently deceased Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos. More reverb, and a relatively wide stereo field. The horn section really stands out, here.

[Damien F 1,742]

This absolute gem has some really gorgeous themes and always reminds me of a Goldsmith action cue for an 'Arabian Nights' movie. That thunderous timpani with the French Horns blasting out the main theme followed by the trumpets and whole orchestra at the finale is pure Goldsmith.

The piece has a short but beautiful oboe solo which this clip omits but the other videos were conducted too slow - this piece is best heard at a fast tempo.

[karelm 2,914]

This absolute gem has some really gorgeous themes and always reminds me of a Goldsmith action cue for an 'Arabian Nights' movie. That thunderous timpani with the French Horns blasting out the main theme followed by the trumpets and whole orchestra at the finale is pure Goldsmith.

The piece has a short but beautiful oboe solo which this clip omits but the other videos were conducted too slow - this piece is best heard at a fast tempo.

It's a very fun piece to play too! Especially for brass players with the wild percussion just inches behind. Here is a rehearsal with me playing the bass trombone.

The volume doesn't come through on the iphone video but wow was it loud being inches from the percussion! Great fun piece though! I can never again hear the piece without my heart racing in anticipation of the nerves and performance frenzy to come. I vividly recall the concussive blast of the bass drum just two feet away but the phone doesn't capture any of the low end.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,534]

A friend of mine has a 5.1 mix of "The Planets" (from 1974) performed by the LSO, and conducted by Andrew Preview.

It is probably the best recording of "The Planets" that I have ever heard!

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Speaking of Previn, I've been into his stuff lately.

[karelm 2,914]

Speaking of Previn, I've been into his stuff lately.

Wow, that's very beautiful. Thanks for posting.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,534]

What do JWfaners think of Previn's score for "Bad Day At Black Rock", or his work on "Rollerball"?

[nightscape94 965]

Hausegger - Natursymphonie (Nature Symphony)

[karelm 2,914]

Hausegger - Natursymphonie (Nature Symphony)

Yes, that's a good one. Predates Strauss's Alpensymphonie by a few years but an exciting and beautiful nature symphony. If you want to hear a modern take on the "nature symphony" take a listen to Kalevi Aho's Symphony No. 12. I don't see it on youtube though. I think he's an excellent composer in the Finnish symphonic link tradition (Sibelius -> Rautavaara -> Sallinen -> Aho).

[nightscape94 965]

And he's not the only Finnish composer I've been listening to today. Symphony No. 3 by Sallinen (whom you mentioned).

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

[A24 4,338]

Track of the week for me (thanks to Mr. Nobody)

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Fauré is one of my favorites Alex. He very much embodies that vaguely antique, fragrant, and veiled late 19th century French aesthetic that I adore so much. He wrote one of my favorite melodies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCU7YyTtX4A

Coincidentally I'm spending the evening with another gorgeous French melody from around the same time. Absolutely one of the best. I'm "playing" it with myself through the magic of sampling.

[A24 4,338]

There was a time that his requiem was quite popular.

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Also lovely 

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9scmoqkemM

[Bespin 8,483]

DG just issued the third and last boxset of their complete Karajan collection, called "1980s" (first two are called "1960s" and "1970s").

It gave me the idea to revisit some classics on my mp3 player. Some of the best Karajan recordings.

Dvorák: Cello Concerto; Tchaikowsky / Rostropovich, Karajan
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=544

Mendelssohn, Brahms: Violin Concertos / Mutter, Karajan
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=1018

Mozart: Violin Concertos 3 & 5 / Mutter, Karajan, Berlin Po
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=1451

Beethoven: Triple Concerto; Brahms / Richter, Oistrakh, Rostropovich
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=1626

Mozart: Horn Concertos 1-4, Quintet K 452 / Brain, Karajan
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=680

Haydn: Die Schöpfung / Karajan, Janowitz, Ludwig, Et Al
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=5235

Mendelssohn: Symphonies 3 & 4, Etc / Karajan, Berlin Po

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=2318

The Mozart Collection - Great Mass In C Minor, Adagio, Etc / Perry, Schreier, Hendricks, Luxon

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=126145

Karajan - The Collection - Beethoven: Symphonies 5, 6 & 9 (particularly for the 9th symphony, 1976)

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=62889

Brahms: The Complete Symphonies / Karajan, Berlin Po (particularly for the 3rd and 4th, 1977/78)

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=433

[Wojo 2,453]

Seconth? How many is that? I'd love to get my hands on these Karajan sets but they're so expensive.

[Bespin 8,483]

Seconth? How many is that? I'd love to get my hands on these Karajan sets but they're so expensive.

Well, finally it's the third. :-)

[Marian Schedenig 8,198]

Some of these box sets are rather tempting to have from a collector's point of view. Amazon had good Christmas deals on a 50 (?) disc DG Originals box and a complete Karajan Strauss set. The problem is that I already have nearly everything I have a real interest in from the former, and nearly everything from the latter...

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

I just posted this on New Year's Eve since I always listen to it that night, every year. But damn. I can't stop listening to it tonight either. This is just such a complete masterwork. And Bernstein... I've always been on his team. And it's no different here. Critics be damned. This is the only speed that this music should be taken at. It's absolutely sublime. He gets it. You can hear the classic Bernstein growl right at the climax. That makes it about ten times better.

[karelm 2,914]

I just posted this on New Year's Eve since I always listen to it that night, every year. But damn. I can't stop listening to it tonight either. This is just such a complete masterwork. And Bernstein... I've always been on his team. And it's no different here. Critics be damned. This is the only speed that this music should be taken at. It's absolutely sublime. He gets it. You can hear the classic Bernstein growl right at the climax. That makes it about ten times better.

I like this version very much too but he does read Elgar as if its Mahler. It works because Lennie still keeps it very musical and I like the gravitas he puts in to Elgar. It's a VERY fine piece to play as well though surprisingly difficult.

[Bespin 8,483]

Forgot this one in my Karajan list, a great Barbara Hendricks recording, superb.

 

The Mozart Collection - Great Mass In C Minor, Adagio, Etc / Perry, Schreier, Hendricks, Luxon

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=126145''>http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=126145'>http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=126145


 

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

[karelm 2,914]

Probably one of the greatest contemporary symphonists, Kalevi Aho (b. 1949) is now up to 16 symphonies and all are very distinct and finely crafted:

His early works are strongly influenced by Shostakovitch and his later works are much more contemporary Finnish though accessible and traditional. The Symphony No. 5 written when he was 30 years old is the transition from the early doom laden symphonies to the more modernist ones. This work requires two conductors and is very difficult because both conductors and orchestras are simultaneously at different tempos at specific moments in the work.

Here he is in a more traditional mode (Symphony No. 4 from 1973):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=5hAu4mQI8v8#t=1334

To me this has much in common with Shostakovitch such as the scherzo from Symphony No. 10.

[karelm 2,914]

So what say ye about Sir Peter Maxwell Davies? I am listening to his latest CD and find it very impressive. Others?

http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572358

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Interesting composer but I can't say I find myself often returning to his music. Could just be that there's too much other stuff getting in the way for the moment. I like to listen to him talk about music though.

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

I thought of that first

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Yeah right

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

What?

[RedBard 71]

Whitacre: Master of the modern choral scene bar none.

[karelm 2,914]

Whitacre stealing my fuckin' ideas again.

Why don't you write a piece called ultra deep field, and just double everything Whitaker does?

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Yes I've already started work on Ultra-Deep Field for Big Ass Orchestra, Triple Chorus and Eight Synthesizers.