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The Classical Music Recommendation Thread


Muad'Dib

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The big romantics are just suuuuuuuuuch an ordeal for me, even the great Mahler. I'll try Bruckner #something tonight.

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Listen to how strikingly modern so much of this is. What a wonderful composer.

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Go straight for the jugular: No. 8

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That Karajan version has a beautifully flowing scherzo, much different than any other version I've heard, but overall it doesn't wow me too much. I like his 75 Berlin take a bit more.

But in this case, Wand's Berlin version from 2001 is my clear favourite. Although his 1979 version may have an even better take on the coda.

#6 is generally disliked from what I hear. I love how the orchestra is treated like one giant organ in the finale.

...and the opening movement actually has a lot in common with that of the 4th. Both are riddled with all kinds of transformations of the main motif stacked on top of each other in counterpoint. In fact, at least in the case of the 6th, I haven't yet found one single recording where you can even hear each of these lines. Also, in both symphonies there are these wonderful lyrical episodes interspersed in the main flow, which form some of the highlights. And from all the versions I've heard, nobody did these bits better than Karajan. In fact, of all the 6s I know, Karajan is still my clear favourite.

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The Bruckner 4th also made at least some impression on Jerry Goldsmith who quoted this and other Bruckners fleetingly in FIRST KNIGHT and other of his more traditional scores.

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Never noticed anything in First Knight, but the big C major organ ostinato from the Te Deum seems to show up in The Edge and Voyager, and there's a brief bit from the 4th in Roxy Loses from Basic Instinct.

Stylistically, there are many instances where Goldsmith reminds me a bit of Bruckner. I've always thought of him as a fan, though I only know one quote to support he was actually aware of him. (Incidentally, Broughton calls Goldsmith his favourite film composer, and dislikes Bruckner)

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Marian, listen to the opening of the 4th and its later incarnations, it's an ethereal horn figure Goldsmith uses in halfway through the final cue and also in the wedding cue.

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The big romantics are just suuuuuuuuuch an ordeal for me, even the great Mahler.

Apparently, even Mahler was responsible for butchering Bruckner. Not surprising I guess, given his tendency to adapt and rewrite the works he conducted. But with few (if any) other composers have these kinds of modifications compromised the music so severly, or for so long.

Marian, listen to the opening of the 4th and its later incarnations, it's an ethereal horn figure Goldsmith uses in halfway through the final cue and also in the wedding cue.

I'll give FK a re-listen (it's been too long anyway). I've known the 4th longer and better than any other Bruckner symphony, but that doesn't mean I necessarily pick up all bits that creep into other works, if they're different in character. Horner's uses were easy to spot, since he pretty much retained their original setting, as usual. But I'd never have found the bit in the Star Wars main titles a friend discovered (and I still only notice it if I deliberately think of it).

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The stepwise modulation at the very beginning of the first movement of Bruckner's 9th reminds me of the modulation in the quartal build-up part of Williams's SUPERMAN titles. It's a very effective way of energizing a piece of music, and it works wonderfully in both cases.

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Two new entries in my CD collection:

Face To Face With Beethoven / Anne-sophie Mutter

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Concerto for Piano, Violin and Cello in C major, Op. 56 "Triple Concerto"

Performer: Mark Zeltser (Piano), Anne-Sophie Mutter (Violin), Yo-Yo Ma (Cello)

Conductor: Herbert von Karajan

Portrait of Yo-Yo Ma

MI0000992565.jpg?partner=allrovi.com

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Marian, listen to the opening of the 4th and its later incarnations, it's an ethereal horn figure Goldsmith uses in halfway through the final cue and also in the wedding cue.

Couldn't spot it. There are sequences with an overall Bruckner feel, and parts where the 4th's horn call would fit in as a counterpoint, but I didn't notice any actual quotes (or near-quotes). Any time indexes?

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Today, I revisited these two superb boxsets of the Talich Quartet.

The string quartets, a kind of work I don't listen often enough!

MI0001054386.jpg?partner=allrovi.com

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Received two new Bach in the mailbox today.

First, this new (2014) version of the orchestral suites. I always looked for a period instruments version to counterpart the superb Marriner version I already have. Here it is!

What a great dusting off!

Bach: Orchestral Suites / Egarr, Academy Of Ancient Music

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Then, this superb album of the Inventions and Sinfonias (2014), maybe the one I always looked for. I had the Till Fellner version that is superb, but maybe a little "stiff" by moments. At last a beautiful Invention no. 14 (one of my favorite) that doesn't pass like a bullet train.

Bach: Inventions & Sinfonias / Simone Dinnerstein

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A beautiful discovery, the Choir of New College, Oxford directed by Edward Higginbottom.

Agnus Dei (1996)
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Do you guys recommend Goldenthal's Fire Water Paper?

"Fire Water Paper" ultimately seems grossly insufficient to its purpose. Indeed, I'm not sure what that purpose was intended to be, other than to encourage some spurious "healing" process. I was never convinced that Goldenthal had any real ideas about the Vietnam War, save that it was tragic and that it is over. I was often reminded of one of those newsweekly articles on controversial subjects that strive so mightily to offend neither left nor right that they end up sweeping all of their readers into some weird, quasi-lobotomized DMZ. I learned nothing new about Vietnam from Goldenthal's piece; much more to the point, I felt nothing new about Vietnam.

(http://www.washingtonpost.com/pb/archive/lifestyle/1996/04/15/fire-an-epic-requiem-for-vietnam/d4c85827-9363-43b6-95e3-d8c6effcc1fe/?resType=accessibility)

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Why should an oratorio of all things be required to challenge preconceived notions on historical events? To quote Britten:

'I don't believe you can express social or political or economic theories in music, but by coupling new music with well-known musical phrases, I think it's possible to get over certain ideas'

BTW Marian--where's the Bruckner 4 quote in Roxy Loses?

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Do you guys recommend Goldenthal's Fire Water Paper?

"Fire Water Paper" ultimately seems grossly insufficient to its purpose. Indeed, I'm not sure what that purpose was intended to be, other than to encourage some spurious "healing" process. I was never convinced that Goldenthal had any real ideas about the Vietnam War, save that it was tragic and that it is over. I was often reminded of one of those newsweekly articles on controversial subjects that strive so mightily to offend neither left nor right that they end up sweeping all of their readers into some weird, quasi-lobotomized DMZ. I learned nothing new about Vietnam from Goldenthal's piece; much more to the point, I felt nothing new about Vietnam.

(http://www.washingtonpost.com/pb/archive/lifestyle/1996/04/15/fire-an-epic-requiem-for-vietnam/d4c85827-9363-43b6-95e3-d8c6effcc1fe/?resType=accessibility)

If you like Goldenthal, it is self recommending. I also think the Washington Post's review mistakenly assumes the artists job is to elicit a new feeling/response from the listener. It can also be a personal statement about how the artist feels. For example, Corigliano's First Symphony isn't intended to make people rethink their views on AIDS but rather offers Corigliano's personal feelings about friends lost through AIDS.

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Do you guys recommend Goldenthal's Fire Water Paper?

"Fire Water Paper" ultimately seems grossly insufficient to its purpose. Indeed, I'm not sure what that purpose was intended to be, other than to encourage some spurious "healing" process. I was never convinced that Goldenthal had any real ideas about the Vietnam War, save that it was tragic and that it is over. I was often reminded of one of those newsweekly articles on controversial subjects that strive so mightily to offend neither left nor right that they end up sweeping all of their readers into some weird, quasi-lobotomized DMZ. I learned nothing new about Vietnam from Goldenthal's piece; much more to the point, I felt nothing new about Vietnam.

(http://www.washingtonpost.com/pb/archive/lifestyle/1996/04/15/fire-an-epic-requiem-for-vietnam/d4c85827-9363-43b6-95e3-d8c6effcc1fe/?resType=accessibility)

If you like Goldenthal, it is self recommending. I also think the Washington Post's review mistakenly assumes the artists job is to elicit a new feeling/response from the listener. It can also be a personal statement about how the artist feels. For example, Corigliano's First Symphony isn't intended to make people rethink their views on AIDS but rather offers Corigliano's personal feelings about friends lost through AIDS.

But what is art?

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The latest addition to my collection.

Another brillant Perahia recording, altought that's four Beethoven's sonatas that I know a little less.

An album to discover this summer!

MI0001185287.jpg?partner=allrovi.com

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Just discovered the great trumpetist Maurice André.

Here's a great collection I found on DG, but there are many others.

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That's great to own, at last, a good version of Vivaldi's Concerto for two trumpets!

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