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The Classical Music Recommendation Thread


Muad'Dib

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I love that symphony, but I find that tempo to be too sluggish. I much prefer Haitink's version

I'm notorious for preferring unpopularly slow tempi!

I like both performances, but the clincher for me is the moment at 1:07:46 in the Rostropovich video (the transition to the final passage). In Haitink's performance there's (what feels like) a small reduction in tempo at that point, where Rostropovich hurtles along a full speed leading to a more ecstatic climax. At some other places in the symphony I find Rostropovich's slowness a tad excessive, but I would probably choose this one to listen to on account of the ending.

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I found about this piece (and this particular performance) on this very forum a year ago or so. It's so worth revisiting and sharing it for people who aren't familiar with it. Such wildness, I adore it...

Yeah, it's a great piece!

I also love this. This piece basically sums up quite well the kind of wild writing that Revueltas became known for. It's fantastic.

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Thanks to Carl Sagan for introducing me to this by using it in Cosmos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3arC3kbOilQ

Far and away my favorite Shostakovich symphony. I saw it performed live a couple of months ago. Amazing stuff.

Bernstein usually does it for me. I can't listen to anyone else's Enigma Variations anymore.

I feel the same way about Barber's Adagio for Strings. Ever since I heard his performance of the piece with the Los Angeles Philharmonic I basically can't listen to anyone else's.

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There used to be a video of the sequence featuring this piece planned for Fantasia, similar to the one I posted of Debussy's Clair de Lune a while back, but it has been removed since I last saw it. Too bad, since it was enchanting.

 

 

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Very useful site here. IMSLP is great but doesn't extend into much contemporary stuff for obvious reasons - this one circumvents that by providing "perusal" scores that can't be downloaded.

http://www.musicsalesclassical.com/OnDemand


Whoa they have some of George Fenton's stuff from Blue Planet. This is awesome!

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Do you have four hours to spare? Do you enjoy classic 70's minimalism? If so, this (no longer) live stream of Glass' Einstein on the Beach performed in Paris may be just for you.

http://culturebox.francetvinfo.fr/einstein-on-the-beach-au-theatre-du-chatelet-146813

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Heh.

Whoa, the second theme in the first movement is somehow even more gorgeous like this.

 

And basically all of the choral writing becomes Ligeti

 

 

The definitive performance in real time.

 

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Love Ann-Sophie Mutter. Previn was a lucky sod.

Recently discovered this piece by Zemlinsky. 6 Gesänge für mittlere Stimme und Kammerorcheste (Op. 13) (AKA: 6 Songs for Mezzo-Soprano and Chamber Orchestra) - based on poems by Maurice Maeterlinck.

Moving.

One of my favourite commencement du siècle works:

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Yep, which is the formula for most organ music. But the trios... you go in thinking that three lines will be a cake walk, and then you come out totally wrecked.

I guess the pedals are usually used for more or less complex bass line.

But in the case of these trio, foot plays most of the time the full voice of a fugue, that's completely crazy!

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Well there are plenty of ridiculously complex pedal parts in the organ literature, and not only in fugues, but the thing about the trios is they are essentially written for three separate players, then the staves are connected and Bach says, "Here, do this yourself."

The degree of independence in each part is really high, even by Bach's standards.

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Asyla by Thomas Adès.

When I first heard this (a radio broadcast of its first performance in the late 90s), some aspects of the fourth movement reminded me distinctly of Howard Shore's score for The Silence of the Lambs - though I find it difficult to hear any resemblance nowadays.

I can't say from personal experience whether the third movement (Ecstasio) is a close musical approximation to the type of experience induced by a good dose of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, but it certainly is the closest emulation by an orchestra that I've ever heard of the sound of a 90s nightclub.

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This is really interesting. I've not heard much of Ades' work, for an admittedly unfair reason. He seems to be the go-to example of a "real" composer for people criticizing other, equally talented contemporaries. Must not let that cloud my judgement anymore, as it has nothing to do with the man himself or his work.

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He seems to be the go-to example of a "real" composer for people criticizing other, equally talented contemporaries.

Is that right? I've occasionally seen Adès scoffed at for being too accessible and popular. But I like his peculiar blend of the strange and the familiar.

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Ades is new to me. I'll check out those links Gloin.

Whitacre is a times too saccharine, but still, he's done a lot of magic.

One of Eric Whitacre's choral pieces, arranged for string orchestra by him. This is unbearably tender music. Someone give this man a film to score.

https://soundcloud.com/ericwhitacre/a-boy-and-a-girl-string

Isn't that cello line during the climax starting at 2:50 perfect?

Beautiful, if typical Whitacre. His choral works are generally quite suited for strings.

Its funny how much this piece reminds me of Thomas Newman though.

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