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What is the last piece of classical music you listened to?


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Classical music is so easy to collect in significant quantities... all those classic box sets where you can acquire dozens of discs for a couple of quid a disc (the Igor Stravinsky set, for example) and of course charity and second hand stores have loads. I was in Manchester last week and went to the Vinyl Exchange there and picked up 10 CDs (plus 2 at a charity shop and the RSNO re-recording of the Sand Pebbles at another second hand shop) but I've bought over 20 at the Music and Video Exchange in Notting Hill previously. Sadly they had a flood in the basement where the classical section was, but don't know how much of their stock survived. I believe they are going to start trying to sell some of it but from last time I went they said there were conflicting insurance issues... hope they can get it sorted, I love going there.

 

I have a terrifying 2,255 classical albums in my iTunes library...

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Yes, the insane output of many classical composers make it a daunting task. I believe there's a box of all Mozart works that counts something like 180 CDs? And that's just for Mozart.

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36 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

The gazillion Stravinsky sets, you mean. :)

Hah, yes... I meant the Stravinsky conducts Stravinsky set. Can't remember how many discs it is and, a bit like with Sibelius, quite a few are filled with odds and ends rather than undiscovered classics, but it's still a great set to have and it was stupidly cheap for the amount of music.

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4 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

I really like this disc, one of my favourites in the box. These particular recordings of Haydn's cello concerto and Mozart's Prague symphony sounded very fresh to me at the time, and put Freiburg Barockorchester on my map.

 

I'm no Mozart expert, but Jacobs' recordings of the Da Ponte operas are stunning.

 

3 hours ago, Tom Guernsey said:

I've bought over 20 at the Music and Video Exchange in Notting Hill previously. Sadly they had a flood in the basement where the classical section was, but don't know how much of their stock survived. I believe they are going to start trying to sell some of it but from last time I went they said there were conflicting insurance issues... hope they can get it sorted, I love going there.

 

Oh no! I love that store, I visit every time I'm in London!

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15 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

Oh no! I love that store, I visit every time I'm in London!

I know, me too... I'm over next week so will probably pop in and see how it's doing. I think some of the stock may have ended up at their Greenwich store which had a surprisingly large amount of classical music last time I went, but hopefully the Notting Hill one will get sorted soon enough.

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I'm glad that NHR&TE is still going.

Do you remember Cheapo Cheapo Records, just off of Piccadilly Circus?

There's two or three really record shops, in Soho: Sister Ray and Reckless, in Berwick St., and Phonica, in Poland St.

If you want to go a bit further out, there's Adrian's Records, and Wickford.

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16 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

I'm glad that NHR&TE is still going.

Do you remember Cheapo Cheapo Records, just off of Piccadilly Circus?

There's two or three really record shops, in Soho: Sister Ray and Reckless, in Berwick St., and Phonica, in Poland St.

If you want to go a bit further out, there's Adrian's Records, and Wickford.

I remember Cheapo Cheapo... not sure I ever found much there to be honest. There's one in Soho that has a fairly decent selection (can't remember if it's Reckless, but possibly) but otherwise I don't really bother with the second hand shops in London aside from M&VE in either Notting Hill or Greenwich. Might have to try the others...

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13 hours ago, Thor said:

Yes, the insane output of many classical composers make it a daunting task. I believe there's a box of all Mozart works that counts something like 180 CDs? And that's just for Mozart.

Schubert would need a warehouse to store all his recorded work.

And he died at age thirty one!!!!!!😗😳

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13 hours ago, Tom Guernsey said:

I remember Cheapo Cheapo... not sure I ever found much there to be honest. There's one in Soho that has a fairly decent selection (can't remember if it's Reckless, but possibly) but otherwise I don't really bother with the second hand shops in London aside from M&VE in either Notting Hill or Greenwich. Might have to try the others...

Please do. Sister Ray is fantastic, and it doesn't just sell second hand.

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I found it a little difficult listening to Sondheim so soon so after The Ladies Who Lunch by Elaine Stritch, I passed over to a piece of Mahler's: the 6th as conducted by Mariss Jansons in 2002 on the LSO Live label. I had a really profound experience with it, I am not at all ashamed to say.

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short (actually infinitely complex) question: what is the worst, what is the best recording of the Beethoven Symphony Circle? 

 

For me it is Karajan 1984 as the best,

 

Harnoncourt 1991 as the worst, an absolute failure...(Rattle still disputes this place with him for me), but please give your opinion about this issue...

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I love Karajan's 60s cycle. Not that I have that much experience with comparisons, but the energy and acoustics are spot on, and knowing the later Karajan (I adore his 70s Strauss), I can't imagine him having bettered his 60s takes. But for the 9th, my pick is Szell.

 

I hear great things about Gardiner's cycle, I've been meaning to check that out.

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I'm sure it's been mentioned on this thread already, but one of my favorite symphonies by far that I decided to give another listen today is Dvorak's No. 9 New World Symphony. It's one of the few where I recognize every theme/leitmotif, and they all have such distinct personality. It's probably the first symphony I went out of my way to listen to all the way through because of the beautiful second movement that was featured in Civilization V so frequently. 

 

 

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1 hour ago, superultramegaa said:

I'm sure it's been mentioned on this thread already, but one of my favorite symphonies by far that I decided to give another listen today is Dvorak's No. 9 New World Symphony. It's one of the few where I recognize every theme/leitmotif, and they all have such distinct personality. I

 

I'm a great fan of this recording by the Swedish Chamber Orchestra.  A key part of my pet theory that for recording purposes, smaller ensembles can often sound "bigger" than when actual huge orchestras are recorded.

 

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As a Bach lover, in the last year, we experienced the "1 voice per part" thing. Why not...

 

After all...Less is more... Bach never had so great orchestras or choirs at his disposition.... each Sunday in his church.... hey guys, I have a new cantata... he was a teacher.... that's life!

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13 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

Try that with Carmina Burana.

 

That's not a great work. Hey, even Danny Eflman quoted it for Batman.

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On 25/11/2021 at 8:05 AM, AC1 said:

550x550.jpg

 

This never sounded as good as on my Lintons. It's like I heard it for the first time. Everything from ECM sounds ridiculously good.

I have that!😁

7 hours ago, Loert said:

Where would film music be without Liszt?

 

 

He pretty much invented it!

5 hours ago, Chen G. said:

 

More to the point, where would Sieglinde's Nighmare be without it?

 

Or PARSIFAL😉

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4 hours ago, bruce marshall said:

Or PARSIFAL

 

That tune crops-up in Parsifal? I can't remember.

 

Not that I would be shocked to find it there: I mean, the Schwanmotiv from Lohengrin is in it verbatim, so why not Sieglinde's Nighmare? Parsifal is in many ways a summation of all the earlier music-dramas.

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7 minutes ago, bruce marshall said:

The ' Tristan' chord appears in Liszt work.

 

The chord appears in many works.

 

Its reluctance to resolve is what's unique to Tristan, though.

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39 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

The chord appears in many works.

 

Its reluctance to resolve is what's unique to Tristan, though.

 

Lazy Wagner.

 

On 24/11/2021 at 3:08 PM, Tom Guernsey said:

I have a terrifying 2,255 classical albums in my iTunes library...

 

That should just about cover all of Bach's cantatas.

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26 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

 

The chord appears in many works.

 

Its reluctance to resolve is what's unique to Tristan, though.

Liszt was decades ahead of his time when it came to harmony.

Both Schoenberg and Debussy acknowledged his contributions.

Wagner seized on his innovations and ran with it

It's all good but I'm glad Liszt has gotten credit in recent years.

 

13 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Lazy Wagner.

I know, right?

His operas were a measly 16 hours long😝

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15 minutes ago, bruce marshall said:

Liszt was decades ahead of his time when it came to harmony.

Both Schoenberg and Debussy acknowledged his contributions.

Wagner seized on his innovations and ran with it


I don’t recall anything in Liszt that’s even remotely like the kind of sustained harmonic tension that we have in Tristan. That was completely new.

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Wrong.

Liszt did it first.

Many of Liszts avant- garde compositions weren't published until decades later.

But RW had access to them in manuscript form and undoubtedly recognized their innovations.

But, it's not really important.

He is a great composer who built upon the work of another great composer.

Like they all do!

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On 25/11/2021 at 8:05 AM, AC1 said:

550x550.jpg

 

This never sounded as good as on my Lintons. It's like I heard it for the first time. Everything from ECM sounds ridiculously good.

This is one of my favorite classical discs I've ever owned.  Perfection.

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On 01/12/2021 at 1:29 AM, bruce marshall said:

Screenshot_2021-11-30-15-25-31.png

 

Talking about "The Tristan Chord" is a very reductive way to look at Tristan.

 

First off, its not the "tristan chord", its the opening motive of Tristan which is an entire phrase which concludes with the "Tristan chord". There's a sense of build-up which doesn't resolve in what's often dubbed the "Longing Motive" and - and this is important to make - this is true of EVERY PART OF TRISTAN'S MUSIC, "Tristan Chord" or no "Tristan Chord": ALL the phrases lack a sense of resolution until the end of the Liebestod.

 

That's not something that's true of any Liszt composition and that's the true innovation of Tristan: Not resolving the disonances across such a long composition was entirely new and unique. Not that the innovation is what mattes, either: I think its reductive to talk about Tristan as just a milestone and not as what it is, which is an incredibly affecting piece of music-drama in its own right. The lack of resolution throughout the piece is more important as a metaphor for the dramatic situation of Tristan than it is for what it did to music.

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I agree. Musicologists are the ones who make a big deal out if it.

The most overlooked innovation by Wagner is the orchestral writing.

Compare A Beethoven symphony with a W set piece. The big difference is the use of brass and percussion for dramatic effect.

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No, my point is that we put too much emphasis on how influential works are over how good they actually are.

 

I don't care that Tristan is influential: I care that when I listen to it, I feel the yearning of the titular pair in every single phrase of the music, and that when that final cadence hits, you can literally see and feel the heavens. THAT's what matters, not its influence on music going forward.

 

I've heard it said that the Ring is actually Wagner's list influential work precisely because its was so dauntingly gargantuan, and yet few things in life are as good as sitting down for a good Walkure; which I probably prefer to the more influential Gotterdamerung.

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17 hours ago, karelm said:

This is one of my favorite classical discs I've ever owned.  Perfection.

 

I own several Arvo Part CDs but I think this one (Te Deum) is his best.

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Die Walküre. Wagner still leaves me completely cold. For a guy who is supposed to have been instrumental for leitmotifs and film music, I found the whole thing pretty unmemorable. Back to Tchaikovsky tomorrow.

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