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

[bruce marshall 1,315]

Did Igor write anything special after FIREBIRD/SPRING?

 

WE shall find out.

 

On 15/12/2021 at 1:00 AM, bruce marshall said:

Verdi for arias.

Wagner for orchestra.

 

Nuff said!😄

I must concede the fact that , compared to Russian opera, Wagner sounds practically Verdian!😅

[bruce marshall 1,315]

Ralph Vaughan Williams

Pastoral Symphony #3

Andre Previn, cond.

 

LSO

[Tom 4,640]

Hallelujah chorus, but too lazy to listen to the whole Messiah.  Seminally great piece of music and uplifting everytime.  

[Schilkeman 957]

Just finished listening to Gardiner's complete Messiah. Rejoice Greatly always makes me happy, though maybe not in the way Handel intended lol 

[Holko 9,499]

Received a batch of classical discs (thanks for the help/recommendations/reinforcements, guys), will be going through them now. Obvious starting spot:

The Nutcracker

A very nice suite of fluff and grand highlights. I already knew a lot of it thanks to Christmas media and Jamie Uys but there were plenty of other stuff to enjoy too, like Clara and the Nutcracker or Mother Gigogne. Overall I preferred Act II with the Divertissement and finale.

 

Sleeping Beauty

The one I know the least well but liked it a lot! Much more like storytelling, better structured - the fantastic Act I finale for the kingdom going to sleep and the celebratory Act II finale for waking up have a lot of impact, Act III's a bit too much to pile on top of it though.

 

Swan Lake

And finally a subject matter with enough dramatic and tragic weight in it to drive the ballet - even if the dance inserts take up most of the time, the presence and development of the swans' fantastic theme makes it all worthwile. I guess I could recommend this as the most film score-like one!

 

Based on the pieces I knew already beforehand, all of these are of course great LSO/Previn performances, highly energetic where needed, taking their time where needed, doing justice to pieces with longform melody development and short bursts of fun alike.

[Thor 7,477]

 

I thought Discogs had everything, but it doesn't have this, so I had to upload my own scan of the cover. I play this CD every Christmas -- it came with a classical magazine years and years ago (we're talkin' the 90s here). Contains some usual suspects (and a selection from Berlioz' gobsmackingly beautiful "L'Enfance du Christ"), but also some more modern and unusual works that are hit and miss (I tend to skip over George Benjamin's 10-minute "A Mind of Winter"). 

[Positivatee 327]

Discogs is hit or miss with album art. Sometimes they have glorious 600x600 or larger pictures, sometimes they have crap, and sometimes they have zilch. 

[Thor 7,477]

True, but I couldn't even find the CD itself on Discogs. I guess that's the destiny of most of these "CD that came with a magazine" releases, even though I was very surprised to find another old HiFi magazine CD there awhile back.

[Positivatee 327]

That is strange. Discogs even includes a fair number of bootlegs. 

 

I love their ID tag system. If you copy the string of characters, even with the brackets, you can paste that into a respectable tag software to fill out your tag information, and even bring over cover art if it's present. 

[Tom Guernsey 2,280]

Jacques Loussier's two Violin Concertos on Naxos, absolutely terrific stuff. Jazzy and folksy (as you might expect given the composer), but with some fine orchestral writing. Well worth a listen. It's on Presto for £3 in lossless download... https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8042568--loussier-concertos. Soundtrack collecting can be expensive, but classical collecting, not so much. Worth every penny. 

[Holko 9,499]

Not necessarily overly enamoured with most of it initially, but the liner notes helped them tell the stories they wanted to tell, not bad by any means.

 

This lot, on the other hand... hoo boy did I enjoy it all! Had to employ wiki for Carnival's liner notes but it still would mostly work well enough with just the titles of the individual pieces. In the past many concertos bored me or lost me with their disconnected pieces and I have a level of dislike for the sound of solo piano, but all of these (included are Violin 3 and Piano 2 and 4) managed to grab me and take me wherever whey wanted. And of course Symphony 3 is Symphony 3. Now I want to go listen to Babe

[A24 4,326]

[Naïve Old Fart 9,507]

Ooh, that's nice. I've always liked this one.

 

As it's the festive season, it's has to be HANDEL'S MESSIAH . Hallelujah, Indeed.

[Jurassic Shark 12,033]

On 17/12/2021 at 5:37 PM, bollemanneke said:

I discovered a new baroque conductor: Alfredo Bernardini. His Handel recordings are mind-blowing!

 

Are you referring to his Water Music and Fireworks recordings, or has he done more?

[bollemanneke 3,338]

No, those two. I heard sniplets that blew me away, will try and listen to the whole thing before my ear surgery next week.

[Jurassic Shark 12,033]

9 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

No, those two. I heard sniplets that blew me away, will try and listen to the whole thing before my ear surgery next week.

 

Ear surgery? 

[bollemanneke 3,338]

Yeah, I've finally had enough of the broken eardrum.

[Jurassic Shark 12,033]

So it's fixable?

[bruce marshall 1,315]

I warn you people about 🎧 being harmful.

 

Good luck with the surgery

[Loert 2,510]

 

 

 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,507]

Aaw! My favourite Wagner.

 

What is the secret of the Grail? Whom does it serve?

You, my lord.

Who am I?

You are my lord and king. You are Arthur.

[Jurassic Shark 12,033]

I just got the urge to invade Poland.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,507]

1 hour ago, Jurassic Shark said:

I just got the urge to invade Poland.

Uncool, bro' 

[bollemanneke 3,338]

17 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

So it's fixable?

Well, the hole itself can absolutely be fixed with cartilage. Whether it will return my hearing is another matter, but they've given me a 70% success rate and both my ear doctors are very supportive. They say I have nothing to lose and the surgery will not make it worse. Might hear badly for about four or six weeks after the procedure, though.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,507]

4 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

They say I have nothing to lose...

... except, possibly, 30% of your hearing. If you think it's worth a chance, go for it.

[bollemanneke 3,338]

No no, there's a 30% chance the hearing will not improve. It won't get worse either. I thought long and hard, but decided to go for it. I'm sick of feeling air coming out of my ear, the random bursts of pain and the distortion that hearing aid causes, not to mention having to wear ear plugs every time I take a shower.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,507]

Ah! I get it.

I've worn several things in the shower, but never ear plugs 

My school friend wears ear plugs to live concerts, due to his tinnitus. He used to hate wearing them, but now he treats them as noise-cancelling headphones.

[Jurassic Shark 12,033]

57 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

Well, the hole itself can absolutely be fixed with cartilage. Whether it will return my hearing is another matter, but they've given me a 70% success rate and both my ear doctors are very supportive. They say I have nothing to lose and the surgery will not make it worse. Might hear badly for about four or six weeks after the procedure, though.

 

I've got some old bicycle tube repair kit, in case the operation fails.

[A24 4,326]

I'm currently going through my private Argo collection.

 

 

 

[bruce marshall 1,315]

15 hours ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

Uncool, bro' 

Too soon?

[A24 4,326]

A few more from my private Argo collection:

 

 

Never liked this one. It's not the Wild West Copland we all know and love.

 

 

Nice.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I wouldn't count Grohg or Hear Ye! Hear Ye! as masterpieces but I definitely find them a great pleasure to listen to.  There's a lot of isolated parts that I love, but they don't form a great whole.  Those ballets are Copland in his more urbane and sardonic voice, which is an essential part of his musical personality for great fans like myself.  But yes, for a more casual listener like yourself, @AC1 it's probably far from essential.  Although I would also say that several of his most essential pieces are similarly far-flung from the famous Wild West ballets.

 

One of many fun little parts is his excerpting of his earlier piece from the 20s called "Ukulele Serenade" for a dance in Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

 

 

[A24 4,326]

 

 

And so ends my private Argo collection. There is no more.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,507]

I'm currently  the New Year's Day concert, from Vienna, on BBC Radio 3, and very nice it is, too. I just wish that awful announcer would stop talking!

[Disco Stu 15,495]

MTT's recording of Henry Brant's orchestration of Charles Ives' Concord Sonata (whew!) is awe-inspiring.  I probably prefer it to the original solo piano if that's not too blasphemous.

 

 

[Tom Guernsey 2,280]

17 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

MTT's recording of Henry Brant's orchestration of Charles Ives' Concord Sonata (whew!) is awe-inspiring.  I probably prefer it to the original solo piano if that's not too blasphemous.

 

 

I love Ives, might have to check that one out!

[Holko 9,499]

Going through the EMI Berglund Sibelius box and holy hell am I into pretty much all of it, really growing to like his style and phrasings more, thanks a lot for the recommendation, @Marian Schedenig!

My major highlights so far are the impressionistic Oceanides, Kullervo which I liked more than I would based on my strong aversion to this operatic singing, the stirring final movement especially (funny to read along with the lyrics right after reading The Later Annals of Beleriand ), Serenade 2 and the earlier symphonies. The Karelia Suite and Scènes Historiques were fun too.

[A24 4,326]

[blondheim 1,157]

Berglund set is solid and a great starter. You should try Barbirolli next: a very different Sibelius than Berglund.

[Loert 2,510]

Debussy's "Ondine" Prelude - a diamond among gems!

 

 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Ned Rorem looked eerily like George Bush Sr.

 

[Loert 2,510]

 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

thinking emoji

 

(just the opening obviously.... this was apparently a conscious "steal")

 

[ricsim88 244]

a recording I actually play on. I used it to test my new headphones/amp setup. Pretty good recording of that piece I think.

[Jurassic Shark 12,033]

6 hours ago, ricsim88 said:

a recording I actually play on. I used it to test my new headphones/amp setup. Pretty good recording of that piece I think.

 

Cool! How was it to play under Dutoit?

[bruce marshall 1,315]

Prelude and Cool Fugue by J.S. Bruce.

Transcribed and arranged  for organ by Mr.Josh

 

 

 

[ricsim88 244]

3 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

Cool! How was it to play under Dutoit?

It was exciting and nerve wracking 😲. It was my first job after finishing school the prior spring. It was a one year contract to play 3rd and assistant principal trumpet.

Amazing orchestra. 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

On 14/12/2021 at 7:59 PM, Disco Stu said:

On 14/12/2021 at 7:55 PM, blondheim said:

 

I love Rufus Wainwright.

 

He’s an incredible songwriter who I think could actually be a great film composer if he wanted.  Like Randy Newman he has an inherent sense of character and narrative to his music.

 

In this new interview Rufus does indicate that he'd at least be interested in one day writing a film score (timestamped to the question)

 

"I probably will eventually"  That's at least something!

 

 

[blondheim 1,157]

The two Want albums definitely have filmic potential. I really need to listen to Prima Donna and see how he does with musical narrative. This is exciting news. Hopefully he finds his project sooner rather than later.

 

36 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

 

In this new interview Rufus does indicate that he'd at least be interested in one day writing a film score (timestamped to the question)

 

"I probably will eventually"  That's at least something!

 

 

 

[Loert 2,510]

 

Really enjoyed putting this together.

 

Bartok + LSO + Solti =