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

[Marian Schedenig 8,207]

7 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

Anything by Bartok, is bella.

See what I did, there? 

 

[Glóin the Dark 1,222]

[bollemanneke 3,349]

Beethoven, symphony 1, Karajan, 1970s. HEAVEN. Thank you to the guy with his lawnmower too. TURN. IT. OFF.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

"Bethena" is Scott Joplin's best piano waltz (he wrote a few) and was a lovely soundtrack for my short drive to work.

 

Sidenote: I have sampled hundreds of Joplin recordings over the past few years and by far the best recorded performances I have heard are by this pianist, William Albright.

 

 

[Jurassic Shark 12,084]

There's surprisingly many limp Joplin recordings out there!

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Very very true.  This William Albright guy knows how to play a Joplin rag like an actual performance if you know what I mean.  He really inhabits the piece musically whereas so many players are either way too mechanistic in their playing or just have no feel for the rhythms.

 

I adore his performance of my personal favorite Joplin rag, "Fig Leaf"

 

 

[bollemanneke 3,349]

Bruckner 7. Some very nice moments, but needlessly long.

[Marian Schedenig 8,207]

1 hour ago, bollemanneke said:

Bruckner 7. Some very nice moments, but needlessly long.

 

No, but you need the right recording with the right flow. It certainly has nice moments (most importantly the climax of the adagio), but the intense buildups are just as essential (most importantly the looong one leading up to that adagio climax). The opening theme alone is a marvel, going on and on and on for over a minute before it finishes and repeats in a first variation.

[Loert 2,515]

 

For piano duet, performed by Shostakovich and Weinberg. Pretty cool!

[Omen II 1,235]

I went to see the BBC Symphony Orchestra in a very rare performance of Rued Langgaard's first symphony at the Barbican on Friday.  It is a remarkable piece (finished by the Danish composer in 1911 when he was still only seventeen years old) and quite bonkers at times.  There were nine horns (four of which doubled on Wagner tubas) as well as off-stage trumpets and trombones in addition to the healthy numbers already on stage.

 

I was glad to have been in row S; any further forward and my ears might have started bleeding as if listening to the boîte diabolique in Look Around You.

 

 

[Marian Schedenig 8,207]

20 minutes ago, Omen II said:

It is a remarkable piece (finished by the Danish composer in 1911 when he was still only seventeen years old) and quite bonkers at times.

 

Early bonkers Langgaard is awesome, and more interesting than mature late Romantic Langgaard. I'd love to hear Sfærernes Musik live someday.

[Score 770]

Caroline Shaw's Partita for 8 voices:

 

 

 

Beautiful and original piece, greatly written for the voices. The third woman from the left is the composer herself.

 

[Tom Guernsey 2,287]

3 hours ago, Omen II said:

I went to see the BBC Symphony Orchestra in a very rare performance of Rued Langgaard's first symphony at the Barbican on Friday.  It is a remarkable piece (finished by the Danish composer in 1911 when he was still only seventeen years old) and quite bonkers at times.  There were nine horns (four of which doubled on Wagner tubas) as well as off-stage trumpets and trombones in addition to the healthy numbers already on stage.

 

I was glad to have been in row S; any further forward and my ears might have started bleeding as if listening to the boîte diabolique in Look Around You.

 

 

I bought the complete art of his symphonies on dacapo I think it was but recall finding them less interesting than I had hoped but based on your description I’m wondering if maybe the early ones were interesting but because I went through them in order my impression was based on the less interesting later ones?! I got his music or the spheres recently which I quite enjoyed but need to listen again.

 

Currently enjoying a double disc of various Martinu concertos including one for string quartet and another for string piano and timpani. Always forget how much I enjoy Martinu and these are a delightful addition to my collection of his symphonies and a few other bits and pieces. 

[Marian Schedenig 8,207]

15 minutes ago, Tom Guernsey said:

I bought the complete art of his symphonies on dacapo I think it was but recall finding them less interesting than I had hoped but based on your description I’m wondering if maybe the early ones were interesting but because I went through them in order my impression was based on the less interesting later ones?!

 

That has been my experience with the symphony set, and it also kept me from re-listening to the earlier ones. But I did like those when I heard them. There are also some other fascinating Langgaard works (some of which are paired with my version of the Spheres. His opera should be interesting.

[bollemanneke 3,349]

Mozart, coronation mass in C. THIS, is how you write them, Bach.

[Bespin 8,484]

Which Bach?

[Jurassic Shark 12,084]

PDQ.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,551]

I heard an interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger, the other day. He said that he will be playing a classical composer, in a forthcoming biopic. Asked which one, he said: "I'll be Bach" 

[Marian Schedenig 8,207]

31 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

I heard an interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger, the other day. He said that he will be playing a classical composer, in a forthcoming biopic. Asked which one, he said: "I'll be Bach" 

 

That joke is trying to make fun of Schwarzenegger's "ahccent", but it's actually just as much about how English speakers pronounce "Bach".

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Triggered Austrian

[Glóin the Dark 1,222]

Sylvester Stallone: Arnold, Jean-Claude, Bruce and I are making a film about composers of the Baroque era. I'll be appearing in the role of Vivaldi.

 

Willis: I'll be Handel.

 

Van Damme: My character is Monteverdi.

 

Schwarzenegger: I'm going to play Dietrich Buxtehude, an influential but little-known Danish composer who wrote many important sacred pieces, particularly for the organ.

[Marian Schedenig 8,207]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

Triggered Austrian

 

I'm equally triggered by Schwarzenegger's English and people mispronouncing Bach.

[Glóin the Dark 1,222]

21 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

...how English speakers pronounce "Bach".

 

That brings to mind the time I went to HMV to place an order for the Bax "Complete Symphonies" set conducted by Bryden Thomson. I could see that the guy taking my order had typed in "Bach" and told him that it was meant to be "Bax", and he very politely reassured me that it was spelt with a "ch" at the end rather than an "x". We got there in the end (though I'm still on the lookout for Bach's complete symphonies).

[Glóin the Dark 1,222]

Harrison Birtwistle's Earth Dances.

 

 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Video not available in the US

[Jurassic Shark 12,084]

On 12/04/2022 at 2:11 PM, Glóin the Dark said:

I'm still on the lookout for Bach's complete symphonies

 

That's his orchestral suites you're thinking of.

[Glóin the Dark 1,222]

10 minutes ago, Stu said:

Video not available in the US

 

Don't think it's your cup of tea anyway! But here is another recording of the same piece:

 

 

 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Yes, I disliked both the man and the music.  May he RIP of course.

[Glóin the Dark 1,222]

Why the man?

[Jurassic Shark 12,084]

6 minutes ago, Stu said:

May he RIP of course.

 

What's the alternative?

 

4 minutes ago, Glóin the Dark said:

Why the man?

 

Too curly.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Obviously I didn't know Birtwistle personally and have no opinion on him in that way, I gather he was nice and supportive.  I dislike his public persona of the pretentious elitist curmudgeon.

[Glóin the Dark 1,222]

What was pretentious about his persona?

[Jurassic Shark 12,084]

He labelled his works as music?

[Glóin the Dark 1,222]

Ba-dum tsssh!

 

It's a fair question, because an allegation of pretentiousness isn't simply an expression of one's own (dis)taste, but a claim about someone else's intent. If there's reason to think that Birtwistle was pretentious (at least, any more so than a typical composer), I'm interested to hear it.

[Jurassic Shark 12,084]

I have it on good authority he was:

 

1 hour ago, Stu said:

his public persona of the pretentious elitist curmudgeon.

 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

2 hours ago, Glóin the Dark said:

What was pretentious about his persona?

 

Are you suggesting I go and look for evidence that backs up my vague impression of a man that I've just held on to for 10 years via inertia?  What is this?  The Gestapo?

[Jurassic Shark 12,084]

Rather the NKVD.

[Glóin the Dark 1,222]

[bollemanneke 3,349]

Rite of Spring. MY FUCKING HEAD! Damn you for recording this crap twice, Karajan. Mozart in a bit though. Symphony 39. So good.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I hope that one day you'll be able to feel the great power and joy of those classic Stravinsky ballets, bolle.  Clearly, that day is not today 

[bollemanneke 3,349]

Tchaikovsky, pathetique, Karajan 70s. Music. And look, I can even order the CD! But not the fifth, because...

[Marian Schedenig 8,207]

…because?

[bollemanneke 3,349]

I have no idea, they only seem to have a set with 4-6 and I refuse to invest a penny in 4.

[Marian Schedenig 8,207]

I'm waiting for a good deal on the complete Karajan set on Blu to finally start my journey through the Tchaikovsky symphonies.

[Jurassic Shark 12,084]

8 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

I have no idea, they only seem to have a set with 4-6 and I refuse to invest a penny in 4.

 

What you need to turn you is Szell's magnificent 4th, especially the last movement.

 

 

[bollemanneke 3,349]

I don't necessarily think the performance was my problem, I just utterly disliked the music. It seemed so different from 5 and 6, but I'm keeping an open mind.

[Jurassic Shark 12,084]

11 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

I don't necessarily think the performance was my problem, I just utterly disliked the music. It seemed so different from 5 and 6, but I'm keeping an open mind.

 

Just listen to it.

[bollemanneke 3,349]

Mozart 41, Karajan, BPO. I'm just sitting here smiling like an idiot. That was so incredible. I only wish he hadn't taken the repeat in the first movement. My God, and there was me thinking Marriner did a good one. To Presto Music!

[publicist 4,643]

Copland, The Tender Land. Funny to hear a decade of James Horner put into one 10-minute Copland piece.

[bollemanneke 3,349]

Beethoven 9, Karajan, 70s. Surprisingly anti-climactic so far. Almost no reverb at all, which is a real bummer and much too... crisp and detailed in a way. I thought this would be a mind-blowing recording.