Popular Post Disco Stu 15,495 Posted July 23, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted July 23, 2019 In my spare time, I enjoy scanning in scores of classical music by my favorite composers and creating videos following the scores to upload to Youtube. I only do chamber/small ensemble music, as following an orchestral score in a Youtube video requires the eyes of an eagle. It's patient, slightly tedious work, but I enjoy the end result. Plus, with the Pistons I'm working on these days, it's often putting the music on Youtube for the first time, so hopefully it will help in a small way bring the attention of a few people to music I think is still vital and alive in 2019. I know this is beyond even a niche of a niche, but I thought I might as well promote these here just in case anyone's interested. Here's my newest: Walter Piston - String Quartet No. 1 (1933) Aaron Copland loved this piece of Piston's, praising its "acidulous opening movement, the poetic mood painting of its second, and its breezy finale", all of which "sets a superb standard of taste and of expert string writing." The Illustrious Jerry, Yavar Moradi, Bayesian and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Disco Stu 15,495 Posted August 31, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 31, 2019 I have FINALLY finished the score video for Walter Piston's String Quartet No. 2. I especially encourage anyone to check out the 3rd movement at 18:19. Allegro giusto!! I love it as much as I've loved any music in my life and I just CAN'T GET ENOUGH. Yavar Moradi, BrotherSound, The Illustrious Jerry and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Disco Stu 15,495 Posted December 31, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 31, 2019 Just finished my score video for Walter Piston's String Quartet No. 3, my personal favorite of his 5 quartets. I think he brings a real "rock star" energy to the outer movements, with an emphasis on sharp dynamic contrasts, driving rhythms and repetitive motifs that I get really caught up in every time I listen. Pay special attention to the wonderful viola theme in the central section of the final movement at 12:19, which is a low-key highlight of all Piston's output I think. Bayesian, Yavar Moradi and SteveMc 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thor 7,515 Posted December 31, 2019 Share Posted December 31, 2019 I'm confused. I thought you were all about disco. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,080 Posted December 31, 2019 Share Posted December 31, 2019 He was, but then he realised that ABBA is much better than CHIC, and his world collapsed. He's been in this weird US American composer phase ever since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Stu 15,495 Posted December 31, 2019 Author Share Posted December 31, 2019 Setting the aside the point that my username doesn’t have anything to do with my music tastes, I’ll say that songs like Chic’s “Everybody Dance” and “Strike Up the Band” ARE American classical music as far as I’m concerned. They explicitly place themselves in the lineage of Gershwin, Kern, and Duke Ellington and I’d even argue that in the 1970s you could draw a connection between Chic and the concurrent appearance of the minimalism of Reich and Glass. So yes Chic, with its very American mixture of highbrow and gritty urban lowbrow, is obviously more up my alley than ABBA Either way, Walter Piston continues to be a particular obsession of mine! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thor 7,515 Posted December 31, 2019 Share Posted December 31, 2019 Dammit, you just broke my illusions. I thought you were a disco buff. Love disco myself, especially old-school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,080 Posted December 31, 2019 Share Posted December 31, 2019 55 minutes ago, Disco Stu said: Strike Up the Band That's by Gershwin, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Stu 15,495 Posted December 31, 2019 Author Share Posted December 31, 2019 Hence my saying they explicitly place themselves in a lineage with Gershwin! It’s not a cover but it’s definitely intended as an allusion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,080 Posted December 31, 2019 Share Posted December 31, 2019 I like this fun arrangement: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Stu 15,495 Posted March 29, 2020 Author Share Posted March 29, 2020 Social distancing means more time to work on score videos! Walter Piston - Capriccio for Harp and String Orchestra (1963) KK and SteveMc 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Stu 15,495 Posted November 21, 2022 Author Share Posted November 21, 2022 I was searching for something else and found this thread that I forgot I created lol. Life and laziness has kept me from doing as many score videos as I'd like, but I have done another Piston video since I last posted here, for his 4th string quartet: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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