Music Thread ~ CLASSICAL ~

[Calz]

Too long since you have visited this thread it is ...

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/d2/7c/ef/d27cefc4c13a63cc381d994001531f90.jpg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZn_VBgkPNY

[heyokah]

Some known Philip Glass ones. For me a merger of left and right brain.

Koyaanisqatsi, best scene.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woSbHbHd-EY

From The Movie "The Hours" by Philip Glass.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wkof3nPK--Y

[heyokah]

Philip Glass....
One will either find his musik beautiful and meditative, while it will probably drive other people insane.

A movie masterpiece and a beautiful musical score. I loved every moment of it. If only modern-day cinema movies could have just a fraction of the depth this movie had...

For the fans

Here's the full movie Koyaanisqatsi (https://vimeo.com/21922694)

This is the sound track


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-t8w08QNJM

Koyaanisqatsi comes from the Hopi language meaning Off-balanced World

[Lost N Found]

I have one piece. I have posted these two guys in other places but this piece is simply amazing.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_RjlIPuqyc

enjoy

[heyokah]

The 1st movement from Beethoven's moonlight sonata for the Super moon Eclipse 28 September 2015, as seen from Amsterdam .

It couldn't have been chosen better.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sIvzAwNVSs

[terragunn]

Yes, the following are orchestral movie/TV soundtrack music passages, but such derive from the colloquial 'Classical' music genre, in which there are many sub-expressions: Impressionist, Modernist, Romantic, etc.

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[terragunn]

Worth noting: I still have in my possession a cassette tape from the 1970s of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet (Suite no. 2, from the ballet) and The Love For Three Oranges. I have heard interpretations subsequently released, but ALL of them are ‘alien’ and sub-par to the former mentioned recording and orchestrated expression, which, to me, is the faithful manifestation of Prokofiev’s intended musical expression.

What happened in the translation? The recording I speak of is the Minnesota Orchestra conducted by Stanlislaw Skrowaczewski.

[heyokah]

Worth noting: I still have in my possession a cassette tape from the 1970s of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet (Suite no. 2, from the ballet) and The Love For Three Oranges. I have heard interpretations subsequently released, but ALL of them are ‘alien’ and sub-par to the former mentioned recording and orchestrated expression, which, to me, is the faithful manifestation of Prokofiev’s intended musical expression.

What happened in the translation? The recording I speak of is the Minnesota Orchestra conducted by Stanlislaw Skrowaczewski.

You mean this one? http://www.discogs.com/Prokofiev-Stanislaw-Skrowaczewski-Minneapolis-Symphony-Romeo-And-Juliet-Ballet-Suites-1-And-2/release/3087901
Not on You Tube (yet)

Here's one conducted by Stanlislaw Skrowaczewski, not with the Minnesota Orchestra, but the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCUioWyKo1I

- The Montagues And The Capulets
- Juliet - The Little Girl
- Romeo And Juliet'S Tomb

[terragunn]

Worth noting: I still have in my possession a cassette tape from the 1970s of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet (Suite no. 2, from the ballet) and The Love For Three Oranges. I have heard interpretations subsequently released, but ALL of them are ‘alien’ and sub-par to the former mentioned recording and orchestrated expression, which, to me, is the faithful manifestation of Prokofiev’s intended musical expression.

What happened in the translation? The recording I speak of is the Minnesota Orchestra conducted by Stanlislaw Skrowaczewski.

You mean this one? http://www.discogs.com/Prokofiev-Stanislaw-Skrowaczewski-Minneapolis-Symphony-Romeo-And-Juliet-Ballet-Suites-1-And-2/release/3087901
Not on You Tube (yet)

Here's one conducted by Stanlislaw Skrowaczewski, not with the Minnesota Orchestra, but the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCUioWyKo1I

- The Montagues And The Capulets
- Juliet - The Little Girl
- Romeo And Juliet'S Tomb

Thanks, heyokah. For whatever reason 'This video is not available'.

[heyokah]

^^^^ What a pity. It works for me in France.

[Calz]

What?

Not classic???

Hmmm ...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEJ0Bymeae0

[heyokah]

"As above so below"

Dreaming with Eyes Open....

part one


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldPf3yqq3-8


part two
Certainly woken up.... to a nightmare...? ;-)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3NkQ00_ZbI

[Ivanhoe]

I know this is a lot to listen to at one sitting, but it's excellent.
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[Philaletheian]

It has been really rewarding to indulge into the gems i found on this thread.
Thank you Calz.

Some songs that have danced around in my heart for ages.
Troika - Tchaikovsky
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Fruhlingslied - Medelssohn
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Les jeux d'eaux à la Villa d'Este - Liszt
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Moonlight - Beethoven
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[Ivanhoe]

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[Ivanhoe]

And I needed to hear this today.
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[Curt]

Apologies for the advertisement at the beginning, but this is a sweet version.

Is it strange that parts of this (in some really abstract way) remind me of the guitar solo in Lynyrd Skynyrd's Free Bird?!

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[Ivanhoe]

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[Calz]

Seems like every time I post something from this movie it gets taken down.

This has over a million views so let's see.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLCuL-K39eQ#t=12

[Calz]

To anyone who might yet stumble onto this thread ... check it out.

Not bad :)



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_WWz2DSnT8

[Sophocles]

Francesco Landini (1330 ca. - 1397) - Questa Fanciull' Amor -Ars Nova

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[Enola]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDgQNZrW8bA

[DeDukshyn]

Here's some Hilary Hahn on Bach; man can this girl play! I have one of her albums in high quality uncompressed (FLAC) format. I pair this super Hifi recording with my PCs Tascam soundcard (96khz playback sampling) connected to my phase balanced Fostex mini studio monitors (http://www.fostexinternational.com/docs/products/PM0.3__PM0.3d.shtml) (affordable!) -- heavenly! It's like standing in front of her while she's playing.

Some Bach ...

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And here's her on some Paganini -- difficulty level 12 out of 10:

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[Sophocles]

Alexander Borodin - Prince Igor

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[Ivanhoe]

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[Ivanhoe]

I was thinking of I Love You today and this came to mind.
Simply beautiful.
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[Ivanhoe]

This is wonderful.
I'm so thankful that classical music found me.
The "Pastoral"
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[Franny]

One of my favorite composers, Ralph Vaughn Williams. Love to listen to RVW in the mornings as a nice start to the day, so calming and peaceful. There's much more to his music than Lark Ascending :)

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958) was perhaps the finest of all English composers, as is evident by some of these pieces.

01.Five variants of Dives & Lazarus 00:00
02.English Folk Song Suite: 1.March 12:33
03.English Folk Song Suite: 2.Intermezzo 15:27
04.English Folk Song Suite: 3.March 18:20
05.Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis 21:23
06.Fantasia on Greensleeves 37:06
07.March of the kitchen utensils 41:45
08.Norfolk rhapsody no.1 44:55
09.The lark ascending 55:13
10.The Wasps overture 01:09:50


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[Ivanhoe]

I love Glenn Gould's rendition of this Mozart piece. I hope you like it as well.
This is just a part of a bigger movement, but his phrasing is a exercise in thinking outside the box.
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This is the full movement played more traditionally. Good stuff.
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[Ivanhoe]

Ok, one more Mozart piece.
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[Star Tsar]

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[Ivanhoe]

My soul needed this tonight.
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[Ivanhoe]

and this,...
I have heard this piece performed by many great pianists, but this rendition is by far the most passionate and poetic I've ever heard.
Just magnificent, a joy to hear and to watch her perform.
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[Ivanhoe]

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[Ivanhoe]

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[DeDukshyn]

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:) Love Hilary Hahn :) Thanks!

[Ivanhoe]

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[Ivanhoe]

Vladimir Ashkenazy (pianist) and Sir Georg Solti and the Chicago Symphony 39zJ9PgJ2y0

[Ivanhoe]

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[Ivanhoe]

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[Ivanhoe]

After reviewing the gansta rap thread I had to clear my senses.
This does the trick.
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[OopsWrongPlanet?]

HI Folks,

I am delighted to have discovered this thread, and surprised that it has taken me so long. Thanks for starting it, Calz. There are some real treasures here: thanks for sharing them all, everybody.

.. but not much (any?) chamber music represented so far, so I would like to share a couple of gems, both Clarinet Quintets, less known than most of what has been posted here, but both with 'life-transformational' potential.

Each has a certain serenity about it, the Brahms tragic and nostalgic, the Reger serene and enigmatic:-

Brahms Clarinet Quintet Op 115 played by the Amadeus Quartet and Karl Leister:-
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Reger Clarinet Quintet Op 146 played by Wiener Streichsextett (members of) and Sabine Meyer:-
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It may take a few listenings to get truly onto Max Reger's wavelength, but well worth it IMO.

x

M

[Ivanhoe]

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[Ivanhoe]

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[Kryztian]

The best way to drive away your melancholy is this lush piano piece by Francis Poulenc.

Francis Poulenc - Mélancolie

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[Kryztian]

Percy Grainger's flashy splashy piano arrangement of a scene from Strauss's opera "Der Rosenkavalier." TxGj_0bVl-4

[Them]

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[Kryztian]

Inspired by an ancient sonnet, Jorge Bolet's playing is pure poetry.

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[Them]

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[Them]

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[Sophocles]

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[Them]

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[Kryztian]

A boat on the ocean.

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[Ivanhoe]

I like Martha a lot....and Scarlatti.
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and a unique view of Paul Barton playing a piece.
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[Kryztian]

Thanks Ivanhoe. Martha is incredible, especially when you plays those super fast repeated notes. You have to have incredible fingers and an incredible piano to do that.

One thing I love about Scarlatti is how many people have transcribed them for other instruments. They were written for 8 fingers (they didn't use their thumbs back then), so they don't all work well for 4 mallets, but this marimba transcription works magically well:

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If I had access to a Cavaillé-Coll organ, I would want to pull out all the stops and play Scarlatti thunderously loud, however, this arrangements works well with the organ's many flute-y sounds.

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I would have never thought that Scarlatti could sound so beautiful and sensuous played by a .... saxaphone quartet?

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While Scarlatti is most likely heard on piano, it was originally written for harpsichord. This is probably one of the most dramatic sonatas he wrote and Jean Rondeau's performance turns it into early 18th century Spanish punk rock!

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We could probably do a whole thread on Scarlatti sonatas. There are 555 of them!

[Franny]

Most have not heard of Marjan Mozetich so here is an introduction. I love this music. Enjoy.

Marjan Mozetich

Marjan Mozetich is a Canadian composer. Born in Gorizia, Italy to Slovenian parents, Mozetich moved to Hamilton, Ontario in 1952, where his father found work as a machinist.

He began studying piano, which started his musical training, and later studied composition with Lothar Klein and John Weinzweig at the University of Toronto, from which he received an Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Toronto Diploma in 1971 and a Bachelor of Music degree in 1972 in composition and piano.

With the help of the Canada Council he then continued his musical studies in composition privately in Rome, Siena and London with Luciano Berio, Franco Donatoni, and David Bedford. Mozetich has written music for theatre, film and dance, as well as many symphonic works, chamber music, and solo pieces.

He has also written compulsory competition pieces for the 1992 Banff String Quartet Competition and the 1995 Montreal International Music Competition.

Affairs of the Heart
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Postcards from the Sky: I. Unfolding Sky
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Postcards from the Sky: II. Weeping Clouds
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[Ivanhoe]

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[Constance]

I was so inspired by Franny's share here (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?30780-Music-Thread-CLASSICAL&p=1307146&viewfull=1#post1307146), I wanted to share a piece of music that has a beauty and a lightness to it, evoking images of a lark soaring and dipping through through the forests glades on a warm summers day...



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Vaughan Williams ~ The Lark Ascending

[Franny]

Thank you Constance, I love everything by Vaughn Williams, lovely evocative music. I've set up a Pandora channel of VW, and as Pandora does it includes composers from the era. Very nice to play in the morning :)

[Kryztian]

Also a lover of Vaughan Williams music. One of my favorite works is "Flos Campi" (Flowers of the Field) for orchestra, wordless chorus and viola soloist. With movement titles all from the Songs of Solomon.

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[Ivanhoe]

I love this, makes me feel vibrant!
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[Peter UK]

Schubert: Fantasy for Violin and Piano

It's a delightful piece. The first time I heard this I got the distinct impression that the two instruments were talking to each other.

There are some wonderful performances of this and I could have linked to several.

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[Cara]

Some rousing music from Adam Katchaturian.... his Masquerade Suite.


Born and raised in Tbilisi, the multicultural capital of Georgia, Khachaturian moved to Moscow in 1921 following the Sovietization of the Caucasus. Without prior music training, he enrolled in the Gnessin Musical Institute, subsequently studying at the Moscow Conservatory in the class of Nikolai Myaskovsky, among others. His first major work, the Piano Concerto (1936), popularized his name within and outside the Soviet Union. It was followed by the Violin Concerto (1940) and the Cello Concerto (1946). His other significant compositions include the Masquerade Suite (1941), the Anthem of the Armenian SSR (1944), three symphonies (1935, 1943, 1947), and around 25 film scores. Khachaturian is best known for his ballet music—Gayane (1942) and Spartacus (1954). His most popular piece, the "Sabre Dance" from Gayane, has been used extensively in popular culture and has been covered by a number of musicians worldwide.[8] His style is "characterized by colorful harmonies, captivating rhythms, virtuosity, improvisations, and sensuous melodies".[9]
From: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aram_Khachaturian

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[Valle]

The Fifth Element - song

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[Ivanhoe]

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[Ivanhoe]

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[Ivanhoe]

Possibly my favorite Mozart.
Please enjoy.
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[Iloveyou]

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https://vimeo.com/306639142

[Rosemarie]

Just found this. My latin heart loves it. Classical Beethoven with a latin twist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4Mfb8orsYk

[Ivanhoe]

A short collection of Handel, Vivaldi and Telemann
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[Cara]

Japanese pianist Kyoko Tabe plays Sibelius:

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[Cara]

Karajan plays Rachmaninov Piano Concerto no 2:

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[Cara]

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Bach Goes To Town (Prelude and Fugue in Swing) by Alec Templeton, performed by Paul Barton, with an animated graphical score.


FAQ
Q: Where can I learn more about the composer?
A: Here …
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alec_Templeton

Q: Where can I learn more about the performer?
A: Here …
https://www.feurich.com/en/paul-barton
http://www.paulbartonartist.com

Q: Where can I get the sheet music for this?
A: Here …
http://en.scorser.com/I/Sheet+music/300169831.html

Q: What do the colors mean?
A: Colors are assigned according to pitch, in a system I call "harmonic coloring" (since it shows changes in harmonies). You can read more about this here:
http://www.musanim.com/HarmonicColoring/

[Franny]

Not everyone's cuppa tea. When I was in my mid and late teens, I would listen to this laying on the floor with eyes closed and headphones on so as not to frighten the family.

J.S. Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor

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If you're going to listen to Nessun Dorma, may as well listen to Jussi Björling.

Jussi Björling sings Nessun Dorma

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[Mashika]

Bit raw, just as he would play it

:heart::heart:

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[Mashika]

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Jussi Björling sings Nessun Dorma

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Oh that was really beautiful, and very powerful

[Mashika]

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[Cara]

The glorious and sublime :heart: third movement from Rachmaninov’s Symphony No 2, Op 27 in E minor. Perhaps the YouTube poster says it best:

“I can't get through this one without sheer amazement at its beauty and richness, even to the point of getting all misty-eyed. Even now, as I write these words, and play the track in the background, I feel the old "shivers down the spine", a smile on my face, and the beginnings of tears. To me, this piece is about Love, pure and simple.”

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Published on Mar 18, 2012
Rachmaninoff Symphony no.2 op.27, 3rd Movement HD
Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Amsterdam, wonderfully conducted by
Eivind Gullberg Jensen. Solo clarinettist: Arjan Woudenberg.

I can't get through this one without sheer amazement at its beauty and richness, even to the point of getting all misty-eyed. Even now, as I write these words, and play the track in the background, I feel the old "shivers down the spine", a smile on my face, and the beginnings of tears. To me, this piece is about Love, pure and simple. Eivind Jensen's face shows the passion and love embodied within this work; here, he is a conduit of something wonderful, magical, even sublime.

My God, how I love this work, and I thank Avro/Radio 4 for allowing me the chance to edit this video, and to post this on You Tube.

Just the clarinet part alone! Look at Eivind Jensen's face as he guides this massive orchestra through this work - the man radiates the passion and love within this music.

Some early Greek philosophers came up with something called "The Doctrine of Ethos". It was a belief proclaiming that music itself directly influenced a person's mind, body, and soul - but that the pathway to this was only through the heart. Therefore, it was sacred and divine - after all, how could a mere combination of notes and sound ever denote emotion or feeling?

Music played or sung from the heart is immediately felt and heard. Even a humble street musician may play so very well that you are stunned, brought to tears, and gladly give them your money.

A favorite song that you grew up with can bring back memories, so very clearly, of where you were, of what you were doing, of who you were with.

Memories you thought were long gone, suddenly re-appear after just hearing a few notes of a favorite piece. How can that be?

The early Greeks, and later on the Christians, understood this - music itself is a divine gift, something special given to us directly from God.

This piece is for me such a divine gift.

-Rob Harrah, February 2011

p.s. - there is a story (perhaps apocryphal) that the beautiful melody line in this piece began as a piano piece that Rachmaninoff wrote, played and sung for his beloved wife. There were words to the melody line that the clarinet plays. Sigh. I can only wonder what the words were. It is, after all, a love song. How sweet is that?

[Ivanhoe]

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[Mashika]

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[Cara]

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I love this piece! Thank you for posting :heart:

Another Saint-Saëns favourite:
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[Mashika]

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I love this piece! Thank you for posting :heart:

Another Saint-Saëns favourite:
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:heart:

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He had so much magic

[thepainterdoug]

RACHMANINOFF PIANO CONCERTO NO 3 has always been my favorite piece of music. Here are a few minutes of it. sorry don't know how to get the video up

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Note from Cara:

Not to worry, I’ve embedded it for you. If you click the YouTube button on the bar above the post area and put your link in between the two tags that appear, it will show up.

Here’s what it would look like before you submit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fwf5t7ki_4

[Cara]

Brilliant and sparkling.... Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Flute Concerto in D minor Wq. 22 (FULL). James Galway (flute.)

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[thepainterdoug]

Thanks cara!!

[Mashika]

This is not "classic" as it is assumed, but oh well, i guess you guys all have listened this song at some point, and either it was funny or it was very cool LMAO!

<3

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[Mashika]

тройка <3

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[Mashika]

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[Iloveyou]

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DLsaSm5iG9o

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[frankstien]

Steve Reich's Octet / 8 Lines
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From the festival Minimalism(s) - Open Day
Onassis Cultural Center
March 6th 2016
Anargyros Deniosos - Concept - Artistic Director
Andreas Levisianos - Music Director
Manos Arvanitakis, Foteini Korre - Video

Ana Chifu - Flute
Yiorgos Skrivanos - Flute
Kostas Tzekos - Clarinet
Alexandros Michaelides - Clarinet
Iro Sira - Violin
Irina Salenkova - Violin
Phaedon Miliadis - Violin
Dimitra Triantafyllou - Violin
Alexandros Botinis - Cello
Paul Grennan - Cello
Stefanos Nassos - Piano
Vicki Ray - Piano
Andreas Levisianos - Conductor

Octet Album version--
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[OopsWrongPlanet?]

RACHMANINOFF PIANO CONCERTO NO 3 has always been my favorite piece of music. Here are a few minutes of it. sorry don't know how to get the video up

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Snap, Doug (re Rachmaninov 3rd). It was a high point of my career as a pianist to play this concerto... Although it starts off with disarming simplicity, the work seems to cover a whole world of emotion, and it is probably the most demanding work in the piano repertoire.

Even the whole experience of learning it has broken at least one pianist (see the film 'Shine'). Changed my life, for sure.

x

M

[OopsWrongPlanet?]

Maurice Durufle's Requiem has been haunting me recently. If choral music speaks to you, I recommend a listen... although (like a lot of my favourite pieces) it's kind of an acquired taste: grows on you.

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Perhaps the most intense moment is the Pie Jesu, starting at 20:45. Sung here by Polish Ewa Wolak. (There's also a superb recording of the legendary Janet Baker singing it, available on Youtube).

Apparently, so Durufle told his wife, many times while writing the work he was moved to tears by it, as though discovering the music rather than composing it.

This, like all the music that I treasure, seems to have a 'mid-wifing' quality, helping to process, to move on.

Anyway, I hope that someone somewhere gets something out of this piece.

x

M

PS please excuse the fanfare etc at the beginning. I didn't know how to make it start at the beginning of the actual piece.

[frankstien]

Steve Reich - New York Counterpoint (Péter Szűcs - clarinet)
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Music for 18 Musicians, by Steve Reich
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[Ivanhoe]

sorry about the re-post folks.
This is music for my soul tonight, and I'm in need of it.
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[Ivanhoe]

I needed some cleansing of my soul,..Beethoven does it for me.
Enjoy.
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[Eva2]

https://youtu.be/n5ghhmWrubY

[Mashika]

I like Mozart a lot, in case no one noticed before LOL

This i call "pain" for some reason, but don't know why to be honest, is just sounds like it :)

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[Eva2]

Very Nice.

https://youtu.be/BQdyRjkmK64

[Mashika]

No quite "classical" but i think it fits here somehow :)

:heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart:

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[Brigantia]

Just what I needed to switch off and relax - my favourite opus of J.S. Bach. Sublime.

I've just discovered this thread, I'm sure there are many great links to explore!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILKJcsET-NM

[Lunesoleil]

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:Avalon:

[Lunesoleil]

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J'adore les Valses de Chopin 🎹🎵🎶🎵🎶

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[Star Tsar]

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[rgray222]

I could listen to aria's all day.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1pIqEgrKsE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuBeBjqKSGQ

[Ivanhoe]

Seems appropriate....
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[Ivanhoe]

Re-post, but it was stuck in my head this morning.
We are all different variations of the same theme.
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[Kryztian]

I could listen to aria's all day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuBeBjqKSGQ

I could listen to Diana Damrau singing opera arias all day!


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k5tdKA3DQWw
dNVOUSQALjg

[Brigantia]

Still awake in the early hours of this morning so I switched on Through the Night on Radio 3 for a bit (Radio 3's best programme these days IMO), and was very fortunate to catch this - Beethoven's Piano Concerto no. 3.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCPzb9lSldk

[BoR]

Chills chills chills...

Majestic performance by this choir of an old patriottic song from a time when there actually existed a Republic Of The Seven United Netherlands, which lasted for more than 200 years, followed by the Batavian Republic, which briefly existed, but unfortunately did not turn out the way it promised to be. After 11 years of the Batavian Republic, the current monarchy was established...

Merck Toch Hoe Sterck

kNm36_JO21M

[BoR]

Beethoven no. 7. The allegretto (14:44) is one of my favourite pieces of all time, hauntingly beautiful and moving...

-4788Tmz9Zo

[Brigantia]

Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1; he started its composition after the suicide attempt of his friend and mentor Robert Schumann and completed it after Schumann's death. I find it hauntingly beautiful and an emotional rollercoaster.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDhBywJ5zCU&t=1249s

[Brigantia]

Here's one to lift your spirits - the Radetzky March.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eab_eFtTKFs&list=LL&index=4

[Mashika]

l4OJnT69PpA

[Kryztian]

The most amazing performance to Liszt's Twelve Etudes, possibly the most difficult cycle of piano piece to play, and they are played with precision and panash. Not only a joy to listen to Daniel Trifonov but also to watch his complete and total connection to the instrument and to the music.

kD4T-rNklsY

[Mike Gorman]

I see that the Vaughn Williams 'Lark Ascending' has already been presented, that is a sublime piece of music, I have been transported spiritually by it to a far off Arcadian nostalgia that has a numinous quality, it is profoundly moving if one is in the right frame of mind to be taken by it. (I make no apologies for the colourful language). To me that piece (The Lark Ascending) paints the arc of a life, from birth to death with all of the emotional complexity and achingly sad moments so wonderfully expressed. This specific version has a truly gifted violin player who interprets Vaughn William's incredible music with great feeling.
yU-1zqUo80U

The so-called 'Impressionist composers' produced some beautiful music, a movement that co-existed with the painters and visual artists that had the same label-this piece was one of my favourites to go to sleep by in my 20's:
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This piece enchanted me when I first heard it, Summertime in musical form, with the great Leonard Bernstein conducting the interpretation - Pastorale D'Ete Honegger
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The orchestra is an incredible 'medium' for music, the sheer scale and harmonic range can be 'awesome' in the original sense of that word. Music has always been my deepest love.

[Ankle Biter]

I remember hearing this piece in a film many years ago... then one day while driving I heard it on the classic station (I maintain it is impossible to lose your cool in traffic whilst listening to classical music) and I had to try track it down as I missed the announcement on the air.

Then about 3 or 4 years later I had found it.. What? Was I meant to give up and stop searching... that would be crazy!!! lol.

XCBDlC0N8Rc

... So now I am trying to remember what film it was that started this in the first place... here we go again.

[Franny]

I remember hearing this piece in a film many years ago... then one day while driving I heard it on the classic station (I maintain it is impossible to lose your cool in traffic whilst listening to classical music) and I had to try track it down as I missed the announcement on the air.

Then about 3 or 4 years later I had found it.. What? Was I meant to give up and stop searching... that would be crazy!!! lol.


... So now I am trying to remember what film it was that started this in the first place... here we go again.

Hmm... The first few bars remind me of some of the music from the Harry Potter videos. Other than that, no idea. :noidea:

[Ankle Biter]

I remember hearing this piece in a film many years ago... then one day while driving I heard it on the classic station (I maintain it is impossible to lose your cool in traffic whilst listening to classical music) and I had to try track it down as I missed the announcement on the air.

Then about 3 or 4 years later I had found it.. What? Was I meant to give up and stop searching... that would be crazy!!! lol.


... So now I am trying to remember what film it was that started this in the first place... here we go again.

Hmm... The first few bars remind me of some of the music from the Harry Potter videos. Other than that, no idea. :noidea:

Bless! :bowing:

It could be, but I think unlikely as I've not seen any of the Harry Potter movies (bits of a few at best). In my mind's eye there's pictures of a old haunted type house thingo, autumn blowing leaves.. The candidates I've narrowed it down to are Godfather II, Charlotte's Web & Beauty and the Beast. ... oh and possibly an episode of The Simpsons.

Either way, a beautiful piece of music.

[Franny]

Was listening to The Planets recently, Jupiter is my fav from the suite.

Gu77Vtja30c

[Michel Leclerc]

Dear classical lovers all – how great this thread exists. I could bombard you with hundreds of replies I guess – don’t make me do so – but I would like to present to you something extraordinary. I happened to listen to it again tonight before I consulted Avalon.

Rachmaninov’s Six Moments Musicaux op.16 – one of those deeply desperate pieces of music he was able to compose at his best moments and which precisely because of that – i.e. through his thus using his creative powers – helped him overcome his desperation and now helps listeners to overcome theirs...

...served magically by one of the greatest pianists of the last half century – highly controversial he has become since his brilliant debut forty years ago in the eyes and ears of many – and yet, professional classical musicians among my friends who are normally wary of too many liberties taken in the interpretations of the masters again and again make exceptions for this one bewildering genius... I guess you already know who I am talking about: Pogorelich, Ivo Pogorelich.

In 2001 he played those six Moments Musicaux in Utrecht in the Netherlands.. Listen to them – you will never forget such depth of understanding:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPaJyfDP7JQ

[Kryztian]

The most glorious performance of Bach's most glorious organ Prelude and Fugue. Sometimes called "St. Anne", because the fugue is based on that tune (a.k.a. "O God Our Help in Ages Past).

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[Mashika]

The most glorious performance of Bach's most glorious organ Prelude and Fugue. Sometimes called "St. Anne", because the fugue is based on that tune (a.k.a. "O God Our Help in Ages Past).

jr_jK-fzglM

:heart:
:heart::heart::heart::heart::heart:
I wish there was a 'heart' button for posts like this :)

[terragunn]

Claude Debussy is amongst my favourite Classical music composers, and probably the first I would mention when asked who my favourite Classical music composers are. I prefer Debussy's large orchestral pieces, but here are a couple of my favourites to add to the list:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6Ot4XHhq6s


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT_GmpsUxeA

[terragunn]

Perhaps not a good song to listen to for those suffering with high blood pressure; but my goodness! What an extraordinary, and unique, piece of music!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lbs7cUuk9z4

[terragunn]

Discovered Alan Hovhaness via Seattle's remarkable Classical KING FM radio station. I live in Seattle. Hovhaness died in Seattle, in the year 2000.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91jL-HHVDPE

[terragunn]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbEvKFqLLZs

[terragunn]

Holy effing cow! From the 14.40 mark to the end...am I alone in shedding tears? Not tears of joy; not tears of sadness...

I refer to post #376...

[terragunn]

And where would the following manifest, without the influence and inspiration of Carl Orff's O Fortuna?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjjKwf6rk5o

[Kryztian]

Joyce DiDonato breathes new life and beauty into this simple opera aria by Händel.


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[terragunn]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VY-A7GVLyQ

[terragunn]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbaY7p5ahZo

[Mashika]

Mozart was neither here not there as far as Baroque and Classic music, he was both i believe :) That's probably how he got so unique

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[Franny]

For anyone in the US who likes opera, do check out the Met Opera live stream to theaters all over. There have been several good ones this season, and Tosca is coming up in the Spring :thumbsup:

On Sat, Jan 29 Rigoletto is playing. It's streaming in a town nearby, I'm planning on it. It doesn't have the same impact a live performance has, but still worth going.

Live in HD: Rigoletto on the Big Screen

On January 29, “a compelling new Rigoletto” (The New York Times) appears in movie theaters around the world in a riveting new staging by acclaimed director Bartlett Sher. Recently named a Critic’s Pick and hailed as “a detailed, dramatic staging, full of insights into the characters” by The New York Times, the production features the “incandescent performances” (Wall Street Journal) of eminent Verdian baritone Quinn Kelsey, who brings his searing portrayal of the title role to the Met for the first time, and soprano Rosa Feola as his innocent daughter Gilda. Tenor Piotr Beczała rounds out the principal cast as the lascivious Duke of Mantua, with leading maestro Daniele Rustioni on the podium.

Click here to see if it's playing in a theatre near you. (https://e.wordfly.com/click?sid=ODc1XzM2NzAwXzE2MTYyODNfNjgzMw&l=3bcc34f7-356f-ec11-a828-0050569d715d&utm_source=122HighNotesGlobal&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2122_ss&utm_content=version_A)

Click here to learn more. (https://e.wordfly.com/click?sid=ODc1XzM2NzAwXzE2MTYyODNfNjgzMw&l=3acc34f7-356f-ec11-a828-0050569d715d&utm_source=122HighNotesGlobal&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2122_ss&utm_content=version_A)

[terragunn]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy8vZfhf0Xk

[terragunn]

My morning mood is never a good one ;o), but I do love this song.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCiQho5DzfY

[terragunn]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2RiOhYpRFc

[Mashika]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2RiOhYpRFc

*Do bring your lightsaber to the gun battle*

[terragunn]

Not Classical music -- not even in the colloquial 'Classical Music' genre -- but I would nevertheless like to share this musical gem on this thread. Such a unique song. Not that such matters, but I still very much enjoy the TV series this was the theme song for.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUXxiX0Q9SY

[Mashika]

Not Classical music -- not even in the colloquial 'Classical Music' genre -- but I would nevertheless like to share this musical gem on this thread. Such a unique song. Not that such matters, but I still very much enjoy the TV series this was the theme song for.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUXxiX0Q9SY

"Video unavailable
This video is not available"
Can you share the title and artist? It's not available everywhere :(

[Kryztian]

Atheists beware, this setting of the Trisaion Hymm (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trisagion) by Georgy Sviridov will destroy your belief that there isn't a deep spiritual realm beyond your 3D world. :sun:

MQvtD2zTyVs

[terragunn]

Not Classical music -- not even in the colloquial 'Classical Music' genre -- but I would nevertheless like to share this musical gem on this thread. Such a unique song. Not that such matters, but I still very much enjoy the TV series this was the theme song for.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUXxiX0Q9SY

"Video unavailable
This video is not available"
Can you share the title and artist? It's not available everywhere :(

The composer is David Fanshawe. The song is 'Flambards', which is the theme to the 1979 Yorkshire Television series Flambards.

[terragunn]

Was listening to The Planets recently, Jupiter is my fav from the suite.

Gu77Vtja30c

Gustav Holst's The Planets suite is extraordinary.

I may have mentioned this years ago on the Forums, but the Jupiter melody was implemented into Leonard Rosenman's score in Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings. The song: Mithrandir (Gandalf).


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o845kYYxenI

[Johnnycomelately]

Hi Malisa. I just found this thread, and have not looked at/through it. The ‘reply to thread’ button doesn’t work for me, but the ‘reply’ does. So just posting my fav classical work here, hope you don’t mind. Beethoven’s Opus 120, his winning variations on Diabelli’s prize challenge.

Watched an interesting vid breaking it down, but here is what I know and like and have more recently jammed to on my XL- electric stringed smaller-body acoustic guitar. I don’t know music near bragworthy, but IMO this suits you, much respect to you per your recent self explanatory posts. Cheers from here, - John

Grigory Sokolov:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAI4-9yc6kA

[terragunn]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6A96yQO82I

[terragunn]

Ahriman, Lucifer, and YHWH...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRAmXlnKjg0

[Ivanhoe]

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[Kryztian]

The great classical music treasure on the internet for me is the Bach Netherland's Societies project to record every note that Johann Sebastian Bach wrote, and to do so with excellent musical performers, on instruments Bach would have used and in that style. It covers the whole gamut of Bach: Harpsicord, Organ, Vocal a capella, his Protestant cantatas and his "Catholic" mass settings, sonatas for flute, cello, violin and much more. It would be hard to reduce this huge library of works to just a few "best" but here are some of my favorites:

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cGnZHIY_hoQ

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[gnostic9]

This is so beautiful! I attended this opera in 1994. Leo Delibes, Lakme.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Qx2lMaMsl8


The Flower Duet (Lakmé)" - Léo Delibes


Love peace and joy to all!

[Franny]

Oh yes, the Flower Duet is lovely Thank you, haven't heard it in a while 😊

When in high school, after a tough day, I would put on the headphones, lay on the floor and listen to Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor several times on a 33 rpm. Just set it to repeat. Wonderful.

This is one of the other beautiful soprano operatic arias from Puccini, sung by Kiri Te Kanawa:

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[Mashika]

Hi Malisa. I just found this thread, and have not looked at/through it. The ‘reply to thread’ button doesn’t work for me, but the ‘reply’ does. So just posting my fav classical work here, hope you don’t mind. Beethoven’s Opus 120, his winning variations on Diabelli’s prize challenge.

Watched an interesting vid breaking it down, but here is what I know and like and have more recently jammed to on my XL- electric stringed smaller-body acoustic guitar. I don’t know music near bragworthy, but IMO this suits you, much respect to you per your recent self explanatory posts. Cheers from here, - John

Grigory Sokolov:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAI4-9yc6kA

Hi!

Thanks for the video! Just noticed it today, sorry for the late reply :(

That's the perfect Beethoven signature :) Grigory Sokolov is awesome at it, another one who i like a lot if Angela Hewitt

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It's like a shared talent in ways :)

More from Grigory Sokolov

:heart:
UXtkQ9GUaD0

[Mashika]

In general Bach was impossibly beautiful

But i do have to say i'm very partial to the toccatas :) I just can't help myself lol

I-ummko047I


The great classical music treasure on the internet for me is the Bach Netherland's Societies project to record every note that Johann Sebastian Bach wrote, and to do so with excellent musical performers, on instruments Bach would have used and in that style. It covers the whole gamut of Bach: Harpsicord, Organ, Vocal a capella, his Protestant cantatas and his "Catholic" mass settings, sonatas for flute, cello, violin and much more. It would be hard to reduce this huge library of works to just a few "best" but here are some of my favorites:

[Johnnycomelately]

Thank you Malisa for those two sweet pieces, both new to me.

I think it’s cool that people are born, like these two, who take up the magic and give it to us.

L-Bee must have been a headstrong old man, by the end. I can’t imagine having to work out daily stuff with him, like shopping lists or guest lists.

Cheers.

[Ivanhoe]

Fills a void. :thumbsup::coffee::cool:
JneASC-6zdA

[Brigantia]

Thanks Ivanhoe, seeing your post of one of my favourite piano concertos has reminded me to post this serendipitous find.

Vasily Kalinnikov was a Russian composer who had a sadly short life, his death was shortly before his 25th birthday. He was highly regarded in his day and still is in Russia but he is not well known in the West. It's said that had he lived longer to produce more work, he would have likely been on a par with Tchaikovsky.

Here are his beautiful symphonies nos. 1 and 2.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVakXOkE2G4&list=WL&index=6


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VStDsbYrTQU

[Michel Leclerc]

Music in a state beyond Sufi meditation : the prayer rug (Feldman’s beloved kelims) is suspended in sweet air and we are on it and in that state :


Aki Takahashi and the Kronos Quartet in Morton Feldman’s “Piano and String Quartet” from 1985 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEzPYIkfYOk&t=713s)

[Brigantia]

This is a lovely piece that I chanced upon a while ago, it was the background music to a video I was watching; Ivor Gurney's Gloucestershire Rhapsody. This video is accompanied by photographic views of that pretty English south-west county.

Gurney had a troubled life; he showed musical and poetic talent at an early age but was plagued by manic depression and saw the horrors of the trenches of World War I. He was wounded and also exposed to a gas attack; post-war his artistic output flourished, but his mental health worsened. He died in 1937 of tuberculosis at the age of 47.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eqxo0rV2AFY

[Peace in Oz]

ARAM KHACHATURIAN - Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia
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Fabulous rendition of one of the most beautiful and moving pieces of music ever composed.

[Ivanhoe]

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[Ivanhoe]

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[Kryztian]

Percy Grainger gets one's fingers dancing. Especially this piece.

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[Kryztian]

No matter what kind of day you've had, French harp music will make it better.


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[Michel Leclerc]

I have grown to become an admirer of Yuja Wang. She commands the breadth of classical repertoire, and is still continuously widening her scope and matching the depth of her understanding to her flawless virtuosity.

Beethoven, then. She seems to me the first pianist who has overcome the unimaginable technical difficulties of the double fugue in the last movement of Beethoven’s "Hammerklavier” Sonata op.106 to such extent that she can play it as the cornucopia of passionate and profound statements it is – in the wake of the heart wrenching lyrical slow movement preceding it.

This is her 2016 rendering of the Mount Kaylash of 19th-century piano Sonatas at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAwRRLDpBVM&t=24s).

[TomKat]

the easiest classical music to appreciate is probably Dvorak's New World Symphany. Qut5e3OfCvg

[Ivanhoe]

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[Ivanhoe]

I do like me some forte piano. :clapping:
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[Michel Leclerc]

For the discoverers among the members.

A composer, considered of the highest rank by “connoisseurs”, but hardly known let alone well-known – in the wake of Schubert and Bruckner, an almost contemporary of Mahler and exact contemporary of Schönberg whose work he had performed: the Austrian Franz Schmidt (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Schmidt_(composer)).

For decennia an admirer of his four Symphonies, his oratorio Das Buch der Sieben Siegeln... I found, tonight, on Youtube his 4th Symphony, from 1932/33, written in memory of his daughter, played very recently by the excellent Sinfonieorchester des Hessischen Rundfunks, which is basically the Symphony Orchestra of Frankfurt, conducted by the great Paavo Järvi (he has recorded the Four Symphonies for Deutsche Grammophon) – but this is a live performance.

Characteristic of the Symphony is that all four movements are not only linked by the long theme, or phrase, which is played by a solo trumpet at the very beginning, but seamlessly flowing over into each other, actually develop out of it, yielding and combining the most exquisite both romantic and more modernist melodies.

The continuously breathtaking harmonies (moving in and out of both the romantic and modernist idiom) support a rich, complex tapestry of counterpoint (i.e. of the sounding together of various themes and motifs at the same time).

But all these fireworks never feel like Schmidt showing off a superior mastery of technique, but they serve to express a poignant meditation on death, spiritual survival, eternal beauty – and thus on the very essence of art. I hope you may share my admiration for this work.

Franz Schmidt’s 4th Symphony in C major (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_fjFPhrKjw&list=PL70QeIM3H_21ZXRFvzg9a9nb8nYoBQPbO&index=7)

[grapevine]

ES Posthumus - Nara


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wt0KCv2p1gc&ab_channel=Victor

[Mari]

This beautiful music woke me up in ways I cannot put words to. I have always had a very deep affinity with nature which I've never been able to truly express. Until I heard this.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRg0K5rgXog&list=RDfRg0K5rgXog&index=1

[Kryztian]

Music for the vernal equinox and the return of a verdant landscape, for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere.

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[Brigantia]

Just catching up on the wonderful recent posts here... also to add this exquisite classic. Anyone who knows their classic British Ealing comedy films will remember this from The Ladykillers, where a band of robbers meet their match with 'Mrs Lopsided'.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fLPBIBOE5U

[Kryztian]

Anyone who knows their classic British Ealing comedy films will remember this from The Ladykillers, where a band of robbers meet their match with 'Mrs Lopsided'.


Perhaps the funniest movie every made, and certainly one of my favorites. At the risk of going off topic, here is the trailer:

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But not completely off topic, because there are snippets of the Boccherini in the trailer.

[Michel Leclerc]

Yes Kryztian (also wondering who composed the soundtrack). The “lavender gang” — couldn’t have been Britishly funnier than that.

[Mari]

Anyone who knows their classic British Ealing comedy films will remember this from The Ladykillers, where a band of robbers meet their match with 'Mrs Lopsided'.


Perhaps the funniest movie every made, and certainly one of my favorites. At the risk of going off topic, here is the trailer:

TDVMD8dktKI

But not completely off topic, because there are snippets of the Boccherini in the trailer.

Haha - that was his Minuet in E Major (played on the phonograph while the robbers were pretending to be practicing)

[Mari]

Just catching up on the wonderful recent posts here... also to add this exquisite classic. Anyone who knows their classic British Ealing comedy films will remember this from The Ladykillers, where a band of robbers meet their match with 'Mrs Lopsided'.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fLPBIBOE5U


That minuet became an 'ear-worm' for me as the film was one of my OH's favourite films and he watched it many times.

[grapevine]

92-Year-Old Woman With Dementia Performs Moonlight Sonata


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrAkJmWv4uM&ab_channel=StoryfulViral


Amazing . . .

Apologies, you'll need to click on the link

[Kryztian]

Since we are talking about movie music, and since we are in the last dark days of Lent, here is a simple but dark chorale by Bach.

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It is used in this surreal but beautiful scene in film "Solaris" by Andrei Tarkovsky

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[Ivanhoe]

I remember this in my heart...
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[Michel Leclerc]

Oh... the great John Dowland. My late father’s love in the last phase of his life. He played very well the piano and the guitar – then, when retired, went on to attend a string instrument making school, where he specialised in making lutes – in order to play John Dowland.. One of our too rare magic moments together during his last years was a small exchange with him playing “Loath to Depart” on one of his lutes, and I one of the Contrapunctus of Bach’s Die Kunst der Fuge on the piano. Although he cherished Bach, he was even fonder of Renaissance music.

[Michel Leclerc]

Maybe the greatest of all Bach admirers was the 19th-century Austrian composer Anton Bruckner (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Bruckner). His eleven symphonies – the first two of which he considered "tests" (although they are magnificent in their own right) and hence are called the Double-zeroeth (“00”) and Zeroeth (“0”) Symphony, his official First one being actually the third – are among the greatest orchestral compositions ever written. He certainly belongs to that select group of five symphonic geniuses of the second half of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, who are Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Brahms, Bruckner and Mahler, who fathered 7, 9, 4, 11 and again 11 symphonies respectively — ... The last two composers, Bruckner and Mahler, left their last symphonies unfinished (Bruckner his eleventh but officially Ninth, and Mahler his eleventh (but officially Tenth (his Das Lied von der Erde, which sits between his Eighth and his Ninth, being a symphony in character).

Gustav Mahler died when he had only orchestrated two of his Tenth’s five movements, the rest existing – and fully composed – but only on four staves (a so-called particello score) and a few indications on how it should be orchestrated. That was done then by an important British musicologist, Deryck Cooke, who basically could restrict himself to orchestrating Mahler’s score. This version is now virtually the most frequently played version of Mahler’s Tenth, although other versions exist. But I will leave this Symphony and a few remarks about it for another time, in order to draw your attention to Bruckner’s Ninth.

Why was this absolute masterpiece unfinished? The answer is poignant and terrible at the same time. Bruckner was still working on it on his deathbed – basically writing the 4th and last movement’s full orchestra score (which, unlike Mahler, he often wrote directly for the full orchestra, often without particello), from his sketches – when he died. Movements one to three were complete, the various sections of the Fourth movement were found lying around in his bedroom — and a few of those sections were stolen by souvenir hunters. Let this sink in a bit. Bruckner was a very pious Roman Catholic, and had dedicated his Ninth Symphony “to the dear Lord” – and precisely from the score of that superhuman feat to express his adoration, parts were stolen. And not found again —

It was then left to the world of musicology and of composing music itself (I mean: of later composers who were admirers of Bruckner) to fill in the gaps. That world of musicology needed more than thirty years at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21rst century (so a full century later!) to seriously and relentlessly try and understand Bruckner’s score, work out the orchestration and especially, understand how his indications of the harmonic structure (the sequence of chords, basically) could be transformed into fully expressed musical thought and expressive music. All those people who made sometimes lifetime efforts to achieve this completion — and whose names I will not name but, if the music catches and haunts you – which I hope (!) – you may want to look up.. all those people were being greatly helped in their efforts by what this Fourth movement was meant to represent by Bruckner.

The whole Symphony expresses the confrontation of man with death and transcendence.

The first movement confronts him with the nearing end of all his endeavours, the drama of it, the despair, and the attempts at forgetting it temporarily. The shorter second movement is a (first) vision of Hell, the obsessive character of its idea, and again the sweetness of life that helps us not to think of it. The longer third movement is a deeply moving song of farewell, meditating on the hurdles on the road (suffering and anguish).

The fourth movement then – here I am making a daring statement which one does not find in musicological comments, but which may not surprise the readers of this forum – starts with a sort of Near Death Experience, in which a towering Divine Judge only gradually yields to a Merciful God represented by a gigantic and sublime chorale theme that appears three times in the movement, yet these appearances are alternated with (rather near the beginning of the movement) a depiction of the descent of the soul into Purgatory and its climbing or being helped out of it towards the Divine, as well as a fascinatingly complex Fugue (midway in the movement, introduced by a few short trumpet signals, which, with its sharp dissonances, seems to express the flight ("a "fugue", is it not) of the souls trapped in Purgatory.. but gradually, to our delight, the music becomes more open, sweeter, brought about by what is called Bruckner’s "Allelujah” motive, basically a major chord of which the basic steps (tonic, median, dominant etc.) stride up the ladder of Ressuscitation, and finally end in the most glorious restatements of the chorale in which what I call the mysterious “Near Death Experience” music in minor with which the 4th movement sets in is revealed as a descending ladder (endless creation) in Major.

The reconstruction efforts have not yet found a close. There are, as for Mahler’s Tenth, still a few smaller debates about this or that measure, this or that orchestration going on, but up to 99 p.c. is, in my honest opinion, settled — so that the members who are not professional or amateur musicians can enjoy them. I will present to you the complete Ninth Symphony, with the completion made, on the basis of all documents, by the Italian composer Roberto Ferrazza – played quite recently by the Thailand Symphony Orchestra led by Alfonso Scarano

Bruckner’s Ninth — Ferrazza — Scarano (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuRH6-Ktuq0)

Don’t forget to muster your best amplifier and speakers... and 90 minutes of your time...

and endless moments of awe and gratitude to the composer later...

[Kryztian]

Bruckner’s Ninth.

Why was this absolute masterpiece unfinished? The answer is poignant and terrible at the same time. Bruckner was still working on it on his deathbed – basically writing the 4th and last movement’s full orchestra score (which, unlike Mahler, he often wrote directly for the full orchestra, often without particello), from his sketches – when he died. Movements one to three were complete, the various sections of the Fourth movement were found lying around in his bedroom — and a few of those sections were stolen by souvenir hunters. Let this sink in a bit. Bruckner was a very pious Roman Catholic, and had dedicated his Ninth Symphony “to the dear Lord” – and precisely from the score of that superhuman feat to express his adoration, parts were stolen. And not found again —

CuRH6-Ktuq0



Thank you for this Michel. If I had to pick a favorite Bruckner Symphony, it just might be the Ninth. While I have been listening to it for several decades, this is the first time I listened to a "completed" version with a reconstructed 4th movement. I can't quite say I am as happy with the last movement as I was with the completed three. It sounds very "fragmented" - terse development and strange chromatic changes.

Almost all Bruckner symphonies end fortissimo, with horns blaring and the timpani pounding. I was always happy to hear this symphony end quietly and mystically, as it is usually performed with just three movements.

Bruckner also suggested that his "Te Deum" be used as a final movement. It would be a fitting ending for a piece that he dedicated to the glory of God.

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[Michel Leclerc]

Dear Kryztian, thank you very much for your answer. It seems that we can set up now a genuine Bruckner aficionado club on PA.

(Anecdote: forty years ago I was invited by a friend writer, draughtsman and fellow lover of “E-Musik” (wenn dieser Club nur uns beide zählt (;-)) können wir ihn auch ruhig exklusiv Deutsch halten) to his parents’ secondary residence that boasted a quite adventurous pond with islets, where one evening during a Brucknerian sunset my friend and I rowed upon, each in his own canoe: because of the dusk and the many shrubby islets we were circumnavigating it was a game of hide and seek, but we were helped by both him and me alternatively singing with our bariton voices themes from the Bruckner symphonies and identifying them: "3rd, Scherzo!", "opining of the Sixth!" etc.; I recommend it, do find a kindred soul).

Forgive me for being an “amateur specialist” on the completion of the 9th. As the “completers” rightfully say: Bruckner had never meant the Ninth to end with the Adagio. That would almost be blasphemous to him. A devout Catholic had to accept death and trust in God in his eyes, and it was that conclusion which he wanted to express in the Finale. Yet he did state that in case he were not to be able to finish his work, then the Te Deum might have been played instead.

The reconstruction shows that would not have to be case. As one of the reconstructors, Australian musicologist John Phillips, has recently stated: all the harmonic progressions (and hence the number of measures) “are there” – in part in sketch-form because the corresponding full scores had been stolen – and that also means the exact number of measures. What we know of Bruckner’s style allows us to interpret the harmonic progressions correctly in terms of orchestration, dynamics and tempo (slight accelerandos and diminuendos – not so many because musically, the 4th movement has a continuous pace and drive.)

I get from your comment that you admire the movement and the parts of it which are really “unheard of” in Bruckner. Very striking to me are, e.g. the final resolution where the return to the tonic (in D Major now) is preceded by a thirteenth chord (the next step would be Mahler’s extraordinary decachord in his Tenth (both in the 1rst and the 5th movement) – which Mahler characteristically chose not to resolve..), and then the magnificent Chorale which is basically an unstable chromatic shifting of four-bar phrases with full orchestral glory moving on the "wayfarer" in the afterlife towards bliss. And then, in order to express some sympathy maybe not with the devil but with the conflicting world of Purgatory: the Fugue is unlike any other by Bruckner with its restless, angular continuation in semiquavers (right at the beginning, the cellos)... and must have a source of inspiration for Mahler again, if we just think of the Fugue Scherzo in his Ninth. With that Fugue, Bruckner has not yet led us into heaven yet, but first into the Twentieth Century.

To me all this musical beauty, just like natural beauty of humans and animals and plant life, dear Kryztian, is very soothing in these dire times. I guess you may agree with that.

[Ivanhoe]

Just playing a favorite.
Thank you Michel for the information,..always good to learn new things.
JLmSpBsDxdk

[Michel Leclerc]

The divine Kempff... the so moving Waldstein sonata...

[rgray222]

A Corny Concerto is an American animated cartoon short produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions and distributed by Warner Bros. It was directed by Bob Clampett, written by Frank Tashlin, animated by Robert McKimson and released as part of the Merrie Melodies series on September 25, 1943. A parody of Disney's 1940 feature Fantasia, the film uses two of Johann Strauss' best-known waltzes, Tales from the Vienna Woods and The Blue Danube, adapted by the cartoon unit's music director, Carl Stalling and orchestrated by its arranger and later, Stalling's successor, Milt Franklyn. Long considered a classic for its sly humor and impeccable timing with the music, it was voted #47 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field in 1994. The title, in tune with the name of the unit's other cartoon series, Looney Tunes, suggests another Disney titling parody, that of the pioneering series Silly Symphonies.

Tens shorts


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62v8t-QL3ks

[Ivanhoe]

The divine Kempff... the so moving Waldstein sonata...

Michel, I know this will sound incredibly stupid,... but I have listened to this sonata for decades, and I think Kempff is brilliant, but in all this time listening to this piece I realized I had never listened intently, focusing on his left hand. My God, he is truly a master.
After 40+ years I realized I had never truly "heard" it.
I must be some kind of idiot.

And here's an offering to Spring, another of my favorites.
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[Kryztian]

To me all this musical beauty, just like natural beauty of humans and animals and plant life, dear Kryztian, is very soothing in these dire times. I guess you may agree with that.

Yes I agree with you, there is amazing naturalistic musical beauty in Bruckner.

Like Bruckner I am an organist, although probably nothing like on the level he was, but I was curious why I had almost never come across any of his organ music. Some musicologist have compared his orchestrations to the texture of an organ. He wrote great symphonic and choral music but not too many organ pieces and almost nothing of note. One exception: I did find his "Perger" Prelude interesting. Not very long and not that many notes, but it does require a lot of dynamic and stop changes for such a short piece. I might attempt it.

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I also came across this amazing, amazing performance of his entire 7th symphony on organ. This is really a tour de force performance. I can't imagine how many changes of stop (the selection so different pipes there are). There must be several hundred of them. In Bruckner's time this performance would have required several registrants (assistant who assist an organist during a performance by pushing in and pulling out stops to change the selection of pipes.) I only wish the had invested more in recording engineers to do a better job at capturing this magnificent performance:

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[Ivanhoe]

Still among my favorites.
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[Kryztian]

In commemoration of last weeks failed coup by the Wagner Group in Russia last week, here is music from another Wagnerian failed coup: the "Ride of the Valkyries" from "Der Ring des Nibelungen." Brunhilde (Prigozhin) has a plan to get the magic ring back from the evil doers (Zelinsky) , however, her actions anger the gods and Wotan (Putin) has the job of going after her an stripping her of her god powers (which is like being exiled to Belarus) In this scene the Valkyries (Bruhhilde's sisters) are on their flying horses as they come to the assistance of their sister Brunhilde (only seen at the very end of this clip).

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[Kryztian]

The CIA and Classical Music
Podcast 4 of The Nightmare of Reason with Roger Rudenstein

https://rogerrudenstein.substack.com/p/the-cia-and-classical-music#details

Yes, the elitist of Yale and Harvard, anxious to overthrow communism, and organizations like the Rockefeller Foundation, promoted serialism (12 tone music) and other musical forms that alienated their audience.

[Kryztian]

Happy 56th Birthday to Gioachino Rossini - yes, this is only the fifty-sixth time his birthday is being celebrated. Rossini is responsible for many musical jokes, but his first joke ever was being born on a leap day and confusing us about his age.


https://i.imgur.com/9oiwQJj.jpeg
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868)

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[Kryztian]

Today, April 4th is the birthday of Eugène Bozza (1905 – 1991)

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[Tintin]

𝐋𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐨 (𝐀𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐏𝐢𝐚𝐳𝐳𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚) - 𝐄𝐬𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐀𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐢 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐚 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐡𝐚𝐦
Beautifully performed :heart:

https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/1827886208816705536/vid/avc1/1280x720/DM9HPfWzv4Brjw4y.mp4?tag=16

[Ivanhoe]

Just thought I'd share something I needed to hear.
Hope you enjoy!
JLmSpBsDxdk

[Michel Leclerc]

Just thought I'd share something I needed to hear.
Hope you enjoy!
JLmSpBsDxdk

Oh, oh... Kempff‘s 1964 recording.. Have just listened to the Allegro con brio... Kempff‘s celebrated depth of tone, tenuto.. What an extraordinary differentiation really – and by this means of song-likeness, achieving an utterly persuasive exposition of the piece’s divine architecture. The staccatos in the left hand singing even; the “stumbling” little ritardandos at about 3:10 and 7:40. The extraordinary expressiveness of the three times halted upward phrase right before the final chords. Not too fast, and yet, the waves of sound keep coming, irresistible (after 6:00 for instance). The German piano school... imbued with Italian grace...

Thanks Ivanhoe..

p.s.: the short bridging middle movement (like in the 4th Piano Concerto of the same Olympic middle period) how clear! and then the Finale, which is so often emptied of lyricism when the note figurations become the sole object of focus – how Kempff, from about 18:38, achieves the mysterious three-minute buildup until the song theme of the Finale comes back, shining as if it were a greeting from the angels.. leading to the Coda presto Kempff holding the tension (the right-hand trills!) so that in the left hand, the staccato of the first movement quote can clearly be heard.. and the listener can be said goodbye to by the friendly three-chord “Le-be-wohl" motif — !

[Michel Leclerc]

In these end times the value of real artistic creation shines stronger than ever.

The growing interest for the greatness of a young Soviet pianist who four decades ago managed to “flee to the West” in his mid twenties, then in 1988 died from aids when he was 33 in Amsterdam, Youri Egorov (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youri_Egorov) (actually to be pronounced Yegorov), is a balm on my heart. The reincarnated Dinu Lipatti he has been called – and that is an apt description because he has Lipatti’s purity of line, emotional subtlety, sincerity..

I will briefly introduce three of his most masterly readings. Mostly just his music – there are not many live performances to be seen.

But first a moving documentary about Youri Egorov (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7M1I69RnYQ) made in the Netherlands, where after his post-Queen Elisabeth contest participation (he won 3rd prize) he found the love of his life.

[Michel Leclerc]

Youri Egorov the incredibly empathic interpreter of Chopin, Schumann, Schubert – yes. I will present this music later.

But first I would like to introduce what I am only discovering now, while typing this: Youri Egorov’s version of Sergei Prokofiev’s 8th Sonata (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHuFv8YDUsE), the last of the trio of War Sonatas (together with the 6th and the 7th, obviously) written in 1943, if I am right, while Prokofiev (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Prokofiev) was in the USSR Georgia. Whereas the 6th Sonata is sharp, aggressive, witty and the 7th mobilises the demonic and the forces of madness, the 8th is more the music of introspection and melancholy sadness at the terrible human cost of the “Great Patriotic War”. Most pianists however emphasise its towering size (half an hour for its three movements) and its monumental, virtuoso Finale.

Not so Youri Egorov. His is simply the best version I know of this sonata since I was so fortunate to hear Emil Gilels (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_Gilels) play it in Antwerp when I was 16 or so. Supreme clarity, unerringly sounding its depths. A live recording from 1981. Youri was 26 or 27.

The comment on the Youtube recording (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHuFv8YDUsE) is moving and enlightening.

[Ivanhoe]

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[Lunesoleil]

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I listened a lot in my youth 🎹

[Kryztian]

https://i.imgur.com/srqZ19Y.jpeg

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Heil’ge Nacht, du sinkest nieder;
Nieder wallen auch die Träume,
Wie dein Mondlicht durch die Räume,
Durch der Menschen stille Brust.
Die belauschen sie mit Lust;
Rufen, wenn der Tag erwacht:
Kehre wieder, heil’ge Nacht!
Holde Träume, kehret wieder!




Holy night, you sink down;
dreams, too, float down,
like your moonlight through space,
through the silent hearts of men.
They listen with delight,
crying out when day awakes:
come back, holy night!
Fair dreams, return!