What are you listening to that's tickled your fancy recently?Dvorak's Symphony #8, 3rd movement.
We just played Dvorak's 8th. It was a hoot-and-a-half. Both my conductors like it better than the vaunted New World.
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We just played Dvorak's 8th. It was a hoot-and-a-half. Both my conductors like it better than the vaunted New World.What are you listening to that's tickled your fancy recently?Dvorak's Symphony #8, 3rd movement.
I'm with your conductors.
The very opening of that symphony is fantastic, and when it comes back later in the 1st movement (way stormier this time around), I melt.
I'm with Aaron on the 3rd movement being awesome, as well as fun to play. I like music with lots of interleaving parts that dance around the main melody.
So I was looking around on youtube, and found a gigue by Bach, as played by a 5-year-old. (Link.)
I clicked on that expecting to see something cute. But this is beyond cute. It's friggin' AMAZING. I mean, she's no Evgeny Kissin, but she's FIVE YEARS OLD.
I also happened to find a clip of the same girl, playing the same gigue, at the more mature old age...
...of seven. Link. I didn't even take real LESSONS until I was seven. But I digress.
I was actually wondering about the piece itself. I had never heard it before. Can anyone identify it? Perhaps even provide the BWV number?
So I was looking around on youtube, and found a gigue by Bach, as played by a 5-year-old. (Link.)
I clicked on that expecting to see something cute. But this is beyond cute. It's friggin' AMAZING. I mean, she's no Evgeny Kissin, but she's FIVE YEARS OLD.
I also happened to find a clip of the same girl, playing the same gigue, at the more mature old age...
...of seven. Link. I didn't even take real LESSONS until I was seven. But I digress.
I was actually wondering about the piece itself. I had never heard it before. Can anyone identify it? Perhaps even provide the BWV number?
Yes, that is the last part of Partita 1, BWV 825.
Are you man enough for Rachmaninoff?
Thanks, Celestial Healer and Callous Jack.
Are you man enough for Rachmaninoff?
Heh. I remember playing a Rachmaninoff prelude (the one sometimes called "Bells of Moscow.") I found the slow part to be very difficult to read, but eventually got the hang of it... sort of. But the fast part sounds more difficult than it really is. I remember playing that prelude at my high school graduation, and getting a lot of compliments for that performance. My English teacher said that, in all the years that she had known me, she had had no idea that I was so good. I didn't contradict her.
Holst's 'The Planets'That's a favorite of mine, used to play long hours of D&D to that.
Now I'm curious. Were any particular movements used to set the mood, or did it just happen to be playing in the background?
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When I am creating I listen to some Classical. One peace that scares me is Threnody to The Victims of Hiroshima by Krzysztof Penderecki.
While I still maintain that the aforementioned Dance of the Miller's Wife is my favorite Manuel de Falla piece, there is definitely something to be said about the Ritual Fire Dance.
I also mentioned Bizet's Symphony #1, which I've decided is my favorite Bizet piece ever, and I keep listening to it. It so happens that the same CD has his L'Arlesienne suites, so I kept listening to parts of those as well. I quickly grew tired of that famous prelude, but discovered that I like to keep hearing the Minuet, Carillon, and Pastorale.
I also dug up some old favorites of mine, such as Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio Espagnol, especially the rousing last 7 minutes of it.
Another rousing piece I dug up is the "Crown Imperial" march, by Sir William Walton, which in my opinion, leaves Elgar in the dust.
Then there's Samuel Barber. When I was a child, I disliked the harsh dissonance that characterized so much music of 20th-Century composers such as Prokofiev, Bartok, etc. I remember people - and one of my piano teachers in particular - telling me that I would develop a taste for it when I grew older. Well, here I am... uh... <mumbles> years old, and I still dislike it... for the most part. But I do take exception to a few pieces. Case in point: Samuel Barber. I find much of his music too dissonant, but I take exception to one of his pieces: the School for Scandal overture. It's harsh, and at some points TOO harsh for me, but I still keep listening to it again and again, because that harshness helps to make it dramatic and powerful.
Speaking of my childhood, I remember hearing a certain piece as a child, and without knowing what the piece was, thinking that a certain line from it sounded like it could be from an aria from an opera. I could just imagine a tenor singing that line. In fact, I could have sworn that I HAD heard a tenor singing it, but now that I know what the piece was, I guess I must have been mistaken about that.
Anyway, one day as an adult, I finally found out what the piece was: the Tarantella from "La Boutique Fantasque" by Respighi. I was interested enough to buy it. In fact, it was the first MP3 file that I ever paid for. Interestingly enough, La Boutique Fantasque was based on some unpublished piano music that Rossini wrote late in his life. So maybe it's not such a wonder that it struck me as operatic. :)
When I discovered Chopin's Piano Sonata #2, I mentioned it on this thread. Since then, I listened to it many, many times, until I grew tired of the last 2 movements. But I never grew tired of the first two, especially the second, and wound up buying MP3 files of those two movements. Some pianists, particularly in more recent recordings, play those two movements too fast, and put the accents on the wrong notes, in my opinion. But once I find a good performance, I never grow tired of hearing it. I wish I could play those movements, especially the second, myself, but they'd probably be too difficult for me.
I've been listening to some other pieces too, but I think I've satiated my writing bug for now.
Gershwin's piano concerto, 3rd mvt: best use of a gong ever.
You know what piece I think makes the best use of a gong ever? It's already been mentioned by several users on this thread, and I just happened to hear it recently: O Fortuna from Carmina Burana by Carl Orff.
(EDIT: At least, it SOUNDS like a gong. I just looked at the wikipedia entry, and the only percussion it mentions are timpani, 2 snare drums, a bass drum, a triangle, several cymbals [crash, suspended and antique], a ratchet, castanets, a tambourine, sleigh bells, a tam-tam, tubular bells, 3 bells, 3 glockenspiels, and a xylophone. I'm not sure what I mistook for a gong, toward the end there.)
Aaron - you're referring to the sound accompanying those lovely dead bass drum beats in the final chorus? That might be a suspended cymbal, struck once with a soft mallet. It looks like composers do really interesting things with suspended cymbal.
That's interesting. I stand corrected. Clearly, I know nothing about percussion instruments.
That's interesting. I stand corrected. Clearly, I know nothing about percussion instruments.
I'm not certain that's correct, but it's the only thing I see in the list that might work. Percussion instrument (and percussionists) are Mysteries.
It's certainly a mystery to me. I just can't imagine a cymbal making such a loud, booming sound. But in this age of recording, I have no idea about instruments. Maybe it's a very BIG cymbal?
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Surprised I've not seen this thread.
Right now I've Pictures at an Exhibition in the player. Well that and stuff like Dragon Age and the Dark Knight :-)
I prefer a lot of Russian classical as my favourite pieces.
Aside, does anybody know if they used Pictures at an Exhibition in the Smurfs movie?
Edit: Talk about the smurf avatar selector being accurate for once.
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I can thoroughly recommend Musica Benevolens by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (commission piece fo this year's Last Night of the Proms).
Of course it's only just had its world premiere so if you can't catch a recording of the Last Night of the Proms it may be a while before it pops up anywhere else...
I don't hear much Davies on this side of the pond. In college, I know I had to study some of his early experimental works from his enfant terrible days (Songs of a Mad King), but I understand his subsequent works are beautiful.
Try Beethoven's Seventh, second movement. That one always gets to me, yet leave me hopeful.
Dotting
Love it
I've tried to reconcile myself to Vivaldi's music, fruitless. I find him incredibly boring. I'm afraid I'm with Stravinsky here: "The same concerto 400 times."
I've tried to reconcile myself to Vivaldi's music, fruitless. I find him incredibly boring. I'm afraid I'm with Stravinsky here: "The same concerto 400 times."
...with just a few exceptions, in my opinion.
Can you recommend something of his that you really like? I took some music courses in college and I listen to a lot of classical radio, so I'm probably familiar with most of his popular and well-known works; but maybe there is something further afield that I should hear. I'm a lot more into Gesualdo and D Scarlatti (if you are into Baroque keyboard music, there are some great Elaine Comparone performances on youtube).
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You could try some of Vivaldi's choral music, like the Stabat Mater or the Gloria. He also has some incredible operatic music if you can find it (in his lifetime, he was famous for his vocal works, not his concertos - that just seems to be the music that is more popular right now).
If you look for his opera, I would recommend excerpts - the arias are great, but listening to a whole work probably gets a little dry. (For a recommendation, look up Cecilia Bartoli's rendition of "Agitata da Due Venti" from Griseldi on her Live from Italy recording.)
I do have a favorite concerto of his, but I'm going to have to look up the key and opus number. I think it might be RV 578, but I'm not certain.
Well, if you're familiar with most of Vivaldi's popular and well-known works, then I'm sure I have nothing to teach you... but Gark the Goblin mentioned childhood memories, so here are some of my own.
I like all 3 movements of his Concerto for lute and strings in D major, RV 93. Every time I hear the 2nd movement, I could swear that, as a young child, I had heard it on "Sesame Street" at some point. (Perhaps while the show displayed an image of trees dripping with rain water? I'm not sure.)
I also have childhood memories of my father playing the violin part of the first movement of Vivaldi's Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 3, No. 6, RV 356. My father said that this was a violin standard.
There's a few other concerti that I like, but I must say that when I listen to his music - even the better pieces - I keep getting the feeling that some other composer might have developed Vivaldi's ideas better. When it comes to Baroque concerti, I think that no one can even APPROACH Bach. For years, I've regarded Bach as my favorite composer, and the #1 reason is his concerti.
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You could try some of Vivaldi's choral music, like the Stabat Mater or the Gloria. He also has some incredible operatic music if you can find it (in his lifetime, he was famous for his vocal works, not his concertos - that just seems to be the music that is more popular right now).
If you look for his opera, I would recommend excerpts - the arias are great, but listening to a whole work probably gets a little dry. (For a recommendation, look up Cecilia Bartoli's rendition of "Agitata da Due Venti" from Griseldi on her Live from Italy recording.)
I do have a favorite concerto of his, but I'm going to have to look up the key and opus number. I think it might be RV 578, but I'm not certain.
I just was listening to some Vivaldi and I remembered I hadn't replied to this. It is indeed RV 578.
Thanks, CH and AB.
I've been listening to Trinity's Messiah, great performance. Unfortunately one of the soloists had a bit of a malfunction from 20:50-21:00, felt really bad for her.
Tchaikovsky's 2nd Symphony (Little Russian) is on the agenda this semester.
It looks deceptively simple,which means execution is critical. I hope we can pull it off well.
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It looks deceptively simple,which means execution is critical. I hope we can pull it off well.
Sounds like Mozart's underappreciated keyboard music: many can play it, but not many can play it.
Today is Robert Schumann's 200th birthday. How are you celebrating?
My recommendations:
<snip>
Piano Concerto in A minor.
(By the way, did you know it's Emanuel Ax's birthday too?)
I did not. If only I had a recording of him playing Schumann... But I'm pretty sure I don't.
Recently, while listening to the radio, I discovered the 3rd movement of Schumann's Piano Concerto. It's great! It sounds like this.
As soon as I heard it, I immediately thought of that conversation from a year and a half ago, and thought "If I had an Emanuel Ax performance of that concerto, I could play it every year to celebrate that double-birthday (although the bicentennial is obviously past).
But I searched on Google and Amazon, and found no indication that any such recording exists. Ah well.
Maybe, come the next June 8, you can celebrate for free by listening to this piano quartet. (I don't care much for it myself, but ah well.)
Also, here's Emanuel Ax on Robert Schumann.
I've got the Tabula Rasa cd--it's awesome!!
[Blushes]
The world has so much to offer...
I'm on a crazy Arvo Pärt kick. If you're not familiar, you should be.
I am particularly fond of "Lamantate," a work for piano and orchestra. Also "Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten."
It's a strange experience to be so into a composer who is still alive.
I like him, too. I've also discovered a (living) Finnish composer called Einojuhani Rautavaara. Cantus Arcticus has become one of my favorite pieces.
It's a Puccini kind of night.
I think so. I did listen to 'Lamantate'. Very relaxing, but I was more into 'Crysanthemums'.