http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/12/22/arts/music/22met1/articleInline.jpg
I can never resist a good James Levine photo.
― .gif of the magpie (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 22 December 2009 02:32 (fourteen years ago) link
Whoa where's his traditional sweat-towel?
― .gif of the magpie (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 22 December 2009 02:33 (fourteen years ago) link
haha yes re: Messiaen being a quote whore, too.
― Salvador Dali Parton (Turangalila), Tuesday, 22 December 2009 03:04 (fourteen years ago) link
Been neglecting this thread as of late, as I haven't really been left alone long enough to listen to anything with any degree of attention. :\
Lately I've been breaking my usual habit with CM and listening to the Mozart symphonies (Pinnock/English Consort), for the first time in fact! No. 40 is played to death but still beautiful, 41 is very impressive (esp. the final movement), but so far I've enjoyed No. 38 the most. The slow movement is especially gorgeous. I love the "shiny" timbre of the HIP ensemble.
― You give me falun gong, four in the morning (Daruton), Saturday, 26 December 2009 21:38 (fourteen years ago) link
Daruton, one of my favorite classical discs of the year was a Profil disc of Sawallisch and the Bavarian Radio SO performing symphonies 35 and 41, a live radio broadcast performance. These are not HIP performances, of course, but exciting high-energy modern orchestra renditions that somehow just sound totally right. Finally a recording of the 'Haffner' symphony that I can totally get with (I am a bit obsessed with #35).
― .gif of the magpie (Jon Lewis), Saturday, 26 December 2009 23:11 (fourteen years ago) link
I have a lot to say but I just thought I'd chime in that Villa-Lobos' "Etude 11" may be my favourite piece to play on guitar. The Ginastera Sonata for Guitar is essential, of course.
I'm studying the Mozart piano sonatas at the moment. (Analysing, not playing.)
― Sundar, Sunday, 27 December 2009 00:47 (fourteen years ago) link
Stream from my tumblr: http://themagiclantern.tumblr.com/post/286006568
Leoš Janáček - String Quartet No. 2, ‘Intimate Letters’ - II. Adagio, performed by the Talich Quartet
:D
― Salvador Dali Parton (Turangalila), Sunday, 27 December 2009 23:46 (fourteen years ago) link
lately i've been digging on toru takemitsu - why cant other modern composers make dissonance and otherwordly melodies that are actually pleasant to listen to?
― messiahwannabe, Monday, 28 December 2009 05:18 (fourteen years ago) link
I know what you mean, but... a lot of them have!
― Salvador Dali Parton (Turangalila), Monday, 28 December 2009 12:23 (fourteen years ago) link
Have been just blown away by my discovery of Prokofiev's 3rd Symphony (Muti/Philadelphia). I had avoided him before due to a bad experience with his piano concertos, but this is just amazing.
― You give me falun gong, four in the morning (Daruton), Tuesday, 29 December 2009 03:49 (fourteen years ago) link
xxp Late Feldman? Rautavaara? Ligeti? Messiaen?
― You give me falun gong, four in the morning (Daruton), Tuesday, 29 December 2009 03:58 (fourteen years ago) link
speaking of Rautavaara, I have a couple naxos discs (the one with Cantus Arcticus and the one with Angels and Visitations) that I bought a few years ago and never really got into, but I was listening to his Piano Concerto No. 1 the other day, and man does that thing cook! don't know how I never noticed it before.
― I got gin but I'm not a ginger (bernard snowy), Tuesday, 29 December 2009 04:35 (fourteen years ago) link
i suspected as much, but i rarely come across any - suggestions for more pleasant dissonance then?
Late Feldman? Rautavaara? Ligeti? Messiaen?
tbh i've never even heard of these guys - i'm not a complete noob when it comes to classical but there are huge gaps in my knowledge to be sure...
― messiahwannabe, Tuesday, 29 December 2009 08:19 (fourteen years ago) link
haha, it's cool; I followed a pretty similar trajectory, actually. I first heard of Takemitsu thru a piece that Leo Brouwer (really good cuban guitar composer) dedicated to him, and then basically followed Amazon.com recommendations to find other 20th century stuff I dug.
btw, not to belabor the point, but seriously, this is great:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjMtX1GLkTc
― I got gin but I'm not a ginger (bernard snowy), Tuesday, 29 December 2009 13:08 (fourteen years ago) link
― You give me falun gong, four in the morning (Daruton), Tuesday, December 29, 2009 3:49 AM (10 hours ago) Bookmark
Prokofiev is easy: stay away from the early work. He went from being the Worst, most Unidiomatic composer (age 10-28, basically everything before the Classical Symphony) to being the poster child for idiomatic writing. His woodwind writing in Romeo & Juliet and Cinderella is so, so great.
― Megadeth Panel (Ówen P.), Tuesday, 29 December 2009 14:29 (fourteen years ago) link
Listening a lot to Britten's Turn of The Screw. I think it's the Britten/Pears version but I copied it to mp3 ages ago and lost track of some details so not 100% sure. In any case I prefer it to the Daniel Harding/Ian Bostridge version on Virgin, which I've been comparing it with. The kids' singing is more childlike in the Harding, thin and slightly insecure treble voices, which may be more authentic but I find them a bit irritating. Also Gergiev's cycle of Prokofiev symphonies, especially, by coincidence, the 3rd which is less familiar to me than 1,5 or 6. Quatuor Ebene's recordings of the Ravel/Debussy/Faure SQs - even if you think the first two of these in particular are overfamiliar it's worth checking out these revelatory performances.
― frankiemachine, Tuesday, 29 December 2009 15:43 (fourteen years ago) link
I was lucky enough to see Turn Of The Screw performed in Seattle ~15 years ago; so eerie and awesome. It was my first live opera. I don't have the Britten/Pears or the Harding/Bostridge but the one on Collins Records with Langridge and Bedford conducting.
Prokofiev's 3rd symphony is tremendous fire-breating modernism. I think it's my favorite thing he did for orchestra (though I also stan for Romeo, Cinderella, the 2nd symphony and the succulent fairy-tale Violin Concertos. Like daruton, I have not had good mileage from his piano concertos, BUT BUT BUT as a solo piano composer he is one of the century's finest.
George Crumb and Kajia Saariaho. Both utterly uncompromising, both intensely beautiful in an almost palpable way.
― .gif of the magpie (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 29 December 2009 18:37 (fourteen years ago) link
I can never resist a good James Levine photo.― .gif of the magpie (Jon Lewis), Monday, December 21, 2009 9:32 PM
― .gif of the magpie (Jon Lewis), Monday, December 21, 2009 9:32 PM
― the embed's too big without you (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 29 December 2009 19:22 (fourteen years ago) link
Saw him in action a few times this year, most recently when he returned from his post-surgical convalescence to conduct Tales of Hoffmann. That was a lot of fun.
― the embed's too big without you (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 29 December 2009 19:23 (fourteen years ago) link
messiahwannabe, you should check out Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Time," Ligeti's Violin Concerto, Schnittke's Piano Quintet, Shostakovich's string quartets (all of them, really), String Quartet No. 4 by Peteris Vasks, Dutilleux's 'Ainsi la nuit' string quartet...
― Salvador Dali Parton (Turangalila), Tuesday, 29 December 2009 20:10 (fourteen years ago) link
The textures of "La création du monde" by Darius Milhaud are so gorgeous.
― Salvador Dali Parton (Turangalila), Tuesday, 29 December 2009 20:13 (fourteen years ago) link
@snowy, Thanks for posting the Rautavaara concerto; there's a composer I've always ignored & will now check out...
@messiahwannabe meanwhile, another noteworthy purveyor of "dissonance and otherwordly melodies that are actually pleasant to listen to" is Henri Dutilleux
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEYsu6xXWWQ
― Monophonic Spree (Paul in Santa Cruz), Tuesday, 29 December 2009 20:43 (fourteen years ago) link
In addition to that quartet, favorites from Dutilleux include Tout un monde lointain (a cello concerto); L'arbre des songes (a violin concerto); Metaboles; and especially Timbres, espace, mouvement (go for the revision with the Interlude for cello ensemble)... I'm unfamiliar with the solo piano music.
― Monophonic Spree (Paul in Santa Cruz), Tuesday, 29 December 2009 20:49 (fourteen years ago) link
I gave Rautavaara's Angel of Light symphony a few listens last year and thought it sounded too much like movie music with "modern" sounds tacked on (glissandi, Ligeti-style "sound clouds", etc.). FWIW I find Takemitsu pretty boring also.
― You give me falun gong, four in the morning (Daruton), Tuesday, 29 December 2009 22:36 (fourteen years ago) link
Oops, apologies to Turangalila for totally missing his mention of Dutilleux a few posts before mine! Glad I'm not the only fan here...
― Monophonic Spree (Paul in Santa Cruz), Tuesday, 29 December 2009 22:53 (fourteen years ago) link
I love my disc with the 2nd Symphony and Shadows of Time, but haven't explored anything else yet.
― You give me falun gong, four in the morning (Daruton), Tuesday, 29 December 2009 23:23 (fourteen years ago) link
Been listening to some Haydn string quartets. Really liked a couple of the slow movements (one being the second movement from the Quartet in G, Op. 77, No. 1).
― timellison, Wednesday, 30 December 2009 00:43 (fourteen years ago) link
listening to mozart. the four flute quartets. all very lovely and spritely and all that. i could go for some haydn right about now. mozart and haydn used to jam together. they had a jam band.
― scott seward, Friday, 1 January 2010 23:26 (fourteen years ago) link
what are the best classical mags w/r/t quality and trustworthy recommendations?
― A™ machine (sic) (omar little), Friday, 1 January 2010 23:37 (fourteen years ago) link
For me it's been Smetana - Ma Vlast and Grieg - Sigurd Jorsalfar.
― argosgold (AndyTheScot), Friday, 1 January 2010 23:39 (fourteen years ago) link
now playing: william byrd - music for voice and viols (i could listen to this all day long.)
― scott seward, Friday, 1 January 2010 23:51 (fourteen years ago) link
it's opera time. listening to rossini's il turco in italia. dramma buffo in two acts. sounds great. maria callas in the house.
― scott seward, Saturday, 2 January 2010 00:13 (fourteen years ago) link
Woah! I just learned that Charles Wuorinen is composing an opera based on "Brokeback Mountain". The composer's own website confirms that Proulx herself is contributing the libretto.
(the parser is warning me of a BBcode error, but I can't see anything wrong, so clicking "Submit")
― Monophonic Spree (Paul in Santa Cruz), Saturday, 2 January 2010 02:53 (fourteen years ago) link
no yeah no yeah no what r we typing 4 no no no by no
― self-hating unfunny topical reference (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 2 January 2010 03:02 (fourteen years ago) link
http://wvs.topleftpixel.com/photos/2008/06/dvp_empty_tall_01.jpg
― self-hating unfunny topical reference (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 2 January 2010 03:04 (fourteen years ago) link
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42299000/gif/_42299570_bye_416x300.gif
Been (somewhat grudgingly) admitting to myself lately that Fauré's chamber music (not including solo piano, I can't completely take that stuff yet) is Really Rather Good, e.g. piano quartets.
― anatol_merklich, Sunday, 3 January 2010 00:53 (fourteen years ago) link
And have dvded a couple of "minor operas" for quiztraining purposes as well, lots of fun! Händel's Tamerlano and Rossini's Comte d'Ory, to name a couple. The DVD of the former (T. Pinnock) has the coolest "subtitling" feature I've ever seen in an opera DVD, transparent overlay of the score at all times!
It's almost like an aural equivalent of those Klee paintings that are just regular grids of colors with varying hues and brightnesses.
Loving this comment abt late Webern.
Also loving thread!
― anatol_merklich, Sunday, 3 January 2010 01:34 (fourteen years ago) link
Fauré's late chamber music is fucking genius! Seek ye the 2nd violin sonata, the string quartet (one of my favorite pieces ever, period) and the two piano quintets (the quartets are weak in comparison imo). Some of the most magical and pleasantly unpredictable music I know.
― Sailor Tuxedo Moon Mask (Daruton), Sunday, 3 January 2010 01:38 (fourteen years ago) link
listening to Bruckner's 7th symphony (on naxos) a lot. My first Bruckner. I got the 8th too but it hasn't clicked with me.
― abanana, Sunday, 3 January 2010 02:00 (fourteen years ago) link
Mozart's String Quartet No. 19, K. 465 (the last of the "Haydn Quartets") is incredible.
― timellison, Monday, 4 January 2010 01:07 (fourteen years ago) link
I second Daruton's Faure SQ & Piano Quintet reccs. Gorgeous music.
― Salvador Dali Parton (Turangalila), Monday, 4 January 2010 01:09 (fourteen years ago) link
That arpeggiated intro in the 1st piano quintet is :O
― Salvador Dali Parton (Turangalila), Monday, 4 January 2010 01:10 (fourteen years ago) link
can anyone give me a yes/no on a Beethoven symphony box with George Szell/Cleveland Symphony? Columbia/RCA pressing I think.
― sleeve, Tuesday, 5 January 2010 00:56 (fourteen years ago) link
xxxxxpost to Omar Little-- the only classical mag I spend money on every time is Fanfare. It's bi-monthly and very thick. Layout is totally basic and zine-like. It's invaluable for its massive review section, which takes up about 80% of every issue-- the articles at the front are relatively lightweight. But the reviewers are not kept on any leash at all in terms of tone, style or review length, and they range from brilliant to douchebag. You can subscribe to just the online version for a little less than a print subscription, and that includes the online archive of the last 10 years of reviews.
sleeve-- I blow hot and cold on Szell in classical-era music. He can sometimes be too tight-assed whipcrack in Beethoven and Mozart. The further you get into Romantic, late-romantic and early modern stuff, the better Szell's recordings are. He's amazing in Schumann and Strauss and Mahler, for instance. But if the price on that box is not too high then buy it.
SPEAKING OF MAHLER I just listened to a download of a captured radio broadcast of Mahler's 1st with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orch led by their new conductor Manfred Honeck. HOLY SHIT this is a crushingly powerful, shit-hot performance of this piece. Do a little googling for Honeck Mahler R@p1dsh@re and you'll find the DL link for this. It will blow you away. An audiophile Japanese CD is available of the same concert, and the broadcast version was so good I just went on Amazon and spent 30 bucks on that.
Coincidentally, I see Honeck/Pittsburgh will be playing this symphony in NYC soon-- I'll probably have to go.
― .gif of the magpie (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 6 January 2010 00:42 (fourteen years ago) link
Listening to the Boulez Conducts Stravinsky box set. I've heard some of these performances before but it really adds to the impact getting all of the Boulez performances together in one box. Wonderful stuff.
― frankiemachine, Monday, 11 January 2010 09:29 (fourteen years ago) link
It's a box of all his Sony stravinsky or all his DG?
― Jams Burke Presents The Day The Universe Chikked (Jon Lewis), Monday, 11 January 2010 16:33 (fourteen years ago) link
It's the DG stuff. Amazon UK link here.
http://tinyurl.com/yb8suyn
― frankiemachine, Monday, 11 January 2010 17:37 (fourteen years ago) link
I would go for this btw
― Lee Dorrian Gray (J0hn D.), Monday, 11 January 2010 17:43 (fourteen years ago) link
I meanwhile am listening to this a lot and it is one of the most remarkable performances and recordings - just unbelievable. I got it blind offa emusic, didn't know anything about it except new Bach concert on Telmarc, sounds cool, turns out Dinnerstein is kind of a from-nowhere superstar about whom some commentators are suspicious because of the backstory that's getting pushed ("she produces her own records!") but seriously what an incredible ear for Bach she has.
― Lee Dorrian Gray (J0hn D.), Monday, 11 January 2010 17:48 (fourteen years ago) link