Wherein We Vote for Our Favourite Classical Compositions of… the 1810s

x-post: Yeah, but I just love it because it's used for what's basically cringe comedy in one of my favorite films :)

(Pollini's recording, of course.)

― pomenitul

sure but schnabel's is worth listening to for the contrast at least

Oh, definitely. Schnabel's entire set is utterly fascinating from beginning to end.

the piece isn't the best one on here, but there's still nothing like watching a virtuosic violinist perform 24 caprices.

pollini is fine but my top 5 hammerklaviers are thus:

francois-frederic guy (his earlier 2006 one, not the one that's part of a complete cycle)
grigory sokolov (there's an mfsl remastering of this on the webs btw)
arrau
annie fischer
richter (london 1975)

sentimental shout out to Gould whose slow and not well recorded but totally riveting radio recording was my first (listened about 100x)

Fairly obvious choice but Il barbiere di Siviglia is an eternal delight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-feS3WBjXKU

^definitive version

Is there a reason why Beethoven didn't write another string quartet for 15 years?

Is there a reason why Beethoven didn't write another string quartet for 15 years?

― jmm

i seem to remember he got really committed to child abuse for a while there

richter (london 1975)

― valet doberman (Jon not Jon)

i like the one he recorded about a week prior to that, know if there are any significant differences?

oh and the rzewski recording with the cadenzas in is also pretty interesting...

On an unrelated note, I wonder what Sund4r makes of the Fernando Sor.

I've never played it but I just listened to a couple of versions while following the score and I kind of want to. This performance by Ana Vidovic is really good imo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaEcDgxm8es . (Listen to the Segovia if you want shred but it doesn't connect with me the same way, although it could just be feelings of inadequacy speaking.)

When we get to the 1830s, Fantaisie Elegiaque would be a definite contender for me. I love the "Marche Funebre" (which I do play).

I generally find Sor satisfying in all his stodgy formalism. He didn't especially push the envelope compositionally but he wrote clear, well-crafted expressive music in the classical idiom that flows well on the instrument. He works well with the source material here imo and I do like how he uses triplets and sextuplets.

Anyway, I'm actually leaning towards "Erlkönig" atm.

Vidovic's performance is suitably unassuming, very much in keeping with Sor's classicism (which, incidentally, may be why I find his music enjoyable but overly guarded, as though La Folia had to be kept at bay).

I might just go with one of the Cello Sonatas – possibly my favourite works from the purgatorial period between his Middle and Late Styles (which I have likely just made up tbf).

And if you're in a Paganini mood, Agustin Hadelich is a fucking terrific wild-eyed violonista.

Sor's music is totally restrained and guarded, yeah, which is part of its elegance for me.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Next decade is going to be utterly brutal, perhaps the most undecidable of all.

on the one hand, sure, on the other hand, Freude, schöner Götterfunken...

How many poll options are we allowed again? I'm cutting an arm off every time I remove an entry from tomorrow's poll.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Hm!

Turns out I wasn't the only one voting for 'Der Tod und das Mädchen'!

I like these results. No one brought up the 7th Symphony in the comments, so I'm a little bit surprised, but it's an unfuckwithable pick.