Have you ever seen the Patrice Chereau Ring Cycle? It's quite stunning. It is finally out on DVD.
Best/Favorite Piece Of Classical Music?
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Have you ever seen the Patrice Chereau Ring Cycle? It's quite stunning. It is finally out on DVD.
jjsjr
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3 choral pieces I love:
Kyrie: From the Pope Marcellus Mass--- Palestrina
YouTube - Palestrina Kyrie from Pope Marcellus Mass
Miserere Mei Deus-- Allegri
YouTube - Miserere Allegri
Vespers "Ave Maria"-- Rachmaninov
YouTube - Hail Mary (Vespers) - Rachmaninov
Kyrie: From the Pope Marcellus Mass--- Palestrina
YouTube - Palestrina Kyrie from Pope Marcellus Mass
Miserere Mei Deus-- Allegri
YouTube - Miserere Allegri
Vespers "Ave Maria"-- Rachmaninov
YouTube - Hail Mary (Vespers) - Rachmaninov
D_Jared Padalicki
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Maybe some don't know it, so here is the link of 'Valse des fleurs' by Tchaikovsly for the Opera 'The Nutcracker': YouTube - Tchaikovsky : Valse des Fleurs from The Nutckracker - Karajan and Berliner Philharmoniker
Amazing. I helped clean out my grandparents garage and found a tape of various Palestrina pieces. My grandpa said I could take it and was totally blown away when I gave it a listen. This was the first piece.
I have not. This is what you're talking about, yes?
www.amazon.com/Wagner-Nibelungen-Bayreuth-Festival-Complete/dp/B00005OATQ
As soon as I have a spare $139.98 I'll check it out. :tongue:
Also, some other Wagner fans might find this amusing. Anyone else like Peter Schickele?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ozrHcm2B9c
JustAsking
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Yes Satie's furniture music. A really odd character in history, though.
Yes! I saw him live years ago. Absolutely side-splitting.
rickygNOLA
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D_Gunther Snotpole
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I listen to piano music a lot.
One of my favorites is Vladimir Horowitz, who died 20 years ago after six decades or so atop the pianistic mountaintop.
I often listen to his version of Schubert's Impromtu in G-flat major.
Schubert isn't his home territory. Horowitz was the arch-romantic and some listeners will find his approach too self-indulgent here. Not me.
Volodya was 83 during this concert performance, which was one of his last, though he continued to issue recordings.
This piece doesn't offer room for the virtuoso display that was his hallmark, but it has all the sense of color and delicacy of tone that marked everything he did.
I'm sorry that the audio tracks about two seconds behind the video here.
One of my favorites is Vladimir Horowitz, who died 20 years ago after six decades or so atop the pianistic mountaintop.
I often listen to his version of Schubert's Impromtu in G-flat major.
Schubert isn't his home territory. Horowitz was the arch-romantic and some listeners will find his approach too self-indulgent here. Not me.
Volodya was 83 during this concert performance, which was one of his last, though he continued to issue recordings.
This piece doesn't offer room for the virtuoso display that was his hallmark, but it has all the sense of color and delicacy of tone that marked everything he did.
I'm sorry that the audio tracks about two seconds behind the video here.
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funnyguy
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Glad you enjoyed it.Best listened to on a warm summers day in an open top sports car driving through the English countryside!Sighhhhh!
jason_els
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jason_els
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Two John Cage pieces:
I first heard Branches in 1983 and was simply blown away. It introduced me to avant garde symphonic music at a time I was just beginning to discover the lyricism within atonal non-pentatonic dissonance via Sonic Youth. Little did I realize just how influential Sonic Youth would become nor the influence of Cage upon Sonic Youth.
Branches is a symphony which can be played as a solo or orchestral piece. Every performance is unique as there is no standard of play. Cage specifies:
A good performance of Branches is actually fairly rare. The business of properly amplifying and balancing the various inputs is difficult and time-consuming. In addition, it seems many performers do not have a good grasp of their instruments. A good performance should have a certain lyrical quality where each sound is heard wholly, background sounds are minimized, and the performer takes pains to find a natural rhythm to the piece. Here are two examples of Child of Tree. The first performance is well-amplified but the performer has made an unfortunate choice of cactus and seems to struggle with the instruments, making the piece sound coarse. He even manages to destroy his grass instrument in what resembles a poor attempt to mimic The Who.
This performance is much better as the performer has a better sense of rhythm and a better cactus. Though not as well amplified, there's a very good lyric quality to the piece. Clearly this performer has learned how to properly pluck a cactus and he uses the poinciana pod as specified. Good performances of Branches are like a haunted house ride. You don't what to expect or when and each sound should be so novel as to intrigue you enough to try to piece them together as you inevitably will because that's what human brains do unless you're too bored to care.
An excerpt of an interesting version by Kroumata using inorganic instruments can be found here. It's rather amusing and find the use of the ping pong ball to be brilliant while the sizzling hot plate is an apparent homage to Cage's own earlier piece, Water Walk.
Water Walk is an early Cage piece that brought him to national attention. Again, finding a good performance can be difficult and as we see in this piece, even Cage himself had to modify his use of instruments due to unforeseen circumstances such as the malfunctioning rubber ducky, blender-defiant ice, and a union dispute. Water Walk has a very pleasant sturm und drang to it that resembles the various sounds of water during storms. It makes one think of all the usual ways we hear water without considering that our innocent glass of water and happy bath is really no different from a lethal riptide or rogue wave. It's a great piece and a lot of fun.
This next version is one done on stage and fortunately does not suffer from nearly as many technical difficulties though it does illustrate the need for proper sound balancing in pre-performance technical preparation when performing Cage's works.
I first heard Branches in 1983 and was simply blown away. It introduced me to avant garde symphonic music at a time I was just beginning to discover the lyricism within atonal non-pentatonic dissonance via Sonic Youth. Little did I realize just how influential Sonic Youth would become nor the influence of Cage upon Sonic Youth.
Branches is a symphony which can be played as a solo or orchestral piece. Every performance is unique as there is no standard of play. Cage specifies:
It was Cage who popularized the use of an amplified cactus as an instrument.
A good performance of Branches is actually fairly rare. The business of properly amplifying and balancing the various inputs is difficult and time-consuming. In addition, it seems many performers do not have a good grasp of their instruments. A good performance should have a certain lyrical quality where each sound is heard wholly, background sounds are minimized, and the performer takes pains to find a natural rhythm to the piece. Here are two examples of Child of Tree. The first performance is well-amplified but the performer has made an unfortunate choice of cactus and seems to struggle with the instruments, making the piece sound coarse. He even manages to destroy his grass instrument in what resembles a poor attempt to mimic The Who.
This performance is much better as the performer has a better sense of rhythm and a better cactus. Though not as well amplified, there's a very good lyric quality to the piece. Clearly this performer has learned how to properly pluck a cactus and he uses the poinciana pod as specified. Good performances of Branches are like a haunted house ride. You don't what to expect or when and each sound should be so novel as to intrigue you enough to try to piece them together as you inevitably will because that's what human brains do unless you're too bored to care.
An excerpt of an interesting version by Kroumata using inorganic instruments can be found here. It's rather amusing and find the use of the ping pong ball to be brilliant while the sizzling hot plate is an apparent homage to Cage's own earlier piece, Water Walk.
Water Walk is an early Cage piece that brought him to national attention. Again, finding a good performance can be difficult and as we see in this piece, even Cage himself had to modify his use of instruments due to unforeseen circumstances such as the malfunctioning rubber ducky, blender-defiant ice, and a union dispute. Water Walk has a very pleasant sturm und drang to it that resembles the various sounds of water during storms. It makes one think of all the usual ways we hear water without considering that our innocent glass of water and happy bath is really no different from a lethal riptide or rogue wave. It's a great piece and a lot of fun.
This next version is one done on stage and fortunately does not suffer from nearly as many technical difficulties though it does illustrate the need for proper sound balancing in pre-performance technical preparation when performing Cage's works.
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It's a tie:
The Emperor Concerto (Piano Concerto #5) - Beethoven
or
L'Après-midi d'une Faune - Debussy
If you get the chance locate a CD of a Horowitz album released in the late 1960s called Horowitz spielt Scarlatti. I bought it in Heidelberg. SAMPLE
It's piano precision itself and speaks to that virtuosity you mention.
I mirror Jason's sentiments.
This piece was heretofore unknown to me. It is sublime. Thanks.
The Emperor Concerto (Piano Concerto #5) - Beethoven
or
L'Après-midi d'une Faune - Debussy
senor rubirosa said:
If you get the chance locate a CD of a Horowitz album released in the late 1960s called Horowitz spielt Scarlatti. I bought it in Heidelberg. SAMPLE
It's piano precision itself and speaks to that virtuosity you mention.
superbot said:
I mirror Jason's sentiments.
This piece was heretofore unknown to me. It is sublime. Thanks.
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eurotop40
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I love Chopins Nocturne op. 32 nr. 1 I also heard in "An early frost". I play it myself and I am often touched when I think of the movie.
YouTube - Ashkenazy plays Chopin Nocturne No.9 Op.32 No.1 in B major. Andante sostenuto
YouTube - Ashkenazy plays Chopin Nocturne No.9 Op.32 No.1 in B major. Andante sostenuto
Sibelius: Symphony No. 2
Fauré: Requiem
Strauss: Adriadne aus Naxos
Martin: Petite symphonie concertante
Mahler: Symphony No. 3
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4 (Italian)
Smetana: Bartered Bride Overture
Brahms: Liebeslieder Waltzes
Schmidt: Symphony No. 1
Elgar: Enigma Variations
and so many more
Fauré: Requiem
Strauss: Adriadne aus Naxos
Martin: Petite symphonie concertante
Mahler: Symphony No. 3
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4 (Italian)
Smetana: Bartered Bride Overture
Brahms: Liebeslieder Waltzes
Schmidt: Symphony No. 1
Elgar: Enigma Variations
and so many more
D_Gunther Snotpole
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He was considered the greatest performer of Scarlatti, and I have many of his performances.
Also incomparable in Scriabin and Clementi.
And then there's a whole slew of composers that he played exquisitely but without vanquishing all competition ...
Phil Ayesho
Superior Member
Beethoven's 9th, second movement.
Bach- Brandenburg Concerto no 3 in G- Allegro
- Air on the G String-
- Preludium in E major-
Mozart Clarinet Concerto in A, Adagio
- Symphony no 40 in G minor
-Piano Concerto no 21 in C major
Delibes- Lakme Act 1, Dome Epais le Jasmin
Rossini- the thieving magpie, overture
Shubert- unfinished symphony no 8
Debussy- Suite Bergamasque, III clair de lune- but the Tamas Vasary, or Van Cliburn performance- anyone playing it in less than 5:14 is playing it too fast.
Bach- Brandenburg Concerto no 3 in G- Allegro
- Air on the G String-
- Preludium in E major-
Mozart Clarinet Concerto in A, Adagio
- Symphony no 40 in G minor
-Piano Concerto no 21 in C major
Delibes- Lakme Act 1, Dome Epais le Jasmin
Rossini- the thieving magpie, overture
Shubert- unfinished symphony no 8
Debussy- Suite Bergamasque, III clair de lune- but the Tamas Vasary, or Van Cliburn performance- anyone playing it in less than 5:14 is playing it too fast.
I finally found the version i was looking for of the piece "Greensleeves"
hope you like it...it is one of my favorites...very beautiful and relaxing...a bit sad as well...
flute and harp
YouTube - greensleeves variation with flute and harp
hope you like it...it is one of my favorites...very beautiful and relaxing...a bit sad as well...
flute and harp
YouTube - greensleeves variation with flute and harp
jason_els
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Oh Flashy, have I got a treat for you! My recent introduction to Ralph Vaughan Williams resulted in my discovery of this. I've adored Greensleeves since I was a very young child and I'd sit under the piano while my mother played it.
I hope Henry VIII didn't write Greensleeves because I want to think it's much older. This performance, btw, is the best of the lot even with the poor recording quality. Another good one is this one by Brown Marriner. All are variations on Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on Greensleeves.
Oh and here's a period version of what it may have sounded like in the 16th century. Quite haunting.
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