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The Wiggly Wizard posted:Not sure how I feel about hearing ragtime on what I assume is a 9 foot Steinway Happens whenever someone performs the 2nd movement of Beethoven's 32nd piano sonata. ![]()
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# ? Sep 1, 2024 01:16 |
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2023 Classical Music Grammy nominees:![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
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Just sang Turandot and man it kinda takes a dive where Puccini died, doesn't it. Otherwise, goddamn that's some good music.
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I caught the Met Live in HD presentation of X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X in a local theater yesterday and really enjoyed myself. Funnily enough there was a little bit of Turandot in it (the opening scene especially) but the primary influence I heard was John Adams, which is weird considering I learned this morning that Malcolm X premiered a whole year before Nixon in China. The score has lots of moments, at least one or two per scene, that are all about Groove - there's a bass line and ostinati and improvisation over top, repeat ad nauseam. My favorites were the aria for Malcolm that closes Act I and the scene in Mecca in Act III. Really it deserves to be done all over the world, but maybe in a better reading than I heard yesterday. I thought the tenor Victor Ryan Robertson did a phenomenal job in both his roles, and Will Liverman's voice seems to have improved a lot since Fire Shut Up a couple years ago, though I wasn't really taken with his acting. The orchestra sounded fantastic and I loved the inclusion of the saxes whenever they showed up, but I got the sense a lot of the groove moments weren't worked out as well as they could've been; especially in Act II they trended towards the cacophonous. But overall! Good poo poo! zenguitarman posted:Just sang Turandot and man it kinda takes a dive where Puccini died, doesn't it. Otherwise, goddamn that's some good music. it's so funny how stark the contrast is. though i'm not sure even puccini could've made us believe in this particular love story.
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I heard a great performance of Mahler 5 recently. I enjoy listening to Mahler, but it just goes in one ear and out the other. I can't remember a thing about the piece other than I liked it. I couldn't hum a single melody from it to save my life. I'm not even sure Mahler wrote melodies.
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you have to play Mahler for it to really stick in your ear
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Buttchocks posted:I heard a great performance of Mahler 5 recently. I enjoy listening to Mahler, but it just goes in one ear and out the other. I can't remember a thing about the piece other than I liked it. I couldn't hum a single melody from it to save my life. I'm not even sure Mahler wrote melodies. Bucket list piece for me performance-wise, especially if I managed to sit Horn 1 on it. The top orchestra at my high school had a couple of excerpts from the final movement as their audition requirements. Also speaking of which I just got out of seeing Mahler 1 performed, pretty dope stuff.
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Had a great time playing Saint Saens 3rd Symphony last night. The composition is flawless and the bass part was challenging in a good way. Unfortunately our organist kind of blew his big moment by tapping the keys a few beats early for the famous C Major chord
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lol I was supposed to perform Shostakovich Op. 79 next week, but one of my colleagues is sick so I spontaneously agreed to perform Schumanns «Dichterliebe» as a substitute program. Last time I did it was 2009
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webcams for christ posted:lol lol i just got done writing a paper about dichterliebe good luck, may your A on "herzen" be blessed
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That piano postlude at the end gets me every time.
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first rehearsal was last night. the pianist has never played it before but she's a young artist / accompanist for Opernhaus Zurich and is super responsive. trickiest to put together are #3 and #8, but I'm pretty hyped here's a recording I like for those of you itt who haven't ever given the cycle a listen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2klB9WebbSk
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My son had his first piano recital yesterday. He played confidently and did well, and I couldn't be more proud of him. ![]() He was really inspired by watching the older students play, and now his goal is to play Beethoven's Pathetique someday.
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HisMajestyBOB posted:My son had his first piano recital yesterday. He played confidently and did well, and I couldn't be more proud of him. Awesome! I know there are some differences between the Disney version and the original Russian, but I did not expect to see King Kong in a ballet production of Cinderella. Yes, it moves. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6G0WG6YwBo&t=2957s
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To this day no piece of classical has ever done it for me quite like this performance of Handel-Halvorssen Passacaglia. I love the intensity (gimme that accelerando), I love the distinct vibes of each movement, and most importantly I love the counterpoint and the way the instruments play with one another. Any recommendations for similar uptempo minor-key classical stuff?
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going to a bach & mendelssohn violin concerto recital tonight ![]()
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Modal Auxiliary posted:To this day no piece of classical has ever done it for me quite like this performance of Handel-Halvorssen Passacaglia. I love the intensity (gimme that accelerando), I love the distinct vibes of each movement, and most importantly I love the counterpoint and the way the instruments play with one another. Any recommendations for similar uptempo minor-key classical stuff? This live rendition of the Schubert String Quintet at the '09 Aldeburgh Festival by the Arcanto Quartet with Marron(2nd Cello) is my favourite performance of the piece, and I think you'd like it. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ldtgd . You can't actually buy this recording anywhere so this shouldn't be considered ![]() https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2ewsE4RAcjjdktlcWZMb3hYbHM/view?usp=sharing&resourcekey=0-UnSyeiSUTikbi5YAyCbMFA e: I should note that it's not uptempo the entire piece, it's very much a push-pull, slow-fast with intensity and rubato just littered throughout it. It starts slow and lyrical and does lots of evolutions of the same motifs with changes in instrumentation and colouration throughout. Lol, it occurs to me now that I'm reading more about it again that it's not even predominately in a minor key but it still feels intense and dark despite that Mederlock fucked around with this message at 04:04 on Dec 17, 2023 |
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Mederlock posted:This live rendition of the Schubert String Quintet at the '09 Aldeburgh Festival by the Arcanto Quartet with Marron(2nd Cello) is my favourite performance of the piece, and I think you'd like it. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ldtgd . You can't actually buy this recording anywhere so this shouldn't be considered Years ago I read a book called Ensemble that is a bunch of essays about various chamber music works, and one of the chapters was about that Schubert quintet. I was pleased to discover it's still available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Ensemble-Rehearsal-Guide-Thirty-Chamber/dp/0931340454
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I didn't realize Rachmaninoff and Horowitz ever played together
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suite_No._2_(Rachmaninoff)
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saladscooper posted:lol i just got done writing a paper about dichterliebe Yo, did your paper include this ![]() because what the gently caress, Robert. Why?? Why did you throw that Eb next to the D? WHAT DOES IT MEAN? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfL5D_MN5bE My favorite.
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zenguitarman posted:Yo, did your paper include this ok so i look at this and i think "this has to be a Db right. like this edition hosed up somehow." so i go and check the barenreiter and nope this was intended. thanks robert ???
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Finally listed to Vikingur Olafsson's recording of the Goldberg Variations from this year and it's already one of my favourite versions in recent memory. His piano is so warm, almost too mellow at the start, but then once it gets going he really makes it his own. It's much less percussive than Gould and you miss the low end in some parts, but on the whole it's a brilliant recording and brings a fresh approach that is always tender and often playful. Very much looking forward to seeing him play the entire set in person come February as he's on a massive tour for it at the moment.
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RIP to a real one: https://www.classical-scene.com/2024/01/17/peter-schickele-88/ The obits are naturally more focused on PDQ Bach, but if you're old enough (and enough of a nerd), his Schickele Mix on public radio was probably more important to you.
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o7 Maestro
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RIP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiXn8jMlvh8
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That's a bummer. I enjoyed a lot his non-PDQ stuff too. I used to record episodes of Schickele Mix while it was still on the air. Looks like most of it's on google podcast and podcast addict now.
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I have a bunch of his weird rear end tunes in my choral library at school, maybe I'll program something by him this spring. RIP
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zenguitarman posted:I have a bunch of his weird rear end tunes in my choral library at school, maybe I'll program something by him this spring. RIP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0TujWPfxSk
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Random question, but let's say you're really good at composing: what are your chances of having that composition performed? Do people write symphonies for fun, or do they only do that when they know they have a particular orchestra at their disposal? Was Henryk Gorecki a nepo baby or what?
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it's not that different from film directing. anyone can go to film school, and you can get quite good and maybe be the best in your class. that doesn't mean you'll have a huge career. without connections, many would be happy to be paid a living wage to shoot commercials that appear on YouTube. maybe you crowd-fund and go into debt to do an indie-film. maybe you give up on directing and take a steady job as a 2nd DP for a soap opera which still puts you in like the top 1% of people who have a film degree without money and connections, it's hard to imagine producers handing you the reins to direct a Hollywood feature film. it's hard to get producers to know you even exist. likewise performing a symphony at an international level is extremely capital intensive (operas even more so). classical music institutions run on tight budgets and have to sell tickets. there's certainly infrastructure to bring up the next generation of composers, and it's facially "meritocratic" but it's really difficult without a safety net / Patrons / trust fund to spend all your time composing, doing competitions, working with young artists and chamber ensembles who can't afford to pay much for a commission, and doing tons of self-promotion and networking. if the bar is to get a symphony performed, period. then study composition and get a job teaching high school or middle school orchestra webcams for christ fucked around with this message at 21:59 on Jan 20, 2024 |
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A lot of community orchestras are eager to play world premier compositions and will even pay a modest commission. Not exactly prestigious or high-paying, but it’s something. Also when I was in youth orchestra, we played a fair number of world premiers. Young and or local composers, mostly. Not sure if we paid them
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That reminds me a story I heard about a youth choir that wanted to commission a chorale from Arvo Pärt. They got in touch with him and Mr. Pärt asked how long they need it to be. The director asked what his rates for commissions are and he said £1,000/minute. So the director said, "Great, we'd like a 1-minute chorale."
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drat that's a steal. then they get to advertise their concert as a Pärt world premiere which would have a very good chance of paying for itself. I feel like if that rate is true it must have been a while ago
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63ALEAncRFM This is an exquisite performance of French baroque songs, but I also really love the intimate staging. Apparently, this is in a cathedral dating back to the 11th century on a tiny French island where there's an annual music festival. That must have been amazing to go to. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maguelone_Cathedral Also lol at the 2nd youtube comment.
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This guy's channel popped up in my recommendations and I immediately watched all of his videos on Bach's handwriting. Got me thinking that out of all the non-fiction I read, I never read any composers biographies. Are there definitive ones that people here recommend?
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My old conductor gave me the Mozart biography by Maynard Solomon, can't recommend that one enough.
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I wasn't familiar with this lullaby by Chopin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fckhx8v05l8
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Yundi released a new Mozart album recently: https://www.warnerclassics.com/release/mozart-sonata-project-salzburg Happy to see him back after his bizarre fall from grace in China a few years back. I really liked his Beethoven sonatas album from 2013 and this album feels similar: reserved, lyrical, exceptionally precise. I wish he would have included some earlier works like the 4th or 5th for the contrast. Maybe next time.
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Rinkles posted:I wasn't familiar with this lullaby by Chopin Super underrated piece by Chopin. If you like the Berceuse, you might also like the Barcarolle, in case you haven't heard it yet. If I had to choose a favorite Chopin work, this is making the short list: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h19WVxSpask
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# ? Sep 1, 2024 01:16 |
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reversefungi posted:Super underrated piece by Chopin. The ending though! Trolling parents putting kids to bed since 1846
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