gdnrbob, that’s mandatory in Finnish Schools which are # 1 in the world .
Were about where we are, about# 28, 30 years ago, but music, no homework and a few
other like things have made Finnish kids LOVE school , you love, you learn !
Also, in Finland it’s harder to get into the Primary Education School than in
the Medical School . Only their very best they have for the kids .
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I love Mozart because to my ear after any of his works it seems every note could not be anything or anywhere else .A musical law of gravity
so to speak .
I have always thought Haydn was fully his equal but because the seams show at times he is seen as a great composer but not quite up to Mozart .
In fact in his religious music , notably " The Creation ", the more pious Haydn
IMO outshines Mozart .
To me they are just the opposite side of one of God’s coins .Their true friendship is witness .
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Haydn had a great feel for melody.
Check out his Op. 71 Quartets, the "Emperor" in particular , as achingly beautiful melodies as ever were written . Or his Lark" Op .64(No.5) which along with No.6 are to die for .
toleftears;
To start with , Bruckner 8 /Gunter Wand/ Berlin Phil . on RCA
Absolutely fabulous with a German Conductor the Germans hold in high esteem.
Wand did perhaps an even better 8 with the North German RSO on RCA .
Never can make up mind and don't try very hard .
the
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Let us know what you think of it .
Your opinions are respected .
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Thanks , rvp., If you aren’t taken with her I’ll buy them off you for what you paid + shipping . Was about to order them myself .
I've been sitting here trying to think of someone who mesh's technique with just the right tone, tempo,and volume etc that the music at hands requires and closest I can think of is Julia Fisher . But to my hears she is even better ,(gulp) .
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I heard the Phenom Chinese violinist Tianwa Yang play the LvB Violin Cnt.
just now on the PBS "Performance Today " show with Buffalo Phil.under
JoAnn Falleta .
It’s one thing for the audience to jump up and roar in SO, another if EVERYONE in the band joins in !
I’ve mentioned her before, but guys , this young lady is the REAL deal and if you miss her you’re doing yourself a musical disservice , a big one .
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Oh yes. I had forgotten that , I remember I had quite a few Ricci back in the
day. I know I had a Sarasate or two but can’t remember the music so will be new to me . Can’t wait .
I ordered the whole Naxos box , they have done so much for Classical Music I try to buy from them If possible .
I also ordered a Sarasate from my beloved Julia Fisher as well to see if I’m hallucinating . I know he is a favorite of hers.
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Not an easy hobby , sometimes I think I should have stuck with stamps .
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With your class jim I thought as much .
Bought the only 2 others in Amazon yesterday.
The violin con,.and my short elderly forget at the moment .
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I'll tell my deepest dark secret, I often gets as excited in my car over
music with speakers that cost Nissan a cool 10 bucks for the four of
them as I do with my system .
Well, there was that girl in Baltimore .............................
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I get to see Imogen Copper live on Saturday , she plays a bit .
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gdnrbob, those who don’t read German have no idea just how evil he was. Wrote more anti-semetic tirades then he did music .
German Historians who I studied with drew a straight line from Wagner to Hitler .
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I love opera , I’d have Puccini on my top ten list, with his "un bel di" aria from Butterfly
being among the greatest piece of music ever written by anyone in any genre at any time . He also had a fantastic touch with the theatrical side of opera .
Which is the reason I only watch opera at home on DVD . No shortage
of great performances on that media .
Opera , like all of classical music , has an ever shrinking audience .
I predict the last note every played live will be in Japan in 2071, I hope
it’s "Madame Butterfly " .
banyanbull, you could NOT do better than Elly Ameling ! None better,
I’ve had several people who I have played her Schubert lieder for burst into tears.Along with me .
P.S . I used to climb banyan trees .
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No, they wern't into fairy tales , just knew how the most famous man in Germany made it acceptable to say anything , anywhere , no matter how vile, about Jews
As we are words , the road to action was made smooth .
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People tend to drag their feet when penalty is death .
jcazador, Great list!, I saw 7 of them alive , Arrau moved me the most, but that’s just me .
The one that seems to be missing IMO is Murray Perahia .
He and Hewitt are my go-to’s on Bach .
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Jcaazodor ,
What a lovely description of Arrau ! As well done as can be done .
He played an all Brahms program one time I saw him .
I swear, and not as a figure of speech , one could feel Brahms in the hall .
If you haven’t already try Perahia's Bach "French Suites" .
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rv, I assume you got the box with the duos, I have them coming .
I have the 4 CD Sarasate for Violin and Orchestra .
First time she did a war horse I had to play it 3 times just to get a handle
(i hope) on her playing . Got a Julia Fischer out on same piece.
I’d say they are equal , just different , which is saying a lot !
FWIW , to me, Tianwa is a chamber musician who also plays with Orchestra AND listens to it !
AND , never misses a beat .
t
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Just one , but from and by two of the most neglected and underplayed Greats at this time in USA .
Imogen Cooper plays Schumann /Chandros
"Davidsbundler",Abegg Variations" , Novelletten" and "Geistervariotionen "
Sublime .
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Well, that's me all right. I'll be on that !
Heinz Holliger was the greatest player , on any instrument , I have ever seen live .
The best Schumann symphony I ever heard live was the "Rhenish"
with Masur / Gewandhaus at home base .
I never thought the DG set with Gardiner/ORR would ever be surpassed
but would be glad to be wrong .
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+1 for the Randall Thompson # 2 , a lovely piece that used to get some play back in the 50's-60's . I'll look for the Chandos 9439 newbee,
thanks .
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Great list Gerry !
If i had only one violin concerto to keep on the proverbial desert island , It would be the Elgar with Menuhin/Boult in mono or the later stereo .
Another very fine recording of the Elgar is Kang/Polish National Orch. on Naxos .
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It's not impossible if every item in your system does not get in the way of any other item . Just takes a thousand changes .
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One of the most neglected modern pieces for viola.
Kammermusik for Viola and Orchestra Op.48/ Paul Hindemith
Werner Albert/ Queensland SO/CPO 999 492-2
Also has 3 more viola pieces including the "Schwanedreher" Viola Cnt .
Another seldom heard in US is Walton's Viola Concerto . Outstanding CD on ASV by Helen Callus /New Zealand SO/ Taddei
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If your System has no weak links you can come very close to live music .
Heard one of the greatest Brit pianists 2 weeks ago live , came home and played same music , only real difference was in volume and slight dynamic compression .
Ditto for a Brahms 1st a few weeks before that .
Synergy is everything .
I have maybe 20K in my entire system but it took a lot more than that and many years to get everything just right ,also, like anything , some luck . IMO much of it is impedence matching which is a cut and paste deal .
And yes it really doesn’t matter .
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Upon reflection this what I think . All the physics are irrelevant, the psyche rules .
A 90 year Maestro who , given a hearing test, is doing good to hear
5000Hz . Yet he ,while conducting, hears the symphony as well as he did
at forty . The brain has a vast store of memory that can, and does, make
him hear that symphony as real as he ever did . The brain is always
looking to maintain a stasis as job # 1, and for that particular brain not to do so brain knows would be a major upset to its apple-cart .
Not speculation but research done at Cambridge, the worlds leading University on all things neurological .
Now I’m not Herbert Blomsted, who at 92 is still in demand ,
but I’ve heard him conduct many times and all told have heard well over a thousand live symphonic events .
I am certain the Brahms 1 I played a few weeks ago sounded very close
to the one I heard live a few hours before . And often does .
I do speculate my brain has enough memory and knows where my passions lie to make sure that happens because at nearly 84 its not looking to upset its apple-cart .
YBMV (Your Brain Might Vary )
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Yup, brain is on the job .
I believe I ,as a historian, have the good fortune of being able to put myself in the time and place of almost any European composer from
1200 on . To me that helps a lot in understanding .
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I believe the best thing you can do is go to as many LIVE classical concerts as humanly and financially possible .
$ 1000 dollars worth of symphony tickets will give you better sound at home than a new $ 1000 whatever will .
Train 'da brain .
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Looking through my Schumann Symphony collection I found a set I forgot I had (normal these days).
Sounds like the original version and not like someone thinking they knew better
than Schumann !
Haitink /Concertgebouw/ Phillips 416 126-2 Excellent sound , far more natural than most CD’s . Just wonderful performances . Schubert, Schumann and Brahms , three birds of a feather, flying together . Thank you , God .
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I’ll look to the Melartin newbee , The Tampere. like the other "minor"
Finnish bands, are very good , like everything else in Finland .
During Holy Week, as is my custom , I listen exclusively to
religious music ,about half early music . Dufay, Ockeghem , Palestrina. Monteverdi, etc and IMO the greatest of them all , Josquin des Prez .
Of course the other half is devoted to, you guessed it , J.S Bach .
The Cantata’s are the main course but I end up with the piece my
favorite conductor , Herbert Blomstedt, convinced me is Bach’s greatest
work , his Mass in B minor .
I listen to it on DVD with headphone system on my trusty 50" Samsung Plasma with the great Blomstedt conducting an Orchestra he loved and who loved him , the Leipzig Gewandhaus .
I don’t think the Mass could be played or sung better than on this EuroArts 2005 DVD , recorded in Bach’s own Church , the St. Thomas .
To watch a great conductor conduct a great orchestra with no baton and the
least amount of hand beats needed is a uplifting in and of itself !
The extra bonus of Blomstedt expounding why he thinks the Mass in B minor is Bach’s best is a treat not to missed !
Blomstedt himself is a devout Christian and yes, that does make a difference .
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P.S . I payed 10 bucks for this fantastic DVD on Amazon . bought 2 just in case .
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She is and a good one at that . The lady has talent !
Best thing in Symphonic history is last movement of Schubert's 9th .
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Rarely, you will get a recording that has a composer, a soloist , a conductor
and a orchestra all of whom are both Great and at the very peak of their artistry .
One of these is Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, played by Kyung Wha Chung with Charles Dutoit conducting the Montreal Symphony Orchestra .
London 410 011-2
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That's why I buy BIS Cd's and now buy only old Vanguard LP's from the 50-60"s , the sound is always good because these companies never made
a bad sounding one .
Vanguard was run by audiophiles and has most natural sound I ever heard .
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I am sorely tempted to throw away all my CD’s anyway and just keep about
500 LP’s . With old age and small condo + one of better classical FM stations that’s all I really need , if that .
I believe one of the most important things I have learned over 8 decades is that you can really own nothing , but things can sure own you .
Re; Chung , so glad you enjoyed it . I heard the Montreal live 3-4 times in the 80’s and how glorious they were !
IMO , Chung is one of those "force of nature " musicians , not just born to be one, but with the music itself seemingly somehow infused in every atom of her being .
Her nothing less than heroic fight back from all her health problems has actually helped me as an example with the "mini strokes" I have had .
Heard her several times live recently on FM , perhaps not the technique of old but an even better true musician !
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https://youtu.be/ABGW92k2zU4?t=2 The National AnthemHere’s a song that deserves to be sung in every civilized land . It’s sung by a American iconic patriot artist who sang at President Trump’s Swearing -In, as one would expect . Less than two weeks ago a nut slew 24 innocents randomly in Nova Scotia , such does not happen in Canada , unlike the USA . For fifty years US government has refused to ban military weapons designed to solely to kill human beings, though a majority of the nation would have it so , after children have been the dead in school time after time . In Canada it took FIVE -days to ban all such weapons in Canada !!Period . https://youtu.be/fkw6ASOuQVs?t=1 There is no better country ! |
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Schubert and Mozart were the only truly natural genius of all the great composers .
The greatest of them all had but one answer the many times he was asked how he did what he did .
" I work hard " . |
From Bluesound I don't know, but Classical Minnesota is very good as is Wisconsin Public Radio out of Madison .
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For the last month I’ve been listening to,almost exclusively, what I consider one of the least heard masterworks of the man I consider the greatest of all modern composers , Bela Bartok . .His "Mikrokosmos", which is a series of 153 progressive solo piano pieces written as a didactic work for the edification of his son much in the same manner as Bach did with his" Klavierbuchlien ", and IMO written at the same level .
.I have all 153 on CD and half on LP all played either by Bartok himself or
his student , friend and greatest interpreter, Gyorgy Sandor .I also have the entire 6 volumes of the scores which I study before I listen to a piece and try to follow as they play . I get perhaps 10% of what a trained
musician does but I find , even at my level, getting even just a glance at what a great composer is trying to do increases my joy over the music greatly and gives me personal gratification at doing my best , weak as it is .
The incisive rhythms and percussive tones while pushing the melody to its limits at the same time using systematic changes of register bring together the music of both Eastern and Western Europe in his unique way .Bartok is less concerned with supple fingering than introducing the mind and ear to the free rhythms , bold dissonances and complex harmonies he championed .
Much of the music is just plain beautiful and can just be listened to as that .Piece (97)" Notturno" has a tender melody that would make Schubert jealous and is in a perfect synthesis of diatonic and chromatic , to me right up there with any piano music I have ever heard .
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newbee, I have my moniker because when I started to buy on here it seemed like I was the ONLY person on here that loved classical and
I doubted anyone would have a clue . Bit embarrassed now that I had the gall to use the name of one of the greatest composers who ever lived .
My favorite solo piano pieces are by Schubert, Brahms and Schumann .The latter two said that they were influenced by the former and you hear that in their music.There are so many great recordings of all three but to be honest, Radu Lupu is my go-to on all three ! With Imogen Cooper a close second on Schubert and Schumann and Nicholas Angelich and Ivan Moravek on Brahms .
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There is no doubt the artist that brought you to a composer will always
have a special place in your heart .
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Indeed , I heard her live here in Twin Cities recently in the very fine acoustics of the 350 seat hall at Macalester College.Hayden , Chopin and Schumann program .
The lady was a powerhouse on the great Steinway at Macalester , lengthy standing ovation , she is the real deal .
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None of which stopped Wagner from being , in voice and pen , the greatest Semite in the German lands . Tonight begins The Jewish High- Holidays and this is normally the first music that usher them in . Played by the great Pierre Fournier. https://youtu.be/WuC_0W4O_MI?t=25 |
Thanks, was on a pilgrimage to Leipzig .
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What virus ? Nobody in the world can touch these ladies , or even come close . https://youtu.be/UsDtmdWFBxU?t=5Thanks for Volodos on the D. 959 rv . Truly wonderful ! |
Oh yes jim ! That was played yesterday on my local public FM aka "Classical Minnesota " . Every time I hear Haydn I am reminded how great he was/is .Takes a backseat to none .
It was the stations spring fund raiser ( current regime is doing its best to kill it) , and managed to get over 600,000 $$ in 3 days to fight back .
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I’ve been ranting for decades that Hindemith is the most neglected of all the masters of the last century !The greatest recording of his Violin Concerto IMO is Oistrakh /LSO/ Horenstein .
But to be honest I never cared for either Bernstein or Stern .Bernstein as a matter of taste, Stern I saw with the Cleveland and was
very much let down .
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rvp, I 've been using you method for last week , it really has improved mylistening fun !
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