Classical Music for Aficionados
I hear you jcazador . If you listened to my post that young Frenchwomen playing German music on a Dutch organ sure didn’t miss anything .I had some of that Westminster stuff and was quite fond of it as well . I am a religious person and that aspect is more important to me than the technical side , not that it isn’t important .As I’m not a musician I don’t understand much of it in any event . Keep up the good word and spread the news ! |
The entire world neglects " early music ", to its own disadvantage . I am very fortunate that the Twin Cities has a dozen first-class early music ensembles and, literally, a hundred choirs of which a dozen are world class . IMO , a classical lover who knows not composers like Josquin des Prez, Du Fay, Gesualdo, Palestrina , Lasso, Gibbons, Byrd, Monteverdi and the mother of both lyricism and flow of musical line , Hildegard of Bingen,, is like a man who prefers McDonalds over a 3 star Michelin restaurant . Well , perhaps I exaggerate a bit , but you get the gist of it . And I beg the pardon of the Dutch and Belgians , Amsterdam, Brugge and Ghent continue to fly the flag . |
I can see the meaning of this (I think) but rock and roll is what has destroyed classical music . Bad taste rules and makes fools . There are many modern composers who take emotion to the max , try the great Leos Janacek for starters . Concertino for piano and seven instruments , Sinfonietta,, Taras Bulba DG 476 2196 |
jim, Here’s one think most Scots think of as Classical and right they are . Found it going through my LP ’s today , Jean Redpath with Abby Newton on "A Fine Song for Singing " Felt the earth under my feat as my gran turned over on "Annie Laurie. "The Wild Geese" made me want to join her . I use phones as well but a speaker over 96 eff . can come close . phomchick is correct as well . |
Just buy BIS recording of anything and ESPECIALLY any thing from Nordic Lands ! I do believe that I have never run across any serious listener that did not start with symphonic and eventually wandered into chamber music , save one, myself . I think my taste is the better for it , but then I've never been anyone else, so I can't run an experiment . |
Does IDAGIO have much early music ?I guess I’m in a rut but as Brahms op.115 in there with me I don’t mind . Over the decades as they in reference to his music as "autumnal", I figured they were not talking about leaves .At 80+ I can tell you his music is comfort food to the elderly , as Claude Rostand put it , "a portrayal of resignation , melodiously enveloped in tenderness" .I still think that for pure intellect no composer was his better . I have heard the Hadley and yes it is very good indeed . But Barbirolli had his Halle as sharp as the best German knife . |
For lack of room, and time left on earth , I use what one could call baseball parlance in buying LP’s which I prefer over CD’s . I look for a triple, by which I mean the work is the composers best(or close to it) and, the conductor and orchestra are in their prime . One example is Walton’s 1st Symphony with Previn and the LSO . One of the greatest recordings ever made.I assume most on here are aware of this but if brings it to just one more will be a good day’s work . Another is the great Vaughn Williams outing of the "A London Symphony" bySir John Barbirolle with his Halle Orchestra . Vanguard SRV-134.A caveat is Williams made so many masterworks you could argue all week as to his best .Her did however let it be known this was his favorite symphony . |
No wonder you are so wise !I might check it out then , a lot of the best of early music is hard to find and expensive when one does . I often wonder if Brahms music was better or worse given that he had severe what we now call PTST .How great it is that he is buried 10 feet away from Schubert in Vienna . The Viennese knew that was as it should be . |
And how laddy , I had that and loved It , victim of my many moves . All those decades behind us and Previn still has the very best recordings of many of the best British composers ! Perfect example of a conductor and an orchestra both at their zenith . I’ll Amazon it this day . Scotland Forever . P.S, Done. All 3 new vinyl records at 38$ , A bargain . My Gorbals gran told me "there is nay Scot who isn't penny wise and pound foolish" . |
I do the same with a pr. of Totem Signature 1 stand mounts and a Gallo cylindrical sub which is both fast and unobtrusive . The best thing I did was put the speakers on Target stands with Herbie’s fat dots under them and 40 lbs of a mix of lead and fine sand in each .The detail is unreal !Far better than any of BBC midgets and I’ve had most of them over the years .Driven by a amp that will do 450 watts into the Totems , not to play loud but to not clip on the micro- peaks that a symphony generates and make strings harsh , if the audio guy hasn’t already . Sit 4.5 feet away . jim , may I be so bold as to ask if you went to Glasgow Uni ? |
Well , you have a better command of the English tongue than any person I ever met who did not .I have a strong hunch you daughter did so well because she is your daughter. I asked because I was accepted as an undergrad at Glasgow after being a squady for 14 long years . Wanted to live in Scotland my entire life but the money aspect ruled Glasgow Uni out . Years before in Berlin we had a 6 month exchange program of NCO’s with the East Anglican Regiment . I got a "glowing" report of my soldiery skills from my Major and hopped over to Norwich to the Regiment Recruiting Office, but no your parents had to have a British Passport .The Recruiting Sgt. said we have men from every miserable colony but I can’t take a trained soldier with 3 Scottish grandparents ! Oh well , the University of Wisconsin is rated higher than Glasgow on the Times 100 anyway . ’ |
jim I’ll check the Corries , never heard them .Zenith of my Scottish music was I got to eat dinner across from Andy Steward after a solo concert in Cornwall , Ontario . Was a very nice and humble guy , we discussed how rotten it was that a Scottish working man could nae fish a Scottish river because some Englishman had the sole rights to . A soft spoken but passionate man . Thanks for the kind words . I know I ’m not dumb but no more more intelligent than your self . I have many Asian friends and a few Jewish ones , they know the home truth that you either do your home work or you don’t . You can’t live long enough to know what is and is not without reading . I don't listen to much Gallic music because it makes me sad . |
Aye, Scot W’a Hare is a battle cry , as a pacifist I’m agan it, but as an old squady the war horse in me paws the ground . Flower of Scotland is a better choice . I knew that are parts of Arbroath in it .The US system in general is a bunch of slave owners sacred that capitalism was replacing the system they wanted, mercantillism .The key to understanding the US is that its the not the first new country but the last old one .jim, nobody can take over the discussion , you have a lot to say and everything is related to everything else as any Native American can tell you . And reading anything is optional . As to IDAGIO, I had my desktop decoded few weeks ago , it eats cookies and shows I live in Miami over a bullet proof connection . This may be why I find the idagio sound is like good players playing in a room with no air in it . Also finds that its cookies are lunch in the middle of a piece . Would an plain Apple laptop help or not? Could be I’m just addicted to vinyl as well . |
Thanks , jim . I have a Beyer A 20 amp, built like a brick, as all Beyer gear is , that drives my DT 990 600 ohm easily . By my bed so I can have a Leos Janacek Qt . lull me to sleep . The "On an Overgrown Path" album on idagio is outstanding . Perhaps 15 years ago I heard my first Janacek and became a groupy within 30 seconds . Were such possible I’d like one of his Qts. played at my funeral . |
Its on my laptop and least it stays on eating cookies .My go to Beyer DT 990 Pro is too much for the laptop so I just ordered 2.5mm connects for my senns and bought some Audioquest Nighthawk phones which are low impedence and might work better with my Audioquest Dragonfly . I LOVE the Leos Janacek string qts and they sound OK with a cheap pr of Sony’s I had hanging around.I don’t like the baby ABC way it sets up but see why they need too .But for 10$ a month so what. I must be rich , the US Social Security Bureau just sent me a letter telling me I am in the top 5% in wealth of all folks receiving Social Security which is 95% of all Americans over 65 . I am fairly well off but not rich , must be a lot of poor folk out there ! Why they would write such a letter is beyond me . Perhaps they think I'm a MAGA prospect . |
There is a great recording of Janacek's First and Second Qts . on IDAGIO by a Qt. I had never heard of , Quartetto Energie Nove , members of the Swiss Orchestra for the Italian area out of Lugago .There must be twenty recordings of his Qts . on idiagio ( good taste in Berlin) . I dipped into most of then and another goody is the Martinu Qt. It is usually best to get Czech/ Slovak players in that every bar he ever wrote had the West Slavic language of Slovakia in mind .Slovakia was the country mouse to Prague and Janacek was a Moravian patriot in the best sense of that word .There are exceptions of course , but even the great Sir Charles Mackerras immersed himself into Czech culture to take on the fantastic operas of Janacek that have put him in the highest echelon in Europe . |
To the Czechs and Slovaks Rudolf Firkusny is THE man for Janacek’s piano works and I wouldn’t argue with them. There is something right about smaller forces for many composers , their music was written for same . My local St.Paul CO is world class and they can knock out Mozart , Haydn and Schubert symphony’s as well or better than anyone this side of Vienna .The Scottish Orchestra’s show up on FM here often and they are all as ship-shape as a Clydeside built Frigate . I haven’t listened to any LvB symphonies in a long time , still play his String Qts a lot though. Just grew weary of them , but for whatever reason every time I put on a Brahms or Schubert Symphony its like hearing them for the first time .Ditto plus for Peer Gynt, I imagine I’ve heard that more than any other piece of music and I’m always happy in" The Hall of the Mountain King" . |
Thanks rv .I did hear a rumor in Paris that Saint-Saens , kind soul that he was, wrote the B minor Sonata for Liszt just to make his life worth something . Hitler did his best for the composer that made his efforts so much easier , but the German people thought the country needed more than one composer . |
God agrees with you IMO . I received my Audopquest Nighthawk phones today.Made sure I bought used because they need 150 hours break in .170$ for what sold at 600$.They are both the most comfortable and natural sounding phones I have ever heard . Audioquest has stopped production on headphones.I could have told them making a totally different phone that natural would be a money looser. We are all used to phones that boost the base and highs to make us say "wow" upon hearing .Natural sound is not wow . And their cost must be a least twice what Sennheiser,Beyer., whoever is. I wouldn’t advise anyone else to buy them but I’m going to buy another pr. from Amazon at 249$ . Its hard to change and 150 hrs is more than a few.Plus,most people like to be wowed and that is not a crime . |
The big guy. Lord how I miss him !https://youtu.be/gb-B3lsgEfA You idagio freaks are responsible for this and I thank you . |
I don’t doubt that Schiff is a better player but doubt he could best an excellent Slav on Janacek.. He is an ICON in Slovakia for not only his great talent but his lifelong defense of their language. He could have had any number of jobs that paid more than his teaching career in his home of Brno, but there he stayed. A true Moravian Patriot. All I know is Czechs and Slovaks seem to swear on Firkuskny for his piano pieces . https://youtu.be/WHEk9Iemd5s |
Cosima was the illegitimate daughter of Lizst and the wife of Bulow before Wagner .Hard to believe but she was even more anti-semetic than Wagner himself and much of the utter vile in Wagners endless anti Jewish articles came from her.She was an early supporter of Hitler and was thrilled to welcome the great man to Beyreuth on his many trips .As I am sure Wagner would have . Not a few German Historians draw a straight line from the Wagner's to Adolf . . bey |
Thanks, jim, for last 5 years my routine has been to listen to a cantata drinking my coffee right after breakfast , I think it is a factor in me still being alive .I plan, God willing , to spend a few weeks in October in my beloved Berlin for the last time . I will get a room near the main train station and spend a few days in Leipzig, two hours from Berlin, where I hope to just sit and meditate in Bach’s St. Thomas Church . |
Fantastic writing but from wrong guy .He has no idea, none, how deeply Bach was committed to God . His Lutheran religion does not want you to be pious or submissive but to be humble . Humility is having an accurate assessment of both the best of you and the worst of you, which Bach did . He knew what he was worth and asked for it.To an Orthodox Lutheran , which he was, that is standing in front of God and accepting his Grace as his child , not his slave . There were pious elements in the Leipzig city government that wanted him to write their way, he never did but came out against them clearly in the cantata’s and passions . Back would no more revolt against God than, well you name it . On every piece he wrote were the words "Ruhm gottgegeben" ."The Glory is to God"You can not understand Bach without understanding his religion .Said , clearly does not , indeed from his writing I doubt if he has any himself. The best book about Bach, by far, I have ever read is John Eliot Gardiner’s "Music In The Castle of Heaven ". Gardiner is one of the greatest musicians alive and a fine writer of this great book. Not an easy read but an uplifting one. Gardiner ends the book ,pg 558 so:. " Beethoven tells us what a terrible struggle it is to transcend human frailties.......Mozart shows us the kind of music we might hope to hear in heaven. But it is Bach, making music in the Castle of Heaven who gives us the the voice of God-in human form.He is the one who blazes a trail, showing us how to overcome our imperfections through the perfections of his music , to make divine things human and human things divine ". To which I say , Amen and Amen . |
Well, seems great minds do think together(cough, cough) .My fave keyboard pieces of the Great One are the Well Tempered , French Suites and Goldberg’s . May I ask why you can’t go to Berlin ? There are flights from Glasgow every day, 1 stop wonders on KLM are the best . Berlin is the cheapest major city in western Europe , 2nd biggest city after London and half the price . Metro is outstanding and you can find many hotels within a hundred meters from a station .I usually get one near the the main train station (Hauptbanhof) were one can also go any where on the continent including the bullet train to London on the most reliable national railway this side of Japan . Of course if health is a problem things are what they are . I lost a few grand in last 5 years because of not being up to it on the day. To me the most difficult part of being old is one day you feel find and the next you think you won’t last the day. |
One thing I do NOT like , is artists saying well if Bach or LvB etc had this or that he would have wrote for this or that . I just want what they did write, but I understand why others think otherwise . One thing I do like is every note that Schumann ever wrote.About a year ago I bought a 2 CD set of all his Symphony’s on a Warner that started life as a TELDEC in 1990 with Kurt Masur and the London SO. I saw Masur live many times , his wheelhouse was the early romantics and he ruled there . These 2 CD’s are still on Amazon when I looked last night at the same price I paid , 5 bucks . His clarity and tempo and just plain what he knew of Schumann is ahead of Karajan,Bernstein etc . In particular the 2nd . In any event you can’t have too much Schumann ! Only better I have heard is Gardiner with period instruments on DG .If you want modern instruments Masur is as good as any and better than most .Though I haven’t heard any critics say it . He is also very good with Brahms among others. |
OK , jim , will do soon . If he is as good as Rapu I’ll even get excited . The problem I have as I explore the infinite beauty and elegance of classical music is that I tend to " forget" what I already knew . Case in point . As I got into my car today from shopping , I caught most of Ravels" Pavane pour une infante de’funte" by somebody and the Rotterdam Phil.When I got home I dug out my only copy , which is still perhaps the best one ,the" LSO and Monteux " There just are no words to say how beautiful it is or the grief those who have lost children feel . |
The greatest instrument God ever created is the human voice . Blend that with the instruments we have created and you are at the zenith of what music can do.Puccini could/can resonate the human soul better than anyone, the real meaning of genius . .This clip is sung by the great Chinese soprano Ying Huang who was the first asian woman ever cast in the Madame Butterfly role , at least tin the west . For many years I had a rule about Butterfly . if it was one I wanted to really see. my limit was a thousand dollars and a thousand miles . Ying Huang brought something I never heard before, the inner understanding of how Asian women regard love .This is the most moving 5 minutes in all of music ! https://youtu.be/bkUq98oiyRc Many times in Vienna, Berlin ,Budapest. London and you name it I have seen all the women and most of the men crying and I mean crying, not tearing up. at the finish . Even if you hate opera, if you never see Madame Butterfly, in the company of other humans is best, you are missing one of the greatest experiences there is . |
https://youtu.be/cqoP8rkNIsY?t=311 Talk about a real heart breaker. This wonderful Korean artists father died 2 days before this concert and her mom told her to not come back to Seoul for the funeral but sing Schubert’s Ava Maria in Paris to her dad on the same day . .I hope Franz was with her father as he listened to his loving daughter ! P.S . you have to drag the ball back to start from the beginning on this . |
