Classical Music for Aficionados

First time hearing the word "children" in connection with him.  If true, I apologize for the post.  He should be forgotten.

Cheers

I’ll mention James Levine.  
His professional demise was sudden and shocking.
I’m sure his actual demise was  accelerated by the scandal.
I know, among musicians,  for years there were stories of his inappropriate behavior with children. I had no idea how extensive it was until the scandal broke.
In my opinion, he was one of the best conductors around.  Practically a fixture at the Met, he led the world’s greatest orchestras and made many excellent recordings, especially of Mahler, which I own.
Should you throw away his records?.  A Times reviewer spoke to this point years ago.  Should his bad behavior color our view of him as an artist? Are his accomplishments all for naught? 

I think not.  But you may think differently 

No mention of James Levine?

Cheers

He's timing his keystrokes to the acoustics of the building , pure genius !

A McDonald is a McDonald jim !


And I don’t recall seeing anyone doing it from memory !!

Small wonder they chose him to start the Organ week ,Cool as the proverbial cucumber.

I need more of him.


Check this , how in hell do you lay open the harmonics in Vivaldi on an Organ ?
And believe you me, Hungarian's are though audiences .

https://youtu.be/205VbtMOODA?t=1

A perfect interpretation of this music by the greatest musical mind ever.
Good one Len !!!

Little something Bach wrote in his spare time ,

https://youtu.be/FHNLdHe8uxY?t=2

I have heard this music in that church a dozen times .
This Artist has perfect tempo for the music and the building !

Need some more , death to the virus !

Amen, rv. And because of that few will hear him.

Schubert,

Celibidache is wonderful in the Schubert Ninth.
Fantastic conductor.

rcprince,

Yes, I believe that story to be true.

I have to look for more Zander Telarc discs
He is a very astute commentator.

Rvpiano, that Zander disk also has both versions of the last movement, the original version with the three hammer blows and the final with two.  I think one of the stories about why it was changed was that Mahler the conductor so identified with the hero in the symphony that he couldn't bear to hit him with the third hammer blow, so he took it out.  Don't know if it's true but it makes a fun story.  Many, if not all, of the Telarc discs of Mahler symphonies have commentary by Zander, making them worth seeking out.

My fave Orchestra is the Bavarian Radio Symphony and has been
for about 30 Years, In all that time never heard a blip.

Check this small clip with  wonderful early 6-8 Haydn Symphony's which every real music aficionado should hear.
They where written when Haydn wrote what he wanted , not what
his master wanted to hear . How sad can that be !

https://youtu.be/bqcVD0od1rc?t=1

This is one the best recording of one of THE greatest Symphony’s , it seems little heard .Certainly the most coherent !

https://youtu.be/hVS1OsA2h8o?t=2

For you Mahler fans, I just rediscovered an incredible performance and sound spectacular in SACD form of Mahler’s 6th Symphony on Telarc, conducted by Benjamin Zander with the Philharmonia Orchestra.
To me, it’s an overwhelmingly beautiful rendering in maybe the best recorded orchestral sound I’ve ever heard. It’s a three SACD set on which the conductor also shrewdly analyzes the work.
Truly an extraordinary disc set.

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 .

Len I'm glad you like Currenzis as I hate recommending something and you don't like it,  I consider it a pure waste of money then whether a little or a lot of money.
Snap I am a McDonald also !!

 WhaGot my Currentzis today.
Shows me one thing , it is done from an Eastern Christianity perspective where life is always hard and we do not deserve
anything else as sinners .

In Western Christianity we are still sinners but joy still stops by now and then . In American " born again " quarters it seldom leaves.

As an Anglican I’m somewhere in between .

In3, the Allegro molto vivace sounds like that band could play any thing . Going to look for more them and him.

4- is very good as well,

IMO all in all this is a legit rendition .

Jim , I should have thought of Scot’s wha hae . My uncles took me to Burn's Night where I sung in in my
           McDonald of the Isles kilt .

Alexandre Kantorow
outstanding young Russian pianist
Brahms Bartok and Liszt (2020)
and
A la Russe (2017)

You got one right, Burns did write the words, it was Scot's wha hae.
I'm glad you're having no after effects from your second jab.
Take care.

Yes , I have heard the Corries , had a CD and gave it to a Scottish student at the U of MN . Have to top up.

I had pain with my first on 3rd day, this is my 3rd day on the 2nd and almost nothing at all .


I believe it was "Scotland the Brave"  ?

If I got to chose it would be  "A Mans a Man for A" That "  

Seems sinful not  have one from a man who stood with Dickens for the common man.
Bobby forever !

Len have you ever heard The Corries sing Flower of Scotland ?.
Roy Williamson wrote the song and before it became our second national anthem when he and Ronnie were doing a concert anywhere the crowd would not let them leave the stage until they sang it and sometimes twice. A wee poser for you what's our first anthem, I say that because I haven't came across someone born after 2000 who could tell me our official anthem was.
I'm glad you have had you second jag as I have had my first and don't know when I get my second as it could be up to twelve weeks.
You take care Len.

Wee snip for Jim.
For many years and still I always watch to see if the players
sing the National Anthem . Seldom not haft do.

This is THE only one of many hundreds that ever all did !



https://youtu.be/DtnZxso4V3Y

P.S. have you had your needles yet ?   Had my 2nd  three days ago , all seems well . UK seems to be ahead .

Well jim, not a few were Scottish immigrants ,


If you ever see the films showing the British troops getting readily off the landing boots on D -DAY ( I think every American has)got news for you,
they were Canadian and they got miles ahead of Brits and Americans
that grim day.

But must be said the Americans did have by far the worst beach .



In any event , perhaps the truest thing old Nappy ever said
was " There are no bad soldiers, just bad Generals " .

General Currie proved that ! In spades .

Yes Len the Canadians certainly were a very brave bunch  and the Scots could be the same if only they could get rid of that very big chip on their shoulders.

Wow.... Incredible story.... thanks shubert....

True, but circumstances had a lot to do with it.

IMO General Currie in World War 1 had that crown .
A reserve officer and math teacher who using math
turned the Canadian Army into the greatest force
on either side . Without him and he alone the war
would have been longer and a million more dead.

All done by a teacher from Winnipeg who went from a Lt. Col reserve to
A General Who was going to be Commander of ALL British and Colonial
troops just as the the Canadians broke the last great repost of the Germans and they surrendered two days later.

You never hear about him because the Brits still think they have an Empire .(NOT a joke )

You are right schubert about SS fearing most the canadians...

The most extraordinary canadian in the war liberated one city from SS by himself... His story made Rambo a chicken....His story is too incredible in world war II and korean war to be believed  in a movie ....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFf1UfVa8Lc

It has burned bright since I was a wee’un on granny’s lap,jim, and always
will.

I’m a penny tight, pound foolish semi-Scot myself .
Had one granny from the Groble’s and one from Florida area .
Both were in "The Daughters of Scotia " in Syracuse N.Y. and were very different but friends .

Can’t forget the Black Watch, my Great-grandfather died in it in 1915
which is why I am American .

Living in Germany I heard this and confirmed it my self.
The Germans had to get new machine gunners every few weeks
as most broke down in a few weeks .
By 1916 both sides seldom fired on wounded trying to drag , limp back to the own lines .
Exception were the Canadians which gave no quarter and were the ones
the Germans feared most .


Reason: Canada had 8 million population at the time and a million men
went through the grinder of WW 1.Most were immigrants trying to become real Canadians in the eyes of the English Canadians .

Canada had the best battle record in both WW1 and W ll but made sure
that never happened again in WW 11 in which they took the most
POW’s .


P.S . An analogy might be the London Scotts who had a great record .

@schubert        Len  I hope Currentzis doesn't disappoint as being a canny Scot I hate wasting money ( grew up with none so do not want to waste what has taken me a lifetime to accrue).
You are so right about the state of the army here. We no longer have any Scottish regiments as everything was made into a national force with all officers now coming from Sandhurst. The ones I remember,
Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders
Cameron Highlanders
Cameronians
Royal Scots Fusiliers 
Black Watch
Royal Scots Greys
The Seaforth Highlanders
Highland Light Infantry
Gordon Highlanders
Kings Own Scottish Borderers
Royal Scots
Ayrshire Yeomanry
Atholl Highlanders

There are more which don't come to mind at the moment.
I will always remember those early films about World War One with those glorious charges on the German lines and nothing but a mass of kilts getting mown down by the German Maxim guns, it was absolute bloody slaughter. All the English Generals were 20 miles away in a French Chateau getting pissed on wine from the cellar.
Keep a light in your heart for Scotia.

ftm
Feltsman's "Tribute to Tchaikovsky" is superb.

Mahler 2nd with Bernstein.....wonderful sound 

Brendel was the first artist that made me see what Classical music 
can be with Schubert over 50 years ago. Will always  be my hero.

Great minds think alike 
jim,  I sat  not  20 feet away from Uchida at an outdoor festival in the Green Mountains of Vermont . It was a cool day in the mountains but 
her blouse was sopping wet  as she played Schubert. Got to talk to her
about Schubert , I spent 3 years in Japan in the Army but even for a 
Japanese she was very humble as she said " I love Schubert very much.". 

My 6th is on the way from Amazon , chose the 13$  CD version 
over the 55$ Vinyl  but might go back for seconds .

Best of Scottish luck,
Len 

P.S. I read the Tory Clown won't touch the Scottish Regiments on cuts .
Any more cuts and UK won't  have an Army .

All the Army Scotland really needs is one the size of the Irish .
And that's from a old war dog who gets his Enfield out of the closet
when the pipes whirl . Young Scots need to lose being cannon fodder
is somehow noble .It Ain't !

Vladmir Feltsman
Truly great pianist, love his Bach, Chopin, Beethoven, Scriabin.

His Well tempered klavier and Goldberg are my favorite at last.....

Jim,

I agree with you.  He’s not afraid to take a chance.

Vladmir Feltsman
Truly great pianist, love his Bach, Chopin, Beethoven, Scriabin.

@rvpiano      RV you are so right about Currentzis but I think that's why I like him. At least he is not anaemic like so many other conductors of today. He reminds me of some of the old conductors of yesteryear the likes of Stokowski and Reiner and so forth. 

Happy birthday Alfred and I really mean it. He more than any other pianist who I have heard live taught me more about Schubert and Beethoven.
I was always going to Glasgow or Edinburgh each week of the concert season and Edinburgh Festivals to hear him but oh how pained he made it look , but like Mitsuko Uchida you just had to suffer it. Bless you Alfred.

Thanks rv !  Just going to hunt it.
Received my GRAMOPHONE .

On cover. "Alfred Brendel at 90: looking back over a glorious career" .

Currentzis’ Pathetique is a little (maybe a lot) over the top, but very effective nonetheless.

It’s hard indeed jim , get my 2nd vac tomorrow at the huge Vets hospital in Minneapolis .

I will certainly buy the Currenzis if available . Conductors are always interesting to me .
Right now I just play Brendel or Arrau . The ones I’ve heard in person ,I loved them when I heard them and  still do.
Scarlatti sounds good on a Tuba .

Now is the hour for Scotia , she will be welcomed with open arms to the EU .

@schubert       Len I don't know if you know or not but Theodor Currenzis has a wonderful recording of Tchaikovsky's Pathetique symphony and the conducting  and recording quallity are wonderful.Some of the transients on full orchestra are frightening making you jump out of your seat. Have a listen if you can I am sure you and all others here will enjoy it.
I hope you are keeping well Len during this monstrous lockdown , keep your spirits up my friend. Alba forever.

RV    I've just had a chance to listen to Zlata Chochieva and have to say she is superb. She has technique in abundance and a superb musical mind. Her rendition of the three Rachmaninov transcriptions are wonderful especially the Gigue which is very fast and a technical marvel.
I'm going to look forward to hearing more from her.
This is definitely my kind of recording.

This is probably musical heresy but I much prefer Scarlatti played on the piano.

I have the Scarlatti collection of Ross's and very rewarding it is although many of the individual sonatas may be played with more panache by other soloists the collection as a whole is a great recording achievement.

I listen to it right now....

I like the sound and interpretation...

 I dream to bought a piano integral also....

Ross also recorded Couperin (12 cd), Soler, Rameau (3cd).

I have the Scarlatti collection of Ross's and very rewarding it is although many of the individual sonatas may be played with more panache by other soloists the collection as a whole is a great recording achievement.

"

Ross, by then adept at the organ, entered the Nice Conservatory, where he delved into — and increasingly concentrated on — the harpsichord.

“A friend and I used to let ourselves get locked in the conservatory at night,” he told an interviewer in 1986, “and we’d play Bach’s ‘Art of Fugue,’ four hands on a single instrument, until the janitor would kick us out at dawn.”

" He Was a ‘Bad Boy’ Harpsichordist, and the Best of His Age

Scott Ross, who would have turned 70 this year, died young of AIDS — but not before recording all 555 Scarlatti sonatas.

"I am not much into harpsichord, but this man really had the touch.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/26/arts/music/scott-ross-harpsichord-classical-music.html?action=cli...

@rvpiano     RV have had a few listens to young Grosvenor's Liszt recital and yes he certainly does great things with the Sonata and most other things. I don't think he has the way with the three Petrarch Sonnet's though as they seem quite distant and detached, have a listen to Arrau and it's a different ball game.