Classical Music for Aficionados
I'm afraid I have taken a self imposed 14 week isolation as last January I had Sepsis and Pneumonia and kidney failure at the same time. I was very lucky that I came out of Hospital but I have been left with one lung pretty duff and I already have Diabetes. My wife who works in a food store has taken a forced leave of absence as she is working with the public all day is in danger of bringing it home to me . The university my daughter works in has had positive Corona outbreaks amonst the students so she has gone into isolation also and I won't see her for twelve weeks. Yes things are changing in our country at the moment and there are still idiots packing trains. Hold onto your hats folks. Jim. |
Well Jim , looking at your medical chart you are a tough old bird even for a Scot . Folk with Scot DNA usually are . Even a 75 percenter like me has walked away from things others have not . You may have more time than you think ! The inevitable came to me once in the form of a near-death event . I was near the end of a bright and warm tunnel when my Grandfather came out with raised hand and told me to go back, my time was not yet here. For a long time I was puzzled why I was so calm . Talking to others with them as well , a Lady said "Because you were in a place were fear does not exist " "Be not afraid "is the most used phrase in the Bible and I saw why. In any event few humans appreciate true beauty as well as you and that alone is a life lived well . yours , Len P.S. What Uni does your girl work at ? even |
Thanks Len, for your (as usual) words of wisdom, they are very much appreciated. My daughter works fo The University of the West of Scotland but she has had many offers to work elsewhere . She does not want to leave Ayr and us aswe din't have any more family and she is particularly close to me. I have tried many times to get her to pursue another job with more prospecs but she just says she wants to be close to us (she lives in the next street to us). She has a Masters with Honours from St. Andrews University in Politics and Law and as you may deduce I am more than a little proud of her. Take care Len and be safe , Jim. |
Here is a piece for you Jim that proves even a rainy day can be beautiful. Gonzalo Rubalcaba is a Cuban Jazz artist with classical training . No less a musician than Simon Rattle has said he is the best pianist alive. https://youtu.be/EmuZhxWgmuE?t=3 |
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Here is a recent outing that reminds me not to argue with Rattle. He is beyond genre , very wise and intelligent as well . https://youtu.be/xCwGLFSSzY0?t=6 |
My wife says of my daughter and I is that we know what each one of us is thinking before we say it. I say that I'm glad she got my brains and her mother's looks as if the other way round she would be in qute a pickle. I am just kidding as my wife is the glue that binds us together.I had a listen to the jazzman that you posted and although not to my taste he is a very clever and inventive chap. The music reminds me of the direct cut discs we used to hear at all the audio shows in the seventies, I wished at the time that the ordinary record companies would have issued limited runs of these for the classical market, it would have been better than the tripe we were forced to buy at the time. Take care all of you, Jim.PS , I see Prince Charles has tested positive for Corona virus now !!! |
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Just listening to Vikingur Olaffson on Idagio at the moment, stirring stuff indeed. The recording tone is close and sumptuous and the quallity from Deutsche Gramophon is super and as good as anyrhing I have heard. I am so glad he takes the Rameau pieces from a twentieth century perspective and not trying to copy a harpsicord. I like this recording very much. |
I've been obsessed with Schubert for the past 7-8 months. I'm completely in love with his music. I've found many a great pianist, including Volodos, Lupu etc. Recently discovered Shura Cherkassky. There are ample recordings on Tidal and Qobuz. Youtube has many performances as well. What are your thoughts on this guy? Have you had a chance to see him live? Here are a few pieces from YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOBajKsgcVA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0Axnmi2Qn4 |
Just heard Cherkassky playing Rachmaninoff's Variations on the theme of Paganini. Wow. Never heard an interpretation like that. Is this type of playing considered outdated? I've heard sofronitsky play in a similar fashion. Whatever they play sounds new, their interpretations make the pieces sound as if I'm hearing them for the first time. |
re Salmond Caution, I have never been to Scotland furthermore I do not speak the language (joke) If interested, please read: https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2020/03/jaccuse-2/#respond |
Yes Cherkasky did have flashes of brilliance but he also had a lot of the waywardness of his master Josef Hoffman as they were always trying find hidden meanings in everything they played. Don't get me wrong Hoffman was peerless in Chopin but he really was all over the place in Beethoven. No very much two pianists for the Romantic repertoir. |
Some of the best. Mirella Frenzi with PavarottiVienna Phil / Herbert Von Karajan Victoria de los Angles Covent Garden Orchestra/Rudolf Kempe Renata Scotto , EMI Great Recording /Rome Orch, Sir John Barbirolii Interesting Naxos CD with the words of the greatest aria ever written read in English and then song in Italian .https://youtu.be/CkzkGn5KIq8?t=8 |
Pushed to the wall this is my favorite , THE best duet I have ever heard ,The fantastic de los Angles and the greatest singer I have ever heard ,Jussi Bjorling . Opening aria , This is on an old LP that was lost by me in a move . Never found other (sob) I'm a combat vet and not much gets to me . I've seen Butterfly live at least 20 times and have cried every time, not teared , cried . Along with all the women and half the men.https://youtu.be/5TUtRRfAOMs?t=2 A little known fact . Puccini wasn't picking on Americans,. He was a liberal who was against the Italian Fighting for colonies in North Africa .If he used an Italian Navy man he wanted to the Opera would be banned . |
This is another treasure from Jussi and Victoria and Pucccini. This is a not so hard to find , a "Great Recordings of the Century""from La Boheme . https://youtu.be/PRHuqqEk3Bk?t=2 I recall a long TV interview with Pavarotti. Interviewer asked the big guy about this and that tenor , what he felt about then , what he has learned from etc . The perpetual smile of the big guy never left his face.When he asked Pavarotti how he compared him self to Bjorling , his face turned dead and he said , "Do not ask me that Question , I am only human ’". He wasn’t joking . |
schubert you say: "Puccini wasn't picking on Americans,. He was a liberal who was against the Italian Fighting for colonies in North Africa .If he used an Italian Navy man he wanted to the Opera would be banned ." If Puccini has used an Italian Navy man, he would not have been composing an opera about Japan. It was USA Commodore Perry that forcibly "opened" Japan in 1854. Italy had nothing to do with it. And what makes you think that Puccini "wanted" to use an Italian Navy man? |
On Madame butterfly, Puccini made extensive use of Japanese melodies. Quite different from "North Africa" melodies. "One of the more striking aspects of exoticism in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly is the extent to which the composer incorporated Japanese musical material in his score. From the earliest discussion of the work, musicologists have identified many Japanese melodies and musical characteristics that Puccini used in this work." Kunio Hara |
from pianostreet: This performance given by Georges Cziffra took place September 20, 1962 in Montreux, France, under conductor Roberto Benzi with the Orch. National de la RTF. The live recording was never commercially released and is not available in any box set. Neither is it available in full on YouTube, or anywhere else, it appears. It was forwarded to me from a friend's hard-drive collection. The program was: Grieg Concerto in A minor and Liszt's Totentanz, with an encore being the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6. As those familiar with this pianist will tell you, Cziffra's live performances differ a great deal from his studio recordings, which further diminished with the sudden death of his son, Cziffra Jr. The significance of this concert is that, so I believe, Cziffra gives the single greatest performance of his life and, almost by definition, one of the greatest ever. It truly has to be heard to be believed, particularly the Totentanz where he not only plays at mind-boggling speeds but openly improvises. The orchestra is also stunning. 01-Track 1.mp3 (10011.8 kB - downloaded 631 times.) 02-Track 2.mp3 (4625.81 kB - downloaded 540 times.) 03-Track 3.mp3 (7785.17 kB - downloaded 425 times.) 04-Track 4.mp3 (11994.53 kB - downloaded 559 times.) I've attached that encore here. 05-Track 5.mp3 (6129.65 kB - downloaded 1513 times.) https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=49437.0 |
After reading the The young Icelandic pianist Vikkingur Olaffson's favourite Goldberg Variations by Glenn Gould was his perfomance at Salzburg in 1959 I have to concur. He still dosn't heed any of the repeats but it is a blistering performance all the same. It is much faster than the 1955 recording and a world away in terms of recording quallity. By the way I don't know if any of you have this CD or not but a man called Zenph invented a way of re recording classic recordings from quite far back and he makes a remarkable job of it. He takes the basic recording and electronically processes it . it gets played back through a modern concert grand of the Yamaha type where it goes onto a disc which is inserted into the piano and you get a modern repoduction of the piece minus the distortions of pre 1950s discs. I must say up to now if I wanted to hear Gould play the 55s it would then be the Zenph copy. I don't know what happened to Zenph but I thought he was onto a winner but probably the big record companies crushed him before he could get started . I'm sorry I digressed and I do appologise but see if you can find it and you shall be in for a treat ,( I just don't know how he can play so fast ) the 59 copy not the 55 Zenph. |
Yvonne Lefébure Debussy: Jardins sous la pluie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGIUXx5elYA interviews, a riot, must watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoBZHQ9P6no\ Schumann Variations posthumes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mHW0kGnsR4 Bach/Liszt Fantasie and Fugue in g minor BWV 542 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo3yLB-1jTc |
This thread has been somewhat moribund lately. I’d like revive it by posting a musical question. ”What is the greatest single movement in symphonic literature?” I’d like to posit a few suggestions off the of my head (in no particular order:) 3rd movement of Beethoven 3rd 1st mov. of Mahler 9th1st mov. of Brahms 1st. 4th mov. of Mozart’s 41st 1st and 4fh movement of Beethoven’s 9th These are only a few of my favorites. I’m sure you have yours. |
@newbee Yes I completely forgot about that movement, that mighty crash from the beginning of that movement it' as if Heaven has been split asunder. Also Mahler was quite young when he penned it and a little aside , when he played one of the movements to Hans von Bulow he exploded at the end shouting to Mahler that it would never work. Thank goodness Mahler stuck to his guns is all I can say or ( maybe if he had been a better pianist !!! ). |
@rvpiano RV that was a lovely podcast about Julia Fischer I enjoyed it immensely. She really could succeed on either instrument, what a talent she is and her dedication puts her on my top 3 fiddlers list. I was bowled over by her octaves in the cadenza of the first movement of the Grieg. She really does deserve to be at the top of the tree. |
