Johann Sebastian Bach
PARTITA NO.1 IN B-FLAT MAJOR, BWV 825
Murray Perahia (piano)
Sony Classical 2008-2009
Tidbits from the notes: In Bach's day music was treated as a consumable commodity, here one day, gone the next, so new pieces were required on an almost daily basis. -- Bach's music was rarely performed, but widely studied by academics and composers-including Mozart. -- There is scant evidence that Bach played any of his music in public. -- The set of six Partitas were the first works Bach published with the designation "Opus 1."
Praeludium
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml4mw0L-0EgMenuet I & II
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyMEKW3zF3QGigue
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vle0Jc7of-ECheers |
BOLERO - ORCHESTRAL FIREWORKS Minnesota Orchestra -- Eiji Oue Reference Recordings HDCD Recorded 2000 From The Notes: Extremely interesting snippets on the origin of each piece on this disc. "I have written only one masterpiece," Ravel said, toward the end of his life; "that is the bolero. Unfortunately, it contains no music." Eiji Oue became the ninth music director of the Minnesota Orchestra in 1995. A native of Hiroshima, Japan. The Orchestra was founded in 1903. Has had some big time music directors over the years. Including Marriner, Dorati and Ormandy. Rimsky-Korsakov: Tale of Tsar Saltan, Op. 57: Flight of the Bumblebee https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YJDbVJoRJk Klemperer: Lustiger Walzer (Merry Waltz) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWK-MVlNshgBrahms: Hungarian Dance No. 3 in F Major https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kETy5k6ipiQRavel: Bolero https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO_AFmqLbZUNot my idea of ’Orchestral Fireworks’, but a nice collection. Cheers |
Bach is so great that we tend to act as if classical started with him .
Truth is that from the 11th to 15th century there were composers at his level but they wrote things we don't listen to much today, as in religious
music .
You are right... Obrecht and Tallis and one hundred other geniuses... Hildegard of Bingen is older but what a creative mind... |
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Another:
Pre 1600 !!!!! Stunning use of chromaticism and dissonance:
One of my favorite composer... the Scriabin of the human voices.... He wrote like Scriabin not to move the human heart only but to make it more vast and livelier... Monteverdi use his art to express all there is, he create opera, but Gesualdo sometimes tear the human heart in two parts...One who suffers and the other who recreate.... Thanks for the magnificent unknown to me French interpretation... |
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If you want to know if your system is good acoustically... Listen to the voices surrounding you in this magnificent recording...A studio recording where the singers walk and plays together, one can hear when they turn their head singing... in some part the voices come from behind my back... The interpretation is in german inimitable... One of my loved modern opera....With the Busoni Faust.... The soul of an era.... Kurt weill with Lotte Lenya the best recording of the three pennies opera: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR33bL5aNTk&t=850s |
HI-FI FIEDLER Boston Pops Orchestra - Arthur Fiedler RCA Living Stereo SACD Recorded in 1956, 1958 and 1960 This man did as much as anyone to popularize Classical Music. Always came across as, ’this should be fun’. It was for everyone to enjoy, not just the self-appointed ’elites’. Worked in my case. His cover art and musical selections said it all. Some say, ’light’ Classics, I say, ’the good stuff’. Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (Franz Liszt) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaVL6uhZ7xA William Tell - Overture (Gioachino Rossini) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ3xTFmYOwA Marche slave (Piotr Tchaikovsky) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl9VzrciZUkCheers |
Johann Sebastian Bach
ENGLISH SUITES 1, 3 & 5
Piotr Anderszewski (piano)
Warner Classics 2014
Seems like a lot but they are all very short pieces.
The notes give an account of the history of these works. They also talk about 'repeats', for example -- "when all the repeats of the pieces are observed, the revised version can make for a rather awkward structure, skewing the formal balance of the suite away from the other movements"...Anderszewski
I have read other accounts of composers being criticized for using repeats. I guess Bach, Beethoven etc... would say, "do you know who I am?"
Suite No. 3 in G Minor, Prélude
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aM8cP6tzKIY
Suite No. 3 in G Minor, Gigue
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-td1Cw3OBgSuite No. 1 in A Major, Prélude
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSSdoR03KmsSuite No. 1 in A Major, Gigue
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQPiknYhggs
Suite No. 5 in E Minor, Prélude
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUej83R4sng
Suite No. 5 in E Minor, Gigue
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH2gCpa9hI0Cheers |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart SINFONIA CONCERTANTE IN E-FLAT K364 Vilde Frang (violin) Maxim Rysanov (viola) Arcangelo -- Jonathan Cohen Warner Classics 2015 allegro maestoso https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXdYvB3rACsandante https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zfSICtEEIMpresto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0A896-KCG4From the Notes: "If Mozart was a good but unwilling violinist, he was more comfortable with the viola. It was on this lower-timbred, usually supporting instrument that he played in string quartets with Haydn, and for which he composed some of his most personal works, including the 'Kegelstatt' Trio K498 and the Sinfonia concertante K364...is a milestone of compositional maturity." Cheers |
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This has nothing to do with music but I have a question about sound. If you’ve heard both Qobuz and Idagio, do you notice a difference in SQ between the two services?
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@rvpiano I have had both Qobuz and Idagio and I have noticed a difference between the two in that on CD quality 16/44 files there is not much difference. I do notice that Qobuz definitely has the edge in the higher resolution files with a blacker noise floor and a more dynamic presentation. The Idagio site on the other hand is far superior in the sheer diversity in it's classical library compared to Qobuz. If I look up something on Qobuz it will come up with a few different Artists and bands. If I look it up on Idagio there are a whole lot more to chose from and if your tastes are a bit eclectic then Idagio is certainly for you. |
Jim,
Thanks for your observations. I certainly concur Idagio is the far superior search engine.
I just acquired a new streamer that allows me to listen in hi res using Qobuz.
Oddly enough, however, there are times when Idagio sounds better to me, even though it’s not capable of hi res.
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RV Do you use Roon on your setup ?
I have my PC tuned with Roon playing Qobuz through it and It is a huge difference to Qobuz playing on it's own. Roon has been much improved lately and the sound quality is now very clean and dynamic. I would certainly recommend it. |
I don’t use a PC, I use an iPad.
‘I tried to download the app for a trial subscription. Am having technical problems with the App Store. |
Well, although I downloaded the Roon app and my streamer says it’s Roon ready, no Roon devices were located by the app. |
Listening to Magnard's symphonies 1 and 2 on Hyperion. He's no Bruckner and no Mahler, but they definitely have their moments. Apparently he studied under d'Indy and died, rather tragically, at the beginning of WW1. |
Just listening to Ravel’s “Scheherazade” for soprano and orchestra, maybe the most sensuous piece of music ever written.
Found it on Qobuz on an album including other Ravel works played by I’Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg.
A feast for the ears.
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@rvpiano, it sounds like you installed the Roon Remote app on your iPad and expected it to connect with your streamer. Roon doesn’t work like that. You must install and run Roon Core on a computer (PC/Mac/Linux), which connects with your streamer. The iPad would be used like a remote control for the Roon Core on the computer. See the Roon website: https://roonlabs.com/howroonworks |
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Btw, since on the subject of sound quality and as a point of interest. Here is what I believe is the version from the original master, not the remastered version above. I believe it to be so because I own both versions and I hear the same issues. An example of perhaps needing to not tamper with success and leave well enough alone. The remaster “improves” clarity at the expense of a bit of digititis with a slight thinness in the upper registers and less well integrated vocal sibilants. The original sounds slightly covered up top, but sibilants are well integrated and don’t sound like artifacts; and the performance sounds even more relaxed. We pick our poison. Neither gets in the way of the fabulous performance. https://youtu.be/pyeE7zcJkSc |
Mspot,
‘’Thanks for the info.
‘I suspected as much. |
frogman,
You are so right. The remaster is screechy and just about unlistenable. The original reveals the wonderful performance and does justice to the piece. |
Beethoven THE LATE STRING QUARTETS Takacs Quartet Decca 2003 - 2004 3CD set with booklet From the notes: The quartet was formed in 1975 in Budapest and since 1983 has been in residence at the University of Colorado, Boulder. "Beethoven's series of late string quartets formed his main creative preoccupation during the final years of his life. To many listeners these five works contain the most profoundly personal and spiritual music he ever wrote." -- Misha Donat Just a Sample: String Quartet No. 12 in E-Flat Major, Op. 127 - Scherzo: vivace
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyxiKYEhEEs
String Quartet No. 14 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 131 - 5. Presto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iA5_j2QCVIACheers |
Mozart
CONCERTOS FOR 2 & 3 PIANOS
Katia & Marielle Labeque (piano)
Berliner Philharmoniker -- Semyon Bychkov
Philips Classics 1989
Notes: Excellent booklet with a nice picture of the sisters. "The concerto in F for three pianos was written for Countess Antonia Lodron, the sister of Mozart's unloved employer..."
Piano Concerto No.7 In F Major, K. 242 - "Lodron" - Allegro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INiwh_bfI8c
Piano Concerto No.7 In F Major, K. 242 - "Lodron" - Adagio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeBVtHMEweM
Mozart: Piano Concerto No.7 In F Major, K. 242 - "Lodron" - Rondeau (Tempo di menuetto)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9ebTPwYVdYPray, they will avoid the wrath of The Frogman this time around. Cheers |
Just watching the “Horowitz in Vienna” video and it occurred to me that this man is akin to one of the great treasures in the world of art: the Sistine Chapel ceiling, the Taj Mahal, Donatello’s David, etc. Though a re-creator, the rarity of his genius is no less an accomplishment than that of actual creators. To touch the heart and soul as he did is parallel.
Playing Viennese music in a Vienna concert hall was an elemental force to the listeners there.
Such superability comes to this earthly terrain not often.
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Starting a few years ago, I pretty much lost all my interest in classical music from the common practice eras (1600-1900). I was not exactly happy about the situation, since a large part of my music collection has been sitting dormant since then. I listen to more classical music than I ever have, but most of it is from the mid 20th century until the present era. As well as, Bartok, Stravinsky, Barber, Britton, and the 2nd Viennese school. So, since my tastes lean toward the 'thorny', YMMV... This LP on the Varese Sarabande label, has a huge, well defined soundstage, and great imaging. Ernst Krenek - Static and Ecstatic Performed by the LA Chamber Orchestra https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIwJGEOS6mY |
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You're having a laugh aren't you !! |
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky PIANO CONCERTO NO.1 IN B-FLAT MINOR, OP.23 Lang Lang (piano) Chicago Symphony -- Daniel Barenboim DG 2003 Great Booklet with lots of information. From The Notes: The Chicago Symphony played Tchaikovsky's B flat minor Concerto at its very first concert in 1891, two years before the composers death. Nikolia Rubenstein's claim that Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto was unplayable is one of music history's most famously mistaken first impression. After hearing the entire work, Rubenstein did not mince words, declaring the solo part was impossible to play and that the music itself was vulgar. When he suggested it needed to be completely recomposed, Tchaikovsky insisted he would not change a note. Eventually it was played by Hans von Bulow in Boston in 1875, where it was a big hit. The rest is history. Allegro non troppo e molto maestose https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h_0cr7CiCU
Andantino semplice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8pi8IvYhfUAllegro con fuoco
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV2KRF1zbiUCheers |
If this isnn‘t classical music I don‘t know what is.
I'll go with option B; you don't know what is. |
George Gershwin RHAPSODY IN BLUE / AN AMERICAN IN PARIS Earl Wild (piano) Boston Pops -- Arthur Fiedler RCA Living Stereo SACD 1959 / 2005 Excellent booklet with tons of info on Gershwin and the music. " He is a link between the Jazz camp and the intellectuals..." A Critic I always thought the Jazz Camp were the intellectuals. Silly me.
An American in Paris
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQGaAbKshvs
Rhapsody in Blue
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfdFiFWsTa0Cheers |
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Anne-Sophie Mutter THE BERLIN RECITAL Anne Sophie Mutter(violin), Lambert Orkis(piano) DG 1995 Not only a great violinist, but also, a Stone Fox. Notes: "That indefatigable conversationalist, Johann Peter Eckermann, once asked Goethe, more or less in passing, why the phenomenon of precociousness was so widespread among musicians. The great man answered without hesitation: music, he said, was something entirely innate, something inborn, a gift that needed no outward stimulus to sustain it and was not based on real-life experience."
Mozart: Sonata For Piano And Violin In E Minor, K.304 - 1. Allegro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WwCXYG2W0c
Brahms: Hungarian Dance No.5 In G Minor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVTuFLIUNH4
Brahms: Scherzo In C Minor For Violin & Piano (From The FAE-Sonata)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJnYL0twLEA"Anne-Sophie Mutter's highly developed musicianship is "something entirely innate, something inborn" to quote Goethe. Such gifts can never be coerced. -- Peter Fuhrmann Cheers |
Great post!
I cannot resist to say that a man able to argue against Newton with success in his own field cannot be call wrong often....
😊
Thanks for the music..... |
A one hour piano lesson by the greatest teacher of piano in the last century if we take the ratio : greatest pianists student/common teacher as a rule... Heinrich Neuhaus.... His personal life is a teaching about life also.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzMsqH1j8tc This video is not "good" and difficult to watch but lesson of the Great Neuhaus are rare... Here more easy and not less interesting the "not russian" but great Pollini speaking and playing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMpcUEVijyE |
There is a remarkable set of the nine Beethoven symphonies recorded by Herbert Blomsted in 2017 when he was 90, in just about ideal sound, it really soars in performance as well. It may not be HIP, but it’s modern nonetheless in vision. Highly recommended.
On Qobuz in hi res sound. |
Close all the windows.
Boost the volume full throttle
and listen to the
“Ode to Joy..”
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Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I just ordered the set from Presto. |
rvpiano -- currently listening to the Qobuz/Blomsted/Beethoven Sixth. A treat...even if the 'buz dropped the stream of the First Movement part of the way through. So I clicked on the Second Movement. Superb so far (fingers crossed). |
What orchestra is Blomsted conducting? Thanks. |
frogman -- Staatskapelle Dresden |
mahgister, thank you for the wonderful Neuhaus and Pollini clips. I enjoyed them immensely. What a great teacher of interpretation Neuhaus was.
“(Play it) a little more worried”, “...as if there is a sigh”
Wonderful! |
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Thanks, edcyn (and even); I’ll check it out.
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- From an internet review of Blomstedt’s new Beethoven Symphony cycle: “certainly among the greatest Beethoven cycles ever recorded.”
- I agree!
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