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Post by jk on Dec 4, 2019 10:17:46 GMT
...And tell Stravinsky the news. The title is lifted from my "classical" topic at the late lamented PSF message board. Please, folks, feel free to post anything you think falls under the "classical" heading. Recently, I've fallen under the spell of Dieterich Buxtehude and other Baroque composers. I used to sneer at this music--maybe I just needed to find a way in. And now I have, thanks to aeijtzsche ("H") at Smiley (she of the link in my signature). This sterling performance of Herr B's Benedicam Dominum benefits from the use of a church organ, instead of the customary portative variety: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieterich_Buxtehude
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Post by Kapitan on Dec 4, 2019 23:21:50 GMT
Gorgeous music, jk thanks for sharing. I'd never heard Buxtehude (as far as I can recall, anyway). I tend not to be big on baroque music, which for some reason while often beautiful ends up feeling either light (as in insubstantial), too mathematical, or both. It's my own flaw and it extends all the way to the absolutely indisputable masters. But this is lovely.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Dec 5, 2019 1:12:09 GMT
I'd like to contribute to this thread but my knowledge of classical music is zero...I have none. However, I wanted to share this.
I saw my first Beach Boys' concerts in the late 1970's and early 1980's. It was quite a thrill. Right when the band was about to come out on stage, the lights went out in the arena, and it was pitch dark. All of a sudden music, classical music, started playing over the loud speakers. It started low and slow at first, but it got increasingly louder - and recognizable. It was "God Only Knows" by The London Symphony Orchestra. The music continued playing for what seemed to be about two minutes. On stage you could see stage hands with flash lights, leading the individual Beach Boys to their spots. You could just feel the excitement in the crowd. By now the music was blaring. "God Only Knows" was blasting from the speakers. Is that Brian at the piano? I think that's Dennis at the drums. There's Mike with the hat. This is unbelievable. All of a sudden, a voice came over the speakers, "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome from Hawthorne California, America's band, The Beach Boys!" The applause was deafening. "God Only Knows" was roaring. The Beach Boys are here! Brian Wilson is standing in front of me. And the next thing you heard was the familiar opening note to "California Girls". Simply, it was one of the most exciting things I ever experienced.
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Post by jk on Dec 5, 2019 21:31:40 GMT
Gorgeous music, jk thanks for sharing. I'd never heard Buxtehude (as far as I can recall, anyway). I tend not to be big on baroque music, which for some reason while often beautiful ends up feeling either light (as in insubstantial), too mathematical, or both. It's my own flaw and it extends all the way to the absolutely indisputable masters. But this is lovely. Glad to oblige, Cap'n. I felt the same way until recently. With a little help, I was soon investigating Bach's The Art of Fugue and The Musical Offering. There's a fabulous double CD of these two works by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields under Sir Neville Marriner. This is the second, shorter work:
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Post by jk on Dec 7, 2019 22:53:38 GMT
Sticking with the B's, this is "The Shepherds' Farewell" from Berlioz's oratorio L'enfance du Christ. The chord sequence first heard at 0:55-1:00 is possibly the most magical I have ever heard. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27enfance_du_Christ
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Post by jk on Dec 10, 2019 14:39:22 GMT
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Post by Kapitan on Dec 11, 2019 2:20:40 GMT
That's wonderful, jk. The melodies are developed beautifully throughout. The English horn melody with the triplets is really up my alley. I love how the melodies are performed separately, then intertwined in counterpoint, then with fugal elements. When the full ensemble first plays together with accented hits, it's really majestic. The Romantic era really was perfect music for film ... too bad there was no film yet.
The high violin "drones," combined with the octaves traveling theme, really add a sense of unease to the whole thing. Both movement and getting nowhere. The repeated, somewhat meandering melodies, also imply getting nowhere. It doesn't develop or progress harmonically, really, so much as in the arrangement of the same content.
I really enjoyed that. Plus it's fun to follow scores, which I haven't done on a regular basis in decades.
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Post by jk on Dec 11, 2019 15:05:09 GMT
That's wonderful, jk. The melodies are developed beautifully throughout. The English horn melody with the triplets is really up my alley. I love how the melodies are performed separately, then intertwined in counterpoint, then with fugal elements. When the full ensemble first plays together with accented hits, it's really majestic. The Romantic era really was perfect music for film ... too bad there was no film yet. The high violin "drones," combined with the octaves traveling theme, really add a sense of unease to the whole thing. Both movement and getting nowhere. The repeated, somewhat meandering melodies, also imply getting nowhere. It doesn't develop or progress harmonically, really, so much as in the arrangement of the same content. I really enjoyed that. Plus it's fun to follow scores, which I haven't done on a regular basis in decades.
My pleasure! Lovely description there, Cap'n. "ITSOCA" strikes a perfect balance between form and emotion. Agreed about following scores. Same as you--I used to do it all the time once. There's nothing like a bit of encouragement! I'll get back here soon.
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Post by jk on Dec 13, 2019 9:25:05 GMT
More Baroque music, this time four symphonies (maybe the first four ever--waiting for confirmation on this) by C.P.E. Bach, one of the sons of. This really does unite my love of symphonies with my newly found love of Baroque music. If anyone had suggested such a thing even just a month or two ago I would have laughed in their face. It's a funny old world, to be sure. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Philipp_Emanuel_Bach
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Post by jk on Dec 17, 2019 13:03:16 GMT
Last night just before retiring I played the first half of this orchestral suite from Richard Strauss's opera Der Rosenkavalier, which a new-found friend will be seeing live this Christmas. I think it was the "opera" label that had put me off it in the past, but this suite is gorgeous. That expression about letting the sound wash over you was never more apposite. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Rosenkavalier
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Post by jk on Dec 21, 2019 23:25:40 GMT
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Post by jk on Jan 3, 2020 11:44:35 GMT
The British soprano Lucy Crowe is to star in a forthcoming series of performances of Handel's opera Rodelinda in NL. I shan't be going, despite my recent conversion to the Baroque--you can't do everything and go everywhere, is my feeble excuse. My "music friend" enthused about Ms Crowe when I mentioned it to her, so I looked around YouTube and discovered she had sung on Szymanowski's sumptuous Stabat Mater. This [or rather was] "Chrystus niech mi będzie grodem" (May His sacred cross defend me). The music of Karol S deserves to be far better known! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karol_Szymanowski
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Post by Kapitan on Jan 5, 2020 16:45:50 GMT
Well, jk, the work of Karol S may not yet be far better known, but it is better known: I'm a little embarrassed to admit I'd never even heard of him before this, though a quick wikipedia check while listening tells me he's considered the greatest Polish composer of that era. (Though to be honest, I think the only ones I knew otherwise were Chopin and Penderecki.)
Ms. Crowe is one of the most deserving sopranos I've ever heard of the cliched description "angelic." But she really is, and she more than does justice to this fabulous piece!
One note, the orchestration is fascinating in that to my ears, I thought there was an organ prominent in the blend in the instrumental passages prior to 4:00. I double-checked, and no, the piece is just voices and orchestra. I suppose it makes sense in that organs were built to mimic orchestras to begin with, and so there would be some similarity in certain tones when arranged just so.
Anyway, thanks for sharing. Beautiful.
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Post by jk on Jan 5, 2020 23:31:06 GMT
Well, jk, the work of Karol S may not yet be far better known, but it is better known: I'm a little embarrassed to admit I'd never even heard of him before this, though a quick wikipedia check while listening tells me he's considered the greatest Polish composer of that era. (Though to be honest, I think the only ones I knew otherwise were Chopin and Penderecki.) Ms. Crowe is one of the most deserving sopranos I've ever heard of the cliched description "angelic." But she really is, and she more than does justice to this fabulous piece! One note, the orchestration is fascinating in that to my ears, I thought there was an organ prominent in the blend in the instrumental passages prior to 4:00. I double-checked, and no, the piece is just voices and orchestra. I suppose it makes sense in that organs were built to mimic orchestras to begin with, and so there would be some similarity in certain tones when arranged just so. Anyway, thanks for sharing. Beautiful.
Glad to oblige, Cap'n. And thanks for your interest and appreciation. It encourages me to keep posting in this thread. I know what you mean about that instrumental passage almost at the end. It sounds very organ-like but I myself don't hear an organ. But it might just be my cloth ears. You see, the opulent instrumentation listed on the work's wiki page includes an "organ (ad lib.)". And check out this excerpt from a review of this recording (and the video that follows): "The BBC Symphony Chorus sing with much precision and assurance throughout, but particularly in the work's a capella 4th section 'Spraw, niech placze z Toba razem' , a section enhanced by the clean acoustic of the recording venue, Fairfield Halls, Croydon while the wonderful plea to the Virgin 'Panno slodka, racz, mozolem' is given its full majesty thanks to the splendid weight of the organ." Source: www.hraudio.net/showmusic.php?title=8935&showall=1The organ [or rather could] be heard clearly, but well integrated, from about 1:58: For another mention of the organ in this version, see: www.gramophone.co.uk/review/szymanowski-stabat-mater-harnasie
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Post by Kapitan on Jan 5, 2020 23:38:58 GMT
My face is red.
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