What Are You Listening To?

[Hermes2020]

Yeah me and a friend were into them early and bemoaned when they "went commercial" with Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall.

No I haven't seen the ballet, or any ballet for that matter but that one would be high on my list. It must be cool to see the various choreographies of it.

Nothing can compare with the thrill of seeing a good live ballet, especially one's first few. I have also seen quite a few different productions of The Firebird, another ballet I can recommend if you get the chance to see a performance.

 

[stlukesguild]

Currently I’m listening to Janowski’s performances of Wagner’s instrumental works. I remember when we (Brian and I both) were on the old Classical Music site and there were endless debates as to what the best recordings of Wagner’s operas were. The usual suspects included Furtwangler, Bohm, Karajan, Knappertsbusch, etc… Janowski’s recordings of the entire Ring Cycle came out around then… and for a ridiculously inexpensive price. Many of us bought it for that reason… and were pleasantly surprised at how good it was.

Speaking of musical enmities… in many ways I think Wagner was like Picasso… a figure so huge and innovative that no one could ignore him. You could love or hate him… but either way you had to deal with him. Brahms is often put forth as his rival, but honestly, he was nowhere near such status. Brahms was a Classicist holding on to the traditions of Beethoven and Schubert. Wagner pointed the way toward Mahler, Richard Strauss, Korngold… as well as Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern.

I’ve stated before that I often find Brahms… like Bruckner… overly “heavy”… but this is not true of his chamber works… and honestly it doesn’t apply to his symphonic works when properly recorded. His German Requiem still holds a special place for me. After my father died I played that piece non-stop for several days.

Tchaikovsky is a composer I think I loved more as a teen into gushing emotions. His 1st Symphony (Winter Dreams) was a favorite. Today I still love his Piano Concerto no. 1 (especially by Van Cliburn), Symphonies 4, 5, & 6, the Violin Concerto, his Operas, his lieder/songs, and for sheer fun bombast, the 1812 Overture.

 

[stlukesguild]

‘Nothing can compare with the thrill of seeing a good live ballet, especially one's first few. I have also seen quite a few different productions of The Firebird, another ballet I can recommend if you get the chance to see a performance.”

No doubt you are right. I’ve only seen a few ballets in video recording and can only imagine. My experience of operas in real life has been just as thrilling. My first opera seen in person was Verdi’s Aida. I was so blown away I immediately became an opera fan. My wife, who had limited experience of any classical music was floored by seeing a live performance of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition by the Cleveland Orchestra as well as live performances of The Magic Flute and Richard Strauss’ Salome.

 

[stlukesguild]

Moving back to Mozart.

I seriously need to download an app that will allow me to control the scale of images from my iPad because I use that far more often than the PC which is such a slow lumbering device in comparison.

 

[Hermes2020]

A fun part of listening to classical music is finding connections and influences. We are all very familiar with Carl Orff's Carmina Burana from 1936, so I will not repeat it here. On the other hand, I'm quite sure that Stravinsky's astonishing Les Noces, composed 1914 to 1917, is not as well known as it deserves to be. Musicologists seem to disagree on how much Orff was influenced by Les Noces, but I will leave that controversy to them. Here is a wonderful performance of Les Noces conducted by Charles Dutoit for us to enjoy and hear the obvious similarities to Carmina Burana. Incidentally, Dutoit's ex wife, Martha Argerich, is playing one of the pianos.

Here is a useful introduction to Les Noces.

 

[brianvds]

A fun part of listening to classical music is finding connections and influences. We are all very familiar with Carl Orff's Carmina Burana from 1936, so I will not repeat it here. On the other hand, I'm quite sure that Stravinsky's astonishing Les Noces, composed 1914 to 1917, is not as well known as it deserves to be. Musicologists seem to disagree on how much Orff was influenced by Les Noces, but I will leave that controversy to them. Here is a wonderful performance of Les Noces conducted by Charles Dutoit for us to enjoy and hear the obvious similarities to Carmina Burana. Incidentally, Dutoit's ex wife, Martha Argerich, is playing one of the pianos.

Here is a useful introduction to Les Noces.

Can't authoritatively speak on the Carmina Burana connection either, but there are moments in there where I find myself going "nazaza trilirivos"...

 

[stlukesguild]

Today’s been a gray Autumn. We’ve decided to save money by eating at home all week so today we had Swedish Meatballs and listened to some Stevie Wonder:

 

[Artyczar]

Today’s been a gray Autumn. We’ve decided to save money by eating at home all week so today we had Swedish Meatballs and listened to some Stevie Wonder:

View attachment 43746

One of my all-time favorite albums!

 

[stlukesguild]