What Are You Listening To?

[apodemouse]

Since watching the absolutely brilliant K-pop.Demon Hunters, I've been rediscovering my love for the genre.

I used to listen to it a lot as a kid, but back then, it wasn't popular and people thought it was weird. Funny how once things become mainstream, attitudes change completely.

 

[stlukesguild]

Now I know what Stravinsky would say: Glass hasn't written 14 symphonies, he's written the same one 14 times...

Stravinsky’s famous quip plays a role in Alejo Carpentier’s “magic realist” novel, Concierto Barroco in which Vivaldi, Handel, Stravinsky, and even Louis Armstrong all meet. I remember there was a clever retort to Stravinsky’s quip… and the novel makes it clear just how big of an influence Vivaldi was and music including the work of subsequent composers such as Bach and Handel.

 

[brianvds]

One of those YouTube recommendations; something slightly different, by a local group...

 

[brianvds]

Now I know what Stravinsky would say: Glass hasn't written 14 symphonies, he's written the same one 14 times...

Stravinsky’s famous quip plays a role in Alejo Carpentier’s “magic realist” novel, Concierto Barroco in which Vivaldi, Handel, Stravinsky, and even Louis Armstrong all meet. I remember there was a clever retort to Stravinsky’s quip… and the novel makes it clear just how big of an influence Vivaldi was and music including the work of subsequent composers such as Bach and Handel.

Not for nothing that Bach did all those transcriptions of Vivaldi concertos.

 

[stlukesguild]

Strauss’ Four Last Songs are among my favorite works… one of those that I have at least 10 or more recordings of. Beside the Four Last Songs Fleming performs 4 other songs by Strauss as well as highlights from two of his operas: Ariadne Alf Naxos and Die ägyptische Heléna. I don’t think I ever noticed that this release included a second disc of recordings of Fleming’s signature roles from the Met Opera. I posted the one quote by conductor Sir George Solti above. I just came across another… perhaps even more impressive compliment by Solti: “In my long life, I have met maybe two sopranos with this quality of singing.” Sadly, I was not able to see Fleming during one of her extended runs at the Met as my wife took ill. My regret in having missed seeing her performed in person is perhaps only rivaled by my regret in having missed the big exhibition of William Blake’s art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

 

[stlukesguild]

I guess I’m also having a love affair with Renée Fleming’s voice.

 

[stlukesguild]

 

[stlukesguild]

 

[brianvds]

Seeing as there isn't a "music and humor" thread, I'll put the musical humor in here...

 

[Hermes2020]

Philip Glass and Ravi Shankar - Passages.

 

[stlukesguild]

Earlier this afternoon I listened to this lovely recording with my little dog, Raphael, sleeping on my lap. Boccherini composed some interesting music… inspired by his stay in Spain. The Quintettino in DO Maggiore La Musica Notturna Della Strade Di Madrid like other pieces in this collection employs Spanish instruments such as the guitar and castañuelas. Parts of it would be recognizable to those familiar with the film, Master and Commander.

Right now I am listening to this… which I haven’t heard in years:

Henryk Górecki became one of the leading Polish composers in the 1950s and 1960s setting about in rebellion against Soviet ideological domination. His most famous work remains his 3rd Symphony or the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs. The symphony includes settings of a Lamentation from the 15th c. of the Holy Cross Monastery, a prayer inscribed on the wall at Gestapo headquarters in Poland, and a Polish folk song. The symphony almost seems to merge lush Romanticism with Minimalism.

 

[stlukesguild]

 

[stlukesguild]

One of my studio partners was also a big classical music aficionado like myself. We both subscribed to classical music magazines and bought books of critical commentary and guides to the “best” recordings of works. Arthur Rubinstein became a favorite of both of us… especially his recording of Chopin (the Nocturnes first and foremost). I must have some 15-20 discs of his sitting on the shelf just a few feet away. This is an old favorite I haven’t heard in years:

 

[brianvds]

 

[stlukesguild]

Modern British Neo-Romanticism.

 

[stlukesguild]

Some more Neo-Romanticism from the UK.

 

[stlukesguild]

Currently playing disc 4 of this set with the marvelous Quintet for Piano & Winds… long one of my favorite works by Mozart.

 

[Hermes2020]

I have the exact same recordings in my collection. Thanks for the reminder to revisit these Mozart works.

 

[stlukesguild]

Currently listening to some music that is a bit more… “obscure”. Carlo Gesualdo was born in 1566 and died in 1613. Besides his reputation as an early composer who pushed the chromatic language of music in a manner not heard again until Richard Wagner, he was also notorious as a murderer. Gesualdo was Prince of Venosa. He was married to his first cousin, Dona Maria d’Avolos in 1586. She was the daughter of the Prince of Montesarchio. In 1590, Gesualdo became suspicious that Maria was having an affair. He feigned a hunting trip but had one of his servants let him secretly reenter his estate that evening. Finding Maria and her lover in flagrant he killed both of them. He then had both of their bodies dumped upon the steps of her father’s palace. During the subsequent investigation witnesses revealed gruesome details. Gesualdo had repeatedly stabbed Maria… continuing long after she was dead and crying out “Is she dead yet?!”. Her lover, Fabrizio Carafa, Duke of Andria, was forced to dress in his wife’s clothing and then killed and mutilated in an equally gruesome manner. As all the parties involved were of the aristocracy no charges were brought about. It was assumed, however, that the murders would result in a vendetta and so Gesualdo fled for a period of time. In his later years, Gesualdo suffered from severe depression resulting, it would appear, from a sense of guilt. He had a servant employed to flog him daily and was rumored to have spoken of nightmares of being haunted by the ghost of Maria.

 

[stlukesguild]

I listened to Gesualdo earlier today. Currently I have returned to Mozart who lacks any such violent biographical narrative. Currently I am listening to disc 3 of 4 which includes 2 of his late string quintets, including the String Quintet in G Minor K. 516. This piece is a rarity in Mozart’s oeuvre, being composed in a minor key.