What Are You Listening To?

[stlukesguild]

 

[stlukesguild]

 

[stlukesguild]

I began the morning with some seasonal music by the splendid vocal ensemble, Chanticleer with Dawn Upshaw.

 

[stlukesguild]

A little later today I gave a listen to Frederic Mompou’s Música callada. Mompou was a Spanish composer who was strongly influenced by the Impressionism of Debussy and the “Neo-Primitivism” of Satie. This was perhaps only the second time I’ve listened to this disc… something I will surely rectify as the work is definitely worth hearing more than once.

 

[stlukesguild]

Another work for the season: Jakob Jan Ryba’s Czech Christmas Mass along with 3 pastorelles performed by Magdalena Kožená with the Capella Regia Musicalis. Some have deemed Ryba as something of a rustic Haydn. Kožená admits that the Czech Christmas Mass has a certain innocence and simplicity to it not unlike folk song which can be lost if a trained singer approaches it as if it were Verdi or Wagner. It is quite a lovely piece and Kožená’s performance… and the recording (Church of Our Lady of the Covent, Kladruby) have an exquisite clarity.

 

[stlukesguild]

This marvelous disc is a collection of sacred vocal works. The first 3rd is comprised of songs from Gheorghiu’s native Romania. The remaining works include sacred pieces… often well-known… from composers including Fauré, Brahms, Schubert, Puccini, Bach, etc…

Angela Gheorghiu was one of the towering classical singers of the last half century. She was beautiful and glamorous performer, a dramatic actress and singer… and as might be expected, something of a diva. She earned a reputation for being difficult to work with, but Gheorghiu stated that she wasn’t difficult, but rather a perfectionist. Surprisingly, the singer with whom she might have been expected to have difficulties with, Anna Netrebko, another beautiful, dramatic soprano, only shared a friendly rivalry. Both singers took over for each other when needed due to illness, scheduling, or other conflicts. I actually have quite a few recordings by Gheorghiu.

 

[stlukesguild]

I can’t help but think of that old Warner Brothers cartoon with Bugs Bunny who strolls onto stage with his ears tucked back and everyone exclaims, “Leopold, Leopold, Leopold!” This dramatic performance of Liszt’s famous Hungarian Rhapsody no. 2 along with works by Enesco, Smetana, and Wagner sound magnificent in this recording in RCA’s “Living Color” even after 65 years.

 

[stlukesguild]

I’m starting to feel like I’m the only one here listening to music or reading.

 

[stlukesguild]

This disc includes Beethoven’s quartets nos. 1, 11, & 16 recorded by the Busch Quartet in the Abbey Road Studios in London in 1932-1933. Recordings of full symphonic orchestras from this era often suffer under the early recording technology but small ensembles can sound surprisingly good in spite of an admitted compression of the sound.

 

[brianvds]

I’m starting to feel like I’m the only one here listening to music or reading.

I have developed the bad habit of listening to podcasts and such rather than to music. So now I know all about all the horrid things happening in the world instead of being inspired by music. I don't know why I do it to myself.

 

[stlukesguild]

That’s why I’ve cut down on my social media… doom scrolling… and have spent more time reading and listening to music.

 

[Hermes2020]

Same here. I try not to let current events depress me. In my teens I set out to read everything Aldous Huxley ever wrote. Later, I discovered Bertrand Russell and read all the books by him I was able to understand: the popular non mathematical writings on philosophy and religion. I am convinced that he and Huxley played a huge role in shaping the world view that has endured into my old age. Oddly enough, I preferred Thomas Hardy over Dickens in those years. For lighter reading I liked reading the plays of Tennessee Williams and the novels of D. H. Lawrence. In recent years, I have read a lot of non-fiction, like history of art and works on current developments in physics, which I like to keep up with. I have an odd metal quirk: an incapacity to appreciate and understand poetry. There are only two poets that make sense to me: Walt Whitman and Allen Ginsberg. Since I am now more of a practising painter and sculptor, I like to read books on the technical aspects of those activities, especially when I am trying something new.

Music is important to me and I do listen for many hours every week; my tastes are quite catholic, ranging from J. S. Bach to Kalevi Aho.

 

[brianvds]

I have an odd metal quirk: an incapacity to appreciate and understand poetry. There are only two poets that make sense to me: Walt Whitman and Allen Ginsberg.

Same problem: I am, to a significant extent, poem deaf, with some exceptions here and there. I find poems that rhyme easier to understand! But oddly, I also greatly enjoy haiku, and can even write some. On the whole, I also find poems in my native tongue far more accessible than English ones - perhaps that is true for many people.

Music is important to me and I do listen for many hours every week; my tastes are quite catholic, ranging from J. S. Bach to Kalevi Aho.

I.e. your tastes are kind of protestant.

Never heard of Aho, quickly went to YouTube to listen around - sounds like the kind of thing I'll want to hear more of.

 

[Hermes2020]

Same problem: I am, to a significant extent, poem deaf, with some exceptions here and there. I find poems that rhyme easier to understand! But oddly, I also greatly enjoy haiku, and can even write some. On the whole, I also find poems in my native tongue far more accessible than English ones - perhaps that is true for many people.



I.e. your tastes are kind of protestant.

Never heard of Aho, quickly went to YouTube to listen around - sounds like the kind of thing I'll want to hear more of.

Glad to hear I've introduced a new composer to you! Aho's Sieidi is an astonishing piece.

Another Finnish composer I admire greatly is Rautavaara.

I of course meant to say "mental quirk", but "metal quirk" somehow sounds intriguing as well.

 

[brianvds]

One of those random things YouTube recommended...

 

[stlukesguild]

Looks like a very young Hilary Hahn.

Returning again to Hilde Guedes… a disc I pulled out of deep storage over the weekend. This is a 2 CD set of bon-bons… mostly Viennese operettas. I need something light and pleasant to listen to. It’s currently 8:15 PM and this is the first time I’ve had to sit down and take a break since getting up for work at 5:30 AM. When I got home I had to head out and do some shopping… including for a Christmas tree… the first real tree we’ve had in years. I spent 45 minutes on the phone with a call-center in India over a check that has gone missing. I hate using checks and almost always pay online but this company’s website was crap and kept stating that both our login name and password were wrong. Getting home I had to put the tree up so we could water it right away after the fresh cut made at the tree farm. Then I had to hunt around the basement (not organized yet) for my power drill and drill bits so I can drill holes in the ceramic Christmas ornaments students made before I fire them in the kiln. Then lesson plans.

 

[brianvds]

Looks like a very young Hilary Hahn.

Yes, she was somewhere in her teens. I assume Mr Rogers was some sort of children's program? I applaud him for recommending Bach to the young.

YouTube recommends the weirdest stuff. Sometimes good stuff. And sometimes nightmarish:

A remake of Amadeus? AMADEUS?!?!?!? Yes, and why don't they do a remake of Casablanca, and race-swap all the characters? And how about a remake of Gone with the Wind, set in Mexico and featuring aliens? And how about a remake of Lawrence of Arabia, starring The Rock and Chevy Chase?

Oh well, as always, my view is they're free to make this stuff, and I'm free not to watch it, and that way we live in peace.