What Are You Listening To?

[stlukesguild]

Haydn and Handel are perhaps the most underrated composers outside of those who dig deep into Classical Music.

 

[stlukesguild]

Eleanor Steber was one of the first sopranos trained and based in the U.S. to gain success and recognition. She was a regular on The Voice of Firestone & The Bell Telephone Hour. The selections of this disc are all from live recordings dating from 1953-1970.

 

[stlukesguild]

Listening to Symphony no. 5… which I must admit is the least familiar to me of Mahler’s 9 symphonies.

 

[brianvds]

My visit to the local farmer's market, reported here: https://creativespark.art/threads/what-are-you-up-to.5822/post-138817

made me think of this; for some reason, I always associate this piece with the crazy activity of a flea market rather than "festivities" as such:

 

[Hermes2020]

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19th century French songs or mélodie by one of my favorite singers, Véronique Gens.

Véronique Gens reminds me of Arleen Auger.

 

[stlukesguild]

 

[stlukesguild]

 

[brianvds]

Not music as such, but music-related: the time Beethoven got thrown into a prison cell. It's both funny and a bit tragic...

 

[stlukesguild]

My wife is on the phone with the younger daughter again… she calls her every other day. The girl spends most of the time spouting crazy conspiracy theories that she gets from the extremist podcasts she listens to all the time. This seemed like the perfect music to drown out their conversation.

 

[stlukesguild]

Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater is not only a beautiful work but also a fascinating creation historically… one of those “what if?” moments. At the height of the Baroque Pergolesi’s work points toward the greater simplicity and clarity of the Classical Era well before Haydn and Mozart. The Stabat Mater was composed in the final weeks of Pergolesi’s tragically short life (died at age 26). Many have pondered what Pergolesi might have achieved had he lived longer. Might he have become one of the major composers of Classical Era along with Mozart and Haydn?

 

[stlukesguild]

Honestly, Schumann… and Mendelssohn were never among my favorites. I prefer the earlier Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert… and later composers such as Wagner, Mahler, and Richard Strauss. Nevertheless, I quite like this disc.