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| Author |
Message |
md
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The Concerto Item
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Apr 7 22:01 UTC 1998 |
Who are the great composers of concertos? Which concertos are
your favorites?
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| 39 responses total. |
rcurl
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response 1 of 39:
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Apr 8 05:45 UTC 1998 |
Bach. Brandenburg.
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orinoco
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response 2 of 39:
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Apr 8 16:55 UTC 1998 |
I've always liked Mozart's - some of the few pieces of his that I really like
are the horn concertos.
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md
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response 3 of 39:
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Apr 8 21:42 UTC 1998 |
Mozart's piano concertos are da bomb. #24 is my favorite.
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orinoco
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response 4 of 39:
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Apr 9 21:43 UTC 1998 |
All right, a question for Those Who Know Such Things. On the radio this
morning was a Vivaldi concerto that I liked a lot, for 2 clarinets, 2
recorders, guitar, harpsichord, and strings (if I deciphered the announcers
comments correctly)
2 question - firstly, why is such a piece called a concerto, when it doesn't
have the soloist/orchestra structure that concertos are supposed to have?
And secondly, does anyone know if this is enough information to figure out
what piece it is? I missed part of the announcement due to conversation in
the back seat...
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remmers
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response 5 of 39:
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Apr 10 00:32 UTC 1998 |
Perhaps it was a "concerto grosso", which was sort of the baroque
forerunner of the modern symphony. A concerto grosso is a piece
for the orchestra as a whole.
Vivaldi wrote fifty bazillion such things, so no, I don't think that
knowing the instrument breakdown is enough information to identify
the work.
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orinoco
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response 6 of 39:
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Apr 10 02:44 UTC 1998 |
Ah well... Actually, the announcer did identify it by number (forty bazillion
and some-odd, I belive :), but I don't remember it. Oh well...
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rcurl
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response 7 of 39:
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Apr 10 04:37 UTC 1998 |
The baroque concerto is a small group of instruments playing accompanied
by the "whole" (tutti).
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md
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response 8 of 39:
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Apr 10 10:55 UTC 1998 |
Sometimes the word "tutti" includes the soloist. In a solo
concerto -- say, a violin concerto -- the solo part has it's
own line in the score. The word "tutti" isn't used at all
unless the concertmaster has a solo, at which point the language
is: "solo" when the solo starts and "tutti" when the first violins
all join with the concertmaster once again. In a concerto
grosso, the smaller group of soloists is called the "concertino"
or "concertante," and the larger group that alternates with the
soloists is called the "tutti" or the "ripieno."
The terminology gets fuzzy sometimes. For example, Bartok's
Concerto for Orchestra is a kind of concerto grosso, with soloists
alternating with the full orchestra, but the language in the score
is "solo" and "tutti" in the modern sense. The soloists "step
forward," so to speak, then rejoin their comrades. Samuel Barber's
Capricorn Concerto, on the other hand, is a true concerto grosso
with soloists (flute, oboe, trumpet) alternating with the tutti,
or ripieno (strings).
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omni
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response 9 of 39:
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Apr 11 06:33 UTC 1998 |
Mozart is a concerto gangster.
But I'm with rcurl on this one. Bach is a concerto God!!!
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remmers
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response 10 of 39:
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Apr 12 12:42 UTC 1998 |
Re #8: Thanks for the explanation - my memory was a tad hazy on
the meaning of "concerto grosso".
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srw
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response 11 of 39:
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Apr 12 15:19 UTC 1998 |
Sibelius's Violin Concerto
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remmers
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response 12 of 39:
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Apr 13 09:27 UTC 1998 |
Bartok's Violin Concerto.
(*My* violin concerto can beat up *your* violin concerto! ;)
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md
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response 13 of 39:
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Apr 13 11:06 UTC 1998 |
Bartok wrote two violin concertos. Someone in Dr Remmers'
generation would've started listening to Bartok before the
first violin concerto was rediscovered, so I think he probably
means what is now known as Bartok's Second Violin Concerto,
which can indeed beat up the Sibelius. In Finno-Ugric, no less.
I like Samuel Barber's violin concerto. I've concluded the reason
it's topping the charts lately is that there have been so many
new recordings of it in such a short period of time, and that
it's tunefulness is so extreme that it borders on light classical.
That, and the pictures of various members of the new generation
of cutie-pie violinists on the CD covers. Barber's piano concerto
is his masterpiece, but it's a bit thorny for most people. He
also wrote a cello concerto which I'm not crazy about, except the
second movement.
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md
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response 14 of 39:
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Apr 13 11:07 UTC 1998 |
There I go again: I mean "its tunefulness." I have a short-
circuit upstairs about that one.
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srw
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response 15 of 39:
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Apr 16 02:21 UTC 1998 |
I suppose Bartok and Sibelius would have Finno-Ugrik in common. But
let's save that for the language item. OK, I will have to pay
more attention to the Bartok. I do love the Sibelius.
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srw
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response 16 of 39:
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Apr 16 02:23 UTC 1998 |
And my ancestry can be traced (in part) to Hungary, but not Finland, so
I should convert unless I'm a traitor. I had a lot of trouble with
Bartok's music when I was younger. I do like some of the Bartok I have
exposed myself to more recently.
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md
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response 17 of 39:
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Apr 16 11:49 UTC 1998 |
I've found that people who took piano lessons as kids and were
required to play Bartok's "Mikrokosmos" series of graded exercises,
may end up with an almost incurable dislike for Bela's music. Was
"Mikrokosmos" inflicted on you, Steven?
Bartok's 3 piano concertos are all great, but I love #2 best,
especially the transcendantly creepy 2nd movement. There's nothing
else quite like it in all of music, except for Charles Ives's
"Central Park in the Dark."
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remmers
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response 18 of 39:
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Apr 16 12:01 UTC 1998 |
Dunno about Steven, but "Mikrokosmos" was "inflicted" on me, and
I loved it. A couple of years ago I re-purchased the whole six-volume
set, as some of my old books had gotten lost over the years.
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md
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response 19 of 39:
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Apr 16 12:04 UTC 1998 |
And some people loved it.
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orinoco
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response 20 of 39:
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Apr 16 15:07 UTC 1998 |
I never had Mikrokosmos inflicted on me, although I did play a few cute little
Bartok pieces that might have been from that series...that's actually what
got me interested in Bartok.
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srw
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response 21 of 39:
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Apr 17 05:52 UTC 1998 |
No, Bartok's Mikrokosmos was not inflicted on me. I'm not sure how I
would have responded. Nor am I sure why I had such an early dislike.
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md
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response 22 of 39:
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Apr 17 11:53 UTC 1998 |
Ravel wrote two excellent piano concertos, a light one in
G major and a somewhat heavier one in D major. The latter
is the famous "Concerto for Left Hand" that Ravel wrote for
pianist Paul Wittgenstein (brother of philosopher Ludwig)
who lost his right arm in the First World War. Ravel's idea
was to confine much of the main melodic material to the bass,
which is where the left hand mostly hangs out. It works.
Ravel also wrote a piece for violin and orchestra called
"Tzigane" ("Gypsy"), a really hilarious parody of the gypsy
violinist pieces then in vogue. Check it out.
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md
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response 23 of 39:
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Apr 17 11:58 UTC 1998 |
Some concertos aren't called concertos. For example, Leonard
Bernstein's second symphony is called: "Symphony #2 for Piano
and Orchestra, 'The Age of Anxiety.'" It's based on a poem by
W.H. Auden, supposedly. There's way too much orchestra in it
for it to be called a concerto, but the piano, when it's playing,
is so crucial that the whole thing functions as a kind of
concerto.
What else -- Berlioz's Harold in Italy, I guess. Any others?
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orinoco
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response 24 of 39:
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Apr 19 03:42 UTC 1998 |
(I didn't know that those two Wittgensteins were related...that's neat)
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