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| 25 new of 203 responses total. |
katie
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response 100 of 203:
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Sep 21 16:46 UTC 1992 |
(violoncello)
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morel
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response 101 of 203:
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Sep 21 21:00 UTC 1992 |
re 99: or you can do like most everyone else in the world and just type
"Cello". No apostrophe, no violon prefex.
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krj
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response 102 of 203:
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Sep 22 00:47 UTC 1992 |
The little I know of Britten is all operatic. The UM School of Music
did "Albert Herring" a while back, and I saw three performances.
Leslie's recording of "Peter Grimes" was pretty impressive the one
time I heard it. Gotta get Leslie back in this item.
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arabella
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response 103 of 203:
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Sep 29 16:42 UTC 1992 |
OK, I'm back. It's funny, but I never even thought of Britten as
an operatic composer until a few years ago, possibly because I
wasn't all that interested in opera until a few years ago. I grew
up thinking of Britten as primarily a choral composer, because I
sang in a number of choirs, and we always performed lots of
Britten choral music, including cantatas such as
"Rejoice in the Lamb" and "Saint Nicholas," the Ceremony of
Carols, the Mass in (I forget what key) for treble voices,
and numerous shorter motets and things (the Antiphon, "Jubilate
Deo," etc., etc.). I had no notion of his orchestral music
(I still don't know much about that), his large body of solo
vocal music (including "Les Illuminations"), or his operas
until about 3 or 4 years ago. And yes, I really love Britten's
music. I also like discovering new examples of it (I felt
that way about the opera "Peter Grimes" 2 years ago, when I was
assigned to perform a scene from it).
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cwb
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response 104 of 203:
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Dec 16 23:40 UTC 1992 |
Pre-Baroque. I have really grown to like a lot of pre-Baroque vocal
music, with its interesting semi-primitive harmonies and
loose rhythmic framework. My most recent exposure
was to an album of songs by (I think)
Hildegarde of Bingen, which is marvelous and which
I will be buying after I shop for everyone else and register
on Grex.
Baroque. For me Bach has no rival in this period, though
not for the pieces most have mentioned. I have the
Nathan Millstein recording of the
solo violin suites and partitas, and to my mind there
is no better, not Shearing, not (god forbid Perlman)
or Stern. Listen to the Millstein recording and you
will never think of Bach as cold and precisely intellectual
again. His music can be as emotionally evocative
as anyone's when it's not played like Glen Gould does.
Classical. ... 'nuff said.
Early Romantic. The Symphonie Fantastique stands out for me, along with
Mendelsohn's chamber music. The Beethoven string quartets are inconsistent,
running from brilliant to tiresome. For all that, Beethoven has
to get credit for innovations in the form, particularly in the late quartets,
which have passages that out of context, could be mistaken
for much later composers' works. I highly recommend the
Mendelsohn piano trio in d-minor;
a joy to play and much fun to listen to.
High Romantic. Here's where the Russians creep in with Rimsky-Korsakov,
particularly Russian Easter, and Borodin (again the string quartets.)
I have much the same reaction to Tchaikovsky and Mozart, i.e they were
brilliant and they are hideously overplayed. I go through Brahms phases; right
now he's on the upswing. Re the Organ Symphony, if hearing it on a good stereo
turned up loud is impressive, try the front of the 2nd balcony at Hill when
they crank the hell out of the wonderful organ there. It's an experience to
rival meeting God.
Post-Romantic. Sergei Prokofiev's ballet music, particularly Romeo and
Juliet
is imho unrivaled for its greatness. Not even Stravinsky
the ballet master can touch R and J. I'm just
exploring the Prokofiev symphonies, starting with the
2nd, which was recommended as follows by a
salesperson at Skr Classical: "This piece is guaranteed to
wake you up from the dead, clean out your brain
like a white tornado and leave you in awe and/or with a splitting
headache." The Lt. Kije suite is
also wonderful, though my recording is stately rather than spirited, which
is certainly one way to do it, but not the way I'd conduct it.
I can listen to a lot of the French Impressionist composers,
Debussy, Ravel, Faure and Milhaud. The
Tombeau de Couperin is marvelous, as are the Debussy and
Ravell string quartets. (Ok, so I'm a violinist and
the quartet repertoire stands out in my
musical likes, so shoot me.) <g> I tend to like
Debussy's piano works more than his orchestral,
though the Danses Sacres et Profanes is a noted
exception to this. I think that's because a lot
of it started out as piano music and he then
transcribed it later, losing something in translation.
Others I like: Hindemith and Bloch's viola and cello concerti should be in
everyone's
collections, along with the Rodrigo cello concerto.
Finally, there is a great deal of sacred music that I like.
Highlights include: The mass by Leos Janacek, Brahms'
Ein Deutsches Requiem, the Faure and Durufle
requiems and the last movement of Beethoven's
choral (9th) symphony.
Chris
P.S. How could I forget Carmina Burana?!!!!!!
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eric2
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response 105 of 203:
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Dec 21 05:08 UTC 1992 |
Hmmmm....Dvorak's New World Symphony, that's got to be one of my favorites,
and the Shastokovich (forgive my spelling)'s Fith Symphony. Especially the
last movement. Let's see....Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony is another one I
like...and probably Handel's Music For the Royal Fireworks....
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md
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response 106 of 203:
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May 17 14:02 UTC 1993 |
I finally broke down and went out and bought the CD of Henryk Gorecki's
Third Symphony, just to see what all the fuss is about. Apparently, this
CD was at the top of the charts in the UK for several months, and even
outsold the top pop and rock CD's at one point. According to one radio
commentator on Canadian radio I heard recently, one reason for the
phenomenon is a radio station in England that treats classical music the
same way Top 40 stations treat pop music - that is, if they like a piece,
or if a piece gets a good response from the listeners, they won't hesitate
to play it once or twice a day. They started doing this to Gorecki's
Third Symphony and the rest is history.
Anyway, it turns out to consist of three slow movements, very old-fashioned
sounding. The first movement, which I gather is what made it a hit,
follows that formula that makes Pachelbel's Canon and Ravel's Bolero and
Barber's Adagio so popular. It starts off quietly and simply, and
gradually builds up to a climax simply by repeating the same thematic
material in progressively louder and more complex settings. Then there's
an interlude while Dawn Upshaw sings a sad poem in Polish, and Gorecki
then puts the whole thing in reverse, moving from loud 16-part counterpoint
to a pianissimo single line in the basses. The movement lasts for about
30 minutes.
Gorecki (pronounced "Goretsky" I guess) was an avant-gardist in his
youth, but settled down after he got married, as who does not. His
Third Symphony is an interesting piece of music. (Chelsea please note:
If you like Pachelbel's Canon, you'll *love* Gorecki's Third.)
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chelsea
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response 107 of 203:
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May 17 22:29 UTC 1993 |
Yeah, well, I'll admit it - I'm a sucker for the Canon in D but not
the Gallo wine version, or the Oldsmobile version, or God knows what
other advertisement where it has been yanked it into the soundtrack for
a touch of pseudo-class. I like it played by a high school chamber
orchestra where I can hear the slides and there is some creativity
built into the balance and a lot of heart between the measures. It
is one of those pieces that seduces you with its simple charm. Until
you hear it done to death.
I'll check out Gorecki's Third although I'm not particularly fond
of vocals tossed into the middle of a symphony. Unless it's Mahler. ;-)
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remmers
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response 108 of 203:
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May 18 05:24 UTC 1993 |
(Canonical aside: We heard an interesting rendition of Pachelbel's
Canon at a music festival in Jackson Hole, Wyoming a couple of summers
ago. It was played at about twice the tempo you normally hear --
the conductor believed this to be the composer's intent -- and it
worked quite well.)
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chelsea
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response 109 of 203:
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May 18 22:36 UTC 1993 |
Gawd, I'd forgotten about that one. The performance I most enjoyed
took place in Chicago, where a high school chamber orchestra was
playing to maybe a thousand listeners who were seated not only around
them but lining balconies for about 15 or 20 floors above them.
The music seemed to flood the atrium, sounding incredibly rich. The
look on the kids faces went something like - We're not going to be
uncool here and show how pleased we are with this gig, but man, are
we bad!
It was a wonderful moment.
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cwb
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response 110 of 203:
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May 27 19:12 UTC 1993 |
The Pachelbell Canon was the feature concert-ending piece for our local
chamber group for nearly 10 years. This was a group for kids from
elementary to high school, organized by a piano teacher named Carol
Leybourn. I was a charter member, then an assistant coach. I've probably
played the piece three hundred times or more, and each time was slightly
different. The cellists and violists in the group hated it, and for good
reason.
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arabella
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response 111 of 203:
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Jun 10 06:15 UTC 1993 |
Have I already mentioned earlier in this item that Pachelbel's
Canon is meant to be paired with a Gigue (I think it's a Gigue)?
I saw (and heard) the San Francisco Orchestra do the Canon
followed by the Gigue, and found it to be *much* more satisfying
than hearing the Canon alone (which really has been played to
death). I only know of one recording that includes the Gigue
(though that may have changed in the last couple of years)...
I'll look up the info on my recording tomorrow.
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md
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response 112 of 203:
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Nov 8 15:55 UTC 1993 |
Been listening to Bartok's string quartets. The third and fourth
have been my favorites since I was a teenager playing the
Juilliard String Quartet's first mono recording of them on the
tinny old phonograph in my room. I have spiffy new CD's of all
six quartets by the Emerson Quartet now. I hear the outdoors in
much of Bartok's music, and especially in these string quartets.
But they might suggest Expressionist salons -- or worse, back
alleys -- to some people on first hearing, rather than nature
scenes. You have to listen to them for a while before you "get"
it.
Other favorite Bartoks are the Concerto for Orchestra, the Music
for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, the Dance Suite, the
Divertimento for Strings, the Miraculous Mandarin, the Second and
Third Piano Concertos, the Second Violin Concerto, the Sonata for
Two Pianos and Percussion, the Sonatas for Violin and Piano, the
Sonata for Solo Violin, and just about all of the solo piano
music. I even love the potboiler stuff like the Hungarian
Sketches and Rumanian Dances, and "young lion" pieces like the
Second Suite for Orchestra.
The eerie "composer from Transylvania" passages held much greater
appeal for me when I was younger, but I still have mega-affection
for them. (Genius is genius, even when all it's saying is "Ooga-
booga!") The second movement of the Second Piano Concerto is the
prime example, for my money. If you haven't heard it before,
listen to it some time all alone late at night in the dark. If
you're the impressionable type, you'll be hearing it in your
nightmares after that.
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remmers
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response 113 of 203:
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Nov 9 10:32 UTC 1993 |
Gee, in your Bartok "favorites" list, you mentioned just about
every Bartok piece I'm familiar with. I fell in love with Bartok's
music in my youth also, and still think it's great stuff. Lately
I've been sight-reading some of his easy solo piano music --
Microkosmos, etc. -- and find it great fun. Even his simple
stuff is wonderful.
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md
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response 114 of 203:
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Nov 19 20:41 UTC 1993 |
On a different subject -- The TV commercials for the new Jeff
Bridges/Rosie Perez/Isabella Rosselini movie about the guy who
survives a plane crash and becomes a live-for-the-moment looney --
anyway the background music for those commercials is Henryk Gorecki's
Third Symphony. I don't know if it's used in the movie as well,
but if they using it in the commercials it probably is.
Gorecki's Third is the one that topped the charts in the UK for
so long. It was outselling even the top pop and rock CD's.
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remmers
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response 115 of 203:
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Nov 20 04:02 UTC 1993 |
Yes, it's in the movie. (I recommend the film, by the way. It's
classic Peter Weir, having much in common with his early films
"Picnic at Hanging Rock" and "The Last Wave".)
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cwb
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response 116 of 203:
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Dec 9 21:44 UTC 1993 |
Speaking of the Gorecki symphony, I had the distinctly mixed pleasure
of singing under David Zinman the conductor on that chart-busting
recording. I confess (blush) I've not yet heard the Gorecki, so I can't
guess if it's worth all the furor. I suspect Zinman is a good orchestral
conductor, but for God's sake keep him away from choirs. Some of you may
remember the Choral Union's performance of Verdi's Manzoni requiem last
spring under that gentleman. Would you be shocked to learn that one and one
half hours before the Ann Arbor performance, he demanded that we sing the
Dies Irae section full voice, trying to override the Detroit Symphony
Orchestra in full cry? Tom Hilbish, the former director of the Choral Union
nearly had kittens and franticly signalled from the audience for us to save
our voices. It was insane. But don't get me started about Zinman.
<sheepish grin>
On another topic, I was glad that the Choral Union performed the
entire, unabridged Messiah this year. It was hell on us singers, but
there's a lot of neat music that was getting skipped, and the continuity of
the piece really suffered. I've acquired a new-found respect for Handel as
something of an innovator. There are passages that remind me of
Saint-Senes. BTW (warning shameless plug) we're performing the Messiah with
the DSO on Friday and Saturday December 17 and 18 at Orchestra Hall. For
any who didn't see the Ann Arbor performance, or who want to see a
world-class orchestra play with a world-class chorus and marvelous soloists,
that's the place to be. I'd recommend the Friday performance, since
Saturday is a sing-along.
Chris
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polygon
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response 117 of 203:
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Dec 30 19:04 UTC 1993 |
Ah, another Choral Union member. My wife (Janice) has sung in that chorus
a number of times, although she didn't have time for it this year. Jeff
Spindler (uhclem@m-net) and Bill Simpson did do the Messiah this year,
although Bill missed the December 18th Detroit performance due to traffic
problems. (We saw it at Hill, a week earlier.)
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bartlett
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response 118 of 203:
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Dec 30 21:32 UTC 1993 |
Actually, the Hill performances were two weeks earlier, and from what I
heard of the Detroit performances, far superior. I can't say, I was ill the
weekend of the 17-18th and wasn't at either Detroit performance.
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gerund
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response 119 of 203:
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Mar 22 09:12 UTC 1994 |
Rereading this item sparked some old memories I thought lost. I was first
really introduced to classical music by my Aunt. She used to have a small
cottage up between Caseville and Port Austin just a bit back into the
wooded area, right off the beach of Saginaw Bay. After a car accident
forced her into retirement she moved there permanently. I spent many
wonderful times at that cottage.
At some point I became aware that besides the nice upright piano
she owned, she also had many records and a record player. I don't remember
when, but one day I asked if we could listen to a record.
My whole concept of music was formed on that day, I think. It seems, in
my memory, that music filled all the summer days and nights I spent at
that little cottage.
At first my interest was out of curiosity. Then I heard the sounds
of music I had known, but not KNOWN. I heard melodies that were used and
abused. I heard what I constantly referred to, to my Aunt's dismay, as
the Lone Ranger. She would correct me, saying, "It's true title is The
William Tell Overture." I became aquainted with Beethoven's Fifth
Symphony. It was familar because television and the commercial world had
raped the rich source of classical music to produce some bastardized
'pop' sound for their shows and products. I was familar with television,
but I had yet to discover anything as pure as Classical Music.
I was allowed to select music and to play it myself on the record
player. It was then that I began to get intimate with some of the
music that would define my life.
Today I was persuaded to look back. My Aunt died a year ago this
Wednesday. The records are long since gone. I do however have a love, a
love that has been shadowed over the years but has been revived.
Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, Pictures at an Exhibition, The 1812 Overture,
The New World Symphony, much Bach, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, and Haydn all
came into my life at that little cottage. Most of all that love of the
Classical Music, that is something my Aunt left to me that I will treasure
forever.
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carolyn
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response 120 of 203:
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Sep 14 16:51 UTC 1994 |
Noone has mentioned Smetna's (sp?) Maldau. It gives me chills every
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md
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response 121 of 203:
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Sep 14 19:59 UTC 1994 |
...time you hear it. Yes, me too. It's breathtaking.
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carolyn
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response 122 of 203:
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Sep 15 16:12 UTC 1994 |
I have a question: Has anyone heard the music which accompanies a
commercial for diamonds (it's a nationally-aired spot). Something tells
me it was written specifically for this commercial, but I could be
wrong. In fact, I hope I'm wrong - I'd like to hear more music
from whoever wrote this piece. On a 1 to 10 chill factor, I'd give
it an 8.
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md
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response 123 of 203:
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Sep 15 16:36 UTC 1994 |
Is that the one that uses the third movement of Brahms' Third
symphony? Lovely melody in the cellos, I think, in a minor
key? I'm pretty sure that's it.
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md
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response 124 of 203:
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Sep 15 16:45 UTC 1994 |
If that is the piece, btw, and you want to hear it plus more
Brahms, you can get an inexpensive CD on the DGG label of Herbert
von Karajan conducting Brahms' 3rd and 4th symphonies. It's a
reissue of a couple older recordings, but the sound quality is
excellent, Karajan is wonderful, as always, and the two Brahms
symphonies, #3 and #4, provide a swoon-a-minute, at least for me.
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