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Grex > Classicalmusic > #45: Most Popular Classical Music - acquiring a basic LP collection | |
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| Author |
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| 25 new of 194 responses total. |
kottos
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response 31 of 194:
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Apr 24 14:45 UTC 1999 |
Speaking of Dvorak, his Te Deum is an excellent piece - one which is quite
often overlooked (well, over here anyway!).
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davel
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response 32 of 194:
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Apr 29 17:22 UTC 1999 |
Re 22-26 (and, in passing, 29): I guess the description wasn't so helpful,
after all. I just heard the thing again, and it was the very end of
Sibelius's Symphony No. 5 in E-Flat. Sorry for all the confusion. There were
some earlier parts I wasn't so crazy about ...
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keesan
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response 33 of 194:
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May 4 19:46 UTC 1999 |
I just discovered I liked Borodin, at least his Quartet No. 2 in D major.
What else did he write besides of course No. 1? He was a physician and a
chemistry professor who wrote music on the side, says the jacket.
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md
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response 34 of 194:
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May 5 11:11 UTC 1999 |
His most famous pieces are the Polovtsian (sp?) Dances
and In the Steppes of Central Asia. Many of his best
tunes, including the famous melody from the 2nd
quartet, can be heard in the musical "Kismet," which
is based entirely on his music.
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coyote
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response 35 of 194:
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May 8 16:11 UTC 1999 |
The BBC Music Magazine had Borodin as their composer of the month not too long
ago, May 1998, I believe, if you want to learn more.
I love the last movement of Sibelius's 5th symphony... it's got a great horn
part.
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md
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response 36 of 194:
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May 8 18:28 UTC 1999 |
Ever notice that the series of bass notes that
accompany the horn part the first time it appears
is the horn part at one-third speed?
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coyote
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response 37 of 194:
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May 10 21:24 UTC 1999 |
No, I hadn't... but that does sound interesting. I'll take a listen. One
thing I had noticed about that horn part, however, is that the intervals
played there match the intervals played by the piano towards the end of
the second movement of Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto when the piano
is accompanying that lush orchestral melody. I'm not suggesting that
there's a quotation, but it's interesting to notice that the same sequence
of intervals can sound so different musically, but they have the same
spine-tingling effect. On me, at least.
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md
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response 38 of 194:
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May 10 23:45 UTC 1999 |
You're right! I never noticed that. You know,
the first time I heard Sibelius' 5th, the horn
part in the 3rd movement reminded me of something,
and I've never figured out what it is. (In forty
years, no less.) I betcha that's it. The power
of that movement is in the combination of the
dense veil of strings, like a waterfall; the
majestic horn theme; the woodwind theme, which
the horns are actually only accompanying; and
that oddly clumsy-sounding series of notes in
the basses. It's breathtaking.
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coyote
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response 39 of 194:
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May 13 19:33 UTC 1999 |
I did listen to the last movement of the 5th symphony, and that bassline is
fascinating. I had honestly never noticed that before. I'm going to have
to start tuning my ear to the lower part of the orchestra more often :)
To add to this item's original topic, I'd like to suggest Roy Harris's 3rd
symphony. I hadn't heard it until very recently (on one of the LPs I picked
up from keesan in the auction), but since then I've discovered it popping up
all over, including on two other recordings that were already here at home!
On all of its liner notes, it's been called an "American classic".
Interesting. Anyways, I particularly like the Pastoral section and the
transition into that section. There are some incredible and unique woodwind
harmonies going on there, and later on some fascinating melody bits passed
around in the woodwind section. I'm calling them "bits" because they
never seem to fully complete a thought before stopping and letting another
instrument take over.
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md
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response 40 of 194:
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May 13 20:38 UTC 1999 |
Harris's 3rd symphony is a wonderful piece of music,
and you're right about those melody bits. There really
are no coherent themes in the piece, although you get
the impression they're trying to emerge in a couple of
places, My favorite part is the first section. I like the
way it starts with one voice (cellos), and then other voices
join in one at a time, first in unisons and octaves, then in
bare fifths, and eventually in multipart harmony. At the
end of the first section there's a spot where the violins
play an unaccompanied melodic line that rises to a
high note, then quickly drops through a series of steep
steps down to a low note which is audibly an open string.
The note is held briefly, then resolves to a chord, A jaw-
dropping effect. Believe it or not, Harris had a fairly
rigorous theory behind the whole thing.
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coyote
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response 41 of 194:
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May 14 21:10 UTC 1999 |
I can believe that, though the theory is probably way beyond me :) It'd be
worth checking at the library for a miniature score, though, just for fun.
In the last section of the piece, the predominant theme (although it's never
completed without interruption, as has been pointed out) seems suspiciously
familiar. Somebody was telling me that they had heard it as part of a Copland
piece. Is this true? Could it be some adaptation of a folktune? Or is it
familiar just because I might have heard it on the radio at some point?
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md
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response 42 of 194:
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May 15 03:20 UTC 1999 |
The whole thing sounded familiar to me from
the moment I first heard it. Its an American
thing, I think. Visitors not welcome.
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coyote
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response 43 of 194:
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May 16 01:16 UTC 1999 |
I went to the library today and, remarkably enough, they actually had the
score to this symphony -- how many public libraries can say that, I wonder?
I haven't really sat down with it yet, but I've followed along with it once.
They way Harris wrote the gurgling woodwind passages and the shimmery,
water-like string passages are pretty remarkable.
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md
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response 44 of 194:
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May 16 05:57 UTC 1999 |
I haven't looked at a score of Harris' 3rd
since I myself borrowed one from the music
library at school, ages a go, but I remember
thinking the same thing.
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coyote
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response 45 of 194:
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May 17 02:03 UTC 1999 |
(by the way, as this is a tad off the subject, are the parts in an orchestral
score written in concert pitch or the key of the instrument? Can it go either
way, depending on in what era the music was written?)
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davel
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response 46 of 194:
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May 17 21:20 UTC 1999 |
It's been a long time, and I always played concert-key instruments
myself, but ... I'm pretty sure that (say) trumpet or clarinet parts are
not written in concert key but in the key appropriate for the instrument.
(That's for the parts the players see; I don't know about the conductor's
score, & won't bother you with speculations.)
That said, after a certain level it's likely that the musician will sometimes
find himself asked to play along with something from someone else's music;
so players of those instruments are apt to learn at least some basic
on-the-fly transposition skills.
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keesan
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response 47 of 194:
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May 18 01:29 UTC 1999 |
When I played clarinet in an all-girls' junior high, which had no brass
instrument players, we had a lot of practice in transposing the cornet and
trumpet parts, which I think meant reading the line below (above?) the one
written and being creative with the sharps and flats.
We were pretty much bottom level but you cannot run an orchestra without
someone playing the brass parts. It got to be normal after a while (like
wearing those glasses that make things look upside down for a while).
I can now use this talent to play Bach Well-Tempered Klavier pieces that have
7 sharps or flats in a key with fewer of them.
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albaugh
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response 48 of 194:
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May 18 18:25 UTC 1999 |
Hmmm, clarinets are pitched in Bb, as are all trumpets and cornets you'd find
in a school band, so there would be no need to transpose.
Full concert scores show the conductor the same music the player sees, so
there is no need to mentally transpose. However, condensed ("piano") scores
of 3 or 4 staves will be in concert pitch.
Regardless, it *is* a very good skill to learn, transposing (on the fly).
French horn players are habitually forced to do it, as most old parts were
written for Eb horn, whereas now horns are pitched in F, but no one is going
to go back and write out F horn parts for them! :-)
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coyote
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response 49 of 194:
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May 21 01:47 UTC 1999 |
Right, I knew that each individual player's part was written in the correct
key, being a French Horn player myself (and having played other
instruments in the past). It was the conductor's score that I was curious
about, as I was looking at some of the chords in the Harris score and I
wasn't sure whether I'd need to transpose or not. It appears that I will.
And, yes, transposition is a very necessary skill to have to play French
Horn, especially in pieces originally written for natural horn. For
example, I played in a Mozart opera fairly recently where every movement (is
that the correct term when speaking of opera?) was in a different key.
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kottos
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response 50 of 194:
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May 21 22:58 UTC 1999 |
Although, some contemporary composers do write their scores at sounding pitch.
But they usually state if they have done so in the preface page. It can be
frustrating if you have spent ages analysing a piece and then find out that
you shouldn't have transposed parts of it!
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davel
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response 51 of 194:
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May 22 01:11 UTC 1999 |
Operas have acts, scenes, and whatnot. I'm not sure what units you're
thinking of, but I don't think "movement" is correct.
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coyote
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response 52 of 194:
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May 24 00:05 UTC 1999 |
The units I mean include each area, duet, trio, recitative, orchestral
interlude, etc. Anything with music attached. I'm pretty sure 'movement'
isn't the right word, too. The sad part is, I did thing of the word just
a little while ago, but I forgot it again.
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davel
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response 53 of 194:
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May 26 01:04 UTC 1999 |
s/area/aria ??
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coyote
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response 54 of 194:
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Jun 2 01:32 UTC 1999 |
*laugh* Yes, precisely...
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keesan
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response 55 of 194:
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Aug 17 17:18 UTC 1999 |
I have typed up and uploaded to my home directory a list entitled RECORDS.99
which you are all welcome to read if someone will tell me how to change the
read permission so it is readable. Please suggest what I should remove from
or add to my collection. And let me know the names and dates of those
composers who were referred to on the jackets simply by their last names
(alongside a detailed biography of the performers). This is only the baroque
and later part of the collection, and is intentionally heavy on baroque, also
Haydn and Dvorak and Mendelssohn - did I miss any of their better works?
In cases where there are three of something it was intentional, either I could
not choose between them or a piece was combined with something else.
Brahms Symphony No 3 may end up there in triplicate for such reasons.
The list is of performances, not of records (some of which are therefore found
scattered about under different composers). The Murray Hill is a 16 volume
set which I will probably not keep, of lesser known performances, that was
being discarded at Kiwanis - anyone want it for a starter set?
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