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| Author |
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| 25 new of 203 responses total. |
remmers
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response 50 of 203:
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Nov 2 02:43 UTC 1991 |
That was a very THOROUGH and INFORMATIVE resonse, Michael. I have
a good OVERVIEW of your musical likes and dislikes now. :)
I'm a MOZART fan. Always have been, always will be. As a rule I
don't care for OPERA all that much, but I love Mozart's operas.
And his KEYBOARD works, of course.
J.S. BACH is wonderful. Special favorites are the BRANDENBURG
CONCERTI, many of the preludes and fugues from the WELL-TEMPERED
CLAVIER, some of the FRENCH SUITES, the ART OF THE FUGUE, and
JESU, JOY OF MAN'S DESIRING.
Other Baroque: FRANCOIS COUPERIN and his uncle LOUIS COUPERIN.
The wonderful keyboard sonatas of DOMINIC SCARLATTI (all 500 of
them...).
For pre-Baroque, I'm partial to the keyboard works of the
Elizabethan composers WILLIAM BYRD and GILES FARNABY.
Of the 20th century composers, I like BARTOK and STRAVINSKI the
best. Particularly Bartok's MUSIC FOR STRINGS, PERCUSSION, and
CELESTE, his VIOLIN CONCERTO, and Stravinski's SYMPHONY OF
PSALMS. And can I count Leonard Bernstein's CANDIDE OVERTURE?
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tcc
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response 51 of 203:
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Nov 2 06:10 UTC 1991 |
Bernstein hated musicians, and Overture to Candide is an example of his
sadism.
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mew
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response 52 of 203:
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Nov 5 18:41 UTC 1991 |
One of my favorite Bach pieces is "Jesu Meine Freude" (choral piece).
I LOVE it! I also really like the Brandenburgs. I have a nice
period recording of them.
I've been enjoying listening to Ensemble Alcatraz "Danse Royale".
French, ANglo-Norman and Latin songs and dances from the 13th century.
{A nice recording.
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md
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response 53 of 203:
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Nov 13 14:33 UTC 1991 |
Btw, I don't know if it has yet been remarked that Shostakovich's 5th
symphony is an accurate representation of the events of this past
August in Russia. Composed more than half-a-century earlier, I believe
Shostakovich meant it as a prophetic statement. Check it out.
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md
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response 54 of 203:
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Nov 22 16:18 UTC 1991 |
Re Leonard Bernstein: He did some interesting things. The motivic
tricks in "West Side Story" are very effective. He tried to
represent hate and love by the tritone and the resolved tritone.
Play G, C, F-sharp on your keyboard and you'll hear the opening
theme of the overture. Play C, F-sharp, G, C and you'll hear the
"Cool" theme. Play C, F sharp, G and you'll hear the beginning of
"Maria", etc., etc. It all centers on the (C, F-sharp) tritone.
At the very end of the play there's a series of major chords with
the tonic in the bass, and then the bass suddenly shifts to the
tritone. Play a high C major chord with a C in the bass, and then
change to F-sharp in the bass and you'll get the effect. It's
chilling. ("Also Sprach Zarathustra" and "Petrouchka" end
similarly.) Musical symbolism at its best, as obvious as it might
be.
Of his symphonies, my favorite is #2, "The Age of Anxiety".
Bernstein had an "urban" sound that he did very well, and it comes
out best in this piece.
My very favorite work of his is his music for the ballet "Dybbuk".
The ballet was a failure and the music was only recorded once, to
my knowledge, but if you can get your hands on that recording by
all means do so. It's stunning, haunting music. (Literally
haunting, since the story involves demonic possession.) I wish
Bernstein had composed more rigorously focused music of this type,
but when he wasn't too busy being a glamour-boy conductor he was
too busy writing unfocused bombast like "Mass".
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craig
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response 55 of 203:
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Nov 22 21:02 UTC 1991 |
Hey, I just tried that... I like the way it sounds on guitar.
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tcc
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response 56 of 203:
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Nov 25 05:36 UTC 1991 |
Re 37: You were exactly right. I just got it on tape and have shattered
several crystal goblets.
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md
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response 57 of 203:
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Nov 25 14:22 UTC 1991 |
Stupendous, isn't it? Lucky guess on my part. Glad you found it,
and glad your enjoying it!
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md
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response 58 of 203:
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Nov 25 14:49 UTC 1991 |
Re #55: I think I got that wrong, Craig. It isn't the bass that
shifts to the tritone, it's the chord. That is, play a high C
major chord with a C in the bass, then shift to a high F-sharp
major chord and continue the C in the bass. Of course, I could
always try *listening* to the piece so's to be able to say exactly
what it does, but that would require more than the nanoerg I'm
capable of expending on a Monday morning.
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craig
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response 59 of 203:
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Nov 25 15:43 UTC 1991 |
Hmm, that sounds good too... then add an A minor with the
C in the bass remaining...
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bad
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response 60 of 203:
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Nov 27 06:47 UTC 1991 |
Anyone go to the U-M concert tonight? Or, last night?
One of the players is apparently a neighbor of mine. Or two.
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gerund
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response 61 of 203:
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Dec 13 08:59 UTC 1991 |
Well here's my two cents worth:
My favorite composer is Debussy. Never heard music that I could so
easily love. His Afternoon of a Faun is probably my favorite. Also
Danse Sacree et Danse Profane, Nocturnes for Orchestra, his preludes,
and Arabesques. Oh, and I will never forget Pelleas et Melisande. The
only opera that overpowered me. I don't know what it was about that
music, but it never leaves me without a sense of amazement.
Ravel- favorite is Pavane for a Dead Princess (i hate the sound of that
name in english). Also his Daphnis et Chloe.
Beethoven- As far as a 'Classical' composer he's my favorite.
The Seventh Symphony is something I could die to. Many of his sonatas
are among my most loved pieces of music.
George Gershwin- This man defines American music as far as I'm concerned.
Rhapsody in Blue just bursts with idioms that are at the heart of what
was happening musically in the '20's. Also his Concerto in F, for much
of the same reasons.
Dvorak- His New World Symphony. One of the first pieces of classical
music I ever heard. I've loved it ever since.
There's many more, but this is my main list of favorite classical
composers.
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md
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response 62 of 203:
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Jan 8 21:01 UTC 1992 |
Sounds like gerund and I could switch record (tape, CD) collections
with each other and never know the difference.
Amen to gerund's comments about George Gershwin. With the
exception of a few pot-boiler songs, I've never heard anything by
Gershwin I didn't love. I think my favorite concert piece of
Gershwin's is An American in Paris. It didn't used to be, but the
more I listened to it the more genius stuff I heard.
Cracking the music critics' indifference and/or condescension
toward Gershwin has taken an awfully long time. Walter Simmons'
made a very typical comment in "Fanfare" magazine recently: Samuel
Barber's compositions, he says, are "the most enduring body of
music to come from the pen of a 'serious' American composer." You
know Simmons felt constrained to throw in the word "serious"
because of Gershwin, whose music is certainly more enduring than
Barber's, or anyone else's. The fact that at least this one critic
is now putting the word "serious" in quotes is a tiny ray of hope:
Maybe "serious" isn't a criterion we need to take "seriously" in
the case of a composer like Gershwin. (But I note that *I*
neglected to mention Gershwin in my responses above. Not "serious"
enough for me? Gack.)
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gerund
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response 63 of 203:
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Feb 1 03:58 UTC 1992 |
Serious is a relative term. For many people, 'serious' music is music that
they like personally. For others, 'serious' music is the music of the
better-known composers, i.e. Beethoveen, Bach, Brahms, Wagner, Schubert,
Chopin, etc. I'm not sure I know how to take someone when they say 'This
is serious music as opposed to this other music'. All music, in my opinion,
should be approached seriously and evaluated seriously before a judgement
is made on it. The person who says Gershwin is not a serious composer
must first look at his own bias towards music in general. I'd tend to
expect them to be looking for something of the status quo in music. What
tends to be new and revolutionary at one time may be thought of as
'not serious' simply because it is new and revolutionary. I guess in my
mind, anyone that says a piece of music isn't serious music is making a
statement about their own limits of taste. For me, all music is serious
music. It demands something of me. If I bring my own personal limits
into play then I may not be able to meet those demands. This is to say
simply that I do not understand, or maybe even I do not like (although
in this case we must again evaluate bias). If I do not understand, well
, this is a limit of my own. The music can still be serious. If I do
not like it, this is also a statement of my own limits. I believe all
this comes down to is: "Some music is serious music to everybody, Some
music is serious music to a few, and a limited amount of music is serious
to no one."
-- My two cents on "Serious Music"
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goose
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response 64 of 203:
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Feb 1 09:52 UTC 1992 |
Bravo!
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remmers
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response 65 of 203:
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Feb 4 22:49 UTC 1992 |
This argument breaks down for Spike Jones and Leroy Anderson. :)
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gerund
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response 66 of 203:
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Feb 8 08:59 UTC 1992 |
Oh crap, I forgot about ol' Leroy.
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music
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response 67 of 203:
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Mar 10 02:02 UTC 1992 |
I'm very surprised that nobody has mentioned Rachmanninoff. I have
his Second Symphony conducted by Edo De Vaart. It just thrills me
because it is the only version that I have ever heard that is
COMPLETE AND UNCUT.
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mcnally
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response 68 of 203:
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Mar 10 04:17 UTC 1992 |
I think I mentioned Rachmaninoff earlier. His second piano concerto
is one of my favorites..
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arabella
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response 69 of 203:
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Mar 18 16:54 UTC 1992 |
It is interesting to note that many musicians consider Rachmaninoff
to be a hack. I had my eyes opened to the joys of Rachmaninoff
during a Russian Music course last fall, but many of my colleagues
have little use for him.
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keats
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response 70 of 203:
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Mar 19 03:40 UTC 1992 |
he's brilliant, really. he was one of the finest lyrical composers ever,
and at a time when his peers were exploring orchestral color (which he
hardly lacked). 2 seems to have been a good number for rachmaninov...
somebody above mentioned his second piano concerto; the second movement
of that is some of the most moving, saddest music there is. and his
second symphony is acknowledged as one of the all-time masterpieces of
melody...it's gorgeous.
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remmers
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response 71 of 203:
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Mar 19 12:28 UTC 1992 |
In spite of the fact that he was Ayn Rand's famous composer, I've
always liked Rocky. (Now there's a loaded statement if there ever
was one...) In addition to being a composer, Rachmaninoff was also
an excellent pianist. My parents used to have a superb recording
of Schumann's "Carnival" performed by Rachmaninoff. I wonder if
it's still in print.
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keats
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response 72 of 203:
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Mar 19 16:15 UTC 1992 |
i know that those prints are difficult to come by, but i believe several
of his performances (including some of his own work) are still around.
sorry to be so vague, but if i come across particular listings again, i'll
post 'em.
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mythago
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response 73 of 203:
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Mar 20 02:17 UTC 1992 |
re :70...but of course. He was Russian.
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keats
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response 74 of 203:
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Mar 20 04:12 UTC 1992 |
<groans>
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