Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #55)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by George P, Apr 22, 2014.

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  1. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    So has anyone gotten this box yet? How was the performance and how is the SQ?

    [​IMG]
     
  2. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Now playing the following CD from my A4 collection. The work sounds quite appropriate for our time ... :sigh:

    [​IMG]
     
    bluemooze likes this.
  3. drh

    drh Talking Machine

    That was my first reaction, too. But then I got to thinking: time was when classical music was pretty integral to the culture. Even those who never bought a classical record or darkened the doorstep of a concert hall were familiar with a good bit of it, thanks to its use in cartoons and movies and radio series, and later its coverage on network TV, and just the general air of importance that educated people (even those who didn't actually listen to it) accorded it. Twenty years ago or so, I bought 78s from a woman who said her parents, who were not classical music listeners, had bought them when she and her siblings were kids to make sure they were exposed to classical music. Today, I don't see any of that kind of thinking; it seems to be more "I want to make sure my kids develop a proper appreciation for the Beatles." Classical music is mostly absent from popular entertainments, entirely absent from the networks, and even very little seen on the so-called "cultural" cable specialist channels. The classical music newspaper critic is an endangered species, and papers are much more likely to expend column space on the latest pop sensation than on anything to do with classical music. Meanwhile, classical music has pretty much disappeared from the curricula of most American schools. Etc., etc., etc.

    Or, on the subject of schools, put it another way: recently, I found the program from my father's high school graduation ceremony, Miami (Florida) Senior High School, June 4, 1937. The music included Light Cavalry (credited to Roberts--did they mean Suppe?), Hungarian Dance no. 5 (Brahms), Conqueror's March (George Drumm, 1874-1959), Prayer of Thanksgiving (Edward Kremser, 1838-1914), Rondo Capriccioso (Saint-Saens), and War March of the Priests (Mendelssohn). Now, at that time Miami was not exactly a major center on the American cultural scene, and yet look at all the classical music that figured in its graduation ceremony. Would any American high school include anything like that much, or even anything beyond the hackneyed "Pomp and Circumstance," today? Makes me, at least, wonder: outside of those of us in the choir, has general familiarity with classical music shrunk to the point that one could make that "obscurity" argument with a straight face? Even twenty years ago, my answer would have been the same as Scott's. Now, I'm not quite so sure.
     
    Last edited: Apr 26, 2014
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  4. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    A year or two before the late Sir Colin passed away last year, he told an interviewer in no uncertain terms that classical music was in serious trouble, even from the British perspective.
     
  5. EasterEverywhere

    EasterEverywhere Forum Resident

    Location:
    Albuquerque
    I would assume since these are not on Universal (Philips/Mercury) or Sony (RCA/Columbia),these are Melodiya sourced recordings?

    I was never sure who owned the Melodiya masters these days.
     
    John S likes this.
  6. bluemooze

    bluemooze Senior Member

    Location:
    Frenchtown NJ USA
    I like Helene. I think I have everything by her.
     
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  7. drh

    drh Talking Machine

    Maybe so, but just to make sure we don't wander off topic and get a resounding :tsk: from George and the Gorts, it's the classical music "obscurity" aspect that I'm raising, not the question of audio equipment reviews. For that, we'd probably do best to join the discussion over in "audio hardware."
     
  8. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    You certainly are a major fan of Helene Grimaud ... :righton:
     
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  9. Scott Wheeler

    Scott Wheeler Forum Resident

    Location:
    ---------------
    One of the oldest reoccurring stories in classical music is the eminent demise of classical music. I'm not particularly worried about it. I will be dead way before classical music will be. I'm not planning on dying anytime soon.
     
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  10. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    As long as we have the classical music and the hardware to play it, we have nothing to worry about.
     
  11. EasterEverywhere

    EasterEverywhere Forum Resident

    Location:
    Albuquerque
    That is true for me for the most part,but I will buy any classical music that comes out on vinyl.Here is my newest purchase.
    http://www.amazon.com/Valentina-Lisitsa-Plays-Liszt/dp/B00E9E4I8I


    Valentina here is the second "younger" classical musician I am aware of,after Gustavo Dudamel,to express a love for vinyl.Things are definitely changing for the better in this regard.There is a YouTube video where she explains this,but we can't link these any more.
     
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  12. EasterEverywhere

    EasterEverywhere Forum Resident

    Location:
    Albuquerque
    Linking seems to automatically embed images or videos.They haven't seemed to work that out yet.
     
  13. bluemooze

    bluemooze Senior Member

    Location:
    Frenchtown NJ USA
    Now listening to "Marais: Les Voix Humaines," music of Marin Marais performed by Hille Perl and Lee Santana on DHM.

    [​IMG]
     
  14. EasterEverywhere

    EasterEverywhere Forum Resident

    Location:
    Albuquerque
    I knew Mahler had a hut.Never knew about Grieg.
     
    John S likes this.
  15. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Amazon sez shipping soon.
     
  16. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Now playing the following CD from my pre-baroque collection ...

    [​IMG]
     
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  17. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Given the price, maybe I will just order it. I have the Szell's Haydn Symphonies on order ...
     
  18. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    I have quite a few recordings by a Canadian group by the name Les Voix Humaines but not the work by Marais ... LOL
     
  19. bluemooze

    bluemooze Senior Member

    Location:
    Frenchtown NJ USA
    Now listening to CD 6, Partitas 1, 2 and 4, from the Angela Hewitt Bach box on Hyperion.

    [​IMG]
     
  20. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    So you are the Mr. Big Box for Angela Hewitt's Bach keyboard recordings. I have all her Bach recordings as Hyperion singles or twofers ...
     
  21. bluemooze

    bluemooze Senior Member

    Location:
    Frenchtown NJ USA
    Even though I've been listening to classical music for over 30 years now, I'm a latecomer to very many performers and works, and so this 'box set era' that we have been in lately has been a great benefit to me.
     
    Mr Bass likes this.
  22. Mr Bass

    Mr Bass Chevelle Ma Belle

    Location:
    Mid Atlantic
    A given piece of classical music is undoubtedly obscure to the vast majority of music fans, but so is a given pop song. Time the Avenger says Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders. Yes more people may be aware of that song than the Mendelssohn Reformation Symphony but it is still a small minority of music fans. A hundred fifty years from now will more people know that song compared to the number who know the Reformation Symphony today? Homer was known to most people in Ancient Greece who could recite lines from memory. Do you think Greeks today could do that? But the more form and content the art form has the more enduring it is to whatever part of the population does not live entirely in the moment. I repeat that the only real problem classical music has in the present is the dearth of new works broadly accepted by the audience the way past works were.
     
  23. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    One problem I have with all big boxes is the liner-notes tend to be skimpy for the featured works ...
     
  24. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    I stay away from all "modern" classical music. I once attended a concert featuring some work by some American composer born in the 1940's, the music was nothing but just a bunch of percussion. I will listen to the Beatles or the Rolling Stones anytime over such modern "classical" music. Fortunately, that piece of work was the only bad one in the entire concert ...
     
  25. bluemooze

    bluemooze Senior Member

    Location:
    Frenchtown NJ USA
    That is most often the case. But, for an unusual contrary example, the booklet in the "Music Of The Enlightenment" box is 263 pages.
     
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