Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #21)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by OE3, Jan 18, 2011.

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  1. OE3

    OE3 Senior Member Thread Starter

    Among the pieces I've heard, I think this is an objectively true and non-controversial description, although I'm not sure what the author means by 'artificial'.

     
  2. Robin L

    Robin L Musical Omnivore

    Location:
    Fresno, California
    That's because the edition I posted is a low [low!] cost reissue. The original looked like this:

    [​IMG]
     
  3. Robin L

    Robin L Musical Omnivore

    Location:
    Fresno, California
    So did Seven Year Itch.

    [​IMG]
     
  4. GreenDrazi

    GreenDrazi Truth is beauty

    Location:
    Atlanta, GA
    But it’s not and no dictionary is. They are a reflection of the authors and the time/culture in which they live - and the same goes for music appreciation. Vivaldi’s "The Four Seasons" barely existed in recorded form in 1954 and today, even non-classical fans have a recording of it in their collection.
     
  5. vanhooserd

    vanhooserd Senior Member

    Location:
    Nashville,TN
    what could be more subjective than "artificial and gushing" ? to me this
    all sounds like the type of glib,dismissive "criticism" that i think of as
    typically English.
     
  6. vanhooserd

    vanhooserd Senior Member

    Location:
    Nashville,TN
    last night's lp listening:Bruckner-Symphony 9/Chicago SO/Barenboim,Deutsche Grammophon 2530 639,1976.a rather odd,uncompleted work.my copy sounds
    pretty good in the lengthy quieter passage,rather harsh when the brass really
    get going.i think this has been on cd.love the vintage DG cover.
     

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  7. apileocole

    apileocole Lush Life Gort

    ...Currently trying to get into Howard Hanson's 1st Symphony but not having much success...
     
  8. OE3

    OE3 Senior Member Thread Starter

    When I hear Rachmaninoff I hear lots of gushing tunes. Some are pretty good, others drip with overly sentimental Romantic nostalgia. Hey, Grieg is not dissimilar but he's a lot more pellucid with his textures, and his clever melodic construction is more to my taste. Artificial, I don't know what that means exactly but sure doesn't sound like a compliment. Aside from that word it all rings true to me.
     
  9. Graphyfotoz

    Graphyfotoz Forum Classaholic

    Location:
    South-Central NY
    WOW you Guys are pretty tuff on ole Rachmaninoff!! Now Grieg too?
    Each Composer has their place in Classical Music....their style and approach is all different from each other.
    Some were truly talented Genius and some were mentally deranged and off the wall.
    It's all what makes Classical Music interesting.
    Each and every Composer has their work that stands out and represents their style.
    Soooo in the end they ALL have a part to play in Classical Music History!! :winkgrin:
     
  10. Jim B.

    Jim B. Senior Member

    Location:
    UK
    I guess it's all down to personal taste at the end of the day. I love his tunes and melodies. I seek emotion in music, be that beautiful classical pieces, great soul singles or angry punk music. Music that appeals to the soul.

    PERHAPS he was born a few years too late, some have said.

    The book I read says that (in the 2nd piano concerto) the wealth of tunes is just astounding (that's the Richter version). They call the second symphony, Previn's version on EMI, perhaps the last great symphony, and the 3rd piano concerto a work of genius in the right hands.

    True he was romantic and maybe the sadness of his life came through, but artists should always write what they know. It would have been pointless him trying to be Stravinsky or someone.

    I also think there is an element in the criticism that (not addressed to Eddie) that because the general public loved his work and it wasn't 'difficult', like Mahler or Stravinsky, that in some way it is lesser art. I have always thought this position nonsense. A Four Tops record is every bit as important and 'artful' as any late 60's Miles Davis album.
     
  11. OE3

    OE3 Senior Member Thread Starter

    Grieg is one of my favorite composers. I may not have been clear in expressing the similarity of some of his works alongside Rach's, yet how I appreciate Grieg far more. Both late Romantics with nostalgic streaks.
     
  12. OE3

    OE3 Senior Member Thread Starter

    Same was said of Grieg. 'Bonbons filled with snow.' -Claude Debussy
     
  13. apileocole

    apileocole Lush Life Gort

    Wise words.

    His 3rd Piano Concerto is my favorite piano concerto to listen to. I don't find everything it offers in anything else I've yet heard or expect to hear. What one artist writes that is of his own cannot be written by another.

    In this may be found the value which is apart from fashion.

    Trends and fashions are things I would wish the arts concerned themselves with a great deal less than they often have and their critics still less.

    Perhaps. If so a lacking of later times and not Sergei's.

    As he is mine. I'm very grateful he came along and I've had the pleasure to hear his music.
     
  14. Jay F

    Jay F New Member

    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
    pellucid = one of my favorite words
     
  15. George P

    George P Notable Member

    Location:
    NYC
    I had the same experience with both of his symphonies.
     
  16. Bronth

    Bronth Active Member

    Location:
    Riga, Latvia
    Currently having a similar experience with Boulez conducting his own Pli Selon Pli. Schoenberg's Pierrot sounds like mainstream jazz compared to this... Still, it's not a total capitulation, rather it's an emergency relocation of my current forces... :laugh:
     
  17. John S

    John S Forum Resident

    Location:
    Columbus, OH
    "Bonbons filled with snow."

    This is how I used to think of Sibelius. Apparently I was not alone as he was severely dissed as a lightweight during during his lifetime in the first half of the 20th century. "Pay no attention to the critics, they don't build statues of critics," he said.

    Critics also don't get their mugs on money.
    [​IMG]

    The critics seem to be coming around now and so am I. So much for the fads and fashions of taste.
     
  18. OE3

    OE3 Senior Member Thread Starter

    What's your favorite version of this work? I like Boulez's version on DG from about ten years ago. I'd like to get another, I think a reissue came out recently on Australian Eloquence.
     
  19. OE3

    OE3 Senior Member Thread Starter

    George Bernard Shaw was as good a critic as Sibelius was a composer. Adorno turned me on to Schoenberg in a big way. I like Harold Schonberg, too.

    Shaw in 1938. Seems like an accurate assessment to me.
     
  20. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Alex Ross devotes an entire chapter of "The Rest is Noise" to Sibelius. He includes this exchange from the movie "Laura."

    MCPHERSON

    You know a lot about music?

    SHELBY

    I don't know a lot about anything, but I know a little about practically everything.

    MCPHERSON

    [ he turns the music off ] Yeah? Then why did you say they played Brahms's First and Beethoven's Ninth at the concert Friday night? They changed the program at the last minute and played nothing but Sibelius.
     
  21. OE3

    OE3 Senior Member Thread Starter

    Yep, he does. My solid critic and a great book.
     
  22. Paradiddle

    Paradiddle Forum Resident

    :righton: I read that book last year and it's one of THE best books I've read in a long time. Needless to say, it gave me a lot of ideas for new music to check out!
     
  23. George P

    George P Notable Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Listening to...

    [​IMG]

    Op. 14 and 22

    It's really a damn shame that this set was never widely released by Decca. Only a limited edition in Italy surfaced in the CD era. :sigh: Perhaps a budget box is just around the corner? EMI is releasing Arrau's early Beethoven recordings so perhaps there's hope.

    At any rate, I am enjoying this cycle even more than his stereo one. The mono sound is fine and the pianist sounds more youthful, with a more solid technique than his stereo set.
     
  24. Casino

    Casino Senior Member

    Location:
    BossTown
    Suggest you scoop up Howard Johnson's symphonies then. He wrote 28 of 'em as I recall. The first can be described as somewhat vanilla, but you're sure to find a few that are more unique. :)
     
  25. OE3

    OE3 Senior Member Thread Starter

    Now playing:
    • Jack Gallagher: Orchestral Music - JoAnn Falletta/London Symphony Orchestra [Naxos 2010, recorded 2009 in Abbey Road Studio One, American composer born 1947, teaches music at the College of Wooster in Ohio -- tonal, colorful, accessible, very American, I was especially moved by the Symphony]
      -Diversions Overture (1986)
      -Berceuse (1977)
      -Sinfonietta (1990/2007)
      -Symphony in One Movement 'Threnody' (1991)

    http://www.jackgallaghermusic.com
     

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