Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #13)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by George P, Jul 6, 2010.

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  1. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    I like the tempos here, but I can understand that others might not.
     
  2. drh

    drh Talking Machine

    I did an extensive tour through my assorted recordings of the "Emperor" a few years back and decided that the account by Cor de Groot and van Otterloo, presently available in a complete de Groot cycle on Doremi (at the time, I was listening to an Epic LP), was my pick of the litter. Happily, the recorded sound is reasonable, which means outstandingly good by Doremi standards.

    One of my pianistic heroes, Friedrich Wuhrer, was even better in the first two mvts., but he took the finale just a bit too slow. Sigh....
     
  3. villicodelirante

    villicodelirante Forum Resident

    Mediaset, aka Free State of Spaghetti Broadcasting Center, has broadcast [right verb?] A New Hope, yesterday, as part of a much welcome Star Wars marathon.
    It made me wonder whether Mahler, Holst and Elgar, were they born a few decades later, could have been movie directors instead of composers.
    There's much of the rhythm and pace of a blockbuster movie, the special effects and the drama in some of their works, and a good deal of suspension of disbelief does wonders to their enjoyment.
    Yeah, it's clichè, but think of it for a moment.
    At any rate, I enjoy Mahler's symphonies or Holst's Planets (was it Robin or Jim - or both - to introduce me to such a great work?) the same way I enjoy a movie, if a peculiar one.
    Any feelings?

    (And maybe, advice on works suitable to said kind of fruition?)
     
  4. villicodelirante

    villicodelirante Forum Resident

  5. Jay F

    Jay F New Member

    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
    I've thought for years that if Mahler were alive today, he'd be competing with John Williams for work. Parts of Nos. 7, 6, and 9 beg to be heard (seen?) on the big screen.
     
  6. no.nine

    no.nine (not his real name)

    Location:
    NYC
    Re: Dvořák - Symphony #9 "From the New World"

    James Levine, Chicago Symphony Orchestra
    CD (RCA RCD 14552)
    I've only heard another couple or so, and therefore I'm surely no expert, but I enjoy it. It definitely strikes me as a fairly straightforward reading, but it seems to have the power it needs in the necessary parts. Another one I once had was by Solti conducting the same orchestra (on London / Decca), and I remember it being pretty similar.

    The Neumann/Czech Philharmonic performance is one which I'd call more interesting probably. If I had to pick only one between the two, I'd probably go with this one. It has a slower feel overall, though, and that might be a minus for some.

    Are you referring to the Levine or the Neumann?
     
  7. coopmv

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

    Location:
    CT, USA
    I could swear that it was Tom Hulce and F Murray Abraham that were on stage. In fact, a friend of mine and I were on the second row and my friend joked that the actors were literally spitting on him.
     
  8. drh

    drh Talking Machine

    You bet. Musicians, romantic stereotypes about starving to death in a garret for their art notwithstanding, have always gone where the money is. Where was the money in the middle ages and Renaissance? The church and the nobles' courts. Where were the musicians? Churches and courts. Where was the money in the 19th century? Opera. What did every composer worth his salt try to break into? Opera. Where is the money today? Movies. You can be sure that a large fraction of the most talented are working in Hollywood, or at least want to. (Interestingly, the demands of composing a film score sound very similar to those Tchaikowsky had to meet in composing his great ballet scores: 2 measures of this followed by 4 measures of that followed by 8 measures of the other....) Note that Erich Korngold was a wunderkind "serious" composer in Europe, but when he came to America he gravitated to--what else?--the movies, where he made his fame and fortune far more than he ever would have done as the distinguished composer of such lively crowd-pleasers as Die tote Stadt. To a somewhat lesser extent, ditto Miklos Rosza.

    Oh, by the way, Jay, if you've never seen the Terry Gilliam film "Time Bandits," give it an airing; if I'm remembering correctly, much of the score comes straight out of Mahler.
     
  9. Jay F

    Jay F New Member

    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
    Thanks. I just looked the movie up, and it seems they used one of my favorite movements, the Andante from the M6, throughout, and/or "a score which disgracefully rips off Mahler 6."

    I will have to delve more deeply into this. Thanks again.
     
  10. Robin L

    Robin L Musical Omnivore

    Location:
    Fresno, California
    Great movie.


    I'm listening to the LP version of the Barenboim led performance of Quatuor pour la fin du temps. Rasputin's had a clean-looking copy for $1.95. I'll concur with Alex Ross—Tashi's recording of Messiaen's visionary chamber work is worth seeking out, Peter Serkin has a special connection to this music, much like Kent Nagano. On the other hand, I'm liking what I'm hearing on this LP from thirty years ago.
     
  11. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    The Levine
     
  12. Robin L

    Robin L Musical Omnivore

    Location:
    Fresno, California
    Am now listening to the Odyssey LP transfer of Bruno Walter's last studio recording of Das Lied von der Erde, with Ernst Hafliger & Mildred Miller. One little tip I derived from the Hoffman Forum has changed my attitude towards my LPs. I read about using the Mr. Clean 'Magic Eraser' to clean the stylus of my cartridge and this has really cleaned up the sound of my LPs. I simply cut off a 1/4" by 1" by 3" strip from an 'Extra Strength' eraser, dip the needle in and out of the eraser and all sorts of microscopic junk gets removed from the stylus. The resulting sound is much cleaner and IGD is reduced.

    Bruno Walter's last studio recording of Das Lied von der Erde has long been a favorite, not in the least for the great SQ. Mildred Miller's Abschied sounds more resigned and inward than Kathleen Ferrier's more dramatic performance. Glad to hear it again, in better fidelity than I've heard this disc in decades.
     
  13. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    According to IBDB, over the course of the Broadway run Salieri was played by McKellan (my misspelling the first time) and (in alphabetical order) David Dukes, John Horton, Frank Langella and John Wood. Mozart was played by Tim Curry, Peter Crook, Peter Firth, Mark Hamill (?!), John Pankow and John Thomas Waite. Amy Irving was one of the other actresses to play Constanze.
     
  14. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Re Mahler - has anyone mentioned Visconti's "Death in Venice"?
     
  15. coopmv

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

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Now playing another CD by Rosalyn Tureck, which arrived late last week for a first listen ...

    [​IMG]
     
  16. coopmv

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

    Location:
    CT, USA
    The tracks on the Rosalyn Tureck's CD pictured above are as follows:

    1. Partita No.1, B Flat, BWV 825: Prld
    2. Partita No.1, B Flat, BWV 825: Allamande
    3. Partita No.1, B Flat, BWV 825: Courante
    4. Partita No.1, B Flat, BWV 825: Sarabande
    5. Partita No.1, B Flat, BWV 825: Menuet 1&2
    6. Partita No.1, B Flat, BWV 825: Gigue
    7. Partia No.2, c, BWV 826: Snif
    8. Partia No.2, c, BWV 826: Allamande
    9. Partia No.2, c, BWV 826: Courante
    10. Partia No.2, c, BWV 826: Sarabande
    11. Partia No.2, c, BWV 826: Rondeau
    12. Partia No.2, c, BWV 826: Capriccio
    13. Partita No.6, e, BWV 830: Tocata
    14. Partita No.6, e, BWV 830: Allamande
    15. Partita No.6, e, BWV 830: Courante
    16. Partita No.6, e, BWV 830: Air
    17. Partita No.6, e, BWV 830: Sarabande
    18. Partita No.6, e, BWV 830: Tempo di Gavotta
    19. Partita No.6, e, BWV 830: Gigue

    It was quite a virtuosi performance.
     
  17. drh

    drh Talking Machine

    Tonight it's been Friedrich Wuhrer in Tchaikowsky's 2d Cto., Scriabin's Cto. in F-Sharp Minor op. 20, and Beethoven's op. 109. All Vox LPs from the mid '50s.

    And so to bed! :wave:
     
  18. dale 88

    dale 88 Errand Boy for Rhythm

    Location:
    west of sun valley
    Got out the 5-disc Satie: the Complete Solo Piano Music by Jean-Yves Thibaudet as it was mentioned recently. Excellent version. I checked its current availability and Barnes & Noble online has it for the same price as MDT, about 7 dollars per disc.
     
  19. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    :agree:

    an amazon third party seller has it for even less, IIRC.
     
  20. villicodelirante

    villicodelirante Forum Resident

    Speaking of Satie, I have a spare copy of De Leeuw's Early Piano Works on Philips twofer.
    I requested a replacement because disc 1 has a strange white 2mm wide "bubble" on the aluminium layer.
    Does it play anyway?
    Well, my home TEAC CD player plays it seamlessly; my Sony car stereo won't even recognize it.
    Who wants to try his/her luck and get it for free?
    If you are lucky, you get some great music, if you are not, you get a nice beer mat.
     
  21. villicodelirante

    villicodelirante Forum Resident

    Okay, it's poll time!
    I have Mahler 2 / Solti and Mahler 5 / Karajan.
    Love them both, but the former more so.
    Which work/recording should be the next step in my exploration of Mahler?

    Speaking of Messiaen, my local store has

    * Quarter for the End of Time with Barenboim on DG 20th Century (the one with the greenish cover mentioned earlier)
    * Quartet for The End of Time, Walter Boyekens Ensemble on HM
    * Twofer with Turangalila + Quartet, Rattle, EMI

    All at very reasonable price - with the Boyekens being ridicolously cheap.

    ...hints? ;)
     
  22. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
  23. villicodelirante

    villicodelirante Forum Resident

    Did anybody realize that Disney's Fantasia, featuring the late Stokowski and responsible for turning five or six generations of kids into music addicts, is turning 70 this year?
    And that most children these days don't always get a chance to see and hear it and be thus turned into happy zombies?
     
  24. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Boeykens is an excellent clarinettist. I have several recordings by him, but not the Messiaen.
     
  25. Robin L

    Robin L Musical Omnivore

    Location:
    Fresno, California
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