Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #49)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by George P, Aug 7, 2013.

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  1. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Attended New York City Ballet last night. One of George Balanchine's best known quotations is, "See the music; hear the dance." Great ballet does that. But not the first work on the program, "Vespro." Actually the commissioned music was all right, including a lovely melody for soprano saxophone, but the herky jerky choreography seemed intent on confounding the music. Too bad. I felt sorry for the composer who was performing the piano part.

    Next came "Duo Concertant" to Stravinsky, which Tangleupinblue wrote about earlier this month. The music is for violin and piano, and the two dancers actually spend the first several minutes simply standing and watching the onstage musicians. Then, all of a sudden, they are inspired to dance. Balanchine (who is the Stravinsky, if not the Beethoven of ballet) finds endless ways of allowing movement to complement the music. And every so often the dancers return to the musicians to renew themselves. In the last movement, the dancers separate themselves from the musicians performing almost in counterpoint in their own spotlight.

    I only know "Duo Concertant" from the ballet - never heard it performed on its own, so the movement is an integral part of my appreciation of the work. The third ballet of the evening was Jerome Robbins' "Dances at a Gathering," an hour-long work set to various Mazurkas, Preludes, Etudes, Waltzes, a Scherzo and a Nocturne, all by Chopin. There are ten dancers altogether. Most of the numbers involve 1-4. These works are familiar to me (less so the Mazurkas), so my subconscious at least always knew what the next note would be, and I was repeatedly charmed, surprised and ultimately moved to the point of choking up by the ways that Robbins found to express the music visually. This ballet dates from 1969 and it is a celebration of youthful discovery and community. The last work in the Nocturne Op. 15 No. 1. all 10 dancers are on stage, but there is barely any movement at all. Just a sense of reflection that is shared with the audience.

    And kudos to the pianist who plays Chopin for an hour without a break.
     
    Last edited: Sep 27, 2013
  2. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    I have been enjoying. I was uncertain after the first lecture, as I was pretty familiar with that material, but I have learned a good deal from the three since. And it inspired me to buy another Beethoven cycle.
     
  3. John S

    John S Forum Resident

    Location:
    Columbus, OH
    For some reason a couple of years ago I was doing some 'net surfing about women in orchestras. Even as little as thirty years ago many orchestras around the world had no female players. Obviously things have changed very much in recent times, but the male/female ratio of players is still highly skewed toward males. Maybe that's a result of misogyny. It could be argued that many supremely talented women choose to focus on home and family, thus limiting their commitment to the music. I have an old (non-musical) friend who married a talented and accomplished violinist who plays in our local band. A few years after their child arrived, she went from first-chair second to last chair first. It broke my heart to see her almost invisible last year when I saw her off to extreme stage right. To her credit, she is still an enthusiastic supporter of the symphony.
     
  4. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    In 1983 the members of the Berlin Philharmonic voted Sabine Meyer out of the orchestra after her probation period by 73 -4. Now she is a soloist with them.
     
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  5. John S

    John S Forum Resident

    Location:
    Columbus, OH
    I thoroughly enjoyed the first lecture's overview of the tenor of the times, particularly with Beethoven's early composing life. Having read some biography of him in the past, I didn't learn a whole lot, but it never hurts to have yet another perspective. I'm taking it slowly, not only due to limited time, but because I also want to make the sonatas Biss highlights mine. This morning I listened to Op. 7's rondo before going to work. That movement makes me smile every time. I relish Gulda's Mannheim rockets in the bass.
     
  6. Scott Wheeler

    Scott Wheeler Forum Resident

    Location:
    ---------------
    Indeed it should be. But when one looks at what happened to orchestras across the U.S. when blind auditioning became the protocol it was quite astonishing just how much bias was clearly in play. And I think it is fair to say that the orchestras were genuinely trying to get the best musicians they could regardless of race or gender. But they weren't. And they were certainly the most qualified to chose their musicians.
     
  7. goldwax

    goldwax Rega | Cambridge | Denafrips | Luxman | Dynaudio

    Location:
    US of A
    I know, but I've been slowly collecting the hybrid SACDs as well.
     
  8. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    I haven't listened to the LP in over 30 years, so all I can do is recall a very specific positive response the first time I played it.:shrug: Specifically, I thought I heard someone playing a live flute outside my window.
     
    Last edited: Sep 27, 2013
  9. Robin L

    Robin L Musical Omnivore

    Location:
    Fresno, California
    I was an early adopter of Stax headphones. Too revealing for most.
     
  10. alankin1

    alankin1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Philly
    Sergei Rachmaninoff – Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Op.43, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No.2 Op.18, Prelude Op.3/2
    William Kapell — Robin Hood Dell Orchestra — Fritz Reiner or William Steinberg (RCA Red Seal – Sony Classical)

    Dmitri Shostakovich – Preludes Op.34 Nos.5, 10 & 24
    William Kapell (RCA Red Seal – Sony Classical)

    [​IMG]
     
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  11. RiRiIII

    RiRiIII Forum Resident

    Location:
    Athens, Greece
  12. coopmv

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

    Location:
    CT, USA
    All the sound systems at my house - six to be exact are 2-channel only. Of the 400 classical SACD titles, most are surround sound except these RCA titles. The biggest problems with such setup are the extra speakers, which take up more space and the massive amount of cabling. I have two amps in storage and certainly do not need to buy another amp for the center channel. I wonder if sound bar is any good?
     
  13. goldwax

    goldwax Rega | Cambridge | Denafrips | Luxman | Dynaudio

    Location:
    US of A
    You might give it a shot.
     
  14. coopmv

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

    Location:
    CT, USA
    I believe HvK went ballistic with the BPO over Sabine Meyer and the fight eventually led to HvK's resignation.
     
  15. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Trying to cast my mind back, maybe what impressed me was the quiet background. Which given QC at Odyssey must have seemed a miracle.
     
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  16. John S

    John S Forum Resident

    Location:
    Columbus, OH
    Soundbars are for sissies....:mad:
     
  17. John S

    John S Forum Resident

    Location:
    Columbus, OH
    The best speakers I've ever heard were electrostats (Quad, Martin Logan), so I can only imagine how spoiled I'd be with Stax on my head. :)
     
  18. Robin L

    Robin L Musical Omnivore

    Location:
    Fresno, California
    Back then I had the electrets. Powered by one's own amp. Later on I was lucky enough to to get Signatures with the tube powered "Energizer", a dedicated amp direct-coupling the "Earspeakers" to the output triods. This goes back to 1988. So If I sometimes seem over-critical of early digital recordings, understand that my first exposure to CDs was mostly via very high resolution earspeakers. I think my ears have adjusted. Many of the early Decca recordings from Cleveland and Toronto were clearly streets ahead of what Sony and DGG was up to in the early years of digital recording. Dorati's remake of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring with the Detroit S.O. springs to mind.
     
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  19. coopmv

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

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Weren't Decca and DG different divisions of the same company -Polygram?
     
  20. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    My copy of the Telemann/Rampal was an LP I bought while in law school so that would make it mid 70's. I do know they released on CD later, but I never heard that.
     
  21. coopmv

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

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Now playing CD5 - Symphonies Nos 6 & 9 from the following box for a first listen. Pretty modern sounding stuff ...

    [​IMG]
     
  22. As I get older I dig this stuff more and more.
    Scan1.JPG Scan10001.JPG
     
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  23. coopmv

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

    Location:
    CT, USA
  24. Hawkman

    Hawkman Supercar Gort Staff

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Could any of you kindly recommend a classic recording of 'Pagliacci'?
    I'm talking about a recording from the 1940's or 1950's. My grandfather used to love this opera and being the good Sicilian that he was, he loved to sing along in full voice....but down in the basement because my grandmother evidently didn't care for opera.

    I'm guessing that what he must have listened to must have been from around then since my mom remembers him doing that when she was in her teens in the early 1950's. But she can't remember who was on the recording.

    Any suggestions or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
     
  25. John S

    John S Forum Resident

    Location:
    Columbus, OH
    Let me add something to my rather rude post: The best of the soundbars available can be surprisingly good, given they're a compromise to the true surround concept, but they are still a compromise. None of them will compare to a upper-end stereo, or even to a better mid-fi two speaker setup.
     
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