[pillory]

Originally Posted by mexos

And Beethoven is by far the most good looking of the classic rat pack.

[R_Nick]

They are two of the songs played by the Korean pianist in the episode 'Han', I think its season 5..

[CantonasWife]

Originally Posted by R_Nick

They are two of the songs played by the Korean pianist in the episode 'Han', I think its season 5..

ah ok.. I loved the Yo-Yo Ma episode (season 2: Noel)

[R_Nick]

Yea I liked that too, love that piece of music and as Donna says; 'Yo Yo Ma rules!'

[Mockney]

Originally Posted by Nani Nana

you can hardly say people criticizing maksim would have hated liszt or mozart without backing up your statements, if you think his performance sounds that good then all is well, all I did was suggesting elvis to listen to some others, which was the gist of my initial commentary even before i edited it as i knew you would come up with that clothes theme to make me come across as a musical snob for saying maksim's performance is lame

I was assuming you were talking about his appearance...and your follow up post seemed to justify that assumption. However, if you don't like it for the way he plays fine...thats your perogative. He does hit a few bum notes near the end to be fair, but I still think it's a good rendition personally

[esmufc10]

I don't know if this counts as classical, but it doesn't have any words so I've decided it is.

[AdZzUtd]

Elvis do you mean enlighten you about classical music? Are you branching into this on your musical quest?

Did you even stop by Paul Weller like I suggested?!

Or have you just chucked chronology out of the window. I see, like this is it.

I forgive you already.

[esmufc10]

I never did check out Paul Weller no Adz, truth be told I completely forgot. One day I will listen to him.

[AdZzUtd]

Originally Posted by esmufc09

I never did check out Paul Weller no Adz, truth be told I completely forgot. One day I will listen to him.

The day you do listen will be a happy day indeed for you.

Anyway, Beethovens 9th and 5th are always a good classical start. Then Holst The Planets followed by Bach's Bradenburg concerto's are some my personal favourites and therefore totally awesome.

[Mockney]

If you like Video Game songs Elmo try Schubert's Ellens Dritter Gesang (often misidentified as Ave Maria) and has been in loads of video games, most famously Hitman

The vid says it's Ave Maria...it's not, but it's my favorite version of it



EDIT: I've just noticed that R Nick has already linked this...listen to it twice then Elmo, it's that good

[Nani Nana]

[CantonasWife]

More piano sound... love it.

[Mad]

One piece I never see included in any lists is Bach's Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring especially Myra Hess' arrangement for piano; it's an absolute joy to listen to.

[Nani Nana]

tender Mozart

[Mockney]

I love how this is my thread somehow

Only listen to this if you're in a bad mood...if not, Piano Concerto No2 is probably a better bet....though not much

[esmufc10]

I've been trying to think of this for ages, glad I finally found it on youtube by myself.

[Mockney]

you've ruined this thread brian...shame on you

[Team Brian GB]

Originally Posted by Mockney

you've ruined this thread brian...shame on you

says the bloke who introduced into a classical music thread the mighty and illustrious East 17!

[lynchie]

Ignore the dancing lady.

[Nani Nana]

cheers for taking these autoplay vids off

good song lynchie, here's an adaptation of the greatest violonist of all time by his great friend, Paganini by Liszt played by Arrau

[DouLou]

[Waltraute]

Wonderful to hear Lucia Popp upthread, Nani Nana!

Hans Hotter, Schlummert ein from Bach's Cantata No. 82



Nilsson & Rysanek, final duet from Strauss' Elektra under Böhm



Hans Hotter, Amfortas' Monologue from Wagner's Parsifal under Knappertsbusch

[Nani Nana]

Ahh don't get us started on Bach waltraute.

Glenn Gould (September 25, 1932 – October 4, 1982) was a Canadian pianist who became one of the best-known and most celebrated classical pianists of the twentieth century. He was particularly renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach. His playing was distinguished by a remarkable technical proficiency and a capacity to articulate the polyphonic texture of Bach’s music.

[R.Nilsson7]

Beautiful stuff.

[Addis]

Violin Partita no. 2, a masterpiece by Bach, one of the most difficult violin pieces to play according a personal source.

Not my favourite recording of it, but decent enough from Hilart Hahn.



This is the last movement (Chaconne), the most well known. I also love the movement before it, Allemande.

[Waltraute]

Oh, I really enjoy Gould's Bach, Nani!
(Hopefully this is the kind of thing one may overhear being said in the dressing room at OT. )
Adore Violin Partita no. 2, Addis! And Hilary Hahn is indeed 'decent'.

And although Christmas is over -- who cares? 'Jauchzet, Frohlocket!' is what every United supporter should be listening to now in all this defeatist doom & gloom! "Lasset das Zagen, verbannet die Klage..."
Sir John Eliot Gardiner is the Sir Alex of conductors! (In every way, not least in the (misguided notion that) 'He is so evil!' department...)

Bach - "Jauchzet, frohlocket!" from the Christmas Oratorio - Monteverdi Choir, Gardiner



Documentary about The Cantata Pilgrimage (Sir JEG/Monteverdi Choir) ep.1



Documentary about The Cantata Pilgrimage (Sir JEG/Monteverdi Choir) ep.2



Documentary about The Cantata Pilgrimage (Sir JEG/Monteverdi Choir) ep.3

[Jopub]

Chopin

If there is anybody into Chopin they should know about Dinu Lipatti

As Gould is to performance of Bach, Dinu Lipatti is a miraculous Chopin interpreter

Sadly there are few recordings of him as he died tragically young of cancer but of the ones we have this, the Barcarolle in F# and the Bminor Sonata, are simply above anything else in the recorded catalogue of these magnificent works

As with Glenn Gould he has a God given technical facility that simply allows him to play the instrument with a clarity in my and many others opinion that is unparalleled



By the looks of the photo, and I know its geniune, looks like he could stretch a full major tenth Ab - C !! - this helps a lot

[Waltraute]

Ah, Jopub -- a gooner with great taste! And now I was going to try and say something semi-amusing about Gunnersaurus, but I'll put a sock in it as Dinu Lipatti just deserves to be honoured as the genius he was.
Great post!

And those hands! Reminds me of my days as a wee girl and hearing that 'the size of your hands doesn't matter, you should still be able to play it anyway'... Yeah, right! (But to tell the truth it wouldn't have mattered if I had hands the size of dustbin lids -- I just wasn't talented enough.)

Here's Charles-Marie Widor playing the piece which made him immortal, the toccata from his Symphony for Organ No. 5 ('Widor's Toccata') --



Even though he was 88 when this was recorded, this should be the right tempo, then.

[Waltraute]

Having now read through the whole thread, let me express my deep admiration for this masterpiece ('If you like Video Game songs Elmo try Schubert's Ellens Dritter Gesang (often misidentified as Ave Maria)...') among message board threads. ('Did you even stop by Paul Weller like I suggested?! Or have you just chucked chronology out of the window?')

Well, Elvis (or anyone else interested) here's som *HATE!* to listen to before the City game -- 'Entweihte Götter!' from Wagner's Lohengrin.

Here's Christa Ludwig under Kempe -



Then Leonie Rysanek under Levine -



And finally Astrid Varnay under Sawallisch -

[Nani Nana]

some great additions in there, thanks for your input waltraute, Jopub and Addis.

Chopin is a particularly appealing composer to me, since he lived in Paris for a while and I used to have long walks and go in front of the building where he died to reflect in silence ! He took a trip to the UK in his later life and even gave scarce concerts in London and Manchester. Continuing on Chopin, here's Lupatti playing his 3rd Mazurka.





Breath-taking.

[Waltraute]

Cheers Nani Nana!

Here's more pure hate to listen to in preparation for tomorrow --

'Was bluten muß?' from Strauss' Elektra - Rysanek under Böhm (from the Götz Friedrich film; Varnay is Klytämnestra) --



And now - drugs!
A great "Come nube..." by Malena Ernman, and although I'm often sceptical about regietheater, I salute David McVicar here. Brilliant!

"Come nube che fugge dal vento" - Nerone's aria from Händel's Agrippina - Malena Ernman under Jacobs --

[Waltraute]

Of coure I simply *have to* post --
Waltraute's narration from Wagner's Götterdämmerung -
Waltraud Meier under Barenboim (Dame Anne Evans as Brünnhilde); begins at 2:23 --



(And yes, I always wear that kind of plastic helmet when I'm posting. Only lined with tinfoil, naturellement... )

[hungrywing]

You young people and your godless filth these days.

[horselesspaul]

Originally Posted by Nani Nana

alfred brendel, a true purist, perhaps the most familiar pianist to Schubert

Brendel is the man and a very nice bloke.

For anyone interested:
Try anything by Bela Bartok or Igor Stravinsky.

And those who are promoting YoYo Ma, he makes a vile sound and can't play in tune but if you like it then I guess that's good. Try Fournier or Casals.

[Nani Nana]

see waltraute, I don't understand what you like about Strauss' Elektra. Indeed it is very well sung and the staging is ace, but the musicality isn't all that.

what exactly makes you besotted to that vid? On the contrary the second song you put is class, lively and there is a structure that the first song just seems to fail gathering

hungrywing's ad is class

[Nani Nana]

the famous Schubert trio op.29 in C minor, the trademark sorrow note as musicians call it

this trio was immortalized in Kubrick's Barry Lyndon, probably one of my top 3 movies




watch out for the youtube commentaries

Dead... I'm dead... and only can hear this music... grown up inside my soul.

Tears, bitter tears, walking across mi skin... dead skin...

it's alright mate! you're still alive, up and runnin, you can even leave commentaries under youtube vids..

[Waltraute]

Originally Posted by Nani Nana

see waltraute, I don't understand what you like about Strauss' Elektra. Indeed it is very well sung and the staging is ace, but the musicality isn't all that.

Before I'll try and explain, let me just say I agree completely about Barry Lyndon. You by any chance rate Greenaway's The Draughtman's Contract, too?

Now, regarding your question - I'd honestly love to give you more than pure subjectivity, but I can't. Not the way the question is put - 'why do you like it'?
Because I'm sure whatever I'd put forward about Strauss (and Hofmannsthal), it would just be so much theoretical noise & it would not help in making you 'get' Elektra.
I firmly believe there is no way you could put forward an argument that would lead a person to aesthetically appreciating a piece of music.
(Or a painting, a text, or a football team...)

What I'd say in this case though is that you owe it to yourself to at least listen to the entire opera, or preferably attend a performance.
It's extremely difficult to do justice to any opera through posting excerpts, and especially so for Wagner and Strauss. For me, having lived with Elektra from childhood, it can be incredibly difficult to get how such a 'soundbite' may be interpreted by someone not familiar with the entire opera.

That being said - if you don't like it, you simply don't, and I'd be the last to keep pestering anyone to persist with a piece which doesn't speak to them.
And why does it speak to me? That could be the question which launched a biography - but I'll spare you, and simply say that I find the music too beautiful for words, and so many emotions of my own reflected in the libretto, not least the in many ways impotent, but still destructive anger of Elektra.

And now of course I'll have to end with another excerpt from Elektra --

Strauss Elektra - 'Orest!' - Rysanek under Böhm --

[Nani Nana]

I'll listen to the whole performance as it probably makes you understand better what Strauss was looking for. It's just that the excerpts you posted show some gloomy atmosphere very well staged and all, but I don't get where the refrain, couplets are.

I hadn't heard of The draughtman's contract, is it in the same vein as Barry Lyndon ?

Continuing on Strauss, here's the Fledermaus overture conducted by Karajan; class

[Waltraute]

Originally Posted by Nani Nana

I hadn't heard of The draughtman's contract, is it in the same vein as Barry Lyndon ?

To me, it is, but once again I have to warn it's awfully subjective -- I can see how many could say they're not akin at all, and that I'm crazy for suggesting any similarity.

Here's a little introduction (the music by Michael Nyman justifies its place in this thread, I think) --



Back on topic -- here's one of my favourite underrated tenors, Gösta Winbergh.

"Dalla sua pace" from Mozart's Don Giovanni - Winbergh under von Karajan --



"Il mio tesoro" from Mozart's Don Giovanni - Winbergh under von Karajan --



"Se di lauri il crine adorno" from Mozart's Mitridate - re di Ponto - Winbergh under Harnoncourt --



"In fernem land" from Wagner's Lohengrin -- Winbergh under Conlon

[Nani Nana]

I looked out for Windbergh on wiki, he seemed a class act and a sterling Mozart interpreter