Back to the classics ... in music, that is

[Mendalla]

So I have made a move that I have thought I should for a long time. I am starting add a whack of classical material to my Spotify library. For whatever reason, I have listened to very little classical music of late, in spite of being a longtime fan of the likes of Beethoven and Bach. And I am making a bit of a move to find (a) newer recordings of favourites rather than hunting down the ones I had in my youth and (b) listening to stuff that I never got to back in the day. So, for instance, last night I was listening to the Violin Sonatas of Robert Schumann, a composer I have not really engaged with much over the years. And in the car today, I started on a relatively new Beethoven symphony cycle by Canadian conductor Yannick Nezet-Sequin leading the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, which was released on German label Deutsche Grammophon (one of the premier classical record labels) in 2022. I'm starting from the top with those, the Symphony No. 1 in C Major which dates to the time when Beethoven was still very much writing in the Classical Period idiom rather than the more grandiose Romantic Period sound of his later works (he kind of bridges those periods). I am also looking through recordings of Brahms, another composer I really have not listened to enough.

Any classical music fans here?

Got favourite composers, pieces, recordings?

What about contemporary orchestral, choral, etc. music? Glass, Part, Cage, etc?

 

[Mendalla]

From the Nezet-Seguin Beethoven Symphonies, here's a movement from Symphony No. 7.

 

[Delightful Life]

The Engulfed Cathedral by Debussey

William Tell Overture by Gioachino Rossini

The Moldau by Smetana

 

[Mendalla]

William Tell Overture by Gioachino Rossini

Yes, but the whole thing. The "Lone Ranger Theme" bit is overplayed badly, or was in my youth.

 

[Delightful Life]

Pretty much anything by Vangelis

 

[Delightful Life]

Symphony No. 9, 4th movement

 

[Delightful Life]

Yes, but the whole thing. The "Lone Ranger Theme" bit is overplayed badly, or was in my youth.

I am like that with a lot of the oldie classics; I like bits

My dad would put that particular bit of the William Tell Overture on the stereo and put us on his lap and buck us up and down :3

 

[Mendalla]

Symphony No. 9, 4th movement

Whole damn thing. Favourite piece of music in all of history and its real brilliance is in how that final movement pulls together the entirety. Amazing that it came from a guy who couldn't actually hear it.

Pretty much anything by Vangelis

I kind of lost the plot on him and then started listening again after he passed away. Sad to have lost him. Brilliant composer and musician. Always wondered what would have happened to Yes if he had joined them (his collaborations with Jon Anderson began when he auditioned to replace Rick Wakeman as their keyboard player).

 

[Luce NDs]

Can you imagine someone riding out in a white shroud to appear cloudy?

We once had a lady request that as the departure music when he remains were headed for the cemetery ... they left in an uproar ...(aside: her own church wouldn't allow it so her cere*moni was in our sanctuary!)

The vocalist at my dad's service closed (spontaneously with take me out to the ballgame) a real ball hanger as the pastor of that fundamentalist church was really peeved ... as this was not essential musique to his definition ... many were spooked!

 

[Mendalla]

We once had a lady request that as the departure music when he remains were headed for the cemetery ... they left in an uproar ...

I have always half-jokingly said I want to be carried out to "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life" from Monty Python's Life of Brian. Preferable with the pallbearers whistling at the appropriate moments.

 

[BetteTheRed]

Modest Mussorgsky Pictures from An Exhibition
Anything composed by Philip Glass
Vivaldi
All of Verdi's and Puccini's operas
Jocelyn Morelock, recently deceased Canadian composer
Anything that Jeanne Lamon conducted Tafelmusik playing
Make yourself crazy comparing the two recordings that Gould did of the Goldberg variations

 

[Delightful Life]

Whole damn thing. Favourite piece of music in all of history and its real brilliance is in how that final movement pulls together the entirety. Amazing that it came from a guy who couldn't actually hear it.

That's good praise!
(best Anthem ever...EU made a good choice there)
I went to a concert where they did the entire song and I got bored lol I tried, and felt guilty aboot falling asleep so I managed to read some of my book
Then I perked up in the 4th movement, which is so good it is always a transcendent moment

I kind of lost the plot on him and then started listening again after he passed away. Sad to have lost him. Brilliant composer and musician. Always wondered what would have happened to Yes if he had joined them (his collaborations with Jon Anderson began when he auditioned to replace Rick Wakeman as their keyboard player).

I think my gateway to him was the original Cosmos series...

I had a tape of his Blade Runner songtrack that I wore to bits lol

He has music that goes with pretty much anything

Oh another composer I adore, Thomas Tallis. I have mentioned this before but my first experience with him was at an art gallery and there was this room set up with benches in the middle.of a whole.oval.of speakers

So I sat in
And had to leave after a bit
The music was that intense
And I didn't know the words

After decompressing for a bit I.would go back in

Quite the experience which I really haven't felt again. I mean there have been songs where I have always cried at, but never one like that that made me feel that way...

 

[Mendalla]

I went to a concert where they did the entire song and I got bored lol I tried, and felt guilty aboot falling asleep so I managed to read some of my book

LOL. I've heard the 9th live twice, once with the TSO and once with the Hamilton Philharmonic. No sleeping involved. It's a long piece of music I cannot get enough of.

I think my gateway to him was the original Cosmos series...

Same. And then I hunted up the albums of his that those pieces came from and the rest was history. He also ended up being my gateway drug to prog rock through his Jon & Vangelis albums with Jon Anderson of Yes.

 

[Mendalla]

Modest Mussorgsky Pictures from An Exhibition

I have actually played a cut down version of this in my high school orchestra. Loved it ever since. Great Gate of Kyiv for the win.

Anything composed by Philip Glass

I have a mixed relationship with Glass. I've liked some, there's some I am kind of meh on. Interesting approach to music regardless and I will be revisiting him one of these days.

Vivaldi
All of Verdi's and Puccini's operas

Amen to all. Puccini is probably my favourite composer of mainstream Romantic Period opera. Wagner, who I also adore, is something else entirely, esp. when you get to the Ring and Parsifal.

 

[Mendalla]

I mentioned listening to the Schumann Violin Sonatas. The violinist is one who is new to me, Alina Ibragimova. Great talent. On the way home from work, I was listening to her recording of the 24 Caprices by Niccolo Paganini. If you don't know the story, Paganini was one of the greatest violinists of his day, reputed by some to have done a deal with The Devil. The Caprices are fantastic solo violin pieces that have inspired a number of other works over time. Rhapsody On A Theme of Paganini by Sergey Rachmaninoff is 24 variations on the theme of the 24th Caprice. Variations by Sir Andrew Lloyd-Webber is also a set of variations on the 24th. He originally wrote it for his brother, cellist Julian Lloyd-Webber, after losing a bet on a football match. It later became the basis for the music in the "Dance" portion of his show Song & Dance, which included adapting one of the variations into the lovely song "When You Want To Fall In Love".

Here's Alina's performance of the 6th Caprice

Chinese-American Yuja Wang with a performance of the Rachmaninoff Rhapsody. Orchestra is Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg.

And from Song & Dance by Andrew Lloyd-Webber, with lyrics by Don Black