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[Vivaldi]

#91

General Classical Music Discussion / Re: What are you listening 2 n...

Last post by Que - November 20, 2025, 10:54:06 PM

Vivaldi - Bassoon Concerti, V. 1-4 w/ Sergio Azzolini on Baroque bassoon; own 2 regular CDs + 2 volumes as MP3 DLs - just noticed on Amazon that a Vo. 5 has been released - Antonio composed nearly 40 of these works (see attachment) - might have to add this new one?  Dave

Naturally! 

#92

General Classical Music Discussion / Re: David Hurwitz

Last post by AnotherSpin - November 20, 2025, 10:53:29 PM

CD from Hell is actually quite an interesting concept. And indeed, when it comes to developing your own independent (?) taste, it's genuinely helpful to get not only positive recommendations but negative ones as well. Disagreement is every bit as valuable as agreement, if not more so at times.

I'll say it again: I don't listen to Hurwitz myself. Still, if I extrapolate back, had someone fifty years ago constantly and passionately told me about fascinating recordings, and if those recordings had been as instantly available as they are now through streaming, I probably would have found it captivating.

Then again, who knows? Might I have ended up overly shaped by that external influence? Though, come to think of it, everything we consider our own taste is formed under someone else's influence anyway.

#93

The Diner / Re: The football (soccer) thre...

Last post by Holden - November 20, 2025, 09:54:10 PM

Can't go past McTominay's overhead. And Man U let him go.

#94

The Diner / Re: The unimportant news threa...

Last post by Kalevala - November 20, 2025, 08:32:23 PM

Cuter and closer: Raccoons may be on their way to becoming America's next pet 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1j8j48e5z2o

Having had a raccoon *stumble around my yard during the daytime (Neighbors called the police earlier in the day when it was nearby), it's a mixed reaction from me.  In the US (and maybe Canada?  Not certain), raccoons can carry rabies:  a potentially fatal disease if not treated in time (and from what I understand, a series of painful shots even if treated right away if you've been bitten).

*Abnormal behavior for them

The raccoon's story did not end well.   

K

#95

General Classical Music Discussion / Re: David Hurwitz

Last post by Baxcalibur - November 20, 2025, 08:07:07 PM

I think the list is fine. My nitpick is getting this far without mentioning Dvořák's 9th, though if it were really up to me, the Slavonic Dances would be there too. A good chunk of new listeners would probably be interested in that one Chopin nocturne in the background of every other meme video. And so on.

Here we go again with the attacks on Hurwitz that, to me, seem completely groundless and frankly ridiculous.

Hurwitz's lists were never meant for people who already know serious music. They are aimed at those who are still at the very beginning, who don't yet know what to listen to and genuinely need a guide to point out what's worth paying attention to. The internet is absolutely flooded with exactly this kind of beginner-oriented recommendation: "100 classical pieces you must hear before you die," "50 jazz albums for newcomers," "the 30 best prog-rock records to start with," "top 10 entry-level operas," "where to begin with contemporary classical," and so on. You can find the same thing in every other domain.

In literature you have "50 books everyone should read", etc. In cinema there are Letterboxd's "Film School 101," "1001 Movies You Must See...," or "If you liked The Matrix, watch these 10 cyberpunk films." In healthy eating people share "What to buy if you're just starting to cook real food" and "7-day meal plans for absolute beginners." Fitness offers "Couch to 5K," the "Starting Strength novice program," or "The 10 best bodyweight exercises for people who've never trained." Wine enthusiasts post "Wines under $20 that don't suck" and region-by-region starter packs. Even niche hobbies such as fountain pens or mechanical keyboards come with "beginner buying guides" and "don't make these first-timer mistakes" lists.

People, by nature, are lazy about research, and often lack confidence when entering an unfamiliar field. The illusion of total freedom ("listen to whatever you want, in any order!") usually ends up with paralysis or sticking to the same three familiar pieces forever. External guidance is not just useful; it is practically essential, and not only for absolute beginners. Even experienced listeners constantly lean on recommendations: "Which recordings of late Beethoven quartets should I try?" "Any recent recordings of Messiaen that blow the old ones away?" "Give me something in the vein of Ligeti's but written in the last ten years." That is exactly what we do on forums, this included.

I would never sit down and just listen to Hurwitz. His own lists aren't on my playlist either. But I still actively use recommendations (including ones I read right here on this forum), despite having listened to serious music for half a century. Because no matter how long you've been in the game, there is always more out there than one lifetime can cover, and a thoughtful pointer from someone else is still gold.

I don't like Hurwitz, but I completely agree with this post. People are indeed lazy about research, and it's getting worse with AI chatbots around. So it's good that someone as influential as Hurwitz is making real content aimed at beginners, and maybe we'll see others improve on that.

Even reviewers you don't like can be a useful source of recommendations when they're consistent. I've seen people brag about how if a critic hates a recording, then they'll like it. A "CD From Hell" - a great way to draw attention to something - becomes a must-listen.

#96

Great Recordings and Reviews / Re: The Romantics in Period Pe...

Last post by JBS - November 20, 2025, 07:46:23 PM

Listening to this. Firm recommendation

From the booklet

We can never expect to recreate a historical performance style in all its finer details, nor would a literal recreation be desirable even if it were possible, because every fine performance is a subtle interaction between performers and listeners. What we can know with considerable certainty, however, is the types of improvisatory practices that Classical and Romantic composers expected musicians to employ in order to elevateva merely 'correct' performance into a 'beautiful' one. The most significant of these deviations from the literal meaning of the notation were:
-unspecified tempo fluctuation, responding to the expressive needs of the composition
-the prioritization of expressive melodic flexibility over vertical synchrony
-various kinds of portamento as an aspect of cantabile and legato
-ornamental trembling effects
-the use of sensitive added-note ornamentation, especially on the repetition of melodic material (until at least the 1830s).

#97

General Classical Music Discussion / Re: What are you listening 2 n...

Last post by JBS - November 20, 2025, 07:24:40 PM

Second listen. Solid recommendation.

These are HIP/PI performances.

#98

The Diner / Re: Shakespeare

Last post by Kalevala - November 20, 2025, 07:05:45 PM

I probably lean more towards his tragedies though I need to watch more of the histories (have watched some of them).  Probably has something to do with my love of Verdi's operas of some of them.

K

#99

The Diner / Re: What TV series are you cur...

Last post by Kalevala - November 20, 2025, 06:47:07 PM

I've watched a few episodes of a show called Elsebeth (about a quirky but also very smart female investigator.  Sort of like a contemporary Columbo.) and was surprised to see Stephen Colbert starring in the opening scene.    Good job, Stephen!

K

[No. 9]

#100

Composer Discussion / Re: Langgaard's Lyre

Last post by Symphonic Addict - November 20, 2025, 06:19:11 PM

No. 9 might be the strangest symphony yet. Called "From Queen Dagmar's City", the first movement sounds like if Schumann orchestrated like Richard Strauss, the second movement reminds me of a Smetana polka, and the third movement, with plenty of church bells, reminds me of the slow, dramatic interlude before the finale of Schumann's Third. This symphony, written during Nazi occupation in 1942, is pointedly and deliberately out of fashion by 100 whole years. For the first time, especially in the low-powered finale, Langgaard turns from defiant to dull.

Over 1944-45, he wrote No. 10, "Yon Hall of Thunder." There is some drama here, with a minor key and occasionally weird orchestration (the constant repetitive falling violins at 1:10-1:50). Perhaps it reflects the trauma of war? Or it might just be another saga legend. The mood definitely reminds me of late romantic tone poems, as does the structure of a very big, loose sonata form. The development section fades to total silence at 15'. For the next two sections, the music tries to burst into thunderous storms, only to fade into one silence after another. It's almost like the Hall of Thunder keeps moving farther away, ever out of reach, just like the musical style Langgaard was copying. But we finally get a triumphant ending that restores the excitement.

Then we come to the two Really Short Symphonies. No. 11, "Ixion", is just six minutes long, with cymbals and tam-tam aplenty. The happy melody is repeated ad nauseam, each statement less persuasive and more dizzying than the one before it, like a dervish dancing until exhaustion. I understand this one is controversial because it's so bizarre. I like it. It sets out to do something very, very strange, and it succeeds marvelously. I wonder if the Ravel who wrote Bolero would have appreciated it.

No. 12, "Helsingborg" is a whole minute longer, and this is the one festooned with colorful, exclamation mark-filled directions like "Furiously! - Like trivial doomsday trumpets! - Hectically nervous! - Amok! A composer explodes." Unfortunately, I've always thought these were rather more interesting than the actual music. Unlike in No. 11, the musical style is once again super-reactionary here, not getting any more advanced than the Strauss of Zarathustra.

No. 13, "Belief in Wonders" is so very strange. It's basically a giant half-hour rondo based on an eccentric, memorable, ear-catching initial motif, an upward flourish. Part of the reason it's so memorable is that it is repeated 5+ times in the piece, every time the rondo returns home. The orchestration is almost Schumann or Brahms except for an added piano and organ. The first rondo episode is an 8-minute andante, with another memorable melody in which the springs express an almost Russian melancholy. Tchaikovsky looms. There's another slow episode and then the music begins to grow faster and moves into what might be a development section. The ending is rather sweet and sentimental in addition to repeating everything that came before. Very traditionally romantic in sound, but original in structure, deeply weird, and quite appealing.

No. 14, "Morning" is a suite of explicit tone pictures: Introductory Fanfare, Unnoticed Morning Stars, The Marble Church Rings, The Tired Get Up for Life, Radio-Caruso and Forced Energy, Dads Rush to the Office, Sun and Beech Forest. Unnoticed Morning Stars may be the single most traditional, and traditionally beautiful, thing Langgaard ever wrote, a pure adagio for strings of serene beauty. It seems descended from the adagios of Mahler's Third, Fourth, and Fifth. No weird hangups or structural tricks, no pompous cymbal crashes. Just a miniature that could stand alongside Grieg's "Last Spring" or Elgar's "Sospiri."

But first we have a two-minute fanfare intro with choral accompaniment. It reminds me of the manic sarcasm of his choral work in "honor" of Carl Nielsen, or Symphony No. 11, and it also sounds a little bit like...maybe Ode to Joy? Or a Brahms choral work? Once again the outsider expressing himself through pomposity.

The church bell movement (which does indeed have lots of ringing church bells in the percussion section) sounds almost like an opera prelude, so dramatic yet melodic is it. Next, the sleepyheads wake up, in an intermezzo-like movement that builds from a quiet opening to a triumphal end. (Breakfast?) The Radio-Caruso movement makes two in a row that sound like something from Goldmark, Raff, or Schumann - until the choir returns. The piece then ends with two very short little snippets, the choir singing a lullaby that leads to a surprising Grand Ending with cymbals and drum rolls.

Dramatically and structurally super weird, but unceasingly entertaining and some of the best Weird Langgaard.

Conversely, No. 15 "The Sea Storm" is the most modernist of Weird Langgaard. The first movement is the most expressionistic, atonal music I've ever heard from him, but a one-minute scherzo is more conventional and the finale is a rolling seascape straight out of the impressionist songbook, except with added chorus singing a poem.

I cannot include a description of No. 16 at this time because it triggers the "403: Forbidden" error.

Unlike you, I really like the 9th. It's so enchanting that I cannot help but love it. And the 15th does exhibit a more dissonant language, but it was too late before he embraced a more interesting turn in his career, alas.