The Classical Chat Thread

Started by DavidW, July 14, 2009, 08:39:17 AM

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SurprisedByBeauty

#2301
June 06, 2018, 07:02:19 AM
The Grand Finale:

My last column for Forbes.com

Thanks everyone for your support by reading. It's been fun -- and the fun will soon be continued on Andante.com.tr! (In English, nobody worry.)

Classical CD Of The Week: From Switzerland With Bach - Cantatas To Grip You


https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2018/06/06/classical-cd-of-the-week-from-switzerland-with-bach-cantatas-to-grip-you/#5bd97d6c40bf

SurprisedByBeauty

#2302
June 07, 2018, 09:08:54 AM

This is something I've long wanted to do, and of course it took several OTHER projects that I should be working on right now for me to finally do that, namely the cleaning, updating, and generally sprucing-up of the Recommended Recordings Sections of the Surprised By Beauty website.

Now I've tackled Ahmad Saygun & Erich Wolfgang Korngold:


Ahmed Saygun – Recommended Recordings


https://surprisedbybeautyorg.wordpress.com/2017/01/07/ahmed-saygun-recommended-recordings/




Erich Wolfgang Korngold – Recommended Recordings


https://surprisedbybeautyorg.wordpress.com/2017/01/04/erich-wolfgang-korngold-recommended-recordings/



North Star

#2303
June 11, 2018, 04:09:28 AM
"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." - Confucius

My photographs on Flickr

geralmar

#2304
June 23, 2018, 05:20:45 PM Last Edit: June 24, 2018, 03:24:34 PM by geralmar
I recently watched the $40 million horror/mystery, "A Cure for Wellness" (2016).  The soundtrack included music by Beethoven (specifically movements from symphonies 1, 2, 4 and 6).  Raiding Beethoven for music was not much of a surprise.  What was a surprise was that the recordings were all from the 1960 Joseph Krips/London Symphony cycle originally on Everest.  Given the dozens of Beethoven symphony cycles issued in the intervening half century it is interesting that one of the first two or three stereo symphony cycles was tapped.  It's also a cycle never rated particularly high by critics or listeners; so it may have been chosen for nonmusical reasons.  (Ignorance?, lack of concern?, cheap?).  Anyway, since the Krips was MY first Beethoven symphony set purchase, I was a little gratified see a name from my distant youth onscreen instead of Karajan, Bernstein or some other big name-- or no name.





SurprisedByBeauty

#2305
June 25, 2018, 02:21:15 AM
Quote from: geralmar on June 23, 2018, 05:20:45 PM
I recently watched the $40 million horror/mystery, "A Cure for Wellness" (2016).  The soundtrack included music by Beethoven (specifically movements from symphonies 1, 2, 4 and 6).  Raiding Beethoven for music was not much of a surprise.  What was a surprise was that the recordings were all from the 1960 Joseph Krips/London Symphony cycle originally on Everest.  Given the dozens of Beethoven symphony cycles issued in the intervening half century it is interesting that one of the first two or three stereo symphony cycles was tapped.  It's also a cycle never rated particularly high by critics or listeners; so it may have been chosen for nonmusical reasons.  (Ignorance?, lack of concern?, cheap?).  Anyway, since the Krips was MY first Beethoven symphony set purchase, I was a little gratified see a name from my distant youth onscreen instead of Karajan, Bernstein or some other big name-- or no name.





I think it was a rights issue. And the fact that the Krips, which must hold the record for most re-issued LvB Symphony set of all times, is absolutely omnipresent. Every crap-re-issue (cheap yellow box for $6.99, metal box for 8.99, included in "1000 GREATEST CLASSICAL HITs" for 10.99 etc. was the Krips cycle. So, for a quality rights-free version of the LvB-Nine... seems a logical first choice for anyone, at least, who is not going to bother to invest much time in that choice. (I am fairly sure that the producers of that fine cinematic masterpiece did not invest much time in discussing the finer interpretative nuances of the various Beethoven symphony cycles.)

It was, however, always a well-considered cycle... and I remember that my standard-phrase at Tower Records was: "...well, actually, it isn't a bad cycle at all..."  ;D

Cato

#2306
July 18, 2018, 10:10:14 AM
I just noticed that the Google page today honors Kurt Masur.  Take a look!
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

SurprisedByBeauty

#2307
July 18, 2018, 11:37:05 AM
A few pictures of the 1766 Riepp Organ at Ottobeuren. (Unfortunately I didn't make my way to the console which, in any case, is no longer the manual one that Richter still played on, back in the days.)

Ottobeuren was the last stop on our biking-through-SW-Germany (Black Forest, Alsace, Allgaeu) holiday. At one point, in Bad Waldsee, we got close to Weingarten again... and I toyed with the idea of biking down and back up to have another look at that organ... but the 60 extra K, just for kicks on a morning, didn't look reasonable to undertake.

Last picture is the rather humble organ in beautiful Bad Waldsee.





























SurprisedByBeauty

#2308
July 18, 2018, 11:38:18 AM
1750 Aichgasser Organ of St. Bernhard, Wald





And St. Michael, Altshausen

(Joseph Martin, Haying; prospect a couple decades older, by Joachim Fruehholz [Weingarten])




lisa needs braces

#2315
August 14, 2018, 08:29:05 PM
Can't believe I haven't listened to Mozart's string quintets in so many years. They're delectable works and I recall always appreciating them more than his string quartets (which are also due for another listen soon.) What do you guys think of these works?

lisa needs braces

#2316
August 14, 2018, 08:44:33 PM
I listened to two performances of the Diabelli Variations in the past 24 hours -- Claudio Arrau and Daniel Varsano.

The Diabelli Variations are the one highly regarded Beethoven work I still haven't entirely come to love. One curious thing about LvB's works is how different they are from each other despite having the same voice behind them, and it could be the nature of the Diabelli Variations that to get the full impact of their artistry one has to be a pianist or simply have a deeper level of musical knowledge and experience. I have however been at this spot quite a few times before, where I don't quite appreciate a late LvB work only to come to be obsessed with it a couple of months later; regardless, it's clear that pianists love this work more than listeners, and I'm reminded of this bit from Artur Schnabel's wiki page:

QuoteSchnabel was known for championing the then-neglected sonatas of Schubert and, even more so, Beethoven, including his more challenging late works. While on a tour of Spain, Schnabel wrote to his wife saying that during a performance of Beethoven's Diabelli Variations he had begun to feel sorry for the audience. "I am the only person here who is enjoying this, and I get the money; they pay and have to suffer," he wrote.

:laugh:

A few more listens should do the trick for me...though I do already adore variation 31:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0BhEEvrdJQ

Ken B

#2317
August 15, 2018, 05:24:46 AM
Quote from: -abe- on August 14, 2018, 08:29:05 PM
Can't believe I haven't listened to Mozart's string quintets in so many years. They're delectable works and I recall always appreciating them more than his string quartets (which are also due for another listen soon.) What do you guys think of these works?


Better than the string quartets. The quintets of various shape are his greatest chamber music. With the big trio divertimento.

lisa needs braces

#2318
August 15, 2018, 10:28:17 AM
I also really dig his two piano quartets.  8)

I've stumbled upon a cool youtube channel with recent interviews of classical musicians -- Emmanuel Ax, Jeremy Denk, etc. Deserves more subscribers imo.

https://www.youtube.com/user/peterjhobbs1/videos

SurprisedByBeauty

#2319
August 22, 2018, 01:50:13 AM
Some of my recent ClassicsToday reviews:

Big Boxes: Anatol Ugorski, The Great Bewilderer



(Insider content, alas... Then again, what an opportunity to subscribe and shower David Hurwitz with wealth, please, so that he may continue to do his good/evil, whichever you prefer!  ;D)

The Deluxe Magic Flute Standard. Overrated or timeless?


https://www.classicstoday.com/review/the-deluxe-magic-flute-standard/

Under The Radar: Cavalli's Should-I-Die-Before-I-Wake Requiem



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