The Classical Chat Thread

[jlaurson]

correction

Had I put my name down for Justin Bieber tickets, I probably would have had a 1/50,000 chance of winning losing. 

[Brahmsian]

I bet you're not as alone as you think.  I've been too some performances in a smallish city that have drawn more people than who post on this entire forum.  There are alot of classical listeners out there, they just don't like obsessively talking about it like we do.

That is true, David. 

[Brahmsian]

correction

Yes, that is another way of looking at it! 

[karlhenning]

Splendid, Ray!

[George]

I never (or very rarely) enter draws for tickets.  Let's face it, I was probably the only one to put my name down for the tickets.     All kidding aside, it's great to be a classical music fan (it does have its privileges).  Had I put my name down for Justin Bieber tickets, I probably would have had a 1/50,000 chance of winning. 

And I'd hope the same odds of caring if you won. 

[DavidW]

Jens, I installed the no squint add-on so no more complaints from me!   Except for about the content of the reviews themselves.

[Opus106]

A mother laments over the death of her son. Can you put a name to the opera?

For the Aussies reading, this scene was shown on screen before Joan Sutherland's son delivered the eulogy at the concert held in tribute to the soprano at the Sydney Opera House.

[jlaurson]

At last, I got to that: http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2010/11/side-notes-rudolf-barshai-has-died.html

[DavidW]

Man I can't believe that I love the Borodin Q's DSCH cycle (either one) and love Barshai's symphony cycle... and yet didn't know that he was one of the founding members of the quartet!!

Great write up Jens.  I feel inspired to listen to Barshai conducting DSCH's 5th.

[Opus106]

Apart from being an impossibility, what would you be if you were Brahms and Liszt? (Something I learnt today while going through the dictionary.)

It's a Cockney rhyming slang that means drunk. Brahms and Liszt rhymes with Pissed (does it?), which is Brit slang for drunk.

[karlhenning]

Perhaps ten years ago (could it have been that long?) I fetched in (via BRO) a Wuorinen disc with Five and Archeaopteryx.  I am not quite certain, now, of the circumstances, but I let that disc go.  May not have grabbed my ear at first; and where normally I should have let the disc sit, and try it again later . . . .

Anyway, I found a new cut-out copy on amazon. Sold, it seems, by Wuorinen's agent, Howard Stokar.  Just waiting for it to land, now.

[Opus106]

A mother laments over the death of her son. Can you put a name to the opera?

For the Aussies reading, this scene was shown on screen before Joan Sutherland's son delivered the eulogy at the concert held in tribute to the soprano at the Sydney Opera House.

^^

*Bump*

[DavidW]

I've listened to Lindberg's Clarinet Concerto literally a dozen times now!   And I wanted to post my impressions after having spent alot of time with it, instead of just initial impressions.

It's not boldly modernist, nor is it indulgantly romantic either, nor new agey Rautavaara-esque, nor minimalist.  It really is a unique piece that is warmly pastorale but punctuated by a few brief intense crescendos and passages that are clinical and not warm.  It's really all over the place.

I think that I would rate it 3/5, I liked but not loved it.  Those stuck in the 18th-19th century because it is too modernist for such ears, and modern/postmodern aficionados need not apply either because it will be too soft for them.  It takes strange ears like mine to be pleased by the music but I am.

[karlhenning]

Nice report!

I think that I would rate it 3/5, I liked but not loved it.

Pretty much my feeling.

[greg]

Nice report!

Pretty much my feeling.

Me 3. David's post very well could have been mine.

[DavidW]

Thanks guys!

I have another one but brief: Penderecki's 2nd some consider it hysterical.  Um okay. I consider it conservative. Very Shostakovichian or Mahlerian, neoromantic symphony, ponderous but lyrical.  I like it... but... in the 4th symphony I hear the more mature style of neo-tonal Penderecki.  He pushes tonality to the breaking point but not all like post-Wagner harmony.  This more cerebral work is emotionally intense for me because of it's unique style, which is what I also like about the 3rd, and in fact I swear I hear the 3rd in the fourth movement!   And just like the 3rd symphony it seems like Penderecki takes a motif or an idea and transforms it as the symphony progresses.  Similar to Beethoven's 5th conceptually but not at all neoromantic or even postmodern.  These symphonies (3 and 4) are simply different, unique.  Wonderful.

Symphony No. 2: 3/5
Symphony No. 4: 4/5

[DavidW]

Do we take music for granted?  And are we so rushed that we can't stop and appreciate the finer things even when they're right in front of us?

This has probably been talked about before, but I read this article where Joshua Bell performed at a busy metro station in DC, and he went ignored by all but what 6 people out of a 1,000?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html

[Brahmsian]

Do we take music for granted?  And are we so rushed that we can't stop and appreciate the finer things even when they're right in front of us?

Absolutely David.  I think we do take music for granted.......actually we take a lot of things for granted.

[DavidW]

Absolutely David.  I think we do take music for granted.......actually we take a lot of things for granted.

When we can use ipods to create a constant sound track to our lives, music loses a bit of magic.

[jlaurson]

Do we take music for granted?  And are we so rushed that we can't stop and appreciate the finer things even when they're right in front of us?

This has probably been talked about before, but I read this article where Joshua Bell performed at a busy metro station in DC, and he went ignored by all but what 6 people out of a 1,000?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html

Yes, I believe it has been talked about. And while we do take things for granted, the article and the "experiment" was complete Bull Shit... and deliberately set up to be pointless... manipulated to prove a point that was decided upon long before writing the article.

I've read few articles more dishonest and more insulting to the intelligence of their readers. Enough to still be angry about it, five years after it was written. :-)