The Classical Chat Thread

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

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jlaurson



Vocal CD Pick of the Week: Diana Damrau's Strauss Sublime

http://www.weta.org/fmblog/?p=3057

QuoteThere are different kinds of "gorgeous", "pretty", "exciting", and "ravishing" in
music. Really obvious ones—like the Larghetto from Mozart's Clarinet Quintet—where
it is hard to imagine someone from an even remotely similar cultural background not
to share some of the delight on first hearing. Then there are really difficult ones, pieces
of music that usually demand repeat exposure, willingness, and a little background to
come to experience sensual bliss. No matter how much you love Bartók string quartets,
it would take a considerable arrogance or small-mindedness to suggest that it is easy
music to love, much less lovable upon first exposure....

DavidW

#621
Stumbled across this *cough* biopick of Nigel Kennedy. ;D

http://www.youtube.com/v/3itpHGkSs4A

Edit: finally remembered how to post a youtube clip!!

Scarpia

I watched some Verdi (La Traviata), and I'm can feel myself beginning to despise Puccini.

DavidW

I've got another one, it's Andrew Lloyd Weber, but still appropriate because it's about him ripping off composers of the past...

http://www.youtube.com/v/JoVccXgAy6U

jlaurson




Ionarts-at-Large: Berlioz and Strategically Lowered Expectations




http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2011/04/ionarts-at-large-berlioz-and.html


Quote...This premonition of mediocrity isn't just a hunch. Nikolaj Znaider has been conducting the
Munich Philharmonic before; most recently in a program of Mozart and Tchaikovsky Symphonies.
The Mozart was so atrocious that, in ill health anyway, I was compelled to leave at intermission.
A local colleague who stayed (and, not knowing I had been there, referred to said Mozart
symphony as "making you want to run away") assured me that the Tchaikovsky was consid-
erably better than the Mozart... but then, it would have been almost impossible not to be. So
what did that mean for the Mozart Concerto KV466 tonight? Ever the seasoned pessimist, I
decided to anticipate disaster; which is the concert-going analogue to the George W. Bush
approach to successful speaching: Lower expectations as much as possible, then hit it out of
the park just by not completely gaffing....


DavidW

Hey Jens have you done a Bruckner survey similar to your Mahler survey?

jlaurson

Quote from: haydnfan on April 29, 2011, 05:36:29 AM
Hey Jens have you done a Bruckner survey similar to your Mahler survey?

Not quite... no. But since I love Bruckner (and am 'merely' addicted to Mahler), I think there will be one, before long. (WETA or some other publication would have to play along; can't do those things on a shoestring budget...)

Brian

I've only listened to a Beethoven symphony once in the last 24 days.  :o  The First, on April 19 (Paavo Jarvi). How long will this drought continue? Maybe if it lasts a few weeks more unassisted, I'll try to hold back until midsummer and then return to them for some intensive listens.

Scarpia

Quote from: Brian on May 01, 2011, 02:09:22 PM
I've only listened to a Beethoven symphony once in the last 24 days.  :o  The First, on April 19 (Paavo Jarvi). How long will this drought continue? Maybe if it lasts a few weeks more unassisted, I'll try to hold back until midsummer and then return to them for some intensive listens.

I haven't listened to a Beethoven symphony in six months at least, maybe a year.  Why do you think anyone would care in the least whether you have listened to a Beethoven symphony in the last 24 days.   ::)


Brian

Quote from: Il Barone Scarpia on May 01, 2011, 02:10:51 PM
I haven't listened to a Beethoven symphony in six months at least, maybe a year.  Why do you think anyone would care in the least whether you have listened to a Beethoven symphony in the last 24 days.   ::)

Well, I just said it 'cause I was surprised. I live on a pretty steady diet of them, usually about two a week, and I tell friends "there's a Beethoven symphony for every musical mood." I checked the listening log, was really surprised, and had to write it down somewhere or tell somebody. So sorry that it was you whose time was so criminally wasted.

Scarpia

Quote from: Brian on May 01, 2011, 02:31:36 PM
Well, I just said it 'cause I was surprised. I live on a pretty steady diet of them, usually about two a week, and I tell friends "there's a Beethoven symphony for every musical mood." I checked the listening log, was really surprised, and had to write it down somewhere or tell somebody. So sorry that it was you whose time was so criminally wasted.

If I listened to two Beethoven symphonies a week, after a year I would never want to hear the name Beethoven ever again.

DavidW

His symphonies are great, but I have to say congrats for breaking out of a rut!  There is too much great music out there to spend that much time even with Beethoven's symphonies.  Just think of it this way, for every time you listen again to one of Beethoven's symphonies you missed out on an opportunity for a Bach cantata, or a Brahms piano trio... and you have less heartbeats left before your heart stops ticking. :)

Brian

Scarpia: What if you listened to the same symphony once per week, every single week, a la Gurn??  :P

Quote from: haydnfan on May 01, 2011, 02:36:16 PM
His symphonies are great, but I have to say congrats for breaking out of a rut!  There is too much great music out there to spend that much time even with Beethoven's symphonies.  Just think of it this way, for every time you listen again to one of Beethoven's symphonies you missed out on an opportunity for a Bach cantata, or a Brahms piano trio... and you have less heartbeats left before your heart stops ticking. :)

Well, you didn't have to get so damn depressing about it.  ;D

DavidW

Quote from: Brian on May 01, 2011, 02:47:08 PM
Scarpia: What if you listened to the same symphony once per week, every single week, a la Gurn??  :P

Well, you didn't have to get so damn depressing about it.  ;D

hehehe ;D guess it's about time for some Pettersson. :D

Lethevich

http://www.birgitnilssonprize.org/

Just what music needed, an award designed specifically to make the rich even richer. The two winners so far have been Plácido Domingo and Riccardo Muti, each receiving a much-needed $1m.

With talented everyday musicians making such paltry amounts it's sad that she would put her name to something so ignoble.
Peanut butter, flour and sugar do not make cookies. They make FIRE.

jlaurson

Quote from: Lethe Dmitriyevich Shostakovich on May 05, 2011, 03:53:44 PM
http://www.birgitnilssonprize.org/

Just what music needed, an award designed specifically to make the rich even richer. The two winners so far have been Plácido Domingo and Riccardo Muti, each receiving a much-needed $1m.

With talented everyday musicians making such paltry amounts it's sad that she would put her name to something so ignoble.

Ignoble might be overshooting... but I share your sentiment exactly. What a B.S. adventure of self-promotion on the part of the jury members et al. No wonder classical music isn't in the healthiest state...

eyeresist

Where the hell do they get all that money from? Was she a multi millionaire?

jlaurson

#637
Quote from: eyeresist on May 05, 2011, 05:30:12 PM
Where the hell do they get all that money from? Was she a multi millionaire?

Enough appearances at the MET will do that to you. A few well selling recordings (in times they still sold well), royalties from a few well-selling books... if all of that is well invested. I suppose you could about five to ten million quid together. That's "all" you need to dole out 1m every three to four years.

5m @ 5% = 250k a/annum x 4 = 1m

In Mahler-'news':

I Like This Guy a Lot: Thomas Hampson on Gustav Mahler

May is Mahler Month on WETA, remembering the composer who
died on May 18th, one hundred years ago. Mahler is a reoccurring
topic in this column and you can find all the Mahler-themed posts
at this link and an overview of the WETA Mahler Survey here.

http://www.weta.org/fmblog/?p=3077

Brahmsian

Hey....I want to know what happened to the wonderful Bi-weekly Listening Thread we had going?  Any reason why it stopped?   ???

Brian

#639
Faux Elliot Carter has this to say on Twitter:

[5 May]
Cinco de Mayo party starts at 5. Sent out 50 invites. Sorry you didn't make the cut this year either, Ned. Better luck next year.
Sofia G. wants us to do shots off her stomach. She just wants to show off her abs & rub in the fact that she's had P90x longer than me.
@briansrobinson Charlie Wuorinen never wants to blend. Says he's only going to make tequila sunrises.

[6 May]
still recovering from Cinco de Mayo. It was CRAZEEE. Ferneyhough playing beer pong & Boulez telling dirty jokes.
but Cinco de Mayo hasn't been the same since Alberto Ginastera passed away. #tips40 #spillalittleonetheground #formyhomey
http://twitter.com/_Elliott_Carter