The Classical Chat Thread

[Karl Henning]

Hmm, have you tried Schumann's Cello Concerto? Granted, the orchestra isn't huge in that one, but it's also not too long.

And a fine suggestion!

[EigenUser]

I just watched the Ligeti violin concerto on the BPO digital concert hall with my mom, who seems to hate any classical music past Debussy (save for some Bartok/Stravinsky), and she actually liked it! It's so dissonant, though! I was shocked.

[jochanaan]

...I've loved Mendelssohn for a long time. His string symphonies and the octet are my favorites of his. His octet, as I'm sure most people here know, was written when he was 16-17! The string symphonies (12 of them + an odd 13th one) have memorable Haydn-like melodies (with some added chromaticism anticipating the era to follow) and clearly show an understanding of Bachian counterpoint. The opening of the 7th one even sounds like it could be a transcription of a Bach keyboard work. Note that these were written when Felix was age 10-12. Geez, it makes me feel so worthless ...

There is a lovely and very fun Overture for Concert Band by Felix written about the same time as his Octet.

If you like Felix Mendelssohn, I commend to you his sister Fanny Mendelssohn-Henselt.  Her Piano Trio (Opus 11) is as fine a piece as anything her brother ever wrote, and I suspect (although I don't know them) that her Songs Without Words are just as fine.

You might also try the Clara Schumann Piano Concerto.

[Karl Henning]

Never too early in the day for pontification.

[jochanaan]

Or counter-pontification: see my later post on the above thread.

[kishnevi]

It is an uncommon thing for this to happen,  but to a certain point (about the need for good recording technique, not about the sonics of harpsichords) I am in agreement with James.

[Karl Henning]

Well, on the rare occasion where he manages to talk sense, 'tis no shame to agree with him

[EigenUser]

Here's an interesting resource for anyone interested in following along with a score while listening.
http://www.eulenburg.de/en_UK/partitur_lesen/partitur_einstieg/index.html

[Todd]

Didn't know where to post this, or if it has already been posted, but the following site has gobs of free 78s transfers.  It hasn't been updated in a few years, but the links I tried still work.

http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/gramophone/028011-9000-e.html

[EigenUser]

I went to BestBuy today and saw this next to me in the space I was parking. 

A fellow Ravelian.

[Ken B]

I went to BestBuy today and saw this next to me in the space I was parking. 

A fellow Ravelian.

Be charitable. He might be a Giradoux fan. No need to think the worst.

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Listening to lot of symphonic poems currently.

My favorites from Strauss: Alpine symphony and Heldenleben
from Liszt: ce qu'on entend sur la montagne and heroide funebre
from Sibelius: Pohjola's daughter and Lemminkäinen suite
from Wagner: Siegfried Idyll, you can argue whether or not it's actually a symphonic poem but I consider it one, this pick was easy because Wagner never wrote other "symphonic poems" 

Of particular interest is severely underrated symphonic poem from Rachmaninov: The Rock. Reportedly Tchaikovsky heard Rachmaninov play it to him shortly before his death. And I don't know what is my obsession with rocky things in this list: ce qu'on entend sur la montagne, alpine symphony, the rock? I have never been anywhere near actual mountains in my life.

[EigenUser]

Listening to lot of symphonic poems currently.

My favorites from Strauss: Alpine symphony and Heldenleben
from Liszt: ce qu'on entend sur la montagne and heroide funebre
from Sibelius: Pohjola's daughter and Lemminkäinen suite
from Wagner: Siegfried Idyll, you can argue whether or not it's actually a symphonic poem but I consider it one, this pick was easy because Wagner never wrote other "symphonic poems" 

Of particular interest is severely underrated symphonic poem from Rachmaninov: The Rock. Reportedly Tchaikovsky heard Rachmaninov play it to him shortly before his death. And I don't know what is my obsession with rocky things in this list: ce qu'on entend sur la montagne, alpine symphony, the rock? I have never been anywhere near actual mountains in my life.

What about Mendelssohn's "Hebrides Overture" (a.k.a. "Fingal's Cave")? Also, Messiaen wrote his "Et Exspecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum" (woodwinds, brass, metal percussion) to be performed on a mountain (somewhere in the Alps, I believe, but it wasn't done there until after his death). Sections in the 3rd movement truly sounds like the rock of the earth splitting open!

[kishnevi]

Fun fact.  I am now on the Bruckner Expressway.  Sarge will like the fact that traffic is slow.  But nonGothamites might be surprised to learn that it runs through the heart of the Bronx.

[Jaakko Keskinen]

What about Mendelssohn's "Hebrides Overture" (a.k.a. "Fingal's Cave")? Also, Messiaen wrote his "Et Exspecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum" (woodwinds, brass, metal percussion) to be performed on a mountain (somewhere in the Alps, I believe, but it wasn't done there until after his death). Sections in the 3rd movement truly sounds like the rock of the earth splitting open!

Never heard those, actually I have never listened much of Messiaen but I love Mendelssohn. Probably going to listen to hebrides at some point. Thanks for the suggestion!

[jochanaan]

What about Mendelssohn's "Hebrides Overture" (a.k.a. "Fingal's Cave")? Also, Messiaen wrote his "Et Exspecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum" (woodwinds, brass, metal percussion) to be performed on a mountain (somewhere in the Alps, I believe, but it wasn't done there until after his death). Sections in the 3rd movement truly sounds like the rock of the earth splitting open!

Playing on a mountain isn't exactly Easy Street for the musicians!  The air is so cool and dry that my oboe reeds have to be dipped in water during every rest.  Instruments go out of tune unless the orchestra is good enough to make them play in tune, the acoustics are usually dreadful outdoors--it's a major undertaking.  At one point I was thinking I'd have to learn to make special high-altitude reeds!

[amw]

Fun fact.  I am now on the Bruckner Expressway.  Sarge will like the fact that traffic is slow. 

I've tried to get the State of New York to rename it to the Celibidache Expressway for years now but they just don't listen...

[EigenUser]

Playing on a mountain isn't exactly Easy Street for the musicians!  The air is so cool and dry that my oboe reeds have to be dipped in water during every rest.  Instruments go out of tune unless the orchestra is good enough to make them play in tune, the acoustics are usually dreadful outdoors--it's a major undertaking.  At one point I was thinking I'd have to learn to make special high-altitude reeds!

Haha, I never thought of the reed thing. I guess Messiaen didn't, either. I think that he wrote "Et Exspecto..." with effects built in that would accommodate the acoustics of large spaces and outdoors. Lots of loud, slow writing in the low section (i.e. first and last movements), immense crescendos followed by sudden silence (i.e. third movement), lonely wandering simple melodies (i.e. second movement), etc. Somehow, these seem like things that would sound especially good outside.

Now I want to listen to it (preferably on a mountain)! One of my favorite pieces.

And you sound like you've played on a mountain before. I assumed you play flute, though...

[EigenUser]

So, I settled on two scores for my birthday:
Ades "Asyla"
Ligeti "Chamber Concerto"

In the next few months I'd like to also get Messiaen's "Et Exspecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum" and Stockhausen's "Tierkreis" for orchestra.

[jochanaan]

...And you sound like you've played on a mountain before. I assumed you play flute, though...

I have, and my main instrument is the oboe.  One time back in the 1980s I played with the Boulder (Colorado) Philharmonic at one of the ski resorts, Copper Mountain.  The elevation there is about 9500 feet.  The air wasn't even that cold, but it was so dry that my reed stopped playing right in the middle of Strauss' Emperor Waltz!  Fortunately, as always, I had a spare soaking in water and ready to play.