Magical, Other-Worldly, Mesmerizing?

[Guido]

Ives The Unanswered Question, definitely.

And the Fourth Symphony maybe though this is in some ways very wordly - it is so moving because it marries the sublime with the provincial, the commonplace with the transcendental; and it does so to a greater extent, and with greater skill than anyone before or since.

[offbeat]

magical,other-worldly mesmerizing........
would nominate Morton Feldman's Rothko Chapel 

[listener]

RAVEL   Bolero      think of the watch at the end of the chain moving back-and-forth slowly with each iteration ot the theme
(alluding to Mesmerizing = hypnotic)

[Opus106]

RAVEL   Bolero      think of the watch at the end of the chain moving back-and-forth slowly with each iteration ot the theme
(alluding to Mesmerizing = hypnotic)

Indeed, I do feel sleee....py listening to it.

[mc ukrneal]

What does other-worldly and mesmorizing mean to you? And do have any idea what it is about Wagner and Petterson that provide the impact you are looking to repeat?

[greg]

(having a feeling if this thread goes on long enough, every single piece of music ever written will be mentioned...)

[Grazioso]

Perhaps



or Norgard's 3rd

[Opus106]

if this thread goes on long enough, every single piece of music ever written will be mentioned...

That's true for a lot of threads in the music section. Sometimes it's musical works, and at other times it's recordings.

[greg]

That's true for a lot of threads in the music section. Sometimes it's musical works, and at other times it's recordings.

Maybe it'd be easier, then, to tell him what definitely wouldn't be "Magical, Other-Worldly, and Mesmerizing," and then tell him to listen to anything but that?

I don't know, it's hard to give a recommendation with Wagner's Parsifal Prelude and Pettersson, since they sound so different and the list of obvious choices pretty much includes everything I could think of suggesting.

As for me, I'd like something in music that affects me the same way as the Mahler 9th does... however, after listening enough, I've come to realize that's pretty much not going to happen (although in non-musical areas, sort of, yes). The chances are very low- I can either make music like that myself or wait for some new composer to write music like that, if that ever happens in my lifetime. 

Some things are just unique, and despite the thousands or millions of other "things" like it, it is possible for there to be one or two that just go beyond all of the others for a person. The good thing about music is, when you find that special music for yourself, at least you can keep it. 

[Guido]

Maybe it'd be easier, then, to tell him what definitely wouldn't be "Magical, Other-Worldly, and Mesmerizing," and then tell him to listen to anything but that?

I don't know, it's hard to give a recommendation with Wagner's Parsifal Prelude and Pettersson, since they sound so different and the list of obvious choices pretty much includes everything I could think of suggesting.

As for me, I'd like something in music that affects me the same way as the Mahler 9th does... however, after listening enough, I've come to realize that's pretty much not going to happen (although in non-musical areas, sort of, yes). The chances are very low- I can either make music like that myself or wait for some new composer to write music like that, if that ever happens in my lifetime. 

Some things are just unique, and despite the thousands or millions of other "things" like it, it is possible for there to be one or two that just go beyond all of the others for a person. The good thing about music is, when you find that special music for yourself, at least you can keep it. 

Good points here Greg - Patterson and Parsifal are so dissimilar that it hard to know what to suggest.

And with Mahler 9... try Mahler 10? I agree with the contingent that says it would have been even greater than 9. I think as people age, their musical likes and needs change, so I'm sure that there will be music that doesn't affect you that much now which will only grow in potency. There are some ways in which Mahler is a very adolescent composer (though never as much as say Tchaikovsky - this is Wilfred Mellers' term) - all that surface emotion, angst, nervousness, intensity, though the senhsucht and nostalgia  temper this to a degree. Though everything in Mahler is extreme which is why he is a Modern.

[greg]

Good points here Greg - Patterson and Parsifal are so dissimilar that it hard to know what to suggest.

And with Mahler 9... try Mahler 10? I agree with the contingent that says it would have been even greater than 9. I think as people age, their musical likes and needs change, so I'm sure that there will be music that doesn't affect you that much now which will only grow in potency. There are some ways in which Mahler is a very adolescent composer (though never as much as say Tchaikovsky - this is Wilfred Mellers' term) - all that surface emotion, angst, nervousness, intensity, though the senhsucht and nostalgia  temper this to a degree. Though everything in Mahler is extreme which is why he is a Modern.

I guess so... that'd be great if, for example, ten or twenty years from now I could enjoy music from the classical period a bit more. (I like it a lot, but am not the biggest fan either).

Well, as for Mahler 10... yeah, I've tried it- a feeeeeeew times.  (it's probably a top 5 favorite for me)
It does have many similarities to 9, in terms of style and emotional content (heck, the beginning of the 10th sounds like it directly picks up from the ending of the 9th, which 'leaves this world' and begins the new world- the 20th century world of Modernism). However, there are still small differences, and it's just not as good.

It's kinda like a target- 10 being debatably a bullseye, and 9 being a perfect bullseye. I guess Varg is looking for a perfect bullseye... good luck. 

[Wanderer]

Some names for your consideration: Bantock, Foulds, Schoeck, Zemlinsky, Schreker.

[escher]

lili boulanger - pie jesu
dane rudhyar - stars (from his third pentagram)
ravel - daphnis et chloe
Scelsi - uaxuctum
charles griffes - vale of dreams
sorabji - jardin parfume
koechlin - les heures persianes
messiaen - quartet for the end of time
john foulds - mantra of bliss

[Ten thumbs]

I suspect that this is a very subjective area but here are some that hav entranced me:
Debussy: Pelleas et Melisande
Busoni: Doctor Faustus
Medtner: 3rd Piano concerto

[Ten thumbs]

Another one, a truly magical opera:
Dvorak: Rusalka

This ought to among the top operas but is underperformed. However, it is utterly heart-breaking.

[pjme]

Ya! The "le ciel etoilée" movement of Le Docteur Fabricius sounds like music from another planet.

Another vote for Koechlin here:  La course du Printemps,La méditation de Purun Baghat, Le docteur Fabricius, Vers la voûte étoilée, Le buisson ardent...Les heures Persanes.

Boulez: Rituel ( à la mémoire de Maderna)

André Jolivet : Mandala for organ

Possibly Dutch composer Pieter Jan Wagemans is your cup of tea... Try Symphony nr 7

Mathijs Vermeulen : try symphonies 2,3,4 and 5

Toshiro Mayuzumi : Mandala symphony and Nirvana symphony.

(ps Koechlin's Vers la voûte étoilée is not part of Docteur Fabricius, but a tone poem in its own right).
P.

[CD]

I was listening the other day with a friend to Bax's 6th Symphony and thought the last few minutes very ethereal.

Also, it's not a part of the classical tradition, but I've also been listening a bit to a Nonesuch Explorer LP of Balinese gamelan music and I have to say it's definitely "other-worldly" and mesmerizing. Xenakis thought so also — you can hear the ghost of this music in some of his pieces from the 70s, especially in the first few minutes of Jonchaies. He visited Bali in 1972 along with Takemitsu.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

I was listening the other day with a friend to Bax's 6th Symphony and thought the last few minutes very ethereal.

Another 6th Symphony (Sibelius) comes to my mind, only it's not just the last few minutes that fit that description, but most of the piece.

Also, it's not a part of the classical tradition, but I've also been listening a bit to a Nonesuch Explorer LP of Balinese gamelan music

I remember that disc fondly - it was one of the first CDs I bought. A great late-night disc.

[Cato]

I suspect that this is a very subjective area but here are some that hav entranced me:

Busoni: Doctor Faustus

Busoni's greatest work, and yes, there are "magical and ethereal" moments in abundance.


The old Fischer-Dieskau version on DGG is a "must hear" recording.

[karlhenning]

Dang, another piece I've long meant to have heard . . . .