Unpopular Opinions

Started by The Six, November 11, 2011, 10:32:51 AM

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Karl Henning

Springtime in the Danish Slammer
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Ken B

Orfeo on holiday. I would pay serious money to watch him and Florestan share a small cottage for a week!!

:laugh: :P

Karl Henning

Quote from: Ken B on June 03, 2017, 08:40:12 AM
Orfeo on holiday. I would pay serious money to watch him and Florestan share a small cottage for a week!!

:laugh: :P

I bet they'd get on great, and there would be nothing to watch.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Florestan

#1903
Quote from: Ken B on June 03, 2017, 08:40:12 AM
Orfeo on holiday. I would pay serious money to watch him and Florestan share a small cottage for a week!!

:laugh: :P

I think it'd make for a great experience for both of us. And considering our musical tastes overlap a good deal, there will certainly be no fight over who should be in charge of the stereo equipment.  We might fight over the porn channel, though. :D  ;D  :laugh:
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

PerfectWagnerite


Karl Henning

Oh, I'm feeling the love  8)
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Madiel

Quote from: (: premont :) on June 03, 2017, 07:56:09 AM
Yes, a captivating view.

Which other places i Denmark are you going to visit?

Staying in København, Odense, Aarhus and Kolding. Will use the trains and buses to visit various things.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Madiel

Quote from: PerfectWagnerite on June 03, 2017, 10:41:14 AM
You promise?

Are you under the mistaken impression that the internet isn't available on holiday?
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Jo498

The baroque is full of that stuff. A large number of Couperin's keyboard pieces have titles.

But I have serious doubts with Mozart; there is this anecdote about a movement being a "portrait" of that young lady but this is extremely vague and could have been just a polite or flirtatious remark by the composer.

With Bruckner it is true that there are comments that hint at some programmatic content for the 4th and also for the 8th symphony (cossacks and three emperors in the finale).

I don't think any of the Brahms pieces is programmatic in the usual sense or even in the vaguely evocative way of Mendelssohn's "Hebrides". The "Edward" can be recited to the beginning of the music but the point here is only the dark tone of a ballad, not anything in particular about that poem.
And the Academic Festival Ouverture is basically Brahms version of "a musical joke" and less descriptive than Mozart's work with that name. The "Tragic" is not depicting anything either, even less so than e.g. Beethoven's "Coriolan".
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

Crudblud

Unpopular opinion: Sibelius's Symphony No. 4 is practically ruined by a lightweight, miserable puff of a finale. I think it's a real shame that the three incredibly strong movements preceding it should be capped off in such a way.

premont

Quote from: ørfeo on June 03, 2017, 11:59:34 PM
Staying in København, Odense, Aarhus and Kolding. Will use the trains and buses to visit various things.

Make sure to see Rundetårn, Børsen and Vor Frelsers Kirke, all in København.
γνῶθι σεαυτόν

Madiel

Quote from: (: premont :) on June 04, 2017, 09:39:54 AM
Make sure to see Rundetårn, Børsen and Vor Frelsers Kirke, all in København.

2/3 I've already seen on my first trip. I've walked past the outside of Børsen but I haven't seen inside.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

71 dB

Quote from: Crudblud on June 04, 2017, 09:25:40 AM
Unpopular opinion: Sibelius's Symphony No. 4 is practically ruined by a lightweight, miserable puff of a finale. I think it's a real shame that the three incredibly strong movements preceding it should be capped off in such a way.

You think that is an unpopular opinion about Sibelius? That's amateur-level stuff. I am the king of unpopular Sibelius opinions around here.  0:)

I don't want to cause mayhem here so I don't demonstrate how it's done.  ;)
Spatial distortion is a serious problem deteriorating headphone listening.
Crossfeeders reduce spatial distortion and make the sound more natural
and less tiresome in headphone listening.

My Sound Cloud page <-- NEW Jan. 2024 "Harpeggiator"

Mahlerian

Quote from: Crudblud on June 04, 2017, 09:25:40 AM
Unpopular opinion: Sibelius's Symphony No. 4 is practically ruined by a lightweight, miserable puff of a finale. I think it's a real shame that the three incredibly strong movements preceding it should be capped off in such a way.

As I see it, the lightness is only strained, like that that opens the second movement, and it leads to its own demise.  If it weren't over-the-top, the point wouldn't be made very well.
"l do not consider my music as atonal, but rather as non-tonal. I feel the unity of all keys. Atonal music by modern composers admits of no key at all, no feeling of any definite center." - Arnold Schoenberg

Crudblud

Quote from: 71 dB on June 04, 2017, 01:19:32 PM
You think that is an unpopular opinion about Sibelius? That's amateur-level stuff. I am the king of unpopular Sibelius opinions around here.  0:)

I don't want to cause mayhem here so I don't demonstrate how it's done.  ;)

Well, if ever you feel like it, do alert me, I need to learn from a master!

Quote from: Mahlerian on June 04, 2017, 01:29:50 PM
As I see it, the lightness is only strained, like that that opens the second movement, and it leads to its own demise.  If it weren't over-the-top, the point wouldn't be made very well.

I've often felt that while I can appreciate a certain amount of Sibelius's approach to music, the full aesthetic eludes me. When I was younger this was not the case, or at least didn't seem to be, but now I suppose I just think about how well I understand a piece or style much more than I used to.

71 dB

Quote from: Crudblud on June 05, 2017, 10:23:04 PM
Well, if ever you feel like it, do alert me, I need to learn from a master!

No you don't, trust me. We live on a planet where worshipping Sibelius is considered a virtue and any critisism against his music is considered heretic and is frown upon. I am forever considered an outcast because of my opinions of Sibelius. How easy life would be if I simply found Sibelius as great a composer as Elgar? But I don't. To make it worse, I don't even life in the UK! I live in the worst possible place in this sense, Finland!  ???

Unlike me, you may have hope so I recommend you to turn to Sibelius nuts instead. Your life will be so much easier if you just worship every note Sibelius ever composed. That's because there is this principle called accumulation of advantage.
Spatial distortion is a serious problem deteriorating headphone listening.
Crossfeeders reduce spatial distortion and make the sound more natural
and less tiresome in headphone listening.

My Sound Cloud page <-- NEW Jan. 2024 "Harpeggiator"

Jo498

Quote from: 71 dB on June 06, 2017, 01:52:19 AM
No you don't, trust me. We live on a planet where worshipping Sibelius is considered a virtue and any critisism against his music is considered heretic and is frown upon. I am forever considered an outcast because of my opinions of Sibelius. How easy life would be if I simply found Sibelius as great a composer as Elgar? But I don't. To make it worse, I don't even life in the UK! I live in the worst possible place in this sense, Finland!  ???
You are really living in the worst place if you are not fond of Sibelius. If you go to Austria, France or southern Europe, I don't think Sibelius is very popular there.
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

Karl Henning

Quote from: 71 dB on June 06, 2017, 01:52:19 AM
We live on a planet where worshipping Sibelius is considered a virtue and any critisism against his music is considered heretic and is frown upon.

Which planet is that?  And how do you manage to communicate with us here on earth?
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

ritter

#1918
René Leibowitz, anyone?  :D


North Star

Every so often, young men wearing suits ride their bikes to my door, ring the bell and ask whether I've heard of Sibelius...
"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." - Confucius

My photographs on Flickr