Newbie Here Looking For Direction

Started by mellis107, April 04, 2016, 09:27:47 AM

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mellis107


(poco) Sforzando

Quote from: mellis107 on April 07, 2016, 05:19:40 AM
???

Back up. Springrite is just being humorous. You might try this thread too (mainly because I wrote a lot of entries there):
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,25649.0.html
"I don't know what sforzando means, though it clearly means something."

Jo498

I do not know about the US but if you want vinyl you can with some luck find lots for a pittance in yard sales or maybe Ebay (although the latter often has expensive collector's items). Classical LPs have often been treated well (sometimes not been played at all).

For Beethoven's 5th on CD, Carlos Kleiber with an even better 7th.

Otherwise, almost all "100 best" or similar lists are strongly biased towards 1785-1915 orchestral standard repertoire but they are not completely useless to get you started either.
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

mellis107

Quote from: Jo498 on April 07, 2016, 06:11:19 AM
I do not know about the US but if you want vinyl you can with some luck find lots for a pittance in yard sales or maybe Ebay (although the latter often has expensive collector's items). Classical LPs have often been treated well (sometimes not been played at all).

This is what I'm tending to find. Perhaps folk bought them with all good intentions but didn't get into it for some reason?


Quote from: Jo498 on April 07, 2016, 06:11:19 AM
For Beethoven's 5th on CD, Carlos Kleiber with an even better 7th.


Scarily, I'm listening to this very recording on Spotify as I type! And its already on my Amazon wishlist.

mellis107

Quote from: (poco) Sforzando on April 07, 2016, 05:44:29 AM
Back up. Springrite is just being humorous. You might try this thread too (mainly because I wrote a lot of entries there):
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,25649.0.html

Thanks for the link. Some very interesting points made there, namely that this is all subjective anyway, and I'll probably find my own way eventually.

jochanaan

Quote from: Scion7 on April 05, 2016, 04:47:44 PM
So much for his Symphony in C, or the Siegfried Idyll, huh?   ;)
I'll give you the Symphony, but the Siegfried Idyll is actually from the opera Siegfried. :)
Imagination + discipline = creativity

mellis107

#26
A little bit of an update.

I tried a bit of Mahler, namely the 2nd Symphony. I'm afraid to say that I didn't care for it. There didn't seem to be anything for me to latch onto. Maybe I started in the wrong place. Would there be a better introduction to Mahler? Perhaps moving away from the symphonies?

Last night I gave Sibelious 5th Symphony a go, and really liked it. Not as immediately impactful as Beethoven's 5th, and in many ways a calmer experience, but there is plenty to enjoy here. I've listened a couple of times, and I'll hopefully have time to give it another run through at some point today.

EDIT: Just to say that it was a second recording of the 5th that I enjoyed more than the first one I found. Obviously, I don't have enough knowledge to know why this was so, but there you go.

Spineur

Why no try Mahler "Das Lied von der Erde", especially the last movement "Das Abschied".
https://www.youtube.com/v/kQZ51udFtrg
Then you could try Parsifal prelude
https://www.youtube.com/v/AQOfIENN2tk
If you dont care for either of them, then you will know that the post-romantic period isnt really for you.

But no worry, there are so any styles in classical music !  As most GMG members will testify, enough to fill in a lifetime.

Jo498

Quote from: jochanaan on April 08, 2016, 05:35:41 PM
I'll give you the Symphony, but the Siegfried Idyll is actually from the opera Siegfried. :)
No. It's an autonomous piece that uses a few motives from the Ring but was composed to celebrate the birth of Wagner's son Siegfried.
You probably think of "Waldweben" (Forest murmurs) a piece from the 2nd act of Siegfried that is sometimes played as an orchestral excerpt.
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

mellis107

Quote from: Spineur on April 08, 2016, 11:27:28 PM
Why no try Mahler "Das Lied von der Erde", especially the last movement "Das Abschied".
https://www.youtube.com/v/kQZ51udFtrg
Then you could try Parsifal prelude
https://www.youtube.com/v/AQOfIENN2tk
If you dont care for either of them, then you will know that the post-romantic period isnt really for you.

But no worry, there are so any styles in classical music !  As most GMG members will testify, enough to fill in a lifetime.

I've given the second one a listen. I did myself a favour and ran it through my main speakers rather than the laptop. Yeah, it was OK. But just OK. Nothing really got the blood pumping I'm afraid. I'll give the first one a go when I have a little more time.

Incidentally, I caught a piece of Haydn's Symphony 93 - that seems more up my street.e

aligreto

Quote from: mellis107 on April 08, 2016, 10:41:22 PM
A little bit of an update.

I tried a bit of Mahler, namely the 2nd Symphony. I'm afraid to say that I didn't care for it. There didn't seem to be anything for me to latch onto. Maybe I started in the wrong place. Would there be a better introduction to Mahler? Perhaps moving away from the symphonies?

Last night I gave Sibelious 5th Symphony a go, and really liked it. Not as immediately impactful as Beethoven's 5th, and in many ways a calmer experience, but there is plenty to enjoy here. I've listened a couple of times, and I'll hopefully have time to give it another run through at some point today.

EDIT: Just to say that it was a second recording of the 5th that I enjoyed more than the first one I found. Obviously, I don't have enough knowledge to know why this was so, but there you go.

Just in relation to these two composers I found that Mahler's First and Fourth Symphomies were the most accessible and with regard to Sibelius I would suggest you sample his Second and Third Symphonies at this stage. Happy listening  :)

aligreto

Quote from: mellis107 on April 09, 2016, 01:40:32 AM

Incidentally, I caught a piece of Haydn's Symphony 93 - that seems more up my street.e

Just another thought, not that there is any link here, but have you listened to Beethoven's Seventh Symphony yet? It is almost a celebratory work. This is a work that does not place any great demands on the listener. It has a great intensity and a great sense of forward movement throughout the work once you get past the longish introduction. Put it on your main system, turn up the volume and sit back and enjoy.

mellis107

Quote from: aligreto on April 09, 2016, 01:45:26 AM
Just in relation to these two composers I found that Mahler's First and Fourth Symphomies were the most accessible and with regard to Sibelius I would suggest you sample his Second and Third Symphonies at this stage. Happy listening  :)
Thanks. I have got Sibelius  2nd on my list so I'll give that a go as soon as I can. With regard to Mahler I definitely want to give him another chance so I'll see what I think to the two you mention.

mellis107

Quote from: aligreto on April 09, 2016, 02:53:47 AM
Just another thought, not that there is any link here, but have you listened to Beethoven's Seventh Symphony yet? It is almost a celebratory work. This is a work that does not place any great demands on the listener. It has a great intensity and a great sense of forward movement throughout the work once you get past the longish introduction. Put it on your main system, turn up the volume and sit back and enjoy.
My plan for the 7th is to buy a Cd that features both this and the 5th. I've got a recording in mind so it's just a case of waiting for funds.

aligreto

Quote from: mellis107 on April 09, 2016, 03:46:30 AM
Thanks. I have got Sibelius  2nd on my list so I'll give that a go as soon as I can. With regard to Mahler I definitely want to give him another chance so I'll see what I think to the two you mention.

Quote from: mellis107 on April 09, 2016, 03:47:35 AM
My plan for the 7th is to buy a Cd that features both this and the 5th. I've got a recording in mind so it's just a case of waiting for funds.


Good Stuff. Do let us know how you get on with these works.

Rinaldo

Quote from: mellis107 on April 08, 2016, 10:41:22 PMI tried a bit of Mahler, namely the 2nd Symphony. I'm afraid to say that I didn't care for it. There didn't seem to be anything for me to latch onto.

I had the exact same experience with Mahler. Actually, still do (with a few enjoyable exceptions, e.g. the already mentioned Das Lied von der Erde).
"The truly novel things will be invented by the young ones, not by me. But this doesn't worry me at all."
~ Grażyna Bacewicz

mellis107

Quote from: aligreto on April 09, 2016, 04:42:31 AM


Good Stuff. Do let us know how you get on with these works.
Right, well that's Sibelius 5th, 2nd plus Symphonic Poem Op 9 done, and I  thoroughly enjoyed each of them. It may be too early to make this judgement buy he seems to have a nice line in gentle motifs which run through the while piece. Mind you I missed the finale of #2 as real life got in the way. I'll listen to that again tomorrow.

Currently listening to the first movement of Mahlers 1st Symphony and I'm delighted to report that I'm  getting on much better with it. So thanks for the guidance on this one. This is the kind of thing I'd hoped for when I started this thread.

The new erato

With a lot of these composers you have to start at the right place before moving into their really great stuff!

aligreto

Quote from: mellis107 on April 09, 2016, 03:13:08 PM
Right, well that's Sibelius 5th, 2nd plus Symphonic Poem Op 9 done, and I  thoroughly enjoyed each of them. It may be too early to make this judgement buy he seems to have a nice line in gentle motifs which run through the while piece. Mind you I missed the finale of #2 as real life got in the way. I'll listen to that again tomorrow.

Currently listening to the first movement of Mahlers 1st Symphony and I'm delighted to report that I'm  getting on much better with it. So thanks for the guidance on this one. This is the kind of thing I'd hoped for when I started this thread.

I knew that ther would not be a problem with Sibelius 2 and that should be the same for Sibelius 3.
However, that is great news on Mahler 1. We do not want you giving up on Mahler too soon.  8)
Give Mahler 4 a go next when you have the chance as that would be the next accessible one.
Happy listening  :)

mellis107

Hi all! I haven't forgotten about this thread, I've just been really busy so haven't had much time to devote to listening.

Just a quick update on what I have been upto however. I've been relistening to the pieces mentioned above particularly the Beethoven and Sibelius stuff. In addition to that a visit to my local record shop gave me the opportunity to buy Beethoven 9th Symphony as well as a box set of Haydn Salomon Symphonies. The box is in a bit of a state but the vinyl itself looks to be in decent condition to say it fates from 1958.

I've also just bought a boxset of vinyl from eBay consisting of Beethoven 5th along with some Schubert, Dvorak, Brahms and Tchaikovsky so that's plenty to go at I feel.

All in all I'm really enjoying my journey. The feeling when I hit on a piece that gives me the jollies is wonderful!