Composer Recommendation

Started by JamesBreeze, May 23, 2016, 12:56:17 AM

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(poco) Sforzando

Quote from: Ken B on May 25, 2016, 08:34:48 AM
Beware. We have some sadists here, who will push La Mer on you.

I would be one of these: a superlative, extraordinary piece of music. Less a fan of the other two.

As for: "Give a man a fire and he is warm for a day. Set him on fire and he is warm for life," I am reminded of a scene in Milos Forman's The Firemen's Ball, when an inept Czech fire company is unable to keep an old man's house from burning down one chilly night. They set him on a chair outside his burning building, and when he complains he's cold, they take the only logical step; that is, they move his chair closer to the fire.
"I don't know what sforzando means, though it clearly means something."

Daverz

#21
Agree with the recommendations of Tchaikovksy, Sibelius, Dvorak, Kalinnikov, and Rimsky-Korsakov.  Also Elgar's Enigma Variations.

I'd add

Borodin: Symphony No. 2
Holst: The Planets
Stravinsky: Firebird; Petrushka
Janacek: Sinfonietta
Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky
Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances
Ravel: Orchestral Music

nathanb

Epic feel?

Varese - Ameriques

listener

GLIÈRE: Symphony no.3 "Ilya Murometz"¨  JANÁČEK:  Taras Bulba
"Keep your hand on the throttle and your eye on the rail as you walk through life's pathway."

Clarence

#24
Is there a word for classical works with associate degree overarching concept? http://www.insanityfittest.org/insanity-workout-calendar.html
i do not suppose 'concept albums' fits the bill!

nathanb

Quote from: Clarence on June 17, 2016, 12:29:21 AM
Is there a word for classical works with associate degree overarching concept? i do not suppose 'concept albums' fits the bill!

I'm sure what you're looking for is a very real thing, but can you be more specific as to what you're talking about?

Seán

Hi James,
I adore the symphonic compositions by the musical masters such as Beethoven, Mahler, Haydn, etc.  But for a really good place to start I will recommend two wonderful symphonic poems by composers you may not have heard of:. 

1)  Má vlast  composed by Bedrich Smetana conducted by Rafael Kubelik with the stunning CPO in Prague in 1990.  It is available on cd.

2)  Symphonie Fantastique by Hector Berlioz  conducted by Charles Munch with the BPO in 1962.  It is available in a 10 cd box set.

Enjoy.
"To appreciate the greatness of the Masters is to keep faith in the greatness of humanity." - Wilhelm Furtwängler

Mirror Image

Quote from: Seán on June 23, 2016, 04:03:25 AM
Hi James,
I adore the symphonic compositions by the musical masters such as Beethoven, Mahler, Haydn, etc.  But for a really good place to start I will recommend two wonderful symphonic poems by composers you may not have heard of:. 

1)  Má vlast  composed by Bedrich Smetana conducted by Rafael Kubelik with the stunning CPO in Prague in 1990.  It is available on cd.

2)  Symphonie Fantastique by Hector Berlioz  conducted by Charles Munch with the BPO in 1962.  It is available in a 10 cd box set.

Enjoy.

But if one doesn't want to splurge on that 10-CD Berlioz box set from Munch, this single release of Symphonie Fantastique will do just fine:

[asin]B000E1NWJ6[/asin]

Karl Henning

Quote from: Mirror Image on June 23, 2016, 04:19:46 AM
But if one doesn't want to splurge on that 10-CD Berlioz box set from Munch

What, and miss those two exquisite performances of Roméo et Juliette, and that wonderful La damnation de Faust:)
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

Mirror Image

Quote from: karlhenning on June 23, 2016, 04:27:47 AM
What, and miss those two exquisite performances of Roméo et Juliette, and that wonderful La damnation de Faust:)

Hah! True, but maybe someone who is new to Berlioz doesn't want to get that whole set right off the bat unless they're completely nuts like me. ;D

Karl Henning

I was thinking on Sunday, though (anticipating a performance of Les nuits d'été), that to know Berlioz only through the Symphonie fantastique is about as unbalanced, and unfair to the composer, as to know Ravel only through the Boléro.
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

Jo498

For the beginner both Faust and R&J might be tough because of the strange form, one almost an opera, but not quite, the other one called a symphony but an even stranger beast.
While there is nothing wrong with the Symphonie fantastique, Faust is probably my favorite piece by Berlioz (as a German - what else?) and I think even the typical extraits of R&J: Romeo seul, Dance at the Capulets, Scene d'amour and the Queen mab scherzo are at least as good or better than the SF
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

Mirror Image

Quote from: karlhenning on June 23, 2016, 04:52:48 AM
I was thinking on Sunday, though (anticipating a performance of Les nuits d'été), that to know Berlioz only through the Symphonie fantastique is about as unbalanced, and unfair to the composer, as to know Ravel only through the Boléro.

Personally, I'd start with the Requiem, but that's just me. 0:)

Karl Henning

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

Mirror Image

Yep, Karl, that's certainly gorgeous.

Scion7

EPIC: a long poem, typically one derived from ancient oral tradition, narrating the deeds and adventures of heroic or legendary figures or the history of a nation.
• the genre of such poems : the romances display gentler emotions not found in Greek epic.
• a long film, book, or other work portraying heroic deeds and adventures or covering an extended period of time : a Hollywood biblical epic.

-----------------

HOWARD HANSON-Lament for Beowulf, Op.25  -->   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-RqfMlHm04
TCHAIKOVSKY-Manfred Symphony
BEETHOVEN-The Creatures of Prometheus
SMETANA-Ma Vlast
KHACHATURIAN-Spartacus (ballet)
LISZT-Faust Symphony
When, a few months before his death, Rachmaninov lamented that he no longer had the "strength and fire" to compose, friends reminded him of the Symphonic Dances, so charged with fire and strength. "Yes," he admitted. "I don't know how that happened. That was probably my last flicker."

mjmosca

I won't repeat all of the good recommendations, but heartily endorse Saint-Saens Symphony #3, [Organ], Rimsky's Scheherazade and Tchaikovsky Symphony #4. And would add the Glazounov Symphony #5- a beautiful, grand work. Then there is Bruckner, a phenomenal symphonist and in his later symphonies, he reaches a level of profundity that [for me, at least] no one else ever does. My favorites are Numbers 5, 7, 8 and 9. But they are all very special. In Bruckner, in particular the approach and ability of the conductor is extremely important, and the music critics all have their favorites. I find that von Karajan, and Jochum both have beautiful, probing performances of all of the symphonies that are easily obtained. Of course, hearing any and all of these works LIVE is electrifying, if you can do that. There are many more "epic" works, of course.....

PerfectWagnerite

Quote from: Seán on June 23, 2016, 04:03:25 AM
Hi James,
I adore the symphonic compositions by the musical masters such as Beethoven, Mahler, Haydn, etc.  But for a really good place to start I will recommend two wonderful symphonic poems by composers you may not have heard of:. 

1)  Má vlast  composed by Bedrich Smetana conducted by Rafael Kubelik with the stunning CPO in Prague in 1990.  It is available on cd.


Enjoy.
Call me a homer but I will take the same Rafael Kubelik conducting our very own Boston Symphony Orchestra in an even more stunning performance:



Daverz

Quote from: karlhenning on June 23, 2016, 04:27:47 AM
What, and miss those two exquisite performances of Roméo et Juliette, and that wonderful La damnation de Faust:)

There are still some reasonably priced used copies of this 2-disc set with the 1962 Fantastique coupled with the beautiful stereo R & J.

[asin]B000024HIJ[/asin]

Mirror Image

Quote from: PerfectWagnerite on July 02, 2016, 06:26:32 PM
Call me a homer but I will take the same Rafael Kubelik conducting our very own Boston Symphony Orchestra in an even more stunning performance:


My favorite performance of Ma Vlast without a doubt. The reissue two-fer, though, sounds even better as DG used their Original-Bit-Processing technology to clean up the audio plus you get the symphonic poems and the orchestral excerpts from The Bartered Bride: