Pieces that have blown you away recently

Started by arpeggio, September 09, 2016, 02:36:58 PM

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Roasted Swan

Quote from: Andy D. on August 26, 2019, 02:52:35 AM
Glory is the one thing I really like by Horner (no offense).  But hey you can probably guess I'm nuts about your trio there.

I'm almost entirely about the Golden and Silver ages, RS. Back then the composers were far more influenced by Wagner, Mahler, Straus...even Shostakovich (Goldsmith cribbed part of his chilling "Final Conflict" motif from Mitya's 8th symphony).

Have you checked out Herrmann's concert music?  I really like his symphony although its not as challenging or unusual as somehow you'd expect given his very individual scoring for his films.  Worth reading the biography too - "A Fire at Heart's Center".  A man of immense talent and brilliance who struggled with simply getting on with people!

Andy D.

Quote from: Roasted Swan on August 26, 2019, 11:32:27 PM
Have you checked out Herrmann's concert music?  I really like his symphony although its not as challenging or unusual as somehow you'd expect given his very individual scoring for his films.  Worth reading the biography too - "A Fire at Heart's Center".  A man of immense talent and brilliance who struggled with simply getting on with people!

I'm a fan of both the symphony and the book. I actually thought his symphony was a very nice work...Bernard wasn't too often in  writing Byzantine structures, etc. He was mostly about economy and plain (if at time hair-raising) spokenness in his  music.

A lot of people will take serious umbrage at this, but I think Williams, Goldsmith, Herrmann, Korngold...those guys were some of the greatest composers of the 21st century (given the idiom they wrote within).

I'm looking forward to checking out Shosty's film music soon.


Roasted Swan

Quote from: Andy D. on August 27, 2019, 12:50:46 AM
I'm a fan of both the symphony and the book. I actually thought his symphony was a very nice work...Bernard wasn't too often in  writing Byzantine structures, etc. He was mostly about economy and plain (if at time hair-raising) spokenness in his  music.

A lot of people will take serious umbrage at this, but I think Williams, Goldsmith, Herrmann, Korngold...those guys were some of the greatest composers of the 21st century (given the idiom they wrote within).

I'm looking forward to checking out Shosty's film music soon.

I suspect the "standard" scoring of the symphony was down to pragmatism on Herrmann's behalf.  No point scoring a work for 4 contrabassoons (cf beneath the 12 mile reef) if you want it in a 'standard' concert programme!  I assume you know the Herrmann disc in the "Classic Film Scores" series?  It contains two of my all-time favourite film music excerpts; "the death hunt" and Salammbo's aria from Citizen Kane.  I can clearly remember the very first time I heard that recording - absolutely a "piece that blew me away" moment.  The National Philharmonic horns in the Death Hunt are just amazing!

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PS:  when you start on Shosty film music do try New Babylon first.  NOT the big lush propaganda scores that he wrote to stay alive after the denunciations but really interesting quirky stuff.......  (I like the propaganda stuff too!)

Andy D.

Quote from: Roasted Swan on August 27, 2019, 04:50:09 AM
I suspect the "standard" scoring of the symphony was down to pragmatism on Herrmann's behalf.  No point scoring a work for 4 contrabassoons (cf beneath the 12 mile reef) if you want it in a 'standard' concert programme!  I assume you know the Herrmann disc in the "Classic Film Scores" series?  It contains two of my all-time favourite film music excerpts; "the death hunt" and Salammbo's aria from Citizen Kane.  I can clearly remember the very first time I heard that recording - absolutely a "piece that blew me away" moment.  The National Philharmonic horns in the Death Hunt are just amazing!

[asin]B000026MYJ[/asin]

PS:  when you start on Shosty film music do try New Babylon first.  NOT the big lush propaganda scores that he wrote to stay alive after the denunciations but really interesting quirky stuff.......  (I like the propaganda stuff too!)

That is such a good one, my friend. Kiri is really good.

Have you heard the McNeely re-recording of Citizen Kane? It's excellent imo, and so great hearing those cues in a more modern recorded context.

Oh, and if you really like Bernard, please do NOT miss out on the Stromberg rerecording of Fahrenheit 451, it is STELLAR! Also the Tadlow records' Obsession. Both are worth their weight in gold.

Roasted Swan

Quote from: Andy D. on August 27, 2019, 06:46:14 AM
That is such a good one, my friend. Kiri is really good.

Have you heard the McNeely re-recording of Citizen Kane? It's excellent imo, and so great hearing those cues in a more modern recorded context.

Oh, and if you really like Bernard, please do NOT miss out on the Stromberg rerecording of Fahrenheit 451, it is STELLAR! Also the Tadlow records' Obsession. Both are worth their weight in gold.

McNeely - yes (as you say good to have all those 'extra' cues).  Don't know/can't find the Stromberg 451 - just Herrmann's own and the Salonen suite....?

Andy D.

Quote from: Roasted Swan on August 27, 2019, 07:38:13 AM
McNeely - yes (as you say good to have all those 'extra' cues).  Don't know/can't find the Stromberg 451 - just Herrmann's own and the Salonen suite....?

Forget those, recently recorded with obvious love, nice booklet

https://www.amazon.com/Bernard-Herrmann-FAHRENHEIT-TWILIGHT-ZONE/dp/B000ZLRVCE/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=herrmann%5D+fahrenheit+451&qid=1566939130&s=gateway&sr=8-1

Roasted Swan

Quote from: Andy D. on August 27, 2019, 12:53:18 PM
Forget those, recently recorded with obvious love, nice booklet

https://www.amazon.com/Bernard-Herrmann-FAHRENHEIT-TWILIGHT-ZONE/dp/B000ZLRVCE/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=herrmann%5D+fahrenheit+451&qid=1566939130&s=gateway&sr=8-1

looks great - but can't find on UK Amazon....!  But is on Spotify I see..... have added to my playlists.  Thanks for the tip.

Correction - just found it but £25.00 - will have to stick with lo-res Spotify for the time being!

relm1

I just listened to Samuel Barber's opera, Vanessa, and really enjoyed it.  such a fine operatic and lyric composer.

Cato

Quote from: Roasted Swan on August 27, 2019, 04:50:09 AM
I suspect the "standard" scoring of the symphony was down to pragmatism on Herrmann's behalf.  No point scoring a work for 4 contrabassoons (cf beneath the 12 mile reef) if you want it in a 'standard' concert programme!  I assume you know the Herrmann disc in the "Classic Film Scores" series?  It contains two of my all-time favourite film music excerpts; "the death hunt" and Salammbo's aria from Citizen Kane.  I can clearly remember the very first time I heard that recording - absolutely a "piece that blew me away" moment.  The National Philharmonic horns in the Death Hunt are just amazing!

[asin]B000026MYJ[/asin]



DUDE!  You are in the club!!!  Yes, The Death Hunt performance on that recording is fantastic!  The movie concerned is On Dangerous Ground.

The original soundtrack - in fair to poor condition - was on a Film Score Monthly CD for a while: expensive second-hand copies are available!  But I think the Gerhardt recording outdoes the composer himself for The Death Hunt.

Apple has a digital restoration of the original soundtrack: the samples sound impressive!

https://music.apple.com/us/album/on-dangerous-ground-original-motion-picture-soundtrack/706495631

This 2-CD set offers a good chunk of the original soundtrack:

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"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

Andy D.

The Hunt is great, a grail  track for fans.

On Dangerous Ground is also a very good old movie, with a stunningly beautiful female lead.

Cato

Quote from: Andy D. on August 28, 2019, 01:07:59 AM
The Hunt is great, a grail  track for fans.

On Dangerous Ground is also a very good old movie, with a stunningly beautiful female lead.

Ida Lupino was also a ground-breaking director, e.g.  the first woman to direct a film noir. and a director unfraid to make movies about unpleasant realities (e.g. the polio epidemic).



See:

https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/lists/ida-lupino-director

"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

Andy D.

Quote from: Cato on August 29, 2019, 01:37:09 PM
Ida Lupino was also a ground-breaking director, e.g.  the first woman to direct a film noir. and a director unfraid to make movies about unpleasant realities (e.g. the polio epidemic).



See:

https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/lists/ida-lupino-director

I've crushed on  her since first watching that movie with my dad. Good flick imo.

That's one that could use a whopping new rerecording.

Christo

The incidental music for Richard II (1944) is a rather functional piece, delved from the archives for the very first time for this recording. Yet the 14 tracks end with a 'Maestoso' finale built on a haunting motive in the strings, lifting the whole thing to another sphere. Recommended:

... music is not only an 'entertainment', nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.    RVW, 1948

kyjo

Quote from: relm1 on August 27, 2019, 03:47:44 PM
I just listened to Samuel Barber's opera, Vanessa, and really enjoyed it.  such a fine operatic and lyric composer.

I agree - a gorgeous work. Barber's intensely lyrical idiom is so naturally suited to the human voice.
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

relm1

Quote from: kyjo on September 02, 2019, 10:59:04 AM
I agree - a gorgeous work. Barber's intensely lyrical idiom is so naturally suited to the human voice.

He was unfairly treated because of some poor performances but his music is complex, sophisticated, and the extremely moving. 

Andy D.

Not blown away, but I gave Ligeti a more concentrated listen over the past couple of days and changed my mind about him. I tended to lump him in with the guys whom at times seemed more concerned with orchestral effects than music (I know, dumb of me and I'm appreciating Xenakis more now, too).

Now I decidedly like his music and would like to know a good place to begin: which one? Keep  in mind that I greatly appreciate even older recordings, but prefer more recent (most especially with killer performances).

schnittkease

Quote from: Andy D. on September 05, 2019, 05:42:56 AM
Now I decidedly like his music and would like to know a good place to begin: which one? Keep  in mind that I greatly appreciate even older recordings, but prefer more recent (most especially with killer performances).

Love Ligeti! Try these:







(More at a later date.)

JBS

Quote from: schnittkease on September 05, 2019, 07:15:58 PM
Love Ligeti! Try these:







(More at a later date.)

Les Siecles do Ligeti? I thought they focused on early 20th century, but that interests me.

The Boulez Ligeti CD is in the DG set Andy posted. In general I like the performances in that set more than those in the  Warner set...but the DG set has less stuff.

The chamber works clicked for me before the orchestral/choral works, so I would suggest the Sony set, especially now that it's been reissued as part of their cheap white box series. The Aimard CD is of course part of that.

Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

Andy D.

Quote from: schnittkease on September 05, 2019, 07:15:58 PM
Love Ligeti! Try these:







(More at a later date.)

Many thanks! Your forum name has me taking out Schnittke's Viola Concerto (love that piece).

North Star

The Ligeti Project set is very good, and if you later get this one, you have all the Ligeti you need - they're two parts of the same project to record all of Ligeti's music, but they changed labels midway.
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