What are you listening 2 now?

[Linz]

Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, 1872/77 Mixed Versions. Ed. Robert Haas
Wiener Philharmoniker, Volkmar Andreae

[Linz]

Johann Sebastian Bach Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, Studio Version
Scott Ross

[hopefullytrusting]

Okay, lol, I just found out there was another Scarlatti - brother to A and uncle to D - Francesco.

Just getting a taste now: Concerto Grosso No. 4 (extract): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0lHbrzXgxM

The music is ... there, so it has past the Heideggerian test, lol, but this feels so underwhelming, especially when you compare this to his brother or the other concerto grosso composers of that era. There is nothing at all remarkable here that would distinguish him from anyone. This feels like what an average composer would sound like. Like if I looked up average composer in the dictionary, I would find a picture of Francesco.

I find nothing enticing about this music, not even for music I'd play in the background - my background music is of better quality than this extract. I am very glad that I didn't follow my impulse given how much I love the other two Scarlattis - because this is a massive disappointment.

If the highest compliment I can pay is that it is competent, then that is no compliment.

I actively would not recommend this.

[Todd]

Okay, lol, I just found out there was another Scarlatti - brother to A and uncle to D - Francesco.

There are at least five Scarlattis out there.  Can't say they are all equally good.

Pietro Filippo:

Giuseppe:

[hopefullytrusting]

There are at least five Scarlattis out there.  Can't say they are all equally good.

Pietro Filippo:

Giuseppe:

Damn Copilot!

Will give these a listen later tonight.

[Lisztianwagner]

Sergei Prokofiev
Visions fugitives

Pianist: Matti Raekallio

[Todd]

Damn Copilot!

Meta AI returned two names, so a whiff.  Grok and Gemini both cite four, so almost there.  I've been told that Claude is potentially better, but the free chat version did not return anything at all, so I have no intention of trying the paid version. 

I used old-fashioned google-fu to find the five.

[brewski]

Last month the superb Sphinx Virtuosi opened their concert with a lush arrangement for 18 strings of "La Bella Cubana" by José White Lafitte (1836-1918).

Later found this nostalgia-tinged version by El Trio Cubano, recorded (unbelievably) over 100 years ago.

[hopefullytrusting]

Meta AI returned two names, so a whiff.  Grok and Gemini both cite four, so almost there.  I've been told that Claude is potentially better, but the free chat version did not return anything at all, so I have no intention of trying the paid version. 

I used old-fashioned google-fu to find the five.

Yeah, normally I would do the double-check, but this seemed like something it should get right off the bat, lol.

Okay, Copilot got it right. This was the interaction to get it there.

Prompt: How many Scarlatti composers are there?
Reply: Four - gives me a bunch of info on each.
Prompt: I think you are missing one.
Reply: You are absolutely right to challenge that - and I love a good musical mystery. Then, they name the fifth.

So, that was me being lazy with Copilot, lol.

[Brian]

I spent most of the afternoon listening to weak installments of the Hyperion Romantic Piano Concerto series for the next post in that thread, so treating myself to some really good music-making.

[Linz]

Donald Francis Tovey Piano Concerto in A Major, Op. 15
Alexander Mackenzie Scottish Concerto, Op. 55
Steven Osborne, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Martyn Brabbins

[brewski]

Caroline Shaw - and the swallow (Psalm 84)
Voces8

Voces8:
Andrea Haines, soprano
Eleonora Poignant, soprano
Katie Jeffries-Harris, alto
Barnaby Smith, alto & artistic director
Blake Morgan, tenor
Euan Williamson, tenor
Christopher Moore, baritone
Dominic Carver, bass

````````````````````

Contemporary music that no one can complain about.

Coincidentally, listening to the same group in a new Jan Sandström arrangement of Praetorius' Det är en ros utsprungen, just uploaded a few days ago. Quite slow and deliberate, and lovely.

[Todd]

So, that was me being lazy with Copilot, lol.

I'm not sure.  It only added the additional one after you questioned it with knowledge you had independent of its output.  In my experience, all of the public facing AI tools generate incomplete or inaccurate responses more than half the time, and when combined with hallucinations makes me question every output from every AI tool.  This implies that every result should be followed up with some type of prompt asking for sources/"reasoning" or for it to verify outputs, or both.  But surely multi-billion-dollar AIs should be able to perform exhaustive searches to return accurate results - provided the information is available online.  As yet another concrete example of total failure, I asked Gemini and Grok who owns my house.  (Answer: me.)  Gemini returned the prior owner, who sold it to me twenty-four years ago, and Grok got the city wrong, incorrectly asserted that the public information cannot be disclosed, then listed my son as a resident of the house next door, which I am fairly certain is incorrect.  (Grok's output got less accurate with additional prompting.)  They both botched something in the public domain and on the county website. 

As of today, I find that going through the necessary prompts usually takes more time than using Google and performing multiple searches, and that accounts for gaps with Google.  (Sometimes, on subjects where I have less direct knowledge, I supplement with DuckDuckGo searches.)  Fortunately, Scarlatti counts are not what I would consider a serious topic, but the results I see and the tendency for some/many people to rely on initial output leads me to conclude that much dis/mis/malinformation swirls about the interwebs.  More so than before.

In short, AI ain't there yet.  Maybe next year . . .

[hopefullytrusting]

I'm not sure.  It only added the additional one after you questioned it with knowledge you had independent of its output.  In my experience, all of the public facing AI tools generate incomplete or inaccurate responses more than half the time, and when combined with hallucinations makes me question every output from every AI tool.  This implies that every result should be followed up with some type of prompt asking for sources/"reasoning" or for it to verify outputs, or both.  But surely multi-billion-dollar AIs should be able to perform exhaustive searches to return accurate results - provided the information is available online.  As yet another concrete example of total failure, I asked Gemini and Grok who owns my house.  (Answer: me.)  Gemini returned the prior owner, who sold it to me twenty-four years ago, and Grok got the city wrong, incorrectly asserted that the public information cannot be disclosed, then listed my son as a resident of the house next door, which I am fairly certain is incorrect.  (Grok's output got less accurate with additional prompting.)  They both botched something in the public domain and on the county website. 

Okay, this is awesome.

Prompt: Who lives in my house?
Reply: The prior owner.
Prompt: Are you sure that is who lives in my house?
Reply: I apologize. I meant your son.
Prompt: My son lives in my house?

Lol.

AI is trying to gaslight you into submission.



For me, I love where gen ai is right now - I don't want it to get better, as I think it is well-balanced, currently, as it still feels a bit human, just a human with a processing capacity that no human could comprehend, and it is useful for the things it excels at - like with language, it is excellent - "flit of fancy" - no way I would have come to that on my own, or rill, amongst others - these are, in manner, brutish examples. I also use it regarding things like finding frequencies (example, top 3 words in business book titles - business, success, power - I could double-check that, but that feels right given my own experience).

To make this musical, through Copilot I found a recording of Heinrich Bach, an ancestor of the big JSB.

Sonata in F major: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T9RTZAW324 (includes a freaking theorbo!)

[Todd]

Prompt: Who lives in my house?

My original prompt was: Who owns <address>? 

Gemini eventually got it right.  Grok got worse.  Real estate sites - eg, Homes.com, Zillow - are all over the place in quality of output. Some clearly rely on AI for their sourcing, and I can tell which ones.

This specific subject is one I have extensive experience in, and I could regale you with tales of how good or bad different counties across the country are (eg, rural Kentucky counties are not so good), and that is why I used it as a test.

To make this musical, through Copilot I found a recording of Heinrich Bach, an ancestor of the big JSB.

A silver lining.  Now I kind of want to listen to his music.

[hopefullytrusting]

A silver lining.  Now I kind of want to listen to his music.

From Presto - only 6.50 - Heinrich and two of his sons:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8617613--bach-heinrich-johann-christoph-johann-michael-johann-sebastian

Just sampling right now, and this is good stuff - it stands on it own - so you needn't worry that it was only recorded because they are the ancestors of the big JSB.

[Todd]

so you needn't worry that it was only recorded because they are the ancestors of the big JSB.

I believe that's called Franz Xaver Mozart Syndrome.

[hopefullytrusting]

I believe that's called Franz Xaver Mozart Syndrome.

Hmmm, Kevin Johann Bach has a ring to it ...

[andolink]

A truly wonderful recording and performance of Haydn's "Paukenmesse" - -

Julia Doyle, soprano
Claude Eichenberger, alto
Bernhard Berchtold, tenor
Wolf Matthias Friedrich, bass
Choir & Orchestra of the J.S. Bach Foundation
Rudolf Lutz, conductor

[brewski]

Dvořák: String Quartet No. 13 (Isidore String Quartet). The list of great string quartets currently on the scene seems endless, and now, another one. So happy to hear one of Dvořák's quartets other than the "American," which is great, but so are many of the others.