short masterpieces

[marvinbrown]

  Richard Strauss' Four Last Songs .  I can't believe no one has mentioned these....

  marvin

[Tsaraslondon]

  Richard Strauss' Four Last Songs .  I can't believe no one has mentioned these....

  marvin

Well I'd hardly call them little! 

[mikkeljs]

Does little mean short? If so, I recall, that Stockhausen wanted his last piece to last one second, containing 600 voices. But he didn´t compose it.

[marvinbrown]

Well I'd hardly call them little! 

  Agreed! In approximately 20 minutes (each song averages less than 5.5 minutes)  Richard Strauss was able to convey so much emotion that the term "little" certainly doesn't apply!  They certainly are the "shortest" masterpieces in my collection!

  marvin

[Henk]

Ok, maybe we should change the subject description. My english is not that good, so I tried "little". I changed it to "short". Better?

Henk

[The new erato]

I've been thinking to mention that Edvard Grieg (156 cm) and Bela Bartok both were short masters, and now you've changed the title of the thread! D..n!

[jochanaan]

I've been thinking to mention that Edvard Grieg (156 cm) and Bela Bartok both were short masters, and now you've changed the title of the thread! D..n!

A short Masters' is when they only play one hole of eighteen. Or getting your second degree in a single semester.

[M forever]

Nevertheless, when Rimsky-Korsakov's disciple Stravinsky left Russia he went to Paris and enlisted Monteau and Ansermet to produce his music, he didn't go to Germany and get Furtwangler and Knappertsbusch.

Yes, but for reasons which have nothing to do with your clichéed ideas there. And that didn't create any musical traditions anyway. Wherever Stravinsky could have gone, he was mostly interested in breaking with tradition, not continuing old ones or founding news ones. In any case, where Stravinsky went or not has nothing to do with the fact that your theories about those cultural relationships are still very wrong. These relationships are really much more complex than you think.

[scarpia]

Yes, but for reasons which have nothing to do with your clichéed ideas there. And that didn't create any musical traditions anyway. Wherever Stravinsky could have gone, he was mostly interested in breaking with tradition, not continuing old ones or founding news ones. In any case, where Stravinsky went or not has nothing to do with the fact that your theories about those cultural relationships are still very wrong. These relationships are really much more complex than you think.

My views of Rimsky-Korsakov don't rest on any particular cultural theories, but from my impressions upon listening to his music.  The core of his work are the operas, and pieces such as the Golden Cockerel don't strike me as flowing from the tradition of Wagner.  The sparkling sound work of these pieces brings to mind works by Massenet,  or others of the tradition of French Grand Opera.   The orchestral works are secondary, but strike me as being in a similar spirit as Liszt, whose influences were quite eclectic.

[M forever]

See, these personal impressions are much more worth and shareable than declarations about whole schools of orchestral playing and assumed connections which aren't really there. Whether or not Rimsky-Korsakov's very brilliant and colorful orchestration is directly influenced by French oopera composers such as Massenet I can't say. Although elaborate in its own way, it strikes me as a rather different palette of sonorities. Maybe other people can comment on that as well. Then we would actualy have some kind of discussion here, for a change.

BTW, I like the new avatar. That doesn't have anything to do with mine, does it?

[scarpia]

BTW, I like the new avatar. That doesn't have anything to do with mine, does it?

It is hard to imagine that someone who works in cinema hasn't seen Jaws.

[M forever]

Is that a movie?

[Christo]

McPhee's Tabuh tabuhan you are correct it does indeed have three movements, I do love it!   I have the Mercury Living Presence which is coupled with Roger Sessions' The Black Maskers. 

Legendary performance, and my favourite one too  - there are a few others, but this first-born is somehow still the most atmospheric of them all.

[Ten thumbs]

I wish more folk could let us know what they like about specific pieces. I am not likely to explore titles I don't know, if there is no expansion.

Point taken. Here are some explanations apart from the supreme musicianship I mentioned.
I love the Bach English Suite Prelude for its pulsating rhythms, and it's by Bach. Need I say more!
Im Abendroth conjures up a vast serene landscape on which the dying sun is slowly setting.
I've read adverse criticisms of Chopin's Op62.1 but for me the middle section enters an almost trancelike state and I love it.
Those who imagine you need lots of notes to make good music should listen to Nuages Gris to see how wrong they are.
Hensel's Allegro vivace is one of the best examples of melodic development ever composed. I find its exploitation of climaxes and variation in pitch masterly and exhilarating.
Alkan follows a tradition of writing andantinos of great emotional depth. If you find this one too long to be 'little' look up his Andantinetto Op70.2, which sets a 2/4 melody against a 3/4 accompaniment.
It took me a while to understand Medtner's Opheliensgesang but it is now my favorite of his piano pieces.
Listen for the the fluctuating phrase lengths and that gorgeous little canon at the end.
Mel Bonis's song could almost be described as idealist. The phrases are heaven inspired and the harmony magical (she was a fist prize winner in harmony at the Paris Conservatoire). It closes, as the words say 'Rêveusement, tu me souris'.   

[Monsieur Croche]

Any of Debussy's piano works.

That is a hefty statement to make! No, I am not going to waste my time disagreeing with you; I have no wish to disillusion myself.

Let me add a few more works that has not been mentioned (keeping away from piano works and songs):

Barber – Adagio for Strings
Copland – Quiet City
Debussy – Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
Dvořák – Carnival, Othello, Scherzo capriccioso
Griffes – The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan
Honegger – Rugby
Ives – Central Park in the Dark, The Unanswered Question
Leifs – Hekla (at least in loudness)
Mahler – Blumine
Mendelssohn – Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ravel – Introduction and Allegro for Harp, Flute, Clarinet, and String Quartet
Revueltas – Sensemaya
Roussel – Divertissement for Piano and Wind Quintet
Saint-Saëns – Phaeton, Le rouet d'omphale
Schumann – Manfred Overture
Sibelius – Pohjola's Daughter, The Oceanides, The Bard
Stravinsky – Fireworks
Suk – Fantastic Scherzo
Takemitsu – Towards the Sea, A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden
Tchaikovsky – Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, 1812 Overture (Gosh! Am I lowering the bar a little too much here?)
Wolf – Italian Serenade

[Joe_Campbell]

There are Medtner's Fairy Tales, which are completely charming.

I also love Scrabin's Op.65 3 etudes. Each one is around 3 minutes long, yet they are all wonderfully mysterious.

[Opus106]

Rachmaninoff
Op.3 No.2 - Prelude in C sharp minor

Love it!

O.T.: Firefox's spell-checker informs me that Rachmaninoff is incorrectly spelt, and as a suggestion offers me Rachmaninov. Mozilla Forever!

[karlhenning]

Oops.

Could have happened to anyone.

Little masterpieces:

Stravinsky, Symphony of Wind Instruments
Prokofiev, Seven, They Are Seven
Schoenberg, A Survivor from Warsaw
Shostakovich, Preface to the Complete Collection of My Works and Brief Reflections Apropos This Preface
Sibelius, Valse triste

[karlhenning]

O.T.: Firefox's spell-checker informs me that Rachmaninoff is incorrectly spelt, and as a suggestion offers me Rachmaninov. Mozilla Forever!

Khool!

[sound67]

Mossolov, Zavod

Thomas