Your Preferred Category

[marvinbrown]

  Take a look at my avatar, it's obvious how I voted  !

  marvin

[Moldyoldie]

I voted "orchestral", probably for the same reason I prefer full color to black & white graphics.  However, as someone previously exclaimed: "It depends, it depends, it depends."

BTW, my avatar in B&W would hardly be as eye-catching.

[karlhenning]

(I should have mentioned the solo instrument as being keyboard, although it almost seems a given)

Not to some of us who write quite a bit for unaccompanied wind instrument . . . .

[karlhenning]

BTW, my avatar in B&W would hardly be as eye-catching.

But your avatar is chamber and not orchestral . . . .

[Joe_Campbell]

Not to some of us who write quite a bit for unaccompanied wind instrument . . . .

Haha! Oh yes...you play/(write for) the clarinet don't you? I think I knew that. My apologies for marginalizing your preference! I think Mark G. Simon also plays clarinet...

[Moldyoldie]

But your avatar is chamber and not orchestral . . . .

Thank you for catching the irony. It was by design.  _{(Yeah, sure, he says.)}

[Homo Aestheticus]

My preferred category is  definitely opera, with a special focus on Richard Wagner (The Master), Debussy, Richard Strauss, and late Verdi.

[Joe_Campbell]

My preferred category is  definitely opera, with a special focus on Richard Wagner (The Master), Debussy, Richard Strauss, and late Verdi.

I've never heard of the category "definitely opera." Is that like "Absolut Vodka?"

[Homo Aestheticus]

I've never heard of the category "definitely opera." Is that like "Absolut Vodka?"

No, it´s more like.... ´opera is the greatest of all musical art forms´

IMHO.

[Haffner]

I'll write vocal, but Wagner's operas are so orchestral. I love other operas, but overall I'm just as much into the orchestra as the voice...often moreso.

[adamdavid80]

Another Brendel admirer, here.

FK

okay...what are your personal fave brendels?  solo or orchestral?  don, feel free to dive on in...definitely into hearing what you've got to say!

[mn dave]

okay...what are your personal fave brendels?  solo or orchestral?  don, feel free to dive on in...definitely into hearing what you've got to say!

Maybe you should start a Brendel thread. I'd be interested. 

[Bulldog]

okay...what are your personal fave brendels?  solo or orchestral?  don, feel free to dive on in...definitely into hearing what you've got to say!

Brendel is great in Mozart, Liszt, Schubert and Beethoven.  Best of all, his Haydn is perfection for me;  his rhetorical presentation is amazing, and he captures all the sparkle of the sonatas.

[Kuhlau]

okay...what are your personal fave brendels?  solo or orchestral?

Well, as I voted for orchestral music, let's start with Brendel's fabulous way with the Mozart Piano Concerti on Philips (in some of which he's joined by the equally fabulous Imogen Cooper). Brendel has such a masterly knowledge of and feel for both Classical and Romantic repertoire that he can make even some of the arguably less interesting of Mozart's piano concerti sound invigorating, fascinating and worth the effort. I mean, how often do we get recordings of, say, the 19th Piano Concerto? It's not up there with the better-known Nos. 9, 21 and 24, is it? Yet Brendel plays it as though it's a jewel of equal brilliance - it shines beneath his fingers.

Then we have Brendel in the Brahms First Piano Concerto. Christ, what a gem. Let's look past the slightly-too-far-forward recorded sound that messes with the natural balance between Brendel's stellar pianism and Abbado's powerfully driven orchestral support, and focus instead on this great pianist's agility, ferocity, tenderness, playfulness and, when it's needed, restraint. Have you heard his opening notes in the central movement of this work? Heartbreaking is the only word for it.

Of course, we shouldn't ignore Brendel the soloist, either. His Beethoven piano sonatas may not reach me in quite the way that Richard Goode's always seem to, but he clearly knows his stuff (to which anyone with ears can attest). In the piano original of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (a mistranslation, incidentally - it should be 'from' not 'at'), Brendel is devastatingly dazzling. Listen especially to his noble playing of the Great Gate at Kiev. He delivers what can only be described as orchestral textures; these majestically echoed in the reverberation caused by the way he pushes his instrument almost to its limits. And if anyone ever attempts to wrestle from my grasp my copy of Brendel playing all eight of Schubert's Impromptus, I swear violence will done.

Enough said?

FK

[tr. pianist]

Thank you Kuhlau for discussion Brendel so well. I enjoyed reading it. I don't know Brendel's playing as well as you are, but I agree with what you are saying
I love his Mozart concerti and I love his Schubert a lot. He is a great pianist no matter what, but he has more affinity with some composers than with others.
I like some of his Liszt.
May be some times he plays on the cautious side and does't completely let himself go. But not all pianists do that.

I am so glad that there are people here who love to listen piano solo. I get tired of the same sound.
As a pianist I find it is very useful and even necessary to listen to orcheatral sounds, to the voice and solo instruments. If one doesn't have these sounds in the head piano sounds dry and boring. Other musical sounds help one's imagination.

[Opus106]

And if anyone ever attempts to wrestle from my grasp my copy of Brendel playing all eight of Schubert's Impromptus, I swear violence will done.

I'm glad I won't need to fight with you. That's one of my favourite CDs in my collection. 

[Grazioso]

In order of preference:

1) orchestral, specifically the symphony from around 1800 on. For me, orchestral music is the core of classical music, and the symphony is the king of classical music genres--music at its most grand and complex and lofty. So far, I've collected the complete symphonies of around 75 composers, yet there are many more I want to hear, so that dominates most of my listening and collecting.
2) chamber music, particularly of the Classical and early Romantic periods, because of its intimacy and clarity and grace. If Mozart's chamber music doesn't bring a smile to your face, nothing will
3) vocal, be it Lieder, choral, or opera, I enjoy from time to time and want to explore more of but just haven't really gotten around to it, despite listening to classical music for something like 15 years
4) solo instrumental in last place since it mostly means solo keyboard, something I'm not particularly fond of but do enjoy now and again. It's nice to break out the old Liszt or Schubert for a change of pace once or twice a year.

[marvinbrown]

My preferred category is  definitely opera, with a special focus on Richard Wagner (The Master), Debussy, Richard Strauss, and late Verdi.

 Great minds think alike mon ami  !  However I feel compelled to ask you: how do you feel about Puccini's and Mozart's operas??

 marvin

[Guido]

 Great minds think alike mon ami  !  However I feel compelled to ask you: how do you feel about Puccini's and Mozart's operas??

 marvin

That sounds very close to "Great minds think like me" !

[Bulldog]

I'm very surprised at the low count for the vocal category.  Guess there aren't many folks on the board who have the view of a past
co-worker of mine - "How can you listen to music that has no singing?".