Main Menu

Recent posts

#1
Schubert SQs 1, 2, Rosamunde, and the other 2 (why are there two SQ #2s!?) Melos Q

#2
Berg String Quartet
Janáček  String Quartet No.1  "The Kreutzer Sonata"


#3
The Diner / Re: Last Movie You Watched
Last post by brewski - Today at 04:52:13 AM
Yesterday, Beach Birds for Camera (1993, dir. Elliot Caplan), one of the most beautiful dance films I've ever seen. The choreography is by Merce Cunningham, with music by John Cage (Four3).

From the Merce Cunningham Trust:
 
Cunningham said of his choreography for "Beach Birds", "It is all based on individual physical phrasing. The dancers don't have to be exactly together. They can dance like a flock of birds, when they suddenly take off." A work for eleven dancers, the rhythm for "Beach Birds" was much more fluid than other Cunningham dances, so that the sections could differ in length from performance to performance. John Cage composed the music, and painter Marsha Skinner provided the costumes and décor. The dancers were dressed identically in all white leotards and tights, with black gloves. Skinner's backcloth was a white scrim on which the light varied in color and intensity, decided by a lighting plot that was devised using chance methods. While the timings did not relate to the dance structure, the gradual changes of light have been interpreted to imitate those that might occur from dawn to dusk on a beach. "Beach Birds" was adapted for film and called "Beach Birds for Camera."

You can see an excerpt—almost half of the film—here.

-Bruce
#4
Quote from: W.A. Mozart on March 27, 2024, 09:20:03 AMPatrick Doyle had to deceive the general public, not experts of music theory, and I think that his composition works well for this purpose.

It's not about deception - you do Doyle a disservice. As I said earlier, the idea is to write music which, whilst stylistically similar, exerts the same effect on modern ears as its models did on ears of the original period. Here, for example, Doyle's music focuses on what one could simply call the more luscious and immediately expressive aspects of the style. In a true piece of the period these moments would be offset by something different, often more formulaic (Charles Rosen's word, not meant as derogatory) in order to provide structural contrast and support.

Quote from: W.A. Mozart on March 27, 2024, 09:20:03 AMOf course if you are an expert of music theory you might notice little details that tells you that it's contemporary neoclassical music instead of pure Classical music, and I'm ok with this classification.

As you are more expert than me about music theory, I trust what you say, but I'm curious to know what did you notice exactly.

The book "Sense and Sensibility" was written between 1795 and 1810. However, the woman in the film says that the piece was her dead father's favourite, so it means that it must be an old piece, probably composed in the era of galant music.

If we agree about the fact that the intention of Doyle was to write galant music, I can proceed with the following observation.


It doesn't sound like a formless piece to my ears. It's reminescent of the tripartite form (pseudosonata-form) used in the slow movements of galant music, with a lyrical melody repeated twice in the same way at beginning, developed and dramatized in the middle section and recapitulated at the end.


Lyrical melody - Repetion - Development - Recapitulation


I'll take the the slow movement of the String Quartet No. 10 of Mozart as an example.

00:00 - 01:27 Lyrical melody
01:28 - 02:55 Repetition
02:56 - 03:54 Development
03:55 Recapitulation




The piece of Patrick Doyle.

00:00 - 00:55 Lyrical melody (orchestra)
00:56 - 01:44 Repetition (piano)
01:45 - 04:41 Development
04:42 - 05:27 Recapitulation




I'd say that the difference between the two is that in the piece of Mozart the exposition is more elaborated but the development shorter, while the exposition in the piece of Doyle is more simple but the development is longer.

Mozart wrote self-contained expositions and short developments, but I don't know if it was the practice of galant music or if it's a Mozart's hallmark.


However, I think that you are wrong about the formless nature of Doyle's piece. Even in respect to the form it reminds galant music, so I think that it could deceive not only the general public, but also the general public of classical music.
Perhaps it can not deceive an expert of music theory.

It's that overlong 'development' section, which tellingly underlies much of the dialogue - it's long so as to fit the dialogue, but stylistically and simply musically this make it disproportionate . This is a point where the music - which was originally the subject of the conversation and thus something the viewer should be actively listening to - retreats into the background so that the viewer focuses back onto the dialogue. Therefore what I call its formlessness at this point is also excellent, expert film-scoring. But it does compromise the music as a free-standing piece.

By formless, I don't mean the overall structure, I mean that the melodic line (deliberately)loses focus here and becomes generic note spinning for three minutes, enough to 'sound about right's but without attracting the viewers attention by being thematically or motivically relevant. It's effective scoring by being deliberately loose and meandering.

If it was a form it wouldn't be
 
Exposition
Development
Recapitulation

it would be

Exposition
wafflewafflewaffleinthebackground
Recapitulation

and, as I say, this is in the context of the film a good thing, but as a piece of music alone it undermines it. The music works with the images, as it was designed to - it is film music. On its own it is less successful - it is not classical music pur sang

#5
Quote from: Herman on March 27, 2024, 01:47:36 AMThere is something ghoulish in audiences insisting on deeply aged performers to keep going on because of some attachment to the known and familiar faces. They want to see 'the last recital'. Well, they did. Some conductors come to mind, too...

You make it sound as if Pollini was a brainless and faithful executant of the will and wishes of a sadistic audience and had no say whatsoever in when, where and what to play...

#6
The Diner / Re: What are you currently rea...
Last post by Ganondorf - Today at 03:40:00 AM
Quote from: Crudblud on Today at 01:12:12 AMZola - Au Bonheur des Dames ("The Ladies' Paradise", trans. Nelson, Oxford Classics)

I read that Zola work some time ago. Zola is a magnificent evocative writer to be sure but I must also say that his male protagonists tend to be swines. If Zola even half-heartedly agrees with the kind of treatment his female characters receive in his books, then he must be the ultimate sexist.
#7
Bruhns & Schildt

Another fine organ recording !









#8
Quote from: Herman on March 27, 2024, 01:47:36 AMThe better way to express this compassion had been if Pollini's agent (et al) had realized earlier that it was time to stop planning recitals, and retire in peace. I have a hard time believing a perfectionist artist like Pollini (who nixed many recordings because they weren't flawless) took away from this catastrophic recital "People don't care, they love me anyway", rather than "I failed at Schumann." He cared deeply about this.

There is something ghoulish in audiences insisting on deeply aged performers to keep going on because of some attachment to the known and familiar faces. They want to see 'the last recital'. Well, they did. Some conductors come to mind, too...

I think there is no need to expect technical perfection from a great pianist, especially one who is no longer young. We're talking about a human, not a machine. Or impeccable memory, for the same reason. Even young pianists often play from notes. There is a special charm in imperfections and faults. Pianistic wabi-sabi. 
#9
General Classical Music Discussion / Re: David Hurwitz
Last post by Mookalafalas - Today at 02:50:49 AM
Quote from: 71 dB on January 20, 2024, 02:51:26 AMIn the beginning, say for the first 5 years up to early 90s, Naxos was kind of a bargain-basement label, but it developed fast into a quality label with bargain-basement label pricing made possible by the business success (large average amount of copies sold of releases). However, the amount of copies sold has shrunk since and Naxos isn't anymore priced as a bargain-basement label, unfortunately. The price advantage has been lost, but on the other hand the overall quality is quite high.

  Yes, they recently bought another whole label. I didn't see that coming.

  Anyway, back to Hurwitz. I think this is a perfect example of why he is valuable. This is a nice, reasonable review of the Berglund box, with good points and good info. It's in Dave's typical "rough and ready" style, but I can't imagine anyone finding anything objectionable here. {well, I supposed GMG folk will readily prove me wrong ::) }
https://youtu.be/wbr32waHrS8?si=4Zi1d5fW9OwDy5nU
#10
New arrival
Shostakovich 10th Symphony, LSO, Previn
I like this series of Japanese releases of classic recordings, notwithstanding the notes being all in Japanese. I always thought highly of this performance. This CD features the LP cover of the original release: