GMG Classical Music Forum

Please post links to intersting Classical Music blogs and personal webpages! :)

My first contribution - mainly of interest for those who read French... :-\

A very highly sophisticated blog, covering all aspects of art, but music in particular - with main focus on Early Music & Baroque. It includes reviews of recordings and samples.

JardinBaroque (http://jardinbaroque.mabulle.com/index.php/Prima-la-musica)

Q

   My  blog,  the  horn,  at  blogiversity.org, which  has  blogs  and  forums  on  a  wide  variety  of  topics, covers  all  aspects  of  classical  music,  and  is  aimed  at  explaining  and  mystifying  those  who  know  little  or  nothing  about  classical  music  but  would like  to learn  more.
  The  URL  is  http://www.blogiversity.org/blogs/the__horn/default.aspx
 
   You  can  also  just  click  on  the  upper  right  corner  of the  home  page  on  Recent  Blog  Posts,  or  reach  it  through  links  at  these  blogs :
  http://www.mahlerowesmetenbucks.blogspot.com,  http://www.horndogblog.com, 
or  http://blog.onopera.com  . 
 
   My  blog  covers  orchestral  music,  opera, chamber  music,  choral  works,
etc, any  kind  of  classical  music,  and   I  also  discuss  famous  composers, 
conductors,  instrumentalists,  singers,  music  history, elementary  music  theory, definitions,  classical  music  news,  recommendations  of   classical  masterpieces  for  classical  newbies  to  try,  classical   CD  and  DVD  recommendations,  classical  music  humor,  profiles  of  different  musical  instruments,  including  my own,  the  Horn,  descriptions  and  plots  of  famous  operas,  comparisons  between  classical  music  and  politics,  and  much  more.  I  hope  you'll  find  it interesting.  Please  leave  any  comments.
 
   

My two favorites:

http://www.overgrownpath.com (http://www.overgrownpath.com)


http://ionarts.blogspot.com/ (http://ionarts.blogspot.com/)

Quote from: Que on December 13, 2008, 02:23:25 AM
Please post links to intersting Classical Music blogs and personal webpages! :)

My first contribution - mainly of interest for those who read French... :-\

A very highly sophisticated blog, covering all aspects of art, but music in particular - with main focus on Early Music & Baroque. It includes reviews of recordings and samples.

JardinBaroque (http://jardinbaroque.mabulle.com/index.php/Prima-la-musica)

Q

Seems very interesting, but too much frenching for me.

   You  can  just  go  to  blogiversity.org,  and  click  on  Recent  Blog  Posts
on  the  upper  right  of  the   home  page,  or  as  I  said,  click  on  lonks  at 
the  blogs  mahlerowesmetenbucks.blogspot.com,  horndogblog.com,
or  blog.onopera.com.

   On  my  URL,  leave  oput  the  last  part/archive. That  might  help.
My  mistake.

A couple more:

http://www.therestisnoise.com/ (http://www.therestisnoise.com/)

http://csobassblog.blogspot.com/ (http://csobassblog.blogspot.com/)

Quote from: Que on December 13, 2008, 02:23:25 AM
Please post links to intersting Classical Music blogs and personal webpages! :)

You might find this resource useful for a listing of classical music blogs:

http://www.soundsandfury.com/soundsandfury/2008/10/sounds-fury-top-50-classical-music-blogs-3rd-quarter-2008-jul-sep.html

I'll be linking to my fledgling classical music review blog in my signature very soon, but here's the URL for anyone who wants a preview before I launch the site on January 1st 2009: www.aneverymanforhimself.com

Those interested in classical music blogs will find links to others from my site. ;)

FK

For downloading

http://classicalheaven.blogspot.com/

http://barocco-music.blogspot.com/

http://www.avaxhome.ws/music/classical

Many interesting links already posted - many thanks! :)

Here's another Baroque "Jungle" run by an Italian (but you can navigate in English) - fascinating and totally absorbing.
Don't get lost! ;D

(http://www.gfhbaroque.it/images/gfh_soleil.gif) (http://www.gfhbaroque.it/)

Q

   Here are some more interesting sites and blogs :

http://www.artsjournal.com/  -  This has blogs on the other arts too, such as art, architecture and dance etc, but plenty of classical music coverage, and blogs by Greg Sandow, Kyle Gann, Henry Fogel, Norman Lebrecht and others.

http://jessicamusic.blogspot.com/  -  Classical blog with extensive links by British novelist, classical music enthusiast and wife of a violinist in the London Philharmonic.

http://www.mvdaily.com/  and  Vision-  British-based classical music website with blogs, reviews of live performances, CDs, DVDs, book reviews etc.

http://www.musicweb-international.com/ -  classical blogs, reviews of live performances, CDs and DVDs ,nd some of the most interesting articles on classical music I have ever read on the internet.

Blognoggle is a very good aggregator tracking about 100 classical music blogs, here (http://www.blognoggle.com/classical.html).  Chris Foley maintains another aggregator that displays them slightly differently, here (http://www.pageflakes.com/chrisfoley/14649039).

--Bruce

Very interesting, Bruce. Especially Foley's. Thanks. :)

FK

Quote from: jlaurson on December 22, 2008, 01:08:52 PM
Impossible to do this humbly, but here's mine...

http://www.weta.org/fmblog (http://www.weta.org/fmblog)

Nice blog you have there. I'll swing by more often. :)

FK

Hello,

I am sorry if it is in the wrong section but I thought it is the good one... I started recently a blog (non profit one so I am not advertising to make money) about 18th century music blog (well, actually more between 1650-1830, but 18th century remains my principal interest). I propose some music samples from good recordings. I invite you to check out.

http://handelbaroque.wordpress.com/

Thanks

Handel.

Thanks. I've added it to my Reader.

Here is my blog about my favorite recording company, Telarc.  They record mostly Classical and Jazz.
The Telarc High Resolution Fan Club (http://telarc-hires.blogspot.com/)

Jusr a plug for my own blog, Liberated Dissonance (http://liberateddissonance.blogspot.com/), though given the compeition listed above, it's getting harder to see the point. 

Blog includes links to my music previews and non-musical, weekly newspaper column.

Bruce, I sent an e-mail to blognoggle, asking to be listed on their classical music page, but I never heard back. How do you get their attention?

Here's mine,

http://octoruss.blogspot.com/ (http://octoruss.blogspot.com/)

Sweet, opera reviews:

http://npw-opera-concerts.blogspot.com/

Sorry, Philo, but our viewpoint on gratuitous vulgarity has remained constant in your absence. Welcome back, BTW. 8)  GB

Sorry for posting a blog in French again...I guess Francophones just adore Baroque Music!

(http://www.musebaroque.fr/images/titre_muse.jpg) (http://www.musebaroque.fr/index.htm)

Q

http://www.robert-hill-live.blogspot.com/

A blog for anyone interested in period instruments and historically informed performances of Classical and Baroque music.

:)

Hello:

Les presento un foro para compartir música (de manera altruista, siempre) y debatir sobre ella; especialmente de música antigua (antiqva), hasta Monteverdi (más o menos).

I present a forum for sharing music (so unselfish, always) discuss it; especially early music (Antiqva) to Monteverdi (more or less).

https://sonusantiqva.org (https://sonusantiqva.org)

this blog looks like some sort of scam uh... not very genuine and written to attract links, not a devoted readership... and if there's any ranking involved, I obviously disagree with it... but perhaps of interest all the same:

50 Best Blogs for Exploring Classical Music
http://www.mastersdegree.net/blog/2010/50-best-blogs-for-exploring-classical-music/ (http://www.mastersdegree.net/blog/2010/50-best-blogs-for-exploring-classical-music/)

For those interested in classical recordings on ECM Records' New Series imprint, feel free to check out my ECM blog, which contains a growing number of reviews and short essays. I am currently in the process of reviewing every classical release on the label and welcome your comments and/or suggestions:

http://ecmreviews.com/

As of this posting, my most recent review is of Giya Kancheli's Magnum Ignotum, featuring the great Rostropovich.

Thank you,
Tyran

Thanks for the link - the quality of review sure beats my usual source - Amazon ;D

Top 10 Live "At-Large" Performances of 2010
http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2010/12/top-10-live-at-large-performances-of.html (http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2010/12/top-10-live-at-large-performances-of.html)

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fvqDJniJWuw/TR3o6mX0XXI/AAAAAAAABYI/ditZstxYQss/s320/Damrau_Act1_W_Hoesl.jpg)  (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fvqDJniJWuw/TFxX5a2bhcI/AAAAAAAABJU/cCyNohzrs28/s400/Lulu_act2_Monika_Rittershaus_lynniemylove.jpg)   (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fvqDJniJWuw/TGl7BF6-IqI/AAAAAAAABK0/aRk7cuPL1Xk/s400/web-giovanni_2010_152.jpg)

What do you think of my Blog?, my Blog is now one year old, and i wondered what people think of it on this forum, i'm quite biased for it, but would like to get an idea from anyone seeing it for the first time, my Blog is a personal journal of my listening activities, and yet it's nice to have an audience too, my Blog is roughly 75-80% Classical.

So take a look, http://octoruss.blogspot.com/ tell me what you think, im very much interested in, Questions / Improvements / Criticisms / Advice / Suggestions / Praise even, feel free to comment, i won't get upset if you don't like it, i just want to get a feel for what others think.

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_y_1Nw_eemq8/TRZWzy75XVI/AAAAAAAABgo/zck4IbAszTw/S1600-R/Octo_Russ%2B7.png)

Quote from: Octo_Russ on January 01, 2011, 02:28:31 PM
What do you think of my Blog?, my Blog is now one year old, and i wondered what people think of it on this forum, i'm quite biased for it, but would like to get an idea from anyone seeing it for the first time, my Blog is a personal journal of my listening activities, and yet it's nice to have an audience too, my Blog is roughly 75-80% Classical.

So take a look, http://octoruss.blogspot.com/ tell me what you think, im very much interested in, Questions / Improvements / Criticisms / Advice / Suggestions / Praise even, feel free to comment, i won't get upset if you don't like it, i just want to get a feel for what others think.

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_y_1Nw_eemq8/TRZWzy75XVI/AAAAAAAABgo/zck4IbAszTw/S1600-R/Octo_Russ%2B7.png)

Well my tentacly challenged friend, I like the style and layout of your blog, and your side notes give it gravitas.  Your present seems well informed.
Weakness:  Spread over too many genres, but its always good to read intelligent, well informed reviews.

Quote from: Octo_Russ on January 01, 2011, 02:28:31 PM
What do you think of my Blog?, my Blog is now one year old, and i wondered what people think of it on this forum, i'm quite biased for it, but would like to get an idea from anyone seeing it for the first time, my Blog is a personal journal of my listening activities, and yet it's nice to have an audience too, my Blog is roughly 75-80% Classical.

So take a look, http://octoruss.blogspot.com/ tell me what you think, im very much interested in, Questions / Improvements / Criticisms / Advice / Suggestions / Praise even, feel free to comment, i won't get upset if you don't like it, i just want to get a feel for what others think.

Your blog is positively lovely! Kudos on the Elgar recommendation, by the way. My only suggestion would be to change the white-text-against-solid-black layout, if possible, as it gets tiring on the eyes rather quickly. Otherwise, blog away! Now that winter break is ending and a new semester awaits, I'm afraid I won't be able to match your listening rate of 3 to 5 discs a day until summer rolls around.

A recently started blog by a very inspiring Czech scientist & bona fide music connoisseur: Smell of Sound (http://smellofsound.blogspot.com/). "Read what I'm listening to," writes the author, "365 recordings for 2011." Audio is provided as well. I don't understand where does he find the time to thoroughly listen to all those recordings AND blog about them as well, but he used to work at CERN, so there might be quantum tunneling black magic involved.

Notions of Bach, Berio, and Galuppi. An Interview with Andrea Bacchetti
http://www.weta.org/fmblog/?p=2721 (http://www.weta.org/fmblog/?p=2721)

(with audio samples)

(http://www.weta.org/fmblog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Andrea-Bacchetti_1-Kopie.png)

 8) here is my blog by me - avid listener, composer, music teacher - is quite new and has posts on classical music amoung other things

http://jamiebonline.blogspot.com/

as said it is new so not many posts yet but there will be more including classical music reviews

thanks to those who visit

I'm make my contribution, too.

My site is www.classicalweekly.com (http://www.classicalweekly.com).  It started out of my realization that as I explore more and more music, I discover fantastic works that I've never heard of before; and then I say "I can't believe I didn't know about that work before".  So now each week I post an excerpt from a work that I think is interesting for some reason (with my non-professional musician comment), as well as a YouTube video of an example of the work.   I found that people new to classical music find it much more accessible to hear a single movement first as opposed to listening to the entire work and then waiting for the proverbial "good part"

I also have on this site an eBook that I wrote, "A Digital Workflow for Classical Music and Opera CDs: Creating High-Quality Archives of your Classical CDs for iTunes, the iPod and other Management Software and Players."  You can get an excerpt at www.classicalweekly.com/eBook (http://www.classicalweekly.com/eBook)

Please check it out and let me know what you think (or if there's a work of classical music that you think that people MUST hear).

Thanks!

http://estanochebarralibre.blogspot.com/

My blog about the music and performers I like best.

http://tuttopavarotti.blogspot.com/

My blog about Pavarotti's career.

For those of you who can read Spanish.

Hi,
I am doing some experiments producing classical music digitally. I invite you to listen some examples on my musicsite (http://klassik.s-fahl.de (http://klassik.s-fahl.de)). It is all CCC, since it is just my joy to do things like that. You will find mostly Pianomusic, but also pianochambermusic, a few string quartetts, orchestral compositions and even some Works with orchestra and choir. I also do like to make rarely heard and recorded composers audible this way. You might find on my page compositions never recorded bevor, but naturally I also trained my knowledge in "digital interpretation" in trying to make recordings of traditional repertoire like Bach, Haydn, Liszt etc. Working together with a frined, who produces samplelibraries of historical instruments I also enjoy to produce recordings of music that historially fits to the sampled instrument. You will find a whole section on my site just for historical keyboards. My just finished Project was to produce Recordings of tha 120 canons and fugues of A.A.Klengel, which is absolutly incredible good music. So if you are interested, just listen. best
fahl5

I ran across this yesterday, while doing some Beethoven research:

http://lvbandmore.blogspot.com/

This appears to be a one-man labor of love, and it's probably the most interesting and wide-ranging LvB site I've yet seen.

Quote from: ~ Que ~ on December 13, 2008, 02:23:25 AM
Please post links to intersting Classical Music blogs and personal webpages! :)

My first contribution - mainly of interest for those who read French... :-\

A very highly sophisticated blog, covering all aspects of art, but music in particular - with main focus on Early Music & Baroque. It includes reviews of recordings and samples.

JardinBaroque (http://jardinbaroque.mabulle.com/index.php/Prima-la-musica)

Q

Que, very interested in seeing this one. I think the Google translater might work good enough. Unfortunately it's coming up with a blank page. I'm using IE9.

Quote from: Teresa on June 12, 2010, 04:43:12 PM
Here is my blog about my favorite recording company, Telarc.  They record mostly Classical and Jazz.
The Telarc High Resolution Fan Club (http://telarc-hires.blogspot.com/)

Joined your blog Teresa. :)

Greetings from London Ontario Canada. I'm an amateur broadcaster who, as a community volunteer,  hosts a classical music programme every Sunday starting at 1:03 p.m. on THIS STATION (http://www.1069fm.ca/stream1.wax) 

I have posted below this week's playlist and hope I am not out of line by doing so.  I've been doing this since 1983 and have garnered world-wide audience over the years.

Reid's Records:   Programme   #1304 June 19/2011
      
1:   Davies: Butterfly Dance CDD1212 CANCON
          Water Lily WLCD 5995                            04:10        4:10

2:    Bretón: Escenas Andaluzas (Bolero)   CDB8796
   Naxos   8572076 (track 1)   07:36   11:46

3:   Trad: Red Army Chorus -2 songs CDE9781
   Analekta 2 9770-5 tracks 1 & 2)   05:29   17:15

4:   Liadov: Polonaise In C CDB3204
   EMI 7475052 (track 1)   06:19   23:34

5:   Anton Rubinstein: Bridal Procession CDM8370
   Naxos 8550328 (track 10)   03:51   28:25

6:      Grieg: Wedding Day At Troldhaugen CDG9587
              Vox CDX 5048 ( track 14)                                                    05:14    33:39

7:      Grieg: Bridal Procession CDG9587
          Vox CDX 5048 (cd-2 track 13)                                                  03:28   37:08

8:     Goldmark:  Rustic Wedding CDG8590
           Naxos 8.550745  (Track 5)   09:06   46:14

9:   L. Mozart: Peasant Wedding M6.0249 CDR-89
           Archiv  2533 328 (side 2, cuts 1-2-3-4-5) 8-9-10- 12         09:26   55:40

10:    Mendelssohn:  Midsummer Night's Dream  CDM4089
           Nimbus 5041 (disc 1,cut 1, disc 2, tracks 6-7)       20:20    76:00

11:   Tchaikovsky: 2nd Symph - 2nd mvmnt CDR6090
   Telarc 80131    (Track 2)    07:12   83:12

12:   Saint-Saëns:   The Wedding Cake CDS1595
   EMI 5 75871 2      (Track 17)    06:48   90:30

13:   Grainger: Husband and Wifey   CDG9541
   Naxos 8.554263 (track 4)   08:21   98:51
NEWS

14:   Keillor/ Von Stade: Cat Came Back CDK
        RCA 09026-61161-2  (track 1)                         03:37   3:37

15:   Berlioz: La Mort d'Ophélie CDB6166
   Philips   416 431-2 (track 6)   07:36   11:13

16:   JS Bach: Brandenburg Concerto 2
   Seraphim 73281 (tracks 5-6-7)   12:00      23:13

17:   Verdi: Variazioni per Oboe CDV3635
   Decca 473 767-2 (track 6)   11:40   34:53

18:   Haydn: C-major Cello Concerto 3rd mvmnt CDH4304
        Naxos 8.550059 (track 3)    06:32   41:15

19:   Respighi: Ancient Airs And Dances CDR4034
           Mercury 416 496-2  (cut 3)                                 05:15    46:30

Sunday afternoon 1:03 P.M.  D.S.T    -5 GMT (Canada) 
http://www.1069fm.ca/stream1.wax

Who's getting married? ;D

(*Thinks to himself*: Where else in the web did I see a wedding-themed list recently?)

EDIT: No, it wasn't in the web. It was actually the quiz in the February issue of BBC Music magazine. :)

Quote from: Radioman on June 18, 2011, 10:41:23 AM
2:    Bretón: Escenas Andaluzas (Bolero)   CDB8796
   Naxos   8572076 (track 1)   07:36   11:46
11:   Tchaikovsky: 2nd Symph - 2nd mvmnt CDR6090
   Telarc 80131    (Track 2)    07:12   83:12
14:   Keillor/ Von Stade: Cat Came Back CDK
        RCA 09026-61161-2  (track 1)                         03:37   3:37
18:   Haydn: C-major Cello Concerto 3rd mvmnt CDH4304
        Naxos 8.550059 (track 3)    06:32   41:15

Those are some great choices sir - welcome to GMG, maybe keep us updated! :) And as my friend from India asks - who's getting married? :)

Thank you for your welcome.  For some reason the month of June is associated with weddings, and so I got into the spirit of things and focused a part of my show on that noble tradition; actually I do that every year around this time.

And yes, seeing as it is acceptable in this forum I will post my playlist here weekly.  The only time you won't see it is on holiday weekends.  That's when this station regresses to its weekday format of rock, rap etc.  I have protested, but all in vain. 

http://everydayguitarist.blogspot.com

A great generalist blog with some insightful commentary on many guitar and music related matters.  Great for lessons, browsing, and general entertainment.

Hi, only joined this community yesterday, so i've barely begun to go through the various discussions on here.

My blog is called 5:4, you can find it here - http://5-against-4.blogspot.com/ - & it's dedicated to contemporary/avant-garde music, although other things creep in there from time to time (i have eclectic tastes!). One of the regular features on the blog is high-quality recordings from radio broadcasts (in FLAC & MP3 format), focussing on premières of new works.

I suppose I might as well advertise mine! :D

For the Ears (http://callumjameshackett.wordpress.com) is where I blog about the "sound-arts" (which I consider to be poetry and music) from a neuro- and evolutionary science perspective.

Polednice, all this time I didn't know you had a blog, and I didn't know the specifics of your medical problems.

I wish you all the best, man. Good luck!

Nice blog btw.

Hi everybody,

We've launched a new Classical Music Website classicalchops.org. We are looking for some feedback from the Music Community. Please feel free to comment on our site or leave feedback here on this thread.

Below you will see our mission statement:

ClassicalChops.org is an interactive web site for young people which encourages their participation in the world of classical music.

We invite visitors to learn about currrent classical music trends, music composition, orchestration, famous musician's history and advice, and communicate about what is happening in their own musical communities through blogging and video.

Thanks!
Classical Chops Team

Forum members in or near San Antonio, Texas may find my classical music event calendar helpful. The link is http://classicalendar.com (http://classicalendar.com)
The calendar list concerts of nearly all of the major area performing arts organizations as well as some lesser-known groups in the Texas Hill Country. Of particular interest at this time is the Beethoven Festival. Beginning January 6, 2012 and continuing until February 18, the San Antonio Symphony and Beethoven Festival partners will perform all the symphonies, all the piano sonatas, all of the works for solo cello, most of the violin sonatas, as well as many other chamber works. All of the Festival concerts are now listed at classicalendar.com.

A few features of the calendar are not obvious at first glance. Hover over an event to see the concert location. Click on the event to see full program information (when available).

I hope you find the calendar helpful in planning your musical adventures!

I recommend everybody to go here and search out postings on the dumbing down of BBC classical music, written by a very knowledgeable, former EMI executive:

http://www.overgrownpath.com/ (http://www.overgrownpath.com/)

An unmissable blog!

Here is my website:

http://www.timothyjuddviolin.com

Denis Matsuev has started a personal blog on his new web site: http://matsuev.com/blog/personal

Denis' videoblog is available both on his site and on his YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/MatsuevDenis

I recently started a couple of new review sites: www.MexicanClassicalMusic.com and www.EnjoyNewMusic.com
The first is pretty self-explanatory- there's not much information about this neglected genre in English.

EnjoyNewMusic.com is for unusual transcriptions of classical music- whether it's different instruments or jazz/rock takes on classical pieces. One of my last posts is an in-depth examination of unusual versions of the Bach Chaconne, which you can see here: http://www.enjoynewmusic.com/index.php/2012/03/03/one-of-the-greatest-achievements-of-any-man-in-history-the-bach-chaconne/ (http://www.enjoynewmusic.com/index.php/2012/03/03/one-of-the-greatest-achievements-of-any-man-in-history-the-bach-chaconne/)
Everything is linked to Spotify, Mog and Grooveshark wherever possible.

Hope you enjoy it!

I just bought the domain name fjhaydn.com . I suppose the next step is obvious. I will send out invites to the grand opening, although I expect it will be a little while before it is ready to go. Hopefully it will be a place that Haydnistos can go to gather and share information. :)

8)

Nice!

My newest blog post features music of Pachelbel, Handel and Bach:

http://www.timothyjuddviolin.com/2012/04/15/the-listeners-club-the-art-of-the-ostinato/

Quote from: Gurnatron5500 on March 10, 2012, 01:49:12 PM
I just bought the domain name fjhaydn.com . I suppose the next step is obvious. I will send out invites to the grand opening, although I expect it will be a little while before it is ready to go. Hopefully it will be a place that Haydnistos can go to gather and share information. :)

8)

That sounds great! Good luck with the project.

Quote from: Gurnatron5500 on March 10, 2012, 01:49:12 PM
I just bought the domain name fjhaydn.com . I suppose the next step is obvious. I will send out invites to the grand opening, although I expect it will be a little while before it is ready to go. Hopefully it will be a place that Haydnistos can go to gather and share information. :)

8)

Fantastic!  I look forward to its unveiling.

:D

Quote from: Gurnatron5500 on March 10, 2012, 01:49:12 PM
I just bought the domain name fjhaydn.com . I suppose the next step is obvious. I will send out invites to the grand opening, although I expect it will be a little while before it is ready to go. Hopefully it will be a place that Haydnistos can go to gather and share information. :)

8)

Hmmm, does that wig go with these breeches?

Ionarts-at-Large: The Admirable, Adorable Stanisław Skrowaczewski

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S3lQPsfJN8E/T7J9NcOe07I/AAAAAAAAB-8/OdvKBAg6vOo/s400/BRSO_Skrowa_DSCH.png)
http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2012/05/ionarts-at-large-admirable-adorable.html (http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2012/05/ionarts-at-large-admirable-adorable.html)

QuoteWhen it rains, it pours. Raining Shostakovich in this case, not the most regularly performed composer in Munich, and now the fifth Symphony in as many days! And incidentally the Fifth Symphony this time – part of the regular Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra season with veteran conductor Polish Stanisław Skrowaczewski on the rostrum.

Stanisław Skrowaczewski is one of those fascinating cases of great, acknowledged, prize-winning, Pulitzer-nominated achievement that yet manages to remain underestimated. The one-time Nadia Boulanger student has worked with the perfectly underestimatable Hallé and Minnesota orchestras. He has recorded superb, but of course underestimated Shostakovich Symphonies (1 & 6, 5 & 10) with the former. And his is by far the best underrated Bruckner Symphony Cycle (with the Saarbrücken RSO on Oehms. Quote Skrowaczewski: "For me, Bruckner is one of the greatest composers, even though I cannot exactly say why." A man after my own heart!)...

OK, well I recently embarked on an insane project - to listen to every piece of music mentioned in the June 2012 edition of Gramophone Magazine (because it was there!) and blog about each one. The blog is called Wheels of Cheese, in celebration of the time I saw Sir Simon Rattle buying two enormous wheels of cheese at the Covent Garden market at the interval of Haitinck conducting Parsifal.

The link is here

http://www.peter-salmon.co.uk/petersalmon/category/wheels-of-cheese/

Cheers

Pete

Quote from: Wheels of Cheese on July 24, 2012, 12:35:14 PM
OK, well I recently embarked on an insane project - to listen to every piece of music mentioned in the June 2012 edition of Gramophone Magazine (because it was there!) and blog about each one. The blog is called Wheels of Cheese, in celebration of the time I saw Sir Simon Rattle buying two enormous wheels of cheese at the Covent Garden market at the interval of Haitinck conducting Parsifal.

The link is here

http://www.peter-salmon.co.uk/petersalmon/category/wheels-of-cheese/

Cheers

Pete

He always struck me as slightly cheesy; at least his hair did.

I'm in the process of rerunning a series of posts I did for Boing Boing on my own blog. The series is called "Adventures in Music" and it was designed to interest young creative people in the animation industry in music they might not have considered before. The jump page to the entire series of posts is here...

http://animationresources.org/?p=3563

Enjoy!

Well, I'm new and I just came across your forum and would like to add my LP Record Collection to your web pages.
I have some 7000 or so Classical albums and they are all there to search through, with a high res photo of front and back and inside,
in case people want to know what is on those records.
The site is this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hansthijs/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/hansthijs/)
Have fun if you want to search for anything and have a good Christmas holidays

Greetings from Hans in Holland

If you are looking for information about works for concertante violin and orchestra of the 20th century, check my database:

www.violinconcerto.de (http://www.violinconcerto.de)

Information about more than 12.000 works with publisher, instrumentation, movements, premiere details and existing recordings.

would love to hear your feedback about my new video and my new album, I am a classically trained cellist but I also play many other genres, my music is mostly influenced by my classical roots.
-Mania - one man cello band by Yoed Nir:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBVWY2qsqY8
-Full album:
http://yoednir.bandcamp.com

thank you so much for listening
yoed

We squeezed in Classical Music at Forbes!

Bit of economics... to spice it up, though when it comes to the recommended recordings (next iteration), it will probably be too basic for most GMG-members.
(Though still, perhaps or especially, kick off a nifty debate.)

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--WCYx96t5nM/US4sl0JENjI/AAAAAAAAGNs/AuogZx9uJms/s1600/Classical-Music_100_dollars_Forbes_laurson_600.jpg) (http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2013/02/on-forbes-two-cents-about-classical.html)

Two Cents About Classical Music For $100
Pronounced dead, classical music is more alive than ever

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Fgpw062ytpI/US4nwTmDnhI/AAAAAAAAGNY/x1G7i9EJkE8/s1600/FORBES_Rational-Bias_laurson_600.jpg) (http://www.forbes.com/sites/laursonpieler/2013/02/27/two-cents-about-classical-music-for-100/)

The actual List:

Probably too basic for most GMG-lers... but would be interesting to know if you've come to classical music via totally different or similar experiences... or what your choices would be.


(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Fgpw062ytpI/US4nwTmDnhI/AAAAAAAAGNY/x1G7i9EJkE8/s1600/FORBES_Rational-Bias_laurson_600.jpg)
Sound Advice:
How To Build A Top Quality Classical Music Library For $100

http://www.forbes.com/sites/laursonpieler/2013/03/05/sound_adivce_how-to-build-a-top-quality-classical-music-library-for-100/ (http://www.forbes.com/sites/laursonpieler/2013/03/05/sound_adivce_how-to-build-a-top-quality-classical-music-library-for-100/)

Quote from: jlaurson on March 06, 2013, 11:56:48 AM
The actual List:

Probably too basic for most GMG-lers... but would be interesting to know if you've come to classical music via totally different or similar experiences... or what your choices would be.


(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Fgpw062ytpI/US4nwTmDnhI/AAAAAAAAGNY/x1G7i9EJkE8/s1600/FORBES_Rational-Bias_laurson_600.jpg)
Sound Advice:
How To Build A Top Quality Classical Music Library For $100

http://www.forbes.com/sites/laursonpieler/2013/03/05/sound_adivce_how-to-build-a-top-quality-classical-music-library-for-100/ (http://www.forbes.com/sites/laursonpieler/2013/03/05/sound_adivce_how-to-build-a-top-quality-classical-music-library-for-100/)

I've tried doing this exercise, and it is really difficult, so I do appreciate just how hard to it is to narrow down to a handful of discs. I like some of the choices (actually I like almost all of the choices on a personal note), but would aim for an even broader range of composers. So I would try to slip in this one (I like it has a mix of composers, several not otherwise represented - Prokofiev, Britten, Dukas, etc. -  as well as a mix of pieces):
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/519ly8XHLfL._SX300_.jpg)

The other composer that is missing is Brahms (well, Schumann too, but harder to mix him in). I think I'd try to work him in by replacing the Dvorak/Tchaikovsky disc (maybe a Brahms/Dvorak disc, of which there are several). Also, opera is missing, so I might try to replace the Strauss with Strauss + something else (not more Strauss) or perhaps an arias disc. But then perhaps you feel the selections become too broad without enough focus, a fair comment. There is no right answer, but a fun exercise.

Quote from: mc ukrneal on April 07, 2013, 05:48:03 AM


The other composer that is missing is Brahms (well, Schumann too, but harder to mix him in). I think I'd try to work him in by replacing the Dvorak/Tchaikovsky disc (maybe a Brahms/Dvorak disc, of which there are several). Also, opera is missing, so I might try to replace the Strauss with Strauss + something else (not more Strauss) or perhaps an arias disc. But then perhaps you feel the selections become too broad without enough focus, a fair comment. There is no right answer, but a fun exercise.

yep... it is tough. and focus is probably more important than "catch-all". After all, it's not about trying to represent classical music in all its facets, it's only out to be a hook.

The omission of opera is intentional. Not only does opera turn more people off classical music than it turns them on (if they're not already into it), it's a real budget killer. And yes, some get into classical music through opera, but those wouldn't be caught with this list, anyway. Brahms might make it on the second hundred dollars. :-) He had just made my list when I tried this the first time around: http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2011/01/classical-music-for-100.html (http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2011/01/classical-music-for-100.html)

Hi everyone, just found this board and was wondering if any of you folks could help me with my classical radio blog. It's a blog covering classical radio programs around the world, with a listening grid/schedule with featured/selected/curated programs that you can listen to directly. These are real radio programs with live hosts, etc, not streaming services.  If anyone outside the U.S. would play as many, or all, of the radio streams for a few seconds to see if there are any that are blocked, for streaming outside the U.S., it would be a great help. I don't think it is possible to block the streams, since they are not flash-based, but I'm not sure.

Any other recommendations would also be appreciated. The blog is new, and your feedback would be usefule. Thanks for your time.
John O'Hara
Classical Radio Guide

http://www.classicalradioguide.com/p/roku-player.html (http://www.classicalradioguide.com/p/roku-player.html)

Articulate Silences is a blog that provides essays and listening guides to important works of 20th and 21st-century classical music. In the interests of full disclosure, I'm one of the contributors to the blog. They are open to new contributors, so if you feel like writing a listening guide, get in touch with them!

http://articulatesilences.wordpress.com/

Hi!
Just joined this forum so I hope this doesn't seem to brash.  Here's my Stockhausen blog, where I plan to analyze and make people-friendly the krazy contemporary music of Karlheinz Stockhausen!

http://stockhausenspace.blogspot.com/ (http://stockhausenspace.blogspot.com/)

But, wait! He's dead . . . so he's no longer contemporary.

Call it a minor adjustment. Best of luck with the blog!

Quote from: karlhenning on May 08, 2014, 11:08:44 AM
But, wait! He's dead . . . so he's no longer contemporary.

LOL!  Would you believe he's hanging out with Jim Morrison and Elvis in a secure secret location? :)

Quote from: uatu on May 09, 2014, 02:39:58 PM
LOL!  Would you believe he's hanging out with Jim Morrison and Elvis in a secure secret location? :)

This conversation might take a Maxwellian (as in Smart) turn..

Hi, I'm the director of Youth Symphony Media (YSM), the first online media for young classical musicians in the world. It was founded in 2014 in San Francisco Bay Area, CA, We provide an educational online media community that let's everyone share their musical experience and teamwork, such as videos, audios and stories. We also provide daily newsletter to our members, including high-quality online music videos, interesting stories about young musicians, news & press of upcoming events and competitions.

You are all welcome to sign up as our honored member at: http://www.youthsymphonymedia.com/watch.php?vid=3e0033666

Quote from: North Star on May 09, 2014, 03:12:48 PM
This conversation might take a Maxwellian (as in Smart) turn..

Would you believe hanging out with the Saddle Brook Marching Panthers at a Dunkin Donuts?

. . . with Rob Newman at a Wimpy's?

Scriabin: Prélude cis-moll (left hand) with Yuja Wang
live at the Wiener Konzerthaus

(http://konzerthaus.at/magazin/Portals/0/blog_data/WienerKonzerthaus_YouTube_Graphic225.jpg) (http://konzerthaus.at/magazin/)

https://www.youtube.com/v/v3uaXw8k8As

I just posted this article, ANTECEDENTS OF AMBIENT MUSIC (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2015/03/31/antecedents-of-ambient-music/), on my music blog, musicakaleidoskopea (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/).

I also have some composer interviews and a section where I post clips of my recent music.

Quote from: sanantonio on March 31, 2015, 08:01:25 AM
I just posted this article, ANTECEDENTS OF AMBIENT MUSIC (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2015/03/31/antecedents-of-ambient-music/), on my music blog, musicakaleidoskopea (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/).

I also have some composer interviews and a section where I post clips of my recent music.

It is a very interesting article. Few random thoughts...
- Did Satie compose Vexation as furniture music? The melody is so strange and characteristic that it seems difficult to ignore it. (Not saying that the piece could not have influenced later ambient music.)
- Riley followed Eno? His hypnotic organ works The Persian Surgery Dervishes (recorded in 1972) and The Descending Moonshine (recorded in 1975) predated Music for Airports (1978).

Quote from: torut on March 31, 2015, 03:40:15 PM
It is a very interesting article. Few random thoughts...
- Did Satie compose Vexation as furniture music? The melody is so strange and characteristic that it seems difficult to ignore it. (Not saying that the piece could not have influenced later ambient music.)
- Riley followed Eno? His hypnotic organ works The Persian Surgery Dervishes (recorded in 1972) and The Descending Moonshine (recorded in 1975) predated Music for Airports (1978).

Thanks for reading the article, and thanks for your comments. 

I did not mean to imply that Vexations was written as furniture music, only that it could also be seen as containing some of the definitive aspects of ambient music, which might seen as an outgrowth of Dada.  And the reason I put Riley after Eno was simply because Music for Airports was a seminal recording and became the context from which to interpret Riley and the other Minimalists.  At least that is my hypothesis.

But you make a good point, and I might include your chronology in an edit of the piece.

:)

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GS9pLMtbk04/VIB7VKbHqeI/AAAAAAAAHvs/QnxWx_SUGxc/s1600/Forbes_SOUND_ADVICE_laurson_2_600.jpg) (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B007BLB33Y/goodmusicguide-20)


ARTS & LETTERS 4/01/2015
The Vienna Symphony's Path Out Of The Shadow


(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2015/03/WSO_Vienna-Symphony-Orchestra_c_Stefan_OLAH_Forbes_Sound-Advice_jens-f-laurson.jpg)
(http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/04/01/the-vienna-symphonys-path-out-of-the-shadow/)

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GS9pLMtbk04/VIB7VKbHqeI/AAAAAAAAHvs/QnxWx_SUGxc/s1600/Forbes_SOUND_ADVICE_laurson_2_600.jpg) (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B007BLB33Y/goodmusicguide-20)


ARTS & LETTERS 4/03/2015
Bach & Beyond: Music For The Easter Weekend
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/04/03/bach-beyond-music-for-the-easter-weekend/

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2015/04/Music-for-Easter_BACH_Stamps_Eggs_sound-advice_jens-f-laurson_1.jpg)
(http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/04/03/bach-beyond-music-for-the-easter-weekend/)

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GS9pLMtbk04/VIB7VKbHqeI/AAAAAAAAHvs/QnxWx_SUGxc/s1600/Forbes_SOUND_ADVICE_laurson_2_600.jpg) (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B007BLB33Y/goodmusicguide-20)


ARTS & LETTERS 4/19/2015
Free Speech, Rachmaninov And Twitter Posts: How The Ukrainian War Invaded Toronto's Stage
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/04/19/free-speech-rachmaninov-and-twitter-posts-how-the-ukrainian-war-invaded-torontos-stage/

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2015/04/Valentina-Lisitsa_Glass_DECCA_laurson_FORBES_640-250_.jpg)
(http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/04/19/free-speech-rachmaninov-and-twitter-posts-how-the-ukrainian-war-invaded-torontos-stage/)

Fresh from Forbes:

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GS9pLMtbk04/VIB7VKbHqeI/AAAAAAAAHvs/QnxWx_SUGxc/s1600/Forbes_SOUND_ADVICE_laurson_2_600.jpg)

MAY 29, 2015 @ 3:01 PM
Boxing Classical Music: Ferenc Fricsay on Deutsche Grammophon

There's something wonderful about classical music—certainly in its form as recorded music—having
become a commodity: It is more easily available than ever before, in greater variety than ever before,
and at a lower cost than ever before. Notable part of this trend is the packaging and re-packaging and
re-releasing of trusty records as part of box sets. Everything by everyone seems available affordably—
and we are talking about the physical product, not downloads, which you might think would spearhead
this development... perhaps even at the expense of the trusty CD.

Box sets used to be expensive, much cherished trophies of the collector. I remember my first set of
complete Beethoven Sonatas (incidentally not a particularly satisfying set, as it would eventually turn
out) and my first Ring Cycle (still a worthy member of the collection) and the hushed reverence that
went along with their purchase. With the tumbling of prices, that's changed entirely (furthered by the
budgetary constraints that are not those of one's student days). There are still some box sets that are
expensive, made with great care, and easy to covet. But more-so it has become a trend for labels to
use sets to manufacture bargain-basement collections that can be had for a few bucks per disc and
entice listeners to fill gaps in their collections they might not otherwise have had bothered or bee able
to fill....
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2015/03/Fricsay_Orchestral_Works_DG-Collection_Forbes_Box-Sets_jens-f-laurson.jpg) (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/05/29/boxing-classical-music-ferenc-fricsay-on-deutsche-grammophon/)

I've started a blog recently.  It seems like a good way to circulate information and material, and to keep people updated without being intrusive and possibly annoying by such things as sending out emails to all of one's friends and acquaintances - they can just check the blog (or not) based on their interest level.

https://michaelsayers.wordpress.com/ (https://michaelsayers.wordpress.com/)


Mvh,
Michael

Fresh from Forbes:

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GS9pLMtbk04/VIB7VKbHqeI/AAAAAAAAHvs/QnxWx_SUGxc/s1600/Forbes_SOUND_ADVICE_laurson_2_600.jpg)

JUN 12, 2015
Boxing Classical Music: Claudio Abbado On Sony/RCA

The preamble to this review—a cursory glance at the state of the state of box sets in classical music—
precedes the first of what will be three (the orchestral works conducted by Ferenc Fricsay's on Deutsche
Grammophon) This second installment takes Claudio Abbado's recordings for Sony/RCA as its example.

Having covered Ferenc Fricsay box set, let's turn to the Abbado Box that Sony put forth. It covers his
output for that label spanning 22 years (1976-1997) and his most important orchestral stations (including
La Scala, 1971-1986, the LSO, 1975-1987, Vienna State Opera, 1986-1991, and Chicago, where he was
the principal guest conductor for three years in the 80s) up to and including (some of) his taking steward-
ship of the Berlin Philharmonic (1989-2002)...

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wlnTqaxAGaM/VXlq-effJlI/AAAAAAAAIPA/3ZCMbST_49A/s1600/Abbado_SONY-RCA_Box_Forbes_jens-f-laurson_BOX.jpg) (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/06/11/boxing-classical-music-claudio-abbado-on-sonyrca/)

Fresh from ionarts:

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YUHSjHlV2Ro/UqB_A8bgCxI/AAAAAAAAHWQ/1tFdkiDMHEo/s1600/KonzerthausMozartSaal.png)

JUN 12, 2015
Ionarts-at-Large: Heinz Holliger, Haydn-Master

If anyone can elicit great—or even just respectable—Haydn from the Vienna
Chamber Orchestra at a musician-unfriendly 10.30am, I should think it'd be
Heinz Holliger. Ever since hearing the septuagenarian conduct the Camerata
Salzburg at the Mozartwoche in Salzburg some years back (review here), I've
considered him the finest living Haydn conductor I know of. Perhaps some-
thing to do with him being a composer and thus communicating from one
bird of a feather to the other?

To hear Holliger in Haydn was consequently the main reason to go to the
Mozart-Saal of the Wiener Konzerthaus, the building's gem of a hall and
probably as ideally suited to this kind of music—if not more so—than their
neighbor's more famous Goldener Saal.

The first look at the program hurt and baffled, though...
(http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2015/06/ionarts-at-large-heinz-holliger-haydn.html)

Latest on ionarts: The 11th (!) installment of the Beethoven Survey!


(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VYQWtbpDv9Q/UPQjw3NPXEI/AAAAAAAAFro/1OCHnnTJ3H8/s1600/Beethoven_basic_laurson_600.jpg)

Beethoven Sonatas - A Survey of Complete Cycles
The Great Incomplete Cycles


http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2015/07/beethoven-sonatas-survey-of-complete.html (http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2015/07/beethoven-sonatas-survey-of-complete.html)

Which ones have I missed? What data did I get wrong?

Quote from: jlaurson on June 15, 2015, 11:19:32 PM
Fresh from ionarts:

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YUHSjHlV2Ro/UqB_A8bgCxI/AAAAAAAAHWQ/1tFdkiDMHEo/s1600/KonzerthausMozartSaal.png)

JUN 12, 2015
Ionarts-at-Large: Heinz Holliger, Haydn-Master

If anyone can elicit great—or even just respectable—Haydn from the Vienna
Chamber Orchestra at a musician-unfriendly 10.30am, I should think it'd be
Heinz Holliger. Ever since hearing the septuagenarian conduct the Camerata
Salzburg at the Mozartwoche in Salzburg some years back (review here), I've
considered him the finest living Haydn conductor I know of. Perhaps some-
thing to do with him being a composer and thus communicating from one
bird of a feather to the other?

To hear Holliger in Haydn was consequently the main reason to go to the
Mozart-Saal of the Wiener Konzerthaus, the building's gem of a hall and
probably as ideally suited to this kind of music—if not more so—than their
neighbor's more famous Goldener Saal.

The first look at the program hurt and baffled, though...
(http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2015/06/ionarts-at-large-heinz-holliger-haydn.html/)

Sorry, the page you were looking for in this blog does not exist.

But Jens sent me here himself... :(

8)

Quote from: Gurn Blanston on July 02, 2015, 06:38:00 AM
Sorry, the page you were looking for in this blog does not exist.

But Jens sent me here himself... :(

8)

Eeek!

http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2015/06/ionarts-at-large-heinz-holliger-haydn.html

Quote from: jlaurson on June 15, 2015, 11:19:32 PM
Fresh from ionarts:

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YUHSjHlV2Ro/UqB_A8bgCxI/AAAAAAAAHWQ/1tFdkiDMHEo/s1600/KonzerthausMozartSaal.png)

JUN 12, 2015
Ionarts-at-Large: Heinz Holliger, Haydn-Master

If anyone can elicit great—or even just respectable—Haydn from the Vienna
Chamber Orchestra at a musician-unfriendly 10.30am, I should think it'd be
Heinz Holliger. Ever since hearing the septuagenarian conduct the Camerata
Salzburg at the Mozartwoche in Salzburg some years back (review here), I've
considered him the finest living Haydn conductor I know of. Perhaps some-
thing to do with him being a composer and thus communicating from one
bird of a feather to the other?

To hear Holliger in Haydn was consequently the main reason to go to the
Mozart-Saal of the Wiener Konzerthaus, the building's gem of a hall and
probably as ideally suited to this kind of music—if not more so—than their
neighbor's more famous Goldener Saal.

The first look at the program hurt and baffled, though...
(http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2015/06/ionarts-at-large-heinz-holliger-haydn.html)

It is fixed!

Dip Your Ears, No. 198 (Mahler Transcribed)

Mahler Doubling Down on Ivory

What do you give the Mahlerian who already has everything and of each Symphony
five or twenty recordings? Why, piano transcriptions of those symphonies—in this
case of Symphonies One and Two, arranged by ...

(http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00CGUSRVG.01.L.jpg) (http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2015/07/dip-your-ears-no-198-mahler-transcribed.html)

Fresh from Forbes:

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GS9pLMtbk04/VIB7VKbHqeI/AAAAAAAAHvs/QnxWx_SUGxc/s1600/Forbes_SOUND_ADVICE_laurson_2_600.jpg)

JUN 12, 2015
Simply The Perfect Box Set: "Maria Callas Remastered"

...Then again, for every trend there is a counter-trend. One could look at the modest but steady rise of vinyl.
Silly, if you look at it from a high-fidelity point of view, but perfectly understandable if you think of music as a
sensual experience, rather than a commodity. Listening to vinyl will never, ever get you a better sound quality
than digital reproduction can (but need not necessarily) produce. But it gives you an experience that might
be likened to the ceremony involved in opening a good bottle of wine, decanting it, and enjoying it in a huge,
mouth-blown glass. Or think of vinyl as the magisterially stuffed pipe over the CD or mp3's thoughtlessly
puffed cigarette....

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2015/07/Fricsay_Box-Sets_Forbes_Sound-Advice_jens-f-laurson_DG_.jpg) (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/07/06/simply-the-perfect-box-set-maria-callas-remastered)

Overview and Analysis of the Liszt Piano Sonata in B Minor, S. 178

It is likely that Liszt derived the idea of thematic transformation as a unifying process from Schubert's Wanderer Fantasy, a work which he himself transcribed for piano and orchestra in 1851.  Schubert's themes run through all four movements of the fantasy in varied forms  The four movements are played without a break, and outline a symmetrical key scheme— C, E, A flat, C.  This kind of formal plan held a strong attraction for Liszt, and many of the works of his Weimar period follow this model, besides the Piano Sonata in B Minor also the first piano concerto is another example.

The sonata was published in the spring of 1854 and dedicated to Robert Schumann.  Liszt meant this as a reciprocal gesture to Schumann in response to his being the dedicatee of the latter's Fantasy in C major (1839), a work that Liszt described as sublime.  However, Schumann never knew of the B Minor Sonata's existence since by the time a copy of the newly published work arrived at the Schumann's home in May, 1854, Schumann was already at the asylum at Endenich.

Clara Schumann could have included the work in her repertory, if she had been so inclined, but she chose not to do so. In her diary she described the sonata as "a blind noise ... and yet I must thank him for it. ... It really is too awful." (Litzmann, Berthold, 1902-08)

Unfortunately, Clara's opinion was not atypical.  During this period, and especially in this part of Germany, Liszt was often treated to an unkind dismissal by the musical society.  When the work received its première performance, in Berlin, on January 22, 1857, nearly four years after its composition, it provoked a minor scandal among the conservative critics, from which it recovered with difficulty. Rarely did such great music get off to a less promising start.  (Walker, 1983)

Liszt always felt that the new music he and his group (Chopin, Berlioz, Wagner) were writing needed new forms for expression.  He did not see the sense in merely pouring their "new pudding" into an old form.  Consequently he created new forms which would allow him greater flexibility while still maintaining unity (and echoing the old sonata form in basic structure). This he did with the Sonata, the Concerto in E flat and the Faust Symphony.

The principle which he established was an important one for future generations; the serial technique of Schoenberg, for instance, uses precisely the methods of Liszt's thematic transformation within the framework of an entirely different language, and it is even possible that future twelve-note composers will turn to forms resembling Liszt's rather than those of the classical composers in the search for a type of framework to correspond to their new methods of expression. In any case Liszt's Sonata remains a landmark in the history of nineteenth-century music, not only as a highly successful application of new technical methods, but as a fine, moving and dramatic work in itself. (Buechner and Searle, 2013)

No other work of Liszt has attracted anything like the same amount of scholarly attention as the B-minor Sonata.  The number of divergent theories it has provoked from those of its admirers who feel constrained to search forbidden meanings are many.

The sonata is a musical portrait of the Faust legend , with "Faust," "Gretchen," and "Mephistopheles" themes symbolizing the main characters. (Ott, 1981)
The sonata is autobiographical; its musical contrasts spring from the conflicts within Liszt's own personality. (Raabe, 1931)
The sonata is about the divine and the diabolical; it is based on the Bible and on Milton's Paradise Lost. (Szász, 1984)
The sonata is an allegory set in the Garden of Eden; it deals with the Fall of Man and contains "God," "Lucifer," "Serpent," "Adam," and "Eve" themes. (Merrick, 1987)
The sonata has no programmatic allusions; it is a piece of "expressive form" with no meaning beyond itself— a meaning that probably runs all the deeper because of that fact. (Winklhofer, 1980)
Liszt was generally silent about this work and offered no words of any kind on the question of its program - or lack of it. (Walker, 1983)

The sonata unfolds in approximately 30 minutes of unbroken music. While its four distinct movements are rolled into one, the entire work is encompassed within the traditional Classical sonata scheme— exposition, development, and recapitulation.  Liszt has effectively composed a sonata within a sonata, which is part of the work's uniqueness.

Liszt was very economical with his thematic material, indeed, the very first page contains the three motivic ideas that provide the content, transformed throughout, for nearly all that follows.

RTRH (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2015/07/09/overview-and-analysis-of-the-liszt-piano-sonata-in-b-minor-s-178/)

Quote from: sanantonio on July 09, 2015, 11:16:44 AM
Overview and Analysis of the Liszt Piano Sonata in B Minor, S. 178

It is likely that Liszt derived the idea of thematic transformation as a unifying process from Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy, a work which he himself transcribed for piano and orchestra in 1851.  Schubert’s themes run through all four movements of the fantasy in varied forms  The four movements are played without a break, and outline a symmetrical key scheme— C, E, A flat, C.  This kind of formal plan held a strong attraction for Liszt, and many of the works of his Weimar period follow this model, besides the Piano Sonata in B Minor also the first piano concerto is another example.

The sonata was published in the spring of 1854 and dedicated to Robert Schumann.  Liszt meant this as a reciprocal gesture to Schumann in response to his being the dedicatee of the latter’s Fantasy in C major (1839), a work that Liszt described as sublime.  However, Schumann never knew of the B Minor Sonata’s existence since by the time a copy of the newly published work arrived at the Schumann’s home in May, 1854, Schumann was already at the asylum at Endenich.

Clara Schumann could have included the work in her repertory, if she had been so inclined, but she chose not to do so. In her diary she described the sonata as “a blind noise … and yet I must thank him for it. … It really is too awful.” (Litzmann, Berthold, 1902-08)

Unfortunately, Clara’s opinion was not atypical.  During this period, and especially in this part of Germany, Liszt was often treated to an unkind dismissal by the musical society.  When the work received its première performance, in Berlin, on January 22, 1857, nearly four years after its composition, it provoked a minor scandal among the conservative critics, from which it recovered with difficulty. Rarely did such great music get off to a less promising start.  (Walker, 1983)

Liszt always felt that the new music he and his group (Chopin, Berlioz, Wagner) were writing needed new forms for expression.  He did not see the sense in merely pouring their “new pudding” into an old form.  Consequently he created new forms which would allow him greater flexibility while still maintaining unity (and echoing the old sonata form in basic structure). This he did with the Sonata, the Concerto in E flat and the Faust Symphony.

The principle which he established was an important one for future generations; the serial technique of Schoenberg, for instance, uses precisely the methods of Liszt’s thematic transformation within the framework of an entirely different language, and it is even possible that future twelve-note composers will turn to forms resembling Liszt’s rather than those of the classical composers in the search for a type of framework to correspond to their new methods of expression. In any case Liszt’s Sonata remains a landmark in the history of nineteenth-century music, not only as a highly successful application of new technical methods, but as a fine, moving and dramatic work in itself. (Buechner and Searle, 2013)

No other work of Liszt has attracted anything like the same amount of scholarly attention as the B-minor Sonata.  The number of divergent theories it has provoked from those of its admirers who feel constrained to search forbidden meanings are many.

The sonata is a musical portrait of the Faust legend , with “Faust,” “Gretchen,” and “Mephistopheles” themes symbolizing the main characters. (Ott, 1981)
The sonata is autobiographical; its musical contrasts spring from the conflicts within Liszt’s own personality. (Raabe, 1931)
The sonata is about the divine and the diabolical; it is based on the Bible and on Milton’s Paradise Lost. (Szász, 1984)
The sonata is an allegory set in the Garden of Eden; it deals with the Fall of Man and contains “God,” “Lucifer,” “Serpent,” “Adam,” and “Eve” themes. (Merrick, 1987)
The sonata has no programmatic allusions; it is a piece of “expressive form” with no meaning beyond itself— a meaning that probably runs all the deeper because of that fact. (Winklhofer, 1980)
Liszt was generally silent about this work and offered no words of any kind on the question of its program - or lack of it. (Walker, 1983)

The sonata unfolds in approximately 30 minutes of unbroken music. While its four distinct movements are rolled into one, the entire work is encompassed within the traditional Classical sonata scheme— exposition, development, and recapitulation.  Liszt has effectively composed a sonata within a sonata, which is part of the work's uniqueness.

Liszt was very economical with his thematic material, indeed, the very first page contains the three motivic ideas that provide the content, transformed throughout, for nearly all that follows.

RTRH (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2015/07/09/overview-and-analysis-of-the-liszt-piano-sonata-in-b-minor-s-178/)

It will be a pleasure to dig into this later, thank you.

Dip Your Ears, No. 199 (Mozart from Tetzlaff & Vogt)

Mozart Melt

Mozart at once old fashioned and intellectually fresh comes courtesy of
Lars Vogt and Christian Tetzlaff. The title of their album reflects refreshing
honesty:...

(http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00925TBLS.01.L.jpg) (http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2015/07/dip-your-ears-no-199-mozart-from.html)

Remembering Charles Mackerras

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-G0E14ToKpkw/VWuIwVjoI1I/AAAAAAAAIN4/XMb7xhK29KQ/s1600/Mackerras_Requiem_laurson_600.jpg)

TODAY, FIVE YEARS AGO, CHARLES MACKERRAS DIED. WELL WORTH RE-
SUSCITATING THIS REMEMBRANCE WHICH WAS INITIALLY WRITTEN FOR
WETA 90.9 WHERE IT HAS SINCE BEEN CHUCKED.

http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2015/07/remembering-charles-mackerras.html (http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2015/07/remembering-charles-mackerras.html)

(apologies for the caps.)

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AUG 2, 2015
Turandot and Offenbach At The Bregenz Festival

...It might merit confessing that I'm not all that hot about Puccini and that I suffer from a general deficiency in appreciating Italian opera. That said, I consider Turandot the best compromise as far as quality and popularity is concerned.....

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2015/08/Bregenz-Turandot_lanterns_jens-f-laurson_640.jpg) (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/08/02/turandot-and-offenbach-at-the-bregenz-festival/)

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AUG 5, 2015
The 2015 Bayreuth Festival Ring: Das Rheingold

...The Rhinemaidens were a terrific trio, extremely even and very good and saucy
actresses all, svelte blondes, sexed-up lascivious bombshells with ankles to which
no English critic could object....

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/08/05/the-2015-bayreuth-festival-ring-das-rheingold/
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[/quote]

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AUG 5, 2015
The 2015 Bayreuth Festival Ring: Die Walküre

...But one casts Botha for his voice and has to accept that, dramatically, he
isn't the bee's knees, being easily out-acted by the more talented of the two
live turkeys in the cage. His preferred modus operandi is to stand there, arm
stretched out to the sides, and let us have it – and we take it pretty gladly...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/08/05/the-2015-bayreuth-festival-ring-das-rheingold/
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2015/08/Walkuere_Bayreuth_2015_Kampe_Youn_Botha_jens-f-laurson.jpg) (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/08/06/the-2015-bayreuth-festival-ring-die-walkure/)
2015 Bayreuth Festival, Walküre, Act I
courtesy Bayreuth Festival, © Enrico Nawrath

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AUG 6, 2015
The 2015 Bayreuth Festival Ring: Siegfried

...Wolfgang Koch, who continues his smarmy, drunken, sleazy, seedy Wotan with most admirable gusto and believability, certainly shows that it's not for lack of will or skill on his part... seeing that he gets plenty to do in the third act, when he summons Erda. It's perhaps the most touching moment of this Siegfried, when the washed-up Wotan, ex-lover, gets together with Erda, his aged, long-time favorite ho, for a spaghetti dinner and too much wine, in a scene full of recriminations and regrets and make-up blow jobs. When Wotan-Wanderer is supposed to pay up (the waiter catching Erda in flagrante), he realizes he's just a bit short on cash and with the words "Dort seh' ich Siegfried nahn!" ("Woha, I think Siegfried approaches!") he's off, properly welshing and leaving Erda with the bill and the audiences in stiches. It's not the only moment that garnered laughter, but there could have still been more, seeing that Siegfried is supposed to be a comedy and that Castorf certainly has the irreverent streak that lends itself to comedy....

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/08/07/the-2015-bayreuth-festival-ring-siegfried/
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2015/08/Siegfried_Bayreuth_2015_Weissmann_Koch_jens-f-laurson.jpg) (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/08/07/the-2015-bayreuth-festival-ring-siegfried/)
2015 Bayreuth Festival, Siegfried, Act III
courtesy Bayreuth Festival, © Enrico Nawrath

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AUG 6, 2015
The 2015 Bayreuth Festival Ring: Götterdämmerung

...After the excellently sung, superbly conducted, and rather warmly received Rhein-
gold, Walküre, and Siegfried, the last of the tetralogy's operas, Götterdämmerung,
felt like a triumph. Never mind the boos, when Castorf came out...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/08/08/the-2015-bayreuth-festival-ring-gotterdammerung/
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2015/08/Goetterdaemmerung_Bayreuth_2015_Milling_Buhrrmester_Oakes_Vinke_Act1_jens-f-laurson.jpg) (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/08/08/the-2015-bayreuth-festival-ring-gotterdammerung/)
2015 Bayreuth Festival, Goetterdaemmunger, Act II
courtesy Bayreuth Festival, © Enrico Nawrath

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AUG 22, 2015
The 2015 Bayreuth Festival: Tristan & Isolde

...And then King Marke himself who entered, goodness gracious, all Colonel Mustard in a pimp-coat evidently tailored from the trombone-yellow carpet of Bayreuth's last Tristan production (Christoph Marthaler's, quite boring itself, but a thriller compared to this). I felt like playing a bored [sic] game: The mystery is solved! Melot! With the dagger! In the high-security bicycle shed! Nobody wins. Can we go home now?....

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/08/07/the-2015-bayreuth-festival-ring-siegfried/
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2015/08/Tristan_Bayreuth_2015_Act2_Herlitzius-Bicycle-Stand_jens-f-laurson.jpg) (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/08/22/the-2015-bayreuth-festival-tristan/)
2015 Bayreuth Festival, Tristan, Act II
courtesy Bayreuth Festival, © Enrico Nawrath

Josquin des Prez (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2015/08/27/josquin-des-prez-passed-away-in-the-year-1521-the-27th-of-%3Cbr%20/%3Eaugust/) : Passed away in the year 1521, the 27th of August

(http://bp1.blogger.com/_9etVnS4R1As/R7FY76trF-I/AAAAAAAAA9c/gW16jj07XHg/s400/1450DESPREZ.jpg)

In an era when music was generally performed a few times before being replaced by something newer, Josquin des Prez was a rarity: a composer who was remembered and honored long after his death. Throughout the sixteenth century, his works were cited in theoretical treatises and extensively quoted in the music of other composers. In 1538, seventeen years after Josquin died, Martin Luther extolled him as "the master of the notes, which must do as he wishes, while other composers must follow what the notes dictate." Even in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Josquin's music was not entirely forgotten, while the nineteenth century saw him acclaimed (alongside Palestrina) as one of the two greatest composers of the Renaissance.

https://www.youtube.com/v/nfVnqU8hyxU

Today I sing of Othmar Schoeck (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2015/09/01/today-i-sing-of-othmar-schoeck/) (1 September 1886 – 8 March 1957)

(http://www.universaledition.com/system/html/schoeck_c_universal%20edition-bf190dfc.jpg)

Two of his song cycles stand out, Elegie op. 36 for baritone and chamber orchestra was developed between 1921 and 1923 and was Schoeck's first song cycle, summarizing 24 poems of Nikolaus Lenau and Joseph von Echiendorff. 

[asin]B0013LTU6K[/asin]

Notturno, op. 47, his 45-minute work for low voice and string quartet or string orchestra.   Schoeck set to music poems of mourning, loneliness and despair by Nikolaus Lenau, as well as a fragment by Gottfried Keller. Schoeck chose the title Notturno for a reason: it matches the dark underlying character of the music which, with or without vocal parts (the first, extended movement has a long instrumental part), expresses the pain, the lamentation and the resignation of the narrator in a late-romantic style.

[asin]B002G1TS5E[/asin]

John Zorn : happy birthday (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2015/09/02/john-zorn-happy-birthday/)

(http://www.clarin.com/espectaculos/John-Zorn_CLAIMA20120308_0018_4.jpg)

I first came to know John Zorn (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Zorn)'s music from his band Masada, a jazz quartet recalling Ornette Coleman, at least to my ears.  He made a series of ten recordings, all named using the first ten letters/numbers of the Hebrew alef-bet (Alef, Bet, Gimel, etc.).  He also released several live dates with this same line-up: Zorn (alto saxophone), Dave Douglas (trumpet),Greg Cohen (double bass), and Joey Baron (drum set). On occasion, different drummers filled in for Baron – most regularly Kenny Wollesen.  These recordings were all released on Zorn's record label Tzadik.

Zorn's breakthrough recording was 1985's widely acclaimed The Big Gundown: John Zorn Plays the Music of Ennio Morricone, where Zorn offered radical arrangements of themes from The Big Gundown (1966), Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), A Fistful of Dynamite (1971), and Once Upon a Time in America (1984), that incorporated elements of traditional Japanese music, soul jazz, and other diverse musical genres.

(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/512W8EJqj7L._SX225_.jpg)

(http://www.universaledition.com/system/html/FeldmanBesser-75cc4caa.jpg)

Morton Feldman (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2015/09/03/morton-feldman-january-12-1926-september-3-1987/) : died 9/3/1987

Morton Feldman was a big, brusque Jewish guy from Woodside, Queens—the son of a manufacturer of children's coats. He worked in the family business until he was forty-four years old, and he later became a professor of music at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He died in 1987, at the age of sixty-one. To almost everyone's surprise but his own, he turned out to be one of the major composers of the twentieth century, a sovereign artist who opened up vast, quiet, agonizingly beautiful worlds of sound.

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f7/John_field.jpg/250px-John_field.jpg)

Early Romanticism : the solo piano music of John Field and others (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2015/09/03/early-romanticism-the-solo-piano-music-of-john-field-and-others/)

The characteristic texture is that of a chromatically decorated melody over sonorous left hand parts supported by sensitive pedaling. Field also had an affinity for ostinato patterns and pedal points, rather unusual for the prevailing styles of the day. Entirely representative of these traits are Field's eighteen nocturnes and associated pieces such as Andante inedit, H 64. These works were some of the most influential music of the early Romantic period: they do not adhere to a strict formal scheme (such as the sonata form), and they create a mood without text or program. These pieces were admired by Frédéric Chopin, who subsequently made the piano nocturne famous, and Franz Liszt, who published an edition of the nocturnes based on rare Russian sources that incorporated late revisions by Field.

Along with Field two other composers deserve to be mentioned, Jan Latislav Dussek and Václav Tomášek.

Dussek wrote numerous solo piano works, including 34 Piano Sonatas as well as a number of programmatic compositions. His The Sufferings of the Queen of France (composed in 1793, C 98), for example, is an episodic account of Marie Antoinette with interpolated texts relating to the Queen's misfortunes, including her sorrow at being separated from her children and her final moments on the scaffold before the guillotine.

Tomášek wrote a good deal for the piano and became a forerunner of the lyric piano piece which later reached its apogee in the works of Schubert and Chopin. At first he remained loyal to the Classical style, but later was influenced by the newly born Romanticism.  He created a form which he called ecologues, which were almost stream of consciousness piano solos.  He also wrote rhapsodies and dithyrambs.

https://www.youtube.com/v/2bx66RJ1m94&list=PL9D2736529BA73225&index=2

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AUG 22, 2015
The 2015 Bayreuth Festival: Tristan & Isolde

T'was a coolly refreshing evening in the inner courtyard of the vast baroque priory
of St. Florian in Upper Austria, just before the final concert of the St. Florian
BrucknerTage (Bruckner-Days) on August 21: The brass section of the Altomonte
Orchestra – basically a purpose-assembled summer-band – get rid of excess energy
by regaling the guests of the monastery's restaurant with a selection of brass-band
favorites from hunting songs to Wagner chorales: Got you in the mood alright for
Bruckner's Ninth Symphony under Rémy Ballot, a Sergiù Celibidache disciple with a
penchant for glorious length, especially in the music of Anton Bruckner.

For this grand finale of the week-long celebration of Bruckner, the vast, gorgeous
baroque basilica was filled to the brim, except for the side balconies, allegedly among
the best places but cordoned off on this occasion. (That fact made a most determined
Austrian journalist lady – habitually taking her seat there and with little intention to
yielding to some stripling with a badge squeaking "Verboten" – reveal a whole new
color-range in her vocabulary when she ultimately had to follow others' instructions
over her instinct.) With everyone seated and standing in the right places, the sounds
of Debussy's Images pour orchestra, the concert's amuse-gueule, rose to the organ
balcony on which I had found myself at the last minute...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/09/08/the-second-coming-of-sergiu-celibidache-bruckner-in-st-florian/
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2015/09/Forbes_Bruckner_StFlorian_Ballot-3_jens-f-laurson.jpg) (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/09/08/the-second-coming-of-sergiu-celibidache-bruckner-in-st-florian/)
...

Happy Birthday, Arvo Pärt (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2015/09/11/happy-birthday-arvo-part/)

(http://www.paulsquire.com/wp-content/uploads/xoh6aa.jpg)

For several years (from 1968) he concentrated on exploring tonal monody and simple two-part counterpoint in exercises inspired by his studies of early music and Gregorian chant. During this period he produced two works (Laul armastatule – subsequently withdrawn – and the Third Symphony) which reveal the strength of these preoccupations. It was only in 1976, however, that he began to compose fluidly again, this time using a tonal technique of his own creation which he calls 'tintinnabuli' (after the bell-like resemblance of notes in a triad).

RTRH (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2015/09/11/happy-birthday-arvo-part/)

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AUG 22, 2015
The Boston Symphony At Grafenegg Or: The Haydn
Ghetto

...If that be a rule, namely not to play Haydn first (and it really should be), this
performance did not bother to deviate from it. Predictably, the Haydn (or the
orchestra) sounded not remotely as good as it should have. The horns, for
one, were a long way from the standard the BSO (or any orchestra, amateur
and professional alike) sets itself, and in every single movement. And while
there was a spot of grace here and there to be found, it would have taken a lot
tighter playing and more energetic wit to get the juices flowing. I'm not saying
that the first movement was directly responsible for a woman passing out
before the Lincoln Town Car-style Andante (she recovered), but it cannot
have helped. Only with much benevolence could one try to blame it on the
orchestra's size: A little too big for Haydn and a little too small for the Wolken-
turm stage, but then there's no reason to fudge it: This was a dead-boring,
flaccid performance, like a formerly great white wine that lost all acidity...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/09/13/the-boston-symphony-at-grafenegg-or-the-haydn-ghetto_happpy40thbirthday_jfl_nelsons_/
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2015/09/Schloss_Nachmittag-Foto_Alexander_Haiden_jens-f-laurson_800.jpg) (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/09/13/the-boston-symphony-at-grafenegg-or-the-haydn-ghetto_happpy40thbirthday_jfl_nelsons_/)
Grafenegg Castle
Picture courtesy Grafenegg Festival, © Andreas Hofer

Nadia Boulanger : teacher of the century (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2015/09/16/nadia-boulanger-teacher-of-the-century/)

(http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Pic-Bio-B-BIG/Boulanger-Nadia-01%5B1966%5D.jpg)

Nadia Boulanger,  (born Sept. 16, 1887, Paris, France—died Oct. 22, 1979, Paris), conductor, organist, and one of the most influential teachers of musical composition of the 20th century.  In addition to Aaron Copland, Boulanger's pupils included the composers Lennox Berkeley, Easley Blackwood, Marc Blitzstein, Elliott Carter, Jean Françaix, Roy Harris, Walter Piston, and Virgil Thomson.

Quote from: sanantonio on September 16, 2015, 12:36:07 PM
Nadia Boulanger : teacher of the century (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2015/09/16/nadia-boulanger-teacher-of-the-century/)

(http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Pic-Bio-B-BIG/Boulanger-Nadia-01%5B1966%5D.jpg)

Nadia Boulanger,  (born Sept. 16, 1887, Paris, France—died Oct. 22, 1979, Paris), conductor, organist, and one of the most influential teachers of musical composition of the 20th century.  In addition to Aaron Copland, Boulanger's pupils included the composers Lennox Berkeley, Easley Blackwood, Marc Blitzstein, Elliott Carter, Jean Françaix, Roy Harris, Walter Piston, and Virgil Thomson.

The list of some of her prominent music students in Wikipedia is indeed astonishing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_music_students_by_teacher:_A_to_C#Nadia_Boulanger

(https://betweentheledgerlines.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/charlestomlinsongriffesgriffes.png)

Charles Griffes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Griffes) - American Impressionist (September 17, 1884 – April 8, 1920)

In about 1911 Griffes began to abandon the German style. The works written from then until about 1917 are highly coloured, free in form, and generally reflect many other elements of musical Impressionism. The piano pieces, for example, are pictorial and employ descriptive titles and/or poetic texts (e.g. Three Tone-Pictures and Roman Sketches). But as often as not Griffes added the texts and titles after he had completed the works. Impressionistic moods are established by gliding parallel chords, whole-tone scales, augmented triads, ostinato figures across the bar-line, and other devices. Of the songs from this period, the Tone-Images and Four Impressions most clearly reflect Griffes's brand of Impressionism. The Three Poems op.9, on the other hand, are extremely dissonant, tonally obscure, and stylistically experimental.

The Pleasure Dome of Charles Tomlinson Griffes (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2015/09/17/the-pleasure-dome-of-charles-tomlinson-griffes/)

https://www.youtube.com/v/Vfl0N1tzoG0

(https://files.list.co.uk/images/2009/04/30/hallgrimsson-haflidi-lst004854.jpg)

Haflidi Hallgrímsson : 9/18/41 (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2015/09/18/haflidi-hallgrimsson-91841/)

One of the most important figures in this flowering of Icelandic music is Haflidi Hallgrímsson, born in 1941 in the small town of Akureyri on the north coast of Iceland. He began playing the cello at the age of ten and studied in Reykjavik and at the Accademia Santa Cecilia in Rome. On returning from Rome, he continued his studies in London with Derek Simpson at the Royal Academy of Music and was awarded the coveted Madame Suggia Prize in 1966. The following year he began compositional studies with Dr Alan Bush and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. On leaving the Academy, he remained in Britain, eventually making his home in Scotland on being appointed Principal Cellist with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

Although he admits to some major influences, Hallgrímsson's musical style is entirely original, showing a sensitivity to line and colour, shape and texture, not surprising from a composer who in 1969 performed one of his earliest compositions,Solitaire for solo cello, surrounded by an exhibition of his own drawings and paintings. Such involvement with the visual arts remains a key influence on Hallgrimsson's musical style and in 1996 he was commissioned by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra to write Still Life, in conjunction with a specially commissioned painting by Craigie Aitchison. Aitchison's work is also an influence behind Hallgrimsson's Symphony No.1 (Crucifixion) (1997), commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra as part of the Maxwell Davies Millennium Programme of commissions.

https://www.youtube.com/v/PMb_8YwKqHI

Who was Allan Pettersson? (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2015/09/20/who-was-allan-pettersson/)

(http://www.axess.se/public/upload/images/tv_programs/2547.jpg)

He answered the question himself with his music, in particular in the Barefoot Songs, and also in interviews: "A voice crying in the wilderness that is nearly drowned by the noise of time", was how he described himself.  (Allan Pettersson Society in Sweden)

This is a belated acknowledgement of Petterrson's birthday, who was born on 19 September 1911.

https://www.youtube.com/v/KMG-QHu5QFs

Gilles de Binchois : born 1400 – dies 20 September 1460 (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2015/09/20/gilles-de-binchois-born-1400-dies-20-september-1460/)

(http://www.classical.net/music/images/composer/b/binchois.jpg)

Binchois is often considered to be the finest melodist of the 15th century, writing carefully shaped lines which are not only easy to sing but utterly memorable. His tunes appeared in copies decades after his death, and were often used as sources for Mass composition by later composers. Most of his music, even his sacred music, is simple and clear in outline, sometimes even ascetic; a greater contrast between Binchois and the extreme complexity of the ars subtilior of the prior (fourteenth) century would be hard to imagine. Most of his secular songs are rondeaux, which became the most common song form during the century.

https://www.youtube.com/v/VYrjtDickmo

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SEP 21, 2015
The Boston Symphony At Grafenegg Or: The Haydn
Ghetto

...As the applause for singer and the orchestra subsided, Rudolf Buchbinder,
artistic director of the festival, stepped on stage. He handed flowers and
compliments to Elisabeth Kulman and then announced that the remainder of
the concert – Brahms' Third Symphony – would take place in the auditorium's
concert hall, as a dry run for the second half could not be guaranteed. Sure
enough, minutes into intermission, raindrops started to plop into my 2013
Allram Riesling, confirming the aptitude of Grafenegg's meteorological division
or the accuracy of the twitch in Buchbinder's joints (depending on how they
operate)....

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/09/21/no-rain-on-bychkov-and-vienna-philharmonics-grafenegg-parade/
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2015/09/Wolkenturm_Andreas_Hofer_jens-f-laurson.jpg) (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/09/21/no-rain-on-bychkov-and-vienna-philharmonics-grafenegg-parade/)
Grafenegg's Wolkenturm
Picture courtesy Grafenegg, © Alexander Haiden

New on MusicaKaleidoskopea

(https://musicakaleidoscope.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/cropped-mk2.png)

EBERHARD WEBER AT 75 (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2015/09/21/eberhard-weber-at-75/)

This past January marked Eberhard Weber's 75th birthday.  His recordings for ECM in the early 1970s were in large part responsible for defining the ECM sound and Euro-Jazz in general.  His style bridged jazz, classical, minimalism, chamber jazz and included some ambient elements.  He regularly recorded with other ECM artists such Gary Burton (Ring, 1974; Passengers, 1976), Ralph Towner (Solstice, 1975; Solstice/Sound and Shadows, 1977), Pat Metheny (Watercolors, 1977), and Jan Garbarek (10 recordings between 1978 and 1998).

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9c/Eberhard_Weber.jpg/220px-Eberhard_Weber.jpg)

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SEP 23, 2015
"Wozzeck" Opens Zurich Opera Season
With Uncommon, Resounding Success

...Had I gone to Zurich to see Falstaff (the opera next up on their program) I
would probably have experienced that disappointment. The kind of fluffy high
camp of which I got a glimpse at the dress rehearsal – even when it has Bryn
Terfel as the central character – just isn't my thing. But then again, neither is
Falstaff, really. Alban Berg's Wozzeck meanwhile is rather my thing. Easy,
perhaps, since it's one of the truly great dramatic operas written... so
embarrassingly good, it's hard to make a muck of it. Dense, gripping, and
succinct, Georg Büchner's 1837 drama conveys the nuanced struggle of its
characters across nearly two centuries with ease. As adapted by Berg in 1922
– right between Büchner and us on a timeline – it even allows for a little time-
travel by entering that time just before the outbreak of wide-spread material
prosperity and the ensuing runaway individualism...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/09/22/wozzeck-opens-zurich-opera-season-with-uncommon-resounding-success/
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2015/09/Zurich_Opera_Wozzeck_Gerhaher_Homoki_sf_w_cMonika-Rittershaus_jens-f-laurson.jpg) (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/09/22/wozzeck-opens-zurich-opera-season-with-uncommon-resounding-success/)
Wozzeck, Christian Gerhaher
Picture courtesy Zurich Opera, © Monika Rittershaus

latest on ionarts:
Ionarts-at-Large: Involuntary Exclusivity
At Mozart's Home

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-luBXy1sJzGg/Ue0TH0ptl4I/AAAAAAAAGqs/BrwUD3smS5Y/s1600/Mieczyslaw+_Weinberg_laurson_600.jpg)

Violist Julia Rebekka Adler and pianist Axel Gremmelspacher presented a program—
and their latest CD—in the sub-basement of the Mozart House in Vienna, just in
the shadow of St. Stephen's Cathedral. The program and disc are titled "Viola in
Exile", concocted of composers, threatened, prosecuted, and eventually forgotten,
that they all huddled at the very back of the alphabet: Leo Weiner, Karl Weigl,
Mieczysław Weinberg, and Erich Zeisl.

I've followed the projects of Mme. Adler (assistant principal viola of the Munich
Philharmonic, in her day job) with keen interest ever since writing a feature interview
about her and her Weinberg solo viola project for the pages of Fanfare, some years
ago. As part of that project, she had found and arranged Weinberg's Sonata for
Clarinet and Piano for the viola, one of the catchiest piece of this often thorny
composer and the opening work of this evening's proceedings.

Viola in Exile:

It was an unusual concert in that it took place before an audience of seven or—deducting the record producer, his wife, the music critic, friends of the performers and the page turner...

http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2015/09/ionarts-at-large-involuntary.html (http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2015/09/ionarts-at-large-involuntary.html)

Andrzej Panufnik : Born in Warsaw on 24th September 1914 (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2015/09/24/andrzej-panufnik-born-in-warsaw-on-24th-september-1914/)

(https://musicakaleidoscope.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/cropped-mk2.png)

"In all my works, I attempt to achieve a true balance between feeling and intellect, heart and brain, impulse and design."

Andrzej Panufnik is one of the most important and original symphonic composers of the 2nd half of the 20th century. His output includes ten symphonies, with Centenary commissions from Sir Georg Solti for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Seiji Ozawa for Boston.

(https://musicakaleidoscope.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/panufnik2.jpg?w=330&h=399)

RTRH
(https://musicakaleidoscope.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/mk2-e1442935996117.jpg?w=50) (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2015/09/24/andrzej-panufnik-born-in-warsaw-on-24th-september-1914/)

George Frederick Pinto : potentially the English Mozart (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2015/09/25/george-frederick-pinto-potentially-the-english-mozart/)

(https://musicakaleidoscope.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/cropped-mk2.png)

As a musician he excited an extraordinary degree of admiration from well-qualified critics. Samuel Wesley said that 'a greater musical Genius has not been known'; Salomon remarked that 'if he had lived and been able to resist the allurements of society, England would have had the honour of producing a second Mozart'; J.B. Cramer, William Ayrton and others joined the chorus of enthusiasm. The chief source of their admiration seems to have been Pinto's compositions. Yet within a few years of his death, his name was almost forgotten by the public.

(https://musicakaleidoscope.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/george-frederick-pinto1.jpg?w=251&h=300)

Gerald Finzi : British composer (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2015/09/27/gerald-finzi-british-composer/)

(https://musicakaleidoscope.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/cropped-mk2.png)

Finzi wrote two masterpieces - his Cello Concerto, completed in 1955 and his choral work Intimations of Immortality -a setting of words by William Wordsworth.  In 1951, however, Finzi learned that he was suffering from Hodgkin's Disease, a form of leukaemia, and was told he had between five and ten years to live. The discovery in no way lessened his activities, particularly those undertaken for other composers.  Finzi finally lost the fight against his illness and he died on September 27, 1956. His Cello Concerto was first broadcast the night before he died.

(https://musicakaleidoscope.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/finzi2.jpg?w=459&h=122)

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SEP 28, 2015
Gergiev Starts Munich Tenure With Mahler

...The concert opened inauspiciously when a man who didn't bother to introduce himself (it was
Hans-Georg Küppers, head of Munich's Department of Culture) gave a dry speech of the self-
congratulatory (or circle-jerk) variety which wasted everyone's time... except it might plausibly
have been used to cover the fact that the maestro was stuck in traffic, coming in from the airport.
(If that wasn't the case on this occasion, with Valery Gergiev as music director, that scenario
isn't far fetched at all.)...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/09/28/gergiev-starts-munich-tenure-with-mahler/
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2015/09/Gergiev__Valery_Alberto_Venzago-1940x1290.jpg) (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/09/28/gergiev-starts-munich-tenure-with-mahler/)
Valery Gergiev
Photo courtesy Munich Philharmonic
© Alberto Venzago

latest on ionarts:
Grigory Sokolov refuses Cremona Music Award because this Guy's also on the List

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http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2015/09/grigory-sokolov-refuses-cremona-music.html (http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2015/09/grigory-sokolov-refuses-cremona-music.html)

Alican Çamcı : new music from Turkey (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2015/09/30/alican-camci-new-music-from-turkey/)

(https://musicakaleidoscope.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/cropped-mk2.png)

Alican Çamcı's (b. 1989) output includes works for small and large ensembles, solo instrumental music and electro-acoustic compositions.

(https://musicakaleidoscope.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/alican-c3a7amcc4b1.jpg?w=300&h=200)

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SEP 29, 2015
Merger Reunites Classical Music Labels Of Father And Son

...The classical music label Hänssler CLASSIC, which had been on its parent company's
chopping block for a while, has been picked up by Günter Hänssler's Profil label, thus
bringing the father's company into the fold of that of the son....

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/09/29/merger-reunites-classical-music-labels-of-father-and-son/
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2015/09/Forbes-Graphic-Haenssler-Profil_header.jpg) (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/09/29/merger-reunites-classical-music-labels-of-father-and-son/)

More a 'literary blog', though I do post a few classical music videos from time to time (I have to restrain myself!).  But it's mostly postings of poetry and bits of philosophy -- from Homer to Geoffrey Hill, from Aristotle to Arendt:

http://litterarum-lumen.tumblr.com (http://litterarum-lumen.tumblr.com)

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SEP 29, 2015
Vienna: Premiering Beethoven Symphonies All Over Again

...Comparatively little has been done by way of research into how audiences be-
haved or listened on, or for that matter: where. And whatever has been done,
it hasn't been made visible or audible to audiences in the same way. No matter
how authentic "17th century" the band plays in front of us, audiences still sit on
the other side of the fourth wall as if it were 1977. We treat music from Monteverdi
to Stockhausen as if it were Parsifal. The lights are dimmed, we listen in awed quiet,
are embarrassed if caught snoring, and duly hiss if someone has shown his or her
appreciation at a point that doesn't fit the current convention of when to show
appreciation. (I call those hissers the "Vigilant Applause Police", an odious faction
that happens to overlap considerably with the only slightly less annoying "Eager
Early Clappers"; see the scientific looking, albeit completely speculative Venn
diagram below.)

Historic Venues

Doing just that – researching where music was played – is the raison d'être of
the "Resound" project of the Orchester Wiener Akademie (the Vienna Academy
Orchestra) under organist-cum-conductor-cum-impresario Martin Haselböck.
In seven concerts over two concert seasons, the orchestra will have performed
Beethoven's Nine Symphonies more or less in the venues they were premiered
in. Interestingly that is possible ...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/10/07/vienna-premiering-beethoven-symphonies-all-over-again/
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2015/10/RE-SOUND_Wiener-Akademie_Vienna-Academy-Orchestra_Beethoven-9_CD-Cover_jens-f-laurson_Forbes.jpg) (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/10/07/vienna-premiering-beethoven-symphonies-all-over-again/)

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NOV 8, 2015
Bang-Bang: The European Union Youth Orchestra's
Summer Shenanigans

...Amongst our weaponry are such diverse elements as surprise...

A good youth orchestra has at its disposal a terrific weapon of surprise, namely
that it somehow lulls you into sus-pecting less than you would from a big name
professional orchestra... and then delivers more...

Angela Gheorgiu, one of the most difficult and by all accounts least pleasant
people to work with in the music world (thrice winner of the Kathleen Battle medal
for excellence in the Art of being a Diva), wouldn't have a career if her voice were
even just a shade less glorious. In her repertoire – dramatic Italian opera foremost
– she can conjure beauty and power that can evoke an imaginary Golden Age of
opera. There was nothing to quibble with the two arias for which she came and
after which she went... assuming one doesn't mind overlooking...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/11/08/bang-bang-the-european-union-youth-orchestras-summer-shenanigans/
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2015/11/Forbes-EUYO_Grafenegg_Bang_bang.jpg) (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/11/08/bang-bang-the-european-union-youth-orchestras-summer-shenanigans/)


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OCT 23, 2015
New Principal Conductor For The Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra

...Fischer is a fairly big name for an orchestra with so little name recognition, although the
orchestra has a proud tradition. It's just that one has to go back a while... namely to 1833,
when Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy led them for three seasons. Before him, Louis Spohr
and Ferdinand Ries had subbed; after him came Ferdinand Hiller (1847–1850) and then of
course Robert Schumann (1850–1854) who led them incompetently but with enthusiasm.
Big-ish names graced the orchestra again in the mid-20th century when Jean Martinon
(1960–1965) and Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos (1966–1971) led the band in back-to-back,
one-term stints.

Picking a new music director for orchestras at this level of fame-purgatory is tricky; old
but famous hands who phone it in don't do the trick but unknown young music directors
can backfire if they don't turn out to be the next miracle man....

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/10/23/new-principal-conductor-for-the-dusseldorf-symphony-orchestra/
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2015/10/D-Dorf_jens-f-laurson_Forbes_Adam-Fischer_Logo_tonhalle.jpg) (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/10/23/new-principal-conductor-for-the-dusseldorf-symphony-orchestra/)

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NOV 10, 2015
The 'Other' Petrenko To Stay At The Oslo Philharmonic Until 2020

...In appointing Vasily Petrenko, the orchestra made the right step towards youth and risk.
Apart from an early blooper when, right around the time of his inaugural concert, Petrenko
made a potentially sexist comment regarding the efficiency of women-conductors (something
that doesn't fly in aggressively gender-progressive Norway), this seems to have paid off
nicely. The orchestra is busy recording and reviews of its concerts are full of praise. Tours
and gigs abroad (the Edinburgh Festival, the BBC Proms et al.) help greatly. Gramophone
Magazine quotes Petrenko as saying: "After two seasons with me at the reins, I think we
have freshened up the orchestra and introduced some great music that hasn't been heard
in Oslo for many years." That sounds about right...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/11/10/the-other-petrenko-to-stay-in-oslo-until-2020/
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2015/11/Vasily-Petrenko_Oslo_Filharmonien_jens-f-laurson_Forbes.jpg) (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/11/10/the-other-petrenko-to-stay-in-oslo-until-2020/)

Amandine Beyer & Christophe Rousset : Carrying the Baroque Torch (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2015/11/13/amanddine-beyer-christophe-rousset-carrying-the-baroque-torch/)

(https://musicakaleidoscope.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/rousset2.jpg?w=373&h=231)

Amandine Beyer and Christophe Rousset are both accomplished French musicians who have devoted much of their careers to promoting music from the Baroque period, much of it not well known.  Each has formed a performing ensemble, Gli Incogniti by Beyer and Rousset's Les Talens Lyriques for this purpose.  While the Baroque is the primary concern, each also has resurrected works from later periods if there is a sense of their being relatively unknown or ripe for reinterpretation.

Fresh from Forbes:

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NOV 25, 2015
The Real Top 10 Bach Recordings

Bach, the Grand Master

There is something about the music of Johann Sebastian Bach that puts it in a category of its own.
Bach is the P.G. Wodehouse and the Shakespeare of the musical score rolled into one. He is the
only composer on whom I cannot overdose, and while his music seemed dated to his own, slightly
embarrassed sons, it strikes us as perfectly timeless now. His works pillars of mankind's culture,
and his music constitute the first tracks etched onto the golden record Voyager record that sails
toward hypothetical distant galactic civilizations. I should think that potential aliens might rather
get too sanguine an impression of us* ... but there we go: Bach is the bee's knees, and anyone
who knows Bach but doesn't love his music is going to be suspect to me, lest I learn a exculpatory
reason for their lamentable deficiency.

The Gramophone Bias

Gramophone Magazine is the only English language magazine that combines serious CD-reviewing
with the glossy, popular magazine approach. I used to read it religiously and got many of my first
hints, tastes, and opinions from its pages. BBC Music Magazine gets close; Classic FM Magazine
lasted nearly twenty years but wasn't taken seriously by the cogniscenti. No-nonsense, no-picture
publications like the American Record Guide or Fanfare Magazine (both American), which exude the
charm of telephone books, are total geek literature, arcane, loved by the few dedicated readers, and
more or less published out of the basements of their respective, dedicated publishers... private
ventures and labors of love that, like the lamented International Record Review, won't likely survive
their founders.

In my time as a clerk at Tower Records, we would sometimes make fun of Gramophone Magazine's
rather obvious pro-English biases. "Proximity bias" or "mere exposure effect" might be the appropriate
euphemism for them being unabashed homers. And indeed, when they published a "10 Best Bach
Recordings" list published early last year, they topped it in such a ridiculous way that it needed soft
rebutting which I hope to provide hereby...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/11/25/the-real-top-10-bach-recordings/
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2015/11/Top-10_Bach_Recordings_laurson_600-1200x446.jpg) (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/11/25/the-real-top-10-bach-recordings/)

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NOV 28, 2015
The Hobbit Returns: Thomas Fey & the Heidelberg
Symphony will finish their Haydn Cycle

It has just been informally announced that Hänssler CLASSIC, which was recently,
partially merged with PROFIL Hänssler (see "Merger Reunites Classical Music Labels
Of Father And Son" on Forbes.com), will continue the wildly imaginative, musically
successful Haydn Symphony cycle that Thomas Fey and the Heidelberger Sinfoniker
had been working on for the last few years. Yay!

Fey (*1960), who has attained the lovingly-meant nickname "The Hobbit" in an
internet forum that teems with appréciateurs for that particular cycle, founded the
orchestra in 1993 and has its roots in an early music ensemble that Fey founded as
a student, several years earlier. Fey, who had studied under Nikolaus Harnoncourt,
is greatly influenced by, but not beholden to, the historically informed performance
ideology or movement. (The orchestra calls itself "historically oriented".)

When their Haydn recording project began shortly after the orchestra assembled, in
1999...

http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-hobbit-returns-thomas-fey.html
(http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-hobbit-returns-thomas-fey.html)

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DEC 9, 2015
The 10 Best Classical Recordings Of 2015 (New Releases)

It's fair to say to say that such "Best-Of" lists are inherently daft if one clings too
literally to the idea of "Best." Still, I have been making "Best of the Year" lists for
classical music since 2004, when working at Tower Records gave me a splendid
oversight (occasionally insight) of the new releases and of the re-releases that
hit the classical music market. Since then, I've kept tabs on the market as much
as possible. (The 2014 Forbes list for new recordings can be found here, the one
for re-issues here.)

(The entire list on Amazon for CDs and mp3s (incomplete) can be found here.
The complete-as-possible Spotify playlist here. Links to iTunes (where available)
and the high-fidelity streaming/download platform Qobuz are provided individually.)

Making these lists is a subjective affair, aided only by massive exposure and
hopefully good ears and a discriminating, if personal taste. But then "10 CDs
that, all caveats duly noted, I consider to have been outstanding in 2015"
does not make for a sexy headline. You get the point. The built-in hyperbole
of the phrase is a tool to understand what this is about, not symbolic of
illusions of grandeur on part of the author. Because the market lends itself to
it, I distinguish between new releases and re-releases. This is the Top 10 of
the former, the Top 10 of the re-issues will follow. Let's get right to it:...

(http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=13493.0;attach=44612;image)

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/12/09/the-10-best-classical-recordings-of-2015-new-releases/
(http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/12/09/the-10-best-classical-recordings-of-2015-new-releases/)

Fresh from Forbes:

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DEC 12, 2015
The 10 Best Classical Recordings Of 2015 (Re-Issues)

The first stage of drafting such a list after listening to hundreds of new albums, is straining
to remember which ones were sufficiently excellent to include. The second stage is to justify
to oneself how not to include the many albums that come to mind only after the Top 10 has
been assembled. On the ionarts website I cheat by creating an "Almost List." Here, as I did
last year, I will merely lament ostentatiously that there was no room to include Zhu Xiao-Mei's
Art of the Fugue (Accentus), Mozart Violin Concertos with Christian Tetzlaff (Hänssler), the
Bruckner Fourth Symphony with the Pittsburgh Symphony under Manfred Honeck (Reference
Recordings), Alice Cooper narrating a new mashup of Peter and the Wolf (DG), the Pavel Haas
String Quartet's superb new recording of the Smetana Quartets (Supraphon), Pentatone's
splendid coupling of Richard Strauss Sinfonia domestica with his forgotten choral work "The
Times of the Day" or the snappy "Sinkovsky Plays & Sings Vivaldi" album on naïve. And off
we go to the list of Best Re-Issues of 2015:...

(http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=13493.0;attach=44612;image)

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/12/12/the-10-best-classical-recordings-of-2015-re-releases/
(http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/12/12/the-10-best-classical-recordings-of-2015-re-releases/)

https://soundmining.wordpress.com/

It is a blog about classical music. Both my own and also writings about classical music that interests me.

Fresh from Forbes:

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JAN 5, 2015
National Symphony Orchestra's New Conductor Ideal
-- But Audience Quality Has To Match Him

...Word on the street was that Deborah Rutter, the Kennedy Center's president and previously
president of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, thought there was no ceiling as to who the
NSO could get as its music director. This was very worrying, because while it is good to be
ambitious, it is also unhelpful to be deluded. To strive for name recognition above all is a
great recipe for orchestral regression... as any big name who might come wouldn't likely be
in it with his heart. The NSO is an upper-tier, middling orchestra; as per 2012 the sixth best
paid American orchestra, but never in its history the sixth best orchestra in the country. Not
a bad orchestra (incidentally the orchestra of my musical-coming-of-age, and I feel deeply
about it), but in brutal-sounding truth an ambitious B-orchestra with a C-audience and kept
relevant only by its location in the capital and having had a big-name conductor in Eschenbach
for the last seven years. It is less than its name, better than its reputation, but in any case not
a sexy position for any big-shot conductor wanting to make a glamorous career. And even
Christoph Eschenbach (who had previously been music director with the Tonhalle-Orchestra
Zurich, Houston Symphony, Orchestre de Paris, and Philadelphia Orchestra) could only be
lured to the NSO in 2010 by having made him artistic director of the whole Kennedy Center,
which was a salary-inflating bunny Deborah Rutter's predecessor Michael Kaiser pulled out
of his hat....

(http://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/75788554/960x0.jpg?fit=scale)

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/01/05/national-symphony-orchestra-new-conductor-ideal-but-audience-quality-has-to-match-him/
(http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/01/05/national-symphony-orchestra-new-conductor-ideal-but-audience-quality-has-to-match-him/)

Fresh from Forbes:

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GS9pLMtbk04/VIB7VKbHqeI/AAAAAAAAHvs/QnxWx_SUGxc/s1600/Forbes_SOUND_ADVICE_laurson_2_600.jpg)


JAN 5, 2015
Washington's National Symphony And Lang Lang In Vienna

...In such proximity to the Super Bowl, a football analogy will have to fit the bill: The National Symphony
Orchestra is to American orchestras what the...

...BA-Dam!! Christopher Rouse rips the score of his 1986 8- or 9-minute symphonic overture open with a loud,
butts-from-seats-jolting chord before plinking and plonging away, harp-supported, and moving on with great
gaiety in the woodwind section. The tuba engages in sounds that would make juveniles giggle; the neglected
strings are allowed a word in, edgewise, here and there. Eventually the music works up an appetite and goes
through more notes than the Cookie Monster through Oreos. Me want demisemiquaver!...

...And the antics? Even trying to look away, the occasional glance at the pianist is impossible and whenever it
occurs, it is met by the spectacle of a young man looking like a self-satisfied juvenile hamster who does the slow
face-pan to the audience – ecstatic stop – very-moved head-swivel – slow semi-circle back to the music – briefly
arrested movement along with transfixed-by-beauty-of-his-own-playing stare. Lang Lang's gestures and
mimicking during a concert would make for primo live-blogging, if mobile phones weren't so taboo during
classical concerts...

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ca4oIUVWwAASb3E.jpg)
(Image courtesy [= stolen from] American Ambassador to Austria, Alexa Wesner)

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/02/10/washingtons-national-symphony-and-lang-lang-in-vienna/#149124a71520
(http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/02/10/washingtons-national-symphony-and-lang-lang-in-vienna/#149124a71520)

Latest on Forbes.com:
Classical CD Of The Week: Liszt Inspections (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/03/02/classical-cd-of-the-week-liszt-inspections-2/#2202ad6627f0)

Liszt Inspections, Marino Formenti (piano), Kairos

A gentle small-scale giant of music who doesn't distinguish between "contemporary" and established, Marino Formenti has the preternatural ability to make any music sound weird.

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/02/Forbes_Classica-CD-of-the-Week_KARUS_Liszt-Inspections_Formenti1200-1200x469.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/03/02/classical-cd-of-the-week-liszt-inspections-2/#2202ad6627f0 (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/03/02/classical-cd-of-the-week-liszt-inspections-2/#2202ad6627f0)

Latest on Forbes.com:
Classical CD Of The Week: Mozart Sonatas for Fortepiano (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/03/09/classical-cd-of-the-week-mozart-sonatas-for-fortepiano/#34f671756fd2/#2202ad6627f0)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Keyboard Sonatas vol.8 & 9, Kristian Bezuidenhout (fortepiano), (Harmonia Mundi)

There have been fortepianists before Ronald Brautigam and Kristian Bezuidenhout upon whose shoulders those two might be said to stand. But none had managed to so convincingly bring the fortepiano into the mainstream.

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/03/Forbes_Classica-CD-of-the-Week_Harmonia-Mundi_Mozart_Bezuidenhout_Sonatas1600-1200x469.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/03/09/classical-cd-of-the-week-mozart-sonatas-for-fortepiano/ (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/03/09/classical-cd-of-the-week-mozart-sonatas-for-fortepiano//#2202ad6627f0)

Quote from: jlaurson on March 09, 2016, 02:51:52 PM
Latest on Forbes.com:
Classical CD Of The Week: Liszt Inspections (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/03/09/classical-cd-of-the-week-mozart-sonatas-for-fortepiano/#34f671756fd2/#2202ad6627f0)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Keyboard Sonatas vol.8 & 9, Kristian Bezuidenhout (fortepiano), (Harmonia Mundi)

There have been fortepianists before Ronald Brautigam and Kristian Bezuidenhout upon whose shoulders those two might be said to stand. But none had managed to so convincingly bring the fortepiano into the mainstream.

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/03/Forbes_Classica-CD-of-the-Week_Harmonia-Mundi_Mozart_Bezuidenhout_Sonatas1600-1200x469.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/03/09/classical-cd-of-the-week-mozart-sonatas-for-fortepiano/ (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/03/09/classical-cd-of-the-week-mozart-sonatas-for-fortepiano//#2202ad6627f0)

One of the reasons you are so taken by Brautigam is the fact he uses a fortepiano built by McNulty.... So..I was wondering what instrument Bezuidenhout was playing on this recording? :)
(hint: when reviewing a period performance - please mention the specifics of the instrument) Result after some googling: a copy of an 1805 Walter instrument by Paul McNulty.
I guess no surprise. :D But seriously: I agree that Bezuidenhout is one of the most gifted forte pianists around.

Q

Quote from: Que on March 09, 2016, 09:23:13 PM
One of the reasons you are so taken by Brautigam is the fact he uses a fortepiano built by McNulty.... So..I was wondering what instrument Bezuidenhout was playing on this recording? :)
(hint: when reviewing a period performance - please mention the specifics of the instrument) Result after some googling: a copy of an 1805 Walter instrument by Paul McNulty.
I guess no surprise. :D But seriously: I agree that Bezuidenhout is one of the most gifted forte pianists around.

Q

I'm sorry, but isn't it mentioned right there: "The instrument used is a copy of an 1805 Watler & Son", fourth paragraph?  (I'll fix that to "Walter, of course)

Quote from: jlaurson on March 10, 2016, 01:54:35 AM
I'm sorry, but isn't it mentioned right there: "The instrument used is a copy of an 1805 Watler & Son", fourth paragraph?  (I'll fix that to "Walter, of course)

I overlooked .... I guess I wasn't quite awake yet - sorry about that!  :)

Anyway, my point here is that you quite like the sound produced by McNulty, the builder.
McNulty produces instruments that sound quite bold and robust.

Q

Quote from: Que on March 10, 2016, 10:59:12 PM
I overlooked .... I guess I wasn't quite awake yet - sorry about that!  :)

Anyway, my point here is that you quite like the sound produced by McNulty, the builder.
McNulty produces instruments that sound quite bold and robust.

Q

Well, I've heard Bezuidenhout on non-McNulty fortepianos and (ditto Brautigam) on Steinways... and he's pretty much a fab artist no matter what set of keys you put in front of him. That's *also* my point. But you are quite right, I think McNulty is the bee's knees in fortepiano-building and even an OK-McNulty will sound better than most original instruments. The newness is probably part of the robustness. And it's more authentic, to boot (if one cared for that), because Mozart & Co. were also playing quite new instruments, with fresh wood, rather than crisp 200-year old dried up mummies.  ;)

Latest on Forbes.com:
Classical CD Of The Week: Mendelssohn String Quartets (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/03/16/classical-cd-of-the-week-mendelssohn-string-quartets/#7d462ff24664)

Felix Mendelssohn-B., String Quartets Nos.2 & 3, Escher String Quartet, BIS

The reverb on the last thunderously struck notes hovers in the air and you can almost smell a whiff of burnt resin as the Escher Quartet puts their smoking bows back into their scabbards. Ripping stuff!

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/03/Forbes_Classica-CD-of-the-Week_BIS_Mendelssohn_Escher-Quartet_StringQuartets1200-1200x469.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/03/16/classical-cd-of-the-week-mendelssohn-string-quartets/ (http://hhttp://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/03/16/classical-cd-of-the-week-mendelssohn-string-quartets/#7d462ff24664)

Latest on Forbes.com:
Classical CD Of The Week: Bach for Solo Soprano (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/03/23/classical-cd-of-the-week-bach-for-solo-soprano/#120b34ce6c50)

Johann Sebastian Bach, Cantatas for Solo-Soprano, Dorothee Mields / L'Orfeo Baroque Orchestra / Michi Gaigg, Carus

...This is arguably the weaker part of the recording at hand (Suzuki presents all 12 strophes, which even Carolyn Sampson, a rare singer I cherish just as much as Mields, can only just about make bearable), but in a way that speaks to the disc's strength rather than any weakness...

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/03/Forbes_Classica-CD-of-the-Week_Carus_Bach_Mields_Cantatas1200-1200x469.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/03/23/classical-cd-of-the-week-bach-for-solo-soprano/#120b34ce6c50 (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/03/23/classical-cd-of-the-week-bach-for-solo-soprano/#120b34ce6c50)

Latest on Forbes.com:

Music For The Easter Weekend: From Dresden Schütz to Elgar in Dresden (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/03/24/music-for-the-easter-weekend-from-dresden-schutz-to-elgar-in-dresden/#393a2abc66d6)

Anton Bruckner: Symphony No.2 | Edward Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius | Heinrich Schütz, Resurrection Historia | Gottfried August Homilius, St. Mark Passion | George Philipp Telemann, Brockes-Passion

...What soundtrack to the Passion of the Christ, Pesach, or the Easter bunny? Bach wrote eight cantatas for Easter that survived, the Easter-Oratorio, and the two Passions. That's standard stuff and glorious and worthy any occasion but it's been written about plenty. Including in last year's post about Music for Easter on Forbes: "Bach And Beyond: Music For The Easter Weekend". (Nods were also given to Dieterich Buxtehude (Membra Jesu Nostri) and Wagner's Parsifal, and the less well known Carl Heinrich Graun and his Easter Oratorio.)...

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/03/Music-for-Easter_Forbes_laurson_Bruckner_Venzago_Northern-Sinfonia_CPO_1600-1200x446.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/03/24/music-for-the-easter-weekend-from-dresden-schutz-to-elgar-in-dresden/#393a2abc66d6 (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/03/24/music-for-the-easter-weekend-from-dresden-schutz-to-elgar-in-dresden/#393a2abc66d6)






Classical CD Of The Week: Charles Ives Down Under (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/03/30/classical-cd-of-the-week-charles-ives-down-under/#20229fe06ede)

Charles Ives, Orchestral Works v.2, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis (conductor), Chandos SACD

...This disc, nominally the second volume in the Melbourne Orchestra's cycle of Charles Ives orchestral works, contains three of his major goodies (Central Park in the Dark, Three Places in New England, and The Unanswered Question) and one of his less performed, perhaps underappreciated works in the most phenomenal performance I have heard: The New England Holidays Symphony. This combination makes the release a perfect starting place for this series and indeed a perfect starting place for your Ives-adventure...

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/03/Forbes_Classica-CD-of-the-Week_CHANDOS_IVES_AndrewDavis_Melbourne_Orchestral-Works1200-1200x469.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/03/30/classical-cd-of-the-week-charles-ives-down-under/#20229fe06ede (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/03/30/classical-cd-of-the-week-charles-ives-down-under/#20229fe06ede)

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Classical CD Of The Week: Croatian Romantic Discovery (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek006)

Dora Pejačević, Piano Concerto, Orchestral Songs, Overture op.49, Brandenburg State Orchestra Frankfurt/Oder, Howard Griffith (conductor), cpo

...There are those who might wish to make a point of Dora Pejačevič being a composer of the female persuasion, but I would consider that possibly sexist; certainly faux-feminist posturing. She's simply a good composer from a time where few women ardently pursued that kind of career. The music deserves credit on account of its beauty, not on account of Pejačevič's chromosome-makeup....

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/03/Forbes_Classica-CD-of-the-Week_CPO_PEJACEVIC_Griffith_Frankfurt-Oder_Piano-Concerto1200-1200x469.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/04/06/classical-cd-of-the-week-croatian-romantic-discovery/ (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek006)
[/quote]

Latest on Forbes.com:


Gergiev Starts Into Second Season In Munich (http://bit.ly/GergievMunich02)

...On the subject of live-streaming concerts (a concept about which slight confusion seems to reign, when a live-stream of a concert from a few days ago was being promised) there came the comment, almost an aside, that because Gergiev's a star, there were plenty of streaming requests coming forth. It was a blink-or-you-miss-it moment. But Woha! I'll explain in a second....

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2015/09/Gergiev__Valery_Alberto_Venzago-1940x1290.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/04/09/gergiev-starts-into-second-season-in-munich/#2a6df96c34b7 (http://bit.ly/GergievMunich02)

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In Search Of A Home, Abroad: The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra In North America (http://bit.ly/BRSO-does-America)

Forbes: The Bavarian RSO hits N.America today, starting @kencen & finishing @carnegiehall

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/04/BRSO_in_New_York_Mariss-Janoson_jens-f-laurson_Forbes_-1200x749.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/04/12/in-search-of-a-home-abroad-the-bavarian-radio-symphony-orchestra-in-north-america/ (http://bit.ly/BRSO-does-America)

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Classical CD Of The Week:
Danish Schumann With A Punch (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek007)

Until not so long ago, Wolfgang Sawallisch's set of Schumann Symphonies was
the universal consensus reference-recording which conveniently meant that
thinking about new recordings wasn't necessary – nor listening...

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/03/Forbes_Classica-CD-of-the-Week_CPO_SACD_SCHUMANN_Odense_Gaudenz_Symphonies1200-1200x469.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/04/13/classical-cd-of-the-week-danish-schumann-with-a-punch/ (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek007)

latest on ionarts... or actually just dusting off of a post that has languished for almost ten years after WETA dumped their blog including the Mahler survey I wrote for them. Here is, at nearly-last (Symphony 4 has yet to be restored), the Introduction:

Gustav Mahler – A Brief Introduction

(https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_HHFGspBp8E/Vw7ogVS0JYI/AAAAAAAAJDs/VFFAyuxBa54PIQe2kaCiYGpIXm0GLld3wCLcB/s1600/Gustav_Mahler_Introduction.png) (http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2016/04/gustav-mahler-brief-introduction.html)

http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2016/04/gustav-mahler-brief-introduction.html (http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2016/04/gustav-mahler-brief-introduction.html)

Latest on Forbes.com:
Bach At Home In Japan / Review of the
Konzerthaus Concert in Vienna (http://onforb.es/1r9rDZy)

Where resides the best Bach Orchestra and Chorus in the world? Leipzig? Berlin?
Germany at least? Amsterdam – where the great Bach tradition still lives on vibrantly?
London, where the early music movement attained its first heights? Maybe, but for
my money try Kobe, Japan[1]. Forgive for a second the hyperbole of "best": there
are other really, really fine ensembles that do Bach extremely proud. But the Bach
Collegium Japan (BCJ) and its founding director Masaaki Suzuki are are part of the
exclusive high-end of interpreters of the Leipzig's Master and need yield to no one in
the quality of their Bach performances....

(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1NuvBriUsKs/VxSqdCipdHI/AAAAAAAAJEE/p28PSI4ZR98DnRAd6Mw3DqUGRWxCCnktACLcB/s1600/BACH_Collegium_Japan_Logo_laurson_Forbes-600.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/04/17/bach-at-home-in-japan (http://bit.ly/Bach-Collegium-Japan_Konzerthaus)

Latest on Forbes.com:
Classical CD Of The Week: Living History Mozart (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek008)

Paul Badura-Skoda seems like a pianist from another era – t'is almost surprising he
is still alive and busily recording! But he certainly is – and the wealth of his musical
knowledge shows in this latest of his recent Mozart solo-recordings on a 1790s
Anton Weller instrument....

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/04/Forbes_Classica-CD-of-the-Week_GRAMOLA_Mozart_Badura-Skoda_Sonatas_1200-1200x469.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/04/20/classical-cd-of-the-week-living-history-mozart/ (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek008)

Latest on ionarts:
Ionarts-at-Large: The Vienna Symphony's B Minor Mass: Bach to Snooze To (http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2016/04/ionarts-at-large-vienna-symphonys-b.html)

The Vienna Symphony Orchestra under Philippe Jordan has taken on the sensible, laudable,
wonderful mission of adding Bach to its regularish fare. Last year they performed the St.
Matthew Passion.[1] Next season it will be the St. John Passion. And on March 19th, it was
the Mass in B minor at the Vienna Konzerthaus – part of the now defunct "Osterklang"
Festival of secular music associated with the Theater an der Wien (or rather: its Intendant,
Roland Geyer).

In short, this Karl Richter memorial performance was...

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DX4_ve7EuZ4/UqB-_O57r4I/AAAAAAAAHWI/4SfdDkEziXY/s1600/KonzerthausGrosserSaal.png)
http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2016/04/ionarts-at-large-vienna-symphonys-b.html (http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2016/04/ionarts-at-large-vienna-symphonys-b.html)

Update on ionarts:

A Survey of Bach Organ Cycles (http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2013/09/a-survey-of-bach-organ-cycles.html)

Updated: 04/24/2016: André Isoir and and the Hänssler cycle have been put into chronological
order. The details of the organs used (on mouse-over, depending on your browser) are now included for
Koopman, Alain III, Weinberger, Foccroulle and (partly) Phillips....

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-thtV3npwdYY/UdP62-OpysI/AAAAAAAAGk4/s4r7zdpJuxs/s600/BACH_Portrait_original_laurson_600.jpg)
http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2013/09/a-survey-of-bach-organ-cycles.html (http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2013/09/a-survey-of-bach-organ-cycles.html)

Latest on Forbes.com:
Classical CD Of The Week: Revelation Of A Mystery Play (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek010)

Alongside Mieczysław Weinberg (Passenger and especially Idiot), Walter Braunfels is the greatest
among least known opera composers. (Needless to say, he was given an overdue chapter in the
new, second edition of Surprised by Beauty, Robert Reilly's "Listener's Guide to the Recovery of
20th Century of Music" for which it was my privilege to contribute this particular chapter.) Record-
ings of Jeanne D'Arc and at last a new recording of The Annunciation show Braunfels at his best...

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/05/Forbes_Classica-CD-of-the-Week_BR-KLASSIK_Braunfels_Annunciation_Banse_Schirmer_Munich-Radio-Symphony-Orchestra_Laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/05/04/classical-cd-of-the-week-revelation-of-a-mystery-play/#1dbc464e4970 (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/05/04/classical-cd-of-the-week-revelation-of-a-mystery-play/#1dbc464e4970)


Classical CD Of The Week: Domestic Violins & Four Last Songs for Chorus (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek009)

It's easy to be dismissive about Richard Strauss' Sinfonia Domestica, with its purported or actual
depiction of his eggs sunny-side-up for breakfast, afternoon nap, and a digestive movement (ma
non troppo). And although it's likely Strauss was deliberately poking fun at the symphonic tradition
with his juxtaposition of the most banal topicality, he didn't compose his 9th (of 10) tone poem
just as a lark...

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/04/Forbes_Classica-CD-of-the-Week_PENTATONE_Strauss_Janowski_Tageszeiten_Laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/04/27/classical-cd-of-the-week-domestic-violins-four-last-songs-for-chorus/ (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek009)


Boston Symphony's Gift To Mahler In Vienna (http://bit.ly/BSO-in-Vienna)

...And that was achieved, and with perfectly hushed tones in the bargain, interrupted only by the
marimba ringtone of a goddamned iPhone, the owner of which was undoubtedly tarred and
feathered and thrown into the Danube Canal immediately following the concert...

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/05/BostonSO_Musikverein_Marco-Borggreve_Andris-Nelsons-1200x798.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/05/10/boston-symphonys-gift-to-mahler-in-vienna/ (http://bit.ly/BSO-in-Vienna)

Latest on Forbes.com:
Classical CD Of The Week: Mozart With Je Ne Sais Quoi (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek011)

To say that Mozart wrote some pieces that are greater than others is not to
denigrate the miracle-man from Salzburg. Even to say that he is an overrated
composer – which as the easily most popular classical composer, relative to
his colleagues, he must be – doesn't put a dent into his magnificent, ravishing
output. So to say that Mozart's violin concertos are wonderful works but not
of the same complexity and even quality as, for example, the later piano
concertos; to say that three of them are plenty in one sitting, and to say that
it needn't always be a complete recording of all five to adequately satisfy the
daily dose of Mozart, doesn't constitute a Lèse-majesté...

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/05/Forbes_Classica-CD-of-the-Week_HAENSSLER_Mozart_F-P-Zimmerman_Violin-Concertos_Laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/05/12/classicalcdoftheweekzimmermann/ (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek011)

Latest on Forbes.com:
Classical CD Of The Week: Once-In-A-Decade Schumann (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek012a)

The three Schumann String Quartets (op.41/1-3) are not as present on the recital- or recording
scene as one might assume, given the fame of the composer and the relative popularity of the
genre. We notice this when there comes a recording our way – as seems to happen every decade
or so – that turns our heads and makes us go: "Woha! Right – those works!"...

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ci2stpeXAAAXB5j.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/05/19/classicalcdoftheweek_schumann_hermes-quartet_la-dolce-volta/#5147bc8c345a (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek012a)

Latest on Forbes.com:
Classical CD Of The Week: Post-Baroque Sluggard Demi-Genius (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek013)

After a master-class tour of the Who's-Who of late-baroque/post-baroque composers – Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Adolph Hasse, C.P.E. Bach, and Georg Philipp Telemann – the aspiring composer Johann Gottfried Müthel settled in Riga with his new-won skills and composed. But, in his own words, only when he was in the mood. He didn't think much of working for work's sake or whenever anything but fully inspired and convivial. Sounds as prototypical romantic as impractical an attitude to have. J.S. Bach and P.G. Wodehouse would certainly have disapproved and look where steady hard work has got them!...

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/05/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_BIS_Muethel_Keyboard-Concertos_Arte-dei-Suonatori-_Laurson-1200-1200x469.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/05/26/classical-cd-of-the-week-classical-cd-of-the-week-post-baroque-sluggard-demi-genius/ (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek013)

Happy Birthday, Wolferl!

Latest on Forbes.com:
An Introduction To Erich Wolfgang Korngold (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/05/29/korngold_surprised-by-beauty/)

...It wasn't that far from his Snowman to Korngold's first works of artistic maturity – and the Sextet, op.10, premièred in Vienna just before the composers' 20th birthday May 29th, 1917, already shows a composer in the fullest bloom of creative prowess. Think Arnold Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht or Richard Strauss' Metamorphosen and you get a fair idea of its perfectly developed chromatic romanticism. Add to that a touch of Viennese gaiety in the Intermezzo, and an Adagio that teases the ear with unfamiliar harmonies—not unlike the opening of Mozart's "Dissonance Quartet" or Alban Berg's Piano Sonata op.1—before offering up the notes that reel us back into familiar, lush territory...

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/05/korngold_1940ca_am_klavier_forbes640.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/05/29/korngold_surprised-by-beauty/ (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/05/29/korngold_surprised-by-beauty/)

Broken link fixed:

Latest on Forbes.com:
Classical CD Of The Week: Scarlatti Classical And En Suite (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek14)

As every clever Scarlatti disc or recital should, this one has had some thought put into the selection and arrangement of the sonatas, rather than just willy-nilly lumping together personal favorites. True, the pudding-proof is in the listening, not the admiration of the thought behind it. But it's worth mentioning all the same in this case, especially since on Claire Huangci's disc it works so particularly well: The pianist (whom I heard at the 2011 ARD International Music Competition, where she came second, then still performing as Tori Huang) arranged bundles of sonatas in the form of baroque suites (disc 1) and classical sonatas (disc 2), as laid out by her lucid, well-written, and refreshingly level-headed liner notes:...

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/05/Forbes_Classica-CD-of-the-Week_BERLIN-CLASSICS_Scarlatti_Huangci_laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/06/02/classical-cd-of-the-week-scarlatti-classical-and-en-suite/ (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek014)


Latest on Forbes:

The Rebirth of Contemporary Classical Music?
The Vienna Philharmonic Plays Larcher (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/06/06/the-rebirth-of-contemporary-classical-music-the-vienna-philharmonic-plays-larcher/)

A balmy, sunny Sunday morning. A full house – twice now, counting the previous night –
at the venerable Musikverein's Golden Hall. The Vienna Philharmonic performs under top-tier
conductor Semyon Bychkov. And on the program – prominently, not hidden! – is a world
premiere: A living composer's work and the ink barely dry on it. Kenotaph, by Thomas
Larcher – his Second Symphony...

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/06/Thomas-Larcher_c_Richard-Haughton_laurson_1800-1200x446.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/06/06/the-rebirth-of-contemporary-classical-music-the-vienna-philharmonic-plays-larcher/ (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/06/06/the-rebirth-of-contemporary-classical-music-the-vienna-philharmonic-plays-larcher/)

Latest on Forbes.com:
Classical CD Of The Week: That's Mendelssohn! (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek015)

As every clever Scarlatti disc or recital should, this one has had some thought put into the selection and arrangement of the sonatas, rather than just willy-nilly lumping together personal favorites. True, the pudding-proof is in the listening, not the admiration of the thought behind it. But it's worth mentioning all the same in this case, especially since on Claire Huangci's disc it works so particularly well: The pianist (whom I heard at the 2011 ARD International Music Competition, where she came second, then still performing as Tori Huang) arranged bundles of sonatas in the form of baroque suites (disc 1) and classical sonatas (disc 2), as laid out by her lucid, well-written, and refreshingly level-headed liner notes:...

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/04/Forbes_Classica-CD-of-the-Week_BIS_Mendelssohn_Octet_DoubleConcerto_Tognetti_Leschenko_Laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/06/10/classical-cd-of-the-week-thats-mendelssohn (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek015)

Latest on Forbes.com:
Classical CD Of The Week: Serenading The Green Eyed Monster (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek016)

Riccardo Muti's Otello, his first commercial audio recording of Verdi's
far-and-away greatest opera, hasn't got an all-star cast by name but
hand-picked singers instead, who contribute...

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/06/Forbes_Classica-CD-of-the-Week_CSO-RESOUND_Verdi_Otello_Riccardo-Muti_Chicago-Symphony_Laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/06/15/classical-cd-of-the-week-serenading-the-green-eyed-monster/#79d3b76e4895 (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek016)

Latest on Forbes.com:

Making Music Visible: Peter Sellars' St John Passion From Berlin (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/06/21/making-music-visible-peter-sellars-st-john-passion-from-berlin/)

Is a staging of a Bach Passion necessary? Peter Sellars' 2014 production from
Berlin, since published on DVD and Blu-ray, vigorously affirms that: Yes! It
does seem necessary. Or at the very least it is very moving....

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/06/BACH_Berlin-Phil_Roderick-Williams_Mark-Padmore_closeup_St-John-Passion_laurson_1800-1200x446.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/06/21/making-music-visible-peter-sellars-st-john-passion-from-berlin/ (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/06/21/making-music-visible-peter-sellars-st-john-passion-from-berlin/)

Latest on Forbes.com:

Classical CD Of The Week: Handel At His Most English (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek017)

If "no plot, no characters, no dialogue" (Ruth Smith) doesn't sound like a promising
premise for an entertaining musical work, think again: We listen to the music primarily
as it is (as we do with many very popular but daft operas and their excuses of a plot),
but if we chose to follow the text or listen carefully, we find ourselves immersed in an
enchanted literary world – very distant from ours, but beguiling...

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/06/Forbes_Classica-CD-of-the-Week_SIGNUM_Handel_lallegro_McCreesh_1200-1200x469.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/06/23/classical-cd-of-the-week-handel-at-his-most-english/#2c0582f8343d (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek017)

Latest on Forbes:

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/06/Neuberg-an-der-Muerz_Muenster_jens-f-laurson_2016_001_Front-of-Church-1200x467.jpg)

James MacMillan In The Countryside
Contemporary Music Festival in Neuberg an der Mürz
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/07/01/contemporary-music-in-the-countryside/#4543307f1094 (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/07/01/contemporary-music-in-the-countryside/#4543307f1094)

Usually it is chamber music that I seek when I make musical trips into the countryside... partly because Munich –
if and when I am based there – is not a terribly good place for chamber music. When based in Vienna, the situation
is not quite as dire, if only for the efforts of the Wiener Konzerthaus whose chamber music cycle(s) do all the heavy
lifting and whose chamber music venues – the Mozart- and Schubert-Hall – are absolute jewels... acoustically and
atmospherically better than the sarcophagus-like Brahms-Saal of the the Musikverein. There's a bit of contemporary
music going on in Vienna, too, but much of that either of the fig-leaf variety (done to satisfy the abstract notion
that it should be done, but with little heart behind it) or in the damp prison cell of avant-garde niche-ism ("Wien
Modern", which has thus devolved). I've certainly never gone as far for a contemporary music festival as Neuberg
an der Mürz – which is located somewhere between Vienna and the end of the world...

Latest on Forbes:

Classical CD Of The Week: André Isoir's Art Of The Fugue
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/07/Forbes_Classica-CD-of-the-Week_LA-DOLCE-VOLTA_Bach-Art-of-the-Fugue_Andre_Isoire_laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg) (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/07/20/classical-cd-of-the-week-andre-isoirs-art-of-the-fugue/#83b634a293d5)
Andre Isoire died the day this was posted. May he rest in peace; I think of him with warm gratitude; he has brought me many hours of listening-joy!



Classical CD Of The Week: Madetoja -- Kullervo Without Sibelius
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/07/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_Warner-Apex_MADETOJA_Orchestral-Works_Laurson-1200-1200x469.jpg) (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/07/13/classical-cd-of-the-week-madetoja-kullervo-without-sibelius/#5afb58c47fcf)



Classical CD Of The Week: Winterreise Threesome
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/07/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_Sony_Daniel-Behle_Oliver-Schnyder-Trio_Winterreise_Laurson-1200-1200x469.jpg) (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/07/06/classical-cd-of-the-week-winterreise-threesome/#303b552b71e6)

Latest on Forbes:


Classical CD of the Week: Orfeo And Counter-Orfeo
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/07/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_Orfeo_Gluck_Equilbey_Archiv_Laurson-1200-1200x469.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/07/28/classical-cd-of-the-week-orfeo-and-counter-orfeo (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek022)


Einojuhani Rautavaara, Giant Of Beauty: An Obituary
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CojSaZZXEAAxppZ.jpg:large)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/07/29/einojuhani-rautavaara-giant-of-beauty-an-obituary (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/07/29/einojuhani-rautavaara-giant-of-beauty-an-obituary)

Classical CD Of The Week: Bartók & Kodály, Toothsome Hungarian Twosome
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/08/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_Kodaly-Bartok_String-Quartets-Alexander_Foghorn_Laurson-1200-1200x469.jpg) (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek023)



Classical CD Of The Week: Schoecking Beauty From Switzerland
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/08/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_Schoeck-Sommernacht-Venzago_Musiques-Suisses_Jens-f-Laurson-1200-1200x469.jpg) (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek024)

Although still a work-in-progress, it was high time to launch: http://www.karlhenning.com/ (http://www.karlhenning.com/)

Classical CD Of The Week: Bruckner Rising & Wagner Rarity
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/08/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_PROFIL-HAENSSLER_Wagner-Abendmahl_Bruckner-7_Thielemann_Dresden_Laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/08/24/classical-cd-of-the-week-bruckner-rising-wagner-rarity/#178363f9c55f (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek026)



Classical CD Of The Week: Bach Woman in Mad Men Times
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/08/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_PROFIL-HAENSSLER_Bach_Sonatas-Partitas_Johanna-Martzy_Laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/08/17/classical-cd-of-the-week-bach-woman-in-mad-men-times/#469a88611789 (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek025)



If I can coax someone into leaving a comment on any of the Forbes CD of the Week reviews, I've got a voucher for the Berlin Phil's Digital Concert Hall (alas valid for only 7 days from the first concert watched) to go their way.

latest on ionarts:

Dip Your Ears, No. 212 (Alice Sara in Wonderland)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CrIvUclWgAAt8Mj.jpg) (http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2016/08/dip-your-ears-no-212-sara-alice-in.html)

Classical CD Of The Week: The Vivaldi Vanity Package
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/08/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_NAIVE_VIVALDI_Four-Seasons_Sinkovsky_Arias_Laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/08/31/classical-cd-of-the-week-the-vivaldi-vanity-package/#2bd122064599 (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek027)

If I can coax someone into leaving a comment on any of the Forbes CD of the Week reviews, I've got a voucher for the Berlin Phil's Digital Concert Hall (alas valid for only 7 days from the first concert watched) to go their way, or a High Resolution download of Alexandre Tharaud's Goldberg Variations.

latest on ionarts:

Dip Your Ears, No. 213 (A Seven-Seal One Man Show)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CrGiEnrXgAArhQi.jpg) (http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2016/09/dip-your-ears-no-213-seven-seal-one-man.html)

latest on Forbes:

Itzhak Perlman: Mediocre Genius
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/09/Forbes-Itzhak-Perlman_Warner_Jens-F-Laurson-1200x470.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/09/02/itzhak-perlman-mediocre-genius/ (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/09/02/itzhak-perlman-mediocre-genius/#4a09ed9c35f8)

Half a study in finding out if I can find the greatness of this great violinist. Half successful at best.

latest on Forbes:

Classical CD Of The Week: Czech Please
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/09/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_LA-DOLCE-VOLTA_Talich-Quartet-Smetana_String-Quartets_Laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/09/07/classical-cd-of-the-week-czech-please/ (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/09/07/classical-cd-of-the-week-czech-please/#18242e2b7ad4)

Bedřich Smetana , String Quartets, Talich String Quartet (La Dolce Volta)

latest on Forbes:

106 Years Mahler Eighth: The Best Recordings
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/09/Mahler_conducting_Gustav_Mahler_laurson_Sy3_schli-1200x505.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/09/12/106-years-mahler-eighth-the-best-recordings/#2da82ef9be0c (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/09/12/106-years-mahler-eighth-the-best-recordings/#413cf419be0c)

Latest on Forbes.com:
To Succeed Or Not To Succeed:
Theater An Der Wien Premieres "Hamlet"
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/09/Hamlet-piano-score_page-1-Opening_Anno-Schreier-1200x757.jpg) (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/09/15/to-succeed-or-not-to-succeed-theater-an-der-wien-premieres-hamlet/#1ec067e55f73)

latest on Forbes:

Classical CD Of The Week: Nelson Freire's Bumble-Bee-Beethoven
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/09/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_DECCA_Beethoven_Concerto_Sonata_op111_Freire_Chailly_Leipzig_Laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/09/16/classical-cd-of-the-week-nelson-freires-bumble-bee-beethoven (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek029)

Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Concerto No.5, Piano Sonata op.111, Nelson Freire (piano), Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Riccardo Chailly (conductor), Decca

latest on Forbes:

Emmanuelle Haïm Can Handel The Vienna Philharmonic
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/09/Forbes-Classical-Emmanuelle-Haim_Vienna-Philharmonic_Handel_Theater-an-der-Wien_Jens-F-Laurson-1200x469.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/09/19/emmanuelle-haim-can-handel-the-vienna-philharmonic/#7a9ac3e11d2e (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/09/19/emmanuelle-haim-can-handel-the-vienna-philharmonic/#7a9ac3e11d2e)

Unusual and in a way typical for the Theater-an-der-Wien, which likes to think outside the box.
Emmanuelle Haïm, the third woman[1] to ever conduct the Vienna Philharmonic (or at least a
small, baroque-ensemble sized section thereof), had conducted the same George Frideric Handel
program at the Lucerne Festival and repeated it here: A first half of orchestral works and the solo
cantata Il delirio amoroso (HWV 99) in the second half.

http://classicalperformances.com

This is a listing of about 1000 classical music organizations within the U.S. sorted by state.  It hasn't really caught on yet.  Along with a listing of all 50 states, I have updated the New England states with Event Calendars.

latest on Forbes:

Classical CD Of The Week: Fasch, A Classical Misunderstanding
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/09/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_CPO_J-F-Fasch_Overture-Symphonies_Amis-de-Philippe_Laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg)

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/09/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_LINN_J-F-Fasch_Quartets-Concertos_Marsyas_Laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/09/19/emmanuelle-haim-can-handel-the-vienna-philharmonic/#7a9ac3e11d2e (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek030)

...Johann Friedrich Fasch was in line for a major renaissance in the early 20th century, when enthusiasts worldwide worked toward a better appreciation of his genius. Unfortunately, history steamrolled over the First International Union of Faschists*.

Quote from: jlaurson on September 12, 2016, 11:16:34 AM
latest on Forbes:

106 Years Mahler Eighth: The Best Recordings
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/09/Mahler_conducting_Gustav_Mahler_laurson_Sy3_schli-1200x505.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/09/12/106-years-mahler-eighth-the-best-recordings/#2da82ef9be0c (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/09/12/106-years-mahler-eighth-the-best-recordings/#2da82ef9be0c)

First, there was some sort of error in the link - I have corrected it in my quote (you had an extra http in the first reference).

Second, it's interesting to see your list, because I haven't heard nearly any of them. I have heard the Solti though and here I have to (at least partially) disagree. It reminds me a bit of the Verdi Requiem and the knock on him there too. I think his approach is absolutely valid and I rather like much of it. The first part is particularly well done. But then, that part is quite intense and BIG, so it can handle this approach. Still, I am intrigued by your top two and will take a look at them.

Latest on Forbes:

Beethoven And Schubert Almost On Original Location: A REsounding Success

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/10/Resound_Beethoven_Schubert_Jens-F-Laurson_Sound-Advice-1200x797.jpg?width=960) (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/10/03/beethoven-and-schubert-almost-on-original-location-a-resounding-success/#56e8f3f17c5f)

Schubert's Great C major Symphony[2] is a challenge for a "REsound" project, since the only place it 'sounded', in Schubert's time, was in his head...

Classical CD Of The Week: A Timeless Combination Of Ligeti And Haydn

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/09/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_ONYX_Shai-Wosner-Haydn_Ligeti_Piano-Concertos_Laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg?width=960) (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/09/28/classical-cd-of-the-week-a-timeless-combination-of-ligeti-and-haydn/#7cc6249d2180)
Joseph Haydn / György Ligeti, Concertos , Shai Wosner (piano), Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Nicholas Collon (conductor), Onyx (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B01D3LC2DU/nectarandambr-20)

Classical CD Of The Week: Schumann Triptych Continued
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/10/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_HARMONIA-MUNDI-PIAS_Schumann_Melnikov_Laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg?width=960)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/10/05/classical-cd-of-the-week-schuman-triptych-continued-2/#46f90b5b2733 (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/10/05/classical-cd-of-the-week-schuman-triptych-continued-2/#46f90b5b2733)

I'm trying to make these CD of the Week posts as varying as possible, but it seems, looking through this thread, that they have a surprising Schumann-heavy side to them, in the romantic field. Which is strange, since I never thought myself such a Schumann-maven. Except that, yes, I really have come around to late Schumann in the last seven or so years.

The Castle Is Alive With Music: The Herrenchiemsee Festival
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/10/Herrenchiemsee_View_fountain_Laurson_Festival_Forbes-1200x641.jpg?width=960)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/10/07/the-castle-is-alive-with-music-the-herrenchiemsee-festival/#7d83cee9640a (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/10/07/the-castle-is-alive-with-music-the-herrenchiemsee-festival/#7d83cee9640a)

QuoteThe Herrenchiemsee Festival is a royal treat for music, musicians, and especially audiences. Music doesn't, in times where there are few kings and still fewer royalty that actively stoke the flames of high culture, enjoy surroundings like this anymore. Imagine, if you are familiar with it, the Versailles Hall of Mirrors. Now add six feet by which this hall beats out Versailles', think the mirrors clear rather than dull, the arches of the windows higher and wider... and then sunlight flooding the floor, reaching through the white chiffon curtains as the evening sun goes down over Lake Chiemsee and the Herreninsel where Ludwig II's castle sits like a golden Bird of Paradise (actually made of brick but clad with stone and marble) on an isolated nest of green, amid the sky-blue lake. Just behind the lake, the Alps begin to rise. On a sunny day, the setting is not just breathtaking, it is surreal.

Classical CD Of The Week: A Whole Lotti Fun
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/10/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_DELPHIAN_Lotti-Crucifixus_Syred-Consort_Orchestra-of-StPauls_Ben-Palmer_Laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg?width=960) (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/10/12/classical-cd-of-the-week-a-whole-lotti-fun/#1bb9fbf47f0f)

QuoteThese world premiere recordings will undoubtedly initiate a wonderful journey of rediscovery.
I'm startled by the originality and immediacy of all the included works: High baroque magnificence
woven with silver threads of austere Renaissance style... largely set in minor keys. Think of a melancholic
Zelenka, perhaps.

Quote from: Thatfabulousalien on October 14, 2016, 01:48:42 AM
See my 'signature' if you're interested, also my section in the composer's corner.  :)

Relating to Lotti or just generally?

Classical CD Of The Week: Jörg Widmann, A 21st Century Berg Concerto
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/10/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_ONDINE-J-Widmann_C-Tetzlaff_D-Harding_Swedish_RSO_Laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg?width=960)

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/10/19/classical-cd-of-the-week-jorg-widmann-a-21st-century-berg-concerto/#f5fb33b73a01
(http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/10/19/classical-cd-of-the-week-jorg-widmann-a-21st-century-berg-concerto/#f5fb33b73a01)

QuoteJörg Widman's Violin Concerto (reviewed in concert here) is a lyrical tour-de-force in which the violinist, dedicatee Christian Tetzlaff, who has performed the world premiere in 2007 in Essen, doesn't get to take the bow of the strings for 30 minutes. You can hear the composer's will to make contemporary violin concerto with every chance to enter the repertoire. You enjoy the success of it; it is a 21st Century concerto for the ages...

Latest on Forbes:


Die Meistersinger With Kirill Petrenko From Munich
Or: Why did Herr B. Run Amok?
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/10/Die-Meistersinger-von-Nuernberg__Bruns_Sachsens-Citroen_Munich-State-Opera_cWilfried-Hoesl-1200x750.jpg?width=960)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/10/21/die-meistersinger-with-kirill-petrenko-from-munich/#60d00f883666 (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/10/21/die-meistersinger-with-kirill-petrenko-from-munich/#60d00f883666)

Quote...If David Bösch's direction was short on story, whether imposing or revealing, it succeeded in its chatty ways
and bleak-to-lively-in-10-seconds sets by Patrick Bannwart. The curtain opens to a naked black stage, scaffolding,
and archival ring binders...

Latest on Forbes:

Classical CD Of The Week: Bassoon Delight From Sweden
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/10/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_BIS_Bassoon_in_Sweden_Teunis-van-der-Zwart_Ronald-Brautigam_Laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg?width=960)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/10/26/classical-cd-of-the-week-bassoon-delight-from-sweden/#39baea617634 (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/10/26/classical-cd-of-the-week-bassoon-delight-from-sweden/#39baea617634)
At its lowest, the bassoon is the orchestra's fart-cushion. Haydn wasn't above to employ it thus. At its best, it is this:

No thread for this composer yet? Then let this be his new home!

Classical CD Of The Week: From The Sistine Chapel, Palestrina Populism
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/11/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_DG_Palestrina_Missa-Papae-Marcelli_Sistine-Chapel_Laurson_1200-1-1200x469.jpg?width=960)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/11/02/classical-cd-of-the-week-from-the-sistine-chapel-palestrina-populism/#32eaf0186dce (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/11/02/classical-cd-of-the-week-from-the-sistine-chapel-palestrina-populism/#32eaf0186dce)

What's the deal here? Palestrina is an amazing Renaissance composer and this recording is much welcome, but isn't acapella early music a little high-brow for the 21st century everything-is-crossover DG label? Worry not, populism was built-in, here, too:

Classical CD Of The Week: Super-Added Goldberg Variations
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/11/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_CAPRICCIO_Bach_Goldberg-Variations_Buxtehude-Capricciosa_Schornsheim_Laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg?width=960)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/11/16/classical-cd-of-the-week-super-added-goldberg-variations/#def2993547e1 (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/11/16/classical-cd-of-the-week-super-added-goldberg-variations/)

Whoo!! The Buxtehude is the real deal, here, almost... that's how good it is.

And me again, Brian.


Classical CD Of The Week: Super-Added Goldberg Variations
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/11/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_CAPRICCIO_Bach_Goldberg-Variations_Buxtehude-Capricciosa_Schornsheim_Laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg?width=960)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/11/16/classical-cd-of-the-week-super-added-goldberg-variations/#def2993547e1 (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/11/16/classical-cd-of-the-week-super-added-goldberg-variations/)

Whoo!! The Buxtehude is the real deal, here, almost... that's how good it is.

Also:

There's Something Wonderful In The State Of Denmark
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/11/Wonderful-Denmark_Music_Forbes_Sound-Advice_Jens-F-Laurson_1600__Langgaard_Symphonies_Dausgaard-1200x446.jpg?width=960)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/11/17/theres-something-wonderful-in-the-state-of-denmark/#7a50e5cc5a73 (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/11/17/theres-something-wonderful-in-the-state-of-denmark/#7a50e5cc5a73)

Don't feel obliged to indulge my kibitzing, Jens;  my ear finds the centenary of whose death we celebrate this year more fluid than whose death's 100th anniversary we celebrate this year.

Carry on.

Thoroughly enjoyed your article!

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on November 18, 2016, 05:29:01 AM
Don't feel obliged to indulge my kibitzing, Jens;  my ear finds the centenary of whose death we celebrate this year more fluid than whose death's 100th anniversary we celebrate this year.

Carry on.

You're right, of course.

More to the point, that sentence betrays the actual age of the article.  :-[

Thanks for reading and glad you enjoyed it; it was worth resuscitating the darn thing, then...

Well worth it!

And a quicky.

Classical CD Of The Week: Ersatz-Scarlatti? Diego Ares Plays Antonio Soler
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/11/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_HARMONIA-MUNDI_Soler_Sonatas_Diego-Ares_Laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg?width=960)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/11/23/classical-cd-of-the-week-ersatz-scarlatti-diego-ares-plays-antonio-soler/#ffc8e5469876 (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/11/23/classical-cd-of-the-week-ersatz-scarlatti-diego-ares-plays-antonio-soler/#ffc8e5469876)

My page, just for listen to: www.facebook.com/classicalrarities. I invite you to visit it. New stuff daily.

Classical CD Of The Week: Scandals Once Upon A Time

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/12/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_DG_Scandale_Tristano-Ott_Stravinsky_Laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg?width=960)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/12/01/classical-cd-of-the-week-scandals-once-upon-a-time/#60fe57256973 (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/12/01/classical-cd-of-the-week-scandals-once-upon-a-time/#60fe57256973)

This is a book review I started three years ago. But G.Pieler and I didn't find a suitable outlet in print and our common Forbes column folded. Now I wanted to publish it solo, but Forbes has a (actually very commendable) policy of not letting contributors review each other's books. It's probably meant to avoid shills, more than take-downs, but fair enough. But I wasn't going to sit on this review for another year. This book is so incredibly bad, such an absolutely lazy opinioneering hack job... so choc full of mistakes... it absolutely needed to be written about. Let's just stay it starts with mixing up Richard and Johann Strauss (attributing to the former "Die Fledermaus" while pointing out that it is an exemplar of specifically Bavarian humor in music) and gets worse from there.

Still, I've bothered to create an annotated discography for the book


The Worst Mozart Biography Ever. Paul Johnson: «Mozart -- A Life»
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-31phGs9Jh7o/WEMLHHS8JiI/AAAAAAAAJKk/bRcSfbPFa8Qi0d2nSk6n36qU6r0FtcZmQCLcB/s640/Paul-Johnson-Mozart-A-Life_Book-review_jens-f-laurson_george-a-pieler_Viking-Press_MOZART-L-H-O-O-Q..jpg)
http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-worst-mozart-biography-ever-paul.html (http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-worst-mozart-biography-ever-paul.html)



Paul Johnson "Mozart: A Life" — The Discography, Part 1 (Keyboard Sonatas, Chamber Music)
(https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cFY_zinalzc/WDxXA9S43sI/AAAAAAAAJKU/2XhuGrOZ6KYDH_pVF8t2Va28F6DCJ4SwQCLcB/s640/Mozart_Discography_Johnson_Forbes-Classical-CD-of-the-Week_Spotify_Sound-Advice_Jens-F-Laurson.jpg) (http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2016/12/paul-johnson-mozart-life-discography.html)

Spotify Playlist (https://open.spotify.com/user/sound_advice/playlist/7tcktaxR4btMeAdoaW7eIR)

Krenek, Mahler Rarity, Knock-Out Trebles And Velvet Suits
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/12/ORF_Radio_Symphony-Orchestra-1200x469.jpg?width=960)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/12/04/krenek-mahler-rarity-knock-out-trebles-and-velvet-suits/#5c7746fb62f5 (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/12/04/krenek-mahler-rarity-knock-out-trebles-and-velvet-suits/#5c7746fb62f5)

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cy3TQ0BWQAAKmcK.jpg)

Classical CD Of The Week: Mozart Père's Reputation Rescued

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/12/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_Oehms_Leopold-Mozart_Reinhard-Goebel_Bayerische-Kammerphilharmonie_Laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg?width=960)

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/12/14/classical-cd-of-the-week-mozart-peres-reputation-rescued/#3d42b1d65cb7 (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/12/14/classical-cd-of-the-week-mozart-peres-reputation-rescued/#3d42b1d65cb7)

Classical CD Of The Week: Or How I Learned To Love Late Schumann
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2016/12/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_LABEL-HERISSON_Schumann-Last-Thoughts_Soo-Park_Laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg?width=960)
Classical CD Of The Week: Or How I Learned To Love Late Schumann (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/12/22/classical-cd-of-the-week-or-how-i-learned-to-love-late-schumann/#d0ead9d484a5)

Latest on Forbes:

The 10 Best Classical Recordings Of 2016 (Re-Releases)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C1FrKCuXEAAurdl.jpg:large)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/01/01/the-10-best-classical-recordings-of-2016-re-releases/#44c8a5e46bd0 (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/01/01/the-10-best-classical-recordings-of-2016-re-releases/2/#7551580876a1)

Why Schoenberg?
Schoenberg's relevance and meaning to listeners in 2017 (https://aquicknoteblog.wordpress.com/2017/01/06/why-schoenberg/)

Quote from: SurprisedByBeauty on January 01, 2017, 05:22:11 AM
Latest on Forbes:

The 10 Best Classical Recordings Of 2016 (Re-Releases)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C1FrKCuXEAAurdl.jpg:large)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/01/01/the-10-best-classical-recordings-of-2016-re-releases/#44c8a5e46bd0 (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/01/01/the-10-best-classical-recordings-of-2016-re-releases/2/#7551580876a1)

Latest on Forbes:

The 10 Best Classical Recordings Of 2016 (New Releases)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C1HzdAWXgAArnYh.jpg)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/01/01/the-10-best-classical-recordings-of-2016-new-releases/#7799de0e6802 (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/01/01/the-10-best-classical-recordings-of-2016-new-releases/#7799de0e6802)

Schoenberg Opus 1: Zwei Gesänge
(https://aquicknoteblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/opus-11.png?w=1462)
Two Songs Combining Brahmsian Rhetoric with Wagnerian Chromaticism (https://aquicknoteblog.wordpress.com/2017/01/08/opus-1-zwei-gesange-1898/)

Elbphilharmonie
Review: Hamburg Elbphilharmonie Opening And G.F.Haas World Premiere
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2017/01/161221_elbphilharmonie_foto_thies_raetzke_0009-1200x800.jpg?width=960)

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C2J8uvRWQAANC2W.jpg)
(http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/01/14/review-hamburg-elbphilharmonie-opening-and-g-f-haas-world-premiere/#2fe593262217)

Schoenberg Opus 2: Vier Lieder
(https://aquicknoteblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/opus-2.png?w=900)
Four Songs Using Subtle Shades of Harmonic Color (https://aquicknoteblog.wordpress.com/2017/01/15/opus-2-vier-lieder-18991900/)

Classical CD Of The Week: Schubert At His Secret Best With Four Hands
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C2E1g4eXAAA1MRc.jpg) (https://t.co/i8GuD8GjQC)

Classical CD Of The Week: The Martin Luther Soundtrack
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2017/01/Forbes_Classica-CD-of-the-Week_CARUS_Luther-Collage_1517-Mitten-im-Leben_Calmus-Ensemble_Laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg?width=960)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/01/25/classical-cd-of-the-week-the-martin-luther-soundtrack/#76465b8154fe (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/01/25/classical-cd-of-the-week-the-martin-luther-soundtrack/#76465b8154fe)


A Very Brief Excursion Into The World And Music Of Johann Pachelbel
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2017/01/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_Harmonia-Mundi_Pachelbel_Orage-d-Avril_Gli-Incogniti_Canon_Laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg?width=960)

CD of the Week: Un Orage d'Avril
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/01/05/a-very-brief-excursion-into-the-world-and-music-of-johann-pachelbel/#302e8f5e3dff (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/01/05/a-very-brief-excursion-into-the-world-and-music-of-johann-pachelbel/#302e8f5e3dff)

Opus 3: Sechs Lieder
(https://aquicknoteblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/02/opus-3.png)
In Bold Defiance of Criticism (https://aquicknoteblog.wordpress.com/2017/02/01/opus-3-sechs-lieder-1899-1903/)

It is not often where I am contacted by the performer of a recording I discuss on my blog.  But this is what happened recently when Björn Schmelzer and I had an extended colloquy regarding his recording of Machaut: Messe de Nostre Dame.

My original review is here (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2017/01/12/taking-liberties-bjorn-schmelzer-machauts-messe-de-nostre-dame/) and his comments begin here (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2017/01/12/taking-liberties-bjorn-schmelzer-machauts-messe-de-nostre-dame/comment-page-1/#comment-685).

;)

Review of the new Schoenberg: Piano Arrangements set from Capriccio:
https://www.amazon.com/review/RJK2XWCBH7IR8

Review: Hamburg Elbphilharmonie Opening And First Impressions Of The Great Hall
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2017/02/Elbphilharmonie_grosser-saal_leer_uebersich_c_iwan_baan_15-1200x800.jpg?width=960)

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/02/08/review-hamburg-elbphilharmonie-opening-and-first-impressions-of-the-great-hall/#474bf13b3cd2 (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/02/08/review-hamburg-elbphilharmonie-opening-and-first-impressions-of-the-great-hall/#474bf13b3cd2)

QuoteJoy! The fourth movement of the Ninth Symphony, attached with super glue to the back of the program for the purposes of jubilation.

I created my Youtube channel today.

It will focus on piano MIDIs being reproduced in Synthesia for classical music or famous classical-like music.
I intend to upload weekly.

Today I posted my first two videos. The music is Light of the Seven, from Game of Thrones, composed by Ramin Djawadi.
There is no other MIDI that goes close to the original music, by far, but mine does (it was my intention).
The second video has no piano sound - it is the accompaniment (Music Minus One), so you can play it yourself.

Check my Youtube channel! (A Meticulous Musician)

Here are the links for the videos:
Complete (all instruments): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpS7fjo-eS0&t=35s
Music Minus One (accompaniment for piano): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEJ7LEkZcZM

Thanks for your attention, enjoy :)

Self-serving post 10472

Classical CD Of The Week: Zelenka To Fall In Love With
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2017/02/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_ZELENKA_MissaDiviXaverii_Collegium-1704_Vaclav-Luks_Laurson_1200-banner-1200x469.jpg?width=960)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/02/18/classical-cd-of-the-week-zelenka-to-fall-in-love-with/#56a37e7e78e2 (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/02/18/classical-cd-of-the-week-zelenka-to-fall-in-love-with/#56a37e7e78e2)

The Luxury of Excellence | The Sound of Broken Hearts | Beethovenian Seething | Desperate Dissonance | To Hell and Back:

(https://scontent-fra3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/16807218_10154480288957989_3466438273017092737_n.jpg?oh=0bbdb4c923e8560b81b7e336c74211c3&oe=593896DC)

Review: Mahler 10 With Yannick Nézet-Séguin
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2017/02/Yannick-Nezet-Seguin_BRSO_Mahler10_Berg-VC_jens-f-laurson_Forbes_photocredit_c-to-be-determined_narrowband-1200x600.jpg?width=960)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/02/19/review-mahler-10-with-yannick-nezet-seguin/#454f33724fe7 (//http://Review:%20Mahler%2010%20With%20Yannick%20N%C3%A9zet-S%C3%A9guin)

Classical CD Of The Week: Bruckner's End In Salzburg
(https://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2017/02/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_Signum_Bruckner-9_Philharmonia_Dohnanyi_Salzburg_Laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg?width=960) (https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/02/23/classical-cd-of-the-week-bruckners-end-in-salzburg/#339188451714)

The 2014 Salzburg Festival featured all the Bruckner Symphonies and the Ninth with Christoph von Dohnányi and the Philharmonia Orchestra was the best of the lot.

Compass Classical Music

http://classicalcompass.blogspot.hu/ (http://classicalcompass.blogspot.hu/)

Classical CD Of The Week: C-P-Eppreciation! Or: The Rescue For Bach Junior
(https://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2017/02/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_HAENSSLER_CPE-Bach_Ana-Marija-Markovina_Laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg?width=960)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/03/01/classical-cd-of-the-week-c-p-eppreciation-or-the-rescue-for-bach-junior/ (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/03/01/classical-cd-of-the-week-c-p-eppreciation-or-the-rescue-for-bach-junior/)

Classical CD Of The Week: America! From "Maryland, My Maryland" To John Cage
(https://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2017/03/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_HarmoniaMUNDI_AMERICA-1_Laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg?width=960)
http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek49 (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek49)

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Xrc9pLRq6Dg/WKTDBxcJrMI/AAAAAAAAC9o/I77eUWtxCsIcYJG-mpsKO4wlUiFZgq-3gCK4B/s1600/tree_940_5a.jpg)

Cloud Cyclopaedia -  Chant Cistercien

http://classicalcompass.blogspot.hu/2017/03/cloud-cyclopaedia-chant-cistercien.html (http://classicalcompass.blogspot.hu/2017/03/cloud-cyclopaedia-chant-cistercien.html)

Classical CD Of The Week: Amid Debussy and Arno Breker
(https://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2017/03/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_PROFIL-Haenssler_Pfitzner-Busoni-Reger_Laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg?width=960)
http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek50 (http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek50)

Quote from: chord on March 15, 2017, 12:57:26 PM
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Xrc9pLRq6Dg/WKTDBxcJrMI/AAAAAAAAC9o/I77eUWtxCsIcYJG-mpsKO4wlUiFZgq-3gCK4B/s1600/tree_940_5a.jpg)

Cloud Cyclopaedia -  Chant Cistercien

http://classicalcompass.blogspot.hu/2017/03/cloud-cyclopaedia-chant-cistercien.html (http://classicalcompass.blogspot.hu/2017/03/cloud-cyclopaedia-chant-cistercien.html)

Excellent!  :)

Thank you for this chord.  ;)

Now playing the wonderful Peres recording.

Cheers!

HIP Debussy & Ravel : The Eroica Quartet (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2017/03/14/hip-debussy-and-ravel-the-eroica-quartet/)

(https://musicakaleidoscope.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/res10107_cover_300dpi.jpg?w=484&h=480)

(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2FwIWf0A-qo/WMweWS2-WDI/AAAAAAAADQA/LJ11stk5HOkg8rNnIsq9aReiATSqPP3BQCEw/s1600/003.jpg)

Mirror differences

http://classicalcompass.blogspot.hu/2017/03/mirror-differences-machado-dos-estrellas.html (http://classicalcompass.blogspot.hu/2017/03/mirror-differences-machado-dos-estrellas.html)

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Xrc9pLRq6Dg/WKTDBxcJrMI/AAAAAAAAC9o/I77eUWtxCsIcYJG-mpsKO4wlUiFZgq-3gCK4B/s1600/tree_940_5a.jpg)

A Survey of Mozart Piano Sonata Cycles
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HANG8wPLcUE/Vqud-W_IOwI/AAAAAAAAI1o/O7QpMFRb75w/s1600/Mozart_last-portrait_jens-laurson_600_greenpattern.jpg)
(http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2016/02/a-survey-of-mozart-piano-sonata-cycles.html)

80 (!) different Mozart Piano Sonata Cycles exist, by my count.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C7kWH9oXwAAN7pP.jpg)
Latest Classical #CDoftheWeek on Forbes: #Birthday-Boy Bach & Cantata Diversity

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/03/22/classical-cd-of-the-week-birthday-boy-bach-cantata-diversity/#5224cfc13d15 ...

#JohannSebastianBach #Bach332 (https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/03/22/classical-cd-of-the-week-birthday-boy-bach-cantata-diversity/#5224cfc13d15)

The St. Gregory Society Schola : Palestrina and the Tridentine Mass

(https://musicakaleidoscope.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/holycrosscd.jpg?w=300&h=274)(https://musicakaleidoscope.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/new-xmas-cover-web1.jpg?w=300&h=281)

I was raised in the Catholic Church, educated at Jesuit schools and was an altar boy for several years from the age of eight, or so. I was taught enough of the Latin Mass to be able to assist the priest and recite the proper responses during the mass (we also had four years of Latin in high school).   But then things changed in the mid-60s and the mass began to be said in the vernacular.  I could appreciate, even at my young age, how much was lost (Gregorian chant exchanged for Peter, Paul and Mary influenced folk music) ... (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2017/03/22/the-st-gregory-society-schola-palestrina-and-the-tridentine-mass/)

Quote from: sanantonio on March 23, 2017, 05:04:47 AM
The St. Gregory Society Schola : Palestrina and the Tridentine Mass

(https://musicakaleidoscope.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/holycrosscd.jpg?w=300&h=274)(https://musicakaleidoscope.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/new-xmas-cover-web1.jpg?w=300&h=281)

I was raised in the Catholic Church, educated at Jesuit schools and was an altar boy for several years from the age of eight, or so. I was taught enough of the Latin Mass to be able to assist the priest and recite the proper responses during the mass (we also had four years of Latin in high school).   But then things changed in the mid-60s and the mass began to be said in the vernacular.  I could appreciate, even at my young age, how much was lost (Gregorian chant exchanged for Peter, Paul and Mary influenced folk music) ... (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2017/03/22/the-st-gregory-society-schola-palestrina-and-the-tridentine-mass/)

I've said it before: the post-Vatican II Mass is theologically and aesthetically offensive. Giving up the glorious tradition of the Tridentine Mass for the heartbreaking sentimental kitsch that took its place was a disastrous decision.

Quote from: Florestan on March 23, 2017, 05:17:16 AM
I've said it before: the post-Vatican II Mass is theologically and aesthetically offensive. Giving up the glorious tradition of the Tridentine Mass for the heartbreaking sentimental kitsch that took its place was a disastrous decision.

You've got it right and wrong: Giving it up for what you suggest was the alternative (and in fact may well have been, in many places, was disastrous or unfortunate.
The idea that giving it up in order to then actually communicate well with the target audience was a fine and honorable one.
Just a pity they didn't have the staff, training, experience, willingness in place, to do anything with it.
And then there's the question to what extent people want context and understanding and wouldn't actually prefer RITE.
(I might mention that I've also been brought up in catholic schools -- though I was never involved in the Mass myself, except for singing Mass or the Gregorian chants every Sunday with the choir.)

Quote from: SurprisedByBeauty on March 23, 2017, 06:29:09 AM
The idea that giving it up in order to then actually communicate well with the target audience was a fine and honorable one.

Mass attendance has halved in the last four decades since Vatican II. (1) How can this be [...], when all changes in the Church were made in the name of making the Mass more appealing to the people – changing it from Latin to English, turning the altars around, involving the laity with dialogue and activities, permitting popular songs and guitars?
(http://www.traditioninaction.org/religious/m002rpMisunderstandingMass.htm)

EDIT: I am Eastern Orthodox not Roman Catholic, but having attended the RC conciliar mass and the RC baptismal service I see where Catholic Tradiionalists are coming from.

Quote from: Florestan on March 23, 2017, 06:39:52 AM
Mass attendance  (http://www.traditioninaction.org/religious/m002rpMisunderstandingMass.htm)has halved in the last four decades since Vatican II. (1) How can this be [...], when all changes in the Church were made in the name of making the Mass more appealing to the people – changing it from Latin to English, turning the altars around, involving the laity with dialogue and activities, permitting popular songs and guitars?


EDIT: I am Eastern Orthodox not Roman Catholic, but having attended the RC conciliar mass and the RC baptismal service I see where Catholic Tradiionalists are coming from.

1.) Correlation, not causation.  Abetted by incompetence. And guitars and/or sandals were not proscribed by VII. That was part of the local choice. And somehow a lot of Lutheran et al. congregations fared well with it... perhaps that's why it was copied.

As much as I appreciate the discussion sparked by my post, my article (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2017/03/22/the-st-gregory-society-schola-palestrina-and-the-tridentine-mass/) was more about the St. Gregory Society Schola recordings of Palestrina (also Victoria, Lassus and Desprez) - which are all excellent, especially considering they are an "amateur" choir (they've been doing this for 20+ years). 

Hearing the polyphony with all the surrounding chant and propers offers a unique and contextually accurate experience.  The recordings are highly recommended for those not put off by the liturigical setting.

;)

Quote from: sanantonio on March 23, 2017, 07:39:40 AM
As much as I appreciate the discussion sparked by my post, my article (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2017/03/22/the-st-gregory-society-schola-palestrina-and-the-tridentine-mass/) was more about the St. Gregory Society Schola recordings of Palestrina (also Victoria, Lassus and Desprez) - which are all excellent, especially considering they are an "amateur" choir (they've been doing this for 20+ years). 

Hearing the polyphony with all the surrounding chant and propers offers a unique and contextually accurate experience.  The recordings are highly recommended for those not put off by the liturigical setting.

;)

We just need the smallest of excuses.  8)

Quote from: SurprisedByBeauty on March 23, 2017, 07:20:26 AM
1.) Correlation, not causation.  Abetted by incompetence. And guitars and/or sandals were not proscribed by VII. That was part of the local choice. And somehow a lot of Lutheran et al. congregations fared well with it... perhaps that's why it was copied.

Whatever the reasons, it is obvious that the Protestantization of Catholicism was quite detrimental to the latter --- as it was only to be expected. Thank God the Eastern Orthodox Churches eschewed any such sort of doctrinal innovations and aggiornamento.

Sorry for the off topic. Carry on as usual, gents.

(https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dHHe314uB9I/WNQlK05m68I/AAAAAAAADSY/Eb4hrPGMkxY-M4PfBul3LZS8SqDJT5vewCLcB/s1600/01a.jpg)

Dolphin touch - Music of Narvaez

http://classicalcompass.blogspot.hu/2017/03/dolphin-touch-music-of-narvaez.html (http://classicalcompass.blogspot.hu/2017/03/dolphin-touch-music-of-narvaez.html)


(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Xrc9pLRq6Dg/WKTDBxcJrMI/AAAAAAAAC9o/I77eUWtxCsIcYJG-mpsKO4wlUiFZgq-3gCK4B/s1600/tree_940_5a.jpg)

Quote from: SurprisedByBeauty on March 19, 2017, 09:34:10 AM


80 (!) different Mozart Piano Sonata Cycles exist, by my count.
(http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2016/02/a-survey-of-mozart-piano-sonata-cycles.html)

So I just ordered one of the Tilney disks (Vol 2), see how that goes. He is not an artist whose work I am just overrun with, so I have virtually no preconceptions.  Thanks for bringing it to my attention. :)

8)

Quote from: chord on March 24, 2017, 08:28:18 AM
(https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dHHe314uB9I/WNQlK05m68I/AAAAAAAADSY/Eb4hrPGMkxY-M4PfBul3LZS8SqDJT5vewCLcB/s1600/01a.jpg)

Dolphin touch - Music of Narvaez

http://classicalcompass.blogspot.hu/2017/03/dolphin-touch-music-of-narvaez.html (http://classicalcompass.blogspot.hu/2017/03/dolphin-touch-music-of-narvaez.html)


(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Xrc9pLRq6Dg/WKTDBxcJrMI/AAAAAAAAC9o/I77eUWtxCsIcYJG-mpsKO4wlUiFZgq-3gCK4B/s1600/tree_940_5a.jpg)

Very nice, chord. Thanks.  ;)

THE HIDDEN BAROQUE : BJÖRN SCHMELZER, PETER PAUL RUBENS AND ORAZIO VECCHI (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2017/03/24/the-hidden-baroque-bjorn-schmelzer-peter-paul-rubens-and-orazio-vecchi/)

(https://musicakaleidoscope.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/71pumhtidl-_sl1200_.jpg?w=768&h=685)

Schmelzer uses narrative concepts for his recordings and interpretations, spinning webs of associations and cross references between periods, styles and genres.  For his latest, he wishes to contrast the prima prattica polyphony (echoing an earlier time) and the Baroque painting style of Rubens, at whose funeral he posits the music was performed:  "The deceased person inside the coffin was no less than the most famous of all Baroque painters, Peter Paul Rubens, and it is highly plausible that the Requiem Mass performed by the choir of the cathedral at this solemn occasion was an eight-part work including a polyphonic Dies irae, which had been printed in Antwerp 28 years beforehand and written by the Italian composer Orazio Vecchi".

Quote from: sanantonio on March 25, 2017, 05:50:17 PM
THE HIDDEN BAROQUE : BJÖRN SCHMELZER, PETER PAUL RUBENS AND ORAZIO VECCHI (https://musicakaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2017/03/24/the-hidden-baroque-bjorn-schmelzer-peter-paul-rubens-and-orazio-vecchi/)

(https://musicakaleidoscope.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/71pumhtidl-_sl1200_.jpg?w=768&h=685)

Schmelzer uses narrative concepts for his recordings and interpretations, spinning webs of associations and cross references between periods, styles and genres.  For his latest, he wishes to contrast the prima prattica polyphony (echoing an earlier time) and the Baroque painting style of Rubens, at whose funeral he posits the music was performed:  "The deceased person inside the coffin was no less than the most famous of all Baroque painters, Peter Paul Rubens, and it is highly plausible that the Requiem Mass performed by the choir of the cathedral at this solemn occasion was an eight-part work including a polyphonic Dies irae, which had been printed in Antwerp 28 years beforehand and written by the Italian composer Orazio Vecchi".

A wonderful read, sanantonio!  :)

I can hardly wait to give this recording a spin.  Hopefully soon.  ;)

Thanks.

Review: Irish Chamber Orchestra On Tour With A Mendelssohn Revelation
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2017/03/Irish-Chamber-Orchestra-Widmann-Forbes_Laurson_-1200x700.jpg) (https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/03/28/review-irish-chamber-orchestra-on-tour-with-a-mendelssohn-revelation/#1556572718e8)
The Irish Chamber Orchestra may not be much of an established brand in the international orchestra-world,
but they are on their best way of getting there. Currently on a on-and-off tour of continental Europe, they
are spreading their excellence in places like Brussels, Freiburg, Vienna and Heidelberg. It helps that they
surround themselves with interesting and good musicians. Among them "Principal Artistic Partner" (a bit
labored, their titles) Gábor Tákacs Nagy, that old-school continental musician with semi-quavers running in
his veins, "Principal [Guest] Conductor and Artistic Partner" composer-clarinetist-conductor Jörg Widmann,
and, on this tour, Igor Levit, one of a hot new generation of musicians; a young-ish, nicely severe pianists...
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/03/28/review-irish-chamber-orchestra-on-tour-with-a-mendelssohn-revelation/ (https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/03/28/review-irish-chamber-orchestra-on-tour-with-a-mendelssohn-revelation/)

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Xrc9pLRq6Dg/WKTDBxcJrMI/AAAAAAAAC9o/I77eUWtxCsIcYJG-mpsKO4wlUiFZgq-3gCK4B/s1600/tree_940_5a.jpg)

(https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ghCb5L2Bm3Q/WN4PRf2EfEI/AAAAAAAADVQ/Paq5vfapmAkaVbR04M9ToxxG4QUFliv5ACEw/s400/02.jpg)

http://classicalcompass.blogspot.hu/2017/03/alchemy-hille-perl-marthe-perl.html (http://classicalcompass.blogspot.hu/2017/03/alchemy-hille-perl-marthe-perl.html)

Classical CD Of The Week: York Bowen, The English Rachmaninoff

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C8VkflMXcAEPTyq.jpg)

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/04/01/classical-cd-of-the-week-york-bowen-the-english-rachmaninoff/#5f14ba171f0b (https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/04/01/classical-cd-of-the-week-york-bowen-the-english-rachmaninoff/#5f14ba171f0b)

Review: Eternal Youth -- Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra At 30
(https://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2017/04/Gustav-Mahler-Jugendorchester_cCosimo-Filippini_Excerpt2_laurson_1800-1200x446.jpg?width=960)

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/04/02/review-eternal-youth-gustav-mahler-youth-orchestra-at-30/#6fa07f6e5720 (https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/04/02/review-eternal-youth-gustav-mahler-youth-orchestra-at-30/#6fa07f6e5720)

Blowsy Bruckner, Gerhaher Gorgeousness

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Xrc9pLRq6Dg/WKTDBxcJrMI/AAAAAAAAC9o/I77eUWtxCsIcYJG-mpsKO4wlUiFZgq-3gCK4B/s1600/tree_940_5a.jpg)

Cantigas

(https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Uf2U-YE3vtA/WOZ-TgcoguI/AAAAAAAADYQ/Z6XtR_HPtbAtFh7sKhzMNymFonzGp1jGQCEw/s400/1.jpg)

review:
http://classicalcompass.blogspot.hu/2017/04/cantigas.html (http://classicalcompass.blogspot.hu/2017/04/cantigas.html)

Classical CD Of The Week: Johann Sebastian Clown
(https://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2017/04/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_CARPENTER-All-you-need-is-BACH-SONY_Laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg?width=960)
http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek054 (https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/04/13/classical-cd-of-the-week-johann-sebastian-clown/#79d94b8258c0)

Johann Sebastian Clown: For all those unafraid of garish colors, subwoofer-busting bass, and liberal applications of tremulant and celeste, this is the ticket!

I've compared seven mobile DACs (and a few headphones in the process) on Forbes... which make mobile listening to a laptop possible. It's a bit of a read, at 7000 words, but there's a conclusion at the end you can skip to.  ;)

Review: A Mobile DAC/Headphone Amp Comparison

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C9XPgWKVoAEq8St.jpg) (https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/04/14/review-a-mobile-dacheadphone-amp-comparison/#510861f0739a)

Diary of a trip with a Viennese HIP Band to Japan



Beethoven visits Japan: On Tour with the Vienna Academy Orchestra (Part 1)
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8iJHdzzeF6g/WPU5-ug59pI/AAAAAAAAJWw/-1U9ZMb_a_QtRJvpDRf_6a1iE5e3lvHSwCLcB/s640/DSC00067-1200.jpg) (http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2017/04/beethoven-visits-japan-on-tour-with.html)

http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2017/04/beethoven-visits-japan-on-tour-with.html (http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2017/04/beethoven-visits-japan-on-tour-with.html)

Beethoven visits Japan: On Tour with the Vienna Academy Orchestra (Part 2)

(https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vKVp93WrGXQ/WPc_DgeeoRI/AAAAAAAAJZc/p3p4iyg-mq4KbHDENUdXUDnbHDxuB1fsgCPcB/s640/DSC00176-1200_BRIDGE-museum-park.jpg) (http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2017/04/beethoven-visits-japan-on-tour-with_19.html)

Diary of a trip with a Viennese HIP Band to Japan



Beethoven visits Japan: On Tour with the Vienna Academy Orchestra (Part 3)
(https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RPZw0ivwrJ8/WPnz2Vm-ESI/AAAAAAAAJaI/Ht9Cbm2Fch4hFr6gktKlibUr15C0KrIlQCPcB/s640/_3-DSC00277.JPG) (http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2017/04/beethoven-visits-japan-on-tour-with_21.html)

http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2017/04/beethoven-visits-japan-on-tour-with_21.html (http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2017/04/beethoven-visits-japan-on-tour-with_21.html)

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Xrc9pLRq6Dg/WKTDBxcJrMI/AAAAAAAAC9o/I77eUWtxCsIcYJG-mpsKO4wlUiFZgq-3gCK4B/s1600/tree_940_5a.jpg)

Excalibur - Signor Pandolfo's adventure

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Xrc9pLRq6Dg/WKTDBxcJrMI/AAAAAAAAC9o/I77eUWtxCsIcYJG-mpsKO4wlUiFZgq-3gCK4B/s1600/tree_940_5a.jpg (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Xrc9pLRq6Dg/WKTDBxcJrMI/AAAAAAAAC9o/I77eUWtxCsIcYJG-mpsKO4wlUiFZgq-3gCK4B/s1600/tree_940_5a.jpg)

(https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-epRoHW5BlEw/WPjfdq6xEjI/AAAAAAAADiw/-4EKH8Pcro83qKb-BltzhuhwtJeMp1YHQCLcB/s400/cover.JPG)

(https://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2017/04/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_REMY-BALLOT_BRUCKNER_3_St-Florian_Laurson_1200-1200x469.jpg?width=960)
Classical CD Of The Week: The Second Coming Of Celibidache
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/04/23/classical-cd-of-the-week-the-second-coming-of-celibidache/ (https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/04/23/classical-cd-of-the-week-the-second-coming-of-celibidache/#4d42c2ab7a84)

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Xrc9pLRq6Dg/WKTDBxcJrMI/AAAAAAAAC9o/I77eUWtxCsIcYJG-mpsKO4wlUiFZgq-3gCK4B/s1600/tree_940_5a.jpg)

Vivaldi in Blue - Venetian Diary

http://classicalcompass.blogspot.hu/2017/04/vivaldi-in-blue-venetian-diary.html (http://classicalcompass.blogspot.hu/2017/04/vivaldi-in-blue-venetian-diary.html)

The famous Blue Vivaldi disc.
What a strange language you do have - the title can not be translated normally because you might think 'sad' or something similar.
But it's simply blue, blue as a colour only nothing more...

(https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SkBgU7J1jJM/WQRiXDbo30I/AAAAAAAADpg/WJEsqPbjXXEVoHtq6Qq63sYXV9PpimSrQCLcB/s400/02.jpg)

Beethoven visits Japan: On Tour with the Vienna Academy Orchestra (Part 4)
(https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qtXY1C-yJfs/WP7VSVly-vI/AAAAAAAAJbU/O4NjaEcz1h06qKab3z4GfF1F4JpRAeZ2gCLcB/s640/DSC00361_No01.JPG) (http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2017/04/beethoven-visits-japan-on-tour-with_25.html)

Beethoven visits Japan: On Tour with the Vienna Academy Orchestra (Part 5)
(https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-p0YnZkkuKh8/WQO3CET6awI/AAAAAAAAJdY/Q68EzL_cFHgjcDM19fbESWPDdICZ7K8jQCLcB/s640/DSC00447.JPG) (http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2017/04/beethoven-visits-japan-on-tour-with_28.html)

Beethoven visits Japan: On Tour with the Vienna Academy Orchestra (Part 6)
(https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oNdcDYU9CN8/WQeNNOCwpuI/AAAAAAAAJeY/WirfpE9SqbQQyy9GBfm0Nxsar2NUm6k3gCLcB/s640/DSC00461.JPG) (http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2017/05/beethoven-visits-japan-on-tour-with.html)

Beethoven visits Japan: On Tour with the Vienna Academy Orchestra (Part 7)
(https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A5FZXCUNsyU/WQznbXcMBKI/AAAAAAAAJfo/Ob6N8Xyt5Fc1dIQo7Yx8t15qne2nCtdLwCLcB/s640/_DSC00497.JPG) (http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2017/05/beethoven-visits-japan-on-tour-with_5.html)

(https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gR3mbPSO1IY/WQ3iBgHo0BI/AAAAAAAADtw/-DnuaaD5FUAmE9kjUwPnjCA13DZFDvzDACLcB/s400/cover.jpg)

review here:
http://classicalcompass.blogspot.hu/2017/05/ninna-nanna-montserrat-figueras_6.html (http://classicalcompass.blogspot.hu/2017/05/ninna-nanna-montserrat-figueras_6.html)


(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Xrc9pLRq6Dg/WKTDBxcJrMI/AAAAAAAAC9o/I77eUWtxCsIcYJG-mpsKO4wlUiFZgq-3gCK4B/s1600/tree_940_5a.jpg)

Latest on Forbes about one of my favorite composers:


Classical CD Of The Week: Rued Langgaard, A Danish Lark
(https://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2017/05/Forbes_Classical-CD-of-the-Week_DACAPO_Langgaard_String-Quartets_vol1_Laurson_1200-banner-1200x469.jpg?width=960)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/05/11/classical-cd-of-the-week-rued-langgaard-a-danish-lark/#5d447da5addf (https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/05/11/classical-cd-of-the-week-rued-langgaard-a-danish-lark/#5d447da5addf)

(https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OZEHhUsg1Eg/WRar9cPGsYI/AAAAAAAADyU/Ly8SN_HzwEgehXm4WDEIxpaPPc79ft3bwCEw/s400/ddop%2B002a.jpg)

Alhambra - Begona Olavide

http://classicalcompass.blogspot.hu/2017/05/alhambra-begona-olavide.html (http://classicalcompass.blogspot.hu/2017/05/alhambra-begona-olavide.html)

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Xrc9pLRq6Dg/WKTDBxcJrMI/AAAAAAAAC9o/I77eUWtxCsIcYJG-mpsKO4wlUiFZgq-3gCK4B/s1600/tree_940_5a.jpg)

There is a great lesson that we all can learn from Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto Number 1: http://myfavoriteclassical.com/tchaikovskys-piano-concerto-no-1/

Last time (http://"http://contrarianedge.com/2013/11/09/tchaikovskys-piano-concerto-no-1/"), I discussed how Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto Number 1 was rejected by Tchaikovsky's mentor, the best pianist in Russia, Nikolai Rubenstein, – who termed this concerto "pathetic," among other insults. But after the concerto's successful premier in Boston, Rubenstein changed his mind and actually conducted its premier in Moscow ...

http://myfavoriteclassical.com/tchaikovsky-violin-concerto/

In the past I shared with you my conflicted thoughts on anti-Semitic German composer Richard Wagner. To balance things out, today I want to point you to a piece by the Austrian Jewish composer Gustav Mahler, whose music I learned to love only recently. I had tried to listen to him in the past and quite simply did not get his music until I heard "Adagietto" from his Symphony Number 5 – conducted by Valery Gergiev.

http://myfavoriteclassical.com/mahler-symphony-no-5/

A good friend asked me if I thought Tchaikovsky was overrated or underappreciated. A few years ago I probably would have said overrated; now I say both.

http://myfavoriteclassical.com/tchaikovsky-symphony-no-6/

Clavichord in the SouthWind

(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Oe4Qj3bgQiE/WSnH5-PqLsI/AAAAAAAAD4o/pJc6uTPH0wAHVa0WUr9CUvzRuvk6RieIgCEw/s320/3.png)

article:
http://classicalcompass.blogspot.hu/2017/05/clavichord-in-south-wind-javier-nunez.html (http://classicalcompass.blogspot.hu/2017/05/clavichord-in-south-wind-javier-nunez.html)

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Xrc9pLRq6Dg/WKTDBxcJrMI/AAAAAAAAC9o/I77eUWtxCsIcYJG-mpsKO4wlUiFZgq-3gCK4B/s1600/tree_940_5a.jpg)

How To Build A Top Quality Classical Music Library: The Second $100
(https://blogs-images.forbes.com/jenslaurson/files/2017/06/100-dollars_MAHLER_2400_Laurson_Finished-1200x517.jpg?width=960)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/06/02/how-to-build-a-top-quality-classical-music-library-the-second-100/ (https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/06/02/how-to-build-a-top-quality-classical-music-library-the-second-100/#3602379c607e)

QuoteBack in February of 2013, George Pieler and I wrote a column here on Forbes.com
("Two Cents About Classical Music For $100") on some of the market- and technology-
changes that affect this sneakily growing, more-important-than-you-think niche in
21st century entertainment: classical music. We followed this up with an actual list,
"How To Build A Top Quality Classical Music Library For $100" – which refers back
to a 2011 post on Tyler Cowen's "Marginal Revolution". Here's the sequel.

The complete list on Amazon on CDs (http://amzn.to/2ry8uUo) – and as mp3s/streaming (http://amzn.to/2slcKEE).

Quote from: chord on May 30, 2017, 12:29:27 PM
Clavichord in the SouthWind

(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Oe4Qj3bgQiE/WSnH5-PqLsI/AAAAAAAAD4o/pJc6uTPH0wAHVa0WUr9CUvzRuvk6RieIgCEw/s320/3.png)

The cover says harpsichord.

Am less recommending having a look at the Swedish composer Ralph Lundsten´s website for its quality, than for it being ... unusual:

https://www.andromeda.se/andromeda-studio/index.html
https://www.andromeda.se/frankenburg/index.html

Quote from: (: premont :) on June 04, 2017, 03:15:42 AM
The cover says harpsichord.

Yes, it's not a Wikipedia.....it's a diary only.
Never mind.

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Xrc9pLRq6Dg/WKTDBxcJrMI/AAAAAAAAC9o/I77eUWtxCsIcYJG-mpsKO4wlUiFZgq-3gCK4B/s1600/tree_940_5a.jpg)

Chagall and the Blue - Purcell: The Fairy Queen

http://classicalcompass.blogspot.hu/2017/06/chagall-and-blue-purcell-fairy-queen.html (http://classicalcompass.blogspot.hu/2017/06/chagall-and-blue-purcell-fairy-queen.html)

(https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kKibnVPxQ9E/WTJtO4bLnQI/AAAAAAAAD6c/rSHUKuwRD7s2x5nGnPbhMN4TxZmMoPnbgCEw/s400/3.JPG)

Quote from: maxbeesley on September 27, 2017, 01:26:36 AM
These are my favorite classical music blogs/sites
slippedisc.com

:o >:(
People have been blocked for less.

Someone has been uploading classical music related interviews to this youtube channel. A guy who hosted a program in NYC named David Dubal is in many of the programs. I wondered if he himself uploaded this stuff -- really dug the ones he did with Charles Rosen.

https://www.youtube.com/user/noochinator2/videos

Stumbled on to what seems to be the blog for Lynn Rene Bayley, if you're wondering where she went after (apparently) leaving Fanfare.

https://artmusiclounge.wordpress.com/

Quote from: Daverz on December 09, 2018, 04:03:53 PM
Stumbled on to what seems to be the blog for Lynn Rene Bayley, if you're wondering where she went after (apparently) leaving Fanfare.

https://artmusiclounge.wordpress.com/

For the masochistic among us?

Quote from: SurprisedByBeauty on December 10, 2018, 12:53:55 AM
For the masochistic among us?

I would sometimes be annoyed if the only review in Fanfare of a disc I was interested in was by LRB.  Well, the blog is free...

I now feel the same way about Huntley Duntley or Dentley Hentely or whatever his name is, though if he ever gets a blog I'll endeavor to forget that fact.

The absolute worst was - ditto MWeb - when they let some buffoon write anonymously (because he felt "too important in the industry" to reveal his name). Byzantion was his nome de plume on one of these platforms. Anonymity encourages the worst in us as is, and that person had plenty far to go, in that direction.

https://www.earrelevant.net/2020/02/cd-review-windows-of-the-spirit/

nothing like the good old metrognome?
is concert sharing dead on the internet?

If you can, please consider supporting EarRelevant (https://www.gofundme.com/f/earrelevant-classical-music-journalism?fbclid=IwAR34WZVKQPic7JwqX4Us7BGmnH-7ZzH0nuiVgOxa6kMc2vuD1F5o0QouBwg)

Not a blog, but a very interesting analysis: Novelty and influence of creative works, and quantifying patterns of advances based on probabilistic references networks (//http://).
Here is a graph with influece of single composers hilighting shifts from period to period:

(https://media.springernature.com/full/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1140%2Fepjds%2Fs13688-019-0214-8/MediaObjects/13688_2019_214_Fig5_HTML.png?as=webp)

Quote from: SurprisedByBeauty on December 10, 2018, 11:56:01 PM
The absolute worst was - ditto MWeb - when they let some buffoon write anonymously (because he felt "too important in the industry" to reveal his name). Byzantion was his nome de plume on one of these platforms. Anonymity encourages the worst in us as is, and that person had plenty far to go, in that direction.

Wait, do you know who Byzantion was? I only ask because, before he "disappeared" from MusicWeb, he once got drunk and sent me a 1 a.m. message which read in its entirety, "Brian you're a knob." (sic)

For advanced clarinet players:
tomheimer.ampbk.com/

Chilean music for viola (https://www.earrelevant.net/2021/02/cd-review-mobili-offers-up-new-chilean-music-for-viola-and-piano/)

Nathalie Stutzmann named new music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (https://www.earrelevant.net/2021/10/nathalie-stutzmann-named-new-music-director-of-the-atlanta-symphony-orchestra/?fbclid=IwAR2yR6yqYPo3A8m55nNJwQ2qcOJo5TPl-wI7Jj620p3gG4Zv5PF-ppm2RLc)

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on October 13, 2021, 07:44:03 AM
Nathalie Stutzmann named new music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (https://www.earrelevant.net/2021/10/nathalie-stutzmann-named-new-music-director-of-the-atlanta-symphony-orchestra/?fbclid=IwAR2yR6yqYPo3A8m55nNJwQ2qcOJo5TPl-wI7Jj620p3gG4Zv5PF-ppm2RLc)

Quite interesting! I still have high hopes for the ASO. Hopefully, she is given the kind of prominence that Yoel Levi was given in the past. This orchestra needed some new blood disparately as Spano's tenure with the orchestra was, in my view, unexciting. I make no bones about the ASO being in a current state of stagnation. Anyway, this is good news for a change.

Quote from: Mirror Image on October 13, 2021, 07:51:09 AM
Quite interesting! I still have high hopes for the ASO. Hopefully, she is given the kind of prominence that Yoel Levi was given in the past. This orchestra needed some new blood disparately as Spano's tenure with the orchestra was, in my view, unexciting. I make no bones about the ASO being in a current state of stagnation. Anyway, this is good news for a change.

As an outsider, I did feel a bit like the orchestra was marking time with Spano. I didn't find his guest turn with the BSO much of anything.

I studied with Judith when I was at UVa: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOkHhfzqkxs)

I would love to share my blog with all of you. You can find the link in my signature and profile. Here's an article I wrote on the history of LvB's string quartets that I am particularly proud of. Comments and opinions welcome.

https://codeandcoda.wordpress.com/2015/10/15/beethovens-string-quartets-an-introduction-and-history/