Worst Classical Music on Video

bigshot · February 10, 2011, 09:55:28 AM

Last night I watched an abysmal DVD... Keeping Score: Stravinsky's Rite of Spring with Tilson Thomas. The Rite wasn't too bad, not great but not a total botch. But the Firebird that preceded it was completely wooden. It sounded like a community college orchestra. The worst thing about the video though was the editing. The cameras snapped from closeup detail to closeup detail, sometimes faster than a cut a second. Totally irritating. Tilson Thomas looked pretty goony at times too.

Anyone have any other videos to avoid?

bhodges · February 10, 2011, 10:08:45 AM

Aww...I liked that DVD.

Actually I've seen a number in the series (maybe 3 of them) and thought they were all pretty good, especially for people unfamiliar with the piece(s) he discusses. But as they say, "YMMV."

--Bruce

DavidRoss · February 10, 2011, 10:49:57 AM

Wow. I love the series, love the SFS, and love MTT. Wooden? Not in any of the three brief clips of the Firebird shown in the program. Community college orchestra? Well, if you also think the SKD sounds like the Pepperdine marching band. I suggest that hearing brief clips of pieces out of sequence, often with a voice over, may not present a performance in the best light.

As for MTT "looking goony"--say what? Goony? He's a warm, enthusiastic, music geek, as talented at presenting the music he loves to a TV audience as he is at working with a first-rate orchestra to create an exciting performance of an old war horse.

To me the Stravinsky installment is just as successful as the others in the series, a wonderful introduction to classical music intended for a general audience.

For those who'd like to see it for themselves, PBS makes that and the other programs in the series available for streaming viewing here: http://video.pbs.org/video/1295282238/

Lethevich · February 10, 2011, 10:52:55 AM

This:

http://www.youtube.com/v/FcTzvHDzDjs

OK performance, bizarre visuals.

bigshot · February 10, 2011, 11:32:10 AM

The DVD includes the musical performance in it's entirety without the spoken introductions. I caught the end of the Ives program on TV and it looked very good, but Netflix didn't have that. If you get a chance, check out the complete video of the Firebird and I think you'll see what I mean. It's as if TT doesn't like the piece or something. There's no expression to it at all. By the end it's just robotic rhythms with no sense of build. The Rite had one pretty sloppy spot where the horns came in too soon, but that isn't an easy piece and TT did a decent job of it.

Maybe machine gun editing bothers me more than others. On a small TV, perhaps it's less noticeable, but on a projection system it totally ruins the sense of space and chops stuff up into too many pieces.

PaulSC · February 10, 2011, 01:34:49 PM

Lang Lang comes to mind.

But I don't watch a lot of music on DVD. (I'm sure this is largely because I'm mostly disinterested in opera.)

snyprrr · February 13, 2011, 07:10:47 AM

What is going on here? Is this GOOD?? I don't think I've heard someone with such a reputation playing what sounds like two hams.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89zM9pZzt0U

Opus106 · February 13, 2011, 07:16:35 AM

Quote from: snyprrr on February 13, 2011, 07:10:47 AM
What is going on here? Is this GOOD?? I don't think I've heard someone with such a reputation playing what sounds like two hams.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89zM9pZzt0U

Says the man who listens to Xenakis.

DavidRoss · February 13, 2011, 08:07:25 AM

Quote from: bigshot on February 10, 2011, 11:32:10 AM
The DVD includes the musical performance in it's entirety without the spoken introductions. I caught the end of the Ives program on TV and it looked very good, but Netflix didn't have that. If you get a chance, check out the complete video of the Firebird and I think you'll see what I mean. It's as if TT doesn't like the piece or something. There's no expression to it at all. By the end it's just robotic rhythms with no sense of build. The Rite had one pretty sloppy spot where the horns came in too soon, but that isn't an easy piece and TT did a decent job of it.

Maybe machine gun editing bothers me more than others. On a small TV, perhaps it's less noticeable, but on a projection system it totally ruins the sense of space and chops stuff up into too many pieces.

Ah. I have not witnessed the complete performances included on the DVD, but only the clips shown in the broadcast (and online). Note also that I'm a Northern Californian and the SFS is the home team. I'm admittedly partial. And I've been a fan of MTT throughout his career. I suspect that you, as a Southern Californian with a pretty good home town orchestra with a high profile music director (I'm thinking Salonen rather than the as yet unproven Dudamel) that gets short shrift from the Eastern establishment and the Eurocentrists, may be able to empathize with my admitted touchiness on the subject.

bigshot · February 13, 2011, 09:18:21 AM

MTT has played LA a lot too. I've gotten the impression that he is better for some things than others. His point was that Firebird foreshadowed Rite of Spring. Perhaps he pushed his interpretation too far in that direction to make his point.

I saw Götterdämmerung in SF with Runnicles. It was an excellent performance.

bigshot · February 13, 2011, 09:22:02 AM

Wow. Snyprr wins with that link!

petrarch · February 13, 2011, 04:02:57 PM

Quote from: snyprrr on February 13, 2011, 07:10:47 AM
What is going on here? Is this GOOD?? I don't think I've heard someone with such a reputation playing what sounds like two hams.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89zM9pZzt0U

That's a shred, i.e. someone overlaying a deliberately silly/bad performance on top of a filmed one of a well-known artist. It is a joke. One of my favourites is this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5fjKEdIH4M

snyprrr · February 13, 2011, 04:56:42 PM

Quote from: petrarch. on February 13, 2011, 04:02:57 PM
That's a shred, i.e. someone overlaying a deliberately silly/bad performance on top of a filmed one of a well-known artist. It is a joke. One of my favourites is this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5fjKEdIH4M

Here's the REAL clip!

ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oyhlad64-s&feature=related

ohhh, haha,... that's is some funny stuff thar, wooboy!! Haha, after hearing the real thing, that 'shred' is just unbelievably funny! Duelling Banjos, haha,... and I thought it was real, haha!

Haha,...'That's a shred' he says nonchalantly, haha!

snyprrr · February 13, 2011, 07:50:05 PM

Quote from: James on February 13, 2011, 06:20:01 PM
I laugh my ass off every time i watch this "shred" .. so well done & hilarious.

http://www.youtube.com/v/aiXR9ggRdFI

I made!

Words simply cannot describe all the emotions right now. $:-\$

Certainly it would have took me a while to 'get it' on my own. I would have been questioning reality, haha.

Worst Classical Music on Video

bhodges

PaulSC

snyprrr

snyprrr

snyprrr