Composers you don't get

[Mirror Image]

Have you tried his Concero Grossi? I have similar sentiments when it comes to his concertos and symphonies, but I really enjoyed his handling of these chamber pieces.

Actually, yes, I do recall enjoying one of his Concerto Grossi. I think it may be the first. I also like his ballet Peer Gynt a lot, but wish it had a better performance. I imagine the Berliners or the Concertgebouw having a field day with this work. What I like about the work is it seems like there's a purpose to the music and a rhythmic drive that helped me get inside of the work more. It also contains some lyrical passages that I thought were surprising for Schnittke.

[eyeresist]

Not always. Thank heaven, the truth is richer than that.

Oh,you believe that artistic quality can be objectively measured and quantified! That's cute.

[jlaurson]

Oh,you believe that artistic quality can be objectively measured and quantified! That's cute.

Of course it can. Certain elements of it, at any rate. The experience is always a mix of the objective and the subjective... it's just often very difficult to parse which is which and to what degree and so forth. But the idea that a concert experience is only subjective is as wild as some critics pretense that it isn't subjective at all.

[Karl Henning]

Oh,you believe that artistic quality can be objectively measured and quantified! That's cute.

Oh, you went from one boxtop simplification to its opposite! That's cute.

To repeat for the reading impaired: Thank heaven, the truth is richer than that.

[Karl Henning]

Of course it can. Certain elements of it, at any rate. The experience is always a mix of the objective and the subjective... it's just often very difficult to parse which is which and to what degree and so forth. But the idea that a concert experience is only subjective is as wild as some critics pretense that it isn't subjective at all.

As tidily put as can be, thank you, Jens.

[Elgarian]

Thank heaven, the truth is richer than that.

I'd like to join you in the thanking process, Karl, if I may?

[Karl Henning]

Always welcome, Alan. The Shed has been an aid in my getting yet more and more composers (all of whom are contained therein).

[Coco]

Always welcome, Alan. The Shed has been an aid in my getting yet more and more composers (all of whom are contained therein).

If the Shed reaches top capacity you might have to become Karl "Two Sheds" Henning.

[CaughtintheGaze]

Mozart is still a composer I don't get at all. All of his works, that I've heard thus far, drive me to boredom, tedium, and ultimately to sleep. Obviously I'm not going to stop trying, but I've not really had any luck yet.

[Rons_talking]

I'd go with Brahms and Hindemith. It seems they outsmart their own ideas. Something beautiful is often immediately developed out of its original form, never to be heard the same way again.  "Wow, that's powerful," I'll say. As soon as I utter this the music is going somewhere else. They're both great composers but they take my dinner to the kitchen before I'm half finished...

[Christo]

I'd go with Brahms and Hindemith. It seems they outsmart their own ideas. Something beautiful is often immediately developed out of its original form, never to be heard the same way again.  "Wow, that's powerful," I'll say. As soon as I utter this the music is going somewhere else. They're both great composers but they take my dinner to the kitchen before I'm half finished...

The best description I ever read of my own reservations. 

[vandermolen]

I've always struggled a bit with Villa Lobos - but am enjoying his Symphony No 4.

[Karl Henning]

I've always struggled a bit with Villa Lobos - but am enjoying his Symphony No 4.

FWIW . . . I love the string quartets, and like the Bachianas brasileiras all right.

[TheGSMoeller]

First-Listen Fridays! Hat-tip to Jeffrey (vandermolen):

Hanson
Elegy in memoriam Serge Koussevitsky
Seattle Symphony
Schwarz

[asin]B005YD11NS[/asin]

Morning, Karl.
I like Hanson, in fact I went through a Hanson, Diamond, Hovhanass phase when Schwarz and Seattle began releasing these discs years ago. Hovhanass is the one that stuck around the longest with me, but there's some good music to be found with the other two.

[Karl Henning]

Wrong thread!  Although for long, I have not thought much of Hanson, as the result of a negative experience rehearsing a band transcription of a movement from (IIRC) the Nordic Symphony.

[TheGSMoeller]

Wrong thread!

We better get out of here before someone rolls in with, "You're out of order! This whole thread is out of order!"

[North Star]

FWIW . . . I love the string quartets, and like the Bachianas brasileiras all right.

What about the Chôros?

[Karl Henning]

Have not yet checked them out.

[North Star]

Have not yet checked them out.

Do! They are wonderful music, all of them. The Introduction to the Choros, for guitar and orchestra, would probably work well as an introduction (what a surprise!). They are quite different from the Bachianas brasileiras.

[kishnevi]

Do! They are wonderful music, all of them. The Introduction to the Choros][/b], for guitar and orchestra, would probably work well as an introduction (what a surprise!). They are quite different from the Bachianas brasileiras.

On Mirror Image's behalf (though of course I agree with him), they are some of V-L's best music, and very wide ranging, from chamber to grand orchestral (one is really a piano concerto).  (Though I am surprised you've not heard any of them yet.)