I would echo that and offer up a couple of other Wagner pieces as truly epitomising what he was about.This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
Either the Prelude or Liebestod from 'Tristan und Isolde' pretty much encapsulates Wagner and his approach. Easily findable on most sites.
As a starter however, if you haven't heard of Wagner before, you will almost certainly have heard the "Ride of the Valkyries"
Link here and as Cav Green says, play it loud
Results 31 to 60 of 132
Thread: The Classical Music thread
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20-11-2017 04:46 PM #31There's only one thing better than a Hibs calendar and that's two Hibs calendars
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21-11-2017 01:36 PM #32This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
On your other posts, I thought there would be more mention of film music on this thread. As Sylar says the Lord of the Rings Trilogy is terrific. I'd add Ennio Morricone to his list of composers (not necessarily the spaghetti western stuff, although I quite like that too). Also the Godfather main and love themes and Dunbar's theme from Dances With Wolves (done with bagpipes here- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgZxdVJH8fc).
On Wagner, I like his music a lot, but I've never managed to watch one of his operas all the way through - they do seem rather hard work to me.
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25-11-2017 12:42 AM #33This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
My favourite, Verdi the King of Italian Opera, but listen to his overtures, you'll recognise a few from tv ads like Stella Artois.
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25-11-2017 07:40 AM #34This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
I find Bach’s cello concertoes the most relaxing and focusing music. Quells pre-exam stress or is just as good if you trying to get to sleep.
Barber’s Adagio for Strings is also good.
Use Mahler to wake you up a bit.
Personally, I go for opera, though.
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25-11-2017 07:42 AM #35This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
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25-11-2017 09:27 AM #36This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
Here's another of my favourites - Scheherezade by Rimsky-Korsakov. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQNymNaTr-Y
It's a representation of the Arabian Nights tales - the solo violin represents Scheherezade and the threatening brass is her captor. I love the way the tone of the two motifs changes over the course of the piece.
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25-11-2017 10:37 AM #37
Pachelbel’s Canon. - https://youtu.be/s3RRQypEf4I Goosebump time.
Last edited by Jim44; 25-11-2017 at 11:07 PM.
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25-11-2017 09:39 PM #38This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
I listen to opera mostly when driving - through work I often have three or four-hour drives, so an opera fits perfectly. I find I don't really notice the recitative and then perk up when the arias kick inThere's only one thing better than a Hibs calendar and that's two Hibs calendars
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25-11-2017 09:53 PM #39This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
Rimsky-Korsakov and the other four Russian composers who made up 'The Mighty Handful' are perhaps the most under-valued composers in the classical canon, IMO. They get mentioned in passing, as part of the Romantic nationalist trend in the second half of the nineteenth century but that overlooks their innovation and uniqueness in how they treated melody and harmony. Add to that the impact they had on the Russians who followed - we're only talking Stravinsky, Shostakovich and Prokofiev - plus, their influence on Debussy and Ravel.
Rimsky-Korsakov especially, but also Mussorgsky and Borodin and to a lesser extent, Balakirev - they deserve far more acclaim than they receive.Last edited by Mibbes Aye; 25-11-2017 at 10:09 PM.
There's only one thing better than a Hibs calendar and that's two Hibs calendars
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26-11-2017 02:13 PM #40This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
Or Old Spice
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26-11-2017 02:25 PM #41
Iain Anderson used to have an afternoon programme on Radio Scotland - Mr Anderson's Fine Tunes. It was half and half traditional and classical/orchestral music and was a great way to discover things that you wouldn't ordinarily listen to.
We had the radio on at work all the time and everyone used to moan when I insisted on turning over to Iain Anderson every day. However, one day I got back to the office after a meeting at about 4ish and they'd put it on themselves.
I was ever so proud...
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26-11-2017 02:34 PM #42
As far as contemporary stuff goes, I really like Michael Nyman with the Cook, the Thief, etc. being a favourite - though I have to be in the right frame of mind to listen to it.
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26-11-2017 10:36 PM #43
I remember about 25 years ago getting a cassette tape out the library to listen to on my bus journey to and from work. I was new to the classics and picked the "1812 Overture" only because I recognised the name from somewhere.
All went well till I stepped off the bus and the canons went off. I hit the pavement thinking there was an explosion. Didn't help that I was wearing earphones. I suspect the folk on the bus thought "WTF?".
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01-12-2017 10:41 PM #44This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
Of contemporary cinematic types, I like Clint Mansell. His piece 'Lux Aeterna' from the film Requiem For A Dream will be recognised by most. It's been used loads since then, in various TV programmes and I think it was adapted for the LOTR trilogy.There's only one thing better than a Hibs calendar and that's two Hibs calendars
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03-12-2017 09:27 AM #45This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
The Lone Ranger - part of Rossini's William Tell Overture (much more rewarding if you listen to the whole thing)
Hamlet - Bach's Air on the G String
Hovis - Second movement of Dvorak's Ninth Symphony "From the New World".
Old Spice - O Fortuna from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana.
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03-12-2017 09:34 AM #46This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
For contemporary composers I'll give a shout for Karl Jenkins - the Benedictus from The Armed Man is pretty special. The rest of it's not bad either.
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03-12-2017 05:07 PM #47This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
I went to see it last year at the ENO with the sets designed by Anish Kapoor and it was very good. Bit too radical for some who didn’t like the intepretive staging but if you can believe that the fair and beautiful Isolde and the young warrior Tristan are the size of hippos then you should be able to believe a triangular partition is a boat!
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06-12-2017 02:02 AM #48This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
Wagner's music can be sublime but it does tend to be set to stories from ''Dungeons and Dragons" or "The Tales of King Arthur". I think the setting is tricky, as you've highlighted. Puccini is timeless - you can stage Tosca, La Boheme, Madama Butterfly and pose them in almost any society at any time as the plots are universal, they're essentially about the relationship between men and women.
With Verdi, it's almost but not quite the same - while his Shakespearean operas also speak to universal truths, his historical operas are understandably less so. His classics - Rigoletto, La Traviata and Il Trovatore waver more towards the dynamics that Puccini explores, without being quite as close to the human experience, there's a bit more fabrication and embroiderment.
As far as Verdi goes, my favourite opera is Simon Boccanegra, the arias are fantastic. But while we are talking Verdi, if anyone hasn't heard it then his Requiem is one of the most dramatic pieces of music around.
Appreciate not everyone will be familiar with the musical setting of the Mass. For several hundred years, the Mass i.e. the main ritual in Catholicism has been set to music, and the Requiem (which is a Mass for the dead) has particularly been at the forefront. Some of the most exquisite pieces in the classical canon are Masses and Requiems - Palestrina wrote several, Bach's Mass in B Minor and the Requiem Masses by Mozart, Faure and Durufle are simply must-haves or must-downloads.
Verdi's Requiem is different in that it is almost more like an opera - sections like the 'Dies Irae' in particular. I'm not actually that big a fan of Mozart, I find it a bit too clinical, but his and Verdi's Requiems simply speak to the soul, albeit in different fashions.There's only one thing better than a Hibs calendar and that's two Hibs calendars
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08-12-2017 12:51 PM #49This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
I find myself listening to a lot of contemporary classical music in the form of video game soundtracks this past week. Currently enjoying Jeremy Soule's soundtrack to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - it's gorgeous.Madness, as you know, is a lot like gravity. All it takes is a little push.
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13-12-2017 05:09 PM #50
Not much about the relationship between classical and Christmas so far, so I thought I'd throw this in.
I'm particularly fond of modal scales outwith the ones that have been dominant in most music ever since somewhere in the 17th century.
The aforementioned Ralph Vaughan Williams, one of my favourite composers,was a particular fan too and reinterpreted a lot of of early English music (by early I mean 16th century) into pieces for orchestra, or often smaller ensembles. The reinterpretations were a mixture of 16th century religious choral music (Thomas Tallis primarily) and English folksong, which were written in those different modal scales.
What appears to be one such piece is the hauntingly beautiful 'Herefordshire Carol' - the date of the original folk carol can't be established but it gives a flavour of what those modal progressions sound like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inpyd6fP1HA
The other absolute favourite of mine is 'God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen' - again, undated, but probably 16th century in origin. It's the last verse that does it for me in particular. The basses and tenors (the mens' voices) sing the verse, while the sopranos and altos (the boys' voices) perform this wonderful choral descant over the top - spine-tingling stuff:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcXhyFA8BwQ
Just to give a taster of Thomas Tallis (not a Christmas carol though!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cQoE4yb7NM
Finally, having given all these a recent listen, it struck me that I recognised something in them that related to a previous post!
I had commended Sibelius's 2nd Symphony, particularly the second movement - written at the very start of the 20th century, it nevertheless has several parts that reflect the less obvious modes. It's a bit Christmassy because when the high woodwinds come in, it's the soundtrack of driving in the dark, in snow to me :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uONK9yUyRq0Last edited by Mibbes Aye; 13-12-2017 at 05:22 PM.
There's only one thing better than a Hibs calendar and that's two Hibs calendars
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13-12-2017 05:32 PM #51
I should add that I was going to try and explain the theory of modes in more detail as it helps to understand why the music sounds the way it does, but I soon realised my ambition exceeded my rather hazy and tenuous memory of Higher Music too long ago.
I sort of vaguely understand it but have no idea how to explain it in simple terms other than when you hear something in a different mode, you just know straight away - it just sounds different in its entirety. Essentially the gaps in pitch between the notes in a scale are different for every mode, but I think there's more to it than that.
I suspect Peevemor would probably do a far better jobThere's only one thing better than a Hibs calendar and that's two Hibs calendars
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14-12-2017 08:26 PM #52This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
Possibly his best opera was Nixon in China, a view on the-then groundbreaking visit of President Richard Nixon to China in 1972, a huge shift in power relations during the throes of the Cold War.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4us9pD3PB0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzAUyt_LYlUThere's only one thing better than a Hibs calendar and that's two Hibs calendars
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15-12-2017 08:54 AM #53This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
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15-12-2017 07:03 PM #54This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
Mozart epitomised the Enlightenment. Beethoven did too in the earlier part of his career but evolved, as he started to channel that passion and emotion into his work and thus really represents the shift from Enlightenment to Romanticism.
It's hard to imagine how powerful the impact of his music would have been - it was such a different time, and people's access to his music was obviously very different to today. It puts me in mind of the reaction when Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring premiered in Paris in 1913, with a near-riot in the audience. That's the power of balletThere's only one thing better than a Hibs calendar and that's two Hibs calendars
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17-12-2017 09:35 PM #55This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
The problem with music is that it's hard not to eventually repeat the progressions, hence why there are so many lawsuits! Canon in D is a particular culprit though, with The Farm's 'All Together Now' being the worst miscreant IMO.There's only one thing better than a Hibs calendar and that's two Hibs calendars
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17-12-2017 10:01 PM #56
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Satie has always been a favourite of mine.
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22-12-2017 10:39 AM #57This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
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22-12-2017 09:59 PM #58This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
Another area this thread hasn't really touched upon yet is ballet. Personally I love the ballet, appreciate it's not to everyone's taste, but nevertheless it has produced some of the great orchestral scores.
Arguably Tchaikovsky was/is the greatest, and for me Swan Lake is the epitome. Full-blown Romanticism and none the worse for it!
Sky Arts are showing Graeme Murphy's choreography of it tomorrow morning (eight am so that's another one being recorded!). I've not seen his work before but I understand he has a contemporary take on it. As with the opera, this can be hit or miss. When it's recast the right way it can be spectacular, when it's not it's tortuous. Fingers crossed
Sky Arts used to be two channels, one of which focused on classical, ballet, opera and art, while the other was more populist and would feature concerts by rock and pop artists. A couple of years ago Sky merged them and the focus since has been on the latter unfortunately. It's a real loss as the old Arts channel featured some fantastic stuff.Last edited by Mibbes Aye; 22-12-2017 at 10:02 PM.
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14-02-2018 06:18 PM #59This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
“The climax of joy is not when you’re through a new symphony, but when you are hoarse from shouting, with your hands stinging from clapping, your lips parched, and you sip your second glass of beer after you’ve fought for it with 90,000 other spectators to celebrate the victory of your favorite team.”
His favourite was was then called Zenit Leningrad.
I've become cautious of reading too much into the supposed political agenda of Shostakoch's music. The official interpretation of his tenth symphony is that is a epitaph following Stalin's death. It's not.
For one thing, it was composed in 1951 when Stalin was very much alive (compare it with his 5th string quartet) and for another the music includes his musical initials - d, e flat, c and b - which always (that's ALWAYS!) indicates he's writing about personal matters.
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14-02-2018 06:57 PM #60
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This thread is a fantastic read and I'm finally going to spend 5 minutes and contribute.
Firstly, I've been a bit of a hi-fi enthusiast for the last 35 years and I've slowly gotten into classical music. I now have a fairly sizable collection that I've gathered over the years. I still buy and sell vinyl as a hobby and attend auctions at least once a week. Classical music is ever so difficult to move on and I've ended up with hundreds of albums that have been part of job lots. I have a few favourites.
Rossini's 'Barber of Seville' is an outstanding work and there's a 1948 recording by Tito Gobbi at Covent Garden that surpasses all other versions. Absolutely fantastic and if I had a time machine then I would pay good money to have been in attendance.
I like the cello as an instrument and I'm currently getting increasingly admiring of Jacqueline du Pre. She and I are hitting the right chords. As an aside, I picked up a small job-lot of her works a few weeks ago and there was an unplayed 78 in the lot by her mentor, William Pleeth. It's an unplayed disc from 1944 and I can't find any mention of it on the web. I have it for sale on eBay but I'm sorely tempted to 'break the seal' and plop it on the turntable. Here's the listing: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/112815234...84.m1555.l2649
I also had the pleasure of seeing a Latvian soprano. Inesa Galante at a performance in London. It was at a small venue just off Kensington High Street and she blew me away. Her rendition of Ave Maria by Vavilov had me in tears. I might look it out shortly and give it another spin.
Over the years I've been to some outstanding performances at the Royal Festival Hall. You can normally get tickets at reasonable prices for top-notch performers. The Barbican is another good venue with fantastic acoustics.Last edited by Sergey; 14-02-2018 at 07:41 PM.
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