The Classical Music thread

[Caversham Green]

Following on from the Beautiful Tracks thread, I thought of a few classical pieces that would fit the bill, but that thread went in a different direction, and anyway classical music is such a broad category I think it deserves a thread of its own. So, if you have a favourite classical tune or composer or if you've heard a piece on TV or films that you don't know the name of, post it up on here. Extra points if it's quite obscure.

The description 'classical' can be fairly loose - anything from opera (Bizet's Pearl Fishers duet holds a special place in my heart), film (Schindler's List) or even video games (the sig from Fallout 3 and the piano version in 4 are favourites of mine) is fine.

To kick off, the first one I thought of for the Beautiful Tracks thread was The Gadfly Romance by Shostakovich (try the second movement of his second piano concerto too) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0Xfyn0-YhU

[grunt]

This, for me.


https://www.youtube.com/embed/ksV5pORvWXE

[s.a.m]

I like both of the above. At the moment I'm listening to Chopin piano stuff, and I'm particularly fond of this one (my daughter plays it when she's home from uni): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_6APTb3RNQ

I'm also listening to Holst's military band suites, and this is my favourite bit (from the First Suite in Eb): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7EZEEuTmu0

[snooky]

Chopin's Opus 10 etude no. 3 is my favourite piece.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpiJbQvBP8A

I also love the music of Johann Strauss II.

[Caversham Green]

Chopin's Opus 10 etude no. 3 is my favourite piece.
I also love the music of Johann Strauss II.

The Strauss waltzes are good uplifting music and I particularly like the Fledermaus overture. I'm a great fan of Chopin too (Stravinsky not so much, but the Firebird isn't bad).

My own favourite composer has to be Beethoven - the Egmont overture is stirring stuff and his odd-numbered symphonies are just brilliant (I got the organist to play Ode to Joy at my wedding). Favourite pieces are harder to identify - there's just so many of them. One I've been listening to a lot recently is Borodins 'In the Steppes of Central Asia' and one that makes me grin while being awestruck by the musicianship is Monti's Czardas (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMOHAcjlIWs ).

I also think a lot of the 'mainstream' stuff - e.g. Beethoven's fifth, The Blue Danube Waltz, The William Tell Overture - are played so much that people tend not to hear the subtleties in them any more. They're all excellent pieces of music if you listen to them rather than just hearing.

[s.a.m]

The Strauss waltzes are good uplifting music and I particularly like the Fledermaus overture. I'm a great fan of Chopin too (Stravinsky not so much, but the Firebird isn't bad).

My own favourite composer has to be Beethoven - the Egmont overture is stirring stuff and his odd-numbered symphonies are just brilliant (I got the organist to play Ode to Joy at my wedding). Favourite pieces are harder to identify - there's just so many of them. One I've been listening to a lot recently is Borodins 'In the Steppes of Central Asia' and one that makes me grin while being awestruck by the musicianship is Monti's Czardas (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMOHAcjlIWs ).

I also think a lot of the 'mainstream' stuff - e.g. Beethoven's fifth, The Blue Danube Waltz, The William Tell Overture - are played so much that people tend not to hear the subtleties in them any more. They're all excellent pieces of music if you listen to them rather than just hearing.

I think you've got a good point there. For a long time, I didn't listen to those for that reason. I really like all of them now; they're also much better and more interesting when you listen to the whole piece and not just the famous bits. The 1812 Overture is another of those.

[Caversham Green]

I think you've got a good point there. For a long time, I didn't listen to those for that reason. I really like all of them now; they're also much better and more interesting when you listen to the whole piece and not just the famous bits. The 1812 Overture is another of those.

I think that's particularly true of Beethoven's 5th. Those famous four notes don't come near to telling the story of the symphony that doesn't want to end - particularly when you know the background of his deafness kicking in.

I agree that the 1812 is another of them. One of Tchaikovsky's that's similar but less well known is Capricccio Italien - try it if you don't already know it.

[s.a.m]

I'll give that a go.:aok:

[Hibrandenburg]

Hungarian Rhapsody No 2 from Liszt. The piece was so far ahead of its time I find it hard to believe he composed it back in 1850 odd.

[Mibbes Aye]

Following on from the Beautiful Tracks thread, I thought of a few classical pieces that would fit the bill, but that thread went in a different direction, and anyway classical music is such a broad category I think it deserves a thread of its own. So, if you have a favourite classical tune or composer or if you've heard a piece on TV or films that you don't know the name of, post it up on here. Extra points if it's quite obscure.

The description 'classical' can be fairly loose - anything from opera (Bizet's Pearl Fishers duet holds a special place in my heart), film (Schindler's List) or even video games (the sig from Fallout 3 and the piano version in 4 are favourites of mine) is fine.

To kick off, the first one I thought of for the Beautiful Tracks thread was The Gadfly Romance by Shostakovich (try the second movement of his second piano concerto too) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0Xfyn0-YhU

Good thread. And I agree beauty takes many forms when there is such a broad and diverse range of classical music.

For vocal or choral pieces, I will chip in with Allegri’s “Miserere” and Geoffrey Burgon’s “Nunc Dimittis”.

I like Shostakovich a huge amount and there is a different kind of beauty to be found in his symphonic works. The first movement of his Tenth Symphony, especially as it builds roundabout halfway though is perhaps my favourite, but it’s also difficult to match the third movement of his Fifth. The piece as a whole has been interpreted in conflicting ways over the decades and I choose to interpret ithe third movement as a portrayal of the horror of Stalin’s persecution of the population.

Final recommendation is something from the same time and also very ethereal, but completely different altogether - Vaughan Williams’ “Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus”. It’s simply sublime.

[Just Alf]

That bit of opera in Shawshank Redemption gives me goose bumps!

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

[Just Alf]

Also.. Related to the thread... I remember when Classic FM started up... When driving in heavy traffic I always switched over to it..... Made me a better driver.... Peace man!


Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

[Caversham Green]

Good thread. And I agree beauty takes many forms when there is such a broad and diverse range of classical music.

For vocal or choral pieces, I will chip in with Allegri’s “Miserere” and Geoffrey Burgon’s “Nunc Dimittis”.

I like Shostakovich a huge amount and there is a different kind of beauty to be found in his symphonic works. The first movement of his Tenth Symphony, especially as it builds roundabout halfway though is perhaps my favourite, but it’s also difficult to match the third movement of his Fifth. The piece as a whole has been interpreted in conflicting ways over the decades and I choose to interpret ithe third movement as a portrayal of the horror of Stalin’s persecution of the population.

Final recommendation is something from the same time and also very ethereal, but completely different altogether - Vaughan Williams’ “Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus”. It’s simply sublime.

I don't actually know a lot of Shostakovich's work and only the bare bones of his relationship with the Soviet authorities - I must look into it a bit. I know Allegri's Miserere but not the others - I'll give them a listen.

Incidentally, don't think I've forgotten about your slur on Rachmaninov - there's nothing wrong with a bit of overblown romantic guff, in fact it's the only thing that makes Brief Encounter remotely watchable. So just to annoy you here's the sugary one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNyQz7SiPQY. I think I prefer the first movement to the rest of it tbh.

[Caversham Green]

That bit of opera in Shawshank Redemption gives me goose bumps!

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

I'd forgotten about that, and when I googled it it turned out to be a different aria from the one I was thinking of. It's from Mozarts 'The Marriage of Figaro - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzuM2XTnpSA

Probably my favourite aria from my favourite opera is the very dark 'Va Tosca' from ....Tosca. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3lPxwct2sk

[GlesgaeHibby]

Dvorak's 8th Symphony is a big favourite. Amazing melodies, punchy brass in the orchestration. Nobody comes close to Mozart as a composer IMO, but I love Dvorak's music and outside of Mozart probably listen to his works the most.

[McSwanky]

Rachmaninov. Anything by Rachmaninov!

Love his piano works (prelude in C# minor is utterly amazing, I once spent about 2 years trying to master it, and got nowhere near!) and his orchestral stuff is fantastic. It seems a bit 'overplayed' now, but the Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini is one of my go-to pieces of music, it's fantastic. Think it's variation 18 (beautiful strings) that gets me every time...

[Geo_1875]

Was listening to Strauss' Casanova a while back and had forgotten how good Anni Frind's Nun's Chorus was. Been listening to it regularly recently.

[Mibbes Aye]

I don't actually know a lot of Shostakovich's work and only the bare bones of his relationship with the Soviet authorities - I must look into it a bit. I know Allegri's Miserere but not the others - I'll give them a listen.

Incidentally, don't think I've forgotten about your slur on Rachmaninov - there's nothing wrong with a bit of overblown romantic guff, in fact it's the only thing that makes Brief Encounter remotely watchable. So just to annoy you here's the sugary one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNyQz7SiPQY. I think I prefer the first movement to the rest of it tbh.

I was maybe a bit harsh on Sergei and I’m not immune to something heartfelt. Always been a big Sibelius fan, Second Symphony in particular, which is heart on the sleeve, “I’m in love with Finland” stuff and doesn’t lose anything for it. There is nothing like driving in windswept snow and having that on in the car, second movement in particular.

Sticking with Rachmaninoff, I would give him a lot of credit for one of his few choral works, The Liturgy of St John Chrysostom. This Liturgy is the most important, or one of the most important, masses in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Rachmaninov’s rendering of it is beautiful. For some reason it’s a piece I tend to reach towards in November and it gets a few good plays up until Christmas.

[heretoday]

Beethoven's five piano concertos are what I'd recommend to a newcomer to classical music. Each one is short enough to listen to at a sitting.

[Sylar]

I write a lot to classical music when I'm at work. Data analysis/programming requires heavy rock, but writing requires classical music!

In terms of original pieces, Barber's Adagio in D is probably my favourite piece. I'm also a fan of Gabriel Faure's Pavane, and Holst's Planets' suite. I've also recently been listening to a lot of Dvorak's work - definitely provides the ups and downs required for any piece of written work!

I also listen to a lot of 'contemporary' classical in the form of film/game soundtracks - Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings trilogy soundtrack is a popular choice, but anything by Hans Zimmer or John Williams is likely to capture my attention for a while.

[snooky]

Having only scraped the surface of classical music in my time, this thread is great and is encouraging me to dig deeper.
My thanks to CG for kicking this off. :aok:

[Alfiembra]

Not very knowledgeable of classical music but my all time favourite would be the The Flower Duet (British Airways Advert) Leo Delibes I think

[Geo_1875]

I see the theme from The Lone Ranger was mentioned earlier. I'm surprised nobody has brought up the Hamlet advert yet.

[s.a.m]

Not very knowledgeable of classical music but my all time favourite would be the The Flower Duet (British Airways Advert) Leo Delibes I think

Then give this a go - it's Bizet's 'The Pearl Fishers' Duet': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOewwwDgsTk

[Caversham Green]

Beethoven's five piano concertos are what I'd recommend to a newcomer to classical music. Each one is short enough to listen to at a sitting.

Good shout - I'd add the Coriolan, Egmont and various Fidelio/Leonore overtures to that. Leonore No. 3 was the one that first made me appreciate Beethoven's genius.


Then give this a go - it's Bizet's 'The Pearl Fishers' Duet': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOewwwDgsTk

Or this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XttF0vg0MGo Which was also a BA ad IIRC.

Some interesting stories behind it. It was written at the time Italy was trying to unify and free itself from foreign rule and was adopted as the country's unofficial anthem. Also, Verdi had instructed that no music should be played at his funeral, but the crowds lining the streets spontaneously started singing Va Pensiero as the funeral procession passed.

[Caversham Green]

On the subject of TV adverts, remember the perfume one with the woman in her skimpies and the campest sailor on the planet? Rescued by this lovely song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg4L5tcxFcA

Sopranos can be something of an acquired taste (no offence intended Tony) but here's a couple with minimal screeching.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHM3zMBQxTQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRuYQ9KRJms

[Caversham Green]

If you wonder what the term "Wagnerian" means ..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTM7E4-DN0o

(Play it loud!)

[Mibbes Aye]

If you wonder what the term "Wagnerian" means ..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTM7E4-DN0o

(Play it loud!)

:aok:

One of my favourite pieces. A potential side thread would be your ideal concert - the Tannhauser overture fits the bill nicely because you could have it alongside a concerto in the first half, with a symphony after the intermission.

I came to like Tannhauser a lot because I cook a lot and I listen to music when I cook. I eventually got a Bluetooth speaker to sync to Spotify on my ipad but before that I had a quite smart but very old CD system in the kitchen. It gradually stopped playing CDs and in the end I was left with only a few that actually worked on it, one of which was Sinopoli's 'Tannhauser' with Domingo and Salminen. As a consequence it got played to death in my kitchen :greengrin

[Mibbes Aye]

I write a lot to classical music when I'm at work. Data analysis/programming requires heavy rock, but writing requires classical music!

In terms of original pieces, Barber's Adagio in D is probably my favourite piece. I'm also a fan of Gabriel Faure's Pavane, and Holst's Planets' suite. I've also recently been listening to a lot of Dvorak's work - definitely provides the ups and downs required for any piece of written work!

I also listen to a lot of 'contemporary' classical in the form of film/game soundtracks - Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings trilogy soundtrack is a popular choice, but anything by Hans Zimmer or John Williams is likely to capture my attention for a while.

I think that's an important point.

I don't really listen to Classic FM much but recognise that it is a very accessible way for people new to classical music to familiarise themselves with it and work out what periods and styles they like.

One thing I do like about them is their annual chart, voted for by the public - I think it's a top 300 and is broadcast over the Easter weekend.

I've not caught all of it ever, but usually hear a bit of it at least and what has been noticeable in recent years is the increase in the number of pieces that have featured on games.

What seems clear is that there is an increase in people liking music of that ilk. If that translates into more people thinking of listening to more 'traditional' classical music then that's got to be a good thing.

[Mibbes Aye]

I'd forgotten about that, and when I googled it it turned out to be a different aria from the one I was thinking of. It's from Mozarts 'The Marriage of Figaro - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzuM2XTnpSA

Probably my favourite aria from my favourite opera is the very dark 'Va Tosca' from ....Tosca. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3lPxwct2sk

Your Gianni Schicchi link was one that I would have posted as befitting of a 'beautiful track' :agree:

My turn to be accused of overblown romantic guff - :greengrin - I'm a sucker for 'Mi chiamano Mimi' and 'O soave fanciulla' from La Boheme and hide no shame in admitting to a fondness for 'Un bel di vedremo' from Madama Butterfly :greengrin

I'm a big Puccini fan and would rather listen/see his work than Verdi, for example, notwithstanding the quality of what Verdi wrote. Tosca is outstanding and like so many of Puccini's works it tells a tale that is essentially an eternal truth and is therefore easily translatable into different settings and eras - a truly timeless story.

My favourite however is La Fanciulla Del West, sadly under-performed nowadays. Some of the duets are sublime and the mostly male arias are sumptious. It's a shame the opera isn't performed more often, I believe it was Puccini's favourite of all his compositions.

[Mibbes Aye]

If you wonder what the term "Wagnerian" means ..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTM7E4-DN0o

(Play it loud!)

I would echo that and offer up a couple of other Wagner pieces as truly epitomising what he was about.

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 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P73Z6291Pt8) and as Cav Green says, play it loud :greengrin

[Caversham Green]

Your Gianni Schicchi link was one that I would have posted as befitting of a 'beautiful track' :agree:

My turn to be accused of overblown romantic guff - :greengrin - I'm a sucker for 'Mi chiamano Mimi' and 'O soave fanciulla' from La Boheme and hide no shame in admitting to a fondness for 'Un bel di vedremo' from Madama Butterfly :greengrin

I'm a big Puccini fan and would rather listen/see his work than Verdi, for example, notwithstanding the quality of what Verdi wrote. Tosca is outstanding and like so many of Puccini's works it tells a tale that is essentially an eternal truth and is therefore easily translatable into different settings and eras - a truly timeless story.

My favourite however is La Fanciulla Del West, sadly under-performed nowadays. Some of the duets are sublime and the mostly male arias are sumptious. It's a shame the opera isn't performed more often, I believe it was Puccini's favourite of all his compositions.

I'm with you re Puccini - goosebumps every time I hear 'O Soave Faniculla' and I was thinking about linking 'Un Bel Di Vedremo' on my previous post. I actually think Turandot is probably his weakest opera despite having his best-known aria in it - a happy ending, what's that all about? For the last few years around Christmas time there's been an excellent performance of Tosca on the telly with Jonas Kaufmann, Bryn Terfel and Angela Gheorghiu in the lead roles. Keep an eye out if you haven't already seen it.

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.

[Lancs Harp]

Also.. Related to the thread... I remember when Classic FM started up... When driving in heavy traffic I always switched over to it..... Made me a better driver.... Peace man!


Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

Same for me mate. :thumbsup:

My favourite, Verdi the King of Italian Opera, but listen to his overtures, you'll recognise a few from tv ads like Stella Artois.

[Colr]

Following on from the Beautiful Tracks thread, I thought of a few classical pieces that would fit the bill, but that thread went in a different direction, and anyway classical music is such a broad category I think it deserves a thread of its own. So, if you have a favourite classical tune or composer or if you've heard a piece on TV or films that you don't know the name of, post it up on here. Extra points if it's quite obscure.

The description 'classical' can be fairly loose - anything from opera (Bizet's Pearl Fishers duet holds a special place in my heart), film (Schindler's List) or even video games (the sig from Fallout 3 and the piano version in 4 are favourites of mine) is fine.

To kick off, the first one I thought of for the Beautiful Tracks thread was The Gadfly Romance by Shostakovich (try the second movement of his second piano concerto too) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0Xfyn0-YhU

Don’t know if you will include opera or if that’s a seperate thread.

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.

[Colr]

That bit of opera in Shawshank Redemption gives me goose bumps!

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

Mozart “Marriage of Figaro” I think. ENO are doing it later next year. Might go.

[Caversham Green]

Don’t know if you will include opera or if that’s a seperate thread.

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.

Opera's fine for this thread (it's already been mentioned a few times) - in fact pretty much anything goes.

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.

[Jim44]

Pachelbel’s Canon. - https://youtu.be/s3RRQypEf4I Goosebump time.

[Mibbes Aye]

Don’t know if you will include opera or if that’s a seperate thread.

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.

I find Bach is great background music when thinking is required. There's something about his style and use of counterpoint that seems to fit perfectly - the structure of his composition can be complicated but essentially always works towards a resolution.

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 in :greengrin

[Mibbes Aye]

Opera's fine for this thread (it's already been mentioned a few times) - in fact pretty much anything goes.

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.

Scheherezade is fantastic and sublimely orchestrated. I very much like Sadko too, his opera, which also draws on legend and the mystery of the Orient.

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 :greengrin - 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.

[Peevemor]

I see the theme from The Lone Ranger was mentioned earlier. I'm surprised nobody has brought up the Hamlet advert yet.Or Hovis.

Or Old Spice

[Peevemor]

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...

[Peevemor]

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.

[snooky]

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?".

[Mibbes Aye]

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.

Michael Nyman is great.

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.

[Caversham Green]

Or Hovis.

Or Old Spice

For those who don't already know:

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.

[Caversham Green]

Michael Nyman is great.

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.

Reading FC used to play Lux Aeterna before their games while showing iconic moments from their Championship winning season on the big screen. I have to say it worked really well.

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.

[Colr]

I would echo that and offer up a couple of other Wagner pieces as truly epitomising what he was about.

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 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P73Z6291Pt8) and as Cav Green says, play it loud :greengrin

I love Wagner’s music but the stories are absolute rot. If you like Tolkein and Game of Thrones they might appeal. Tristan and Isolde is good as a tale, though.

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!

[Mibbes Aye]

I love Wagner’s music but the stories are absolute rot. If you like Tolkein and Game of Thrones they might appeal. Tristan and Isolde is good as a tale, though.

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!

:greengrin

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 - Rigole​tto, 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.

[Sylar]

Pachelbel’s Canon. - https://youtu.be/s3RRQypEf4I Goosebump time.

My most hated classical piece! If you've never seen it, check out the video that's on Youtube by a comedic musician highlighting how widespread Canon is in pop/rock music. Once heard, cannot be unheard...anywhere.

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.

[Mibbes Aye]

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 :greengrin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uONK9yUyRq0

[Mibbes Aye]

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 job :greengrin

[Mibbes Aye]

Opera's fine for this thread (it's already been mentioned a few times) - in fact pretty much anything goes.

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.

If we are talking opera, I'll throw John Adams into the mix. He's an American composer, maybe in his seventies now, who wrote music in a very particular style - it's Marmite, I suspect you either like it or you don't, but you recognise it straight away.

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_LYlU

[Caversham Green]

:greengrin

I'm not actually that big a fan of Mozart, I find it a bit too clinical,

Picking out just this bit, I think Mozart's music was very much 'of its time'. Given they were near contemporaries, a comparison with Beethoven's stuff shows how much passion and movement LvB put into his music, and just how much of a shock he must have been at the time.




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 :greengrin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uONK9yUyRq0

Can't talk about Christmas music without mentioning Prokofiev's troika from Lieutenant Kije - ably borrowed by Greg lake for one of my favourite Christmas singles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GUzJ7fQBtg


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 job :greengrin

I'm not sure if it's exactly what you mean (I'm not technically minded as far as music is concerned), but 'Valse Triste' by Sibelius is a real conflict of moods - the generally happy waltz timing done in a key that give a sad feel to it.


If we are talking opera, I'll throw John Adams into the mix. He's an American composer, maybe in his seventies now, who wrote music in a very particular style - it's Marmite, I suspect you either like it or you don't, but you recognise it straight away.

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_LYlU

From what I've heard of Adams he's very much like Marmite to me - can't make up my mind if I like it or not.

[Mibbes Aye]

Picking out just this bit, I think Mozart's music was very much 'of its time'. Given they were near contemporaries, a comparison with Beethoven's stuff shows how much passion and movement LvB put into his music, and just how much of a shock he must have been at the time.

Yes, you're right.

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 ballet :greengrin

[Mibbes Aye]

My most hated classical piece! If you've never seen it, check out the video that's on Youtube by a comedic musician highlighting how widespread Canon is in pop/rock music. Once heard, cannot be unheard...anywhere

I first heard Pachelbel's Canon late on at primary school, possibly early secondary school. It was the theme music for an Australian TV drama series about their involvement in the Vietnam War, which featured Nicole Kidman before she was famous. I loved it then but within a couple of years got involved in music through youth orchestras etc and it became one of our set pieces and I grew to hate it!

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.

[Captain Trips]

Satie has always been a favourite of mine.

[Caversham Green]

I'm with you re Puccini - goosebumps every time I hear 'O Soave Faniculla' and I was thinking about linking 'Un Bel Di Vedremo' on my previous post. I actually think Turandot is probably his weakest opera despite having his best-known aria in it - a happy ending, what's that all about? For the last few years around Christmas time there's been an excellent performance of Tosca on the telly with Jonas Kaufmann, Bryn Terfel and Angela Gheorghiu in the lead roles. Keep an eye out if you haven't already seen it.

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.

I don't see Tosca in the listings this year, but there is a performance of La Boheme on Monday at 7.00pm - BBC 4.

[Mibbes Aye]

I don't see Tosca in the listings this year, but there is a performance of La Boheme on Monday at 7.00pm - BBC 4.

Thanks for that - am away at in-laws on Christmas Day, but will record it, for later consumption!

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 :greengrin

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.

[Prof. Shaggy]

Good thread. And I agree beauty takes many forms when there is such a broad and diverse range of classical music.

For vocal or choral pieces, I will chip in with Allegri’s “Miserere” and Geoffrey Burgon’s “Nunc Dimittis”.

I like Shostakovich a huge amount and there is a different kind of beauty to be found in his symphonic works. The first movement of his Tenth Symphony, especially as it builds roundabout halfway though is perhaps my favourite, but it’s also difficult to match the third movement of his Fifth. The piece as a whole has been interpreted in conflicting ways over the decades and I choose to interpret ithe third movement as a portrayal of the horror of Stalin’s persecution of the population.

Final recommendation is something from the same time and also very ethereal, but completely different altogether - Vaughan Williams’ “Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus”. It’s simply sublime.

It's topical to point out Shostakovich was a big football fan and wrote reports for the Soviet sports papers. He was quoted in an article in Time magazine in 1942 :-
“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.

[Sergey]

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/112815234047?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.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.

[Mibbes Aye]

It's topical to point out Shostakovich was a big football fan and wrote reports for the Soviet sports papers. He was quoted in an article in Time magazine in 1942 :-
“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.

Good post. Peevemor started a thread that's slipped off the front page of this sub-forum, called 'Insights' - just those sorts of lnsights into various musicians' works. I referenced the DSCH motif there.

I have Ian MacDonald's biography of him though I've yet to read it, it's on the list though. My understanding is that it tries to strike a balanced and nuanced account that reflects the complexity of living as an artist in those times but ultimately comes down on the side of him being a dissident who hid his satire of the authorities in the more bombastic elements of his works. The last movement of the fifty symphony springs to mind as an example but I kind of like the fact that no one can really be too sure.

[Dalianwanda]

Surpised no ones mention Philip Glass..'Opening' is such a gorgeous piece of music. Currently just playing his work on shuffle each morning without actually looking at what a lot of it is. Just allowing it to flow through me on my walks to work

[Mibbes Aye]

Surpised no ones mention Philip Glass..'Opening' is such a gorgeous piece of music. Currently just playing his work on shuffle each morning without actually looking at what a lot of it is. Just allowing it to flow through me on my walks to work

I wondered when the thread turned to John Adams whether it would bring in the likes of Glass or Steve Reich.

I used to listen to them a lot more in the past than I do now, maybe time to revisit them. I think my favourite Glass work was his music for ‘Candyman’.

[Kavinho]

I'd forgotten about that, and when I googled it it turned out to be a different aria from the one I was thinking of. It's from Mozarts 'The Marriage of Figaro - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzuM2XTnpSA

Probably my favourite aria from my favourite opera is the very dark 'Va Tosca' from ....Tosca. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3lPxwct2sk

The Te Deum at the end of act 1 in Tosca is incredibly powerful. I think I'm right in that there isn't another example of orchestra, choir and soloist all in unison and at full pelt too.

I might be slightly biased in that I performed in it in my younger years..

[Prof. Shaggy]

I love Wagner’s music but the stories are absolute rot. If you like Tolkein and Game of Thrones they might appeal. Tristan and Isolde is good as a tale, though.

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!

Eh!! That's the daftest of the lot!:greengrin

The whole story hinges on Isolde's maid, or whatever, accidentally fetching the bottle of love potion out of her handbag instead of the deadly poison. Three and a half hours later the pair end up dead anyway.
If the staff did as she was asked everyone would be saved a lot of bother and we'd all get out to the pub a bit quicker.

On the Opera thing, my kids clubbed together and got me tickets for the Covent Garden last summer. (Big number birthday). La Traviata is always good - and probably the only Verdi opera I can get into.
Thing is - the gents toilets at the Royal Opera House are f***ing huge. There are no urinals - only cubicles. No danger the patrons will enjoy the same splash back we know and love in the depths below the East Stand....

[Caversham Green]

Good to see this thread back on the front page.

I was thinking about resurrecting it by posting some pieces that people might recognise but not know what they were called or who composed them. Since Sergey has mentioned the cello and Jacqueline Du Pre I'll start with the piece that she's best known for (and by far my favourite Elgar composition) - Elgar's Cello Concerto. It was written shortly after WW1 and to my mind it's so evocative of what the British mood must have been like at that time - deep melancholy mixed with deep pride and determination, while not being as maudlin as Nimrod or as blustery as the Pomp and Circumstance marches (Land of Hope and Glory etc.). To be fair to those two they do rather suffer from being overplayed like those mentioned in posts #5 and 6 and the rest of the Enigma Variations are something of a mixed bag.

I vaguely remember the cello concerto being used as the theme to a TV series some years ago and it crops up in adverts and films from time to time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPhkZW_jwc0&t=132s

[Mibbes Aye]

Good to see this thread back on the front page.

I was thinking about resurrecting it by posting some pieces that people might recognise but not know what they were called or who composed them. Since Sergey has mentioned the cello and Jacqueline Du Pre I'll start with the piece that she's best known for (and by far my favourite Elgar composition) - Elgar's Cello Concerto. It was written shortly after WW1 and to my mind it's so evocative of what the British mood must have been like at that time - deep melancholy mixed with deep pride and determination, while not being as maudlin as Nimrod or as blustery as the Pomp and Circumstance marches (Land of Hope and Glory etc.). To be fair to those two they do rather suffer from being overplayed like those mentioned in posts #5 and 6 and the rest of the Enigma Variations are something of a mixed bag.

I vaguely remember the cello concerto being used as the theme to a TV series some years ago and it crops up in adverts and films from time to time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPhkZW_jwc0&t=132s

Good post.

I'll throw in Mussorgsky's 'Pictures at an Exhibition (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUfSstK3MOc)'.

Mussorgsky wrote it for piano and it's a classic of the pianist's repertoire but I've linked the orchestral version (only orchestrated by some French bloke called Maurice Ravel :greengrin).

I first heard it as an orchestral piece as the theme tune for the Rik Mayall political comedy, "The New Statesman" some thirty years ago now.

[Caversham Green]

Good post.

I'll throw in Mussorgsky's 'Pictures at an Exhibition (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUfSstK3MOc)'.

Mussorgsky wrote it for piano and it's a classic of the pianist's repertoire but I've linked the orchestral version (only orchestrated by some French bloke called Maurice Ravel :greengrin).

I first heard it as an orchestral piece as the theme tune for the Rik Mayall political comedy, "The New Statesman" some thirty years ago now.

Emerson Lake and Palmer did a prog rock version back in the 70s too. They actually did a few classical remakes - Copeland's Hoedown and Fanfare for the Common Man and Greg Lake's sampling of Prokofiev mentioned earlier in the thread.

Mussorgsky composed it as a tribute to an artist friend of his and I assume the individual sections relate to pictures by that artist (who I can't be bothered to Google). I wonder what 'The Hut on Hen's Legs' and the 'Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks' were like. IMO the orchestrated version is more 'accessible' (can't stand people using that word in that context) but the solo piano version is more intriguing - which I reckon is what Mussorgsky intended.

Since I've mentioned Copeland I'll chuck in one of his pieces - Simple Gifts from Appalachian Spring. For some reason I've always really disliked Lord of the Dance which uses the same tune but I do rather like Copeland's version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI6RYZygevA

[Jim Herriot]

I'd recommend

Gustav Holst Planets Suite, interpreted on synths by Isao Tomita, with video added (by who?).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev-oDC0eeVk&list=PLC0156E0E47CDAB6C

[Caversham Green]

Cross-reference to the film thread - this is the music the gang pretend to play in The Ladykillers - the minuet from Boccherini's String Quintet. Baroques not really my favourite style of music but this makes me smile.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSE15tLBdso

[Mibbes Aye]

Erik Satie's "Gnossiene No.1", here. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLFVGwGQcB0)

About 45 seconds in you hear the recurring motif and I think people will recognise it from numerous films and TV programmes.

The word 'Gnossiene' was invented by Satie and it is disputed as to what it actually means. Satie had an interest in Gnosticism and it may well have stemmed from that.

Have to confess, I hadn't thought of this piece before for this thread, but I heard it for the first time in a few years in the car this morning on Radio 3 and it seemed to fit with the current theme of pieces that were familiar but maybe not identified by title or composer.

[Mibbes Aye]

Returning to the opera theme I’m in Prague at the Narodni Divadlo or National Theatre for ‘Carmen’ tomight.

Got ‘The Cunning Little Vixen’ and ‘Aida’ before the weekend too.

Three operas in four days is a bit heavy but I’ve never seen the latter two so am looking forward to it.

[Mibbes Aye]

Returning to the opera theme I’m in Prague at the Narodni Divadlo or National Theatre for ‘Carmen’ tomight.

Got ‘The Cunning Little Vixen’ and ‘Aida’ before the weekend too.

Three operas in four days is a bit heavy but I’ve never seen the latter two so am looking forward to it.

Intermission at ‘Cunning Little Vixen’. It’s not performed commonly in the UK and I had to listen to it a few times in advance to get familiar with it.

The staging is an absolute joy, played for humour as well as the bathos that underpins the story.

Definitely worth seeing again but as I say it’s rare for it to be performed at home.

[Caversham Green]

Intermission at ‘Cunning Little Vixen’. It’s not performed commonly in the UK and I had to listen to it a few times in advance to get familiar with it.

The staging is an absolute joy, played for humour as well as the bathos that underpins the story.

Definitely worth seeing again but as I say it’s rare for it to be performed at home.

I seem to remember Cunning Little Vixen was on TV a few years ago but I somehow failed to record it. It's one of those I think of as intriguing rather than must see - hope you enjoyed it.

Carmen is full of well-known tunes and songs, I've seen two performances - one was excellent and the other was terrible. I've only seen Aida once - a decent performance which was rather spoiled by a distinctly unspectacular Grand March. The Grand March is one of those pieces that some might recognise without knowing what it's called, so here's a clip (and a taster for Mibbes Aye).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX0qN6QEvGg

[Mibbes Aye]

I seem to remember Cunning Little Vixen was on TV a few years ago but I somehow failed to record it. It's one of those I think of as intriguing rather than must see - hope you enjoyed it.

Carmen is full of well-known tunes and songs, I've seen two performances - one was excellent and the other was terrible. I've only seen Aida once - a decent performance which was rather spoiled by a distinctly unspectacular Grand March. The Grand March is one of those pieces that some might recognise without knowing what it's called, so here's a clip (and a taster for Mibbes Aye).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX0qN6QEvGg

Cunning Little Vixen was very good but I think you’re right, it’s an interesting piece but maybe not one of the operatic highlights as such.

Aida was very good and the Grand March was both triumphal and triumphant, so no complaints there.

For those of us who like classical music, Prague has to come highly recommended. There are three or four sumptuous venues that stage full-blown operas, ballets and classical concerts. Prices are half that compared to the UK and the quality is on a par or better - I rate Scottish Ballet and Scottish Opera but the Ballet of the Czech State Opera and the Ballet of the National Theatre Opera and the National Theatre Orchestra are technically better. I’m not a huge fan of the RSNO and prefer the BBC Scottish Symphony Ochestra, who just seem to have a bit more verve and gusto, though the RSNO have improved considerably since Peter Oundjian took up the baton.

Getting back to Prague, the quality of performance and environment is very high with a silly amount of choice. We had the chance to attend three big operas in barely more than half a week. There’s also a plethora of lunchtime and early evening concerts at very cheap prices. The programmes are very accessible in a Classic FM style - lots of Mozart, Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’ etc but again, well-performed pieces in pretty venues.

Given this is primarily a football website it would be remiss to ignore the fact that Prague also does football really well, there’s a bunch of top-flight teams and similar to the music, the quality is decent and costs are cheap by comparison - I was talking to a friend who lives here who described the ticket price for the recent Slavia - Bohemians game as extortionate, which it was in terms of HET Liga prices. It was nevertheless only around ten or eleven quid in pounds.

Essentially if you fall into that small, exclusive niche category of classical-loving football fans then Prague is pretty much the place to visit :greengrin

[Mibbes Aye]

Following on from Caversham Green’s post I was put in mind of this excerpt from a Verdi opera.

It was used in a British Airways advert sometime in the late eighties or early nineties, which was when I first heard it, and like Aida is set a long, long time ago :greengrin

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D6JN0l7A_mE

[Caversham Green]

Thought I'd stick in a wee history lesson about probably the best known four notes in music - Beethoven's Fifth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv2WJMVPQi8

It was written in the early 19th century and soon became known as the Victory Symphony - you need to listen to the fourth movement to understand why (around 24 minutes in) . The four notes of the first movement are often described as 'fate knocking at the door' the second and third movements can feel a bit stodgy by Beethoven's standards but the third leads straight into a victory procession followed by exuberance and a touch of defiance - emphasised by one of the earliest uses of trombones in an orchestra - and then that ending that just doesn't want to stop.

Anyway, around 40 years after it was published Samuel Morse developed Morse Code - probably by coincidence the code for V is dot-dot-dot-dash. Fast forward nearly a century to the Second World War and the catchphrase in Britain was V for victory and despite Beethoven being as German as they come the BBC were using his four notes to introduce news bulletins.

All around four notes written by a deaf composer.

[Mibbes Aye]

Thought I'd stick in a wee history lesson about probably the best known four notes in music - Beethoven's Fifth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv2WJMVPQi8

It was written in the early 19th century and soon became known as the Victory Symphony - you need to listen to the fourth movement to understand why (around 24 minutes in) . The four notes of the first movement are often described as 'fate knocking at the door' the second and third movements can feel a bit stodgy by Beethoven's standards but the third leads straight into a victory procession followed by exuberance and a touch of defiance - emphasised by one of the earliest uses of trombones in an orchestra - and then that ending that just doesn't want to stop.

Anyway, around 40 years after it was published Samuel Morse developed Morse Code - probably by coincidence the code for V is dot-dot-dot-dash. Fast forward nearly a century to the Second World War and the catchphrase in Britain was V for victory and despite Beethoven being as German as they come the BBC were using his four notes to introduce news bulletins.

All around four notes written by a deaf composer.

Good post. I attended a number of concerts at the Usher Hall as part of the 'Naked Classics' series. The first half was narrated by a composer/conductor who guided the orchestra (RSNO) into deconstructing the piece in question, with a gigantic HD screen above them highlighting the signature and various movements or whatever. Second half, they just performed it.

Beethoven's Fifth was one of the series and they went very heavily on the 'fate knocking at the door' motif.

I'm going to highlight something different - two pieces that one mixes up, most probably because the former influenced the latter. This is maybe just me, maybe age, though I was mixing them up as a teenager so that's possibly not an excuse.

First up is Sibelius and 'Finlandia' matched with Holst's 'Mars' from the 'Planet Suite'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5zg_af9b8c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jmk5frp6-3Q


Second is Handel's Sarabande which featured in Kubrick's masterpiece Barry Lyndon, matched with the Second Movement of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony

Handel's Sarabande (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erKsIJyfB_Q)

2nd Movement, 7th Symphony (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBtKbCX-sUw)



From memory, Brahms First lifts huge elements of Beethoven's Ninth as well?

[Caversham Green]

Good post. I attended a number of concerts at the Usher Hall as part of the 'Naked Classics' series. The first half was narrated by a composer/conductor who guided the orchestra (RSNO) into deconstructing the piece in question, with a gigantic HD screen above them highlighting the signature and various movements or whatever. Second half, they just performed it.

Beethoven's Fifth was one of the series and they went very heavily on the 'fate knocking at the door' motif.

I'm going to highlight something different - two pieces that one mixes up, most probably because the former influenced the latter. This is maybe just me, maybe age, though I was mixing them up as a teenager so that's possibly not an excuse.

First up is Sibelius and 'Finlandia' matched with Holst's 'Mars' from the 'Planet Suite'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5zg_af9b8c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jmk5frp6-3Q


Second is Handel's Sarabande which featured in Kubrick's masterpiece Barry Lyndon, matched with the Second Movement of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony

Handel's Sarabande (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erKsIJyfB_Q)

2nd Movement, 7th Symphony (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBtKbCX-sUw)



From memory, Brahms First lifts huge elements of Beethoven's Ninth as well?

I love both Sarabande and the Seventh (which IMO is Beethoven's most underrated symphony), but I'd never actually noted the similarity before. The same movement of the Seventh and Albinoni's Adagio tend to meld together in my head sometimes though.

Another two that often get mixed up are Greig's 'In the Hall of the Mountain King' - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLp_Hh6DKWc - and 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' by Dukas - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lWvl3yVH_Y

In fact Lea & Perrins clearly chose the wrong one for their ad back in the day - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFRQqyMBnK8

[Caversham Green]

On the other hand, two pieces that don't sound anything like each other are the sublime 'E Lecevan Le Stelle' from Tosca* - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8lD9ZmYHhE - and Al Jolson's ridiculous (IMO) Avalon - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmaKpp51uzI.

And yet Puccini's publishers successfully sued Jolson for stealing the tune.

*In Italian with German sub-titles here - don't say I'm not helpful.

[Mibbes Aye]

I love both Sarabande and the Seventh (which IMO is Beethoven's most underrated symphony), but I'd never actually noted the similarity before. The same movement of the Seventh and Albinoni's Adagio tend to meld together in my head sometimes though.

Another two that often get mixed up are Greig's 'In the Hall of the Mountain King' - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLp_Hh6DKWc - and 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' by Dukas - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lWvl3yVH_Y

In fact Lea & Perrins clearly chose the wrong one for their ad back in the day - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFRQqyMBnK8

The Seventh is my favourite of Beethoven's by a long chalk. The Albinoni comparison is good. I hear formative elements of Shostakovich in Albinoni as well as the obvious influence he had on Bach and then Beethoven.

Beethoven's Seventh is wonderful and for me epitomises the way he straddled the shift from Enlightenment to Romanticism and in classical music the progression from Classical to Romantic.

There's another two pieces I find similar and both fit the earlier brief of pieces people may have heard but didn't know what they are. One's choral and one's orchestral and it's only really at the beginning they bear comparison but for me they are akin.

Mussorgsky's 'Night on a Bare Mountain' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu1no7hOlSs)

Orff's 'O Fortuna' from 'Carmina Burana' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXFSK0ogeg4)

I've always been fond of Mussorgsky, along with his peers. There's a soul to their compositions that echoes with Russian writers, poets and playwrights from the same period.

[Mibbes Aye]

Maybe more suited for the Pet Peeves section but Radio 3 recently brought in a new presenter for 'Essential Classics', the weekday morning show.

His name is Ian Skelly and while he is undoubtedly very knowledgeable about music, his voice is like nails being dragged down a blackboard to my ears. I can't stand him!

I believe he has been with R3 for a long time but I don't recall hearing him until he moved to weekday mornings.

[Caversham Green]

Maybe more suited for the Pet Peeves section but Radio 3 recently brought in a new presenter for 'Essential Classics', the weekday morning show.

His name is Ian Skelly and while he is undoubtedly very knowledgeable about music, his voice is like nails being dragged down a blackboard to my ears. I can't stand him!

I believe he has been with R3 for a long time but I don't recall hearing him until he moved to weekday mornings.

I haven't listened to Radio 3 for years - it was starting to feel very dry and they seemed to want to play music that was obscure and (IMO) not very good. Maybe they've changed back, I'll give it a listen if only to hear this guy's voice. Classic FM is probably a bit too far the other way, but it has improved and is a decent listen if you don't mind just hearing single movements. It's what I listen to over breakfast and when driving now.

On another medium, I see ITV are playing the Lacrimosa from Mozart's Requiem over their drama trailers. Whilst I agree with your comment that his music is a bit clinical, the Requiem is one of several exceptions. Anyone that can listen to the Lacrimosa without getting goosebumps has no soul. Particularly hearing it live in a setting like the Albert Hall.

[Caversham Green]

So, having posted the above I thought I'd give it a listen on YouTube. This was next up so I gave it a look too and now I'm in bits - I'm just an auld softie really.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqVRcFQagtI

[grunt]

So, having posted the above I thought I'd give it a listen on YouTube. This was next up so I gave it a look too and now I'm in bits - I'm just an auld softie really.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqVRcFQagtI
Thank you for that.

[Mibbes Aye]

I haven't listened to Radio 3 for years - it was starting to feel very dry and they seemed to want to play music that was obscure and (IMO) not very good. Maybe they've changed back, I'll give it a listen if only to hear this guy's voice. Classic FM is probably a bit too far the other way, but it has improved and is a decent listen if you don't mind just hearing single movements. It's what I listen to over breakfast and when driving now.

On another medium, I see ITV are playing the Lacrimosa from Mozart's Requiem over their drama trailers. Whilst I agree with your comment that his music is a bit clinical, the Requiem is one of several exceptions. Anyone that can listen to the Lacrimosa without getting goosebumps has no soul. Particularly hearing it live in a setting like the Albert Hall.

I readily admit the Requiem is one of my most favourite pieces, full stop, other criticism notwithstanding. It's simply sublime. I have a recording on the DG label and it is breathtaking.

Agree with your point re the radio. Classic FM has got better and is particularly good for Vaughan Williams. Radio 3 can be a bit too willfully obscure.

[Caversham Green]

The BBC Proms show last night included a terrific performance of Greig's piano concerto - well worth finding on catch up.

[heretoday]

The Moonlight Sonata. Ye canny whack it.

[Mibbes Aye]

The BBC Proms show last night included a terrific performance of Greig's piano concerto - well worth finding on catch up.

I thought she was great and the overall programme was one of my favourites of this year's Proms. Really good balance with the Part and the Sibelius.

Interestingly, Martin Kettle in The Guardian lambasted her for being too theatrical. I'm not familiar with his commentary on the arts, only on politics. Was never impressed with him then and not impressed with him now.

[Mibbes Aye]

The Moonlight Sonata. Ye canny whack it.

It was one of the earliest pieces of classical music I heard as a child.

Would have to agree with your view - you canny indeed whack it.

Maybe taking this thread down a wrong turn and desecrating one or both of the artists but something like the Moonlight Sonata is what I imagine was the very early nineteenth-century equivalent of what Radiohead were in the 1990s - something different, musically and emotionally.

[Caversham Green]

I thought she was great and the overall programme was one of my favourites of this year's Proms. Really good balance with the Part and the Sibelius.

Interestingly, Martin Kettle in The Guardian lambasted her for being too theatrical. I'm not familiar with his commentary on the arts, only on politics. Was never impressed with him then and not impressed with him now.

That strikes me as a very strange criticism when it's such a dramatic piece of music anyway - must be hard to play without some theatrics. Eric Morecambe tried it and everybody laughed at him.

I missed the first Part of the concert (d'ye see what I did there?) but I did enjoy the Sibelius as well.

It's Brahms and Liszt Hungarian Dances next Friday - should be fun.

[Caversham Green]

Just heard Ashokan Farewell on Classic FM. They used to play it a lot, but I hadn't heard for a while.

The first time I heard I thought it must be Scottish but it was written relatively recently by an American whose name escapes me. It does have a distinctly Scottish feel to it and according to Wiki it was written in the style of a Scottish lament.

Lovely tune anyway.

[Mibbes Aye]

That strikes me as a very strange criticism when it's such a dramatic piece of music anyway - must be hard to play without some theatrics. Eric Morecambe tried it and everybody laughed at him.

I missed the first Part of the concert (d'ye see what I did there?) but I did enjoy the Sibelius as well.

It's Brahms and Liszt Hungarian Dances next Friday - should be fun.

The Brahms and Liszt was really good. Fine performance of Brahms First, notwithstanding the very heavy Beethowbven influence and that section where he practically replicates Ode to Joy.

The break in between when they talked about Roma culture was fascinating. Also enjoyed the way the conductor explained and highlighted the gypsy instruments and style of play in the first half.

[Caversham Green]

The Brahms and Liszt was really good. Fine performance of Brahms First, notwithstanding the very heavy Beethowbven influence and that section where he practically replicates Ode to Joy.

The break in between when they talked about Roma culture was fascinating. Also enjoyed the way the conductor explained and highlighted the gypsy instruments and style of play in the first half.

I've recorded it but haven't watched it yet so don't tell me how it ends...

[Mibbes Aye]

Posted a separate thread about transitions, bridges and resolutions in music, but thought this deserved a post in its own right on the classical thread.

I think my favourite is probably Sibelius and the way the third movement resolves into the refrain that permeates the fourth movement. It’s not complicated, it’s unashamedly populist but it is undoubtedly stirring.

Any others?

[Mibbes Aye]

I've recorded it but haven't watched it yet so don't tell me how it ends...

Miss Scarlet in the library with the dagger.

Sorry.

[Caversham Green]

Miss Scarlet in the library with the dagger.

Sorry.

Might as well delete it - no point in watching it now.

[Bangkok Hibby]

Gorecki symphony number three (symphony of sorrowful songs)
This has played worldwide to a film backdrop of scenes from concentration camps during the war. It's about parents being separated from children and separation due to war

It's a gut wrenchingly emotional and powerful piece

[heretoday]

I've got a book of Beethoven's letters. Turns out he had an agent in Edinburgh and several of the letters are addressed to him in York Place.
They mainly concern publication of some Scottish Songs - not his finest work it has to be said.

[Caversham Green]

Gorecki symphony number three (symphony of sorrowful songs)
This has played worldwide to a film backdrop of scenes from concentration camps during the war. It's about parents being separated from children and separation due to war

It's a gut wrenchingly emotional and powerful piece

For reasons I don't understand now I didn't really like this when I first heard it but I well up every time I listen to it now. It's worth looking up on YouTube if you're in a reflective mood.


I've got a book of Beethoven's letters. Turns out he had an agent in Edinburgh and several of the letters are addressed to him in York Place.
They mainly concern publication of some Scottish Songs - not his finest work it has to be said.

Yes, as much as I like Beethoven his Scottish songs don't do much for me. Mendelssohn did a better job with his Symphony No.3 and Hebrides Overture. On the subject of Mendelssohn, for anyone just getting into classical music try his violin concerto, particularly the first movement - very catchy on the first hearing.

[Caversham Green]

This one's had a few plays on Classic FM recently. It's a bit of a curate's egg for me, but since it includes a bit of Auld Lang Syne it seems appropriate for today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3BspjhWC_c

A peaceful and prosperous New Year to all.

[HibbyDave]

Va Pensiero from Nabucco.

Was tipped to be the Italian National Anthem at one time.

[Mibbes Aye]

This one's had a few plays on Classic FM recently. It's a bit of a curate's egg for me, but since it includes a bit of Auld Lang Syne it seems appropriate for today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3BspjhWC_c

A peaceful and prosperous New Year to all.

And likewise to you CG.


Va Pensiero from Nabucco.

Was tipped to be the Italian National Anthem at one time.

I'm very fond of this chorus. If I recall correctly, British Airways used it in their advert years ago.

Verdi's operas are rightly revered, though I'm not ashamed to be more populist and admit my leanings to Puccini.

For me, Verdi's Macbeth and Otello are probably underlooked, Macbeth especially. Don Carlos is also a mighty, mighty opera but one that can be difficult to engage with. I've probably not explained that well. You know you are hearing a masterpiece but sometimes it doesn't necessarily feel like it, then you get reminded that you are.

[HibbyDave]

Went to Puccini festival st Torre de Lago in the summer last year. Wonderful experience.

[Caversham Green]

Just a heads up - Mozart's Requiem is on the BBC4 Proms programme tomorrow night, along with Brahms's Tragic Overture and the Prelude and Liebestod from Wagner's Tristan and Isolde.

Not the cheeriest of music, but all great pieces IMO.

[Mibbes Aye]

Just a heads up - Mozart's Requiem is on the BBC4 Proms programme tomorrow night, along with Brahms's Tragic Overture and the Prelude and Liebestod from Wagner's Tristan and Isolde.

Not the cheeriest of music, but all great pieces IMO.

Good shout. I had totally forgotten about the Proms until they actually started. Prelude and Liebestod is magnificent, and quite possibly one of the best ways to explain ‘Wagnerian’ to someone who isn’t familiar with Dicky.

[Caversham Green]

In celebration of our latest signing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1wQ8ZMZq60&t=57s

Bonus points for anyone who can put words to it for a football song...

[heretoday]

Good shout. I had totally forgotten about the Proms until they actually started. Prelude and Liebestod is magnificent, and quite possibly one of the best ways to explain ‘Wagnerian’ to someone who isn’t familiar with Dicky.

Having the Proms the same time as Edinburgh Festivals is a problem! I always forget too.

[Mibbes Aye]

Having the Proms the same time as Edinburgh Festivals is a problem! I always forget too.

It definitely is! I struggle to book for the EIF as it is also school holidays, and invariably never even think about the Proms until they have started.

Maybe next year. Could actually be a nice combo with the cricket at Lord's or The Oval.

[Caversham Green]

Dug this thread up to let opera lovers know that Met Opera are streaming different performances every day through the lockdown - https://www.metopera.org/user-information/nightly-met-opera-streams/

It was Tosca last night and it was excellent. I would have posted this earlier, but I only found out about it myself recently.

[Mibbes Aye]

Dug this thread up to let opera lovers know that Met Opera are streaming different performances every day through the lockdown - https://www.metopera.org/user-information/nightly-met-opera-streams/

It was Tosca last night and it was excellent. I would have posted this earlier, but I only found out about it myself recently.

Nice one Cav :aok:

I had quite a lot of stuff saved on my Q Box, but it is starting to run dry, especially since Sky Arts cut one of their channels and prioritised ‘popular’ music. Before they did that I genuinely struggled to have enough space to record everything. Now it’s a case of there maybe being something once a fortnight.

[overdrive]

Dug this thread up to let opera lovers know that Met Opera are streaming different performances every day through the lockdown - https://www.metopera.org/user-information/nightly-met-opera-streams/

It was Tosca last night and it was excellent. I would have posted this earlier, but I only found out about it myself recently.

My girlfriend’s last day at Scottish Opera is today. I’ll miss the staff tickets to the opera. I loved it. Tosca was my first live opera.

[Mibbes Aye]

My girlfriend’s last day at Scottish Opera is today. I’ll miss the staff tickets to the opera. I loved it. Tosca was my first live opera.

Sorry for your news. I have seen productions by various opera companies and Scottish Opera have always stood up for me, in terms of the staging of their productions and the artists they use.

[Caversham Green]

My girlfriend’s last day at Scottish Opera is today. I’ll miss the staff tickets to the opera. I loved it. Tosca was my first live opera.

My first was La Traviata. I took my mother and sister as a joint birthday gift, not sure whether I was going to enjoy it. I came out totally converted and Mum and Sis were both in tears.

It's La Traviata tonight. Spoiler alert, not a happy ending.

[Mibbes Aye]

My first was La Traviata. I took my mother and sister as a joint birthday gift, not sure whether I was going to enjoy it. I came out totally converted and Mum and Sis were both in tears.

It's La Traviata tonight. Spoiler alert, not a happy ending.

:greengrin Let’s face it, not that many do.

My first was Madama Butterfly. It was a minimalist staging, so it was really all about the singing. I was familiar with opera from studying music at school but being at a live performance blew me away.

[Caversham Green]

:greengrin Let’s face it, not that many do.

My first was Madama Butterfly. It was a minimalist staging, so it was really all about the singing. I was familiar with opera from studying music at school but being at a live performance blew me away.

True, opera just doesn't work as well when they all live happily ever after.

The very start of La Traviata did it for me - the slightly melancholy overture followed by the curtain going up to a colourful party scene and Brindisi. A mate told me that last night's performance was a minimalist setting so I didn't tune in as I felt it wouldn't be the same - ok if it was live, but minimalist and onscreen just didn't really appeal. If anyone did watch it, was it any good?

[overdrive]

Sorry for your news. I have seen productions by various opera companies and Scottish Opera have always stood up for me, in terms of the staging of their productions and the artists they use.

I didn't mean that she had lost her job. She had got a new job based in Edinburgh as she was sick of the commute to Glasgow and was working her 3 months notice when Coronavirus happened. They seem like they are treating their staff as best they can. Her new job is also in the arts sector so it is all a bit worrying at the moment but the signs are that her new job is as safe as it could be at the moment.

[Mibbes Aye]

I didn't mean that she had lost her job. She had got a new job based in Edinburgh as she was sick of the commute to Glasgow and was working her 3 months notice when Coronavirus happened. They seem like they are treating their staff as best they can. Her new job is also in the arts sector so it is all a bit worrying at the moment but the signs are that her new job is as safe as it could be at the moment.

Aah, picked you up wrong, sorry. That sounds good, the arts sector is obviously suffering but will pick up if and when we start getting back to some sort of normality.

[Caversham Green]

Another heads up. A series about Beethoven to mark the 250th anniversary of his birth starts tomorrow at 9.00 pm on BBC4 - narrated by Peter Capaldi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsSI1V713jk

[Mibbes Aye]

Excellent. I have seen Capaldi narrate documentaries before, one about the Glasgow School of Art and one in the Royal Scottish Academy or the National Gallery , and I was actually there when he was filming.

He is a tremendous presenter.

[HibbyDave]

True, opera just doesn't work as well when they all live happily ever after.

The very start of La Traviata did it for me - the slightly melancholy overture followed by the curtain going up to a colourful party scene and Brindisi. A mate told me that last night's performance was a minimalist setting so I didn't tune in as I felt it wouldn't be the same - ok if it was live, but minimalist and onscreen just didn't really appeal. If anyone did watch it, was it any good?


Been to Verona with my wife a number of times for the outdoor opera. It’s a fantastic setting in the Arena de Verona.
Not expensive to attend and highly recommended .
They usually run a summer season with three main shows repeating so if you go for a couple of days you can catch two or three operas.
La Traviata was the first Opera I saw there. Amazing and made better when I discovered that what I thought was an ice cream seller at the interval had bottles of wine🍷

[Mibbes Aye]

Been to Verona with my wife a number of times for the outdoor opera. It’s a fantastic setting in the Arena de Verona.
Not expensive to attend and highly recommended .
They usually run a summer season with three main shows repeating so if you go for a couple of days you can catch two or three operas.
La Traviata was the first Opera I saw there. Amazing and made better when I discovered that what I thought was an ice cream seller at the interval had bottles of wine🍷

Cant recall if I posted this already but Mrs Mibbes and I went to Verona to see Aida. It was a warm, balmy night and it was simply spectacular. The kind of thing that even if you didn’t have any knowledge or taste for opera, you couldn’t fail to be blown away by. I would recommend it for anyone’s bucket list. It is almost impossible to describe the setting, it is simply magnificent but also weather-dependent :greengrin

It was a short break and we had a couple of days in Venice. But French air traffic control had a systems glitch and loads of flights got postponed if they were crossing over French airspace. We got three additional days in Venice, comped by the insurance. It sounds great but boringly, we just wanted to get home!

[Saturday Boy]

Cant recall if I posted this already but Mrs Mibbes and I went to Verona to see Aida. It was a warm, balmy night and it was simply spectacular. The kind of thing that even if you didn’t have any knowledge or taste for opera, you couldn’t fail to be blown away by. I would recommend it for anyone’s bucket list. It is almost impossible to describe the setting, it is simply magnificent but also weather-dependent :greengrin

It was a short break and we had a couple of days in Venice. But French air traffic control had a systems glitch and loads of flights got postponed if they were crossing over French airspace. We got three additional days in Venice, comped by the insurance. It sounds great but boringly, we just wanted to get home!

The arena in Verona is stunning. I was in Verona just before Christmas and Covid 19. I was amazed that a small choir was singing Turnbull’s Tornadoes just outside the arena.

At least that’s what it sounded like to me 😂

[wpj]

This house is full of music on BBC inspirational viewing

[Caversham Green]

Another heads up. A series about Beethoven to mark the 250th anniversary of his birth starts tomorrow at 9.00 pm on BBC4 - narrated by Peter Capaldi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsSI1V713jk

I've watched the first two instalments now, it really is very good. If you want an insight into how Beethoven came to be the composer he was and how he changed the face of music this is essential viewing. Final part tomorrow night.

[Mibbes Aye]

I've dug this thread back up, seeing as the Proms have got underway. Eight weeks of classical music concerts featuring the well-known, the less well-known, the rather obscure and a fair dose of the new.

All available on broadcast on BBC R3 and BBC Sounds with some making it onto BBC2 and BBC4.

As per usual, there are some worthwhile-looking attempts to bridge the perceived barriers between classical music and other forms. Earlier tonight we had the BBC Concert Orchestra adding a bit of heft to some Northern Soul sides - I didn't watch it, will get it on catch-up.

For those who like some classical music but are put off a bit by the stuffiness, the Horrible Histories lot have their own Prom next Saturday, which will be an entertaining and enjoyable listen I suspect. And for those who enjoyed the music of the likes of Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and some of the award-winning music in gaming there is a concert, again on TV, but also on the BBC Sounds app, at the end of August.

And just more generally, another 70-odd concerts with something for every taste. I will be tuning in or listening back to at least a dozen, starting with the Halle Orchestra playing Shostakovich's Fifth, a week on Wednesday.

Link below for the full concert listings:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/rrbp5v/by/date/2023

[Edina Street]

Does this pass as classical music? If so, then it is my all time favourite.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1fiOJDXA-E

[Mibbes Aye]

Does this pass as classical music? If so, then it is my all time favourite.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1fiOJDXA-E

I’m a firm believer that if you like it, it doesn’t matter what label gets attached to it. There’s a lot of unnecessary status and snobbery around music, not just classical either.

As far as that piece goes, I would say it is a bit of fusion. There is some orchestra and an operatic soprano alongside one of the biggest pop/rock voices of the two previous decades.

In some ways it almost borders on the musical - when I listened to it there, I started thinking about “I Know Him So Well’, another eighties power duo, which is from a musical!

[Caversham Green]

Good to see this thread resurrected.

Anyway, a few months back I went to a performance of The Enigma Variations, got goosebumps when the first notes of Nimrod kicked in then came back home and found this version on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwdeqVmXlHk

It made me wonder - is there a more powerful instrument than a well-trained human voice?

[Mibbes Aye]

Good to see this thread resurrected.

Anyway, a few months back I went to a performance of The Enigma Variations, got goosebumps when the first notes of Nimrod kicked in then came back home and found this version on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwdeqVmXlHk

It made me wonder - is there a more powerful instrument than a well-trained human voice?

I don't think there is.

Having said that, its a happy place to be where the runners-up are pretty awesome too.

At the risk of being hackneyed, I think many people would struggle not to be swept away by this, especially hearing it the first time, and especially once they know the back stories

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX1zicNRLmY

I also think a little bit of seasoning can complement the voice and raise the piece from the extraordinary to the ethereal. See here, lodging a soft, sparse trumpet and judicious organ as evidence for the prosecution

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vtHBGOz_Ns

Outside the voice, the piano would be the bookies' favourite if for nothing other than the range. But I would take strings using modal scales every day - Vaughan Williams' scoring for Five Variants still takes my breath away despite having listened it forty-eight million times.

I suppose the cello is the other instrument to consider - supposedly the closest in sonority with the human voice. The apotheosis being Rostrapovich performing Shostakovich (apologies to Du Pre and Elgar!)

[He's here!]

Been some cracking stuff at this year's Proms. Yuja Wang's Rachmaninov performance the highlight. Not classical, but the jazz night with NYO was also excellent.

[Donegal Hibby]

Always liked this .
https://youtu.be/GXFSK0ogeg4