Music reviews-Why I love the music I love
- Thread starter Del monaco
- Start date
Big Tabs
looking backwards, going forwards
I am lucky enough to not know what prejudice you are referring to.
I do enjoy all of those composers.
Turntablism gets Prokofiev’ed, still getting used to this…
The Heritage Orchestra Feat. DJ Yoda – G. Prokofiev Concerto For Turntables & Orchestra
Label:
Nonclassical – NONCLSS005
Format:
CD, Album
Country:
UK
Released:
Oct 2009
Genre:
Electronic, Hip Hop, Classical
Style:
Modern Classical, Modern, Cut-up/DJ, Experimental, Contemporary
and another spanner in the works, but I love it.
inspired by Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C Minor…
Del monaco
Del Monaco
Previn in the 2nd- timeless- and Byron Janis or Argerich in the piano concerto. For a double whammy, Vengerov in the Prokofiev and Shostakovich Violin Concertos.Rostropovich conducting.Sublime.
Marchbanks
Hat and Beard member
Classical has never hit the spot for me with the exception of Beethoven’s late string quartets (don’t know why they have an effect) and his 7th Symphony, which is clearly a piece of rock music to my ears.
Del monaco
Del Monaco
It kind of creeps up on you. Late quartets are magnificent. The 7th with Kleiber conducting is electric. But venture into Tchaikovsky’s 6th with Mravinsky and your hitting the heights. Then Mahler’s titanic 6th with Bernstein or Barbirolli and the 9th with Karajan. For bleak agony there’s the Sibelius 7th with Karajan and the poignancy of Parts Fractres or Cantus are something else.For me, classical is the most complex and expressive of all music.
Del monaco
Del Monaco
Just going to work through some John Coltrane. Let’s see if it hits the spot!
TheDecameron
Unicorns fart glitter.
My father loved Italian opera, his parents had a gramophone and many 78s. Pucinni, Mascagni etc but he was forced to listen on the radio in the kitchen because the rest of us were watching the telly or my older brothers would be playing Hawkwind, Black Sabbath or the Incredible String Band on the mono record player (later Pye Black Box, Sanyo music centre).
I had a Damascene conversion which I’ve described before, via the Brandenburg concertos while completely stoned as a 21 yr old student on a flatmate’s B&O TT, Leak speakers. Never looked back, Classical music is my major interest in life- Wagner, Mahler, Richard Strauss, Stravinsky, Bach, Beethoven, Bruckner, Brahms ( why so many names beginning with B?
). Voices- I’ve always admired Domingo but never loved him- Pavarotti moved me far more, flaws and all. Some singers performing live will bring tears to my eyes just at the shear beauty- Jessye Norman singing Ariadne at Covent Garden in the 80s and in August this year, Renee Fleming singing Handel’s ‘Dank sei Dir, Herr’ even when her pitch was insecure. I don’t know how singers do it- she sang in three different languages and given her age now, you could see the sheer technique used to pull it off as her voice has aged.
Del monaco
Del Monaco
Very similar to me. I’m the same for Domingo.He sings Otello as an aristocrat. Give me Vickers or Domingo any day of the week and Serafin, De Sabata or Toscanini to light the way. Pavarotti has those very individual accents. He is greater than often perceived, as is Tebaldi. Her flaw was Callas. Varady and Ferrier are more my cup of tea.Something more human, sincere and communicative in their voices for me. I also love Scotto and Tebaldi. Von Otter leaves me cold. I saw her in Das Lied in Glasgow. Gergiev conducting and the brilliant Ben Heppner stealing the show. It was a clash of styles.
What would I take with me if I could? Hard to say really.Maybe something for another thread!
What would I take with me if I could? Hard to say really.Maybe something for another thread!
windhoek
The Phoolosopher
Das Lied in Glasgow? I went to see the RSNO perform Das Lied in Glasgow last year in March, just before things went pear shaped, and it was a great night. As for recordings, my favourite Das Lied is this one by Kubelik with Janet Baker and Waldemar Kmentt on vocals. It's a live recording and somehow a tremendous sense of intimacy permeates the recording from start to finish. Sure, Kmentt ain't no Wunderlich, but who is!
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Del monaco
Del Monaco
Nice recording. I have favourites but the one I return to most is the Bernstein with Fischer Dieskau and James King. There is something very authentic and elemental with this white hot performance. A great companion piece to the 6th from this era. The Glasgow performance I saw was strangely inert. Von Otter looked uncomfortable from the start and Gergiev appeared disinterested though he isn’t an obvious Mahlerian. Only Heppner turned up, thank goodness.Das Lied in Glasgow? I went to see the RSNO perform Das Lied in Glasgow last year in March, just before things went pear shaped, and it was a great night. As for recordings, my favourite Das Lied is this one by Kubelik with Janet Baker and Waldemar Kmentt on vocals. It's a live recording and somehow a tremendous sense of intimacy permeates the recording from start to finish. Sure, Kmentt ain't no Wunderlich, but who is!
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
John Phillips
pfm Member
There was a Dansette-type record player at home that nobody was using - except me from about the age of about 13. Why I started I don’t know but I discovered The Who and David Bowie (my first two purchases), and then others.
Electronics was my main hobby but not yet HiFi. I became an undergraduate reading electronics and solid-state physics, but it was clear I ought to cultivate an arts hobby there to avoid being too narrow. There was a concert hall on campus. I made friends with a HiFi enthusiast (electronics dept.), a music enthusiast with an electronics hobby (civil engineering) and a couple of folks from the music department. We started going to classical music concerts on campus and in the local town, and to live music gigs at smaller venues. As well as reading technical monthlies like Wireless World, I started reading HiFi News and Record Review which had extensive reviews of classical music from which to learn. This period, I am sure, coloured my main musical taste.
I was given a first HiFi system by my parents on graduating. When I started work, a lot of the engineers at my research lab also had arts hobbies including music (as instrument players and HiFi). At Promenade Concerts featuring Mahler it was almost inevitable I would bump into one or two who were notable Mahler enthusiasts (which I am too). And for me it has all grown from there.
I do mainly listen to classical music. But I will listen to almost anything (although that doesn’t guarantee I will appreciate it). I often seek challenges anywhere from Hildegard of Bingen and the Notre Dame school to Stockhausen and Ligeti. Favourites are too numerous to mention (well, apart from Bach, of course). I took to Wagner from such a challenge over one Christmas break, but I still haven’t “got” Bruckner (maybe I will make another try soon). There are always challenges available from which to learn if you accept them.
Electronics was my main hobby but not yet HiFi. I became an undergraduate reading electronics and solid-state physics, but it was clear I ought to cultivate an arts hobby there to avoid being too narrow. There was a concert hall on campus. I made friends with a HiFi enthusiast (electronics dept.), a music enthusiast with an electronics hobby (civil engineering) and a couple of folks from the music department. We started going to classical music concerts on campus and in the local town, and to live music gigs at smaller venues. As well as reading technical monthlies like Wireless World, I started reading HiFi News and Record Review which had extensive reviews of classical music from which to learn. This period, I am sure, coloured my main musical taste.
I was given a first HiFi system by my parents on graduating. When I started work, a lot of the engineers at my research lab also had arts hobbies including music (as instrument players and HiFi). At Promenade Concerts featuring Mahler it was almost inevitable I would bump into one or two who were notable Mahler enthusiasts (which I am too). And for me it has all grown from there.
I do mainly listen to classical music. But I will listen to almost anything (although that doesn’t guarantee I will appreciate it). I often seek challenges anywhere from Hildegard of Bingen and the Notre Dame school to Stockhausen and Ligeti. Favourites are too numerous to mention (well, apart from Bach, of course). I took to Wagner from such a challenge over one Christmas break, but I still haven’t “got” Bruckner (maybe I will make another try soon). There are always challenges available from which to learn if you accept them.
Del monaco
Del Monaco
What an interesting entry. I can see why your posts are so analytical now. I broke through into Bruckner some time ago. I think I started with Jochum’s much admired set but then traversed through Haitink, Wand and Tintner. I think Bruckner’s works have a spiritual austerity and majesty that compels. I have a great fondness for the Eighth, prizing Giulini’s Vienna performance(?) over all. Deliberate in pace but filled with ‘burnished incandescence’, as one reviewer put it and I couldn’t agree more. I saw Abbado attack the 9th a few years ago and it lit up in his capable hands.
TheDecameron
Unicorns fart glitter.
Bruckner’s “unstoppable ticking clock of death”
Del monaco
Del Monaco
I remember when Karajan went out of favour. He’s always been in for me and there are some wonderful things left in his wake. Walkure, Tosca, Sibelius, Bruckner…the list is endless. One of the all time greats!
cobbers
pfm Member
It was really Beggars Banquet that started me but nothing really interested until one night on John Peel I heard Beefheart's 'Decals' - from then I was gripped.
Bands like King Crimson,Groundhogs,John Mayall,Alex Harvey,Little Feat,Santana,Family etc.
Somehow things became a little stale in the mid 70's (including Beefheart with the 'tragic' albums) and I started remembering music in films and on TV that had hooked me ,so my first discoveries in 'classical' were Ligeti (2001) and Bartok (Ascent of man).
Was fortunate in living in Birmingham there was a record library so took every opportunity to expand my horizons where composers like Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Schnittke, Varese, Tippett, Lutoslawski etc became of interest and still are to this day along with many more since ,also getting good FM reception was able to listen to R3.
By happy coincidence it was around the time Simon Rattle came on the scene with the C.B.S.O. and expanded it's repertoire to include many of the above composers and set up the B.C.M.G. so took the opportunity to listen to live works whenever I could - particularly remembering performances of Bartok's Piano Concerto 2 and Shostakovich Symphony 14 which both hit me hard.
Bands like King Crimson,Groundhogs,John Mayall,Alex Harvey,Little Feat,Santana,Family etc.
Somehow things became a little stale in the mid 70's (including Beefheart with the 'tragic' albums) and I started remembering music in films and on TV that had hooked me ,so my first discoveries in 'classical' were Ligeti (2001) and Bartok (Ascent of man).
Was fortunate in living in Birmingham there was a record library so took every opportunity to expand my horizons where composers like Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Schnittke, Varese, Tippett, Lutoslawski etc became of interest and still are to this day along with many more since ,also getting good FM reception was able to listen to R3.
By happy coincidence it was around the time Simon Rattle came on the scene with the C.B.S.O. and expanded it's repertoire to include many of the above composers and set up the B.C.M.G. so took the opportunity to listen to live works whenever I could - particularly remembering performances of Bartok's Piano Concerto 2 and Shostakovich Symphony 14 which both hit me hard.
Del monaco
Del Monaco
Must’ve been nice to visit Rattle in the early days. My daughter baby sat for his small children once when she worked in the hotel trade.David he was a very decent chap.
Del monaco
Del Monaco
OK. So, sat in the rather pleasant sunshine. Noise cancelling engaged.John Coltrane. A love Supreme. Time to get engaged with jazz!
Del monaco
Del Monaco
Lovely playing but I keep getting distracted by those drums and percussion. Is that right?