Classical Favs ??

[SEAWOLF97]

A respected forum member, Lets call him K3@~4y (name disguised to protect the innocent) asked in a PM "You got any classical stuff, I am totally ignorant with that genre, the one with the live canons seems pretty popular with the forum".

Rather than reply in that little PM window, I thot it mite be the basis for a music thread. Since I don't know the real definition of Classical, will just list my recommendations. (maybe prior to 1940 ??)


1. maybe best ever : Vivaldi's "4 Seasons"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fou..._%28Vivaldi%29
2. most any Beethoven , but esp "Ode to Joy"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_van_Beethoven
3. any real flamenco , esp Segovia & Monoya
4. Falla "3 cornered hat ...Rodrigo "Aranjarez" (incredible)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concierto_de_Aranjuez
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_de_Falla
5. Gershwin "Rhapsody in Blue"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhapsody_in_Blue

you guys have any to add ? ( I may have missed a few )

[Krunchy]

Hello Mr. Seawolf, & thank you for starting this thead, like K3@~4y I have been curious of the Classical Music genre and like K3@~4y I am entirely ignorant of it . The genre seems so vast which is probably because it is, but added on top of that the fact that there are many different versions of the same work by different conductors and things quickly get out of hand for me.

Thank you for the first five recommendations, I look forward to hearing them, but, before I look into them are there particular "definitive" versions/recordings of the aforementioned pieces (if anybody can shed some light on this aspect it would be greatly appreciated). Aslo, I find it very interesting that Mr. George Gershwin appears in your list as he also appears in Ducatista47's fine thread The Blues. I definitely plan on looking into him and his brother as well.

This seems to be a good version of Rhapsody in BLue....

http://www.amazon.com/Gershwin-Rhaps...9301613&sr=8-8

JBL's and Classical, seems like a great combination!
(good music knows no bounds)

[Hoerninger]

Krunchy,
these pieces of music are often played - classical classics:

Mozart: Eine kleine Nachtmusik
Liszt: Les Prelude
Dvorák: New World
Stravinsky: Firebird
Tchaikowsky: Capriccio Italien
Tchaikowsky: Marche Slave
Mussorgsky: Night on a bald mountain
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition
Ravel: Bolero
Ravel: Daphnis et Cloé
Various: The Best of Classics for Kids [BOX SET] (Amazon)

Living Stereo (RCA Red Seal) by BMG offers a lot of famous concerts/recordings as hybrid SACD.

All this is like a small star in the whole universe.
____________
Peter

[SEAWOLF97]

The genre seems so vast which is probably because it is, but added on top of that the fact that there are many different versions of the same work by different conductors and things quickly get out of hand for me.

Hey Krunchy ( and K3@~4y too ) , I had always wondered this same question.

The bottomline answer is : comes down to personal preference, but, that said, I have gone thru about 10 versions of "4 Seasons" and much pefer ANNE SOPHIE MUTTER's . She really puts a lot of soul into it.

Concerto de Aranjurez ?? As long as they stay faithfull to the score, as most do, I dont think there is a standout. It is the epitome of classical Spanish music and one of the greatest ever written. Very moving/highly recommended.
(from Wiki)
The Adagio is likely the most famous, and most recognizable part of the piece, and used in numerous movies, television shows, and commercials. Consequently many people will have heard Concierto de Aranjuez without knowing its title or composer. Many listeners and musicians assume that the piece is much older than it is, which became a problem for Rodrigo, since performers frequently failed to pay him royalties because they assumed the piece was out of copyright (as happened with the Davis/Evans Sketches of Spain version, for instance)
Until asked to perform and interpret Concierto de Aranjuez in 1991, the Spanish flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucia was not proficient at reading musical notation. De Lucía claimed in Paco de Lucia-Light and Shade: A Portrait, that he gave greater emphasis to rhythmical accuracy in his interpretation of the Concierto at the expense of the perfect tone preferred by classical guitarists. Joaquín Rodrigo later declared that no one had ever played his composition in such a brilliant manner

Rhapsody in Blue..I've also auditioned many versions. Of them all, I prefer the Phlidelphia Philharmonic's. Everyone seems to have a little different style and tempo on this one. The last 1:48 of this ALWAYS brings up full body goosebumps ( the pavlov's wolf syndrome ?? ) I consider this the best American piece ever written.

[Ducatista47]

Krunchy, is this the performance on the Bernstein album? I watch this sometimes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRboVy5p-KQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOcuvv01nO4

Here is a Classical CD I love. The lead piece is a recent rediscovery (1961) of Joseph Haydn, the Cello Concerto in C. Nimbus Records NIM 5035, Haydn and Boccherini Cello Concertos, English String Orchestra, William Boughton conductor, Alexander Michejew cello.

The English String Orchestra is a great outfit, the perfect authentic size for Classical or Baroque, not Romantic era music. Today's huge symphony orchestras are not right for Classical or Baroque, way too large. They are a product of the bloated (in my warped opinion) Romantic Era. The ESO of Boughton has evolved into this: http://www.eso.co.uk/index.php


Baroque was Bach, Purcell, Handel, etc. Classical was Haydn, Mozart and their peers; Beethoven was the transitional figure into the Romantic. Romantic would be Schumann, Chopin, Schubert, Liszt, etc., and into the Russians like Tchaikovsky. This was followed by newer styles, beloved by me but very underrepresented in performances today, Gershwin being the exception to that. Stravinsky too, I suspect. Lump these styles under Modern, I guess. Funny to call it that, as the most advanced of them, Schoenberg, was writing great stuff before 1912. I could listen to Glenn Gould recordings of the solo piano works of Arnold Schoenberg all day long. The only time I ever heard one in the media it was being played behind a Bette Middler routine on Saturday Night Live, as a joke. The post Romantic era was called 20th Century by many, but that doesn't work anymore!

At any rate, all of these eras and styles are referred to as classical music, implying the continuum of the European tradition, and I am fine with that. Haydn was actually a Classical composer with the capital C. I think he wrote hundreds of major compositions.

The cadenza in the first movement of the Concerto in C is my favorite. A cadenza is a section where the orchestra lays out, to use the Jazz term, and the soloist - solos! In free time no less. Back in the day these were improvised, but soon became written out passages. In either case the purpose was to let the soloist, in this case the cellist, show what he could do. What an outstanding idea, and this one written by Maurice Gendron is a honey and is brilliantly performed. Breathtaking, if you like this kind of music. Ever since the demise of the unwritten cadenza, these so-called classical music pieces and performances have lost something vital and precious - improvisation. Interpretation is all that is available to today's performers. Of course scoring for larger than originally intended ensembles is creative too, but you already know how I feel about that practice. To me it is like "Muddy Waters - The Broadway Musical!"

The bad news? This puppy appears to be out of print. If you can find it, like all Nimbus recordings it is excellent quality.

Clark in Peoria

PS If this all seems impossibly confusing, this Wikipedia article on the concerto and its evolution through these eras will point out the bullet points of the different periods. Not to mention hyperlinks for all the terms used. A great Cliff's Notes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concerto

Haydn was a most important figure in the history and development of music. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Haydn

[Steve0616]

Some more recommendations for intro to classical:

Beethoven:
Symphonies: 5, 6, 7, & 9

Dvorak:
Symphony 8

Rimsky-Korsakov:
Sheherazade

R. Strauss:
Eine Alpensinfonie

Smetana:
Bartered Bride, Die Moldau

Wagner:
Ring of the Niberlung
Die Meistersinger

Orff:
Carmina Burana

Mahler:
Symphony 1 & 2

Mozart: the Amadeus soundtrack for a good sampling.

Hope you enjoy classical.

[Krunchy]

Thank you all very much for sharing some of your favorite pieces and for taking the time to enlighten the classically ingnorant . This is like a entering an entirely new candy store for the first time, where to begin, perhaps a visit to that most wonderful of establishments....the Library! I'll make a list and see what I can turn up.

What a great time to be a music lover, thanks guys

[Krunchy]

Krunchy, is this the performance on the Bernstein album? I watch this sometimes.

Hi Clark, I think it might very well be the performance from the album. Thank you for the links (all of them, you too Seawolf!)
This is like a really fun history lesson.....about music

[whizzer]

Anything written by Edgard Varese. Most of the stuff he wrote during his prime years as a composer could not be performed for lack of instruments that could do what he wanted done, but of those works that could be performed by symphony orchestras, check out "Ionisations," which is available together with several other compositions on cd via Amazon and elsewhere. It will give your JBLs a good workout.

Other modern "classical" composers worth hearing include (but are very far from lmited to):
Karlheinz Stockhausen, John Cage, Arnold Schonberg, Andrew Rudin, Max Newhaus, Ruth White, and, perhaps less sonically spectacular, but still my all-time favorite, Eric Satie.

[Steve K]

There are so many I can recommend, but for starters here are 3 of my favorites:

1) Arthur Rubinstein / The Chopin Collection (box set) / BMG Classics
The definitive Chopin collection.

2) Mikhail Pletnev / Sonatas & Rondos / Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach / Deutsche Grammophon
Crystalline piano sound, transition from Baroque to Early Classical.

3) Gustavo Dudamel conducting the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra / Symphonies 5 & 7 / Beethoven / Deutsche Grammophon
The youngest director of the L.A. Symphony, expressing an youthful
and energetic Symphony No. 7, a little on the rough side but still
charismatic.

Steve K

[richluvsound]

Till fellner Plays Bach "Das Wohltemperietre Klavier - ECM

Vivaldi " Six flute concertos op. 10" - Proarte

The Tallis Scholars " 25th anniversary" - Gimmell

Verdi "Requiem & Operatic Choruses" - Telarc

Beethoven (Jacqueline du Pre ) "Cello Sonatas & Variations" EMI Classics

Rich

[SEAWOLF97]

Krunchy -

looks like we've gathered some good recommends for you to start with and that was the point of this thread. Nice to see that JBL'ers listen to more than rock ..

As you can tell by my posts, I really enjoy spanish guitar (isnt that the motherland for guitar ? ), and was amiss by not suggesting "Malagueña"

a somehat poor Feliciano version here --->>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFvqmIi9Ymc

Esteban's new not bad version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPAca1MHC10

Kaori Muraji - Rodrigo - Concierto de Aranjuez, Adagio
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2CWL-3YA_s
(cute girl - dubbed the "nymph of the guitar")

second ppart is more famous
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvV-w...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGT83...eature=related



wiki --->>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malague%C3%B1a_(song)

[Krunchy]

I believe you are right Mr. Seawolf,
and thanks again for starting this thread and I am sure K3@~4y is quite grateful as well
And thank you guys for all the new recommendations. We are all lucky to have a JBL addiction and this music can but only sound incredible when played on our favorite speakers. I will always love Rock but Im all for expanding muscial horizons and this list certainly goes a long way in that direction. I am sure some of the other forum members will also be curious about the suggestions that have been put forth and will look further into them as I myself plan on doing. The members of this forum have very discerning & incredibly varied musical tastes and that is such a great asset that must be taken full advantage of (I mean that in the most complimentary & positive of ways), as we all benefit from such a wealth of musical knowledge.

Seawolf-The spanish guitar is something I am not too familiar with (though I've heard a bit of Feliciano) one so rarely hears it even when listening to the radio. I too am under the impression that it is a spanish instrument but wouldnt be surprised if it originated in the middle east somewhere? Turkey, Syria or upstate NY?
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Whizzer, Thanks for that list, I know I've heard of some of those names in the past. I am familiar with Satie as I have a 2 disc set performed by Ciccolini which is very nice.

Steve K, I saw a segment on CBS about Gustavo Dudamel and that man has some real passion, his enthusiasm is very infectious. He's been at if for a bit now but he's still so young, hope he's around for a long time as I magine great things are to be expected from that young man.

Rich, in my book you're batting a thousand with your recommendations, look forward to checking out some of your suggestions.

[SEAWOLF97]

and cant forget - N Riddle "R66" ....get your kix...

[Krunchy]

Picked up the "Arthur Rubinstein / The Chopin Collection (box set) / BMG Classics The definitive Chopin collection" and have been enjoying it tremendously. In case any one else is considering this, amazon has this 11 disc set for $23. cant beat that!

Thank you!


(disclaimer: number of smileys are not representative of any rating system or doctrine)