Classical Music - The Bear and Badger

dynamiteReady

igorgetmeabrain wrote:

What Prokofiev have you been listening to? Shostakovich and Stravinsky are two vaguely contemporaneous Russians who are also extremely worth listening to.

So... I went to the proms last year, as I'd always wanted to see a piano concerto (I love keyboard music generally). We saw Julia Wang perform Prokofiev's 3rd piano concerto with the Berlin philharmonic...

I'm not a classical buff at all (or even a music buff), but played it on Youtube before attending.

Amazing...

It's a movie in song.

The first and second movements are my favourites, so there's that. Then there's the 1st violin concerto...

Again... It's the cinematic quality. A much 'softer' story (if I can describe it that way) than the one described by the piano concerto referenced above... May be my favourite work at the moment, because there are some beautiful sounds in all three movements...

His second piano concerto too, is great to listen to, but extremely complicated, and I have trouble deciphering it (though when I say 'decipher', it's not like I'm breaking down this info for others to read... I'm just trying to frame how I feel about the music in a rambling post). Apparently, Prokofiev wrote it after losing a close friend, and you can hear the negative emotion in it... It's just that I can't contextualise the anger and despondency illustrated in that piece fully...

But in the other two works, I (think I) can...
It's a cool experience... I didn't know the genre can be like this.

When I've tried venture outside of those pieces though (even in Prokofiev's own catalogue, and he's written a lot of really famous stuff), I can't find anything that's similarly rousing to me... Mozart, Beethoven...

Same instruments and, despite the age of their works, perhaps more complicated, but I can't relate to the stories they're telling with their music...

Like I say, it's all new to me, but the songs above really did grab me, and with this place being a hive of knowledge, I thought I'd light the bat signal.

...

Very cute kid btw, igor. :]

igorgetmeabrain

You heard arguably the best orchestra in the world, well done! She is also a phenomenal pianist and the 3rd concerto is gorgeous. The second is all about the beast of a cadenza, one of Prokofiev's trademarks (along with stratospheric violins) and I urge you to check out his Sinfonia Concertante (cello and orchestra) with Rostropovich performing (for whom the work was written), cos that has a stunning cadenza too. Which leads to Shostakovich's 1st Cello Concerto (also written for Rostropovich). Shostakovich greatly admired the Sinfonia Concertante and pays homage with a beastly cadenza of his own (amongst other things).

If you like Prokofiev 3rd Piano Concerto why not try...? (Works which have a particularly dramatic/programmatic flair)

Prokofiev - Romeo and Juliet, Symphony no.5, Classical Symphony, Sinfonia Concertante
Shostakovich - String Quartet no.8, Symphony no.5, Symphony no.10, Cello Concerto no.1, Piano Concerto no.2
Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring, The Firebird
Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition
Rimsky-Korsakov - Sheherazade

or leaning towards the earlier full-blooded Russian Romanticism...

Tchaikovsky - Romeo and Juliet overture, Symphony no.6 (Check out batshit-crazy Currentzis recording)
Rachmaninoff - Symphony no.2, Piano Concertos nos.2 & 3

That's just a flavour of the Russians but obviously there's a mind-boggling array of other stuff in a similar vein from all corners of the earth...

Yes, she's about 12 months cuter by now though ;]

dynamiteReady

Wow! Dude!
Couldn't have received a better answer!

Really chuffed here! :]

Thank you.

hunk

Always had a soft spot for Satie and Reinbert. Great performance, especially for his age.

dynamiteReady

@igor - Slow going at the moment, but I've been going through that playlist.
Most amusing find so far has been in Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition...

The movement that starts here (23:45)?:

https://youtu.be/DXy50exHjes?t=1425

...

I tripped balls'!

igorgetmeabrain

Haha, don't know that one but a LOT of classical music is borrowed by other genres. The story of that 'picture' in the Mussorgsky is from Slavic folklore.

Baba Yaga

igorgetmeabrain

Hey dynamite, PM me a postal address so I can send something to you.

igorgetmeabrain

Ed_Flanders

I started ripping my classical music CDs today and googled the names of some conductors, only to be taken to this page:
https://wiki.musicbrainz.org/Budget_recordings_of_Alfred_Scholz
Turns out this guy was involved in most of my collection...

Birdorf

This has mede my day:

Birdorf

Yeah, it Mede my day.

g.man

dynamiteReady

igorgetmeabrain wrote:

Hey dynamite, PM me a postal address so I can send something to you.

Ah man... Just realised I'd completely missed your post!
The offer still there?

Well... Unless it's a ted' in a box, or something...

igorgetmeabrain

What's in the box, what's in the boooox? PM me an address and you'll find out.

dynamiteReady

Heh! Sure. :]

dynamiteReady

Just been catching up with this thread...

igorgetmeabrain wrote:

Yeah, some people certainly seem to enjoy it more than others. I couldn't imagine not playing the cello though. Every waking moment is planned around when I can get to play the cello that day and I wouldn't have it any other way.

That's amazing...

Probably one of the more genuinely positive posts I've read on here.
Focus and patience are elusive for sure...

Reminds of that F. Scott Fitzgerald quote about life being best viewed through a single window, which I very much believe in, but often find difficult to maintain for various reasons...

I try though.

I love to practice my art, even if others rarely see it, and/or rarely appreciate it. But there's a great deal of pleasure in practice itself... The dream though, I guess, is to have people enjoy what one does, as much as one enjoys doing it...

Gunn (God bless him), used to live and breath with that very attitude.

Anyway... I'm also tripping balls over Plornt... Would have never have Plornt it! :]

... And now back to the present, just sat through Sheherazade, and can possibly listen to the whole thing again in a less distracting environment, to see is there's anything that I missed the first time. But I think in Prokofiev, I've anchored on an outlier, and I'm finding it hard to find anything similar...

But at least I know there's a fair amount of stuff to get through in here.

dynamiteReady

I wanted to post the famous Evgeny Kissin performance, spliced with a visualisation of what he was doing. Couldn't find it, but this was also very cool...

Incredible.

igorgetmeabrain

That's a neat idea. No chance I'll ever be a proficient enough pianist to tackle Liszt. Evgeny Kissin is a machine... plays a 2hr piano recital of crazy virtuosity without missing a single note!

dynamiteReady

igorgetmeabrain wrote:

Rachmaninoff... Piano Concertos no... 2...

Just got round to this... Love the first movement. I've also taken to Beethoven's 7th symphony and Tchaikovsky's 1st piano concerto...

hunk wrote:

Always had a soft spot for Satie and Reinbert. Great performance, especially for his age.

And Satie... Satie has an interesting history too...

I think the key for me, and it's a little base, is how easy it is to concentrate on reading, writing, etc, while you've got a classical piece background. Yet it's just as enjoyable, if not more so, with conscious effort.

Many other forms demand so much of your cognitive attention... Classical feels like it gives you an option.

hylian_elf

I used to listen to nothing but classical when studying A-levels and revising for exams. No idea if it helped, but that’s not why I did it. I was just really into classical at the time. Still have a fair few CDs somewhere I think.

dynamiteReady

Super strange...

I'm an idiot for click, tbf.

Matt_82

The sound that comes off this harpsichord.

Vela

Yesterday I discovered the name Ludovico Einaudi with a piece called A Sense of Symmetry. That was nice. And found out it's from the seven album series.

This is also very beautiful too, if tragic.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2DLnhdnSUVs

Another group I discovered recently is the Grigoryan brothers. This track in particular is lovely

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

One of those tracks that made me stop what I was doing when I heard it on the radio until I found out the name and artist responsible.

Facewon

Nice. Posting largely to remind myself to check those out.

https://youtu.be/Ie2DKEh46zI

Virgil donati concerto for drums is actually very cool as well.

This isn't close to the best stuff on it, but it does give a little of the gist.

The strings, bass and drums combo solves the major issue I have with this sort of prog, the choice of keyboard and guitar sounds.

https://youtu.be/oExRGC-jikk

Also digging this again, zappa proper orchestral stuff with London symphony.

More traditionally, newish Debussy collection played by seong-gin cho has some first class versions.

Reckon I'll dabble in some more classical today.

Vela

There's a gateway through guitar, certainly. Some of the G3 or G4 like Petrucci or Satriani primed my ears to someone like the Grigoryan brothers in the first place. I haven't had a similar experience with drummers but for sure I think Donati is someone who could.

What I've found is that a fe contemporary Australian artists are really really good. Kats-Chernin is definitely very prolific and I do like her Blue Silence album in particular.

The confusion I get though is sometimes you hear a piece and a composer's name, but not the performing act or orchestra which is when you start to realise how different some interpretations can be.

Facewon

Yep, re versions.

Tidal, thank God, has some curation. Listened to some lovely versions of famous stuff today.

Added that composer you mentioned. Will listen tomorrow.

Facewon

This is the most beautiful thing I've listened to in a long time. Stunning.

Facewon

Follow up to say the above is still amazing.

This is more modern, but also lovely. Very much background music, but enough going on that you can actively listen.

This is complete mood/sleep stuff. 20 minute tunes. All piano.

dynamiteReady

Been playing Scala Radio quite a bit when working from home over the past year.
It's entertaining in the way they'll mix traditional classic works, with random contemporary stuff, like videogame and film soundtrack arrangements.

Recommended if you've not tried it before, and need a change from Kiss/Magic/Virgin/Capital.

davyK

Some nice pointers there. Cheers lads.

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