Classical Music
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Later this year, I finally get my first opportunity to perform the last great work of the late Romantic period.
Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night)
Based on Richard Dehmel's poem:
Two people are walking through a bare, cold wood;
the moon keeps pace with them and draws their gaze.
The moon moves along above tall oak trees,
there is no wisp of cloud to obscure the radiance
to which the black, jagged tips reach up.
A woman’s voice speaks:
 Â
“I am carrying a child, and not by you.
I am walking here with you in a state of sin.
I have offended grievously against myself.
I despaired of happiness,
and yet I still felt a grievous longing
for life’s fullness, for a mother’s joys
and duties; and so I sinned,
and so I yielded, shuddering, my sex
to the embrace of a stranger,
and even thought myself blessed.
Now life has taken its revenge,
and I have met you, met you.â€
She walks on, stumbling.
She looks up; the moon keeps pace.
Her dark gaze drowns in light.
A man’s voice speaks:
 Â
“Do not let the child you have conceived
be a burden on your soul.
Look, how brightly the universe shines!
Splendour falls on everything around,
you are voyaging with me on a cold sea,
but there is the glow of an inner warmth
from you in me, from me in you.
That warmth will transfigure the stranger’s child,
and you bear it me, begot by me.
You have transfused me with splendour,
you have made a child of me.â€
He puts an arm about her strong hips.
Their breath embraces in the air.
Two people walk on through the high, bright night. -
Thoroughly enjoying Howard Goodall's music thing on BBC2. -
One of my favourite cellists in one of the finest performances of one of the greatest cello concertos. Â On a miserable Friday afternoon it's remarkably uplifting...
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Four minutes of ridiculously talented French brothers showing off shamelessly. Brilliant. They'd just finished playing a pretty sublime rendition of the Brahms Double too.
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There was an interesting doc about a Russian cellist on BBC3 or 4 who fell out with the establishment....seems to have been quite a big noise in classical music - Rostropovich he was called.Holding the wrong end of the stick since 2009. -
Yeah, it's a good doc that - saw it a couple of years ago when it was first on BBC Four. Rostropovich is undoubtedly one of the greatest musicians the world has ever seen.
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God, I love Gould. I'm going through one of my phases where I obsessively listen to him and little else ...
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He was good in M*A*S*H.Come with g if you want to live... -
Alan Alda plays the piano?
who knew?
g.manCome with g if you want to live... -
Someone gave me this yesterday:
Could be a hoot. -
Barsanti's new to me, though it's not really my period of interest.
Gould is amazing, though how he could play the piano at all with such appalling posture is beyond the ken of anybody I know. He was a strange but wonderful man. Wait 'til the Vivace kicks in...
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Plops, that's some cellage. Is that the solo sonata on this disc (Op.
?
Edit: imagine that's an 8 and a closed bracket, rather than a smiley. -
I'm probably wrong in this case but I think CTRL+BACKSPACE sometimes avoids inadvertent smilies?
Yes, it's the op.8 and Starker is widely considered to be definitive, though this Truls Mork effort happens to be my favourite recording. The Paganini transcription on the Starker disc should be fun too though.
The Kodaly's a fearsome work and is currently still a bit beyond my meagre capabilities, despite my best efforts. I like playing it though cos I get to tune my two bottom strings down a semitone, which lends a gloriously dark, sonorous, brooding quality to the instrument. -
Last Friday's documentary on Colin Davis (on iPlayer until this Friday) was v. good, both as an insight into the role of a conductor and as a portrait of someone near the end of their life. You can place your cursors on this link and click, if you wish.
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I've been listening to Robert Winston's The Science of Music on Radio 4, which has proved interesting.
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I know it's scrub-tier but I was re listening to The Planets last night and it remains tremendous. I think "Saturn" and "Neptune" are my faves after all.
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Still one of my favourite works that, though Jupiter stands out for me. Stokowski's legendary recording with the LA Phil is one of the few things that can bring about any stirrings of nationalistic fervour in me.
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There's a tune for everyone in that suite.
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As part of a project - entitled Homage - which involved him playing 12 of the finest violins in the world here's yet another blistering performance from James Ehnes.
...and here's a teaser for the CD
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The Proms opens tonight with a programme which includes Britten's haunting Sea Interludes and Vaughan Williams' Sea Symphony. The brilliant British-Australian pianist, Stephen Hough, also performs Rachmaninov's famous Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini and the dazzling Variations on a Theme by Paganini by Lutoslawski, both works which offer their own unique take on Paganini's most famous work, his Caprice no.24 for solo violin.
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The Florence Foster Jenkins of the piano?
...and a timeless rendition of Queen of the Night from the lady herself
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English National Ballet present Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet in the round at the Albert Hall with Carlos Acosta and Tamara Rojo. It doesn't really get any better than this and will likely be the best £150 I've spent in the last few years.
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The Life of an Orchestral Musician in the UK...
Still, sitting in the middle of the sun can be pretty exciting on those rare occasions when we get to do something interesting for a change. -
Show networks- @M0stlyharm13ss
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Send messageI'll be booking Romeo and Juliet as well
Thanks for the story as well Igor. Rather sad though I found.
Anyhow, can you recommend some good classical listening for the summer/lounging around in the sun please? -
igorgetmeabrain wrote:English National Ballet present Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet in the round at the Albert Hall with Carlos Acosta and Tamara Rojo. It doesn't really get any better than this and will likely be the best £150 I've spent in the last few years.
£150? How's that, the Grand Tier tix are £70 a pop? -
@mostly - You'd better hurry, as the good seats are disappearing fast. It'll be a knock-out regardless but if you want to see Acosta & Rojo in the lead roles, be aware they're only appearing in select performances, as indicated on-site.
Tricky question! There so much to choose from it's like saying, 'I fancy going on holiday, where do you recommend?'
A piece which always conjures up a lazy summer afternoon for me is Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, in which a faun lies in the forest dreaming of young nymphs, whilst he sleeps off his Dionysian excesses. Debussy/Ravel/Satie piano music is also pretty good lazy summer chill-out music. Also in the French (choral) vein, Faure's Requiem, Cantique de Jean Racine or Pavane are all good.
Of course, that might not be what you're looking for at all, so I could do a 'if you like this then you might like this...' thing if you give me some pointers.
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