Western Classical Music

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Glad you like it. I subscribe to the LSO channel on Youtube so get notifications whenever they have a release.
You are right in that watching the performance is so much more than just listening to it.

In the Rite of Spring performance while the music may seem chaotic, the LSO is so well organised in their execution. It really is a testament to the LSO that they release these videos for free on Youtube. Really does bring those like us into experiencing a top flight Symphony Orchestra in full flow. Live is always not a possibility for everyone and this is just brilliant.

Regards.


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I follow Alma Deutscher. She's now 13 and has completed and debuted her full-scale violin and piano concertos, besides her own full scale opera (named Cinderella). For starters, check out her piano concerto on YouTube.

 
Nikhil said:
Glad you like it.
In the Rite of Spring performance while the music may seem chaotic, the LSO is so well organised in their execution.
.
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I'm just nobody to comment on the merits of a great conductor, but I heard Mehta conducting 'Rite' and it sounded pale in comparison...it could be the recording. But coming back to the composition, any other versions of Rite that you people recommend?
 
This is one tune I really enjoy listening over and over again: Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a theme by Paganini, 18th variation, played by Mikhail Pletnev (piano), Claudio Abaddo conducting the Berlin Phil:

 
Another one that has enthralled me: counter tenor Philippe Jaroussky singing Lascio chi'o pianga from the opera Rinaldo by Handel:

 
Ossidian said:
Gustavo Dudamel: Dvorak Symphony No. 9 4th movement Allergo Con Fuoco

Click to expand...

This movement is as grand and as cinematic as it gets.

Other grand ones I can think of are Beethoven's 9th symphony last movement and Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance.

 
Fiftyfifty said:
I'm just nobody to comment on the merits of a great conductor, but I heard Mehta conducting 'Rite' and it sounded pale in comparison...it could be the recording. But coming back to the composition, any other versions of Rite that you people recommend?
Click to expand...

Valery Gergiev/Kirov on Philips. "At my command, unleash hell" kind of approach that serves the music beautifully. I also have many other versions (ok a bit compulsive about Stravinsky - Chailly, Dorati, Simonov for sure, but am sure some more lurking), but I listen to this most often.
 
Have been spinning and comparing a few performances of Beethoven Symphony #9 in anticipation of the upcoming concert of this symphony by Martin Brabbins with the Symphony Orchestra of India (9 and 10 Feb 2019, Bhabha Theatre, NCPA Mumbai). I think this could be the biggest concert for this season. Book your ticket in case you haven't.

The performance by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Riccardo Muti (1988) from Muti's Complete Beethoven Symphonies boxset recently bought from the Sony DADC sale somehow sounds like something is unresolved and trying to break free.

I like Fritz Reiner conducting the Chicago Symphony and Chorus (1962) - it's free-flowing and open-sounding.

Any idea what are the definitive, must-have performances of Beethoven's 9th and Dvorak's 9th symphonies?
 
According to Philips, the "longest known performance lasted 74 minutes [...] a mono recording made during the Bayreuther Festspiele in 1951 and conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler." 60 minutes wouldn't cut it, and so it became 74 minutes—12 centimeters.
 
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moktan said:
Interesting article on why (or rather how) highbrow classical music is associated with a lot of high quality evil in Western cinema (Hollywood to be precise).
theamericanscholar.org

The Sound of Evil - The American Scholar

How did classical music in movies and television become synonymous with villainy?
theamericanscholar.org
Click to expand...
Very interesting read @moktan. Perhaps this is so because of the immense atmospheric effect of classical music, not just as an accompaniment to evil, but also other mods and emotions. Psycho and Omen are two of my favorite 'evil' themes. 'Phantom of the Opera' too had very impactful music in a narrative where evil lurked all around. Strangely, I cannot think of situations where jazz has been used to accompany evil. The nearest thing was 'Play Misty for Me'. Paradoxically, quite a few directors have made use of 'happy' music to accompany violence.....Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction, among others.
Background score in Hollywood as well as Bollywood is, by itself, such an interesting and vast subject, perhaps deserving a separate thread.
Thanks for sharing!
 
Great share Moktan!

If you’re a character in a current police procedural or prime-time thriller, there are few more frightening, heart-stopping words than when a polite, clean-shaven man asks in a vaguely European accent, “Do you like Bach?"
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That line made me laugh! So true!


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Bach's French Suites have been playing on repeat. I especially like No. 5 in G major. In No. 5, I'm partial to Sarabande. Here's Andras Schiff playing all seven movements:

 
Another earworm afflicting me is the achingly beautiful second movement of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2:

 
I thought some western classical aficionados might miss it in the other thread so posting it here as well

Special doodle to celebrate Johann Sebastian Bach's birthday.
You can make your own music in the doddle :D
All musically inclined folks must try it.

www.indiatoday.in

Google Doodle celebrates Johann Sebastian Bach's birthday with first-ever AI tribute
Google Doodle celebrated the birth anniversary of renowned German composer and musician Johann Sebastian Bach with its first ever AI-powered doodle. With today's doodle, users can generate their own custom tunes and share them online.
www.indiatoday.in
www.indiatoday.in
 
Naturelover said:
I thought some western classical aficionados might miss it in the other thread so posting it here as well

Special doodle to celebrate Johann Sebastian Bach's birthday.
You can make your own music in the doddle :D
All musically inclined folks must try it.

www.indiatoday.in

Google Doodle celebrates Johann Sebastian Bach's birthday with first-ever AI tribute
Google Doodle celebrated the birth anniversary of renowned German composer and musician Johann Sebastian Bach with its first ever AI-powered doodle. With today's doodle, users can generate their own custom tunes and share them online.
www.indiatoday.in
www.indiatoday.in
Click to expand...
Seems like it hasn’t please everyone !!!
 
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