Classical Music

My college radio's classical department back in the day was nominally divided between advanced avant gardists and conservatives who would cordially say 'I hated the music you played today' (it was all cordial) but in actual reality, the 'conservatives' would play new stuff and the advanced avant gardists were all composition majors who also liked Bach and that stuff.

Interesting. I mostly hear Glass's vocal work. You might be interested in Fearful Symmetries by John Coolidge Adams if you want to get into him - long, but saxophony. I had been going to get the score for Firebird too, but couldn't remember which version I had on recording.

edited 19th Sep '12 10:34:31 AM by Hatshepsut

I'll drop this here. Thoughts?

The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground

Absolutely. The finale is pure, distilled joy.

Panhandling sign glued to hands. Need $5 for solvent.

Doubleplusgood. I don't really know much about pre-Baroque music or anything, when when I worked on Saturdays, there was a Renaissance music show I'd listen to on the way to work. Then I changed my schedule and no longer hear it by default. Maybe I should learn to play the lute but I am already making no progress on learning the didgeridoo.

I got my scores today and tried to read through Petrushka while listening to my cd of it, but got lost towards the beginning, caught up, and got lost again towards when Petrushka and the moor fight, and probably ought to do more than a cursory review of the score before reading and listening again.

Apropos Baroque music... I am the only one who thinks that Purcell is awesome?

The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground

Purcell is the most awesome famous-but-not-famous Baroque composer. If only he hadn't died early on.

I've created a topic for mediaeval/early Renaissance choral music. Esoteric, perhaps, but I didn't feel like it quite met the criteria for "classical," seeing as the ars nova predated the Baroque period by about three centuries.

On the subject of modern classical music, I am a devotee of early atonalism, so your bringing the subject up is kind of a godsend to me. On that note, have some (unusually accessible) Szymanowski:

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

I must say that I don't really like that piece. It is too... emotional for me, too wild. I prefer my music to be more orderly than that.

The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground

We have very different tastes, I think. You find Szymanowski too wild; I find the Baroque as a whole too orderly. So it goes.

Perhaps you'll find Arthur Lourié more to your liking.

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

That is, indeed, nicer.

I mainly like this one because I'm used to it — my brother played it enough for me to find it comforting.

edited 23rd Sep '12 1:24:58 PM by desdendelle

The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground

Edit:...fixed

edited 23rd Sep '12 1:26:29 PM by karasu91

Change, my dear, and not a moment too soon.

I know. I messed up, I think because I'm distracted by that particular piece. Heh heh.

The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground

Hmm...

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

I remember hearing Die Jakobleiter for the first time and being astonished; I knew who Schoenberg was and all, but had assumed I wouldn't like atonalism. Most of the 20th century stuff I had listened to up till then had been Gershwin or Prokofiev or someone.

I went through my score of The Rite of Spring with the cd and it was easier to follow along, even though I understand it is terrifying to play. Enough notation is strewn up and down the staff to jump out before you can get lost on a first read through. Also it has an introduction by some Communist who makes intelligent remarks and then has to stick in stuff about ideology every few paragraphs.

By the way, does anyone know any composer whose works are like this?

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

And this.

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

Samuel Barber, maybe. It sort of sounds like the sort of neo-romantic or neo-late-classical stuff he would write.

Schubert's Piano Fantasia For Four Hands in F Minor. You're welcome.

Change, my dear, and not a moment too soon.

A good starting point for Samuel Barber would be his String Quartet in B minor, Op.11: Molto allegro - Molto adagio - Molto allegro.

(Yes, the Adagio is that Adagio, possibly one of the biggest tearjerkers in the classical repertoire, arranged dozens of different ways but originally the slow movement of this string quartet. The Allegro sections aren't bad either.)

Samuel Barber. Hmm, doesn't sound like the one I posted. It is nonetheless an excellent soundtrack.

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

I cannot get enough of the Goldberg variations.

I think I will keep on listening to them until I die.

I was even inspired enough to start my own variation on the harmonic cycle.

'It's gonna rain!'

Beethoven's Symphony 9th never gets old to me, especially the choir.

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

Been listening to this for days on end for the last two months. I don't care if you usually don't like Wagner, listen to this. Please. It's sublime.

Change, my dear, and not a moment too soon.

The town square where I live has speakers set up where they will play Sirius XM radio if some organised event is going on. It had been set to some popish sounding thing but suddenly about a week or so ago it was changed to classical music. There was some harpsichord piece playing as I went to get the mail today which sounded good. Not sure what it was called but people are starting to bug me about what I want for Christmas so I may overload on baroque and renaissance music as opposed to the modernist and comtemporary stuff I have been overloading on.

I am just going to drop my two favorite piano pieces. I am not sure that they fit into the classical genre perfectly but they do not fit anywhere else. Hope you enjoy.

edited 13th Nov '12 1:50:57 AM by Bwaaaa

Like a mother hiding her scars history hides the lies of our unending wars