cdh@ptsfc.UUCP (Chris Harvey) (03/30/85)
To move a little away from the best/worst music, etc. I would like to hear from people about the classical pieces that reallly "get ya right there". The music that either inspires you to great heights, or reduces you to sobs. After all, that is what our favorite music is all about; emotion. For example, Mozart's requiem (even though it's been termed 'top 40') is extremely effective in both ways. But I think this is an exception. Let me hear recommendations for either or both categories. First vote (after the requiem) goes for Albinoni's (sp?) Adagio in G. (I swear I liked it BEFORE it was the soundtrack for Gallipoli). A truly moving selection, a four klennex affair. Mail, post, or whatever your selections to me and I will summarize those that are not posted. -- Chris Harvey,Pac Bell,SF ============================================================ "Joke 'em if they can't take a .... " (dual!ptsfa!ptsfc!cdh)
chris@laidbak.UUCP (Chris Granner) (04/04/85)
> > To move a little away from the best/worst music, etc. I would like > to hear from people about the classical pieces that reallly > "get ya right there". Beethoven String Quartet Op. 131 (Preferably played by the LaSalle's (DG) ) This one's straight from the stable. 4th mvmt (th & var) sublime. -cg (...!ihnp4!laidbak!chris)
blatt@Glacier.ARPA (Miriam Blatt) (04/04/85)
> The music that either inspires you to great heights, or reduces you to sobs. > After all, that is what our favorite music is all about; emotion. > As a chamber music enthusiast, I have to vote for the fourth movement (out of five) in Mozart G minor string quintet, and number of other slow movements - 2nd in Dvorak Op96 (American) quartet, 2nd in Mozart symphonie concertante (vln & vla), slow (2nd?) in Beethoven Op 18 No 1. That's all I can think of for now. Miriam Blatt ...!decvax!decwrl!amadeus!blatt blatt@su-amadeus
steve@brl-tgr.ARPA (Stephen Wolff <steve>) (04/07/85)
Guillaume Dufay: "Lamentatio Sancte Matris Ecclesie Constantinopolitane" -- Stephen Wolff
greg@olivee.UUCP (Greg Paley) (04/08/85)
> > To move a little away from the best/worst music, etc. I would like > to hear from people about the classical pieces that reallly "get ya right there". > ... > For example, Mozart's requiem (even though it's been termed 'top 40') > is extremely effective in both ways. But I think this is an exception. Let me > hear recommendations for either or both categories. Since I'm doing the tenor solos in an upcoming choir performance of the Mozart "Requiem" I've had to get close to this music. Beautiful and moving as it is, it falls short for my tastes of the "get ya right there" quality of the Verdi "Requiem". It might well be that primary exposure to a "Requiem" setting has a way of "imprinting" itself. Since it was the Verdi that I first heard, when I was in high school, I find many of the sections of the text automatically associated in my mind with his setting. Perhaps I would have felt that way about the Mozart, Berlioz, or even Faure if I had heard them first. As it is, I love all of these, but still find something special and awesome about the Verdi. It isn't just the heaven-storm passages, like the opening of the "Dies Irae" and the subsequent "Tuba Mirum", although I know of no more viscerally spectacular music (or better stereo showpieces if you've got the equipment), that grab me. There is the stentorian grandeur of the mezzo-soprano's "Liber scriptus", the sustained beauty of the "Recordare" trio whose ethereal soft (solo soprano) ending directly confronts the massive bass chorus at the beginning of the "Rex Tremendae" which, in turn, gives way to and then accompanies the solo voices arching upward in the "Salva Me", building powerfully stepwise to the soprano's high C. Also interesting in this setting is the way he chose to do the "Sanctus" - all swiftness, light and joy as opposed to the sustained solemnity chosen by other composers. Other passages that I find uniquely impressive are the quiet awe of the bass solo "Mors stupebit", the paintive beauty of the tenor solo "Ingemisco" (unfortunately, rarely sung with the sensitivity it needs), and the final tremendous solo "scena" for soprano and chorus, "Libera me" (as demanding as anything in "Aida" or "Forza" for the soprano). Incidentally, I, for one, would be appreciative if people posting their "get ya right there" selections would recommend a recording, if they know of a good one. Although there are many, many recordings of the Verdi "Requiem", I find most of them fatally flawed by either poor, or misguided, shaping by the conductor or poor singing. For this reason, I can't recommend the recordings by such prominent conductors as Reiner, Muti, De Sabata, Barbirolli (despite wonderful soloists), Mehta and Bernstein. The Abbado recording is beautifully shaped but suffers from poor singing by all but the tenor soloist. This restricts my choice to the Toscanini as the best overall performance, which will be dismissed by many on the basis of sound quality, with the 1963 Giulini and the 1969 Solti/Vienna Philharmonic (NOT his later remake with the Chicago Symphony) as the most satisfactory alternatives. The Solti, incidentally, is a Culshaw production which demonstrates analogue recording at its best - tremendous depth and ambience, dynamic range and clarity. Sutherland is a particular surprise - although she reverts to "mumble mouth" diction at the beginning of the "Libera Me", the power and accuracy of her voice in the other sections make great effect. Horne sings superbly, Talvela well and powerfully, and Pavarotti's voice did not then have the rasp it has since taken on. This has also been issued on CD by London, but I haven't heard it in that format. - Greg Paley
larsen@utah-gr.UUCP (Mark Larsen) (04/10/85)
Personally, I always find the overture to Swan Lake to be very inspiring.
I have also always felt choked up when hearing the Adagio by Albinoni.
Actually, when I think about it, there are many pieces that effect me
this way; if they don't, I don't play them!
--
-----------
Ma faute! Comment cela? L. Mark Larsen
UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|hplabs|seismo}!utah-cs!larsen
ARPA: oper.larsen@utah-20
USnail: 4602 So. 600 E. Salt Lake City, UT 84107gadfly@ihu1m.UUCP (Gadfly) (04/11/85)
> Guillaume Dufay: "Lamentatio Sancte Matris Ecclesie > Constantinopolitane" > > Stephen Wolff I'll second that. Curious that although Constantinople fell to the Turks in 1453, Dufay did not write the piece until 1456. Well, news travelled slower back then. -- *** *** JE MAINTIENDRAI ***** ***** ****** ****** 10 Apr 85 [21 Germinal An CXCIII] ken perlow ***** ***** (312)979-7188 ** ** ** ** ..ihnp4!iwsl8!ken *** ***
dep@allegra.UUCP (Dewayne Perry) (04/11/85)
[this inspirational stuff is really good - tastes better than the other dreck] Brahms German Requium "It is Enough" from Mendelssohn's Elijah some of the bits in Bernstein's Chichester Psalms just to name a few - dewayne
pete@umich.UUCP (Peter Lee) (04/12/85)
Ralph Vaughn Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis Frederik Chopin: Ballade #4 Gustav Mahler: Symphony #1 (Oh! The curse of romaticism! :-) ) The Asian Prince
root@trwatf.UUCP (Lord Frith) (04/12/85)
Shostakovitch Symphony # 5 (triumphal coda)
Shostakovitch Symphony # 6 (lyric, schitzophrenic)
Shostakovitch Symphony # 8 (mature, dream-like)
Ralph Vaughn Williams Symphony # 2, The Pastoral
--
UUCP: ...{decvax,ihnp4,allegra}!seismo!trwatf!root - Lord Frith
ARPA: trwatf!root@SEISMO
Or as Jabba the Hut would say, "Brrrruuuuuurrrrrrrpppppp!"johnm@python.UUCP (J. Montgomery) (04/15/85)
> Ralph Vaughn Williams Symphony # 2, The Pastoral
I think Vaughn Williams 2nd is the "London" symphony, rather than the
"Pastoral". I've forgotten which is the "Pastoral" (6th maybe?).
--
John Montgomery
Bell Communications Research
...!{bellcore, allegra, ihnp4}!nvuxd!python!johnmedhall@randvax.UUCP (Ed Hall) (04/20/85)
> Shostakovitch Symphony # 5 (triumphal coda) > Shostakovitch Symphony # 6 (lyric, schitzophrenic) > Shostakovitch Symphony # 8 (mature, dream-like) > Ralph Vaughn Williams Symphony # 2, The Pastoral > > - Lord Frith The Vaughn Williams Pastoral is his 3rd symphony, not his second. It is one of the most beautiful and relaxing pieces of music I've ever heard. For a good recorded performance, I suggest the one by Sir Adrian Boult on London records. (I'd recommend Boult as a Vaughn Williams interpreter, period.) As for the Shostakovich 5th--the coda is triumphal, yes, but ironic, too--a false triumph. Shostakovich's music is often filled with irony, something Russian artists in music and letters brought to a high art. Give it another listen: this is the symphony that ``rehabilitated'' Shostakovich after Stalin had condemned his music as ``chaos''. It is full of tragedy and suffering--an autobiography of his persecution. As part of the work as a whole, the coda seems strangly out of place, although it satisfied the Soviet officialdom as demonstrating ``Socialist Realism'' (where all struggles have happy endings). I suspect that this was all intentional on Shostakovich's part, but not as a concession. Instead, he was mocking the simple-mindedness of those who condemned him. Shostakovich's 14th symphony is one of the most darkly beautiful pieces of music ever written. Quite simply, it is a symphony about death--death without hope. I find it profoundly depressing music, yet quite worthwhile. (Some people may want to avoid it.) It is dedicated to Benjamin Britten, and bears a good deal of similarity to Britten's music. It uses texts by Lorca, Apollinaire, Kuchelbecker, and Rilke, sung by solo soprano and bass in Russian. -Ed Hall decvax!randvax!edhall