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...is having to listen to Mahler's 8th symphony on eternal loop at 100 dB. For all eternity. The caterwalling sopranos, the orchestral cacophony. Lord save me! And I like everything else by Mahler.
What's your idea of eternal aural torture?
Follow Ups:
Rap/ Hip hop...
I can't stand those white bland voices crooning out simplistic church music with a sanctimonious "holier than thou" attitude. Urgh....
If it ain't Myfanwy sung by a Welsh Male Voice Choir it ain't choral music.
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Yeah, it took me a while. :-(
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"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)
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Ligeti's 13th etude
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You can check it out for yourself at the link. It's only 6 minutes. "Big wheels keep on turnin'..."
At first, I was going to respond, "You CANNOT be serious!" - but suddenly I understood your drift! ;-)
My older sister fell in love with this piece and had me make a cassette recording of it playing over and over and over. 90 minutes worth.
It was like when I was a kid and got hold of a bag of Fig Newtons and ate them all.
Took years before I wanted to hear the Canon or eat a Fig Newton.
Guy is sitting in a room with a loudspeaker, and next door is his own private DJ: "That was Pachelbel's Canon in D. Now for our next number...well, whaddaya know, once again Pachelbel's Canon in D!" P.S. I cast my vote for van B's Fur Elise. Maybe not the piece itself, but generations of reluctant piano students practicing it endlessly.
Edits: 06/24/15 06/24/15
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If you're hearing screeching, it ain't Mahler's fault.Try Tennstedt's on EMI. The way Elizabeth Connell floats her final Bb...pure ecstasy.
Ironically, I was just giving Solti's a spin tonight. First time I've heard it on Lp in a long time.
Just kidding about the troll thing.
Edits: 06/23/15
Yeah, the problem is me - I'm just not a fan of the classically trained voice (I'm a singer and guitarist). Especially sopranos. I will not begrudge anyone who likes it but it's torture to me. I have several recordings of the Mahler 8 but it doesn't do it for me. My post was prompted by a broadcast of the 2nd movement on WFMT (Levine and CSO) and it was like a thousand needles were piercing my eyes.
Well. . . at least one famous soprano I knew agreed with you about the Mahler Eighth - that would be Phyllis Curtin, who once told the participants in one of her master classes that she felt Mahler repeated that "Ewig, ewig" motive in the Eighth so much that she wanted to wring his neck! ;-)
Edits: 06/24/15
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not a big fan of the vocals.
I only listened to the Dies Irae section because I didn't like the "opera" sound elsewhere. Still, the orchestral writing under the voices was too much for me to pass up, esp. since I played trumpet.
Oratorios were my gateway drug to opera, so be careful.
Back to Mahler's 8th though. The "Blicket auf" tenor solo (side 4) to the end is mostly orchestral/choral with the exception of two sopranos floating above the fabric, but it's gorgeous with the right singers. Again, IMHO, Elizabeth Connell does it best: no vibrato and it sounds angelic.
Midway thru the 2nd Part there's an extended section for strings/harp that is extremely intimate and beautiful.
The last 10 mins of the Veni Creator Spiritus (boys' choir to the end) provides perhaps the biggest "rush" I know.
No, don't know the Verdi requiem. I DO know the Mozart and Brahms requiems which I can appreciate for the orchestral writing - the choral parts don't grate on me like the Mahler 8th stuff. I also appreciate LvB's 9th and Daphnes and Chloe. It's kinda pick and choose for me with choral stuff. Thanks for your comments.
everything *and* the kitchen sink!
Definitely hope to see it live in Royal Albert Hall some day. Visuals definitely add to the effect
Look at those organ pipes to the side of the choir.
Listening to anything for any length of time on Genelec monitors.
Dave
... the S-30. Internally tri-amped, and as good as the current Genelecs are wretched. Very rare, they go for $4k-$5k and so worth it for very small rooms or as nearfields. One big limitation - they don't go loud at all, so you need to get your zen thing on, turn off the refrigerator and a/c to quiet down the house, and put them about four feet from your ears - kind of like big ugly headphones. They are the only speakers I know of that are detailed enough for mixing/mastering *and* are enjoyable.
WW
"A man need merely light the filaments of his receiving set and the world's greatest artists will perform for him." Alfred N. Goldsmith, RCA, 1922
piano works...any of them, and almost anything by Mozart except the requiem, for intermissions, Tchaikovsky.
dee
;-D
True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.
quote by Kurt Vonnegut
I thought I was the only one.....
Mozart is immense talent wasted on needlessly complicated unlistenable stuff :).
dee
;-D
True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.
quote by Kurt Vonnegut
I, too, find much to appreciate in all of the other symphonies, but the 8th has always eluded me. It just seems like spectacle without a soul. (Hmmm...maybe that WAS Mahler's point?)
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