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In Reply to: Good Classical Music posted by qazaq on April 21, 2007 at 20:44:45:
Regarding,
"Samuel barber - Adagio for Strings - really the kind of thing I am looking for
Pachelbel - Canon - this too
>These 2 works are sometimes mated on the same LP/CD. They are considered standard works, and heard to often at funerals and weddings, respectively. The point is that Tallis and Bach selections are mated on the discs. Oft cited good versions are the Stuttgart chamber or Academy of St. Martin's in the Fields/Marriner renditions.Faure - Pavane
>Amongst older performances, Munch BSO is very goodMussorgsky - Night on Bald Mountain
>SACD or CD of Maazel/Cleveland and Reiner/ChicagoBeethoven's Ninth Symphony - although it is a bit...too stately. Not really into the chamber music thing. Maybe a more...epic piece.
>Hmmm, I don't know what you mean. What more epic a piece than this symphony, with it's Herculean intro, vigorous scherzo, mysterious and deep profound adagio 3rd and the huge last movement??? This isn't chamber music, unless you own the HIP type with pseudo historical instrument performances (Goodmans or Norrington's, for example). I don't know what you own, but there are plenty of good ones discussed here in the recent past even.
Try the 3rd symphony Eroica, or the 7th symphony and the 6th symphony Pastoral of Beethoven. Try large scaled Brahms works like 1st and 2nd symphonies and his Tragic and Academic Festival Overtures. Schumann's Rhenish symphony #3. Schubert 8th symphony and 9th symphony. Wagner Overtures and for intimate string work, Siegfried Idyll. Grieg Holberg suite and Dvorak's stuff Serenades and symphonies 6 to 9. Do you have Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique or Tchaikovsky's 4-6th symphonies? Or Richard Strauss' Don Juan and other tone poems? Stravinsky's Firebird Suite and Petrouchka are accessible, as his Pulcinella for chamber orchestra.
Follow Ups:
I guess what I meant about Beethoven's Ninth was...the fact that although It would start off very mysterious and deep, then it would be gone, replaced by a mental picture of an Old English Castle Courtyard.Of course the theme at the beginning is very good, and it does return...although not without the other sort entwined...I didn't say I didn't like it, but it is difficult to stay into a piece when it releases your sense of awe with a bit of "noble dance style" tucked in between the great parts.
But maybe that is the way with classical music...or perhaps it takes a trained ear to recognize the value in the parts I seem to get turned off by.
As for being chamber music...well, I don't know what I meant by that :) I think I may have been thinking of the wrong piece when I said that...the thing I am listening to now is not chamber music.
Unless my perception of the definition of "Chamber Music" is skewed (a valid possibility).
I have Berlioz' Symphony Fantastique...or at least part of it. I think it is the 3rd part...not very...stimulating.I am working with a jumbled collection of music, so I have a lot of music files, but I haven't been able to listen to them all.
As for tone poems...no idea even what they are, much less having them...or being able to identify them if I did.I have several Tchaikovsky works...The Nutcracker, 1812 overture (didn't mention, but a good song, as most would say). However I don't think I have his symphonies that you mentioned...
Thanks for all the advice and recommendations,
All that other stuff.........after Beethoven, Moart, Bach, Mahler, etc...the 20th and 21st century is packed with exciting new composers. A good friend of mine gave me some music by Krenek and it opened up a few doors that until then, I didn't know existed. It's a continuim....from Gregorian chant.........to whatever.Don't get me wrong. I'm crazy enough to have over 150 recordings of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas!
Enjoy, Tom B.
You seem to lack a grasp of the structure of these pieces. I am not putting you down, just hoping to help.There are forms in European classical music. The earlier music has distinct structure. For instance, many late 1700 (Haydn and Mozart) and 19th century symphonies have 4 movements often beginning with a slow intro, followed by a main theme, then a secondary theme or motif, weaving in and out followed by a coda or conclusion. (look up "sonata form"). Following is either a slow movement which is lyrical and quieter, then a dance or march like part, followed by a faster last movement. I taught my young child regarding the usual 4 movements, "Fast, slow song, dance then Fast." Without learning the whole thing, one gets only a partial understanding of the composer's intent.
I've never heard Beethoven's 9th described that way! Did you know that the 4th movement begins with a repetition of the leading theme in movements 1 through 3, instrumentally, then there is a short intro to the 4th movement's theme, the Ode to Joy, which has the whole orchestra and the chorus?
Just keep on studying and learning, that's my encouragement. My wife says that after she lived with the better gear and listening with me for about 2 years, she's starting to hear much more. Prior to that, she only recognized tunes, but now is beginning to hear and appreciate the different approaches to a Beethoven symphony by different conductors and orchestras.
"You seem to lack a grasp of the structure of these pieces"Hit the nail on the head :)
I am a bit of a novice concerning classical musical form...although this little tidbit explains quite a bit...
Being used to single songs with one theme, adapting to this form will be quite a challenge...
I just know what sounds good and what doesn't...at least on my untrained ear.
I have listened to "classical" for over 40 years since I was a youngster preteen. I have no where near exhausted even limited symphonic works. I do have some favorites and collect different versions.
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