Classical Music Thread

[BamaGuy]

If Rachmaninoff is one of your favorites, you need to watch "Shine" with Jeffery Rush as he plays David Helfgott and his struggle to master Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto #2, one of the hardest to play, and deal with his mental issues caused by his father. Hard movie to watch in some spots.

Listen closely and you will hear the melody of "All by Myself"

Thanks for this memory, as I loved the movie and still adore the Piano Concerto #2. Rachmaninoff Rocks! I am good with Eric Carmen “sampling” the gorgeous theme, as I got introduced to the original through “All By Myself” as a teen listening to AM radio!

In fact, anyone up for posting similar “tributes” to great classical music in rock or pop songs? I will start with the incomparable Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto #1 within “Splendor in the Grass” by Pink Martini!

 

[KaliYoni]

 

[Gregg2]

I really got hooked on Mozart after watching Amadeus, one of all time favorite movies.

I was already a Mozart fan before seeing the movie, but I really got hooked on the opening scene piece. I think it was from the 25th or 28th Symphony. Now I have to go listen... !!!

 

[Gregg2]

Great idea for a thread.

Indeed! Browsing the thread and listening to one of the pieces posted herein. Awesome!

 

[Madhatter32]

It's Baroque for me (although I enjoy other periods as well). My all star team would include Bach, Vivaldi, Scarlatti, Pachelbel and Albinoni. I love these people.

 

[mikzn]

It's Baroque for me (although I enjoy other periods as well). My all star team would include Bach, Vivaldi, Scarlatti, Pachelbel and Albinoni. I love these people.

Hard to go wrong with that team - 💕

 

[KaliYoni]

It's Baroque for me (although I enjoy other periods as well). My all star team would include Bach, Vivaldi, Scarlatti, Pachelbel and Albinoni. I love these people.

If you like Scarlatti, this video is well worth tracking down on your favorite streaming service:

Great Performances | Now Hear This “Scarlatti: Man Out of Time” | Season 47 | Episode 3 | PBS

Join Scott in Spain and Morocco to discover the music of Domenico Scarlatti.

www.pbs.org

(I got into Sephardic Jewish music after watching the show)

 

[monokakata]

OK. My musical tastes are very wide, and go back to the Middle Ages. I thought I'd mention my favorite fairly modern composers, including but not limited to: Arvo Part, Henrik Gorecki, George Crumb, John Taverner, John Adams ("Shaker Loops" is awesome), Philip Glass, Kevin Puts, Steve Reich, Terry Riley.

Here's an amazing piece by George Crumb. Give it a chance. I've loved it since the 1970s.

 

[KaliYoni]

OK. My musical tastes are very wide, and go back to the Middle Ages. I thought I'd mention my favorite fairly modern composers, including but not limited to: Arvo Part, Henrik Gorecki, Geroge Crumb, John Taverner, John Adams ("Shaker Loops" is awesome), Philip Glass, Kevin Puts, Steve Reich, Terry Riley.

Here's an amazing piece by George Crumb. Give it a chance. I've loved it since the 1970s.

Just a couple of suggestions, if you're interested:

Over the last couple of years, I've been exploring piano pieces for 4 hands and score reductions for piano. I also saw a performance of Crumb's Black Angels: Thirteen Images from the Dark Land (Images I). So this album immediately grabbed my attention when I came across it.

Stravinsky: Rite of Spring / Crumb: Makrokosmos IV, Performed for Four Hands on Piano

In his second CD release with WERGO, Enrico Belli once more juxtaposes the American composer George Crumb with music from one of the predecessors who has influenced him most profoundly. Given that "Makrokosmos IV" was both conceived and written for piano duet, it makes sense to place it in the co...

www.amazon.com

Since you like Part, you should check out the pas de deux from Wheeldon's "After the Rain". Here are two performances by dancers who Wheeldon himself has praised for their interpretations (well OK, Wheeldon did make the dance on Wendy Whelan).

 

[monokakata]

Thanks very much, KaliYoni. Thanks.

 

[The Clark]

I went to a music store not too long ago and played a really nice Roland piano.. thought I'd share the video here.

I'm playing my favorite measures from HRN2 (Friska) by Franz Liszt.

Edit: Sorry it's not louder, but it's arrogant enough playing Liszt without blasting it..

 

[Scepticalscribe]

It's Baroque for me (although I enjoy other periods as well). My all star team would include Bach, Vivaldi, Scarlatti, Pachelbel and Albinoni. I love these people.

Wonderful list.

Some of my favourites among them.

If you like this type of music, might I recommend that you take a look at (listen to?) some of the superb recordings made by Jordi Savall (and Hespèrion XXI).

Hard to go wrong with that team - 💕

Agree completely.

 

[monokakata]

Jordi Savall has some magnificent recordings of Marin Marais's work. So does Jerome Hantai. (Marais is one of my favorites.)

Speaking of Marais -- the film "Tous les Matins du Monde" is exceptional both as music and drama.

Then there's Biber, who has an amazing Mass and his Rosary Sonatas are quite wonderful. The Mass includes what I've always heard as an upbeat Kyrie. Upbeat Kyrie? What? You decide.

Rosary Sonata "Resurrection" (which rocks out quite nicely at about 2:45) My favorite recording is an out-of-print DG pressing. But the modern ones are nice.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Thanks for this memory, as I loved the movie and still adore the Piano Concerto #2. Rachmaninoff Rocks! I am good with Eric Carmen “sampling” the gorgeous theme, as I got introduced to the original through “All By Myself” as a teen listening to AM radio!

In fact, anyone up for posting similar “tributes” to great classical music in rock or pop songs? I will start with the incomparable Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto #1 within “Splendor in the Grass” by Pink Martini!

Ah, Pink Martini; one of my favourite groups; I have had the privilege (in the world, before it changed, changed utterly) of hearing (and seeing) them play live, twice.

Agree with @monokakata about Marais. Love his music.

I'm also very partial to the music of Antonio Soler (listen to his Fandango - sublime).

 

[mikzn]

2 beautiful tracks - Caroline Campbell 💕 wow - virtuoso

wow a classic - amazing performance 👍

 

[Scepticalscribe]

And @monokakata: Re modern composers, Karl Jenkins is also excellent.

His "The Armed Man: A Mass For Peace" is stunning. It includes the spine-tingling "Sanctus" (which I heard once, live, on Christmas Day, a number of years ago).

 

[monokakata]

I'll check him out, for sure. And on the subject of Masses, there's a very powerful one by a composer named Jan Jiracek, whose Missa Propira for unaccompanied choir of boys and men. Here's the Kyrie and Gloria/Miserere

For me, the finest modern Mass is Part's Berliner Messe. I have, I think, six or seven recordings of it (and I'm an atheist!)

Here what I found on youtube:

My favorite recording is Tonu Kaljuste and the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Estonian Chamber Choir, ECM New Series. The Agnus Dei is beyond description.

 

[The Clark]

The rest is just the same, isn't it?

 

[mikzn]

The rest is just the same, isn't it?

Great Movie - Might have to watch it again - 😃

 

[The Clark]

Great Movie - Might have to watch it again - 😃

You should definitely watch it again! Beyond everything else, it's downright hilarious.

 

[Loge]

Only 3 opera fans.🤔

I love listening to opera, no so much watching an opera. Unfortunately, I live with a bunch of philistines🙃 and can only play it loud when I'm driving alone.

Bizet's Carmen is my all time favorite. Everyone knows the most popular piece from Carmen. Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen a close 2nd. Who hasn't heard The Ride of the Valkyrie (Apocalypse Now)? Come on, Hollywood, there more to Nibelungen than just the Valkyries--hours more.😏 Though I love Mozart's (my all time favorite composer) musical pieces, I don't find any of his operas all that appealing.🧐

I added my vote to opera (and others), as you may of course guess from my user name and avatar, from the closing moments of Die Walkure.

Other great composers I like would be Janacek, Prokofiev, Tippett, Villa-Lobos, Mussorgsky and others too numerous to mention.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

...

Other great composers I like would be Janacek, Prokofiev, Tippett, Villa-Lobos, Mussorgsky and others too numerous to mention.

Agreed.

To those, I would add, Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky, and Khachaturian.

And Smetana (Ma Vlast is spectacular).

 

[mikzn]

Nocturne; Orchestre D'Auvergne, Jean-Jacques Kantorow - 1994 - 💕

 

[mikzn]

Very true, and along these lines Stanley Kubrick used classical music so masterfully in his movies. Notably 2001, Clockwork Orange, and especially Barry Lyndon (a favorite of mine).

Disney too - "Fantasia" , Warner Brothrs - "bugs bunny"

 

[Allyance]

The rest is just the same, isn't it?

One of the few movies I have purchased, I have played it many times, my favorite scene, and favorite composition. Which lead intos the above scene. Listen to Salieri's description.