This is a fascination that many IORR members would agree to. Right now, in my drunken state, I'm listening to thr "Magic Fire Music" by Wagner. I'm not a big opera fan, but certain passages really hit me. This is one of them.

Wagner, in general, is almost like 19th century heavy music -- it's loud, brash and grabs your attention.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-01-01 09:11 by bassplayer617.

I too like classical music, Beethoven is my favorite, his sixth symphony is great. At the same time I also bought roger waters opera, and like it. I think many of our favorite groups actually learned alot and listened to alot of opera and classical music.

Love Mozart, Vivaldi, and Tchaikovsky...

What a fortuitous subject...

For those people looking to "jumpstart" their knowledge of and experience listening to GREAT classical music, the following link contains ratings of the top 50 or so greatest classical compositions...

Enjoy!

[www.fullhousetrader.com]

"It's just that demon life has got me in it's sway..."

What a fortuitous subject...

For those people looking to "jumpstart" their knowledge of and experience listening to GREAT classical music, the following link contains ratings of the top 50 or so greatest classical compositions...

yeah yeah i'll start listening right now
c'mon, this is the night to get yer knowledge done on classical music -
you must either live on the outskirts of nowhere or don't have any relationship to people who just pass your way.

so , your all alone at home? huh

Well, this "West Virginny boy" has a strong sense of sentimentality in him.

The orchestral version of "Clair De Lune" is another favorite, as is the Enya theme for "Braveheart".

I'm a military fan, so the themes for the movies "Glory", "Gettysburg", and "Band of Brothers" are favorites, too.

The only theme I know is Band of Brothers - but hey its early in the morning around here, half past nine in the morning actually........
I was just dancing with a couple a young girls to Ramones and Vibrators and stuff like that ...
hey, dont you have fun over there? - hmmm - whereabouts ,anyway?

My favs are Bach, Rachmaninow, Brahms, Mahler.

Bach, Rachmaninow, Brahms, Mahler - Overdrive?
what about the Stones????????

I like The Vibrators, saw them last year supporting The UK Subs

RobertJonhnson wrote :
----------------------

>My favs are Bach, Rachmaninow, Brahms, Mahler.


Great. My order would be : Bach, Mahler, Mozart. And to please OpenG : Stones,
Jagger & Richards, Nanker-Phelge, Jagger & Richards & Taylor.

Wow some one mentioned Beethoven's 6th. I just got through listening to it. I have three different sets of Beethoven's Nine Symphonies. I must say that the 7th is my fave. Also the little shiort 8th one. And for some reason the 5th and then the 3rd are my least fave. The 9th is of course from another world. The 1st I almost can not evenb count because it is not really Ludwig yet. More like Haydn still.
Mahler is incredible. Mozart is IMO much like the Beatles. His genius is so potent and wide reaching that one takes it for granted and often forgets just how good it is. Don Giovanni is one of the few non Italian operas I love. In operas I like the real shmaltzy Puccini stuff, Donizetti, Leoncavallo. I do not like Verdi.
The trickiest composer for me to love is Wagner. He was such a despicable person. Have read much by and about him. His philospohies were...slanted and biased to put it politely. Even Nietzsche dropped him.I read that Wagner need to be dressed in silks when coposing. He was only to feel pure silk against his skin so that the muse would hit him. And rosepetal perfume was pumped into the room where he wrote. still...the Ring is some of the most incredible music ever conceived. And not just the music. It;'s the "Lord of the Rings" of his day LOL. Too bad that the four operas of the Cycle are so long that t has become almost impossible to find good copies of the complete works. One finds much of just the vocal passages. But the musical sections are some of the most glorious music I have ever heard. And then there is of course "Tristan", "Flying Dutchman" etc. The cool thing about Wagner was that he was aiming for this utopian total medium. Music, dance, song, theatre, painting, acting, architecture, interaction...when he finally completed his own Center he came close to realizing this dream.
Many of yesteryear's composers have been depicted wrongfully in today's book and film. Tchaikovsky, Liszt, Mahler, Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner,Salieri, Handel have all gotten strange treatments by writers. Ken Russell the British film maker being the biggest culprit. Bands like ELP or Moody Blues have also committed high crimes of Art & Music!
PS One man who often gets overlooked undeservedly so IMO is Bruckner.

Handel, Hummel, Verdi, Tchaikovsky are probably my favourites, but I like loads of others as well.


You might have to scrape me off the floor at the end of the tour, but it'll be really good scrapings. - Mick Jagger

I tried liking the Russians again and again. I keep feeling that I am not seeing something that everyone else sees (Similar to "OK Computer" by Radiohead that everyone hails as one of the masterpieces of Rock. I think it one boring piece of crap). The Russians have everything i in place: their political history and their sociological heritage, the geography of their country; all these factors point towards some deep reaching, soul searching, gut wrenching passionate creis to the heavens. This music should be of the earth, soul and fire. But I hear Shostakovich, Prokofiew, Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, that fool Scriabin and it leaves me cold. I just don't get into it vrey much. Rimsky-Korsakov, and of course Stravinsky are the only two that I find exciting.

"...no longer shall you trudge 'cross my peaceful mind."

open-g Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > Bach, Rachmaninow, Brahms, Mahler - Overdrive?
> what about the Stones????????


Oh, no problem at all: If you hear some harmonic runs of Keith, you find him in the footsteps of Johann Sebastian Bach. Stones forever, Happy New Year.

Bartók! Listen to his 2. violin concerto. Or anything. A genius.

RobertJohnson wrote :

>open-g Wrote:
>-------------------------------------------------------
> > Bach, Rachmaninow, Brahms, Mahler - Overdrive?
> what about the Stones????????


>Oh, no problem at all: If you hear some harmonic runs of Keith, you find him in >the footsteps of Johann Sebastian Bach. Stones forever, Happy New Year.


I fully adhere to this statement.

I love all sorts of "classical" musics (I get NM albums for pennies at thrift stores, that I proceed to hand clean and repair the sleeves of: these are in many cases complete works of art and love: performance, recording, mastering, packaging, etc. so why would anyone settle for less today? Certainly not for expanded aBB in my case!!) I am basically or even completely ignorant of in the first place... Baroque chamber stuff, galant minuets and other dance pieces, some operas (provided the leads can sing with no or little perceivable accent in the language of the work), romantic era symphonies and conciertos, all Bach and Mozart, XXth cent. Russians and French, etc.

Hi gaigai, I agree with you on Bartok. For some reason I never think of him in the context of "classical" music. That guy's ear just amazes me. Everytime I listen to something by him I walk away inspired with many good odd ideas. To me he requires the most...'sophisticated" ear I can muster. In other words I have to really be on my best behavior when I want to apprevciate him.

"...no longer shall you trudge 'cross my peaceful mind."

The only kind of classical music that I like is, ironically, rock music done classically! The best example of this is, IMO, The Symphonic Music of the Rolling Stones album. Love it! Great album.

Happy Jack Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I too like classical music, Beethoven is my
> favorite, his sixth symphony is great. At the same
> time I also bought roger waters opera, and like
> it. I think many of our favorite groups actually
> learned alot and listened to alot of opera and
> classical music.

Beethoven's greatest compositions are his Symphonies... standing in a class by themselves are Symphony 1, Symphony 5, and ESPECIALLY his very best... Symphony #9. If you can find Toscanni's rendition, BUY IT... you will be an instant classical music fan.

My fave is from the Arturo Toscanini Recordings Association known as the "Legendary 1938 Broadcast", Vina Bovy soprano (Atra #3007)...

If you can't locate that rather rare gem, another masterful Symphony 9 rendition is by Furtwangler with the Bayreuther Festpiele, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf soprano, on EMI.

The above two are probably the greatest recorded Beethoven symphonic masterpieces ever...

For Symphony #1 my favorite CD, I go back to Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra on "BMG Classics, RCA Red Seal" CD.

For Symphony #5 you can't beat Carlos Kleiber conducting the Wiener Philharmonic on Deutsche Grammophone.

"It's just that demon life has got me in it's sway..."

inopeng Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Love Mozart, Vivaldi, and Tchaikovsky...

Mozart's work is uneven, I think because THERES SO MUCH OF IT... it's like this guy pumped out more stuff... but there are a few gems:

1) Moz' very best work is his Piano Concerto 24(KV 491). My favorite rendition is The Academy of St. Martinin the Fields, Sir Neville Marriner conductor, Alfred Brendel on piano. Philips has a great double CD with a a bunch of Moz' piano concertos by this ensemble. But #24 (KV491) is far and away his best.

There's also a superb P.C 24 rendition by George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra, Robert Casadesus on piano... you can find this CD on CBS' "Great Performances" series, packaged with Piano Concerto 21.

2) ANdante in C(for flute). Don't miss Rudolf Baumgartner conducting the Festival Strings of Lucerne with James Galway on Flute... Galway is my favorite interpreter of Moz' flute works.

3) Concerto for Flute Harp and Orchestra. There's a tremendous version by the London Symphony Orchestra, Eduardo Mata conductor, again with Galway on Flute and Marisa Robles on Harp.

4) Clarinet Concerto. The version by the English Chamber Orchestra, Richard Stoltzman on clarinet is magnificent.




"It's just that demon life has got me in it's sway..."

inopeng Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Love Mozart, Vivaldi, and Tchaikovsky...

Vivaldi has at least a few monsters:

1) The "Four Seaons Primavera"

2) Four Seasons Autunno

3) Concerto for Flute op 10




"It's just that demon life has got me in it's sway..."

inopeng Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Love Mozart, Vivaldi, and Tchaikovsky...


Tchaikovsky has so much great stuff.

His single-best work: Symphony #5. Here my favorite rendition has to be the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Mariss Jansons conductor. It's on Chandos #8351.

2) His ballets, with Sleeping Beauty the very best, closely followed by Swan Lake. The Nutcracker also nice. Renditions by the incomparable Mstislave Rostropovich leading the Berliner Philharmonic on Deutsche Grammophone are his best stuff.

3) His Piano Concerto #1 is magnificent. Awesome rendition is by Martha Argerich on piano with the Orchester des Bayerischen, Kirill Kondrashin conducting.


"It's just that demon life has got me in it's sway..."

RobertJohnson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My favs are Bach, Rachmaninow, Brahms, Mahler.

Bach pumped out so much stuff, most of it "light, simple, pleasant", ... my favorite is his Suite for Orchestra #3(Air).




"It's just that demon life has got me in it's sway..."

i'm partial to the baroque masters - vivaldi & mozart being among my faves...

RobertJohnson Wrote:
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> My favs are Bach, Rachmaninow, Brahms, Mahler.

Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto #2 is nice, BUT it's really Piano Concerto #3 that is his masterpiece, one of the very greatest concertos ever written.

What's your favorite renditions ?? Mine would have to be:

a) Antal Dorati conducting the London Symphony Orchestra, Byron Janis on piano

closely followed by:

b) Kirill Kondrashin conducting the Orchester des Bayerischen, Martha Argerich pianist...

hard to decide between those 2, oftentimes I find myself liking Argerich' version better they are both fabulous.




"It's just that demon life has got me in it's sway..."

Hi Bayou, I agree that Beethoven's greatest stuff is the symphonies. Although for some real mindtwisters the last 5 String quartets rival Bartok in intensity. And I am surely no big fan of Cahmbermusic. Mainly because I don't know enough about it. It's weird that you like the 3rd and 1st. For soem reason I like them the least. I just had left this thread to go listen to the 4th which I had not heard in years. Excellent!
I have that Furtwangler set you talk about. Great. Great. His tempos are so SLOW! LOL But man do I like the sound on those recordings. For that set I shel;led out real money to get something really good. I would love to hera the Toscanini renditions you mention. Maybe I should get them. Don't you thionk his first one is still very Austrian though? Not at all the "real" Beethoven yet?
About Mozart - there is that overwhelming feeling one gets when tackling him. I bumped into someone who was like a authority on him and he just kind of pointed me in the right direction and it helped to know where to start.
I also find it is very good to read about these composers. Like study up on them

"...no longer shall you trudge 'cross my peaceful mind."

RobertJohnson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My favs are Bach, Rachmaninow, Brahms, Mahler.

Brahms wrote a number of symphonies, but far and away his best is Symphony #1, it just grabs you from the opening...

If you want an incredible rendition, look no further than Herbert von Karajan conducting the Berliner Philharmonic on Deutsche Grammophone.

Brahms' other very interesting work, IMO, is Piano Concerto #1. A tremendous version is Clifford Curzon on piano behind the London Symphony Orchestra, George Szell conducting. This was recording in Kingsway Hall in May 1962 and is one of Decca's "Legendary Performances" series, and deserves to be.




"It's just that demon life has got me in it's sway..."

ChelseaDrugstore Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I would love to hera the Toscanini
> renditions you mention. Maybe I should get them.
> Don't you thionk his first one is still very
> Austrian though? Not at all the "real" Beethoven
> yet?

Well that raises an interesting question: what is the "real" Beethoven ?? It's really up to the conductor isn't it!!

There's no question that Toscanini sounds like "nobody else", for fire and intensity on Beethoven interpretations, he stands alone, that's why I love his sound so much... I really think when the smoke clears that he is THE Beethoven interpreter, much as Bruno Walter is probably THE Mahler interpreter...

But each great conductor has his own twist on the sound... so... what is the "real" Beethoven ??

"It's just that demon life has got me in it's sway..."