What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? IV

[Jonathan]

Alkan Sonata de concert in E major op 47 (Moray Welsh, cello, and Ronald Smith, piano).

This on yle.klassinen.

Unfortunately alkan in Finnish means "I'm starting", so the composer on the yle.klassinen website is rendered as I Begin.

I thought at first it might be an obscure Israeli composer...

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Wonderful piece, the 'Cello sonata - the last movement is an earworm for me!

[Stanfordian]

‘Cremona 2 – Violin Concertos’ – Vivaldi, Telemann & JS Bach
Vivaldi
From set of ‘L'estro armónico’ Op. 3. – 4 concerti for 4 violins, 2 violas, cello & continuo:
Concerto No. 1 in D major, RV 549 (Op. 3/1)
Concerto No. 4 in E minor, RV 550 (Op. 3/4)
Concerto No. 7 in F major, RV 567 (Op. 3/7)
Concerto No. 11 in B minor, RV 580 (Op. 3/11)
Telemann
Concerto in A major for 4 solo violins, strings & continuo, TWV 54:A1
1 concerto from set of ‘Musique de table’:
Concerto in F major for 3 violins, strings & continuo, TWV 53:F1
JS Bach
Concerto in C major for 3 solo violins, strings & continuo, after BWV 1064
(Reconstructed by Reinhard Goebel)
Berliner Barock Solisten / Reinhard Goebel (direction)
Recorded 2024, Telex Studio, Lichterfelde, Berlin
Hänssler Classic, CD

[Ian Thumwood]

I just find all the heart-on-sleeve emoting tiresome

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I think that Tchaikovsky is typical of one of those composers who were popular at the end of 19th century who now seem overblown . I find alot of the music from this era to be sickly sweet but would concur that the Russian does get singled out.

There is a swathe of composers from this era that i rarely listen to due to the perceived over ripe nature of the music. I can see why Victorian audiences would have lapped this up but always think of them.as populist and not serious composers. Easy to see why Stravinsky,, serialism and Impressionism needed to clear the air with the sentimental music that tarnished late 19th century music. In my opinion Romanticism and Nationalism distracted from the business of creating music.

[Sir Velo]

Oh dear!

[smittims]

Well, you know, viteuil, as time goes by I don't think that's so. He sounds more classical to me as I go on listening. The fifth symphony, for instance, my favourite, is very much about order and proportion. Maybe it's a matter of listening to the music as music rather than as a soundtrack to a biography. I was thinking that this morning listening to Shostakovitch 10 (Philadelphia/Jansons). In the end , you see, I get more fun out of it than you, just as many others get more fun out of Country-n-Western than I do ! .

[vinteuil]

In the end , you see, I get more fun out of it than you...

o, people get fun out of many things. I am happy getting pleasure out of the things I like, and recognizing that there are very many things I don't like at all.

I don't have a sweet tooth, for example


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[Pulcinella]

Well, you know, viteuil, as time goes by I don't think that's so. He sounds more classical to me as I go on listening. The fifth symphony, for instance, my favourite, is very much about order and proportion. Maybe it's a matter of listening to the music as music rather than as a soundtrack to a biography. I was thinking that this morning listening to Shostakovitch 10 (Philadelphia/Jansons). In the end , you see, I get more fun out of it than you, just as many others get more fun out of Country-n-Western than I do ! .

That's lined up for later here, but because of its coupling, Mussorgsky's Songs and dances of death, which featured in last night's R3 concert (though in a different orchestration).

[Mario]

I’ll probably upset people here, especially as I’ve done my fair share of upsetting people on this forum (unintentionally, I hasten to add).

There really are bigger (and more important) things to worry about, than whether Tchaikovsky is sugary or not (the poor chap!).

I’m not a moderator. I think it’s sad that two forum members, both of whom I have the very greatest respect for, and from whom I have learnt much, are at odds. I myself have deleted my own post on this very point, lest it be considered inflammatory.

None of my business of course, and who am I to erm, “moderate”? Delusions of power? Me? Never!

But as I said above, there are bigger things to worry about (like those damn tariffs, for one thing).

The very best wishes to both of you (and as Dick Emery might have said, "I love you all!").

[vinteuil]

I don't think you should worry that different people here have different musical tastes and express their opinions accordingly.

Not everyone likes Bruckner, and that won't change.

I mean, there are some here who (to my amazement) don't like Lefébure-Wély!

[Mario]

Your wish is my command, sir!


LEFÉBURE-WÉLY


Sortie in Eb Maj

Denes Kapitany
(on youtube)

[vinteuil]

... I am not always to be taken seriously.

Lefébure-Wély is certainly not to be taken seriously : Rossini said to him (I think affectionately) -
"You are admired more for your faults than your virtues"

[pastoralguy]

Benjamin Britten. Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo. Op.22

Philip Langridge, tenor. Steuart Bedford, piano.

[smittims]

I know how you feel, Mario (or I think I do). Feelings tend to run high when personal tastes differ. But (as I think we've hinted before) I think there is a difference between

'I just don't like X's music' and

'You're stupid if you do. Thankfully my taste is superior..(etc)' ... however much the latter is implied rather than stated.

I well recall a man about 50 years ago who got quite heated when I said how much I loved Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto and he tried to convince me that it is rubbish. I've heard so much of that sort of thing I just let it wash over me; after all, I was Schoenberg devotee when there were still plenty of people who said 'it's not music!'

A good corrective is reading Hans Keller's analysis of Tchaikovsky's fourth symphony in the old Penguin symphony symposium, and remembering that it was Stravinsky who said 'Tchaikovsky had the greatest talent of all Russian composers. He was my childhood hero.'

[Petrushka]

I know how you feel, Mario (or I think I do). Feelings tend to run high when personal tastes differ. But (as I think we've hinted before) I think there is a difference between

'I just don't like X's music' and

'You're stupid if you do. Thankfully my taste is superior..(etc)' ... however much the latter is implied rather than stated.

I well recall a man about 50 years ago who got quite heated when I said how much I loved Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto and he tried to convince me that it is rubbish. I've heard so much of that sort of thing I just let it wash over me; after all, I was Schoenberg devotee when there were still plenty of people who said 'it's not music!'

A good corrective is reading Hans Keller's analysis of Tchaikovsky's fourth symphony in the old Penguin symphony symposium, and remembering that it was Stravinsky who said 'Tchaikovsky had the greatest talent of all Russian composers. He was my childhood hero.'

Well said, smittims!

[vinteuil]

I think there is a difference between

'I just don't like X's music' and

'You're stupid if you do. Thankfully my taste is superior..(etc)' ... however much the latter is implied rather than stated.

I well recall a man about 50 years ago who got quite heated when I said how much I loved Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto and he tried to convince me that it is rubbish. I've heard so much of that sort of thing I just let it wash over me; after all, I was Schoenberg devotee when there were still plenty of people who said 'it's not music!'

A good corrective is reading Hans Keller's analysis of Tchaikovsky's fourth symphony in the old Penguin symphony symposium, and remembering that it was Stravinsky who said 'Tchaikovsky had the greatest talent of all Russian composers. He was my childhood hero.'

... some might read smittims's last two paras as implying smittims's 'superior taste'






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