Classical Music.

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Classical Music.

Post by Gawdzilla Sama » Wed Jul 22, 2009 11:37 am

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Re: Classical Music.

Post by Hermit » Mon Jul 27, 2009 2:02 pm

My favourite composer is Johann Sebastian Bach. Sometimes I'd take the phone off the hook, put on, say, one of his harpsichord and string concertos, switch off the lights and let myself be transported, especially by the Adagio in BWV 1052 or its re orchestrated variation (BWV 1043). Walter Wendy Carlos did some wonderful transcriptions of some of Bach's works, especially the Toccata and Fugue in D minor (of which Leopold Stokowski also made a ripper of a version). Recently I have come across some more of his vocal music too while looking for the Coffee Cantata, which is quite amusing if you understand German.

Of course Bach's is not the only music I enjoy, but with some exceptions (Frederic Chopin's first piano concerto (which is actually his second) and his Études being two of them), I am not overly keen on 19th century stuff. The massive works of Bruckner and Mahler (I do like the Scherzo, though) leave me unmoved, Wagner bores me almost to tears, and I positively abhor the creations of the first two Strausses. I prefer to reach back to Dowland, Biber, Arcangelo Corelli, Telemann and of course the Red Priest (of whom one wit said that it is untrue that he composed a thousand concertos, that, rather, he wrote one, then copied it 999 times.) and so forth.

Now I am keeping an eye out for more vocal, particularly choral music. The problem with that is (as is the case with classical music generally) that unless you are content with "The Greatest Hits of Mozart", "The Best of Handel" and "Favourite Waltzes and Polkas" ( :|~ ), they are fucking expensive. Unlike "classic" pop or rock acts you just do not find them in the ten buck range. There's a lovely shop on Rundle Mall, Adelaide. I found some discs with music that I had been looking for for some time, only to put them back when I noticed their price tag. 35-45 dollars is beyond my budget.


I don't know why I wrote all this. It was meant to be a bunch of recommendations, but just because I like this stuff it does not follow that you will. O well :shrug:
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Re: Classical Music.

Post by DRSB » Fri Mar 08, 2019 3:53 pm


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Re: Classical Music.

Post by Brian Peacock » Sat Mar 09, 2019 2:06 am



The original video essay can be found here.
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Clinton Huxley » 21 Jun 2012 » 14:10:36 GMT
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Re: Classical Music.

Post by DRSB » Sat Mar 09, 2019 6:05 am

I have this course, very interesting, even though I don't understand enough of either music or maths.

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Re: Classical Music.

Post by Brian Peacock » Sat Mar 09, 2019 10:40 am

Rationalia relies on voluntary donations. There is no obligation of course, but if you value this place and want to see it continue please consider making a small donation towards the forum's running costs.
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"It isn't necessary to imagine the world ending in fire or ice.
There are two other possibilities: one is paperwork, and the other is nostalgia."

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"This is how humanity ends; bickering over the irrelevant."
Clinton Huxley » 21 Jun 2012 » 14:10:36 GMT
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Re: Classical Music.

Post by DRSB » Sat Mar 23, 2019 8:09 pm

Did you know Prokofiev was gay? Because I didn't. About Tchaikovsky there is no doubt though.

Prokofiev in bed with Nikolas Nabokov.
Prokofiev Nikolas Nabokov.jpg

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Re: Classical Music.

Post by Tero » Sun Mar 24, 2019 11:36 am

How I got into collecting baroque music. Many people start with the Brandenburg concertos. I started with this. The piece is three parts, but this was the only one with the right tempo. I still have the LP I bought in high school.
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Re: Classical Music.

Post by Hermit » Sun Mar 24, 2019 2:46 pm

I got into listening to old music via the AFN (American Forces Network) when I was somewhere between eight and ten years old. (One of its radio stations was located in Frankfurt/a.M., barely 30 kilometres north from where I lived, so signal quality was excellent. All mono, of course.) This was a bit ironic because I listened to that station because all the others broadcast horrible, contemporary middle-of-the-road stuff. Only AFN had great modern music, a rock 'n' roll program for an hour each week. Bill Haley, Elvis Presley (before he lost his heart in Heidelberg), and so on.

The thing with the AFN was that it had a call sign, which it played frequently. It only lasted a few seconds, but I loved it because I quickly came to associate it with listening to music I liked to hear. One day I asked my parents if they knew what song this call sign was part of. They did. It turned out to be a couple of bars from Beethoven's violin concerto, and my parents had a record of it on vinyl. I listened to that, and couldn't discover where those two or three bars were. So I listened again, more attentively this time. Missed it again. How could this be? Something so beautiful, yet so hard to find?

I gave up, but this bugged me. A few days later I tried again while everybody else was doing other things elsewhere. I listened even more attentively. WTF? It was right there, not two minutes from the start! How did i miss it? Well, it was disguised as an orchestral piece. AFN's version was just monotone. Then I discovered that it was almost everywhere in some shape or form - transposed, upside down, back to front and in so many other variations - and all of it was beautiful.

So, what other joys were hidden among my parents' LPs? I explored what turned out to be something akin to Aladdin's cave...
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops. - Stephen J. Gould

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Re: Classical Music.

Post by DRSB » Sun Mar 24, 2019 3:29 pm

Which concerto was it?

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Re: Classical Music.

Post by Hermit » Sun Mar 24, 2019 4:21 pm

DRSB wrote:
Sun Mar 24, 2019 3:29 pm
Which concerto was it?
Hermit wrote:
Sun Mar 24, 2019 2:46 pm
It turned out to be a couple of bars from Beethoven's violin concerto
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops. - Stephen J. Gould

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Re: Classical Music.

Post by DRSB » Sun Mar 24, 2019 4:26 pm

He has only one violin concerto?

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Re: Classical Music.

Post by Hermit » Sun Mar 24, 2019 4:41 pm

DRSB wrote:
Sun Mar 24, 2019 4:26 pm
He has only one violin concerto?
Yes. As do Tchaikovsky, Brahms and Sibelius. Many well known composers wrote none at all. More's the pity.
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops. - Stephen J. Gould

devogue

Re: Classical Music.

Post by devogue » Sun Mar 24, 2019 7:01 pm

Brian Peacock wrote:
Sat Mar 09, 2019 10:40 am
That's astoundingly brilliant. Thanks Brian.

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Re: Classical Music.

Post by Brian Peacock » Sun Mar 24, 2019 7:59 pm

It is good isn't it? He was drawing heavily on set theory at the time. There's a pretty good Wiki page on it if you're interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_Qu ... 3_(Carter)
Rationalia relies on voluntary donations. There is no obligation of course, but if you value this place and want to see it continue please consider making a small donation towards the forum's running costs.
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"It isn't necessary to imagine the world ending in fire or ice.
There are two other possibilities: one is paperwork, and the other is nostalgia."

Frank Zappa

"This is how humanity ends; bickering over the irrelevant."
Clinton Huxley » 21 Jun 2012 » 14:10:36 GMT
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