Classical Music Thread

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Schumann's Waldszenen (Forest Scenes) are somewhat under-rated. This set of character pieces speak to me better than his more famous fare, perhaps because it is free from Schumann's usual solipsistic references, like that Eusebius/Florestan nonsense.

 
MGV (Musique à Grand Vitesse) is my favorite piece by Michael Nyman. Scored for orchestra and his own "Michael Nyman Band" and written for the inauguration of France's high-speed railway, the piece consists of five movements, or "regions", the first four of which are constructed around the fragments of a theme that only reveals itself in its entirety in the "5th region". So, by posting this final "region" I'm giving the game away:

 
Positron said:
MGV (Musique à Grand Vitesse) is my favorite piece by Michael Nyman. Scored for orchestra and his own "Michael Nyman Band" and written for the inauguration of France's high-speed railway, the piece consists of five movements, or "regions", the first four of which are constructed around the fragments of a theme that only reveals itself in its entirety in the "5th region". So, by posting this final "region" I'm giving the game away:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=IOrD-OPgCMA
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I didn't know this guy did longer work. I've mainly heard him in his film scores. Like Gattaca.

 
I have trouble sleeping in silence, so I almost always have some kind of music in the background. Scheherazade is my favourite at the minute, but I'm also very fond of Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake arrangement.
 
Violinist Gidon Kremer has been promoting composers of the former Soviet Union, especially Alfred Schnittke and Giya Kancheli. Compared to the works of these two, those of the Lativian composer Georgs Pelēcis seem to inhabit a much less tortuous and more idyllic realm. Nevertheless, for violin, piano and string orchestra, is tuneful and unassuming, almost like film music, tracing an emotional trajectory from calm repose and wistful reminiscence to bright-eyed joy.

 
Just heard these Renaissance Dances transcribed for Saxophone and Accordion in a concert. Here are the old-instrument versions:


 
Fareal said:
Ahhh, I misunderstood. I entirely agree, the plot [of Tristan und Isolde] is bollocks but the score is monumental. To be fair, we can probably say this about a number of other operas. I recently sat through Pelleas et Melisande and despite lovely performances, I was pissed off with every character by the end of the first act and glad they were dying by the end.
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I've given up trying to make sense of Pelléas et Mélisande, and instead sees it as a emotional journey of Golaud, the only character that matters in this opera. People tend to characterize old Arkel as the wise one -- he's old, he's blind, and he doesn't involve himself in the affairs, but I think Golaud, despite his frequent fits of anger and jealously, manages to put his finger to the whole affair: Pelléas and Mélisande are mentally children, and it is their childish, self-centered behavior that brought their destruction and Golaud's torment.

Fareal said:
I do wonder if I would enjoy some operas more if the supertitle had never been invented. I would be less aware that the plot is frequently bollocks and the characters frequently hideous. (Special shout out to Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly here)
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Pinkerton and Butterfly, like Pelléas and Mélisande, are mentally children. It is not to say that their love lacks sincerity -- but the sincerity doesn't last beyond Act I, and at any rate theirs is a self-serving sort of love. Pinkerton loves Butterfly because, well, it is convenient, and I suspect Butterfly clings on to Pinkerton not because of the man himself, but what he symbolizes -- freedom. I'm much more sympathetic to the plight of Suzuki, who, like Cassandra in Greek myth, sees the dire situation all too clearly but no one listens to her.
 
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Positron said:
I've given up trying to make sense of Pelléas et Mélisande, and instead sees it as a emotional journey of Golaud, the only character that matters in this opera. People tend to characterize old Arkel as the wise one -- he's old, he's blind, and he doesn't involve himself in the affairs, but I think Golaud, despite his frequent fits of anger and jealously, manages to put his finger to the whole affair: Pelléas and Mélisande are mentally children, and it is their childish, self-centered behavior that brought their destruction and Golaud's torment.
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Do you have any familiarity with the original play, or anything else Maurice Maeterlinck ever wrote?
 
Steamboat_Bill said:
Do you have any familiarity with the original play, or anything else Maurice Maeterlinck ever wrote?
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No, I just know another opera he provided the libretto for: Dukas's Ariane et Barbe-bleue (hehe) which is very well scored and very funny. And how can I not like the ending, with Bluebeard's wives cuddling him, and the feminist and probable lesbian Ariane leaving the castle crestfallen?

The part when Ariane uses each of Bluebeard's keys, and finds behind each door a torrent of gems of a different color, shows how incredibly resourceful Dukas's orchestration is:

 
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Positron said:
No, I just know another opera he provided the libretto for: Dukas's Ariane et Barbe-bleue (hehe) which is very well scored and very funny. And how can I not like the ending, with Bluebeard's wives cuddling him, and the feminist and probable lesbian Ariane leaving the castle crestfallen?

The part when Ariane uses each of Bluebeard's keys, and finds behind each door a torrent of gems of a different color, shows how incredibly resourceful Dukas's orchestration is:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=id=UYRC5Y9k5jc;m=14;s=30
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Well, Maeterlinck was a symbolist. I've read the original play and, well, its characters are people who basically submit to their fates and don't really protest about it. And I think that applies to the opera as well - I think much of Maeterlinck's text is used as the libretto.

Maeterlinck was once a big name in his day, but nowadays, aside from his works that have been turned into operas the only work of his anyone would even know is his children's play, The Blue Bird, which I think may have been turned into an opera as well. (It has definitely been done as a Hollywood musical, twice, and both were awful.)
 
Fareal said:
Did you see Bourne's Swan Lake? What did you think of it? I saw it and ....eh. The choreography is fantastic, but it turns out I have very traditional tastes in ballet :'(
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I've seen it twice! I'm also very fond of traditional ballet, but something about Matthew Bourne's work really appeals to me.
 
admiral said:
I've seen it twice! I'm also very fond of traditional ballet, but something about Matthew Bourne's work really appeals to me.
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I'm going to see his Red Shoes production this summer. I'm really looking forward to it. I liked his Sleeping Beauty a lot, and I'm sad not to have seen his Edward Scissorhands.

Re Swan Lake: Having seen Scottish Ballet's tutu-free production subsequently to the Bourne one, I have unfortunately concluded I must insist on tutus :-/ tfw when you never realised you were THAT into costumes?
 
OK Sweden is very much in the news today, but unfortunately Swedish composers are not as well known as those from their neighboring countries like Finland, Norway, or even Denmark. Swedish music was very German-influenced in the Romantic period, but in the 20 century there have been a number of individual voices. Anders Eliasson said he had heard music in his head since he was a young child, went into music school but found the avant-garde autocracy insufferable. In the end he develops an individual form of modal music. His Symphony No.4 is typical of his style.


People tend to describe his work as "developing organically", which I suspect is the polite way of saying "lacking long-range organization". Nevertheless the music is inviting enough and there is plenty of bar-to-bar tension. I'm hard pressed to come up someone similar; a less chromatic Scriabin is the closest I got.
 
Is minimalism even considered classical? If so, Estonia has best classicist.


I was also kind of surprised to go back and see @Hat loves Shostakovich, of all composers.
 
Belgian composer Wim Mertens tend not to be on the list of "contemporary classical" composers, perhaps because he works outside the academia/ art commission circuit, preferring to release finished recordings. But stylistically, he has much in common with baroque-influenced European minimalist composers like Michael Nyman. As far as I know Mertens has three principle styles: minimalist composition for large chamber ensembles (his most interesting style); piano improvisations with his own countertenor voice (not my favorite); and long chamber-music cycles, often with unusual instrument combos, spanning multiple discs (boring). Hedgehog's Skin is a lovely piece that is typical of his "minimalist" style:

 
Loving Max Richter's stuff right now.

also randomly discovered this . Definitly my workout/hero music now.

 
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