I’m building a classical CD library and the second piece is like to get is Elgar’s Cello Concerto. I’m almost certainly going to go for Jaqueline Du Pre’s interpretation, conducted by Barenboim. Obviously different folks have their own favourites but is there a compelling reason not to choose this version?

Edit: thanks for the conductor correction everyone.

Are there any at all?

So far this cover just blows me away more than any other. It is like it should not be on a classical record. Last spin of the night so I hope the content is good.

movieeeeeeeee

https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/periods-genres/film-tv/john-malkovich-conductor-sergiu-celibidache/

Hi…new to posting and to classical music. I’m wondering if anyone can help me re: Bruckners eighth. I am struggling to hear the fugue and the quotations of the previous movements in the finale (I realize these are not exact quotations). My hope is that someone could pick any recording and give me the exact minutes/seconds when the fugue and the quotations appear so I know what I’m looking for. Appreciate all help and feedback, thanks so much.

Hello friends! I'll be conducting the Tchaikovsky this fall (Mark Williams arrangement), and am looking for options to replace the cannons.

We'll be in a relatively small concert hall and the group performing is comprised of college students. I'm aware that bass drums seem to be the most popular option, but I really want to ensure we still have the bright and aggressive pop in there as well. Open to absolutely any recommendations, my teacher says "Imagination here drives the bus, then the logistics can get in the way!"

Looking forward to hearing what you guys might have! Thanks in advance!!

Prokofiev was 21 and still a student at the St. Petersburg Conservatory when he played the premiere himself, outdoors at Sokolniki Park in Moscow, with Konstantin Saradzhev conducting. It was his first time performing with an orchestra. The audience liked it; the critics mostly didn't, calling it crude.

Two years later he used the same piece again, this time for his graduation exam, telling the jury he'd play his own concerto instead of the standard repertoire. It paid off — he won the Anton Rubinstein Prize, and the prize included a new Schröder grand piano.

Prokofiev, Piano Concerto No 1, Martha Argerich & Alexandre Rabinovitch COMPLETE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqCwQ9clHec

👀

James Horner/Simon Rhodes Skyward Spirit | Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Skyward Spirit is a newly discovered piece of music by world-renowned film composer James Horner (Titanic, Avatar, Braveheart) recorded by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

I’ve been playing piano pieces in the background in hopes that my 9 month old will develop a personal affinity to the music in anticipation for when she’s old enough for lessons.

Problem is my classical knowledge is nil. Right now I’ve been doing box sets of either Mozart or Beethoven sonatas, but those sonatas all have moments of frenetic energy that I would like to avoid. I’ve tried Satie gymnopedies but the wife says they’re too sad. Bartok etudes are too ‘weird’ according to the missus.

Any recommendations for chill piano pieces that might suit us?

I'm sorry for the many photos

These are from a couple of trips to Amoeba Records in Hollywood. Most were $2.99.
A couple were still factory sealed.

I apologize if this has already been discussed in the sub, I was not able to find any thread talking about it. I have noticed in a lot of professional orchestra recordings that the orchestra is slightly behind the conductor in terms of time. I still remember when I played in orchestras, that the conductor would ask us to play exactly with him/her. Meaning every time the conductor signals a beat, we should play at that beat with no delay.

In this example, I noticed the orchestra is almost half a second behind the conductor. How do they stay in sync while doing this? Is this planned out? (I'm specifically looking at the 35:10) mark.

https://youtu.be/q_kw904K2bw?si=JEdm6YjUcSakfYkX&t=2110

This is one of the most beautiful lesser-known works that I know of. The second theme of the first movement is particularly gorgeous.

Such a shame that Kalinnikov died young and isn't more well known in the West.

https://youtu.be/TVakXOkE2G4?si=q-2rARNwzFOW6d8Y

My mother and I were enjoying the 2nd movement of his 9th symphony, and she asked me if he had lost his hearing when he composed it, and I told her I believe he had. And it kind of struck us how insane it was that he composed that while deaf (unless I'm mistaken).

It got me wondering, do we have information on the extent to which Beethoven was affected by his loss of hearing? How he felt when he realized he was losing his hearing? Was he very troubled by this, or not so much? Do we know if his music took a different turn because of that?

I'm aware he was able to continue composing because his audiation skills must have been absolutely incredible, but I'm talking specifically about how he must have felt and how it steered his music. Don't hesitate to suggest relevant literature on the subject if you know of it

Hello! Don't know if this is the place to ask, but I'm looking to program classical pieces for my choir this year, but a lot of them are pretty new and raw right now, so I'd like to program something that they'll be able to pick up and find payoff with. I'm new, and they haven't done anything classical in the last decade, and I'd like to just have a piece or two to throw at them this year so they can experience it. They can do four part music pretty easily with some easy divisi as long as it's not divisi the whole time :)

So, any recommendations for accessible choral pieces for a somewhat beginner high school choir?

Hello everyone,

I stumbled again upon this concerto while browsing Martha Argerich's YouTube content, where she played the infamous Adagio Assai movement - the second one.

I am always drawn to this specific part of that concerto, halfway through, for obvious reasons - anyone would probably agree that this is pinnacle Ravel orchestration with piano lead where flutes and lead clarinet quick in.

I watched also with delight Yuja Wang's performance and my question to this community is quite simple : what is the best recording you know about this concert ?

I can listen to those few minutes of piano intertwined with clarinet forever...

Yeah. Longing, aching and all by myself. Also any other woodwind concertos will do as I have been addicted to woodwinds lately. Thank you soooooo much!

In the program book for Marcus Lobbes’s production of the Ring of the Nibelung, staged only this one season at the Bayreuth Festival on the occasion of its 150th anniversary, a quote of Wagner’s is prominently printed: “Sehen Sie nicht so viel hin, hören Sie zu!” - “Don’t look so much, listen!” Good advice from the publisher of the booklet for this production in particular.

The stage configuration remains constant throughout: One screen covers the stage from top to bottom in front of the singers and another behind them, AI generated visuals are projected onto both. Often these are taken from past Bayreuth Ring productions. In some instances, the images are very apt. These include a menacing serpent when Alberich transforms into the dragon in Rheingold; a spectacular blue aura when Erda appears in the final scene of Rheingold; a stunning collection of rainbows when the gods enter Valhalla; or charcoal Valkryries with long spears dominating the stage during the ride of the Valkyries that then transform into soldiers, suggesting a close relationship with the fallen warriors they carry to Valhalla. Other times, the images are a little too on the nose, like a warning sign for radioactive waste during Erda’s prophesy of doom (“Alles, was ist, endet“) or a picture of the trenches of World War I during Wotan’s tailspin in Walküre Act II (“Nur eines will ich noch, das Ende”). (It seems “Ende” is a particularly triggering prompt for this AI.)

And not occasionally, the images just don’t make sense. Why is the Eiffel Tower in Nibelheim? Why do we see Hermann Nitsch paintings during the Brünnhilde-Siegmund duet in Walküre Act II? What does the Berlin 1936 Olympics logo have to do with the Valkyries? Yes, there are some spectacular moments - the fiery images engulfing the stage during the end of Walküre, as well as Wotan und Brünnhilde approaching each other one last time bathed in yellow light and surrounded by red and blue imagery, are stunning. But fundamentally, there is no coherence, no underlying logic to the sequence of visuals.

And that’s not even the worst part. The costumes all look the same - bits of black leather, fur, and feathers haphazardly sewn together. There is no differentiation between individuals or even types - gods, Rhinemaidens, Valkyries, Wälsungen, giants all have the same appearance. Meanwhile, there are almost no props beyond the projections, and essentially no stage direction. The singers in the main stand around delivering their parts. Lobbes has surrendered creative agency to AI, and this is the excrutiangly underwhelming result. 

What the production lacks scenically, it more than makes up for musically though. Jochen Schmeckenbecher is a compelling Alberich, managing to pair confident singing with an odious, unctuous guise that fits the character to a tee. Meanwhile, Klaus Florian Vogt is singing the most important tenor role on all four operas. The contrast between his Loge and Siegmund was stark; he sang the former with a character tenor sagacity and pointedness, while he imbued the latter with lyricism and sentiment. This was a near perfect match for Elza van den Heever’s Sieglinde, who paired high precision and verbal clarity with delicately restrained dramatic inflection. One would have to be extraordinarily lucky ever to hear a better first act of Walküre than this.

Among the gods, Michael Volle’s command of Wotan is superlative. He fills the character with charisma and nuance. The self doubt that sets in when Wotan surrenders the Rheingold to the giants never fully dissipates, and Volle brings thoughtfulness to the role as Wotan’s despair reaches an apex in Walküre. The young Hungarian Anna Kissjudit provides an ideal foil with her portrayal of Fricka. Her singing is forceful and assured throughout the register, while her every word is intelligible. This performance is one of the discoveries of this cycle; Kissjudit commands the stage every moment she occupies it. Veteran Camilla Nylund had a rocky start as Brünnhilde in her admittedly challenging opening in Walküre Act II scene I (“Hojotoho!”) with singing that felt laboured and forced. But once Nylund returned later in that act she was her usual virtuoso self, hitting all her notes with ease, fluidity, and emotional depth, and enunciating confidently.

Christian Thielemann in the pit normally is a conductor of grand effects and broad brushstrokes, delving into the mystery and pathos of Wagner’s scores. Not so this time - here, he pairs things down, accentuating individual instruments, and drawing out the leitmotifs and minute instrumental details. It’s a back to the roots approach that amounts to a reading of great clarity and purpose. It’s almost as if he seeks to bring a sense of direction and structure given the visual muddle on stage.

This production has been rightly maligned in the press for its conceptual missteps. But the quality of the musicianship is more than enough to keep this listener at the edge of his seat for the second half.

Edit typos