December 21, 2009 - Classical music has a long and distinguished history in Australia, from the eccentric composer Percy Grainger to opera diva Joan Sutherland to the guests for this Tiny Desk concert: members of the Australian Chamber Orchestra.
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In this performance, Tognetti, his 1743 Guarneri del Gesu violin and an abbreviated version of the orchestra (five players) huddle around Bob Boilen's desk to prove they can really mix it up.
After a dynamic rendition of the opening movement from Maurice Ravel's String Quartet, Tognetti takes the spotlight in his own arrangement of Ravel's version of the traditional Kaddisch. That seamlessly slides into the song "Oasis," featuring the composer Joseph Tawadros on the Egyptian oud (lute) and his brother James with percussion. It all adds up to a stirring tribute to the unpredictability and vitality of classical music itself.
For those of us getting very tired of Christmas music, Carl Orff's Carmina Burana in its' entirety by a California youth orchestra and chorus -- an excellent performance and I'm amazed. One usually sees this hit concert halls at Easter, which is extremely funny, since the songs are actually based on poetry written by defrocked monks in the Middle Ages, and it's really about their hedonistic life after leaving the church!
I saw it with the original ballet performance by the Seattle Ballet at Segerstrom Center in Costa Mesa Center for the Performing Arts several years ago. The ballet is quite sensuous and sexually charged, much more than just the score.
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coluber2001
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Tue 26 Jan, 2010 02:46 pm
Mahler's 8th symphony by conducted Eschenbach.
This is the ultimate Mahler. This is Mahler's greatest acheivement, his apotheosis; he has reached transcendence. And the soloists know it, know that they are taking part in the highest art acheivement possible, and they are manifesting that art superbly. This is the consummate performance, and one wonders why it isn't available on DVD.
The sixth symphony appears to be almost autobiographical and it, indeed, does end in a terribly depressed, truncated way; it sort of loses its will to continue instead of resolving. Albeit, the rest of the symphony is wonderful and even cheerful and optimistic at times.
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coluber2001
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Fri 29 Jan, 2010 11:56 am
@Lightwizard,
Quote:
I'm embarrassed to tell you how many recordings of the orchestral "Pictures" I have but my favorite is still the old RCA Living Presence Reiner/Chicago Symphony which was the first LP version I ever bought. The sound on the DVD, uncompressed from the original tapes, is incredible.
Rossini's "La Centrola" is this Sunday's Great Performances at the Met and I'm enjoying it right now.
I watched La Cenerentola also, with Garanca and Brownlee. It was the first performance of this opera I've seen, and I was overwhelmed by it. It's hilarious as only Rossini can be, and I will be buying the DVD when it comes out.
Mussorgski's "Pictures" on the other hand I only enjoy for piano anymore. Ravel may have done Mussorgsky a favor by popularizing the work with orchestration, but he did him a disservice by the same token.
The Organ Concerto might be my favorite Poulenc piece of 'em all. It's the anomalous work in his output... much chillier than the rollicking Concerto for Two Pianos (<--with Poulenc himself performing!). Put the two together, so to speak, and you get the warm but wistful Piano Concerto.
The perfect way to start the morning! Thanks for sharing.
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InfraBlue
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Wed 3 Feb, 2010 10:22 am
Can anyone recomend a particulary good recording or two of Brahms' second symphony?
The finest recording I believe is only available in a set of all four with the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt on Teldec (divided into all four, the least expensive way to get No. 2). This is also the set the 2010 Gramophone Classical Music Guide recommends. The only availability right now at a reasonable price is used at Amazon:
At a little over 8 bucks per symphony, a real bargain, as there are some new copies at over $ 65.00.
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Shapeless
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Wed 3 Feb, 2010 12:39 pm
@InfraBlue,
I'm partial to George Szell's Sony recording (also available as a box set with the other three symphonies).
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InfraBlue
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Wed 3 Feb, 2010 12:47 pm
Thanks guys, I'll look into both recordings.
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JPB
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Mon 14 Jun, 2010 10:16 am
It's been ages since I've posted on this thread. I've notice a couple of the new philoforum folk mention a love of classical music so I'll bump this up with Zimerman playing Chopin's first ballad.
Had a bit of cognitive insight concerning this one today
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Shapeless
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Mon 14 Jun, 2010 12:06 pm
Thanks for reviving the thread, JPB.
Here's a charming confection from Milhaud: the third movement of his Scaramouche for 2 Pianos.
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joefromchicago
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Mon 14 Jun, 2010 01:08 pm
For flag day:
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JPB
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Tue 15 Jun, 2010 10:03 am
Thank you all! Sorry I didn't get back to you yesterday... life kinda got in the way of computer time.
Letty -- Schumann's Traumerei is indeed beautiful.
Shapeless -- Thank you!!! Lovely. And you can certainly feel the Brazilian tempo.
Thanks, joe! I feel like a patriot through and through.
Here's Mozart's Kaleidoscope (Rondo alla Turka) for no particular reason other than I like the video.
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Shapeless
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Tue 15 Jun, 2010 10:12 am
I may have posted this before, but here's the lullaby-like second movement of Prokofieff's Second Violin Concerto. A little heavy on the portamento in this recording but still lovely.
I just noticed that Lutosławski's Concerto for Orchestra is on the June 30th program for the Grant Park music festival. Here's the first movement.
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Khethil
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Tue 15 Jun, 2010 01:49 pm
Hey all,
Very nice to see some classical music fans here. Personally I'm nutso over baroque these days. So to share something good I've come across lately, this one I stumbled across a couple of weeks ago. This particular performance isn't the best (the more recent release by David Oistrakh, Igor Oistrakh & Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is much better). Even so, here it is:
I'm not quite sure how to embed this here, so here's the URL: Click
