At this late hour all I can contribute is my thanks. My younger daughter is a violinist, and we were lucky enough to get front-row seats for a concert with Sarah Chang playing the Bruch violin concerto. Needless to say, it was a real treat.
I'm still holding out hope for my daughter and I playing either the Brahms Third Sonata or Beethovern's Kruetzer Sonata together, but she's concentrating on composition in grad school, so that hope is fading. I'm practicing the piano parts nonetheless.
UC Davis Symphony Orchestra and University and Alumni Chorus.
My younger daughter is playing violin, but is right behind the conductor, so she's hard to see. My older daughter is in the front row of the alto section. Needless to say, we were there.
I'd sung this a few years earlier in Fresno. It's wonderful to sing, but according to my younger daughter, somewhat boring to play.
This was my older daughter's freshman year. She is in the front row of the altos and visible behind the bass soloist, particularly in the later part of the Requiem.
You're a lucky man, John. I hope you get to perform with your daughter, that would be too cool.
My gf and I saw Sarah Chang a couple of years ago perform the Mendelssohn concerto. Paramedics were called into the hall to work on some poor guy. We're not sure if it was the concerto or her gown that did him in. Could have been either. She is not popular with the classical music set. They don't seem to like success for some reason.
Got to meet Vladimir Ashkenazy and Andre Watts many years ago when they participated in a piano recital series in Carmel. Vlato is a diminutive man, shorter by inches than me and I'm 5'7", but his hands were bigger than mine, and as a pianist and piano music composer myself, I salivated in envy when I shook that little man's massive hands.
Andre Watts had long fingers and powerful hands, too, but his handshake was amazingly gentle.
Both pianists played Chopin-only programs, and their individual interpretive styles were quite distinct. Vlato came through in that typical Russian flavor, whereas Watts imbued his Chopin interpretation with a modern flavor, almost a Gershwinesque coloring.
Andre Watts had long fingers and powerful hands, too, but his handshake was amazingly gentle.
I, too, got to shake the hand of Andre Watts, and I agree -- although I think both of us were being restrained because he didn't want to hurt me, and I didn't want to be the guy who ruined the career of Andre Watts!
Because I'm a keyboardist and a vocalist, my recorded music tends to gravitate toward those media. I love baroque, but the real treasures in my collection (all vinyl) cover a broader period: the Schnabel recordings of the 32 Beethoven sonatas, Wanda Landowska and Albert Schweitzer playing Bach, and Rachmaninov playing his own preludes.
I've been lucky enough to see Yefim Bronfman perform Tchaichovsky and Bartok. He's the best I've ever heard live. His encores are even better. He's good with Rachmaninoff, too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh_09qSKNBs
Yeah, Watts' hands were to be envied. I was allowed to attend the post-recital backstage gatherings because the couple who sponsored the series were friends of mine. When I walked up to Andre all I could say as I took his hands in mine -- we grabbed one another's left and right hands -- was "Thank you for keeping THE MUSIC alive."
That was quite a series. Besides Watts and Ashkenazy there was George Bolet (RIP), Nelson Friere, and John O'Conor. Doesn't get much better than that for a piano series.
It was O'Conor who informed me that it was his ancestral countryman John Field who invented the nocturne, not Chopin as a lot of people believe. Of course Chopin took that form to perfection with quantity, but it was an Irishman who invented it.
Ever have the pleasure to see/hear Rudolph Serkin (RIP) perform? I saw him mid-1980s at Davies in SF. My seats were up close so my new bride at the time and I were able to see him mouthing his fingering. His mouth moved in silence the whole time he played.
I've managed to see most of my musical icons perform live -- irrespective of genre -- but the one of all others I never got to see was Vlato Horowitz. He was generally regarded to have been the greatest pianist to have ever lived, and I don't doubt that. His infallible perfection and interpretive genius simply has no peer.
If you want to hear the finest performance of Rach's #3 try to find the recording of Horowitz with Eugene Ormandy conducting the NY Phil. You think the gods have come to earth! Genius stacked upon genius upon genius.
I own several different recordings of Rach #3 by various pianists and orchestras, and if you are in touch with the nuances of interpretation and the precision of rendering, the difference between all the other recordings and that by Vlato screams at you.
That's ironically hilarious given that Vlato was a Russian homosexual Jew!
There is a huge amount of deliberate humor in that statement you quoted. Vlato was a genius of immense magnitude so he would not have been oblivious to the implications of that statement. And in his youth he was known to be quite the flashy party animal. He was the toast of upper society and he played it well.
I believe it was Steinbeck who wrote that the more profound the intellect the more pronounced the paradoxes.
I think of the many delightful evenings I've spent in a hall the single
greatest was a recital by Ashkenazy of a program wholly devoted to Scriabin.
It was like Brubeck arranged by Bach or vice versa. OK, maybe
a little over the top, but that's kinda my take on Scriabin and I'm
stickin' to it. :-)
The Irish master Barry Douglas did a recital of Scriabin Etudes in LA at Ambassador College backwhen their wonderful hall was open to such events. Those pieces are real "knuckle breakers" and he just hit one home run after another.
For Chopin I really like Ivo Pogorellich.
Bach on piano is of course wrong, but if it must be done then Glen Gould did it best.
On harpsichord? Gustav Leonhardt
On Organ? McNeil Robinson
I have really been enjoying Jeno Jando's Beethoven sonatas. New life into old chestnuts.
Speaking of new life into old chestnuts, I'm really starting to like Paul Hindemith. Sort of a 20th Century Bach. Like this fugue (who writes fugues anymore?): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTpAIEp6DUo
My favorite, single movement (info grabbed from Wikipedia) : Ottorino Respighi -- Pines of Rome (Italian Pini di Roma), 4th movement, The Pines of the Appian Way (I pini della Via Appia)... the big crescendo!
And my personal Mt. Everest as a trumpet player and the sole reason I bought a Schilke P5-4 piccolo trumpet years ago (and to make money playing weddings...), Brandenburg Concerto No 2:
I played for a living in NYC until I moved to CA in the early 80's. Went to Manhattan School of Music 1972-76.
That Schilke picollo is the best. I still have a Schilke large bore C trumpet, tuning bell deal made of beryllium alloy. Unlike the beautiful picollo, that thing was designed to deafen everyone in front of you...
Funny, when I arrived in LA there was a big musicians strike on, the best players in town were doing weddings. Yamaha dx7 came out about then too. I saw the writing annd shifted into technical studio work which was a great decision for me.
I played for a living in NYC until I moved to CA in the early 80's. Went to Manhattan School of Music 1972-76.
That Schilke picollo is the best. I still have a Schilke large bore C trumpet, tuning bell deal made of beryllium alloy. Unlike the beautiful picollo, that thing was designed to deafen everyone in front of you...
Funny, when I arrived in LA there was a big musicians strike on, the best players in town were doing weddings. Yamaha dx7 came out about then too. I saw the writing annd shifted into technical studio work which was a great decision for me.
A lot of good trumpet players in LA. It's a bastion for studio players.
I went to HS just outside of the city and played professionally with the local 806 (or was it the 608?). My teacher was a star student with Maruice Andre' at the Paris Conservatory and he was also a studio musician (William Teubner) in NYC. I actually got past my first round audition at Julliard, but started getting cold feet looking down the barrel of a professional music performance career. I saw dads having to do gigs on Friday and Saturday and Sundays. Was pure fun and good money for a 17 year-old, but seemed terrible for a 40-something year-old. And I heard all of the grumblings from these guys.
So I went to a large state school with lots of options with a music performance grant/scholie and matriculated into electrical engineering after the first semester. Sat 2nd chair in the school orchestra as a freshman to senior Jeff Curnow, who is currently 2nd chair in the Philly Orchestra. That pissed off a bunch of people, one of whom ended up playing my wedding :)
Sadly, I don't play as much as I'd like to these days. It is mandated that my three kids play trumpet or move into the playhouse out back. However, they don't appreciate my trumpet playing pedigree and rarely listen to any of my instruction.
I love tuning bell horns. Had a Bach (from when they were good horns) Eb/D with a tuning bell but sold it after finishing my undergrad. The funds helped augment the $55 I had in the bank. I've been toying with the idea of going Yamaha for my next Eb/D...
Went to the Hollywood bowl a couple of times this summer. One was an all Mozart program. Gil Shaham is insane on the violin. It was an excellent evening. The wine was very good.
Oh, and my girlfriend made eye contact and got a wave from the Dude!
I happen to be somewhat eclectic in my musical tastes, and even though I play a bit of trumpet and euphonium I really love piano works. Some of my personal faves: J.S. Bach "Goldberg Variations" as performed by Glenn Gould, and almost all of Beethoven's piano sonatas. Another work I dearly love is ther Pachebel "canon" played on either flute or violin. James Galloway plays it beautifully on flute.
Selfish Man-- I guess it's personal, but I can't tell you how
many times I've played Gould's 1981 recording--I all but wore out
my vinyl copy, and my CD will probably need replacement one of these days--
I think it's incomparable.
I guess she's not very well known in the US as she had never traveled outside her country... Remarkable personality and an amazing artist. She was comrade Stalin's favorite musician, too, which is likely the reason someone with her views could survive at all
Just listened to a striking remembrance about this brilliant pianist- this was my first exposure to him...I'd be very interested in hearing other impressions of his works...
Teo has lots of recordings on You Tube--too many to list here. Yep! I liked the Pilatus PC-6, too. Nothing quite like having 1100 horsepower in a light airplane
Well, so many interesting posts I couldn't resist weighing in. But I would beg to differ about the recordings of some pieces that I personally prefer:
For Bach on the piano, Rosalyn Tureck is far superior to Glenn Gould, much better pacing, sense of the interior of the musical lines, and way better touch; on harpsichord, not so clear but I'm partial to the DGG Ralph Kirkpatrick recordings. On organ, there is no contest: Helmut Walcha; blind since birth or childhood but the definitive Bach organist of the modern era.
For Chopin, the incomparably superior recordings were made by Dinu Lipatti decades ago. He only made a few recordings then up and died on us. Unfortunately the fidelity is not great, but the piano comes through well anyway. Horowitz's former piano teacher said even he should hide his recordings in shame in comparison to Lipatti. That's saying something!
I wonder if the trumpeters who have posted here could express opinion about a remarkable player and recording I heard recently in transit somewhere: Michael Haydn trumpet concerto played by Hakan Hagegard. I was beyond stunned by the gorgeous tone he managed, at soft or at most mezza voce volume level, in incredibly high tessitura in a slow tempo movement. I totally could not believe it. And it did not seem to be some mini trumpet or clarino pitched at D or higher. Sounded like a standard Bb or C trumpet in tone. Beautiful.
JEleazarian, how wonderful to attend these great performances with your daughters performing! Wow. Cool posts. There was another fabulous Verdi Requiem at UC Davis this last fall, Sacramento Chorus (whatever their exact name is). I was hugely impressed. Soloists were excellent too especially the soprano who sang with total abandon and commitment all night, like a 5.12X lead, and pulled it off perfectly.
Be sure you sit down while you read this from "The Economist":
Fiddling with the mind
Old, expensive violins are not always better than new, cheap ones
Jan 7th 2012 | from the print edition
THOUGH individual tastes do differ, the market for art suggests that those who have money generally agree on what is best. The recent authentication of a painting by Leonardo da Vinci, for example, magically added several zeroes to the value of a work that had not, physically, changed in any way. Nor is this mere affectation. In the world of wine (regarded as an art form by at least some connoisseurs), being told the price of a bottle affects a drinker’s appreciation of the liquid in the glass in ways that can be detected by a brain scanner.
It seems, now, that the same phenomenon applies to music. For serious players of stringed instruments the products of three great violin-makers of Cremona, Nicolo Amati, Giuseppe Guarneri and Antonio Stradivari, have ruled the roost since the 17th century. Their sound in the hands of a master is revered. They sell for millions. And no modern imitation, the story goes, comes close. Unfortunately, however, for those experts who think their judgment unclouded by the Cremonese instruments’ reputations, Claudia Fritz of the University of Paris VI and Joseph Curtin, an American violin-maker, have just applied the rigorous standards of science to the matter. Their conclusion, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is that the creations of Cremona are no better than modern instruments, and are sometimes worse.
Unlike previous “blind” trials of violins, in which an instrument’s identity was concealed from the audience but not from the player himself (and which have indeed suggested that modern instruments are often as good as old ones), the one organised by Dr Fritz and Mr Curtin sought to discover the unbiased opinion of the men and women who actually wield the bow. They and their colleagues therefore attended the Eighth International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, held in September 2010, which gathering provided both a sample of testable instruments and a pool of suitable volunteers to play them.
Exactly which instruments were tested remains a secret. That was a condition of the loans, in order that an adverse opinion should not affect a fiddle’s market value. There were, however, six of them: two Stradivarii and a Guarnerius (all from the 18th century), and three modern violins made to Cremonese patterns.
A total of 21 volunteers—participants in the competition, judges and members of the local symphony orchestra—were asked to put the instruments through their paces. The catch was that they had to do so in a darkened room while wearing welders’ goggles, so that they could not see them clearly, and that the chin-rest of each violin had been dabbed with perfume, lest the smell of the wood or the varnish give the game away.
There were two tests: a series of pairwise comparisons between old and new instruments that allowed a player one minute to try out each instrument, and a comparison between all six, in which the player was allowed to play whatever he wanted for however long he wanted, subject to a total time-limit of 20 minutes.
In the pairwise test (in which players were not told that each pair contained both an old and a new instrument, and in which the order of presentation was randomised), five of the violins did more-or-less equally well, but the sixth was consistently rejected. That sixth, unfortunately for the reputation of Cremona, was a Strad.
In the freeplay test, a more subtle approach was possible. Players rated the six instruments using four subjective qualities that are common terms of the violinist’s art: playability, projection, tone colours and response. The best in each category scored one point, the worst minus one, and the rest zero. Players were also asked which violin they would like to take home, given the chance.
In this case, two of the new violins comprehensively beat the old ones, while the third more or less matched them (see chart). The most popular take-home instrument was also a new one: eight of the 21 volunteers chose it, and three others rated it a close second. Not surprisingly, the least popular instrument in the second test was the Stradivarius that did badly in the first.
The upshot was that, from the players’ point of view, the modern violins in the study were as good as, and often better than, their 18th-century forebears. Since Dr Fritz estimates the combined value of the three forebears in her experiment as $10m, and the combined value of the three modern instruments as around $100,000, that is quite a significant observation.
Human nature being what it is, this result will probably have little effect in the saleroom: the glamour of Cremona will take more than one such result to dispel it. But it does suggest that young players who cannot afford a Strad should not despair. If they end up with a cheaper, modern copy instead, they might actually be better off.
Really interesting article, thanks. Unfortunately it's only suggestive, not conclusive. It doesn't mention, for instance, whether the test players used the same bow, their own bow, or what. And bows make a huge difference. Also, as with guitars, the choice of strings and the set-up of the instrument are extremely influential. Chances are that any of the older violins, such as the dud Strad, have had, during the last 300 years, new nuts, new bridges more or less competently cut, new soundposts more or less skillfully set, fingerboards shaved, etc. So the sound and playability of the instruments are just as likely to have been affected by their treatment by previous owners and their luthiers as by the skill of the original builder or the quality of the materials used. Too, all hollow-body stringed instruments seem to benefit from being played rather than stored, and this test, since it had to conceal the provenance, doesn't address the influence, if any, of this circumstance.
Mahler's Symphony #3 with maestro Claudio Abbado conducting the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. No one alive today can interpret Mahler as well as Abbado. If you have a 5.1 set-up, this is a must have:
My gf and I have a subscription to a Casual Fridays series with the LA Phil. We got the cheapest seats possible at Disney Hall, up in the balcony, but they're pretty good seats actually.
Last Friday was Symphony 1 by Gustav Mahler. I'm not much of a critic, but like Supreme Court justices, I know the goods when I hear them. It was captivating, the third movement especially.
The Friday Casual series is casual. The orchestra comes out in street clothes. The program is shortened, and after the concert, you can mingle and drink with the musicians and also there's a question and answer session with the conductor, featured soloist if there is one, and random members of the band.
Dudamel is the real thing. He's crazy about music.
In spite of my distaste for the airport departure area architecture of the Disney Concert Hall lobbies, and the superfluous wedding cakery of its exterior, I will readily admit that the auditorium itself is a masterpiece--not just in terms of its use of materials and acoustics, but in its democratic design. There are no aristocratic private boxes, and there are no bad seats. I've been in the back row of the top balcony and wanted for nothing. This is a testament to some rare vision on the part of the directors of the organization, as are the crossover shows and the hiring of relatively young and untested conductors. Saw Gustavo D. and the SFO play the complete "Firebird" a few years ago. Sensational; one of the best concerts I've ever heard them give--and a free demonstration of incredibly nuanced but unmannered conducting at the same time.
Regarding the item in the Economist, I sent this to my brother who is a violinist and violist and he responded that "Word is that about 20% of Strads are practically playable. The others are compromised by age and modification. I have a 2007 violin that in most concert situations outplays my precious 1818 Thier. The Thier has a much deeper, intricate and more intimate sound, appropriate for smaller audiences. The fresh fiddle kicks butt in a bigger situation."
So, not only are there the issues raised by Urizen, but also the selection of the individual instruments that were used, and the setting - one wonders how the results would compare if they did exactly the same testing in various different rooms and halls? Anyway, unequivocally it would appear that, like even the great wines, a significant proportion of the product is not better after a long period of time, but instead deteriorates into poor playability or drinkability.
+1 on the comments on the Disney Center acoustics and approach.
What's interesting about Disney is while the acoustics for music are great, speech is incredibly garbled in that hall. At the Q + A sessions, it's very difficult to understand what's being said, especially if a heavy accent is involved.
I was fortunate to hear a noted acoustical consultant address this issue in the context of some other performance and worship venues. Basically, as I recall, the ideal reverberation time for sustained sounds like musical instruments or operatic-style vocalizing is different from what is desirable for clearly comprehensible speech. DCH, as an orchestra hall and not a multi-media performance space, was likely optimized for the former.
Gary, better check yer tickets as LA Opera still uses the Dorothy Chandler.
I gave up my season tickets though when opera became de rigueur with LA's
petit bourgeoisie. Apparently they didn't get the memo that talking during
the performance is not considered good manners. And don't get me started
on the velcro bino cases, the thumbing through the program, and the un-stifled coughing.
I heard Brahm's "Academic Festival Overture" for the umpteenth time squared
the other day and it continued to play in my head for days afterwards.
Do I need to seek help? I guess it isn't Brahm's fault though as now I
have Rameau looping. Oh well, at least it isn't Lady Gaga.
I happen to like the Academic Festival Overture, even though Brahms wrote it as something of a joke; it's primarily German University drinking songs nicely orchestrated!
Check out KQMC out of Hawthorne Nevada...Top 40 classical with this fruit cake DJ named the Captain...The music is very good and the Captain is a total crack up...I can only get reception from Navy Beach on Mono Lake...RJ
Now a disclaimer: My dad loved classical. He listened to it every chance he got. He especially loved opera. I, on the other hand, was a child of the 60's and early 70's. Airplane, CSNY, the Dead, Hendrix, Byrds, Eagles, etc. - those were where my tastes settled. I turned off that classical every chsance I got. Dad died before I matured enough to understand classical music. I missed out on a chance to share something truly wonderful.
Fast forward 30 years: My children are musicians. They all play piano. One also plays guitar and a bit of sax; another plays viola, the last plays violin, bass violin, electric bass, guitar, and anything else he can get his hands on.
I've been fortunate enough to see one of my children play at Carnegie Hall. Last month I saw the youngest (14 year old) play at Disney Hall. I marvel at he sound in those great halls, perfect for music, but terrible for the spoken word.
I have to thank Patty Scialfa for my love and understanding of classical music. She covered a country song that opened my eyes and ears to understand classical. It was a roundabout trip, but worth it!!!
You guys have to check out the Berlin Philharmonic's "Digital Concert Hall." Their website is truly amazing. For about $13 you get a 48 hour pass that allows you to watch anby concert from over 140 in the archive. You can search by composer, conductor, soloist, etc. The quality is outstanding and the video editing is terrific (not like PBS where you hear an oboe solo but watch the timpanist counting rests). Of special note are last year's performance of Mahler 3, and Radek Baborak playing the Gliere concerto. Check it out! www.digitalconcerthall.com
I am very lucky to have the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra nearby. They are truly world-class symphony musicians. It takes us only a two hours to drive to Heinz Symphony Hall. We have been getting season tickets for the past 5 years - 8th row, dead center, in the orchestra section.
Gary, I wish I had more to contribute (or better ways to contribute), but my analog to digital apparatus is malfunctioning. I especially appreciated that Richter/Haydn. I think the Haydn piano sonatas deserve much more attention. Horowitz was one of the few "big name" pianists who included a lot of Haydn's solo piano music in his concerts.
My personal favorite recording is of Horowitz playing the E major (Hob. XVI: 52) from a 1951 Carnegie Hall recital. I have it on a 1979 RCA Red Seal recording with his marvelous rendition of "Pictures at an Exhibition."
I have the Mussorgsky music for piano, but the Horowitz version is so much more pianistic and expressive. At least that's my story about why my playing of "Pictures" doesn't sound so hot, and I'm sticking to it.
As luck would have it, I was playing the piano as a substitute for our organist in church last Sunday, and played the first movement of Haydn's C Major Sonata (Hob. XVI: 50) as a prelude to the worship service. I was actually thinking of you because I played the Prelude & Fugue No. 6 from Book II of the Well-Tempered Clavier for an offeratory, and the Gigue from the English Suite No. 5 as a postlude. My wife and daughter didn't like the offeratory, though, because they thought an offeratory should be more sedate. Personally, I see no reason why offeratories should be soporific. What's wrong with lively praise to God?
John, I've got to get to your church! What can be wrong with Bach in church? My first piano teacher was a very religious girl, and she was Bach obsessed, mostly due to Bach's piety. I've started too late to ever be able to play anything from the WTC, except the Prelude in C Major. You are fortunate to have had the chance to learn, and wise to have taken that chance and go with it.
I'm just learning about Haydn, and I like him more and more. This sounds like a lot of fun to play:
This is every bit as good as I say it is because I have been listening to this piece for years and never tire of it. Midori, violin;Nobuko Imai, viola; and Christopher Eschenbach conducting the NDR Sinfonieorchester.
I will say the same for this old chestnut by Smetana: I never tire of listening to The Moldau. This recording was done in 1951. It uses a different approach than modern arrangements use, in that the initial bars, the soft flutes representing the springs, are more easily heard and you don't have to raise the volume to catch it, than lower it to listen to the rest. Weiner Philharmoniker, Wilhelm Furtwangler, conducting.
This is the first piece of classical music I bothered to play for myself besides Peter and the Wolf. My Grandad had a 78 rpm recording, two sides. I was allowed to keep it.
Ed Itt: I fell asleep listening to Sinfonia last night.
gary: Old'uns like this Padiddly one have a deep mellow tone all their own.
Somewhere in Norway (maybe Tromso), the late 40s or early 50s.
Credit: RD Gallery
Barcarolle/Offenbach
This work reminds me that life is beautiful.
For instance:
In West Spitsbergen they had from July to September to enjoy the sun and have supplies delivered by boat, in an article in the NG, 8/28, 'A Woman's Winter on Spitsbergen.'
or
'By the end of 1874 Smetana had become completely deaf...'
This thread is giving me the deepest kind of pleasure.
I have listened almost exclusively to classical since 1998, the year Liz passed. We listened to PHC on Saturdays, if we were together, and I heard some classical and operatic works, but not nearly enough. Our TV got the work-out, not my ears. After she passed and the house was quiet, I turned to the Sacramento classical station, which broadcasts from Groveland on FM, so I had my fill of classical all night long, if I wanted. Fresno is blessed with a good FM station that plays lots of it, also.
What a pleasure it is, though, to share thoughts of this music, rather than having to remain silent. It is a refuge from the sturm und drang of some of these ST threads.
And it has a basis in climbing history. Chuck Pratt, I suppose, would be mildly supportive. One wonders, too, what Royal might think.
Royal Robbins on the FA Mozart Wall, Sentinel
Credit: Tom Frost (TY)
I wanted to find a video of Horowitz playing a particular Chopin polonaise, but no luck.
Instead, here is one of the best playing another polonaise. He is E. Kissin, and for what my two pennies are worth, I think his style is what one could describe as musical. I hope you turn up your volume control a little, because he plays very softly and you don't want to spoil the first listening by having to "fiddle." :)
Any opinions here on violinists? I happen to favor Joshua Bell; his recording of the Brahms violin concerto is particularly outstanding, as is his Paganini First violin concerto. His tone quality is outstanding, and never wiry.
I got a call last night from my younger daughter, a violinist and grad student (in composition) in Illinois -- "Start practicing, Dad, because I'm learning the Brahms Second Violin Sonata." Now if I can scrape up enough money to get my piano tuned (and a couple of strings replaced), we may have something to post here around Christmas time.
selfish man, thanks for posting the Gould and Golschmann. Golschmann doesn't have much fame or reknown, but I like his style with baroque. He and Gould seem to be on the same wavelength when it comes to Bach. Golschmann's sound is very crisp. Bernstein, in comparison, seems muddy when he conducts these Bach keyboard concertos.
Somebody asked about violinists. After seeing him twice, Gil Shaham strikes me as one of the best. He plays with an evident joy. When he plays with Dudamel the enthusiasm level overwhelms the crowd.
I find I myself partial to Bruch's. If the four minutes of the third movement
don't tug at yer heart strings then you don't have one.
(I've only included the third and fourth here)
Holy jeebus, what a mensch that dood is, no?
But I do like my Itzakh Perlman version too.
The performance obviously was not in LA - nobody clapped between the movements.
It's Illya Kuryakin, aka Ducky Mallard, aka David McCallum.
His father was a first chair violinist, his mother a cellist. His interests musically, well, he's f___ing Ducky, after all! Read the review below for some nice, fluffy journalistic reviewing in the old school. Same with the music. It swings like 1966. The year I graduated h.s. and into the Bay Area music scene, and Illya with his Nehru jacket were being shut down by incoming flowers.
The Edge is DMC's most well-known musical composition now intro and riff to Dr. Dre's The Next Episode, OK?
Oh, look at that. The same issue, April 29, 1966, (35 cents) as the review of McCallum (titled 'McCallum and the Woodwinds') and A Bit More of Me, his second LP, also containd an article on the last night of the Old Metropolitan Opera. Gee.
I think I'm passing on typing the article out. If you want to read it, it won't change your LIFE if you can't locate it. You can buy the mag from me, or look for your own. You'll never get Julie Christie away from me!
"What makes the album exciting are the classic overtones soaring above the driving beat in almost every number....an unusual combination of reed instruments...what we've come to know as the Big Beat..one of the freshest LPs to make the rounds in months." Fluffy, in a enthusiastic way. He likes.
And Life Magazine's normal Oh-So-Generic-Style prognostication, part of standard mainstream reviews half the time (fluff): "McCallum's climb from bit player to teen-age idol in less than a year stunned the TV trade. With his album aalready in the Top Forty ("kiss of death") and with musical capability to match his hefty Nielsen, he may repeat the feat in the pop field."
The last article in this vintage Life is the national break-out piece on Cesar Chavez. And Julie Christe, of course.
Wednesday, went and saw Andras Schiff play Book I of the Well Tempered Clavier. The acoustics at Disney Hall are superb. It was too expensive to sit where we sat, but I noticed he changed the fingering on the Prelude in C Major from what he'd indicated in the Henle Edition!
It's amazing work. The preludes are little jewels thrown out to clear the palate in between the massively engineered structures of the fugues.
I like Guilini and Kempf was one of the best. At a meet and greet with the LA Phil a violinist still had awe in her voice when she talked about playing for Giulini.
Friday we will see the Joffrey Ballet's recreation of the original Rite of Sping. It's gonna be great.
Edit: I like the old school stuff. We were THAT close to having a recording by Liszt. Just missed it.
The Rite was awesome. For once being high in the balcony was a plus. Nobody was nodding off during this, it was really thrilling. I only regret we didn't get tickets for another night.
The original post - rehearsal of Brahms Second symphony - that was great. Had to go put the CD on the sound system. It was what we were rehearsing when I joined the U of Pacific Conservatory Orchestra and I’ve loved it ever since. Being a trombonist (then) it was especially rewarding to build toward that great, triumphal final chord, which was cut off here. It has been decades - hell, half a century plus - since I was part of such an ensemble, and I still miss it.
Another nice thing, brief as it was, was watching musicians which were all business and didn’t bob around like they were having seizures. Seems to have become the style these days that everybody who can afford to move their instruments much “interprets” their musicianship with so much body English that the whole orchestra appears to be squirming. Worst offenders - the violins and small woodwinds. Watched an oboist with the Berlin Phiharmonic lurching about with such ecstatic, egotistic abandon that if he’d hit his knee he’d have driven that double reed right through his palate. And I have to admit, I sort of wished he would. The music was good, though, with eyes closed.
a couple of clips of Heinrich Neuhaus, an incredible musician and likely the greatest teacher of the piano. His students include, among many others, Sviatoslav Richter and Emil' Gilels
the fact that no new Richters, Horowitz's or Gould's seem to have appeared in the last few decades (at least to my knowledge) must be indicative of something, but I'm not sure what it is... The dominance of Lang Lang's, on the other hand, is not entirely surprising
the fact that no new Richters, Horowitz's or Gould's seem to have appeared in the last few decades (at least to my knowledge) must be indicative of something, but I'm not sure what it is... The dominance of Lang Lang's, on the other hand, is not entirely surprising
I think it indicates a triumph of "contemporary" (in the musical criticism sense) taste over Romantic taste in the conservatories. Horowitz and, to a certain extent, Richter (and certianly Arthur Rubinstein) were throwbacks to Romanticism in an age of modernism.
I think someone like Maurizio Pollini has all the technical equipment of any of the great pianists of the past, including Horowitz, and pianists of my generation idolize him as a technical superman. I personally find his recordings quite good, particularly his late Beethoven. His recording of the fugue of the Hammerklavier is the best I've heard.
Overall, though, he doesn't dazzle the way the Romantic virtuousi did. As an example, his recordings of the Brahms piano concerti are technically fabulous, but they just don't deliver the emotional punch of a Rubinstein or Rudolph Serkin.
Ultimately, though, it simply demonstrates why we call the opposite of classical music popular music.
the fact that no new Richters, Horowitz's or Gould's seem to have appeared in the last few decades (at least to my knowledge) must be indicative of something, but I'm not sure what it is...
Get thee to see Yefim Bronfman. And Yuja Wang is destined for greatness. It'll be interesting to see her mature as a musician.
which one is more "romantic"? I find it hard to believe that the change in the taste is all there is to it. In terms of "athletic performance" (i.e. notes per second) no one I know today comes even remotely close to Rachmaninov, Hoffman, Backhaus or Richter. And the reason why we hear fewer wrong notes today is mostly because fewer risks are taken. No one plays the Liszt sonata at this tempo anymore!
Although Horowitz, Rachmaninov or Hoffman are viewed as romantics, to me their playing had the lucidity and the momentum that lack in today's overly sentimental way of playing romantic music (such as the above recording by Kissin)
And the reason why we hear fewer wrong notes today is mostly because fewer risks are taken. No one plays the Liszt sonata at this tempo anymore!
I agree with the thrust of what you say, particularly the lack of risk in modern recordings and concerts. The pursuit of "perfection," usually interpreted as no technical mistakes, has diminished the art of the piano. I don't think that's all, though.
Ironically, my best illustration isn't a romantic piece at all. If you compare the Schnabel recordings of the Hammerklavier with that of Pollini, for example, the two take exactly the same tempi for the fugue (as does Eschenbach in his sensational DGG recording of about 1970). Kempff, in contrast, is a bit slower (quarter = ca. 128 rather than the Beethoven-indicated 144 at which the others play). Kempff and Pollini play equally clearly, but the faster pace of Pollini doesn't seem that fast because it's so perfect.
As an unraveling of the fugue, I have never heard another recording that matches Pollini's. Nonetheless, the emotional effect of Schnabel's reading, particularly when the main subject returns in the chaos of the inverted subject, is overwhelmingly climactic, and the piece seems startling, even to 21st century ears. Rachmaninoff also aimed every piece for what he called "the point." Pollini's playing is so uniformly unerring that it's hard to feel a point.
My personal favorite piece for solo piano, the Beethoven Op. 111 Sonata, is another illustration of what Schnabel had that modern pianists don't. The crescendo and diminuendo in the double trill in the last movement is much greater in Schnabel than in the modern readings, and it creates an effect of such profound tranquility as to seem to suspend time itself. I try to emulate Schnabel when I play (I've played that Sonata for 42 years, and still don't tire of it), but seldom succeed. Schnabel seemed to be able to do that sort of thing naturally.
I think the training of modern pianists makes them lost in romantic, or really any greatly expressive, literature. It's rather like a leader who's only used bolt protection on sport climbs taking on his or her first difficult lead without bolt protection. Placing removable gear is a different skill from doing hard moves, and even though their technical ability to move upward may be superb, the comfort level of needing different protection hampers the fluidity of movement.
Of course, playing is art, not science (despite my collection of piano technique books that try to analyze the science of playing), so even if my analysis were close, I know it's not universally true. In the meantime, I'll continue to enjoy hearing others play, playing myself, and reading what my fellow ST posters think. Thanks.
now I need to find Pollini's recording of Hammerklavier and compare it with Schanel. I always felt that Pollini's versions of op. 109 and 110 are quite possibly the greatest I've heard..
Intermezzo I
Let us know!