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Charles

Brahms had a great influence on Dvorak, and on the American composer Arthur Foote. For more information on the latter, see me listening report for the week ending April 7, 2007 in the "What are you listening to" thread. I will look up your comment on Foote. As for Dvorak, of course Brahms influence...

Charles

II wonder whether Brahms didn't have offspring in the jagged polytonal and atonal melodists of the 20th century? You're actually on to something. Arnold Schoenberg wrote a famous essay, "Brahms the Progressive," in which he argued that Brahms's music is not just backward-looking but forward-looking...

Charles

It is a truism in music criticism that Wagner, the opera composer, signally influenced the subsequent development of the symphony and modern music in general, while Brahms the great symphonist ironically had no followers. Partly this observation rests on Brahms' conservative avoidance of polytonalit...

Charles

No guilt: Louiis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven records of the 1920s, when this artist was at the height of his creative improvisatory genius on the trumpet. His trumpet playing of his later, more well-known years holds not even a brief candle to these magnificent acheivements. IMHO, the greates...

Charles

. . . the composer of your choice in the form of your choice. Beethoven's 10th, Bach's Mass in X Major, Sibeluis' Second Violin Concerto, or etc. What will it be? Hi, Charles! I should send you a tape of the anthem we sang on the Sunday that you visited. On topic, though: it would have to be the wo...

Charles

For me, Brahms' 5th Symphony. Another long excursion through the Romantic landscape, full of oaks and beeches, with paths bordered by masses of flowers, pleasant byways and surprise turns, everything redolent of the scent of nature at its fullest ripeness, with autumn about to encroach...

Charles

Mr. Magic Greenman from Betelguese IV appears on your doorstep one day and announces you can have one new instrumental work (not opera or choral) by the composer of your choice in the form of your choice. Beethoven's 10th, Bach's Mass in X Major, Sibeluis' Second Violin Concerto, or etc. What will i...

Charles

Not trying to pretend to be a better listener than the next person, but I have to comment that I've always enjoyed listening to the bass parts. As several posters mentioned, Bach's bass parts are superb and as creative as the higher parts. A terrific example I recently came upon is the second moveme...

Charles

If this is in disagreement to the majority of critical writing on Wagner and The Ring, I can't help it. I am not in a forum to echo others' opinions but to express my own convictions. A minority opinion is not necessarily mistaken, as many instances show. If you disagree, then content yourself with...

Charles

You persist in misunderstanding what I wrote about Wagner's texts and music in relation to tragedy, and in conveniently ignoring what I said about Greek tragedy in general, naturally since obviously you haven't studied and don't understand it. There is no further use in arguing with someone who doe...

Charles

My point was that Aeschylus' text, the only part which COULD survive given the absence of musical and choreographic notation in ancient times, was and is powerful enough to both found an entire art form and continue to be a living influence on it to this day. An achievement which Wagner's texts cou...

Charles

With or without the music, Wagner's plots are in general maudlin and full of unbelievable actions, especially suicides for inadequate reasons, with which the normal human heart cannot identify. The plot of Gotterdammerung in particular is as mawkish and ridiculous as possible, with or without music...

Charles

You once again betray your abject ignorance of Wagner's music-dramas which are every bit as powerful, coherent, and unified as any drama written by the Greeks, or even by Shakespeare himself. In Wagner's music-dramas the music IS the drama, not an adjunct to it; drama built on the armature of the t...

Charles

Amen! Wagner's absurd plots, mostly devoid of meaningful actions (I except Meistersinger), are based on a simple premise - the heroine must die at the end of Act III no matter what, and often the hero also. If the heroine does not die, she must fall into a swoon which is indistinguishable from deat...

Charles

For most of the standard repertoire, reading the story before the patron puts his butt in the seat would suffice. Of course, the regulars don't need to rely on program-notes writers because they could sing it in the shower. Howerever, for silly confections like La Finta Giardiniera such solutions a...

Charles

Thanks to all who replied. I'm acting on your suggestions. What a novelty for this 18th and 19th C. listener to actually be enthusiastic about a living contemporary composer!

Charles

I also think the movie house idea is great, especially if it is a simulcast of a live performance. Might really pull in some new audience. Or home TV simulcasting also. The radio broadcast idea is somewhat outdated by now. And so is the religious sticking to Saturday afternoons. Imagine if one could...

Charles

(My heart is still mainly in Leipzig, where much work remains to be done). :?: Please explain. I haven't done much traveling here but I did make a point of going to Leipzig, where I had half an hour to myself in the Thomaskirche, later in the day heard a cantata, and simply could not believe I was ...

Charles

I borrowed two Ligeti piano albums (one concertos and the other etudes) from my library to see if I could see what the fuss was about. I, who still cannot 'get' Bartok, thoroughly enjoyed Ligeti from the first phrase. Could some of the Ligeti fans please suggest a few worthy works in non-piano genre...

Charles

... the "cranky old man" persona often attached to Brahms competes with repeated instances where he shows impeccable moral character. His concern and charity to family and friends, and yes, his dealings with women. In his own way, Brahms was a remarkable human being in addition to his obvious music...

Charles

Norman Lebrecht wonders why the 150th anniversary of Schumann's death occasions no celebrations even remotely comparable to the 250th of Mozart's birth, and answers that it is because Schumann scares us as an exemplar of the Romantic union of love and death. The short summary of Schumann's life and ...

Charles

Degas was a notable antisemite * * * He even severed relations with a Jewish family with whom he had long been friendly. Aren't those two concepts mutually exclusive? Not necessarily. Most antisemites seem to make exceptions for certain 'good' Jews. Wagner's favorite conductor, Levi, who conducted ...

Charles

...Degas was a horrid misogynist who considered women slightly less than animals. Verlaine famously had an affair with the young poet Rimbaud in which he did not much care that he foresook his family. Baudelaire was a sado-masochist who allowed that aspect of his persona to invade his poetry in a w...

Charles

One must always separate the art from the artist, or else we could also not deal with Wagner, or Degas, or Verlaine and Baudelaire. Wagner, of course, was a rather horrid excuse for a human being, but I confess my ignorance of the similar spiritual shortcomings of the others--especially Degas, with...

Charles

...Max Bruch probably fascinates me because he was not a great composer, but he composed truly great music on occasion. Some composers like those above produced numerous masterpieces almost without exception. Near the other extreme are "one-hit wonders" who by some fluke produced a single masterpie...

Charles

These people were hoist on their own petard. If Ehrlich had lost the same as a result of their outrageous behavior, neither they nor the NYT would have shed a fractional tear. I don't agree that they were justly hoisted. I think that the majority of the members of an artistic collaborative should b...

Charles

This is a lot to explore. Thank you all for your responses.

Charles

A review in NYRB of a new history of a thousand years of Western music. The reviewer takes the author to task for some shortcomings, but the review also provides a handy overview of this history for an uninformed person like me. This is part one of a two part review, and reaches the threshold of the...

Charles

Having gotten very absorbed in the Bach cantatas, I am doing a bit of exploriing among his predecessors looking for the kind of trumpet- kettledrums-and-chorus movements that I love, that might have influenced him. A little desultory listening to Nicholas Bruhns and Buxtehude has not turned anything...

Charles

Bach, Wagner and Brahms.

I think that Beethoven and Mozart are better than Brahms, but I don't like them as much. I find Beethoven too consistently extreme and serious, ostentatiously dripping moral dedication and perspiration everywhere, and Mozart often too saccharinely sweet.

Charles

If Bach can have a soothing effect on ME, then calming down barking dogs is no problem.

Nice to see you posting again, Ralph. Also, since I am a heart bypass survivor who uses Westchester Medical Center as his hospital, it was good to see how well you were helped there. I wish you a great recovery.

Charles

Google put that there at the request of the NSA, so by tracking the Mozart clicks they could identify candidates for the future US Tierenstadt orchestra and token audience when needed.

Charles

Whenever lists of top composers are made Bach almost always appears in the top 3. But nobody seems to listen to him. I know it's been a long time since I played a Bach CD. I scanned thru the first 10 pages of the "What are you listening to thread" and found no mention of Bach. I dug this thread out...

Charles

..."Keep your eyes on him; he'll make the world talk of himself some day!" -- Mozart during his only meeting with Ludwig van Beethoven in 1787, after Mozart heard Beethoven's improvisation on a theme from Le Nozze di Figaro . This supposed meeting is held by a number of experts to have not actually...

Charles

..."Keep your eyes on him; he'll make the world talk of himself some day!" -- Mozart during his only meeting with Ludwig van Beethoven in 1787, after Mozart heard Beethoven's improvisation on a theme from Le Nozze di Figaro . This supposed meeting is held by a number of experts to have not actually...

Charles

I'm under the impression that Schoenberg developed the twelve tone system for himself and did not intend it to become a paradigm adopted by many others. Is this true? If so, whether or not one likes his music, the widespread use of his system is not Schoenberg's fault and he should not be blamed for...

Charles

We know, from a celebrated anecdote, of Mozart's delight at discovering a Bach motet. But I wonder whether Mozart, teeming with his own inspiration, would have had much time or inclination for the 45 large volumes of the Bach Gesellschaft Edition, and the collected works of other masters." -- New Z...

Charles

..."Keep your eyes on him; he'll make the world talk of himself some day!" -- Mozart during his only meeting with Ludwig van Beethoven in 1787, after Mozart heard Beethoven's improvisation on a theme from Le Nozze di Figaro . This supposed meeting is held by a number of experts to have not actually...

Charles

A cornet is part of the ensemble in Stravinsky's "L'histoire du soldat." Otherwise, I suppose 19th and early 20th century brass band music is where you'll find the cornet most often - along with traditional styles of jazz. The only cornet soloists I can think of are Bix Beiderbecke, Jimmy McPartlan...

Charles

I have gotten the inexpensive Leusink set on Brilliant Classics. I find it fine so far, quite stirring and very sensitive in turn. I am no scholar or expert, just a devoted Bach listener with 50 years of on-and-off experience. I have not yet heard anything here that does not move me, including old ...

Charles

I have gotten the inexpensive Leusink set on Brilliant Classics. I find it fine so far, quite stirring and very sensitive in turn. I am no scholar or expert, just a devoted Bach listener with 50 years of on-and-off experience. I have not yet heard anything here that does not move me, including old f...

Charles

What with the whole programmed feature of Beethoven and now again with Bach, is all this healthy? Is it good in the long run to have this much of a single composer's work put out in so little time? It's easy to get sick of something after hearing it for so long...same with food in a way. Not that a...

Charles

Just when Bach fans may be getting apprehensive about the approaching end of the BBC's 'A Bach Christmas,' another festival is starting so that the music will continue. At www.wkcr.org, a ten-day round-the-clock Bachfest began this morning and continues until 2 AM (EST) on New Year's Day. This progr...

Charles

Because of the exquisite sets, lighting and use of the scrim curtain for unbelievable morphing effects, the Met Parsifal of 2003, conducted by Gergiev, was more transcendent and magical than any recording I've ever heard or can conceive of. The sets and color are still with me as much as the music....

Charles

I've gone this round with Ralph even in person, but the plain fact is that live performances are a social experience that many people would just as soon forego. Last year I caught my famous spontaneous perfomance of Fidelio in Cologne, but I only enjoyed it because the house was half full and I cou...

Charles

The BBC Bach Christmas celebration will broadcast every note written by the master; it began today (Dec. 16) and runs round the clock thru Christmas Day. It is unfortunately plagued by intermittent interruptions to the stream, which now seem to be getting blessedly fewer. In spite of this, I have al...

Charles

I vote for what I consider to be the unjustly neglected here, and wonderful, Symphonies #2 and #8 of Beethoven. And you really should hear some Bach, even though he came too early in music history to write symphonies (the form was not invented yet). Two excellent purely instrumental pieces by him ar...

Charles

Thanks. I agree that Bach is kind of hard to get wrong, if the musicians can read notes and keep time. The Brandenburg Concertos are very easy to get wrong. I've not come across anyone besides Musica Antiqua Koln that did them right. I had bought the Boston Baroque set and they sounded more old and...

Charles

Charles, the Leusink set is very cheap, a HIP performance with very fine instrumentalists and a natural way of singing, which convinces me much more than the pre-authentical somewhat opera-like singing of many of Rillings soloists. Rilling conducts with a tad more authoritity than Leusink, and his ...

Charles

Oh dear. :? Well, I have examples of all of them (including the Ton Koopman, which is what I presume you are referring to) and they are all good. The problem is I lack the funds to own any complete set before it goes out of print (unless I want to spend my disposable income on nothing but Bach Cant...

The Classical Music Guide Forums

Search found 102 matches

Re: Brahms - without influence?

Brahms - without influence?

Re: One More Work

One More Work

Re: Okay, Ligeti fans

Okay, Ligeti fans

Lebrecht on Schumann

Review of new history of Western music

Trumpets in Cantatas before Bach

Re: Nobody Listens To Bach

Re: Wolfgang Mozart in his Own Words

Re: Wolfgang Mozart in his Own Words

Re: Wolfgang Mozart in his Own Words

Re: Wolfgang Mozart in his Own Words

Another huge helping of Bach

BBC Bach Christmas marathon begins