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rogch

Would you say that JS's kids' music get overlooked far too often? I heard one of their symphonies on the radio (forget which son) and it was really great. The Bach sons are often mentioned among underrated composers. It seems like "everybody" agrees that they are underrated so perhaps they are not ...

rogch

As many others i was discusted by the Iranian president's remarks about Israel. For many people "anti-zionism" is just another word for anti-semitism. I would be delighted by a regime change in Iran and do absolutely not want to see Iranian nuclear bombs. But a military strike, not to mention an inv...

rogch

Recently we had an interesting debate about underrated composers. I would like a simular debate about underrated works. It can be both individual works or a group of works (for example Mendelsohn's organ works). I have a few suggestions to start with: -Telemann's water music, much more exciting than...

rogch

why did the republic fail so disastrously? I am of the opinion that much of the blame lies with the Founding Fathers of the republic, almost all of whom turned out to be weak, corrupt and incapable of dealing successfully with the country's many problems, not the least of which was that ravenous mo...

rogch

Here is another vote for Sibelius. Apart from the tone poems already mentioned i would like to point out the brilliant, but not too often played "night ride and sunrise". Such a wonderfull composer Sibelius, famous for both his symphonies and tone poems. And very few people beat him when it comes to...

rogch

Finally found out.... it was an Italian violin made in the Stradivari workshop altho not by the great man himself. I am staggered :shock: A nastier, scratchier sound would be difficult to find on the stage today.... I have very much enjoyed the Mintz recordings i have heard. But i have never heard ...

rogch

I know I SHOULD prefer Oistrakh, Kogan, etc., but for 30 years I have been hopelessly in love with the Kyung Wha Chung/Previn (London). Her slow movement of No. 2, for example, is about the most beautiful thing I have ever heard. It is so expressive that it's like speech. No reason to be modest and...

rogch

I like Josefowicz's edginess very much, particularly in the first, but of modern recordings in decent sound I more often choose to listen to Dmitry Sitkovetsky's recording with Colin Davis and the LSO. Thank you for pointing out that recording, i wasn't aware of it. There are so many good recording...

rogch

Before i continue the discussion i must confess something. I did not accurately report the story from France which i based my question on yesterday. I had heard it in a short news bulletin, i heard more details in a later news report. Luckily all the children who were victims of this trading have be...

rogch

This has been a very long debate. Correct me if i am wrong, but i think Pizza and other participants in this debate believe in a good and almighty god. If you do, i have one question: I heard on the news today that French police has uncovered selling of eastern european babies for about 8-10 000 dol...

rogch

I believe the Wurz set of Mozart's piano sonatas is among Classics Today's reference recordings of the Mozart sonatas. I also enjoy the collections of Shostakovich' and Sibelius' symphonies (the latter being conducted by Kurt Sanderling who i believe have been praised in this forum before). I am les...

rogch

Elliot Carter's recent opera "What next?" has a really weird but wonderfull plot. A car crashes on the way to a wedding. We don't really know if the passengers have survived or not, but the opera is a conversation between them. They disagree about most things, and to make it even more weird there is...

rogch

Happy Birthday, Karl!
As many others, i find your posts in this forum very inspiring and i look forward to reading more of them. Naturally, we often discuss composers in this forum, so it is valuable to have at least one composer among us!

Best regards

rogch

What will happen on the West Bank if Israel withdraws? That is not easy to predict, but it should of course be subject to negotiations. Even though the Oslo peace agreement looked promising, it has failed in the long run. The negotiations started in Madrid in 1991 was a more promising way to solve t...

rogch

I know less about Indonesia and East Timor, but I'd be willing to bet that whatever we did there was another case of choosing between bad and worse alternatives. How can you be so sure that the US did the right thing if you don't know much about the case? What could possibly be worse than what happ...

rogch

The lands you refer to are disputed areas. If you take the time to read the relevant UN Resolutions as well as basic international law concerning land taken in a defensive war (the Six Day War) that was illegally occupied by foreign powers -- such as Gaza by Egypt, and Judea and Samaria by Jordan -...

rogch

If we dont' exercise power, another country, probably one much nastier than us, will fill that power vacuum.....that's the history of human civilization and it's naive to think that will suddenly change). Well, this is interesting. I obviously don't need to read any books about "the history of huma...

rogch

karlhenning wrote:All you've said is, as I should have expected of you, Roger, perfectly sensible. I wish all Europeans (and all Americans) were so reasonable and even-handed.

Thank you very much Karl, i enjoy reading your posts too. But you really are too kind, i can be very pig-headed at times....

rogch

I have heard both Szigeti and Heifetz play Prokofiev, and they were superb. But the sound was not. Sadly that can also be said about the Oistrakh recording i own (the one that is a part of EMI's "great recordings of the century" with London Symphony Orchestra and Lavro von Matacic and Philharmonia O...

rogch

Of course the irony of Europe's pre-occupation with hating the U.S. and Israel is that Europe wouldn't be enjoying their current freedom if not for the U.S. and Israel probably wouldn't exist if not for the failure of Europeans to stand up to Hitler soon enough. That is a long story, Europe of cour...

rogch

. These are the leftists who have formed alliances with Muslim extremists both in the UK and US and who claim Israel has no right to exist, Arafat was a true seeker of peace, and support their arguments with lies and innuendo that would make Josef Goebbels blush. They hire all the usual Marxist, le...

rogch

I expect a passionate debate about this one. These two violin concertos must be among the finest ever written. There are many great recordings, but they have different qualities and (arguably) no recording is perfect. The soloist obviously must be very good. But these concertos also demand a lot fro...

rogch

Several Tchaikovsky works have been recommended here. If you like those, you will probably like some other Russian composers as well. Rachmaninov's second piano concerto and Rimsky-Korsakovs Scheherazade for example. Beethoven's symphonies of course have some great build-ups. But i am not sure if th...

rogch

Doesn't anybody like Chailly around here? I think his recording of the eigth symphony is marvelous. His third is said to be brilliant as well, but i haven't heard that one. Klemperer and Bernstein were brilliant conductors of course, and their Mahler recordings were no exceptions. It is very difficu...

rogch

As many others, i was very interested in classical music when i was a little boy and then lost interest in it later. Teenagers don't always allow themselves to have independent views about music, they very often divide into groups. But when i was about 18 i again started to listen to classcal music ...

rogch

Who waits for new masterpieces of classical music, he is not going to see them, because there aren't going to be any, and this seem to be clear to everyone. What is maby less clear, is that what classical music was before - experimental music will be in future, and by part already is today.Instead ...

rogch

(BTW, Webern revered Mahler .) Hello Karl! Webern revered Mahler? That's interesting. I have always thought Webern's music was a reaction against the "big romantic" music of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. But that it perhaps a truism or an oversimplification, there is enough of bo...

rogch

A Webern maraton? Almost sounds like a contradiction in terms :) But having said that, i would love to hear the programme if i had the chance. Sadly Webern, even more than Schönberg, has been more famous for his theoretical ideas than his music. Even people who likes his music often focus too much o...

rogch

And if you can't remember the melodies of his v.c., is because you are deaf or stupid. That kind of language does not belong in this forum i think. Strong words about music or musicans is one thing, personal attacks on members of the forum is something else. Even though dulcinea's critisism of Glaz...

rogch

Hindemith - Only a handful of his works are ever performed. The man was so prolific and wrote some much great music that more of it should really be played. You could say that again! When i once in a while come across some of Hindemith's music, i usually love it. I have the impression that his musi...

rogch

I don't think Clara was a better composer than Robert, I have just read that some people think so. But i don't think you give her music the credit it deserves. Schumann is not a composer i know very well, i admit that. And, as with many other composers, i probably would have thought more highly of h...

rogch

I read that Pierre Boulez even questions whether Schubert was a great composer! My goodness! Do you remember where you read that? I respect Boulez very much. I haven't heard many of his compositions, but he is a great conductor. Not all of Schuberts works have a great psychological depth, but some ...

rogch

Händel, Schumann, Saint-Saens and Dvorak underrated? I don't think so, i hear their music played constantly and there seems to be no shortage of new recordings either. But the situation might be different elsewhere, i don't know. But of course most composers are somewhat underrated because we are no...

rogch

There has been plenty of discussion about "tonal" versus "atonal" music in this forum lately. That reminds of a piece of music i heard on the radio that was pretty sensational. Not the music itself, but the alleged composer. I am talking about Mozart's masonic cantata "Dir, Seele des Weltalls" (K. 4...

rogch

These debates about "traditional" versus "modern" music tend to over-simplify things. It sounds like music before and after Schönberg and Stravinsky are two completely different matters. In fact the system of tonality was challenged in different ways by several composers during the 19th century. Bee...

rogch

I thank you all for your suggestions. I am not very surprised that Gardiner and Herreweghe quickly were mentioned. They are both celebrated as great conductors and the recordings i have heard of them have given me no reason to doubt their reputation. Among the more "traditional" recordings ( which m...

rogch

Having listnened to Mozart's great c minor mass a few times lately, two things seem very clear: It is one of the greatest works ever written and i am in desperate need for a better recording. So, which recording should i buy? I have seen on amazon that there are a number of recordings available and ...

rogch

What! You mean I failed again????? On the contrary, what i tried to say was that i liked your passionate, rather than diplomatic, attitude towards music. But it seems like there are some composers we both enjoy. You say that modern music for you is Debussy, Ravel and Grieg. A good point. As a norwe...

rogch

I might even have a brain cramp and like it. But my idea of Hell is being locked in a windowless room with Lutoslawski on the player and a blond guy with a voice like Cindi Lauper's reading English translations of French philosophical tracts to me. :shock: :) We obviously have very different experi...

rogch

I regularly hear things written in that time period. Glass, Adams, Bernstein, Liebermann, Finzi, Rutter, Part, just to name a few. I live in Norway where we have a national radio channel playing classical music 24 hours a day. And I am not impressed by their playlists, I think modern composers to a...

The Classical Music Guide Forums

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The greatest underrated works

Re: That Other Very Famous Civil War

Re: Shlomo Mintz

Re: Prokofiev Violin Concertos

Your first pick: Prokofiev's violin concertos

Re: Coming in September: Anton Webern Marathon!

Sensation or fake?

A different choice, might have to buy two....

Mozart's great mass, any suggestions?

Re: Why Is It...

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