









Which choral pieces are your favorites, please?
That's a great choice! Late Haydn at his very best. Good clarinet parts too.dulcinea wrote:... HARMONIEMESSE, whose Kyrie I love so much that I always listen to it twice before moving on to the Gloria.![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
Which choral pieces are your favorites, please?
I fail to see how there's any obligation to align one's tastes with the conventionally designated "greatest" examples of a particular genre, or how choosing as a favorite something outside that illustrious circle represents a "trap" of error into which one must avoid falling. De gustibus non disputandum est. If Dulcinea says Haydn's final mass is her favorite choral work, we who are not Dulcinea have to accept that as a true statement.jbuck919 wrote: Though I have great respect for dulcinea's taste, she does seem to have fallen into the trap of appreciating a secondary though fine work at the level of a primary one.
Bach - Mass in bdulcinea wrote: Which choral pieces are your favorites, please?
You've got to be kidding. Although it is a fine work, it is also a commonplace. I'm sorry, but against everyone's "favorite" I hold the Missa Solemnis. In spite of the taste of Mark, John, and dulcinea I consider such opinions as utter stupidity, based on favoritism, and for once I will stand up against any of them against any of you. No sane music lover can possibly prefer anything to the Benedictus.John F wrote:You're right - dulcinea didn't ask which choral work we think is the greatest, but which is our favorite. Personally, there's no one choral work that I would say is the greatest of all, because there's no one measure of greatness. (If asked which I think is the most perfect, or the most beautiful, I might choose Mozart's "Ave verum corpus.") But at the moment, it's easy to name my favorite. Tomorrow, it could be different.
For those who don't know it, and those who do:
Sounding almost as overwrought as LvB in Missa Solemnis? I nominate the Faure Requiem as a favorite and Bach's Matthew Passion as the greatest of all time.jbuck919 wrote:. No sane music lover can possibly prefer anything to the Benedictus.
Favoritism, yeah imagine choosing your favorite work based on that.You've got to be kidding. Although it is a fine work, it is also a commonplace. I'm sorry, but against everyone's "favorite" I hold the Missa Solemnis. In spite of the taste of Mark, John, and dulcinea I consider such opinions as utter stupidity, based on favoritism, and for once I will stand up against any of them against any of you. No sane music lover can possibly prefer anything to the Benedictus.
Thanks, that would be me-very nice-still it can't top Rossini's Stabat Mater. Regards, Len [Rossini fan]John F wrote:
For those who don't know it
And I say that Beethoven's Missa Solemnis is not only no favorite of mine but a highly idiosyncratic and problematic work, not least in the Benedictus. What is that endless violin solo supposed to be about? You're certainly entitled to your preference, and your passionate commitment to it, but give us a break!jbuck919 wrote:against everyone's "favorite" I hold the Missa Solemnis. In spite of the taste of Mark, John, and dulcinea I consider such opinions as utter stupidity, based on favoritism, and for once I will stand up against any of them against any of you. No sane music lover can possibly prefer anything to the Benedictus.
The part that expresses questionable taste, at least in the questionable sense if not the absolute one, starting with the initial post . I happen to love most of the works mentioned here, not to mention the bulk of the gigantic bulk of Renaissance works plus an early work like the Monteverdi Vespers and the Bach canatas which you have rightly admitted adoring. Forgive me if I just missed it, but no one seems to have mentioned the greatest choral work chronologically after Beethoven, which is the Brahms Requiem. Dulcinea has not made this an interesting discussion at all. She has instead opened the door to people mentioning "favorites" that have no place in a genre that, unlike say Lieder, leaves scant room between what it favorite and what is reasonable to be favorite.diegobueno wrote:jbuck, What part of favorite do you not understand? This thread is about favorites, remember.
It's hard to know what to say to this. For sheer pedantic arrogance it reaches a new level even by your standards. I don't know why you even bother to associate with such lowlifes as us. If you find this topic not to your level of taste, you could always refrain from commenting altogether and instead start another thread in which you instruct us on the glories of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis. You go on about taste as if you were Charlie the Tuna trying to impress the Starkist people with your good taste. You certainly are impressing people here, but not in a good way.jbuck919 wrote:[
The part that expresses questionable taste, at least in the questionable sense if not the absolute one, starting with the initial post . I happen to love most of the works mentioned here, not to mention the bulk of the gigantic bulk of Renaissance works plus an early work like the Monteverdi Vespers and the Bach canatas which you have rightly admitted adoring. Forgive me if I just missed it, but no one seems to have mentioned the greatest choral work chronologically after Beethoven, which is the Brahms Requiem. Dulcinea has not made this an interesting discussion at all. She has instead opened the door to people mentioning "favorites" that have no place in a genre that, unlike say Lieder, leaves scant room between what it favorite and what is reasonable to be favorite.
They shouldn't be "favorites, because you don't think they are deserving of being anyone's "favorite".jbuck919 wrote:Dulcinea has not made this an interesting discussion at all. She has instead opened the door to people mentioning "favorites" that have no place in a genre that, unlike say Lieder, leaves scant room between what it favorite and what is reasonable to be favorite.diegobueno wrote:jbuck, What part of favorite do you not understand? This thread is about favorites, remember.
Brian this work has been a tough work for me-I've listened to it quite a few times over the years-each listening has made me like it more-I too I'm now inspired to listen to it again. Regards, Lenmaestrob wrote: I would appreciate it more. Certainly it's a great work, and all this talk has inspired me to listen to it again, FWIW.
You might then have framed your "innocent" question in terms of a particular piece which brings "a smile to your face and tears of joy to your eyes." The way you worded it, your comments related to taste in a way which perhaps you did not intend.dulcinea wrote:It truly grieves me that even an innocent question about which choral work brings a smile to your face and tears of joy to your eyes is a cause for acrimony.![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
If acrimony is so well desired, I'll omit my original next question: which musicians would you like to meet if you could travel back in time?--; and instead post on the Corner Pub a note about a matter of extreme urgency.
Dulcinea, your original question was just fine.dulcinea wrote:It truly grieves me that even an innocent question about which choral work brings a smile to your face and tears of joy to your eyes is a cause for acrimony.![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
If acrimony is so well desired, I'll omit my original next question: which musicians would you like to meet if you could travel back in time?--; and instead post on the Corner Pub a note about a matter of extreme urgency.
How could this question be made any clearer? So, one more fave choral piece— Poulenc's Gloria.dulcinea wrote: [snip] Which choral pieces are your favorites, please?
excellent choice!!jserraglio wrote: So, one more fave choral piece— Poulenc's Gloria.
You should be whipped.Chalkperson wrote:Percy Grainger
I think he'd have enjoyed being keel hauled...jbuck919 wrote:You should be whipped.Chalkperson wrote:Percy Grainger
Every year when I must play for "midnight mass" I share on this site some Christmas work I have listened to to wind down. If you leave off the Renaissance, I have run out of ideas, but here is something I have shared more than once. Messiah may be a bit of a cliche in the English-speaking world, but in spite of weak points which Handel himself recognized, he considered it his magnum opus. This movement is usually rendered with a full orchestral accompaniment, which is probably the reason Mozart dropped it to the level of a recitative in his arrangement, but in the following, it is on the level of any solo-obbligato movement by Bach. You will note that the violinist is plainly sweating blood.barney wrote:Though I have heard it dozens of times live, and far more than that in my living room (as have probably most of us) I am still profoundly moved by Messiah, the texts, the music, the lot. I recently heard Missa Solemnis in concert for the first time, and - as you might expect - it is a knockout compared with recordings. I find the Mass in B minor the most majestic, and greatly admire most of the recommendations above. I'll add as a personal favourite Shostakovich symphony 14, plus the Mozart C minor and the big Schubert one, the key of which eludes me right now.
This is without any cogitation whatsoever, or I would add more. But if I could only ever have one it would be Messiah.
I apologize for putting on my persnickity hat:barney wrote:I'll add as a personal favourite Shostakovich symphony 14
Yevtushenko did that for us here in NY back when Masur was Director, and it was one of Masur's finest moments on the podium, only it was the fourteenth symphony. Yevtushenko recited the poetry before each movement.diegobueno wrote:I apologize for putting on my persnickity hat:barney wrote:I'll add as a personal favourite Shostakovich symphony 14
The Shostakovich 14th is certainly worth of being a personal favorite, but it isn't a choral piece. There are two vocal soloists, strings and percussion.
The 13th, though, is also a powerful work, and it has a male chorus throughout, and that's one of my favorites from Shostakovich. I saw it performed by the University of Maryland chorus and orchestra a number of years ago, and they had Yevtushenko himself on hand to give a speech beforehand about his experience working with Shostakovich.
I believe it's the famous Emma Kirkby (I may be wrong), whom I can forgive in this case for the hideous hairdo.barney wrote:Thanks John for posting that. Who is the soprano? I feel I should know but I don't.
And if the violinist is concentrating intently, so he should. He plays beautifully.
No, that was for the 13th symphony - I was there. All the poems in the 13th are by Yevtushenko; none in the 14th are.maestrob wrote:Yevtushenko did that for us here in NY back when Masur was Director, and it was one of Masur's finest moments on the podium, only it was the fourteenth symphony. Yevtushenko recited the poetry before each movement.
Right you are, John. Another senior moment.John F wrote:No, that was for the 13th symphony - I was there. All the poems in the 13th are by Yevtushenko; none in the 14th are.maestrob wrote:Yevtushenko did that for us here in NY back when Masur was Director, and it was one of Masur's finest moments on the podium, only it was the fourteenth symphony. Yevtushenko recited the poetry before each movement.
Allow me to correct you, dear Garrett, for you are not the only professional here, and the "amateurs" are invariably your equals if not superiors as connoisseurs. I have posted this before, but here is a piece by Verdi, who incidentally like Brahms was an atheist, which is not one of the Pezzi sacri. The translation of the Pater noster is by Dante.IcedNote wrote:Y'all crack me up.![]()
![]()
![]()
And now, please allow a professional to correct you amateurs...
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 50 guests