The what are you listening to thread?

[Rod]

In my walkman now, Beethoven's cello sonatas op69 and op102. Anssi Karttunen (vc), Tuija Hakkila (fp).

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"If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod Corkin

[jman]

anyone ever heard of a guy called frederick Delius??? I myself haven't but I'm listening to a violin concerto by him right now. It's alright. I think it's a little too modern for me, or something like that...

[spaceray]

Frederick Delius Born Bradford ,Yorks 1862
Died Grez sur Loing France 1934 was an orange grower in Florida,became a piano teacher in Virginia .Studied in Leipzig.
Most of his music was first met with puzzlement,he was championed by Sir Thomas Beecham.He wrote operas,Orchestral variations, concertos,choral works a mass and a requiem(both settings by Nietzsche)and chamber music.

Now playing...Frederick Delius "Summer night on the River"
Hey this ones good for en plein air!

[Gurn Blanston]

Originally posted by jman:
anyone ever heard of a guy called frederick Delius??? I myself haven't but I'm listening to a violin concerto by him right now. It's alright. I think it's a little too modern for me, or something like that...

Yes, I have a disk of his 4 Violin Sonatas played by Tasmin Little. It is really quite nice music for 20th century. Wish I had his violin concerto, but never ran across it.
Regards, Gurn

[spaceray]

Now playing...Mozart sonata for piano and violin in F K377 Walter Kline and Arthur Grumiaux.

[Gurn Blanston]

Haydn - Quartet in d minor #35 Op 42 - Kodaly Quartet - Well, it's a long list, what can I say? ;-))

[jman]

well that's cool!! I've never heard of him before now but, yeah...am I really sheltered and is he quite well known or..?? I'm a little curious now.

I'm listening to another guy I've never heard of!!...Terry Riley--Requiem for Adam. I'm listening to this radio sort of classical music channel on my TV, and that's where I heard that concerto. Nice stuff when not feeling like listening to anything but any one person.

[spaceray]

Boccherini quintet alas I did not catch which one of the 113 it might be.

[Peter]

Originally posted by jman:
anyone ever heard of a guy called frederick Delius??? I myself haven't but I'm listening to a violin concerto by him right now. It's alright. I think it's a little too modern for me, or something like that...well that's cool!! I've never heard of him before now but, yeah...am I really sheltered and is he quite well known or..?? I'm a little curious now.

Try listening to some of his better known pieces, such as 'on hearing the first cuckoo in spring' or 'the walk to the paradise garden.' He is well known in England - he spent the last years of his life in France at Grez sur Loing, blind, paralysed and dependent on his amanuensis Eric Fenby who assisted him in writing down his compositions from dictation.


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'Man know thyself'

[This message has been edited by Peter (edited June 02, 2003).]

[Joy]

Yesterday, it was Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Op 55 "Eroica" with COND Leonard Bernstein
ORCH New York Philharmonic
CBS/Sony 60692
and a pleasure to listen to Beethoven's 4th Symphony as they don't play this one often enough again with COND Leonard Bernstein
ORCH Vienna Philharmonic
D. Gramphn 423481
Both fine recordings!

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'Truth and beauty joined'

[Chaszz]

Yesterday, Wagner's Tannhauser conducted by Georg Solti. Some of Wagner's operas have boring stretches among the gold, but this one is pure gold once you get past Act 1 and start Act 2. Two hours of pure musical paradise, don't know or care about the plot, an unending flow of great homophonic and polyphonic writing worthy of Beethoven and Bach.. ...and Handel...

- Chaszz

[This message has been edited by Chaszz (edited June 03, 2003).]

[lysander]

I have been enjoying a Beethoven Festival over the last couple of days at the Royal Festival Hall in London. With the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, starting with Coriolan Overture, Symphony no. 4 and the Emperor piano concerto.
And finishing off last night with Symphony no.8 and of course Symphony no. 9 . a brilliant world class performance throughout, and the string section in particular must be one of the greatest collection of musicians playing anywhere.
The conductor Daniel Gatti's reading of symphony no.9. was very profound and powerful and sympathetic, the choral section and the brilliant playing of the orchestra brought the house down!
From start to finish the attention of the audience was focused at all times, and culminated in a thunderous applause and cheers for more. A wonderful unforgettable experience, I could just imagine Beethoven conducting, Heaven and earth are full of his glorious music.

Lysander



[This message has been edited by lysander (edited June 04, 2003).]

[Sorrano]

Originally posted by lysander:
I have been enjoying a Beethoven Festival over the last couple of days at the Royal Festival Hall in London. With the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, starting with Coriolan Overture, Symphony no. 4 and the Emperor piano concerto.
And finishing off last night with Symphony no.8 and of course Symphony no. 9 . a brilliant world class performance throughout, and the string section in particular must be one of the greatest collection of musicians playing anywhere.
The conductor Daniel Gatti's reading of symphony no.9. was very profound and powerful and sympathetic, the choral section and the brilliant playing of the orchestra brought the house down!
From start to finish the attention of the audience was focused at all times, and culminated in a thunderous applause and cheers for more. A wonderful unforgettable experience, I could just imagine Beethoven conducting, Heaven and earth are full of his glorious music.

Lysander

[This message has been edited by lysander (edited June 04, 2003).]

Reading that sent chills down my back! You are very fortunate, indeed!

[Chaszz]

Originally posted by lysander:
I have been enjoying a Beethoven Festival over the last couple of days at the Royal Festival Hall in London. With the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, starting with Coriolan Overture, Symphony no. 4 and the Emperor piano concerto.
And finishing off last night with Symphony no.8 and of course Symphony no. 9 . a brilliant world class performance throughout, and the string section in particular must be one of the greatest collection of musicians playing anywhere.
The conductor Daniel Gatti's reading of symphony no.9. was very profound and powerful and sympathetic, the choral section and the brilliant playing of the orchestra brought the house down!
From start to finish the attention of the audience was focused at all times, and culminated in a thunderous applause and cheers for more. A wonderful unforgettable experience, I could just imagine Beethoven conducting, Heaven and earth are full of his glorious music.

Lysander

[This message has been edited by lysander (edited June 04, 2003).]

Wow - what an experience you describe.

I've been only going to opera lately, but the news that the NY Philharmonic will move back into Carnegie Hall, for its superior acoustics, has made me decide to go there, even before the move, to hear some of the great visiting orchestras that play there now, like the Vienna Philharmonic. Lysander's posting makes me want to do this even more.

[lysander]

Chaszz,

I am sure that the Carnegie Hall in New York is host to many world class orchestra's, I would also love to hear the Vienna Philharmonic play. I recommend experiencing live performances as they give an extra dimension to the whole experience.
Last night at the Beethoven concert the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra certainly generated an exciting atmosphere.
The conductor Daneile Gatti is also a regular guest conductor with the Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmomic, Munic Philharmonic and Veinna State Opera. His mission statement is: "I want to impose on the heart and brain of the audience, to shock them, to force them to think". He certainly did that last night.
The point is that classical music is primarily auditory of course, but there is an important visual element, i.e. going to see performers perform the music. Let's not forget that before the phonograph in the 19th century people had to go to see a concert and how they got by on the intervals in between was by trying to remember what they had heard. It is very unlikely the Genius that he was, Beethoven could have forseen a time in the future when his work would have been committed into a permanent form and obtainable on tap whenever anyone wanted to listen to it.
Would the greats such as Beethoven, Mozart and Wagner have been affected by this in any way if they had know it. I have a vague idea that at the very end of Wagners life he might have been aware of experiments with recorded sound and telegraphy , but I am only guessing.
I do know that the BBC have a wax recording phonograph recording of the great English Statesman, William Gladstone's speech in 1887, eleven years before his death.
Which makes him roughly contemporary with Wagner.



[This message has been edited by lysander (edited June 04, 2003).]