What are you listening to now?

[Schenkerian]

But Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven and Liszt? I think that's a bridge too far.

Watched the last 4 competitors of the Chopin Competition of 5th October. Three Asians and one Italian. The latter played the Fazioli and he was beyond nervous, pressing his face against the 'green room' wall before going on stage (as if to block out the announcements). He played 3 Etudes, with the first one rather choppy and fragmented. Alas, he had a mental lapse in the Fantasie in F Minor and replayed the phrases of that march right at the end to try and get his mojo back. Alas, this didn't work. I felt for him; I really did. It's just gruelling. A blood sport.

[Chris]

I played the organ at a wedding last weekend, and that's about all my nerves can take. I can't imagine the stress of an international piano competition!

[Peter]

Listening to Annie Fischer playing the beautiful Brahms Intemezzo Op,116/4 - why is this great pianist so under appreciated? 'Ashtray Annie' as she was nicknamed due to the fact that the only time she was without a cigarette was at the keyboard, spent 15 years recording a great Beethoven complete sonata cycle, up there with the greats.

[Schenkerian]

Listening to Annie Fischer playing the beautiful Brahms Intemezzo Op,116/4 - why is this great pianist so under appreciated? 'Ashtray Annie' as she was nicknamed due to the fact that the only time she was without a cigarette was at the keyboard, spent 15 years recording a great Beethoven complete sonata cycle, up there with the greats.

I wonder if she's related to other Fischers who have been very famous musicians? (Perhaps a common name in Hungary?) I have been listening to her Schubert D960 since you posted this and as a 'breather' from the Chopin Competition. The final movement is far more joyous than you usually hear: it has a real clarity about it too, rather than often leaden and muddy quality many pianists give it. A kind of joyousness you usually find elsewhere than Schubert: I love it's upbeat rather than melancholy quality. I remember being at a recital where Pollini played this work in Vienna 10 years ago (on his own Fazioli) and it was a total bore. Annie Fischer breathes life into this beast! With vigour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PWfRcGJtys

The impression I get is that Annie has studied this work thoroughly and offered far more than a history of listening to other great musicians playing it. This phenomenon is something Leslie Howard discusses in his lecture on the Liszt B Minor Sonata!!

[Peter]

The glorious 2nd String quintet by Brahms - the first movement is particularly outstanding in this fine performance.

[Quijote]

Listening again to an old electroacoustic "classic" by Jonathan Harvey: Mortuos plango, vivos voco (1980).
As a sound source, the composer takes the tenor bell at Winchester cathedral and samplings of his son's voice (a chorister at the time at Winchester) which he transforms into a convincing narrative arc. By "convincing narrative arc" I mean that the sensitive listener will come away with the feeling that the "material" (spectral treatment) has been "worked through", giving a satisfying close to the work. There's plenty of pitch content for the ear to latch onto, it's really quite a "tonal" work in some ways. Best listened to with good headphones.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUrzk_sCwso
PS: sorry for the ads before you actually get to the piece! Voil? the reality of YouTube.

[Sorrano]

Listening again to an old electroacoustic "classic" by Jonathan Harvey: Mortuos plango, vivos voco (1980).
As a sound source, the composer takes the tenor bell at Winchester cathedral and samplings of his son's voice (a chorister at the time at Winchester) which he transforms into a convincing narrative arc. By "convincing narrative arc" I mean that the sensitive listener will come away with the feeling that the "material" (spectral treatment) has been "worked through", giving a satisfying close to the work. There's plenty of pitch content for the ear to latch onto, it's really quite a "tonal" work in some ways. Best listened to with good headphones.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUrzk_sCwso
PS: sorry for the ads before you actually get to the piece! Voil? the reality of YouTube.

Thanks! I enjoy hearing "new" music. I was particularly intrigued with the play of overtones with the bell sampling.

[Megan]

Ludwig van Beethoven


Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 III. Rondo: Vivace

Performer: Maria Jo?o Pires. Orchestra: Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Daniel Harding.

[Schenkerian]

Providing some relief from the endless Chopin of the competition and just to balance the harmonic/melodic books: Helene Grimaud, reading as she's playing, Berg Piano Sonata, Opus 1.

I saw this pianist in Vienna a few months after this was recorded playing the same piece. Again, playing whilst reading. I'd like a bit more attack and ambiguity in the opening bars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3InKmrbXm_Y

[Quijote]

Thanks! I enjoy hearing "new" music. I was particularly intrigued with the play of overtones with the bell sampling.

My pleasure, Sorrano! Glad that you picked up on the overtones aspect. It's not that hard a work to enjoy, I think you will agree.
Ideally, we would hear this work in a venue with multiple speakers that would "'send the music" around the acoustic space, which is another intended aspect enrirely. Listening to it with good headphones gives only half the picture.

[Sorrano]

My pleasure, Sorrano! Glad that you picked up on the overtones aspect. It's not that hard a work to enjoy, I think you will agree.
Ideally, we would hear this work in a venue with multiple speakers that would "'send the music" around the acoustic space, which is another intended aspect enrirely. Listening to it with good headphones gives only half the picture.

I should add that listening to the voice samples reminded me a lot of Ligeti's Adventures. The first time listening to it I had to stop halfway through as it got rather annoying, but at a later date found it much more interesting (probably a thing to do with maturing).

[Henrik Stromberg]

Fur Elise! Ageless classics!

Link for practice: https://musescore.com/official_scores/scores/6960508

[Schenkerian]

The astonishing Schubert String Quintet in C. Good to be able to watch a performance with the Emerson, which will soon be disbanded:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0GOv95iDf0

[Sorrano]

This morning I woke up to the music of Beethoven, the 31st Piano Sonata. I tuned in shortly before the beginning of the fugue, and not knowing what I was hearing I felt very intrigued by the music. Once the fugue started I realized who had composed it and it was an enjoyable way to wake up.

[Arciom Nesterovich]

Listening to Annie Fischer playing the beautiful Brahms Intemezzo Op,116/4 - why is this great pianist so under appreciated? 'Ashtray Annie' as she was nicknamed due to the fact that the only time she was without a cigarette was at the keyboard, spent 15 years recording a great Beethoven complete sonata cycle, up there with the greats.

I think because he wanted that silent life without fame.