What are you listening to now?

[spaceray]

Now playing...Haydn String Quartet in E major,op54 No. 3 .

I tried to listen to Mahler's Kindertotenleider but I couldn't even make it through the first two ,"Nun will die Sonn'so hell aufgeh'n" and "Nun seh'ich wohl, warum so Dunkle"
Ruckert's poetry is beautiful but Mahler's music makes me anxious!

[King Stephen]

Originally posted by Amalie:


Three pieces from Beethoven this afternoon.

'Adelaide' Op.46
Stephan Genz (baritone)
Roger Vignoles (piano)

Sonatina in C minor for mandolin & piano,0p.43 no.1.
Lajos Mayer, Mandolin.
Imre Rohmann (piano)

Quintet for piano and wind, 0p.16
Netherlands Wind Ensemble
Peter Donohoe (piano)

Amalie, It is nice to read that other music lovers are aware and enjoy the works for Mandolin and forte-piano of Beethoven. This work and the others you mentioned on another post were all commissioned works. So, we know Beetoven got paid for them. They were not published until 1940. The mandoiln was a very popular instrument in the late part of the 18th and early part of the 19th centuries. Mozart used it in Don Giovanni. Hummel composed a Grand Sonata for Mandolin and forte-piano that is considered one of the best works ever written for mandolin. Giovanni Hoffmann also composed sonatas for the same instrumentation. The combination of mandolin and forte-piano make for a very pleasant sound. I guess, like you, I enjoy hearing music off the so-called beaten path.
I wonder how many other works lay hidden and are just waiting to be found and listened to?
Forgive me for rambling on, I get carried away when I come across a subject gets the adrenaline flowing. I have to take lessons from Gurn On keeping it short and sweet.

[Geratlas]

Originally posted by King Stephen:
Amalie, It is nice to read that other music lovers are aware and enjoy the works for Mandolin and forte-piano of Beethoven. This work and the others you mentioned on another post were all commissioned works. So, we know Beetoven got paid for them. They were not published until 1940. The mandoiln was a very popular instrument in the late part of the 18th and early part of the 19th centuries. Mozart used it in Don Giovanni. Hummel composed a Grand Sonata for Mandolin and forte-piano that is considered one of the best works ever written for mandolin. Giovanni Hoffmann also composed sonatas for the same instrumentation. The combination of mandolin and forte-piano make for a very pleasant sound. I guess, like you, I enjoy hearing music off the so-called beaten path.
I wonder how many other works lay hidden and are just waiting to be found and listened to?
Forgive me for rambling on, I get carried away when I come across a subject gets the adrenaline flowing. I have to take lessons from Gurn On keeping it short and sweet.

~Your Majesty~
Let me inform you that I took interest in your information. Me myself do not mind the laest you rambling on, and especially not so when you convey a matter that I warmheartedly welcome. Yes, Amalie has a fine sense for fine music, and here she have brought out some delicate LvB works to our attention. I find it equally good of you to duly credit her for it. Getting ispiration from this I scrutinized my LvB collection and found it pleasing to listen to the 2 variation sets for cello and pianoforte (WoO.45 & Op.66), both written and first performed about the same time as the mandolin music of his. Do you got anything in this way to bring out of your closet and bestow us with, King Stephen?
/ Your Liege GrateLazy (rambling on by his own!)

[This message has been edited by Geratlas (edited 08-12-2004).]

[Gurn Blanston]

Amalie,
Well, I have been listening to those works just recently at home, I have always liked them very much, and I found that a friend of mine, who is an excellent mandolinist in the "bluegrass" genre also loved these when he heard them, and now plays them too! Also just recently, I listened to them for the first time with fortepiano instead of modern piano, and they were even better, as HRH says. There are so many little pieces like this that B wrote which almost never get heard or discussed, pity really, people seem too hung up on the "big things" and you can't really criticise them because you are pleased that they are even listeniong at all! Oh well.

Spacerl,
Well, at least you have the Haydn to sort of balance things out. Mahler tends to depress me even in his best moods, but when he is brooding on dead children, I can scarcely see the entertainment value.

King,
Thanks for the info. Like Geratlas, I am always collecting such things and put them away, for later quizzes maybe?! But I have had similar thoughts, I absolutely believe that there are other works by the great composers that were privately commissioned and are even now laying in libraries and "castles" unheard for 200 years or more. All you castle owners out there, listen up...

Geratlas,
Ah, the prodigal returns! And don't forget that other lovely set of variations for cello & piano, WoO 46, on a theme from Die Zauberflöte as I recall. Excellent little musics. And also go back just a bit to WoO 40 & 41 and there are variations for violin & piano, and also a splendid little rondo for the same. These are pieces that have gone to waste, rarely recorded, even more rarely played. I strongly recommend you check them out. They are on a par with the other works we have been discussing today.

And for me now, even more rare a thing than WoO 41, it is the Concerto in G major for Oboe & Orchestra - Antonio Rosetti (1750 - 1792)- yet another of those unheralded composers who were not of the Big 3, but who helped make the classical era what it was, truly the Golden Age of instrumental music! This guy really writes a mean concerto!


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Regards,
Gurn
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That's my opinion, I may be wrong.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Amalie]

Originally posted by King Stephen:
Amalie, It is nice to read that other music lovers are aware and enjoy the works for Mandolin and forte-piano of Beethoven. This work and the others you mentioned on another post were all commissioned works. So, we know Beetoven got paid for them. They were not published until 1940. The mandoiln was a very popular instrument in the late part of the 18th and early part of the 19th centuries. Mozart used it in Don Giovanni. Hummel composed a Grand Sonata for Mandolin and forte-piano that is considered one of the best works ever written for mandolin. Giovanni Hoffmann also composed sonatas for the same instrumentation. The combination of mandolin and forte-piano make for a very pleasant sound. I guess, like you, I enjoy hearing music off the so-called beaten path.
I wonder how many other works lay hidden and are just waiting to be found and listened to?
Forgive me for rambling on, I get carried away when I come across a subject gets the adrenaline flowing. I have to take lessons from Gurn On keeping it short and sweet.

***

King,
Thankyou so much for your information.
I was intending to enquire about the background information about these pieces and you have very kindly supplied a deficiency in my knowledge and I am most grateful, the more information the better!
As I understand it the mandolin has Italian baroque roots and was rather ignored by Northern composers.
I suppose it was because it has a very light, bright sound with not a great range or resonance. I couldn't imagine Bach being attracted to the plucking sounds of the strings ( I may be wrong).
I would be very interested to hear Hummel's Grand Sonata for Mandolin as well as Mozart's piece.
The subject certainly does gets the adrenaline going, so never mind about our Gurn




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~ Unsterbliche Geliebte ~

[King Stephen]

Mozart's on tap right now. His so called Divertimenti K136,137 and 138. They are more accurately called the "Salzburg Symphonies" They are modeled after the Italian 3 movement Symhonies rather than the 5 movement Divertimenti. These works were composed in 1772 when Mozart was about 16 years old. That does not take away the sound of a mature composer. It's melodic content is in true Mozart fashion. Delightful music.

[Amalie]

Vivacious Vivaldi:
Sonata no.6 , Bb major, for violincello & Basso continuo.

Concerto for strings in G major, "alla rustica"

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~ Unsterbliche Geliebte ~

[King Stephen]

I am in a Scottish mood this evening. Max Bruch's Scottish Fantasy for Violin and Orch. Midori / violin and Zubin Mehta conducting the Israel Phil.Orch.
Bruch captures the feeling of the Scotts with this wonderful work.

[Gurn Blanston]

King,
I am curious as to the orchestration of those pieces in your version. The original version of them was as divertimentos for string quartet. I am thinking that they sere not formally SQ's because they don't have obbligatto parts other than the first violin, such as Haydn's Op 1, 2 & 9, which were also called "divertimento". Mozart had already written a full fledged SQ, K 80, 4 movements, the whole 9 yards, so it was not that he wasn't up to it yet. Anyway, some years later, these works were re-arranged (not by WAM, I don't think) for small orchestra and earned the sobriquet "Salzburg Symphony" as you say. So, are your's the orchestral version? I have the SQ version too, they are quite lovely.

Amalie,
Some excellent Vivaldi. I have and enjoy both of those. Makes for a lovely evening, no?

For me though, it is the Duo in D major for Violin & Cello - #5 - Joseph Haydn. I can't praise these works often enough. There is just some magic appeal for me that doesn't fade with repetition.



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Regards,
Gurn
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That's my opinion, I may be wrong.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Gurn Blanston]

King,
Yes, that Scottish Fantasy is some of Bruch's best work. I still remember the first time I heard it, on the radio, in a parking lot in the sun and late for an appointment, but I sat it all out just to find out what the heck it was! Turned out to be Heifetz playing it too. Never found that version, but this is music that transcends the player anyway.

Haven't made it too far, Duo in F major, #6. Have some lovely baryton trios on deck though


------------------
Regards,
Gurn
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That's my opinion, I may be wrong.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[King Stephen]

Originally posted by Gurn Blanston:
King,
I am curious as to the orchestration of those pieces in your version. The original version of them was as divertimentos for string quartet. I am thinking that they sere not formally SQ's because they don't have obbligatto parts other than the first violin, such as Haydn's Op 1, 2 & 9, which were also called "divertimento". Mozart had already written a full fledged SQ, K 80, 4 movements, the whole 9 yards, so it was not that he wasn't up to it yet. Anyway, some years later, these works were re-arranged (not by WAM, I don't think) for small orchestra and earned the sobriquet "Salzburg Symphony" as you say. So, are your's the orchestral version? I have the SQ version too, they are quite lovely.

Amalie,
Some excellent Vivaldi. I have and enjoy both of those. Makes for a lovely evening, no?

For me though, it is the Duo in D major for Violin & Cello - #5 - Joseph Haydn. I can't praise these works often enough. There is just some magic appeal for me that doesn't fade with repetition.

Gurn, here is what I've been able to come up with in regard to the K136,137 and 138, I quote from the CD booklets. "Since they were written in Salzburg early in 1772, they may well have been intended to serve a symphonic purpose during the coming journey to Italy, when wind parts could have been added, as required. They precede, in any case, a series of string quartets written in Italy later in the same year, and may themselves be played as quartets, although once again their three movements suggest another aim."
I find nothing in reference to Mozart adapting them from either string orchestra to String Quartet or the other way around.
I have both versions in my collection and both are very satisfying.

[Gurn Blanston]

King,
Ah, well they must have started out life as either one or the other. I was pretty sure that I had read that the string quartet version came first, but may well be interpolating. Sometimes my old-timers just eats me up!

For me to start out the day, it is the Water Music Suites of Händel. This is the Boston Baroque / Martin Pearlman, very HIP version. One can almost imagine drifting down the Thames...


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Regards,
Gurn
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That's my opinion, I may be wrong.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Sorrano]

Barber's Essays for Orchestra via Radio this morning.

[Gurn Blanston]

Sorrano,
Ah, I have never heard those, but the small amount of Barber I have heard I liked. His Violin Concerto is very nice.

For me, it is C.P.E. Bach - Symphony with 12 Obbligato parts for Orchestra - W 183 #1 - This was the formal music of northern Germany that is so often compared to Haydn and Mozart. When critics accuse them of breaking the rules, these are the rulemakers! And the music doesn't suffer for it either, this is very nice music indeed, although humor juxtaposed with drama will NOT be heard!


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Regards,
Gurn
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That's my opinion, I may be wrong.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Amalie]

HAYDN:
Piano Trio in Bb,H.XV no.20
Beaux Arts Trio


BEETHOVEN:
Piano sonata in C, 0p.2 no. 3
Murray Perahia (piano)

CORELLI:
Concerto Grosso 0p.6 no.10, in C.
English Concert/Trevor Pinnock

VIVALDI:
Concerto no.11, Il Favorito, E minor.
RV. 277.
The English Concert
Andrew Manze.

All such gorgeous pieces!


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~ Unsterbliche Geliebte ~

[This message has been edited by Amalie (edited 08-13-2004).]