What are you listening to now?

[Peter]

Magnificat directed by Philip Cave playing a selection of Tallis including the Mass and Spem in alium. In the cd notes it recommends their recording of Victoria's Officium Defunctorum and wondered if anyone was familiar with either the work or the recording?

[Preston]

Do you mean your turntable is running slow, Preston?
Or are you listening to Karl Bohm's version?

Neither, just a program called Audacity. Although it does make it somewhat slurred and harder to hear the crispness of the articulations. Although, I do enjoy it at a slower speed, it brings out the bass a lot and, for me, I can hear more of what is happening.

[PDG]

One of the magical things about digital technology is that one can make a PC play music more slowly (or more quickly) without altering the pitch of a piece. This is a godsend with the great Beethoven works because, as mere mortal listeners, it means we have the chance to appreciate nuances (and, dare I say, tricks) which otherwise seem to simply flash by...

[Preston]

One of the magical things about digital technology is that one can make a PC play music more slowly (or more quickly) without altering the pitch of a piece.

Very true. Although, when I change it to a slower speed it does seem to change something, possibly pitch. Interestingly, it makes it sound lower, but yet the same notes. Although, I am not using really high end equipment and software, so perhaps with a better written piece of software, you could capture everything perfectly, at a slower speed.

This is a godsend with the great Beethoven works because, as mere mortal listeners, it means we have the chance to appreciate nuances (and, dare I say, tricks) which otherwise seem to simply flash by...

I really agree with this. Beethoven, to me, can just fly by, and slowing it down does capture all of the little things that us '"mere mortals" could usually not hear.

[Chris]

I just started listening to Leonore right now, the early version of Fidelio, conducted by Herbert Blomstedt. I'm pretty excited about this, as Fidelio is my favorite opera and one of my favorite works by Beethoven, and aside from the overtures and one other number, I have never heard any of the different music from Leonore.

[Michael]

I just started listening to Leonore right now, the early version of Fidelio, conducted by Herbert Blomstedt. I'm pretty excited about this, as Fidelio is my favorite opera and one of my favorite works by Beethoven, and aside from the overtures and one other number, I have never heard any of the different music from Leonore.

This is a very good recording and I prefer it to John Eliot Gardiner's version where the dialogue is replaced by a narration. Along with umpteen other differences, there are two beautiful sections which were totally removed from Fidelio: the Terzetto, "Ein Mann is bald genommen" (Track 7 on disc one) and the Duette: "Im in der Ehe froh zu leben" (Track 20 on disc one).

[Michael]

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I really agree with this. Beethoven, to me, can just fly by, and slowing it down does capture all of the little things that us '"mere mortals" could usually not hear.

That's one of the reasons I am so fond of Bohm's Ninth though everyone else seems to loath it. He takes the first movement VERY slowly and I can pick out a lot of little details that I cannot usually hear - and it shows up the sheer amount of melody. This slow approach doesn't work too well in the scherzo, but the remaining two movements are played at "normal" speed.

[Chris]

This is a very good recording and I prefer it to John Eliot Gardiner's version where the dialogue is replaced by a narration.

Yes, one of the reasons I went with this recording.

Along with umpteen other differences, there are two beautiful sections which were totally removed from Fidelio: the Terzetto, "Ein Mann is bald genommen" (Track 7 on disc one) and the Duette: "Im in der Ehe froh zu leben" (Track 20 on disc one).

Yes, I just heard track 7, wonderful! The Duette I believe we featured on the site a long time ago on "The Rare Beethoven Page." I absolutely love it. The beginning is actually very similar to a violin duet I once composed.

[Hofrat]

And what about Pizarro's "fire ball" aria and chorus at the end of Leonore's 2nd act which is the only showstopper in the whole version?? Or the march at the beginning of Leonore's 2nd act which has been catalogged as W.o.O. 2b?? These too ended up on the cutting room floor!!

[Quijote]

Very true. Although, when I change it to a slower speed it does seem to change something, possibly pitch. Interestingly, it makes it sound lower, but yet the same notes.

The pitch is either lower, or it is not. If you slowed down the rpm on one of those old turntable things the harmonic/melodic functions would "appear" the same, though the pitch would definitely be lower. If you're not sure, check on a keyboard or take a tuning fork.

I really agree with this. Beethoven, to me, can just fly by, and slowing it down does capture all of the little things that us '"mere mortals" could usually not hear.

An argument for studying the score, then. It is true though, that one cannot expect to hear all the inner detail of any work on first hearing. Beethoven wrote music for everyone, including "mere mortals".

[Quijote]

I have just received a delivery of CDs from the company that takes its name from a warrior class of women reputed to have cut off one of their breasts to facilitate firing their arrows; also a forest in South America, and the longest river therein.

So, I cannot say "what I am listening to now", but rather what I will be listening to over the next few days :

Bruckner, Symphony N° 4 ("original" 1874 version), Russell Davies, Bruckner Orchester Linz;
Bach, Sonatas and Partitas (Jaap Schröder, baroque violin);
Juan Cristostomo Arriaga, String Quartets (Camerata Boccherini, "original instruments");
Schumann, String Quartets Nos. 1-3 (Fine Arts Quartet);
Stephen Bishop K, Beethoven's Diabelli Variations and Bach's Partita N° 4 (recorded July 2008).

I will give you a critique later.

[Michael]

I have just received a delivery of CDs from the company that takes its name from a warrior class of women reputed to have cut off one of their breasts to facilitate firing their arrows.

Ah, yes, the HMV tribe. I've heard of them. Didn't they torture dogs by plonking them down in front of gramophone speakers?

[PDG]

I have just received a delivery of CDs from the company that takes its name from a warrior class of women reputed to have cut off one of their breasts to facilitate firing their arrows;

Did they not consider the crossbow?

[Preston]

An argument for studying the score, then. It is true though, that one cannot expect to hear all the inner detail of any work on first hearing. Beethoven wrote music for everyone, including "mere mortals".

Well perhaps Beethoven, Mozart, etc., could, .

I too, do believe that Beethoven wrote for a larger majority then just the scholars. Although, for me, and I imagine many, that it is hard to ever hear the music just as Beethoven heard it. That would be the real trick, understanding the music to point of such unimaginable beauty, life, realness, spirituality, etc., and not to mention, note for note- hence mere mortals, so to say. In the end I guess you could say that the average human's mind doesn't really compare to the more Godly (if you will), or let's say, divine, minds.

[Chris]

And what about Pizarro's "fire ball" aria and chorus at the end of Leonore's 2nd act which is the only showstopper in the whole version?? Or the march at the beginning of Leonore's 2nd act which has been catalogged as W.o.O. 2b?? These too ended up on the cutting room floor!!

Yes, I read about WoO 2b in the liner notes - I was just wondering about it the other day, actually. Sadly, it is not included in that recording.