What are you listening to now?

[Quijote]

In the meantime, I'm listening to the "deafening silence" created by Roehre's absence.
Did Cage kidnap him?

[Chris]

Great concerto, with a sizzling 3rd movement. Love it. And it all falls so easily under the fingers. Haydn was not a 'cellist, I believe. How is it that the 'cello writing is so very idiomatic?

Well, he did become pretty proficient at playing the baryton. Perhaps he did the same with the cello, or figured out some things from his work with the baryton. Or maybe he sought advice from one of his cellists.

Haydn (as you know) wrote two 'cello concertos. Why oh why couldn't Beethoven have written one, too? OK, we have the Triple, but it doesn't come close.

With a lost 3rd, sadly...

[Quijote]

Well, he did become pretty proficient at playing the baryton. Perhaps he did the same with the cello, or figured out some things from his work with the baryton. Or maybe he sought advice from one of his cellists.
With a lost 3rd, sadly...

You're spoiling my day, Chris! A lost treasure? But still, why did it never occur to Beethoven to write a 'cello concerto? He knew one or two good players in his day (Romberg not least).
Going off on a tangent in terms of lost treasures, if my knowledge of Physics is right, our Sun will one day become a red giant (or go supernova or something - please correct my dodgy science), the end result in either case being the destruction of our planet. In oblique reference to your discussion with Peter and Preston elsewhere on this forum concerning the possibility of life or habitable places in our galaxy and/or universe, I find it unthinkable that the entire "human oeuvre" (in all its guises) may be lost.
Yes, my day is ruined.

[Quijote]

And my comments above lead me (albeit indirectly) to think differently about how we listen to music, about the "now" which is implicit in this thread's title : "What are you listening to now?"
Speaking personally, music down to the early Baroque still holds "currency" with me, by which I mean I understand its gestures, its "meanings", its structure, its "syntax", if you will. When it comes to earlier music (Palestrina, Lassus and even earlier : organuum, Pérotin and so on) I feel increasingly adrift, its language is more opaque to me. My question at this juncture is : will the same one day happen to Beethoven (and Haydn, Mozart, Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler, Schoenberg ...)? Two hundred or more years from now, will the music of the golden age of classicism be so anachronistic as in some ways 12th century music is to me now? It is interesting that to my ears Pérotin (to name but one example) is in some ways as "abstact" as integral serialism.

[Quijote]

Back on thread (and on Megan's suggestion) : Haydn, 'Cello Concerto N° 1. Sizzling!! Jean-Guithen QUEYRAS / Freiburger Barockorchester. To date, the fastest 3rd movement I have ever heard !!!!

[Quijote]

About the above performance : there is no reason whatsoever why HIP practice should not "rock" and be as visceral as Rock & Roll. I thoroughly recommend this CD to dispel any idea that HIP is stuffy. Rock on, Papa Haydn !!

[Sorrano]

I was just listening to some music of Perotin the other day. It's quite enjoyable and drives the neighbors nuts.

Interesting question, Philip, about how we will listen to Beethoven, etc. in the future. The media explosion we are in will certainly have an affect, whether positive or negative it's hard to say.

[Chris]

Going off on a tangent in terms of lost treasures, if my knowledge of Physics is right, our Sun will one day become a red giant (or go supernova or something - please correct my dodgy science), the end result in either case being the destruction of our planet. In oblique reference to your discussion with Peter and Preston elsewhere on this forum concerning the possibility of life or habitable places in our galaxy and/or universe, I find it unthinkable that the entire "human oeuvre" (in all its guises) may be lost.
Yes, my day is ruined.

Yes, the sun is destined to become a red giant, when it will expand and engulf the inner planets, including Earth. It will eventually become a white dwarf. But you've got to look on the bright side - that's not going to happen for about 5 billion years, and I'm sure we'll figure out some way to kill ourselves off before then. See, you don't even have to worry about the red giant now!

This calls for more Haydn in celebration! I have his cantata "Applausus" sitting right here...

[Quijote]

I was just listening to some music of Perotin the other day. It's quite enjoyable and drives the neighbors nuts.

Never thought of that : Pérotin to annoy the neighbours. See, music has many functions ...

[Quijote]

Yes, the sun is destined to become a red giant, when it will expand and engulf the inner planets, including Earth. It will eventually become a white dwarf. But you've got to look on the bright side - that's not going to happen for about 5 billion years, and I'm sure we'll figure out some way to kill ourselves off before then. See, you don't even have to worry about the red giant now!

This calls for more Haydn in celebration! I have his cantata "Applausus" sitting right here...

Looking on the bright side? Well I suppose our sun's eventual supernova or whatever will warrant the Mother of all Sunglasses!! Nah, really, I too dream of the possibility of other habitable places in the galaxy where we can continue our human (and musical) adventure. If not, come the Final Day, what to listen to? Proposition for a new thread : What will you be listening to when the sun goes supernova?
Can I start? Not the Triple Concerto.

[Chris]

It will not be a supernova. Just an anticlimactic, boring old expansion into a red giant. Well, if we haven't managed to colonize other planets before then, you can rest assured that not all of our art will be destroyed - Voyager 1 is out there right now with some of our music, including from Beethoven the first movement of the 5th symphony and the Cavatina from Op 130.

[Peter]

Tchaikovsky's 2nd piano concerto - am I alone in preferring it to the 1st?

[Sorrano]

All this talk of supernovas gives me the urge to listen to Ligeti's Lux Aeterna.

[Chris]

Tchaikovsky's 2nd piano concerto - am I alone in preferring it to the 1st?

From my end you are, though the 1st holds a very special place for me, along with the Violin Concerto, as pieces that got me seriously interested in classical music. Though the 2nd is great as well. Perhaps as the years go by it will eclipse the 1st for me.

[Preston]

It is hard to keep ones self away from something they love and treasure so dearly. So, after a couple weeks I decided to listen to a little bit of Chopin. Some of his music is easier for me to be emotionally captivated by. Therefore, I have been listening to Chopin's Nocturne in C# minor. Does anyone else feel sadness in this piece? For me it is as though the piano is crying in a gentle nature?

I have listened to several different versions of this piece on YouTube, and for now, I like this one best. It is slower than the others and for me provides more emotion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld4CT6ZI0XY