What are you listening to now?

[Humoresque]

I totally agree that Schubert would have surpassed all the composers (except, possibly Bach) if he had lived. I become more convinced of it with each passing day. Disagree about Mozart as I feel he had reached is peak by the time he died.

This little masterpiece contains many of the elements which the comparatively young genius Schubert showed us time and time again; his musico-dramatic ability, the use of ostinato to depict movement and drama, and the powerful word painting which was, IMO, second to none:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuG7Y6wiPL8

And, of course, it helps that his work was sung by the greatest tenor who ever performed Schubert lieder.

[Peter]

I remember watching an interview with Horowitz on youtube and he said the same thing. He didn't even reach the age in which Beethoven composed the turning point in his musical development in the Eroica. It's a depressing thought what the world has lost with Schubert and Mozart passing so early. Hell, I wish Beethoven had lived 10 more years and given us a couple more symphonies - with his late string quartets as inspiration for a new path, any new symphony would have surely been pretty radical at the time, or maybe he would have scaled back completely but with more life experience and spiritual insight. Op 135 has airings of acceptance and affirmation of life's transience (the last movement especially), and the last piece he ever wrote was one of his most upbeat pieces of music, the coda of which is so perky and full of step that maybe a happier Beethoven would have emerged. But who knows? All three gave us so much great music that takes a lifetime to explore that I can't lament the loss too much.

I don't see it as depressing at all. I turn it round the other way and imagine if they'd never been born in the first place or if they'd died in childhood which was all too common. We're so lucky to have what we have and all speculation as to what might have been is fruitless. You're right that there is nothing to lament!

[Chris]

This little masterpiece contains many of the elements which the comparatively young genius Schubert showed us time and time again; his musico-dramatic ability, the use of ostinato to depict movement and drama, and the powerful word painting which was, IMO, second to none:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuG7Y6wiPL8

And, of course, it helps that his work was sung by the greatest tenor who ever performed Schubert lieder.

I knew what this was going to be before I even clicked the link

And I agree on your appraisal of this fine singer!

[hal9000]

You are right, Peter.

Back to the music:

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Usf1_75TtQ[/YOUTUBE]
Beethoven/Liszt - two pianos.

Ok, I want to lament one more thing I wish Liszt had transcribed the Missa Solemnis for two pianos.

[Humoresque]

I knew what this was going to be before I even clicked the link

And I agree on your appraisal of this fine singer!

Good God; I said 'tenor'! Of course, I meant Baritone!

It remain enigmatic why Schubert's many operas failed. Even Haydn's operas are rarely, if ever, performed. It wasn't exactly Beethoven's forte either (pun intended)!! But isn't there some music from them which could be redeemed?

I have recently bought a boxed set of Schubert's complete sacred works (Sawallisch) which demonstrate, to me at least, that the younger genius was no match for Haydn in this genre either. But Schubert's staggeringly beautiful lieder, piano music, chamber music and symphonies well qualify Grillpartzer's, and our, "even fairer hopes".

[Chris]

It remain enigmatic why Schubert's many operas failed. Even Haydn's operas are rarely, if ever, performed. It wasn't exactly Beethoven's forte either (pun intended)!! But isn't there some music from them which could be redeemed?

I am not too familiar with Schubert's works in the genre, but I have often sung the praises of Haydn's operas here (and Fidelio, of course)!

[Humoresque]

Here's Schubert's best-known opera. (Rossini was all the rage in Vienna at the time!) On the face of it, Schubert doesn't seem to know what to do during the recitativo sections - the music often seems to be treading water!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMwUFJfN1hs

[Humoresque]

Right now I'm listening to my beloved Kleiber's version with the VPO of Schubert's Symphony No. 3:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccQ-NcSUaDs

Soon I'm going to start talking about one of Kleiber's heroes, Klaus Tennstedt. Stay tuned.

[Chris]

I've been listening to this a lot lately:

Beethoven
Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58
Zimerman/Bernstein/Vienna Philharmonic

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1ph_jLOawE[/YOUTUBE]

It's one of those works I really started to love later, so it's still quite exciting to revisit.

[Michael]

Sergeant Pepper Remix.
(What else?)

[Peter]

The hauntingly beautiful Schumann 'Ghost Variations' - especially moving as this was Schumann's last work before he was admitted to the asylum in Bonn-Endenich. On 17 or 18 February 1854, Schumann wrote down a theme he said was dictated to him by voices like those of angels. Several days later, he wrote a set of variations on this theme. While he was still working on the composition, on 27 February he suddenly threw himself into the freezing Rhine river, from which he was rescued and returned home. After surviving the suicide attempt, he continued to work on it. The next day, he completed the work and sent the manuscript to his wife, Clara, who had left him the night before, on the advice of a doctor. Due to the harrowing events of this period Clara Schumann (to whom the work is dedicated) jealously guarded the manuscripts of this piece, her husband’s last composition for piano, as if they were sacred relics, and forbade any attempt to publish them. Though Brahms (who himself wrote a set of variations on this theme Op.23) had the theme published in 1893 (without the variations) it was not until 1939 that the first edition finally appeared.

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8FUZ-saANQ[/YOUTUBE]

[Peter]

Respighi "Adagio con variazioni"
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sfi4Wp-NWGM[/YOUTUBE]

[Chris]

Beethoven - Choral Fantasy

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H287izzj8HM[/YOUTUBE]

I don't come back to this one often enough!

[gprengel]

The hauntingly beautiful Schumann 'Ghost Variations' - especially moving as this was Schumann's last work .... Schumann wrote down a theme he said was dictated to him by voices like angels

Peter, don't you think that this wonderful theme which he used also in the 2nd movement of his great violin concerto is actually a Beethoven melody from op. 119 and
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RK9gnv7oXEA ?

[Peter]

Peter, don't you think that this wonderful theme which he used also in the 2nd movement of his great violin concerto is actually a Beethoven melody from op. 119 and
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RK9gnv7oXEA ?

There are definitely similarities with these which I don't think Schumann was conscious of (given his mental state at the time) - he used to say he often didn't realise the many canon like imitative passages in his own music until they were pointed out to him!