What are you listening to now?

[Zevy]

Long trip today included all of op. 18 string quartets, as well as the 3 "Razumovsky" quartets, played by The Amadeus Quartet. They were my first exposure to the LVB Quartets.

[Michael]

Long trip today included all of op. 18 string quartets, as well as the 3 "Razumovsky" quartets, played by The Amadeus Quartet. They were my first exposure to the LVB Quartets.

I bet they shortened that trip for you! I love the Amadeus recordings of Opus 18 (even if they do leave out a lot of exposition repeats) but my "go to" recordings will always be the Italianos.

Come to think of it, there are very few recordings of the Beethoven quartets that do not succeed in some way. The music takes care of itself - and Beethoven knew that two centuries ago.

Since I discovered the quartets back in 1972, the rest of my musical life has been an anticlimax.
(I'm exaggerating - but not much,)

[Zevy]

I bet they shortened that trip for you! I love the Amadeus recordings of Opus 18 (even if they do leave out a lot of exposition repeats) but my "go to" recordings will always be the Italianos.

Come to think of it, there are very few recordings of the Beethoven quartets that do not succeed in some way. The music takes care of itself - and Beethoven knew that two centuries ago.

Since I discovered the quartets back in 1972, the rest of my musical life has been an anticlimax.
(I'm exaggerating - but not much,)

They don't shorten the trip, but they help me think about good things.
I usually preface the op. 18 with the string trios and augment them with the (string) Quintet. That puts things in a more proper chronological order.

[Sorrano]

This morning, Schumann: Symphony No. 2

[Michael]

Prompted by the old 1949 movie which I've just watched, I am listening to "The Legend of the Glass Mountain" by Nino Rota.

I suppose it barely qualifies as "classical" music. It belongs to a genre of film music which probably started with Richard Addinsell's "Warsaw Concerto" (1941) which was an ersatz Rachmaninoff piece that became very popular.

It was my mother who introduced me to the Glass Mountain music when I was very young and it's probably the first piece of quasi-classical music that I remember.

It's a trifle bombastic but it has some lovely tunes which a lot of the "great" composers might envy.

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

[Quijote]

Not sure if I've posted this before, but anyway.
First movement of Albrechtsberger's Concerto for Jewish Harp:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L48oOAA8FoY
I don't need to remind my fellow Beethoven fans that Albrechtsberger was a key counterpoint teacher of our hero.
The cadenza (at the 4'33" mark [gasp! - was this written by John Cage?] is absolutely hilarious!!

[Quijote]

And while we're on the subject of one of Beethoven's counterpoint teachers, check out this Organ Concerto: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqkTTBYCXEQ
It must have been wonderful (if not totally unnerving) when young Beethoven arrived on the scene !!

[Michael]

Nice music, Quijote - even if you don't think so.

Precisely the kind of stuff that Beethoven would have rebelled against - but it's damn catchy! I love it! I'm not qualified to judge its inferiority to the "masters".

Isn't it amazing that all this music (be it first-rate or second-rate) is now available at the touch of a button?

And why shouldn't it be? These guys were writing to the best of their ability at a certain period in history and they deserve to be heard more often.
So much good (if not great) music has been overshadowed by the "great composers".

And without the instruction which this gentleman supplied, Beethoven would possibly never have written the "Grosse Fuge"!

[Zevy]

Mozart: Six Quartets dedicated to Haydn
Guarneri Quartet (Earlier set)

[Quijote]

Isn't it amazing that all this music (be it first-rate or second-rate) is now available at the touch of a button?

It is; and what's more, there's so much of this stuff out there - we'll never have enough time to get to grips with it all...

And why shouldn't it be? These guys were writing to the best of their ability at a certain period in history and they deserve to be heard more often.

Couldn't agree more!

And without the instruction which this gentleman supplied, Beethoven would possibly never have written the "Grosse Fuge"!

[Enrique]

Que bueno encontrar de nuevo al nunca bien como se debe alabado caballero don Quijote de la Mancha! I hope you are doing well.

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde, last act, Karajan.

When I discovered music could be got through the internet in a completely gratuitously way, first thing I downloaded, I well remember, was Wagner's Tristan. I got a FLAC file (FLAC is a lossless digital encoding format; contrary to MP3 files, where musical information is intentionally left lacking, trusting in our brain capability to reconstruct the original), and was really happy with this recent adquisition.

Ask me how the opera ends, and I'll never be able to answer you. Today, I am trying to erase this unforgivable ignorance.

[Megan]

https://www.facebook.com/baroque4you...7702025291084/

[Peter]

https://www.facebook.com/baroque4you...7702025291084/

Beautiful Megan - Philippe Jaroussky is a great counter-tenor.

[Megan]

Beautiful Megan - Philippe Jaroussky is a great counter-tenor.

I know, he has a gorgeous voice, I listen to him quite often.

[Quijote]

Que bueno encontrar de nuevo al nunca bien como se debe alabado caballero don Quijote de la Mancha! I hope you are doing well.

Nice to see that I have at last one admirer !! Good to see you here too, Enrique.