Music Mockney's Classical Music Thread

Team Brian GB said:
So the proms begins this evening, one of our great and understated institutions.

Anyone around London going?
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I'll go to a few, what with it being round the corner. Haven't looked at the programme for this year yet though. Any particular highlights?
 
Nani Nana said:
what is it?
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The Promenades, the biggest classical music festival in the world with something like 80 performances by fifty orchestras over eight weeks at the Royal Albert Hall in London, which takes place from July to September every year.

You won't be able to get a live tv feed outside the United Kingdom but you can get a live radio feed through the BBC iplayer website worldwide.
 
lynchie said:
I'll go to a few, what with it being round the corner. Haven't looked at the programme for this year yet though. Any particular highlights?
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It is difficult to pick out anything as it is so comprehensive, looking at the listings all day tomorrow is Wagner's 'Mastersingers of Nuremberg' with Bryn Turfel at the helm which should prove to kick proceedings off with a bang.

The easiest way to search the listings is to look by composer.

BBC - Proms - Composer Index
 
I've just looked at the last night schedule, it includes a certain 'You'll never walk alone' followed by the theme from the Pirates of the Caribbean whilst the British sea songs have been omitted.
 
Lailiani said:
I'm currently in love with 'Madama Butterfly'.
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Renata Tebaldi singing 'Un bel di vedremo' under Leinsdorf --



Wonderful to see so much activity here. :)
Lots I want to comment on (and despite my own words about the impossibility of a recommended canon for the newbie, I can't let it go), but first of all, regarding the Proms, I'd urge you not to miss Sir JEG, the EBS & the Monteverdi Choir performing the Monteverdi Vespers on September 10.

Details here --
BBC - Proms - 10 September 2010

And hopefully some of you are on your way to hear Terfel's Sachs while I'm stuck in a clammy little room writing this! Lucky bastards!
(Although we all know the greatest living bass-baritone is of course Terje Stensvold. Sadly it seems we won't ever hear him as Sachs, so Terfel will have to do... ;))

Post of great Sachs performances through the ages (as far as they can be found on YouTube) coming up.
 
Some great interpreters of the role Hans Sachs from Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
(I've used Nani Nana's great idea about vids behind spoiler tags to reduce the loading time of the thread.)

Fliedermonolog

Hans Hotter --



Friedrich Schorr --



Wahnmonolog

Hans Hotter --



Friedrich Schorr --



Joel Berglund --

 
More Meistersinger! :)

One of my favourite 'Fanget an!' of all time -- Knappertsbusch at Bayreuth '60, Windgassen as Walter. It ought to get you swinging from the curtains & jumping out of the windows! :D

 
Sorry for killing the thread. :(

*bump!* with something spine chilling - Hotter's Jochanaan



(LOL so much at one the YouTube comments: "He rocks! He rules! He kicks ass!" :lol: It's not just funny, it's true.)
 
Wierd one, I stumbled upon this wrongly labeled youtube video of what I think is a performance by some Benadictine Nuns, is there anyone with an idea of what the piece of music is that starts at 1:06 on the video? Thanks in advance.


 
evra said:
Wierd one, I stumbled upon this wrongly labeled youtube video of what I think is a performance by some Benadictine Nuns, is there anyone with an idea of what the piece of music is that starts at 1:06 on the video? Thanks in advance.
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Yes, it's Gregorian plainchant by the Benedictine nuns of St. Cecilia's Abbey. 1:06 is the Salve Mater.

Here's their website. They've got a section about their tradition of Gregorian plainchant --
St Cecilias Abbey

Here's something you might enjoy --

The Monteverdi Vespers [Vespro Della Beata Vergine]; The Monteverdi Choir & EBS under Sir John Eliot Gardiner



















 
And a propos St. Cecilia's Abbey, here's a great programme from Arte --

Hail! Bright Cecilia

With Love of thee and thy Celestial Art;
That thine and Musick's Sacred Love
May make the British Forest prove
As Famous as Dodona's Vocal Grove.

[...]

Soul of the World! Inspir'd by thee,
The jarring Seeds of Matter did agree,
Thou didst the scatter'd Atoms bind,
Which, by thy Laws of true proportion join'd,
Made up of various Parts one perfect Harmony







 
Thanks Waltraute, now I can download a version with decent sound quality. It's strange because I had a bit of an obsession with Vivaldi's Stabat Mater (again this was unlabeled so I had no idea what it was). I seem to be drawn towards music associated with the Virgin Mary and I'm not even Catholic.... The suggestions you posted also seem to be right up my alley, I'll give them a proper listen when I need cheering up next.
 
Wonderful posts, Mockney & evra! :)

Continuing the theme of sacred music and Russian music, here are

The Rachmaninov Vespers
USSR Ministry of Culture Chamber Choir under Valeri Polyansky
(15 vids, so they'll take some time to load.)





























 
Brilliant, Nani! :) I adore Oistrakh.

Here are some favourites from the mighty Mark Reizen --

'Song of the Viking Guest' from Sadko by Rimsky-Korsakov



'Here, on this holy spot' from Khovanshchina by Mussorgsky



Act 2 monologue from Boris Godunov by Mussorgsky

 
:eek: This thread is amazing, I've never really considered classical music before.
 
This is crazy, I should never have discovered this thread, it's going to push my broadband download limit over!



That in particular is amazing. I guess I am of the 'classical music is for posh people' brigade, and although I have noticed its 'calming' effect at times, it for me was always just background noise in movies or adverts. It's great though, right now I'm just admiring the unpredictability of it all - not knowing what happens next in a certain piece - because I'm so new to it all. Of course there are classics which I have heard before and never knew the name of.
 
easily the best thread on redcafe

MJLD said:
I guess I am of the 'classical music is for posh people' brigade
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there are more and more middle class teenagers going to watch pianists live. the internet has somewhat abolished the bond between culture and social classes.
 
Today, August 28th, marks the 150th anniversary of the premiere of Richard Wagner's Lohengrin, conducted exceptionally by his great friend Franz Liszt in Weimar. Liszt chose August 28th for the premiere as a reference to the city's most commendable citizen, Goethe.

here's to another 150 years

 
Hard to find any that haven't already been mentioned such as been the overwhelming depth of knowledge on display from Nana and Waltraute.. but I'll just try to post some classics.. think the second one has already been posted, and a LOTR score







 


Nicolas de Grigny died in 1703 aged 31. His music, and especially this piece from 1 minute onwards, sounds to me as it encapsulates all the music that followed, until today's Daft Punks and Crystal Castles.

Bach was a fond admirer of this much underrated composer
 
Has anyone else been following the Mikhail Pletnev arrest story?

While he's struggling to clear his name it's worth remembering that he is/was an amazing pianist.

This is the dog's balls. I can't think of many musicians who can combine musicality and techniqe to this extent...

 
browsing this thread again... waltraute is my poster of the year
 
dont worry Waltraute, there must be one single visitor who has discovered classical music thanks to your contribution which makes it all worthy. I personally enriched my own knowledge of the matter thanks to you as well

I think Matti Salminen's rendition of Boris' Monologue was worth its piece of glory, alongside the one of Mark Reizen you quoted.

A Finn interpreting a patriotic Russian piece, goes to show music is spaceless as well as timeless

 
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