Classical ♫ Music only | Some you listen now or recently, some you love...

[MRC01]

The level of inventiveness on display in these pieces far exceeds that of pretty much all of Buxtehude's contemporaries, IMO.

Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonatas, Op. 1
Arcangelo

Nice one. And there's a sequel!

PS: I love the story about how JS Bach walked 280 miles round trip in 1705 to meet Buxtehude and hear his music.

 

[Rotiv]

Sibelius Symphonies.

Wonderful music

 

[Andolink]

José Castel (1737-1807): 6 String Trios
Concerto 1700
Daniel Pinteño, violin
Fumiko Morie, violin
Ester Domingo, cello

 

[snakedctr]

Borodin - Polovetsian Dances

https://soundcloud.com/carion%2Fborodin-polovetsian-dances

 

[Rednaxela]

 

[Andolink]

Enno POPPE (b. 1969)
Filz, for viola and chamber orchestra (2013-14) [25:30]
Stoff, for nine string players (2015-18) [19:10]
Wald, for four string quartets (2009-10) [26:26]
Tabea Zimmermann (viola)
Ensemble Resonanz/Enno Poppe
rec June 2020, Friedrich-Ebert-Halle, Hamburg, Germany

Joseph HAYDN (1732-1809)
Symphony No.69 in C Major Laudon Hob. I:69 (1775?)
Symphony No.61 in D Major Hob. I:61 (1776)
Symphony No.66 in B Major Hob. I:66 (1775?)
Johann Michael HAYDN (1737–1806)
Sinfonia in C Major Toy Symphony Hob. II:47 (1760/1770)
Basel Chamber Orchestra/Giovanni Antonini

 

[Andolink]

Got this for just $6.21 at Qobuz and it's a really gorgeous recording - -

Johann Gottlieb Graun (1703-1771): Concertante music with viola da gamba
The Ensemble Baroque de Limoges - Christoph Coin

 

[Rednaxela]

Love Graun!

 

[Andolink]

Robert Schumann: Piano Quintet in E-flat, op. 44
Takacs Quartet

 

[amadeuswus]

Got this for just $6.21 at Qobuz and it's a really gorgeous recording - -

Johann Gottlieb Graun (1703-1771): Concertante music with viola da gamba
The Ensemble Baroque de Limoges - Christoph Coin

View attachment 328205

I am streaming the first track, the opening movement of the Concerto for violin & viola da gamba (or viola da braccio) in C minor. From 7:55 to the resolution around 8:26 it sounded remarkably like a passage from the second movement of Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for violin & viola, k364. (It helps that the Mozart movement is also in C minor.) Wikipedia says Braun died in 1771 and Mozart wrote the Sinfornia Concertante in 1779.

For comparison, if you are curious, you might try Track 5 of the following recording (or equivalent), from 9:00 to about 9:35.

 

[KikoKentaurus]

Hello guys, hope you're doing well.

Recently I've heard this statement, about Mozart as a brilliant mockingbird, whose music very much consists of ironic imitations of his contemporaries. And very much of that also applicable to Haydn: irony and mockery.

And after that, this observation becomes an insight: to understand Mozart you need to at least roughly know his environment, his reference group. As my favorite writer said, that's what differs European music from all other - the tradition, which consists not only of vertical temporal connections (as in master-apprentice relations) but also of horizontal, meaning there must be someone, who will not only enjoy your music, but also understand it.

With all that said, maybe you can recommend some literature, or just give a brief list of names who to check, to get a little bit nearer that rococo era, but specifically the Genius of Mozart himself?

Spoiler: harnoncourt

 

[Deleted member 21219]

These might help: https://www.classical-music.com/books/best-books-about-mozart

Jim

 

[KikoKentaurus]

These might help: https://www.classical-music.com/books/best-books-about-mozart

Jim

Might, or might not.

It says: "The eminent scholar Simon Keefe is joined here by 22 others to take us on a tour of the latest insights into Mozart’s interactions with the wider world", which tells me that they are gonna focus more on the biography than on the musicology itself. This link sends me to some "pop-dimension", as I believe. I must carefully correct myself: I'm interested not exactly in that era, but in the specific musical context. I tend to think when listening to music, and I want to get more ideas of what's going on in his music.

Have you watched the video that I linked? I need THAT kind of stuff. Interpretations, not based on biography, but on the deep musicological analysis and vision...

P.S. I did not post it because I cannot google "top 10 books about Mozart", I wondered if there any people who have been on the same path already and could share their milestones with me...

 

[theREALdotnet]

The best book on Mozart I’ve read is by Hildesheimer. By far.

Amazon.com

 

[Andolink]

This morning’s listening - -

G. F. Handel : Chandos Anthem No. 2
The Sixteen Choir & Orchestra - Harry Christophers

Edmund Rubbra : Symphony No. 5, Op. 63
BBC National Orchestra of Wales - Richard Hickox

 

[bevok]

This morning’s listening - -

G. F. Handel : Chandos Anthem No. 2
The Sixteen Choir & Orchestra - Harry Christophers

View attachment 329914

Edmund Rubbra : Symphony No. 5, Op. 63
BBC National Orchestra of Wales - Richard Hickox

View attachment 329915

Thanks, I love the Sixteen but haven’t come across that one.
Really enjoying this recording of the Organ Symphony no. 3 recommended in Gramophone, had to buy a cd of it off Discogs. Jane Parker-Smith with the London Philharmonic.
The third movement has a wonderful low note at 5 minutes which must be 30Hz or less, I’ll have to try and work out how to measure it. A beautiful performance.

 

[Daverz]

Might, or might not.

It says: "The eminent scholar Simon Keefe is joined here by 22 others to take us on a tour of the latest insights into Mozart’s interactions with the wider world", which tells me that they are gonna focus more on the biography than on the musicology itself. This link sends me to some "pop-dimension", as I believe. I must carefully correct myself: I'm interested not exactly in that era, but in the specific musical context. I tend to think when listening to music, and I want to get more ideas of what's going on in his music.

Have you watched the video that I linked? I need THAT kind of stuff. Interpretations, not based on biography, but on the deep musicological analysis and vision...

P.S. I did not post it because I cannot google "top 10 books about Mozart", I wondered if there any people who have been on the same path already and could share their milestones with me...

Charles Rosen's The Classical Style, perhaps?

The Classical Style - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[KikoKentaurus]

Charles Rosen's The Classical Style, perhaps?

The Classical Style - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

C. Rozen says, "There is a belief, which I do not share, that the greatest artists make their effect only when seen against a background of the mediocrity that surrounded them: in other words, the dramatic qualities of Haydn, Mozart and Beetohaven are due to their violation of the patterns to which the public was conditioned by their contemporaries."

While this is a very interesting opinion by itself, note how I formulated my query in my previous post. Not dramatic effect, but ironic.

Of course Herr Harnoncourt laments about people who smile and giggle when hearing Mozarts Symphonies (how can they, filthy plebs!), but if we will agree that aesthetic pleasure cannot be constrained in either joy or sorrow, then it's clear that this is a question of taste, and only...

He says further, "...our expectations do not come from outsite the work but are implicit in it: a work of music sets its own terms".

Well, that's a real American spirit over there! Screw history, screw external context, let us be alone and meditate... Why not? It's just not that I spiritually fully agree with this set of axioms that Mr. Rosen states.

However, there are more. "What makes the history of music, or of any art, particularly troublesome is that what is most exceptional, not what is most usual, has often the greatest claim on our interest. Even within the work of one artist, it is not his usual procedure that characterizes his personal 'style,' but his greatest and most individual success. This, however, seems to deny even the possibility of the history of art: there are only individual works, each self-sufficient, each setting its own standards."

Wow, this book really starts to shine now! And also I'm starting to get me surnames: Stamitz, Dittersdorf, Clementi. This also makes somewhat clear of the scientific principles: one called "science" must be as pure from neighbor sciences if possible (without compromising scientific integrity, so, for example, you can't take math out of physics), so when it comes to real multi-disciplinary task we don't mix something that already has been mixed...

"Even in respect to historical importance and influence, but above all as regards the significance of the musical development of the eighteenth century, the work of Haydn and Mozart cannot be understood against the background of their contemporaries: it is rather the lesser man who must be seen in the framework of the principles inherent in Haydn's and Mozart's music - or, at times, as standing outside these principles in an interesting or origina; way"

I can understand that, yes. So we perceive lesser composers as a some sort of animal species, each representing their own quality, but never approaching fulness of a system... And here they are, "the people with cork helmets", manifesting their brilliance for ours eternal joy! Viva Mozart, Viva Haydn, Viva Beethoven

I stopped on the first chapter, but I would recommend it to anyone interested in this topic.

Thank you, that was a fantastic read!

 

[moonlight rainbow dream]

I'm a very casual listener of classical music, but I've been really enjoying these two CDs:

Would really appreciate recommendations on other CDs to pick up / composers to look into.

 

[KikoKentaurus]