RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted February 21, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted February 21, 2015 (edited) Thanks everybody for your input, and excellent good taste. Perhaps I should have said 'Your favourite classical music (plural)' as following this thread I've added a couple to my list. I do think I spend too much time on RMweb, now I'll be spending even more time on RMweb listening to some wonderful music. PS keep it up. Edited February 21, 2015 by PhilJ W 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talltim Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Three current favourites Erik Satie - Gymnopédie No.1 played by Daniel Varsano Although I sometimes prefer the very slow version by Reinbert de Leeuw Hildegard Von Bingen - Spiritus Sanctus And a bit more modern, Nils Frahm, I especially like the second part of this live recording of More (Starts at about 9:30) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGC Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 It's just not possible to pick a favourite. Pushed into a corner and told 'one work only' I suspect it would have to be Beethoven's seventh; although the rational side of my nature would say 'make it a biggun then' and go for Bach's St Matthew Passion, Cosi fan tutte or Berlioz' Damnation of Faust. (A sort of good, bad and ugly selection?) Liked the story of the psychiatrist's aroused patient. She should only try Sibelius' 'The Wood Nymph' (op 15). Similar things have been said of Saint Saens Organ (hoho) Symphony. The only problem is the incompatability with railway modelling. Paintbrush air baton or tympanist is merely messy. Scalpel or soldering iron air baton is thoroughly dangerous. Oh, I don't know. Get a suitable room and some canvas while painting and listening and you may become the next Jackson Pollock. Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGC Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Thanks everybody for your input, and excellent good taste. Perhaps I should have said 'Your favourite classical music (plural)' as following this thread I've added a couple to my list. I do think I spend too much time on RMweb, now I'll be spending even more time on RMweb listening to some wonderful music. PS keep it up. Rather, try YouTube. I wouldn't have expected to find much Bruckner on there, but the slow movement from 7th Symphony is there, and conducted by Celibedache, reckoned by many to be the greatest interpreter of Bruckner, although my recording by Simon Rattle is rather good. And then there's Spotify as well. Phil 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Kazmierczak Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 I think there's a strong resonance between railways and music. The start and end point, the movement, the rhythm, the light and shade flickering by. Much like a journey. Anyway, for me, music is often a connection of time and place. Bit like a railway journey again. Whenever I hear the final movement of Elgar's Second Symphony, it just physically moves me. I just can't help but move. For some reason it takes me back to the summer when I'd completed my first year's teaching and I was driving home north along the A5 on a glorious sunny morning - with the whole summer holidays ahead. Funny what one remembers..... 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted February 21, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted February 21, 2015 Rather, try YouTube. I wouldn't have expected to find much Bruckner on there, but the slow movement from 7th Symphony is there, and conducted by Celibedache, reckoned by many to be the greatest interpreter of Bruckner, although my recording by Simon Rattle is rather good. And then there's Spotify as well. Phil Thats what I'm doing, I am playing some music as I type this, you can play it on another tab at the same time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastwestdivide Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 At the moment, Bach solo violin partitas (any one will do). Astoundingly intricate for the intellectual side, and amazingly calming for the emotional side. All in the same piece. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastwestdivide Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Oh, and for sheer weirdness, Schubert's Leiermann from Winterreise, preferably actually played on a hurdy-gurdy. Heard it for the first time one night just as I was dropping off to sleep on Radio 3's Late Junction in two versions, one piano and voice, the other hurdy-gurdy and voice, and it fair woke me up. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talltim Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Oh, and for sheer weirdness, Schubert's Leiermann from Winterreise, preferably actually played on a hurdy-gurdy. Heard it for the first time one night just as I was dropping off to sleep on Radio 3's Late Junction in two versions, one piano and voice, the other hurdy-gurdy and voice, and it fair woke me up. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGC Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 I think there's a strong resonance between railways and music. The start and end point, the movement, the rhythm, the light and shade flickering by. Much like a journey. Anyway, for me, music is often a connection of time and place. Bit like a railway journey again. Whenever I hear the final movement of Elgar's Second Symphony, it just physically moves me. I just can't help but move. For some reason it takes me back to the summer when I'd completed my first year's teaching and I was driving home north along the A5 on a glorious sunny morning - with the whole summer holidays ahead. Funny what one remembers..... For me, it's a memory of being a very young man, lying on my back on the side of a wooded mountain, in the sunshine listening to birds singing. Ros, the young lady cuddled up to me was also very happy and just as physically exhausted as I was (get what I mean, nudge, nudge, say no more!). The birds sang and we commented on the beauty of the bird song, so every time I hear RVW's Lark ascending, I wonder what became of Ros. Another memory that haunts me stems from the trip to Moscow in 1982 with London Symphony Chorus that I mentioned in an earlier post. We sang three concerts, two performances of Elgar's "Dream of Gerontius" on Thursday and Friday, then Bruckner's "Mass in E minor" on Saturday evening as the first half of the concert with Walton's "Belshazzar's Feast" as the second half. Bearing in mind what little opportunity the average Russian person would have had to hear a Latin Mass (Christianity wasn't banned in Russia, but it certainly wasn't encouraged!), an elderly lady very close to the front of the audience was in tears as she listened to the Bruckner; the words obviously held a great depth of meaning to her. The memory of the look of joy on her face has stayed with me for a very long time. As you say, funny what one remembers..... Phil 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGC Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Thanks for posting - I'm going on to Amazon immediately to buy the CD. I have sung Winterreise with piano a couple of times, but the Hurdy-Gurdy just adds a depth of melancholy I've never experienced before. I'm looking forward to a new interpretation. Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastwestdivide Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 (edited) [youtube clip] That's the exact one I heard in the middle of the night! Mirkovic and Loibner. Thanks. Edited February 21, 2015 by eastwestdivide Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BoD Posted February 21, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 21, 2015 Like many others I wouldn't know where to start in narrowing it down to one favourite. At the moment I am listening to Duarte Lobo, Requiem for Six Voices. Definitely one of my favourites. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Walters Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 I have two favourite pieces : The first is "The Arrival Of The Queen Of Sheba" by Handel This was the music chosen by me for my future wife to walk up the aisle to The second is "The March Of The Prince Of Denmark" better known as "Trumpet Voluntary" this was the piece we walked out of the church to. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodshaw Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 I like most things by J S Bach, followed by Baroque in general, then back to the Renaissance. Can't be doing with much of this modern stuff - by which I mean almost anything after Ludwig Van. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbishop Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Bruckner 9 - the completed four movement version. Bill 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGC Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 My last post reminds me how I've discovered some of the music I didn't know existed, but love listening to once discovered. Many years ago, between permanent jobs, I worked as a motorbike despatch rider to earn money (I hate these people who have never worked in their lives and live on the dole, but that's another story!). While waiting to collect one job from an office in Soho, I started reading a newspaper, and one of the items concerned a CD starring Thomas Hamson singing the songs of Stephen Foster. Most people know Camptown Races, but the first track was "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair" and the arrangement was just stunning. Another CD I "discovered" was when walking through HMV Oxford Street and saw an album starring Anne Sofie von Otter and Elvis Costello called "For the stars". This is not classical music, but I can't recommend the album highly enough. And tonight, thanks to eastwestdivide and talltim, I've discovered another album I didn't know about, so I've bought it and can't wait for it to drop through the letterbox. Thanks, guys. Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BoD Posted February 21, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 21, 2015 I'm definitely going to have to set aside some time to listen to the recommendations - some of which, I'll admit not having heard of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runs as required Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 (edited) With all the mentions of a resonance between railways and music above, I'm surprised no one has yet suggested Pacific 231 by Arthur Honegger. There are a choice of some good b+w French Chapelon visuals too on this link . dh Ed sp Edited February 21, 2015 by runs as required 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jjb1970 Posted February 21, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 21, 2015 How to identify a favourite, if I singled out one piece now I'd offer something else tomorrow. A lot does depend on mood, also several things get grouped together as classical, opera, symphonic, song cycles, chamber music etc. Some particular favourites include: Lulu by Alban Berg, this is not for everybody for sure but I find it to be a wonderful work Prokofiev 5th symphony Beethoven 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th symphonies, OK maybe a cliché but there is a very good reason these works are so popular Elgar Enigma Variations, for some reason there has often been an inferiority complex about British music but Elgar was a genuinely great composer Reubke organ sonata The Marriage of Figaro, The Magic Flute and Don Giovanni by Mozart Four Last Songs, Richard Strauss Schubert 9th symphony, the great, very aptly named 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Barry O Posted February 21, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 21, 2015 (edited) try a bit of this...https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6f2sa0pMJlw a bit of early music played on some great instruments.. can't see Classic FM playing it though. Edited February 21, 2015 by Barry O 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombatofludham Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 I particularly like British 20th Century composers, especially light music composers like Eric Coates and Vivian Ellis, and today it's possible to find composers who still write in the tradition of British classical and light music, like Paul Lewis and Stewart Mitchell, whose "Seven Wonders Suite for Orchestra" I recently discovered, ironically on Classic FM, more usually the home of popular, well known classics. However, one of my recent favourite discoveries is the Polish composer Janusz Sent whose piano concertos are very evocative and stylistically like Rachmaninov. Talking of which, Rach's Piano Concerto 2 still remains the best way to watch the supporting cast of LMS steam in Brief Encounter. Stanier 4MT tank 2429 really should have been nominated for an Oscar as best supporting actor. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RhBBob Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Cavalleria Rusticana - Intermezzo Sinfonico..... Such a lovely title for such a devastatingly evil plot ...... Oh....and about five hundred other pieces of classical music ! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ian J. Posted February 21, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 21, 2015 It's hard to single out just one. But if stuck for choice then Rachmaninov's 1st Symphony comes to mind: 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurenceb Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 A lot of good music, here in one I play when I need a lift- 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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