Whats your favourite classical music?

[Gwiwer]

Has anyone mentioned 'Carmina Burana' by Carl Orff ?

 

Kind regards,

Jock.

 

Yes!

 

 

Long-term favourites which I can listen to over and over would be Holst's Planets Suite, Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, Orff's Carmina Burana (to which I subscribe to my father's theory that if everyone in the world played it simultaneously the planet would disintegrate from reverb when the choir hit the fortissimo D-major in "O Fortuna" ) and Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique.

 

 

[BR60103]

I think the term "classical music" is like the term "train".  On here, we know that a train needs marker lights at both ends, otherwise it's just a lot of cars. The layman calls anything on rails a train.

Classical music is fairly precisely defined, especially if you're writing music exams. But the layman uses it for a much wider range.

[runs as required]

big organ music

Back in the days when the Liverpool Overhead still terminated Underground at the Dingle, I shared a nearby student flat – actually a decrepit old billiards room by Richard Norman Shaw  – with a little guy, a Spam Can nutter from Crewkerne Somerset.

Graham was also a deputy organist on the Willis organs at the Anglican cathedral and mates with Henry Willis IV at the organ works closeby.

Willis steadily off-loaded scrap manuals, pedal board, bench seat, and panels of organ stops onto Graham who, down at his end of the room, began a rickety fasimile of the organ console high in the triforium over the choir. We managed to retrieve around to our billiards room a grand piano from an elderly lady in a great house in Princes Park who’d wanted rid, perched on a builder’s handcart.

 

I hadn’t anticipated the Hell that ensued. I’d awaken at all hours to the sound of Graham clattering away on his contraption.

“Ah you’re awake” he’d say and shout “Listen to this!” He’d play the various organ parts on the piano, swing over the organ bench then clatter away on his contraption, bawling out the sound.

 

But the pay off would be sessions when I’d turn the pages for him up in the real organ loft and get to nominate a piece he’d play at the end.

 

I still have the vinyl record Graham gave me of Edouard Commette playng the Daublaine et Callinet/ Merklin organ in Lyons Cathedral - here are a couple of Utube links.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ePguCzUFto

Toccata and Fugue in D minor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE8EwQB0ItQ

Passacaglia and Fugue in D minor

 

What Graham enjoyed was how Commette utilised the reverberation time to ‘architecturally’ phrase the complexity of the music.  Graham introduced me to the fun of gate-crashing rehearsal sessions to tip toe around a great space appreciating the complexity of the space and sound.

I have never found anywhere more perfect for such ‘extreme’ musical trespass than Durham cathedral. 

 

Sadly Graham died of a stroke a few years back having contrived a career first overlooking the old GCR mainline near Woodford Halse, then close to Melton Constable on the M&GN; finally an all too brief retirement at Pickering

dh

 

[edit: correcting link and sp]

Edited February 28, 2015 by runs as required

[Jol Wilkinson]

Thinking of organs and organists, it would be great to find a recording of anything played on the Unseen University organ designed by Bergholt Stuttley Johnson and played by the university Librarian. "One horseman and three pedestrians of the Apocalypse" has a suitably classical ring about it.

[Jock67B]

Sorry to be so picky, but it was Faure's Pavane and not the Requiem.

 

Don't know the answer to the classical question, but just want to say that I had a day out with the domestic Goddess today and as we were driving, had St Matthew Passion playing (she's singing it in a few weeks time). Wonderful stuff,driving through the Essex countryside with JSB's best playing while the sun's shining.

 

Phil

Thanks for the correction Phil, brain fade I guess, all part of the ageing process?

[Jock67B]

Having mentioned 'Nessun Dorma' yesterday, I was prompted to play my Pavarotti/Sutherland CD of 'Turandot' and I'd almost forgotten how full of wonderful music the opera is - the aria from the slave girl 'Liu' for instance, sung by Monserrat Caballé in this recording (and beautifully sung at that in my opinion!), never fails to bring the tears welling! Even the parts played by the unlikely named 'Ping', 'Pang' and 'Pong', who sometimes look to be clowning, break into the most sublime passages of music. If the popularity of the 'football song' caused people to listen further, they were richly rewarded! I was lucky enough to record the whole opera from the Met on Sky Arts and my wife was pleasantly surprised by the experience of watching it in its entirety.

I urge anyone who doesn't know the piece to type 'Signore ascolta' into Google and several You Tube versions will appear!

Dave (runs as required), sounds like you weren't put off by the early alarm calls - what a lovely story. It must have been wonderful to be that close to a well played organ. Strange how the designers of cathedrals were so good at accoustics - the Verdi Requiem (I think I mentioned before?) sounded fantastic when I was lucky enough to see/hear it in St Paul's and Truro cathedrals! Apologies for repetition!

Kind regards

Jock.

[Budgie]

Sibelius as well... Looking forward to the Proms this season!

 

Speaking of which, are there any other Prom attendees on here?

Yes, me. I'm a season ticket holder and I'm often to be found in the front row of the arena, and in the Arena Season-ticket queue most afternoons before the concert.

[station cat]

It appears that Blackwells music shop in Oxford has closed. It certainly isn't where it was.

[PGC]

Sang Evensong in Chelmsford Cathedral last night, the anthem was Geistliches Lied by Brahms. It is 5 minutes of sublime music - you can hear it on YouTube here. Listen to the Amen. The Tenors have one of the most memorable moments in music, lucky bu**ers!

 

Phil

[PGC]

It appears that Blackwells music shop in Oxford has closed. It certainly isn't where it was.

 

Sadly, music shops do disappear. For me, the most missed is Brian Jordan in Cambridge - one of the best music shops in South East England. Sadly, Brian passed away and the last I heard his wife had decided to run the business as an on-line business, but I haven't been there in a while so I don't know what's happening now. Unless they've re-opened, I now have nowhere to peruse music unless I go in to London, which I try not to do if I can help it.

 

In Chelmsford, there's James Dace- they used to have a very large shop in Moulsham Street but then moved and I tried to find them, without success, on Thursday. Perhaps I din't walk far enough up Moulsham Street so I'm going to try again next Thursday and this time allow myself quite a bit more time!

 

Phil

[PGC]

Thinking of organs and organists, it would be great to find a recording of anything played on the Unseen University organ designed by Bergholt Stuttley Johnson and played by the university Librarian. "One horseman and three pedestrians of the Apocalypse" has a suitably classical ring about it.

 

Is that the organ that's in the chapel of Brazeneck College? It's a very well known instrument, built by that anonymous Englishman John Smith!

 

Phil

[Jock67B]

Morning all,

Heard a piece on BBC4 last night on a re-run of a programme about BR - the piece, called 'Overture 125' was commissioned to launch the Inter City 125 service in 1978. Can't say I liked it that much, wonder if anyone else watched it? Sounded like a typical BBC newsreel backing track to me and I failed to discover the name of the composer!

Kind regards,

Jock.

[Jol Wilkinson]

Phil,

 

no, it's one of several attributed to the gifted but flawed designer B S "Bloody Stupid" Johnson, of Terry Pratchett's Discworld.

 

Those not versed in that brilliant man's writings may wish to refer to;

 

 http://discworld.wikia.com/wiki/Bloody_Stupid_Johnson

 

Jol

[45156]

I must say I'm enjopying this thread - never knew that so many RMWebbers are also music lovers - I guess we could start just as many threads as we like on here, covering different musical genres, and pick up just about as much interest and knowledge - I can hold my own on classical due to dad's legacy to me, but also due to his other loves, I inherited a love of big band music and jazz - in fact my guitar style owes a lot more to working with him at various pubs, clubs etc than from das Bach buch fuer gitarre.  However, getting back on thread, here's another of the pieces that he loved greatly and taught as though he knew Ravel personally,

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B45q0caSS0Y

[bbishop]

 

Speaking of which, are there any other Prom attendees on here?

 

Yes, usually in the choir. Very dressed down because I usually cycle all the way to the RAH, then back to Charing Cross.  I usually attend about eight concerts, Bruckner obviously, and other "Romantics", including Sibelius.  There could be a fair chunk of Nielsen this year, could be informative. 

 

Bill

[PGC]

The Organ at La Madeleine is a Cavaille-Coll (1845) and that is what Lefebere-Wely who was organist 1847-58 played and composed on.

 

For something really stirring look out early Iberian organ music played on a proper "Spanish" organ with all those forward facing trompetta!!!

 

Keith

 

 

EDIT organs - organs - organs I love 'em

Daniel Roth:

 

True, La Madelaine is a Cavaille-Coll, but it's been messed around with and isn't in the original condition that the St. Sulpice organ is in.

 

As well as Lefebure-Wely, La Madelaine also had Faure, Saint-Saens and Dubios amongst it's organists. St. Sulpice, however, had just Charles-Marie Widor and Marcel Dupre as the only organists between 1870 and 1971 (I reckon in itself, that must be some sort of record), which is one of the main reasons that the organ has stayed untouched. Those two organists admired the work of Cavaille-Coll and wouldn't let anyone near the organ to "modernise" it!

 

Talking either of the organists, their output, especially Widor's, was far greater than just his toccata, that everyone seems to know. Many years ago, I was driving home after a church service and Radio 3 was playing some beautiful chamber music. It was so lovely I stayed listening to the end, when I discovered it was a piano quarte in C minor by Richard Strauss. Next day, I went in to Tower Records in Piccadilly (that shows how long ago it was I bought the CD!) and found a CD that also had a piano quartet in A minor by Widor. This link takes you to a site where you can buy a copy if you're interested - I have no connection with Presto other than being a satisfied customer. Alternatively, you can listen to some (possibly all) of the recording on YouTube here.

 

When I discovered this, I started ;looking further at the music of Widor. He was a very prolific composer, writing opera, chamber music and choral music as well as his organ symphonies. talking of which, as I said earlier, most people know the Toccata, which is the final movement of the 5th symphony. However, try the first movement here, it's a stunning piece of writing.

 

Phil

[geoffers]

Hah - the Widor Toccata - Mrs geoffers chose that to walk down the aisle at our wedding many years ago. Her madrigal group (minus her of course) sang "...How lovely are thy dwellings fair ..." (in English) from the Brahms German Requiem whilst we signed the register. Raise a few eyebrows that did. She walked into the church to the music of Mendlessohn.....no not that one - it was from "Athelie" and was "...The War March of the Priests".  Superb organist too. Here it is......https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-spNrIHQoA.

 

Edited for spelling.

Edited March 2, 2015 by geoffers

[PGC]

I can understand the Widor Toccata being popular, but most players take the piece far too fast. And if anyone wants to argue the point, this recording is of Widor himself playing the piece at St. Sulpice. OK, he was 82 years old, so physically may not have been able to play the piece much faster, but as the description on the video says, he always argued the popularity of the piece as a show piece and being played too fast. As composer, I think he should know!

 

Personally, when I got married, my wife and I walked out to the Finale of Symphony No 1 by Louis Vierne. I posted a link to this performance a lot earlier in the thread - as you can guess, we were also fortunate to have a very good organist!

 

Phil

[PGC]

I haven't trawled all the way through the thread, but has anyone mentioned the music of Herbert Howells? In particular the Requiem, but there is so much more. For example, the well known Gloucester, Collegium Regale and St. Paul's services. Then there's his organ music, in particular Psalm Prelude Set 1, No 1. Another gem is "Take him earth for cherishing", a piece Howells was commissioned to write for the memorial service of John F Kennedy. I've put a few links below, but all the works are well worth searching out on YouTube, Spotify etc.

 

Psalm Prelude, Set 1 No 1

 

Gloucester Service - Magnificat

 

Gloucester Service - Nunc dimittis

 

Collegium Regale - Magnificat (has to put this one in, this is the choir I run!)

 

St Pauls Service - Magnificat

 

Phil

[Budgie]

You have, I assume, all seen the news about the worst-kept secret in music: the London Symphony Orchestra is appointing Simon Rattle as their chief conductor.

 

More info here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-31696988

[Ian J.]

I was just about to post that same link...

[45156]

I haven't trawled all the way through the thread, but has anyone mentioned the music of Herbert Howells?

There's a blast from my past, as Howells once acted as an adjudicator at the Ayrshire Schools Music Festival in the 1960s it would have been, and I was in my dad's primary school choir.

 

I remember that the adjudicator appeared to be quite old, but he would have been in his seventies by then, and dad did tell us that he was a distinguished modern composer.

 

Our choir didn't win!

[PGC]

I've never had the opportunity to meet Howells - even though you may not have been old enough to appreciate it at the time, I envy you! One of the people I sing under, Paul Trepte of Ely Cathedral, was taught by Howells and speaks very highly of him.

 

There is one piece of advice that Howells is reputed to have given that I treasure. He talked about introducing shafts of light in to the music, in other words, small silences that highlight particular phrases. Some of the conductors I've worked under just plough on regardless without realising that these gaps are as important as the music. Those performances aren't, usually, particularly stimulating.

 

Phil

[Jock67B]

Morning Phil,

Fully agree with you on the Howells advice - good singers also know when 'silence is the best noise' as an old Cornish chorister once told me (when I lived there!). Of course some, like Pavarotti for instance, were often accused of over-doing it, as well as adding 'grace' notes!

Can I thank you personally for the tremendous amount of input you have given to this thread. It is very informative to have a 'performer' in the ranks and I've learned an awful lot from you that I'm sure I'll enjoy for years to come. I'm sure that I am not alone, thank you,

Kind regards,

Jock.

[trisonic]

Lest we forget,  Antonin Dvorak - he caught a chill and died after going down to the station in Prague (in appalling weather) to see a new class of locomotive. Also a huge fan of the New York Subway!

 

 

 

 

Apologies if anyone else has posted this piece or his railway connections.....

 

 

Best, Pete.