Whats your favourite classical music?

[billbedford]

To be on the safe side, Farage will need to ban all music with texts, as it is mostly subversive. Even such seemingly irreproachably nationalist favourites 'Jerusalem' and 'Rule, Britannia!' if read carefully...

 

Parry's music already subverts the words of Blake's Jerusalem, turning a call to revolution into just another rousing Anglican hymn. Ironic, really, since the 'dark satanic mills' can be identified exactly with the Church of England.

[Bernard Lamb]

Taking up various points.

Mention of both Anton Bruckner and Robert Simpson prompts me to mention a book The Essence of Bruckner by Robert Simpson.

Probably the best book in English on the symphonies.

Nigel Farage should adopt Wellington's Victory as his theme. For those who do not know the piece it is a celebration of the victory of the Anglo Prussian forces over the French. It contains quotes from God Save the King and Rule Britannia as well as, tongue firmly in cheek, what must be the perfect tune for Nigel, For He's a Jolly Good Fellow.

On the subject of British composers I see no mention of Peter Maxwell Davies. Some of his music can be rather "modern" but try Farewell to Stromness for starters.

Bernard

[PhilJ W]

Thanks for your input everybody, over 300 entries in 2 weeks and I have not counted the pieces suggested yet and I still have to listen to the majority of them. Just one last thought, has anyone thought of inserting a forked stick in Nigel Farage?

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

....On the subject of British composers I see no mention of Peter Maxwell Davies. Some of his music can be rather "modern" but try Farewell to Stromness for starters...

 

Don't think we have mentioned the compostions of Hamilton Bantock either. Anything but modern, right in the vastly romantic strain of Alfven, Busoni, Copland, Dvorak, Enescu, Grieg, Hahn, and I could drone on... If he had originated from the backwoods of the Austro-Hungarian empire with a name like oh, Heitor Bartok, his work would regularly appear in concert hall programmes.

[trisonic]

Well, because he did popular movie soundtracks the great Ron Goodwin is underrated:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIzBQ6vEcIc&spfreload=10

 

I listened to a lot of his and Hans Zimmer’s work before I ventured into the genre.

 

 

Best, Pete.

[trisonic]

Here’s an early example of one of mine:

 

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=827583&songID=6474216

 

 

Best, Pete.

[45156]

I like that Pete - but I prefer your two Superman compositions that are also on Soundclick, and which you posted some time ago on another thread

[runs as required]

Interested to hear that soundclick film music piece Pete.

I've never properly understood how film music gets written and developed. Is it an endlessly iterative business where the original ideas have to be worked and re-worked as all the visual editing continues through to the final cut?

Then in the pre-digital days I've always supposed the composer and conductor re-worked and played the final score watching the sceening?  Finally someone like Eric Coates would prepare a version for concert performance and release as auio recordings?

dh

 

ed sp

Edited March 6, 2015 by runs as required

[runs as required]

Being enjoyably sidetracked by Pete's film music post above, I was actually about to post about three operas we saw this week in Newcastle Theatre Royal by Opera North touring from Leeds. Manuel de Falla’s bleakly Spanish La vida breve and Puccini’s comedy Gianni Schicchi on one night and Marriage of Figaro the second.

 

But the two genres are of course intertwined. We bumped into a distinguished old musician friend the first night who objected to being dragged along to get distracted by the visuals from concentrating totally on the music. But he did concede that knowing what the two of us did (designer and psychotherapist) we'd have a very different agenda.

 

Wife always enjoys opera as the "singing of thoughts" (I think Jonathan Miller's definition). 

I certainly look forward to the visuals, not least because the usual old opera maxim "more is more" by economic necessity and trailer dimensions these days has to be "LESS is more". I thought the first double bill night was far more successful in design terms than the second. It was very hard to imagine the garden in the marriage's last act, being sung amongst the functional back props of what looked to be advertising hoardings (the reverse of the set for the Count's palace).

dh

Edited March 6, 2015 by runs as required

[PGC]

Well, because he did popular movie soundtracks the great Ron Goodwin is underrated:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIzBQ6vEcIc&spfreload=10

 

I listened to a lot of his and Hans Zimmer’s work before I ventured into the genre.

 

 

Best, Pete.

 

Sadly, a lot of composers are highly under-rated. Why? Well, I don't know the answer, as I l prefer to judge what I listen to, and not who has written it, but I suspect there is a large element of snobbishness within classical music circles that means a lot of music is put down by the "academics" just because it's not written by someone who is in favour. I also get worried about the number of people who rise through the ranks of music just because they have good qualifications and can talk the talk, not because they are any good at making music. I can think of several examples immediately, but I won't name names here. Yes, a certain element of bitterness could be read in to this comment, but with Cantus, I have founded a choir that now has the reputation among English cathedrals of being one of the best visiting choirs. Personally, I let my music speak for me, and only now am I thinking about getting a musical qualification. As the old cliché goes, actions speak louder than words!

 

Changing the subject slightly, mention was made earlier of Granville Bantock and Hamilton Harty, both excellent composers to my mind that have been overlooked. I have a song by Granville Bantock, "the song of the peach blossom fountain", that is simply beautiful, but it's not recorded on YouTube. Perhaps I'll have to do something about this! And what about Peter Warlock? A lot of people know his Capriol Suite, but what about "The Curlew" and his carol setting Bethlehem Down (as you'll see from the notes of the video, PW was an "interesting" chap!  but still wrote fantastic music)

 

 

 

 

Phil

[lakeview770]

Depends on the mood, something heavy/ joyful its Holst's Planets for me or if relaxing with a drink and a book its something by Spohr like clarinet concertos 1-4

 

AW

[Jock67B]

Morning all,

Completely agree with both Stewart and Dave - that is a rare talent you have Pete! I do think that film music is often underrated.

My memory has just been kickstarted again - another of my old Russian films, 'Ivan the Terrible', like the 'Alexander Nevsky' I mentioned in an earlier post, directed by Sergei Eisenstein with Nikolay Cherkasov (Russia's equivalent of Laurence Olivier!) in the lead role. Again the music was by Prokofiev and I feel it must have been a collaboration between composer and director after editing as I can clearly visualise the malevolence engendered in the character by the music, particularly in the use of approaching silhouette shadows to build suspense, supported by deep base sounds - almost scary! I'm not sure that I could recommend you all rush out to see it, even though it is a great directorial masterpiece as there is a darker tale associated with the film. It truly is an epic, and it was apparently commissioned by J. Stalin who saw himself as a sort of 'Ivan' like hero. Sadly, when he saw the film he was annoyed that the title character was not portrayed in the way that he had imagined it should and so he banned what would have been parts two and three of a trilogy! It obviously had a great effect on me however, as the memories that have just sprung back to mind are very vivid indeed. I would certainly recommend that both Eisenstein films be on the curriculum of any prospective film score musician, even though Prokofiev made his name elsewhere in the main. An interesting side shoot of this thread?

Once again RMweb brings back to life, experiences that were locked away in the brain's vault,

Kind regards,

Jock.

[Jock67B]

Phil,

I liked 'The Curlew' from the 2013 Beeb Proms and have it recorded on the Sky box! (Have to confess that I was rather captivated by the beautiful blonde violinist at the time but then the piece 'hooked' me!). Mr Warlock was indeed 'interesting' as you say, but I think his music is well worth trawling through!

Agree with your sentiments on demonstrable skills, but as this thread shows, possibly more than most, the old adage holds true - 'One man's meat.....................

Thank you and kind regards,

Jock.

[PGC]

Spent a very pleasant day modelling while having a lot of music on in the background. One piece was Stanford Symphony No 1. Never heard it before, but I'm going to buy the CD. Another piece was Charles Tournemire's Symphony No 3 "Moscow". I only knew of Tournemire as a composer of organ music, so this was a revelation and I will be listening to it again (and possibly again, and............... :-)  )

 

Phil

 

PS - The modelling hasn't been as productive as I'd hoped, but that's another story!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fofY0bvzEB4

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqmk29J8wAQ

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Don't think we have mentioned the compostions of Hamilton Bantock ....

Probably because - to the best of my knowledge -  no such composer bore that handle. Reminder to self, no posting after enjoying a nice bottle of fruit of the vine and work of human hands...

 

Anyway, Granville Bantock. 'Try Fifine at the Fair' or 'The Witch of Atlas', before going for a full on wallow in something like the Celtic Symphony. Lovely recordings under the baton of the late and lamented Todd Handley on the Hyperion label.

[trisonic]

Interested to hear that soundclick film music piece Pete.

I've never properly understood how film music gets written and developed. Is it an endlessly iterative business where the original ideas have to be worked and re-worked as all the visual editing continues through to the final cut?

Then in the pre-digital days I've always supposed the composer and conductor re-worked and played the final score watching the sceening?  Finally someone like Eric Coates would prepare a version for concert performance and release as auio recordings?

dh

 

ed sp

None of mine was done in pre-digital age. Why? I just played guitar back then...

 

I’ve attended a couple of Soundtrack sessions at Abbey Road (pre-computer writing). The film and tape machine were locked together by code. The coded film is visible on a large screen in the studio and on TV in the control room. So the music was added to the previously visually edited film. That does not mean that it was done in any logical order! On a computer I receive the edited visuals in chunks. After writing and recording I send both back together for approval. If approved they are then locked but separate (meta-data) and sent. That’s in order that some altering of overall sound levels can be done post me.\

 

Sorry I have rather over-simplified this process...

 

Edit: I believe Hans Zimmer has a video on YouTube showing how he works. When you see Hans Zimmer credited it is actually a team headed by Hans.

 

Best, Pete.

Edited March 7, 2015 by trisonic

[Coombe Barton]

I know I've posted  another Gardiner version before, but this is the Proms in 2010, which rather overshadowed the rest of the season.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC1A512ywoI

 

I also have a VHS recording somewhere of a restaging in St Marks (i think) Venice where they use te space in quite an admirable way.

 

[EDIT] Fiddling as I do just found  the scores online - Part 1 and part 2

 

[EDIT again] And the words and translation

Edited March 7, 2015 by Coombe Barton

[Budgie]

Nigel Farage should adopt Wellington's Victory as his theme. For those who do not know the piece it is a celebration of the victory of the Anglo Prussian forces over the French. It contains quotes from God Save the King and Rule Britannia as well as, tongue firmly in cheek, what must be the perfect tune for Nigel, For He's a Jolly Good Fellow.

It's not supposed to be For He's a Jolly Good Fellow, but Marlbrouck s'en va-t-en Guerre (Marlborough is going to war).

[Bernard Lamb]

It's not supposed to be For He's a Jolly Good Fellow, but Marlbrouck s'en va-t-en Guerre (Marlborough is going to war).

But I know it better as The Bear Went Over the Mountain if we are getting into alternative titles.

Bernard

[Ian J.]

As a result of this thread I've been listening to a few of my lesser listened classical recordings, and have just caught Sibelius Symphony #3. The third movement stood out to me (though in the recording I have it's a bit more pacey, timing to 8m 28s total, versus the 9m 22s of this youtube one (that increase in overall tempo does make a difference):

 

[Timara]

Very much depends on my mood and indeed on what I need to get learned for recitals....  I am, however, a sucker for a good slice of JS Bach and indeed most of the French romantic school of organ music.

 

However, Scriabin's "Le Poème de l'extase" is just staggeringly amazing.  Well worth a listen, especially to all that colour......

 

Cheers,

Tim

Edited March 9, 2015 by Tim

[PGC]

Very much depends on my mood and indeed on what I need to get learned for recitals....  I am, however, a sucker for a good slice of JS Bach and indeed most of the French romantic school of organ music.

 

However, Scriabin's "Le Poème de l'extase" is just staggeringly amazing.  Well worth a listen, especially to all that colour......

 

Cheers,

Tim

 

I really didn't expect you to mention JSB or French Romantic organ music, Tim. Honestly!!!!!!!!  

 

Phil

[PGC]

Sang Evensong at Chelmsford cathedral last night. The canticles were by Edmund Rubbra; I have sung them before, but a very long time ago, and I didn't have very good memories of them. However, having had the opportunity to revisit the music, my thoughts are I'd like to try them again, I don't think they're as bad as I remember them!

 

I know nothing of Rubbra's music, but looking on YouTube there's a lot of it, so the next time I can spend a protracted period at the modelling bench, I'm going to listen to some of it. I also found a recording of the Rubbra canticles as part of a choral evensong from St. Albans Abbey. This includes a piece by C V Stanford, "For lo, I raise up", a great piece of music. If you're in to church music as I am, this would be well worth a listen.

 

Phil

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xlt0r754DYs

[Budgie]

However, Scriabin's "Le Poème de l'extase" is just staggeringly amazing.  Well worth a listen, especially to all that colour......

Wind the volume up and to hell with the neighbours. That is one lovely piece.

[45156]

May I take this thread (just for a minute) in a direction away from the true meaning of classical music as we all know it, into a reminiscence about dad's teaching, where he was using one of his concepts of "good tunes" for a class of the less musically gifted (ie "remedials" sent to the music department to get rid of them for an hour).  This concept was to take a classical piece and to play it on the record, and to watch the reaction, then to play the same piece on piano, but in a different genre - such as Chopin's nocturnes played boogie-woogie (yes!) then getting a reaction from the class as to which was better - invariably the latter version, then making the point that this was the same music, and that it was the tune, and NOT the style which dictated what was a good piece of music. 

 

He did this in many directions with the non-musical brigade many times, and one day he was inspected by what was then known as HMI (Her Majesty's Inspector of Schools), and at the time was doing a comparison between Geoff Wayne's "War Of The Worlds" which he actually described to the class as "classical music of the future" and true classical music, and how the two had some very real similarities in their musical construction - the inspector's comments about his teaching methods and abilities were very complimentary indeed and that he had seldom seen popular music used in this way and commented that he should be teaching at a much higher level - however, because of his quite unconventional approach, he was never considered for promotion to Head of Music, and he actually died in harness before his true talents were discovered by the authorities.

 

So today, as I have no neighbours and a very good hi-fi. I have wound the Arcam up to a high volume, and have "War Of The Worlds" on at a volume level which means that the speakers are actually working at their true efficiency while waiting for the washing machine repair man.

Edited March 9, 2015 by 45156