classical music recommendations

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^ Smetana... did you know that was the first piece of music that I posted in this thread? : ) I love the little hidden "wedding waltz" in that piece!

I often find myself listening to Mozart and Debussy when I need peace, tranquility, something to soothe me.

I have a soft spot in my heart for some eccentric, surreal works by composers like Stravinsky too. I guess that I like him for the same reason that I enjoy the playful and bizarre stories of Jorge Luis Borges, Italo Calvino or Julio Cortazar.

I remember this one flutist on another forum despised Stravinsky and George Gershwin. I posted Rhapsody in Blue, and she was like, "that's not classical music!!" Hahaha

I listened to it three times more after I posted it and kept thinking it sounded familiar, but then I thought was because I kept listening to it!

I must have heard it recently when I went back to start over. It's a nice piece.

PS, how do you really classify classical music? I'm not sure I'm always keeping within strict borders, but I can at least tell the difference between classicalish and jazz.

There is a continuity between Classical music and jazz via the harmonic language of Claude Debussy. But rhythm and instrumentation, as well as overall structure of the piece, can usually differentiate one from another.

Have you ever heard the Suite Bergamesque by Claude Debussy? The third of the four movements is the famous Clair de Lune. YouTube it. It's one of the greatest masterpieces of Classical music.

In a way, Debussy and Bach are in a league of their own - a strange pairing to many - but considering Debussy's mastery of a new harmonic language, he is considered by some to be the greatest composer after Bach, Beethoven and Mozart.

Also, for sheer beauty, listen to the Canticle of Racine by Gabrielle Faure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQaIxA65baQ

Faure!! I will listen tomorrow.

Hey, I just realized that there is no well known opera based on the story of King David. My favorite king. Very Happy

I think one of you guys should write one. I'd do it if I could write music. If ever there was a story that was ripe for an opera.

For some reason I thought there was a famous opera called David & Bathsheba, but there isn't. I once had a fever dream where he gave me a message. It was weird! And I've only ever had two such dreams in my life, both when I was younger.

JSBachLover you could do this!

THere is this, a one-act opera about him when he was elderly - he looks a little worse for wear!


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhD5SK1TFrw[/youtube]

Edit, some background:
Hagith op. 25 is an opera in one act by the Polish composer and pianist Karol Szymanowski considered one of the greatest Polish composers of the 20th century. The opera premiered at the Grand Theatre, Warsaw in 1922, nine years after its creation. The libretto in German was written by the Viennese secessionist poet and Szymanowski's friend Felix Dörmann.[1]

Wikipedia

Last edited by wozeree on 23 Jun 2014, 7:46 pm, edited 2 times in total.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4I4ObsHtCQ&list=PL790E729B5B938359&index=6[/youtube]
Handel's keyboard suites deserve to be more widely known.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9mMmix62Wo[/youtube]

I can't remember if I posted this one or not, but I didn't feel like going back through 20+ pages to refresh my memory lol, so here it is (again if I've already posted it)! I have an arrangement of it for piano alone that I've always loved playing...

What's with all this Debussy talk? I didn't even see my favorite piece mentioned!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlt4913an7g[/youtube]

Let's throw a little Gabriel in here while I'm at it:


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqXesozna0g[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhD5SK1TFrw[/youtube]


I watched this opera today. It was VERY weird, but interesting and I liked the music. This is about a young woman being victimized by a creepy old King David. The girl is in love with Solomon and it's all very convoluted.

Also listened to Suite Bergamesque, which I liked. That sounded familiar too, but it was fun to try to listen to all the different elements.

I listened to so much music today I almost went into a music coma!

I think I might try to write that King David opera myself. What fun!

There is where I should be, amid the Sublime, rather than the Comical

Lives of great men all remind us, we can make our lives sublime, and, departing, leave behind us, footprints on the sands of time.

Glad to have another face in here .

Enjoy!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj-NAESu4TE[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqXxroTfwwE[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgjTx0GkvVw[/youtube]

Has anyone posted this one yet? I don't recall listening to it. Apparently this is one of his compositions while deaf.
I had always thought he was deaf since childhood, the fact that he had been composing for decades prior to going deaf explains how he was able to continue. But still, holy cow!
I was reading some stuff about his life, he was quite the rascal. Normal court etiquette was suspended for him! You guys probably knew that, but I find it amusing. Sad what happened with his nephew.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3217H8JppI[/youtube]

I refrained from posting it because it's very special to me and I couldn't find a recording of it that satisfied me.

It was the first classical concert where I had tears flowing down my face. Bach got me high.... Ludwig made me cry!

Whenever I hear this I always think of a cassette I had growing up that I used to listen to every night when I went to bed. Not sure how well known it is, but it was called "Beethoven Lives Upstairs". It was basically an audio drama of sorts that consisted of a young boy writing letters back and forth with his uncle (so each character just reading their letters to the other in turn). The boy and his mother rented out the apartment above their home to Beethoven and so the boy would just write about his experiences with him and how "odd" he was, and about the music he was writing. I believe he was in the midst of writing this symphony at the time the story is taking place, but the story was full of his music anyhoo....makes me want to go look it up and see if it's still out there as I have no idea whatever became of the cassette (and wouldn't have anything capable of playing a cassette these days anyway LOL).