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If anyone is looking for something a little different, I highly recommend Debussy's preludes for piano. They are right on the border between 20th century and impressionist music, Debussy writing as he was at the time impressionism was 'it'. Each prelude has some sort of story behind it, and the music is there to represent said image. You'd think this would at the expense of any sort of tuneful melody to which one can hum along. But not so. Sometimes the music will make you want to sing. Sometimes to dance. And other times to sleep. Here's one of my favourites (partly because it's one of the few I can play myself) It is 'La Cathédrale Engloutie'. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfSBddhFvyA And here is Stokowski's beautiful orchestration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9UKua69NSI&feature=related Good old Claude would write the name of the piece at the end of the score, so the performer could make up their own mind of what it was about before they discovered the composer's own idea. This piece in particular was based around the myth of an old Cathedral around the Isle of Ys which was said to rise out of the mist, and one could hear the church bells ringing from amidst the fog. These can be clearly heard in the solo piano recording, and moreso in the orchestral. Interestingly, the score for this piece actually gives direct reference to the impression it is trying to create. "Little by little out of the fog" being the most obvious example. For any pianists among you I highly recommend books I and II of his preludes, as they are great fun to play, with so much scope. They're also quite challenging in parts.
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Jan 21, 2011 18:49
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| # ¿ Apr 30, 2024 00:54 |
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Herr Napalm posted:I'm kind of surprised that you note no. 12 as being the one that you can play, as it's regarded to be one of the most difficult to actually get right. Really? It's certainly more difficult than some of the others (Danseuses de Delphes or La fille aux chevuex de lin) but it's far from impossible. Once you realise that the chords involved are really quite simple it's not that difficult. Although, yes, I admit it's taken a fair amount of work to get my fingers round some of the trickier sections. I'll be performing it in a school music festival in a couple of months time, so it should be ready by then. In my mind you can never 'finish' learning a piece like this, though. There's always something to add to it, whether it be dynamics or some articulation. Having said all this I will say that I can by no means play to a performance standard any of the other preludes, as aside from the other two I mentioned which I have played perhaps three or four times, any venturing into the preludes beyond has been no more than some casual sightreading.
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Jan 27, 2011 12:43
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Herr Napalm posted:but this doesn't seem like the thread for total piano sperging. I would agree totally with what you said of the piece. And as much as I'd love to discuss the specifics of this piece, I also agree that this isn't the place. Let's hope I can come somewhere close to doing it justice. Good to see someone who really appreciates the work. For now, I'll stick to recommending other works to people who are new to classical music, as I guess is more the purpose of this thread. This is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful pieces of music I have ever heard. It is Brahms' Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Opus 115. My personal favourite is the first movement, but honestly all four are divine. It's always reminded me of a beautiful autumn (fall) day, but I don't know why. Anyway, here's the links: First movement - http://www.youtube.com/user/markcuer#p/u/9/iUp4gcbY3L8 http://www.youtube.com/user/markcuer#p/u/8/yz5KqB0gBvM Second movement - http://www.youtube.com/user/markcuer#p/u/7/we-H7u4PB1w http://www.youtube.com/user/markcuer#p/u/6/rDILF6flNbk Third movement - http://www.youtube.com/user/markcuer#p/u/11/R73InRTGBkI Fourth movement - http://www.youtube.com/user/markcuer#p/u/10/sPVzRk0-g1Q
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Jan 27, 2011 22:35
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Chinaski posted:
Obvious answer: Bach chorales like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVa3nR-2bVc&feature=related More interesting answer is John Tavener's The Lamb. Although it's modern, it's definitely worth listening to, and remains fairly traditional. It's bitonal at the beginning, and will probably cause you to cringe. But then it turns beautiful. And makes grown men weep. It's based on a poem by William Blake. My favourite recording of it is This: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVa3nR-2bVc&feature=related. The bass line is brilliant to sing, because it's the easiest but most effective part.
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Feb 2, 2011 17:17
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Chinaski posted:Is it just a learned familiarity with a particular set of musicians or is it defined more by the record label? I think it is mainly down to personal preference, and admittedly the recording that you happen to come across first. I personally usually have a favourite recording of a given piece according to how I would have played the piece myself, or if it's an ensemble, just the recording that appeals to me personally. For example, Vladimir Ashkenazy's recording of Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata is something I cannot get along with, simply because he expresses the dynamics differently to how I do. This isn't to say I'm claiming to be better than him, just that when I listen to his recording I can't help but compare it to my own and therefore don't enjoy it properly. This again is most likely just because I happened to see this piece performed live by a different pianist before I heard Vlad's recording, and so have a personal bias towards a particular way of playing the piece. With 'The Lamb', that also happens to be the first recording I heard of it (aside from my school choir's painful attempt) and is to this day my favourite. Obviously there are exceptions, and sometimes you'll find a recording that just seems to nail it for you more than any other, or even a newly released recording of it can overtake the old. Generally it's just whatever works for you, probably especially so with choral music, seeing as you could find a really dreadful choir absolutely butcher a song.
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Feb 2, 2011 18:08
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fuf posted:Does anyone have a recommendation for a book? I don't know if this is really what you're after and it might seem like a bit of an obvious answer, but if you don't mind something that's not prose you could go for the Oxford Dictionary of Music. It has all the definitions you could need for musical terms as well as fairly detailed information on plenty of composers. My piano teacher bought it for me after 10 years of lessons with her, and it's a really excellent book with a lot more detail than you would expect.
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Dec 30, 2011 21:20
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