WonderMeal's Classical Music Thread

[SkinnyBenny]

I had a music history class where we were in the classical period, and one student was always asking questions about Salieri, I assume because of Amadeus

Out that student right now. First and last name. And what did the prof do?

[Cartierfor3]

I had a music history class where we were in the classical period, and one student was always asking questions about Salieri, I assume because of Amadeus

Out that student right now. First and last name. And what did the prof do?

Prof would usually just move on without acknowledging it (stud EMAW. organ playing chain smoker, you know the one). Student's name was Michelle something. Can't remember last name.

[420seriouscat69]

I had a music history class where we were in the classical period, and one student was always asking questions about Salieri, I assume because of Amadeus

I took that class too.  Got two filly's numbers from it. 

[Cartierfor3]

I had a music history class where we were in the classical period, and one student was always asking questions about Salieri, I assume because of Amadeus

I took that class too.  Got two filly's numbers from it. 

Probably a different class, the one I was in was for majors only.

[SkinnyBenny]

That stud EMAW playing chain smoker has also been a Chiefs season ticket holder for like 40 years and loves talking about the Chiefs in Monday morning classes. I also heard from someone ITK that on her 64th birthday she came into class and was all, "I've been waiting my whole life to do this." And then she sat down and played The Beatles song "When I'm 64."

[Cartierfor3]

That stud EMAW playing chain smoker has also been a Chiefs season ticket holder for like 40 years and loves talking about the Chiefs in Monday morning classes. I also heard from someone ITK that on her 64th birthday she came into class and was all, "I've been waiting my whole life to do this." And then she sat down and played The Beatles song "When I'm 64."

That prof helped me graduate, without her, I dunno man. I needed to complete a piano proficiency and she gave me private lessons for a semester. Worked really hard and passed. She saw me in the hall right after I took the jury and was like "Oh CF3 you did very well!" and I was just so pumped.

[SkinnyBenny]

Glad to hear that this prof helped you nail your piano test! That prof/church organist also gave SB and his bros literally hundreds of Sports Illustrateds throughout the years because she knew we liked athletics.

[Cartierfor3]

Remember the "screw ku" button she had in her studio SB?

[SkinnyBenny]

Yeah she let me wear it to the KU game one year.


Hey guys how do you feel about Tchaikovsky? Big fan here. A real tortured soul with an interesting bio, too.

[Cartierfor3]

Yeah she let me wear it to the KU game one year.


Hey guys how do you feel about Tchaikovsky? Big fan here. A real tortured soul with an interesting bio, too.

Pro. I don't remember really anything about his bio, but there were a couple symphonies (his #4 for instance) that I remember enjoying

[J]

Yeah she let me wear it to the KU game one year.


Hey guys how do you feel about Tchaikovsky? Big fan here. A real tortured soul with an interesting bio, too.

Pro. I don't remember really anything about his bio, but there were a couple symphonies (his #4 for instance) that I remember enjoying

Pretty sure he dealt with severe anxiety and was homosexual, or something like that. Love his stuff though.

[WonderMeal]

This thread is for posting links (with short descriptions!) to some of the classical* music you are currently listening to, some of your old favorites, or just your thoughts on the genre in general. Then, just maybe, other posters can listen to those links after a long day of work to unwind.

I've enjoyed how this thread has taken off over the past 24 hours. However, if I could make just one request, is that all you gE studs post more links! This thread is for expanding others' horizons. Yeah, I could look for some of these pieces myself, but then I might not find the best version. (For instance--the Finlandia I posted was played IN FINLAND and brought in a FULL CHOIR. You can't find that just anywhere.)

And spacedog, I can get down with your #1, but definitely NOT your #2. Modern is no bueno for your good IRL bud WonderMeal.

Now, to practice what I preach: check out this Ragtime playlist! I know it might not technically fit the thread, but man is it a treat.


Or maybe you're in the mood for dancing? This playlist of Dvorak's Slavonic Dances will help you do it, friend.

[bubbles4ksu]

miserere mei deus. this one won't do it for everyone, but the story is great:

Three authorized copies of the work were distributed prior to 1770 – to the Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold I, to the King of Portugal, and to Padre (Giovanni Battista) Martini. However, none of them succeeded in capturing the beauty of the Miserere as performed annually in the Sistine Chapel. According to the popular story (backed up by family letters), the fourteen-year-old Mozart was visiting Rome, when he first heard the piece during the Wednesday service. Later that day, he wrote it down entirely from memory, returning to the Chapel that Friday to make minor corrections. Some time during his travels, he met the British historian Dr Charles Burney, who obtained the piece from him and took it to London, where it was published in 1771. Once the piece was published, the ban was lifted; Mozart was summoned to Rome by the Pope, only instead of excommunicating the boy, the Pope showered praises on him for his feat of musical genius. The work was also transcribed by Felix Mendelssohn in 1831 and Franz Liszt, and various other 18th and 19th century sources survive. Since the lifting of the ban, Allegri's Miserere has become one of the most popular a cappella choral works now performed.

[spacedog]

Some of Spacedog's favorites:

Shostakovich Symphony V (1937)
Link is final movement only, but give the whole thing a listen. Shostakovich and the other hotshot Russian composers were getting serious pressure from Stalin to write super nationalistic music, and were arrested if their work was critical of the government or country. Shosty didn't take any crap, and while his friends and family were getting disappeared, he wrote this symphony about overcoming the tyranny of Russia, while sounding enough like nationalistic music to get away with it. Very powerful piece of music. Other recommended Shostakovich: Piano Concerto #2 I've heard that he may have mailed this one in, but I like it.

Philip Glass Violin Concerto (1987)
Link is 1st movement. Minimalism has lots of haters, but if you are paying attention this music can be very rewarding to listen to. Give it a chance, if you don't like it that's fine. When you are in the right mood, this crap can put your ass in a trance. Other recommended Glass: Symphony No. 1 (Low Symphony) Based on the David Bowie album "Low", great stuff.

Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition (1874) Overplayed, but give the piano version a shot if you haven't heard it. Also, Evgeny Kissin is a certified stud boss pianist.

Ewazen Concerto for Marimba and String Orchestra (1999) for my fellow percussioncats. Kind of difficult to find a good youtube link for this one. Young Spacedog was getting ready to play this at K-State, but then broke his Spacedog hand.

Copland Billy the Kid (1938) This ballet really kicks ass. Lot's of people get down on App Spring and don't appreciate other Copland works such as this one.

I might do more if I get bored tomorrow.

[AzagthothForKSU]

Arvo Pärt: Collage uber BACH (the first 7 minutes or so of this video):

Each movement starts out like something from the baroque and then turns into something else entirely

[SkinnyBenny]

Spacedog! Get bored and do more! Yeah! So were you a stud marimba player or a stud orchestra player?

[bubbles4ksu]

wondermeal, that finlandia video was absolutely beautiful. i watched it three times last night. can't wait to get home and listen again.

[WonderMeal]

Glad you liked it, bubbs.

This week has been the Week of Romanzen in the WonderMeal house. My two favorites that have emerged are Max Bruch's Romanze No. 85 for Viola and Orchestra (), which is one of my favorite pieces on the planet, and Beethoven's Romance No. 1, op 40 ().

Both of these pieces have simple-sounding double stops that are really hard to play, followed by crazy runs that will make you go  .

Vaughn Williams has a Romance too, which I will listen to sometime today. Will report back.

Keep these incredibly romantic pieces in mind, KSU studs, as Valentine's Day approaches.

[SkinnyBenny]

Guys... Guys. I just had my mind blown LIVE.

[SkinnyBenny]

HHHHHHHOLY crap. 

ATTENTION CLASSICAL CATS!!! 

If you are within 10 hours of Wichita and you are a classical cat, the concert below is an absolute must. I went to it in NOLA this weekend and it was probably the best CM experience I've ever had in person. (Classical Music, not Cartier Martin.)

www.cirquedelasymphonie.com
JAN 28-FEB 2, 2014 (9 CONCERTS)
Wichita Symphony Orchestra
Century II Concert Hall, Wichita, KS


I will expand on this in my next post.

[SkinnyBenny]

So Cirque De La Symphonie was the best thing ever. Ever. It was a Cirque de Solieielieli type of thing with an orchestra in the background playing a ton of awesome European music while these circus acrobats came out front one by one and did death defying things and weirdo body contortionists bent their spines around all over the place and bodybuilder stuntmen painted gold were all muscular and crap....And there was a  quick-change acrobat babe and a master juggler jester guy (and he was nobody's fool). I mean it was seriously insane to watch. People were lit'rally gasping throughout the show, and the setlist of music was incredible. Pretty much exclusively late Romantic era music from badass Russian dudes (and a few others, mainly Frenchies like Saint-Saens and Smetana and a Brazilian d00d who wrote a great piece about Taco Tico).

I spent the entire two hours as a TOOOTAL howdedodat. I also remember thinking to myself, "Man. Russia. So much of their music and art was so dominant and straight up mushes everybody else. Architecture's rough ridin' whack, but whatevs. Tchaikovsky rules."

So anyway, if you want to have your socks knocked off times two, grab a gal and take her on a getaway to Wichita. I'm sure the setlist is the same everywhere they go, so if you go see it in Wichita next weekend it'll probably be the same or at least very similar. Oh and Wondermeal...look at that closer. 


Go on YouTube and search Cirque De La Symphonie. You can find a few of the things there to give you an idea. Anyway, here is the setlist if you were curious. Might've been the greatest night of young SkinnyBenny's life.


DVORAK: Carnival Overture, Op. 92


ZEQUINHA ABREU: Tico Tico


BIZET "Les Toreadors" from Suite No. 1 from Carmen (You may know this as the music that plays when the Kremlin shoots into space after you've kicked ass on Tetris.)


CHABRIER: Espana


KHACHATURIAN: "Waltz" from Masquerade


SAINT-SAENS: Danse Macabre, Op. 40


TCHAIKOVSKY: "Dance of the Swans" from Swan Lake, Op. 20a


GLINKA: Overture to Russlan and Ludmilla


KHACHATURIAN: Sabre Dance <----This one starred a contortionist but had a brief appearance by The Masturbating Bear


RESPIGHI: Can Can
  <---Holy crap LOL look closely at this one

SMETANA: "Dance of the Comedians" from The Bartered Bride


TCHAIKOVSKY: "Valse" from Swan Lake, Op. 20a


SIBELIUS: Finlandia, Op. 26, No. 7

[SkinnyBenny]

Hey seriously dummies, go to that show.

[WonderMeal]

....lots of stuff about Cirque De La Symphonie...

Just seeing this breakdown. Looks pretty outstanding, will see if I can someone to watch the Little 'Meals so Mrs. WonderMeal and I can enjoy it.

Big props to SB for posting all the links--that's what this thread is all about, folks. Just some EMAWs sharing EMAW music with other EMAWs.  I'll have to run through the pieces I haven't heard tonight. Excited that my boy Sibelius (known EMAW) is in there, though he'd probably pretty to be grouped in with a lot of Russians, amirite???? Lolbbq.

[SkinnyBenny]

So insanely pumped, you guys. Spent the morning watching an hour and a half of Outkast's reunion set at Coachella to get myself totally cranked up for what's about to come tonight.

...Hearing the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra play my all-time favorite piece of classical music!

It's the Faberge Opus Ball fundraiser thingy or something. 6 pm at the Civic Theater for any other ClassicalCats in the New Orleans area. Deluxe pianst lady Lola Astanova will undoubtedly rach the house.

Setlist:

Festive Overture, Op. 96
by Dmitri Shostakovich

http://Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor
by Sergei Rachmaninov
(I think this symphony is literally my favorite piece of music ever. At the very least it is my favorite piece of classical music ever. Just an absolute monster for only the studliest stud pianists. And the second movement, which begins in this video at 11:38, is probably the most evocative, emotional piece of music I've ever heard. Don't listen to it while you're sad or you will bawl. Just take a deep breath and take it in. Wowzers.)


And then there's this one that I don't know much about but am excited to hear. If it's coming as the finale it must be even more climactic than the Racmaninoff's ending.
Russian Easter Overture, Op. 36
by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

[SkinnyBenny]

Hey WM, how about all the Russians on that setlist?