Classical Music

Listening to Wagner's "Parsival"...

Magnificent.

Anyone know what music this is?

Dunno know Tux, but I'm positive that it's not classical music. Sounds like it was written by a television composer. Check the credits.

Didn't know where else to post it. And I can't get a hold of the credit info.

Actually I could Netflix it. :/

Rachmaninov is possibly my favourite.

Very moving. Sounds almost electronic.

I recently purchased tickets to the Met's productions of Götterdämmerung and The Makropoulos Case. I'm hoping to see one other production, perhaps Don Giovanni, Nabucco, or Aida.

James Levine is commanding the baton. Great conductor.

Sharky wrote:

James Levine is commanding the baton. Great conductor.

He's terrific. And wonderful to watch.

Powerful stuff.

I've recently got into the music of Swedish modernist composer Karl-Birger Blomdahl. One can hear a lot Alex North's influences too (i.e. SPARTICUS, his rejected score for 2001 and DRAGONSLAYER). Sadly, Blomdahl's still pretty obscure. Breathtaking work nevertheless. This is the kind of music I aspire to.



I really love the 2nd Movement from 10:18 to 20:44.





And here's Felix the Cat paired with a suite from Blomdahl's psychedelic space opera Aniara, from 1959.

This is the highlight of John Adams' opera, DR. ATOMIC, his setting of "Batter My Heart" by John Donne, performed here by Gerald Finley:

I'm really loving Adams's DOCTOR ATOMIC SYMPHONY - drawn from the opera.







Absolutely spellbinding. Robert Oppenheimer would be proud.

Honestly, I'm not particularly crazy about the opera in whole, or its symphonic adaptation. I adore the setting of "Batter My Heart," which is as spectacular a setting of the text as you could hope for, but that's about the extent of my affection for DR. ATOMIC. Otherwise, I find it all a bit tedious, and would rather listen to to other Adams works ("Harmonielehre" is probably my favorite).

Harmsway wrote:

Honestly, I'm not particularly crazy about the opera in whole, or its symphonic adaptation. I adore the setting of "Batter My Heart," which is as spectacular a setting of the text as you could hope for, but that's about the extent of my affection for DR. ATOMIC.

"Batter My Heart" is definitely the highlight of the opera (though more so the orchestral interludes than the aria for me), though I think it works brilliantly as a whole. I love the Act II “panic” music. Truly shows Adams's versatility, compared to say Philip Glass.

Harmsway wrote:

Otherwise, I find it all a bit tedious, and would rather listen to to other Adams works ("Harmonielehre" is probably my favorite).

I find HARMONIELEHRE and it's Idée fixe rather tedious to be honest. I'm more of a fan of CITY NOIR, SLONIMSKY'S EARBOX, SHORT RIDE IN A FAST MACHINE, THE DEATH OF KLINGHOFFER and NIXON IN CHINA.

Sharky wrote:

I find HARMONIELEHRE and it's Idée fixe rather tedious to be honest.

I think it's a more varied work than a few of those that you mention; it doesn't rely on its idee fixe so much to be tedious. Honestly, I'm surprised you think so highly of "Short Ride" but would put down "Harmonielehre," which does pretty much everything "Short Ride" does and then some. Between "Harmonielehre" and "Chairman Dances," you've got Adams at his most invigorating.

I'm less fond of his operas. NIXON IN CHINA holds some appeal, as do bits of KLINGHOFFER, but DR. ATOMIC puts a real strain on attention, largely due to its less-than-compelling libretto. Honestly, I like Jonathan Dove's FLIGHT a bit more than any opera Adams has done; it has a better sense of theater and isn't burdened down by all the pomp and portentousness that sometimes plagues Adams' operas.

And, FWIW, I would love to listen to "City Noir," but I'm having trouble locating a recording.

Harmsway wrote:

Honestly, I'm surprised you think so highly of "Short Ride" but would put down "Harmonielehre," which does pretty much everything "Short Ride" does and then some. Between "Harmonielehre" and "Chairman Dances," you've got Adams at his most invigorating.

To be honest, I just threw SHORT RIDE in there. CHAIRMAN DANCES is another good one, as is LOLLAPOOZA. I'm not sure what to make of THE TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS. It's bit too portentous, though an ambitious work.

Harmsway wrote:

Honestly, I like Jonathan Dove's FLIGHT a bit more than any opera Adams has done; it has a better sense of theater and isn't burdened down by all the pomp and portentousness that sometimes plagues Adams' operas.

I find Dove's music little too eager to please. Pleasant wallpaper music to the drama on stage, but not much more. I'm not big on that.

In all honesty, I don't really care much about the librettos. It's more the phonetics of the words than their meaning that matters to me - how they interact with the music, and provide the right expression, without stating anything directly to the audience. Like a silent movie. I guess. An international language.

What do you make of Mark-Anthony Turnage ?

Quote :

And, FWIW, I would love to listen to "City Noir," but I'm having trouble locating a recording.

I contacted several of the serial Adams uploaders, and hopefully one of them can get round to it.

Here's SLONIMSKY'S EARBOX:

Sharky wrote:

I'm not sure what to make of THE TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS. It's bit too portentous, though an ambitious work.

It has moments I really like, though I'm not sure it realizes its ambitions. I like "Harmonium" a bit more.

Sharky wrote:

I find Dove's music little too eager to please. Pleasant wallpaper music to the drama on stage, but not much more. I'm not big on that.

I think it's tremendously unfair to regard Dove's music as just "wallpaper"; he is a derivative composer, but he is significantly better than that. But opera is first and foremost theater, and so I'm primarily concerned with how it measures up in that regard, and only secondarily with the specific merits of the composition.

Sharky wrote:

In all honesty, I don't really care much about the librettos.

I have to, since my primary interest in opera is in how they function as works of storytelling. If it's not in English, my ability to judge the quality of the language is seriously impaired, but I can still appreciate the ideas and concepts in a non-English libretto, such as when, at the end of the first act of TOSCA, Scarpia declares, "Tosca, you make me forget God!" It's such marvelous theater!

But when it is in English, I can't help but pay a great deal of attention to how it functions. Part of it is my extensive affection for musical theater, which has always placed a very strong emphasis on libretto (hello, Mr. Sondheim). And it's not just the meaning to which I refer, but the poetic quality of the language. In the case of DR. ATOMIC, the libretto is fairly clunky and awkward, even if we are primarily considering the sounds, rather than the meaning, of the words. (But I will concede that my primary dissatisfaction with DR. ATOMIC is how poorly it works as a piece of storytelling.)

Sharky wrote:

What do you make of Mark-Anthony Turnage ?

I'm not familiar with his work.

Harmsway wrote:

I think it's tremendously unfair to regard Dove's music as just "wallpaper"; he is a derivative composer, but he is significantly better than that.

I meant Dove's operas. I love his choral and chamber works, very overlooked by the musical intelligentsia.

Harmsway wrote:

But opera is first and foremost theater, and so I'm primarily concerned with how it measures up in that regard, and only secondarily with the specific merits of the composition.

For me, both are tantamount. Both should work hand in hand, though perhaps with a bias towards the composition. In film music, it's the opposite. The music should almost always play second fiddle, except during select non-verbal sequences, montages, titles, credits etc..

Harmsway wrote:

If it's not in English, my ability to judge the quality of the language is seriously impaired, but I can still appreciate the ideas and concepts in a non-English libretto, such as when, at the end of the first act of TOSCA, Scarpia declares, "Tosca, you make me forget God!" It's such marvelous theater!

Oh I agree, but I still think the expression is the most important thing, regardless of comprehensibility. I believe music at it's best is an intentional language, like mathematics, sex and love, not restricted by having to understand the lyrics, libretto or text.

Harmsway wrote:

But when it is in English, I can't help but pay a great deal of attention to how it functions. Part of it is my extensive affection for musical theater, which has always placed a very strong emphasis on libretto (hello, Mr. Sondheim). And it's not just the meaning to which I refer, but the poetic quality of the language

Yes. My hero Igor Stravinsky felt the same way as I do about choosing text, and that got him into a lot of trouble. He was accused of anti-antisemitism when.his collaborator Robert Craft chose the text for his 1952, containing a lot of slurs in Old English and German. Stravinsky stated he choose the words for how they sounded, not their meaning.

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Harmsway wrote:

In the case of DR. ATOMIC, the libretto is fairly clunky and awkward, even if we are primarily considering the sounds, rather than the meaning, of the words.

I guess that's why I prefer the symphony adaptation. The awkwardness of the libretto is gone, and its failings as piece of storytelling is absent due to its abstract nature.

Harmsway wrote:

Sharky wrote:

What do you make of Mark-Anthony Turnage ?

I'm not familiar with his work.

I recommend GREEK (libretto by Steven Berkoff) and ANNA NICOLE.

Sharky wrote:

Oh I agree, but I still think the expression is the most important thing, regardless of comprehensibility. I believe music at it's best is an intentional language, like mathematics, sex and love, not restricted by having to understand the lyrics, libretto or text.

Sure. But the effect of the libretto is still very important, and I think that anyone who thinks you can wholly divorce words from meaning is a bit foolish.

Harmsway wrote:

I recommend GREEK (libretto by Steven Berkoff) and ANNA NICOLE.

I'll give 'em a look at some point. Based on subject matter alone, GREEK appeals to me more than ANNA NICOLE (I'm always a bit wary of when an opera is produced off of some trendy, contemporary subject).

Harmsway wrote:

GREEK appeals to me more than ANNA NICOLE

They needn't be incompatible. I'm sure Anna would consider Greek if you asked nicely.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Anyone know what music this is?

Is it something from Rose Marie? Or a variation on a theme?

Just a wild guess.

I'm listening to Rossini's Stabat Mater. Then I'll go for some Callas.