Classical Music II

[hectorberlioz]

I've been listening to Debussy's piano music. He's still not the greatest French composer of all time . But yeah, great music he wrote .

[Gwaimir Windgem]

Oh, he's not? And who would that be, Hec?

*settles back for the punchline*

[hectorberlioz]

Why, Guilliame de Machaut of course .

[Tessar]

HAHAHAHAHA! HE SAID HEC---.... wait..... *re-reads*

oh...

um.... well........


hm.

[hectorberlioz]

*cough* suckers *cough*

Listening to Bach's Brandenburg Concerto #5 right now. Really needed this music. Good for depression.

[Gwaimir Windgem]

I finally broke down, and ordered the above 4 CDs. Can't wait till they get here!

[hectorberlioz]

You can find some really great classical podcasts on itunes for free :-). None for Baroque opera, alas.

[Gwaimir Windgem]

Have I mentioned the Toronto Symphony Orchestra's website? If you just sign up for their newsletter (and they rarely send anything), you can get access to a HUGE library of free classical music on line. From what I can see, none of it is first-rate performers; rather a Naxos than a Virgin selection. Still, pretty awesome.

Linkage

Now that I see it, it does, in fact, say that it is the Naxos musical library. Whaddayaknow.

[Gwaimir Windgem]

Behold

Which raises the very legitimate question: is Jaroussky ever NOT in a recording studio?

[Tessar]

Please everyone do yourself an enormous favor and listen to this thing... listen to it all the way through.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_Fs0ecgsOE

[PYRO]

Debussy is my favorite composer. He is the most important and loved composer in my home country also. Go to listen to his Martyrdom of Saint Sebastien for orchestre and choir. L'ile joyeuse for piano is wonderful to me.

Berlioz and Olivier Messiaen are good composers also.

[Gwaimir Windgem]

I've always been fond of Debussy. Some people describe him as "boring," but what I hear is elegance and subtlety; more often than not, he hints where he goes with the music, rather than actually going there, which I think is just dead sexy.

[hectorberlioz]

A really great use of Debussy's music (which I am mostly fond of, but not always) is in the French movie thriller "Red Lights." Awesome movie.

I really like the "Images for Orchestra." La Mer is fine, too but not nearly as interesting.

[Gwaimir Windgem]

Well, sure, no composer can score all the time.
Wait for it...

[hectorberlioz]

Debussy did score all the time. With other mens' wives .

[Gwaimir Windgem]

Not what I was expecting, but I'll take it.

[hectorberlioz]

You and Tess always expect wrongly

[inked]

Skor? Skor? Du dink du kan skor de Presidansy wid de musik chater? Du must kampan, Hektor! Promis musik to/fur de mases.

Du dar dabl in puns when du shud be kampaning?

Vas is next?


Skor-keping?
Skorkards?
Zvei-point basketz?


Hektor!

[Tessar]

From Borders I got a Mario Lanza CD (greatest hits) and a Juan Diego Florez CD (Bel Canto Spectacular). From Halfprice I got "Romantica," a Pavarotti CD, a Three Tenors in Concert CD, something called Aria, a Kathleen Ferrier in recital CD, and then L' Assedio di Corinto (the battle of Corinth) with Marilyn Horne and Beverly Sills... two of my faves . We'll have to see if it's any good, but I do love Rossini, so hopefully it'll have some great show-stoppers. It's a 1969 recording so hopefully the quality will be high... and they haven't messed it up by 'restoring' it or something. We'll see! I'm hopeful!

I also got that broadway CD that Renee Fleming and Bryn Terfel did... I was sort of expecting it to be somewhere between okay and maybe with a few cringe moments, but I've actually been surprised. It's absolutely fabulous... not at all what you expect, but it's really nice to hear those show tunes without them being screamed or belted out. I think this may become one of my favorite CDs . I'm actually falling more and more in love with it... there are a lot of truly breathtaking moments in there.

The Kathleen Ferrier CD is great, but it's quiet... you have to really crank up the volume. I enjoyed it though. She has that really creamy, lovely contralto voice and she did some really beautiful things (Where 'er You Walk, Hark The Echoing Air, Lasciatemi morire, Che faro Euridice, Pur Sicesti, etc.).

The Aria CD I'm meh about. Maybe it'll grow on me. It's arias set to techno/trance backings, which is interesting but the singer is sort of mediocre. I think I would love it if it were a different soprano, but I'm just not all that impressed... and the sparse backing really brings the voice to the fore, so... eh. It might grow on me though . It's certainly an interesting change. It's got stuff like Ach Ich Fules, the Habanera, Un Bel Di, and Dido's lament.

The Three Tenors and the Pavarotti cds are actually for my dad, although I'm sure I'm going to love them. Maybe more than he will . I really wanted to get him something though, and I couldn't find a Renee Fleming CD I thought he would like, so I figured maybe he'd enjoy the tenors. The Mario Lanza CD is also for him, which I'm pretty sure he'll love because I know he really, really likes Lanza. It's got -great- stuff on it, too... stuff like Be My Love, La donna e mobile, o sole mio, and Granada (which is a song he looooves).

The Juan Diego Florez CD really lives up to its title... it is absolutely spectacular. That guy must have the stamina of a warhorse . A lot of those arias/duets are seven or eight minutes of nothing but vocal acrobatics and multiple High C's and D's. I think one of them was eleven or twelve minutes long. Only downside is one duet with Anna Netrebko, who I really don't like, and she sort of muddles/screams her way through it... but he sounds great . Lots of other good singers dueting with him on it, although except for the baritone I didn't really 'love' any of them... except for a wonderful bonus track where he sings a duet from Otello that I love with Placido Domingo. Can't get much better than putting those two tenor voices together .

[Gwaimir Windgem]

Out of curiosity, does Ferrier sing Che Faro in English?

I would totally love to hear a techno version of Dido's lament.

I'm intrigued by the Terfel/Fleming Broadway bit. I'm starting to get into musical theatre (Sondheim is the BOMB ), and I can totally see them doing it well. I'll have to put that on my wish list now!