It has been the love of my life. At the moment I have not a single friend who can name a work of Dvořák except the child's piano piece Humoresque, let alone name history's greatest symphony (hint: it's in E flat.)
Here's a quiz for the cogniscenti. If you can answer it, you've just found a friend.
What is the best-known Opus 2? (hint: think caterpillars.)
Best regards,
Any classical music enthusiasts here?
I was more of a stereo hardware than software man, but I do remember being partial to Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 and Mozart's Symphony in E. Also, Beethoven's Allegro con brio, Piano Sonata in C Major, Op. 2; and Haydn's String Quartets, Op. 2, Nos. 3 and 5. I hope I remember these correctly since it's been a long while.
Last edited by rsp1202 on Mon Sep 28, 2009 5:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Ron
"The world's greatest symphony"? I'm afraid I would go for the raw emotion of Mahler's second over the E flat Eroica that I suspect you refer to in your question.
Best known opus 2? Rather subjective. The Schumann piece would fit but isn't that well-known.
I've enjoyed classical music since I was a kid, but only came to opera in my late thirties. I'm glad I did!
Chris
Best known opus 2? Rather subjective. The Schumann piece would fit but isn't that well-known.
I've enjoyed classical music since I was a kid, but only came to opera in my late thirties. I'm glad I did!
Chris
"Je n'ai pas besoin de cette hypothèse."
Pierre-Simon de Laplace
Pierre-Simon de Laplace
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Straight Arrow
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Chris is right on both points. I had Beethoven's Eroica in mind as the greatest symphony, and Schumann's Papillons ("butterflies") as the best-known Opus 2. I've heard the latter played frequently on radio stations in various cities, and I know it's popular at music conservatories. Beethoven's Opus 2 sonatas, and Haydn's Opus 2 quartets, mentioned by Ron, I think are less well known.
Kav, I'm curious why you mention Don Giovanni. It's a mature work, and anyone's Opus 2 would necessarily be early - probably a childhood work in Mozart's case.
Chris, if you're into Mahler, you're far more advanced than I am. It would take me another lifetime to learn how to enjoy those sprawling works. My experience with opera is the opposite of yours: I liked it more when I was young than I do now.
I appreciate Straight Arrow's thought, but it's nice to share our enthusiasm with like-minded people. I've had two friendships in my life which were based almost entirely on music. And one can learn from others too.
Kav, I'm curious why you mention Don Giovanni. It's a mature work, and anyone's Opus 2 would necessarily be early - probably a childhood work in Mozart's case.
Chris, if you're into Mahler, you're far more advanced than I am. It would take me another lifetime to learn how to enjoy those sprawling works. My experience with opera is the opposite of yours: I liked it more when I was young than I do now.
I appreciate Straight Arrow's thought, but it's nice to share our enthusiasm with like-minded people. I've had two friendships in my life which were based almost entirely on music. And one can learn from others too.
Porter
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KAV
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May I claim lack of sleep and enthusiasm 
In Los Angeles we have KUSC for classical music and Santa Barbara channel 93.7 newly started. The loss of classical stations is sad.
KUSC is available on the net. It has many wonderfull programmes, but I tend to get irritated when they play favourites constantly; Concierto for a Gentleman, Nessun Dorma and the Flower Duet for example.
Everyone is a twitter over our new conductor Gustavo. I would be pleased if just once El A saw fit to perform a work by an American Born composer
FROM L.A. who is forgoten save my University music appreciation prof who shared his darker skin tone.
Perhaps naming that composer can be the next quizz? Anyway I just woke up after a late night that stretched into the morning hours ( sick horse) and am listening to Bizet's the pearl Fishers and having breakfast for lunch.
In Los Angeles we have KUSC for classical music and Santa Barbara channel 93.7 newly started. The loss of classical stations is sad.
KUSC is available on the net. It has many wonderfull programmes, but I tend to get irritated when they play favourites constantly; Concierto for a Gentleman, Nessun Dorma and the Flower Duet for example.
Everyone is a twitter over our new conductor Gustavo. I would be pleased if just once El A saw fit to perform a work by an American Born composer
FROM L.A. who is forgoten save my University music appreciation prof who shared his darker skin tone.
Perhaps naming that composer can be the next quizz? Anyway I just woke up after a late night that stretched into the morning hours ( sick horse) and am listening to Bizet's the pearl Fishers and having breakfast for lunch.
Kav, I was thinking Cecil Lytle, but he's originally from New York, not L.A. and is a pianist & professor, not a composer. He has a wonderful lecture on "Beethoven and the Sonata Form" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGnglC9DTrk .
The classical station in my neck of the woods, WCPE, is very conservative too. Very little modern music and WAY too much Baroque to suit my tastes. I used to like Baroque, but now it's mostly white noise to me, except for some inspired things by Bach.
You mention Bizet. I thought his Symphony in C, which he wrote at age 17, might qualify as a "most popular Opus 2", but I can't find any numbering system for his compositions.
The classical station in my neck of the woods, WCPE, is very conservative too. Very little modern music and WAY too much Baroque to suit my tastes. I used to like Baroque, but now it's mostly white noise to me, except for some inspired things by Bach.
You mention Bizet. I thought his Symphony in C, which he wrote at age 17, might qualify as a "most popular Opus 2", but I can't find any numbering system for his compositions.
Porter
I know little or nothing about classical music from a technical aficionado's perspective. I do rather like a jumble of CDs that I have acquired over the years -- Bach's Brandenberg concertos, The 4 Seasons, Beethovens (pronouncing the "h" hard, just like my brit wife) 3rd and 9th, anything by Sibelius (hey -- I lived in Finland for 2 years, so I gotta go with him -- even if some of his stuff sounds a bit -- well, angry, at times), and some miscellaneous collections.
My favourite individual piece of classical is Claire D'Lune -- it just captivates me when it's played well.
My favourite individual piece of classical is Claire D'Lune -- it just captivates me when it's played well.
Wendell, you could certainly build on that collection, which spans two centuries of the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic and some very different styles. If you like those works, chances are you'd like most anything in the classical section of a record shop except possibly atonal modernist music.
Porter
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KAV
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'Classical Music' itself is properly a defined period in the greater body of work we could simply call 'enduring western music.' 99.99% of my wasted youth's pop music is unloved and properly forgotten. I was in a arty coffeeshop near the old Neverland Ranch, having delivered a horse to the nearby famouse equine hospital. A 'lecturer' with a window flyer announcing 'Kurt Colbain- the legacy' was making some unintelligable connection with Dubliners! I mumbled in my gentile ' what the eff is a Kurt Colbain?' This lass with dreadlocks shot back ' He's the greatest musician of all time!' I retorted ' in 200 years people will still listen to Mozart and nobody will remember you or him.'
Kav, just a few months back we were hearing that Michael Jackson was the greatest musician of all time. So Kurt Colbain has already replaced him?
Mozart will always be remembered, but his music will be unknown to the general public, as it is now. Not one in a thousand Americans could name a single one of his works. The Jupiter symphony? Doh! Don Giovanni? Doh!
Classical music has been the province of connoisseurs for half a century. It's not studied in schools because the teachers and curriculum designers are ignorant of it. Pop culture rules. And to think that to the Viennese of the second half of the 19th century, the "King of Pop" was Johann Strauss, Jr., the Waltz King. The period from 1700 to 1950 was the Golden Age of music. We're now in the Iron Age and will remain so.
Mozart will always be remembered, but his music will be unknown to the general public, as it is now. Not one in a thousand Americans could name a single one of his works. The Jupiter symphony? Doh! Don Giovanni? Doh!
Classical music has been the province of connoisseurs for half a century. It's not studied in schools because the teachers and curriculum designers are ignorant of it. Pop culture rules. And to think that to the Viennese of the second half of the 19th century, the "King of Pop" was Johann Strauss, Jr., the Waltz King. The period from 1700 to 1950 was the Golden Age of music. We're now in the Iron Age and will remain so.
Porter
Aye, aye, aye! I can't let musical elitism go unmocked! 
3/4 of my thousands of LPs and CDs are classical disks (by the way, no music servers for me - I want to own the disk, just like I have to possess the book. Form of kleptomania.) But the rest celebrates the glorious music of my youth and some that I have learned to like since. I grew up with the Beatles and the Stones, The Kinks, Fleetwood Mac and others of that ilk. My teens were spent in the pop horror of the early seventies, so I turned to the folk rock of Fairport Convention, Pentangle, Bread Love & Dreams, before finding the few bands that I could still like - Steely Dan, Supertramp (even now!), Deep Purple, Pink Floyd and, perversely, Joni Mitchell. They say you don't listen to much new music after the age of 25, and the last few years before that age were getting a bit thin, though in retrospect Culture Club, Spandau Ballet and that lot weren't as bad as punk (I do have a soft spot for the Stranglers). Once I stopped living with a radio as the background soundtrack to my days, I stopped listening to new music. I was shocked to find myself acquiring the taste for two new genres in my thirties and forties - opera (which I had loathed) and jazz/blues (similar) respectively. Sadly, SWMBO hasn't made the neurological leap to appreciate the last, so it has become endartet musik to be played when she is out. Oh, I also recently discovered just how good and musical Black Sabbath is!
The only sense to make of it is that what is good is that which triggers the right populations of neurones to become excited. No more, no less. If hip hop does it for you - great, but I might not be able to appreciate it. Perhaps one day. I'm just happy that I can exist on a varied diet that goes from Verdi to Sandy Denny, Ladysmith Black Mambazo to Mahler, and from Ten Years After to Doug MacLeod. Variety is indeed the spice of life.
Chris
3/4 of my thousands of LPs and CDs are classical disks (by the way, no music servers for me - I want to own the disk, just like I have to possess the book. Form of kleptomania.) But the rest celebrates the glorious music of my youth and some that I have learned to like since. I grew up with the Beatles and the Stones, The Kinks, Fleetwood Mac and others of that ilk. My teens were spent in the pop horror of the early seventies, so I turned to the folk rock of Fairport Convention, Pentangle, Bread Love & Dreams, before finding the few bands that I could still like - Steely Dan, Supertramp (even now!), Deep Purple, Pink Floyd and, perversely, Joni Mitchell. They say you don't listen to much new music after the age of 25, and the last few years before that age were getting a bit thin, though in retrospect Culture Club, Spandau Ballet and that lot weren't as bad as punk (I do have a soft spot for the Stranglers). Once I stopped living with a radio as the background soundtrack to my days, I stopped listening to new music. I was shocked to find myself acquiring the taste for two new genres in my thirties and forties - opera (which I had loathed) and jazz/blues (similar) respectively. Sadly, SWMBO hasn't made the neurological leap to appreciate the last, so it has become endartet musik to be played when she is out. Oh, I also recently discovered just how good and musical Black Sabbath is!
The only sense to make of it is that what is good is that which triggers the right populations of neurones to become excited. No more, no less. If hip hop does it for you - great, but I might not be able to appreciate it. Perhaps one day. I'm just happy that I can exist on a varied diet that goes from Verdi to Sandy Denny, Ladysmith Black Mambazo to Mahler, and from Ten Years After to Doug MacLeod. Variety is indeed the spice of life.
Chris
"Je n'ai pas besoin de cette hypothèse."
Pierre-Simon de Laplace
Pierre-Simon de Laplace
I'm quite fond of Tchaikovsky's Ballet Suites as well as his Piano Concerto No. 1.
Also, I recently picked up a new CD (new for me) "Mozart, Clarinet Concerto, Sonata in B flat (for bassoon and cello) and Bassoon Concerto" Academy of St Martin in the Fields. A very enjoyable recording to listen to.
However, my real passion is for '60s pop music by the likes of people like Henry Mancini, Percy Faith and Trini Lopez. Yes, it's easy listening elevator stuff, but I like it.
Also, I recently picked up a new CD (new for me) "Mozart, Clarinet Concerto, Sonata in B flat (for bassoon and cello) and Bassoon Concerto" Academy of St Martin in the Fields. A very enjoyable recording to listen to.
However, my real passion is for '60s pop music by the likes of people like Henry Mancini, Percy Faith and Trini Lopez. Yes, it's easy listening elevator stuff, but I like it.
Araner, Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto is one of the most innovative works of a composer not generally known for outside-the-box musical thinking. After hearing it once or twice a year since the late 1950's, when it became sort of a pop hit after Van Cliburn played it in Moscow, I still marvel at it.
Mozart's clarinet concert is a fun piece, pleasant throughout. It's good old straightforward Mozart stuff, and a very late work of his. Benny Goodman, one of the few musicians who could do pop and classical equally well, performed it often and recorded it.
I'd rank Mancini very highly as a composer. Classy.
Mozart's clarinet concert is a fun piece, pleasant throughout. It's good old straightforward Mozart stuff, and a very late work of his. Benny Goodman, one of the few musicians who could do pop and classical equally well, performed it often and recorded it.
I'd rank Mancini very highly as a composer. Classy.
Porter
Chris, with that collection of yours, I sense an AD not previously mentioned in these forums. :) Not sure I see the focus, however. Leonard Bernstein, a great musician if there ever was one, would have liked your collection.
Like everybody, I can enjoy the popular music of the last half century. But its intellectual content is meager and I find it downright dull most of the time. The dazzling virtuosity of a Beethoven string quartet blows it out of the water.
Like everybody, I can enjoy the popular music of the last half century. But its intellectual content is meager and I find it downright dull most of the time. The dazzling virtuosity of a Beethoven string quartet blows it out of the water.
Porter
One other classical CD that I acquired not too long after it came out was Sting's Songs from the Labrynth.
In this album, Sting has taken the traditional 16th century music of John Dowland, and kept it intact -- and I absolutely love it. I can listen to it over and over again. It's a different, but very interesting collection of music. And besides -- it's on the Deutsch Grammaphone label, so it can't be all bad, can it?
In this album, Sting has taken the traditional 16th century music of John Dowland, and kept it intact -- and I absolutely love it. I can listen to it over and over again. It's a different, but very interesting collection of music. And besides -- it's on the Deutsch Grammaphone label, so it can't be all bad, can it?
Just a brief nod to movie soundtracks here. Some good music is to be had when director decides to embellish his story with a touch or two of the classics (nods to Kubrick), and if the young choose to overlook it so they can continue to groove to k-rap and its ilk, well, their loss.
"Stealing Beauty" has such moments, but I was entirely captured by a couple cuts on "The Village," composed by James Newton Howard and played by young violin savant Hilary Hahn; notably "The Gravel Road" and "What Are You Asking Me?" Hardly Mozart, probably forgettable long-term, but achingly beautiful in the here and now.
And blame this on Dr. Moss, but his recitation of various groups made me flash-forward and back to the '90s(?) and Dave's True Story, a neat little jazz-whatever twosome and their album "Sex Without Bodies," with a song entitiled "Stormy" that's classical in its own way. Finally, and back to film music, "Dark City" contains a neat rendition of "The Night Has A Thousand Eyes" sung by Anita Kelsey. Yo, check 'em out, playah.
"Stealing Beauty" has such moments, but I was entirely captured by a couple cuts on "The Village," composed by James Newton Howard and played by young violin savant Hilary Hahn; notably "The Gravel Road" and "What Are You Asking Me?" Hardly Mozart, probably forgettable long-term, but achingly beautiful in the here and now.
And blame this on Dr. Moss, but his recitation of various groups made me flash-forward and back to the '90s(?) and Dave's True Story, a neat little jazz-whatever twosome and their album "Sex Without Bodies," with a song entitiled "Stormy" that's classical in its own way. Finally, and back to film music, "Dark City" contains a neat rendition of "The Night Has A Thousand Eyes" sung by Anita Kelsey. Yo, check 'em out, playah.
Ron
Ron...In addition to the occasional classical piece sliding in to a movie soundtrack I like many of the soundtracks original music, too. I have an XM account and one of my favorite channels is the one dedicated to soundtracks. Excellent stuff (for the most part).rsp1202 wrote:Just a brief nod to movie soundtracks here.
Gene
"It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly American criminal class except Congress."
Mark Twain
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"It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly American criminal class except Congress."
Mark Twain
"People shouldn't be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people."
Alan Moore