[Music] The Grand Music Discussion Thread

[Eva Yojimbo]

Anyone else here a big classical fan?

I am as well, but I'm more of a baroque/classical guy rather than a Romantic guy. My last classical obsession was Handel and I'm still on quite a bit of a kick. He's better than Bach for my money, but I know most don't agree with me. His oratorios are just endless treasure troves of great music. My favorite composers would go something like:

1. Mozart
2. Beethoven
3. Handel
4. Haydn
5. Stravinsky
6. Schubert
7. Mendelssohn
8. Vivaldi
9. Bach
10. Bartok

[Trajan]

A continuation from my top five:

6) Johann Sebastian Bach
7) Joseph Hadyn
8) Antonin Dvorak
9) Frederic Chopin
10) Igor Stravinsky

[Azathoth]

Antonin Dvorak
Olivier Messiaen
J.S. Bach
Gustav Holst
Richard Strauss
Ludwig van Beethoven
Hector Berlioz
Jean Sibelius
Sergei Prokofiev
Richard Wagner

in no particular order.

Pärt and Glass can be pretty great too - some minimalism works really well for me and some just doesn't, not really sure why. I don't know a whole lot about the genre besides the two of them.

[Ornette]

I wouldn't even begin to be able to classify my favorite classical music by composer.

[Eva Yojimbo]

I wouldn't even begin to be able to classify my favorite classical music by composer.

I'm confused... Why not?

[Spud]

I recently got Conditions by The Temper Trap, awesome CD. Its honestly hard to pick my favorite track but if i had to chose one it would be Fader. It's one of the few songs that makes me smile just hearing it.

[Oz]

I'm confused... Why not?

Because every single classical piece can sound drastically different depending on the performers?

[symbv]

Because every single classical piece can sound drastically different depending on the performers?

Ornette can name his most favorite recordings or performances then I guess.

[Bomby von Bombsville]

... my favorite is Debussy...

[Ornette]

You're comparing written music that spans some 400 years worth of time and interpreted by as many people during that span of time. Even given a composer like Berkeley, written some really awesome stuff, some really awesome solo pieces, and then a lot of really mediocre crap. I still think his 5 Bagatelles are better than the body of work of a lot of other people. How does his Bagatelles compare to a Mozart concerto for bassoon? Hard so say, apples and oranges. They are not only written to serve a completely different purpose, but the point each piece is trying to make doesn't even come close to each other.

If it's just a matter of a performer's interpretation of a piece, or an opera, etc., you've got a large plate to choose from. I've been to over a dozen performances of Marriage of Figaro, and most of them are pretty good, some of them are pretty epic, and even some of them are beyond expectations. None of them are even remotely the same. Well, except the written music and the libretto.

EDIT: and I'm not trying to be snarky or anything about not being able to choose classical music by composer. I really can't think of one that I like more than another if I had to choose.

[BrikHaus]

I'm confused... Why not?

It's a terrible idea.

It's like trying to list your favorite authors, and then including everyone from all genres and all time periods.

EDIT: Oh, I guess Ornette basically said that, although way better.

[symbv]

EDIT: and I'm not trying to be snarky or anything about not being able to choose classical music by composer. I really can't think of one that I like more than another if I had to choose.

But I think your listing of Berkley's 5 Bagatelles is a pretty good start. For me I am less interested to compare my best list with another person's and debate about why such and such does not make the best list. I am more inclined to hear what other classical pieces or composers other people find great. Perhaps you could list out some classical works that currently catch your imagination?

From my side, randomly across my head these pieces are what popped up in my head if somebody asked me what pieces I would love to listen now. A very personal list it is admittedly:
- Bruckner's Symphony #9 (even in its unfinished form)
- Shostakovich's Chamber Symphony
- Beethoven's Symphony #7
- Stravinsky's Le sacre du printemps
- Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov
- Mozart's Requiem (even in its incomplete form)
- JS Bach's Die Kunst der Fuge (even in its incomplete form)
- Sibelius' Symphony #3
- Messiaen's Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jésus
- Handel's Organ Concerti
- Glass' Mishima

[Xard]

[URL=http://img855.imageshack.us/i/maayasakamoto.jpg/][/URL]

HAPPY 31st BIRTHDAY MAAYA!!!!!!!!!!!!!
キタ━━━(゜∀゜)━━━!!!!!
キタ━━━(゜∀゜)━━━!!!!!
キタ━━━(゜∀゜)━━━!!!!!


May gentleness of nature surround you as you go to tune the rainbow on shore of sea of miracles.

Stargazing is fine too, and so is eating that last Mameshiba

In any case I'm sure the day will go down in your history

I may have soft spot for Macross girls, enjoy quite unironically vacuousness of Perfume and the good anisong here and there but in the end you'll forever be the queen of J-Pop for me

(Still can't help but hope she'd hook up with Yoko Kanno again, the best singer songwriter/producer/arranger pair in J-Pop's history...)

Anyway

誕生日おめでとう。!!!


ps. if Anno doesn't have Mari sing Macross-style in 3.0 or 4.0 he'll be talentless hack forevermore

[symbv]

^ Speaking of Maaya, which album of hers would you recommend, Xard?

[Xard]

^ Speaking of Maaya, which album of hers would you recommend, Xard?

The single collections would be the best place to start, I think. It's not like I physically own (yet!) her other albums. I don't have her third single collection Everywhere released last year so don't know about that...

Of course her first four albums which were written and and produced by Yoko Kanno are all certainly worth it. Out of those I guess I like the 2nd album Dive and 3rd Lucy the best. The first one is nice but somewhat formatory record IMO. The final Kanno album Shounen Alice is also very good and interesting because in terms of style it was clear and intentional break from style of songwriting Kanno traditionally used with Maaya (One of the very best MacrossF and Ranka songs in particular, Songbird from Cosmic Cuune, was clearly composed and written with Kanno's classic "Maaya template"...which certainly didn't hurt the song at all ;) :) ) - for example Sora wo miro and Yoru :)

Hmm, it might be the best even. Dunno..

I'm less familiar with her newer, post-Kanno material excluding anisongs of course. This year's You Can't Catch Me was her first #1 album but I haven't listened to any of it yet as the single didn't really grab my attention...

If you'd like to start with only one single collection I'd choose Nikopachi. Hotchpotch of course has the 90s classic anime songs like Yakusoku wa Iranai (of course!), Kiseki no Umi and Platinum but overall I like the newer collection more...that it has Tune the Rainbow and The Garden of Everything (w/Steve Conte) on it helps the choice as those two are probably my favourite songs from her

In this context I'd also like to mention Yoko Kanno's second studio album 23-Ji no Ongaku which features Sakamoto on vocals in few tracks. Here and Fado are great. They're both also on Nikopachi...

Well, that's what I'd recommend... I dunno, Zap or someone might know more

[symbv]

The single collections would be the best place to start, I think. It's not like I physically own (yet!) her other albums. I don't have her third single collection Everywhere released last year so don't know about that...

Thanks for the detailed information!

It seems that Everywhere covers the same period as Hotchpotch + Nikopachi but whereas the former 2-cd set has Mameshiba the latter has only the DVD video of Mameshiba in Nikopach first press limited edition. On the other hand, Everywhere does not have songs like "here". All things considered perhaps I should start with Everywhere 2-cd best collection....

[Ornette]

Perhaps you could list out some classical works that currently catch your imagination?

From my side, randomly across my head these pieces are what popped up in my head if somebody asked me what pieces I would love to listen now.

Sorry, in my previous post I meant William Walton's 5 Bagatelles. There's a couple of them that a friend of mine recorded of me playing in the "2004" link in my sig.

In no particular order:
But along the lines of Berkeley: Sonatine for Flute and Piano, and his Sonatina for Guitar (I also have a recording of my performance of the 3rd movement from an art opening somewhere)
Andrew York, Sunburst
Villa-Lobos preludes for Guitar I've always really liked Prelude 1
Albert Roussel, Segovia and his Flute, viola, cello trio
Bach's Violin Partitas
Prokofiev Piano sonatas, esp # 6

[Trajan]

Some of my favorite works:

Beethoven's 4th, 5th and 9th Symphonies
Stravinsky's "The Firebird"
Haydn's Symphony No. 94
Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite No. 1
Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
Bach's St. Matthew Passion
Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture

[Eva Yojimbo]

You're comparing written music that spans some 400 years worth of time and interpreted by as many people during that span of time.

Yeah, but you can say the same about any medium that's been around for a long time. We still have lists and canons. It's doable. I don't think anyone was asking for a "try to come up with an objective (or even mass-agreeable) list", just a "what composers have consistently meant the most to you". I know it's a difficult thing to judge. When I'm faced with the dilemma of choosing a composer (or author/director/etc.) who has a few works I think are amongst my absolute favorites and one who's consistently good/great then I tend to go for the latter. I think Beethoven at his best is usually better than Mozart at his best, but there's a lot more pieces from Mozart I'd want on a desert island. Not to mention my sentimental attachment of Mozart being the composer that got me into classical music and opera...

I've been to over a dozen performances of Marriage of Figaro, and most of them are pretty good, some of them are pretty epic, and even some of them are beyond expectations. None of them are even remotely the same.

Which would you recommend? I have Gardiner's, Jacobs, this Bohm, and Marriner. I think I like Bohm's the best. Gardiner's is pristinely constructed, but a bit too Baroque. Marriner has that nice classical flavor but is somewhat dramatically bland. I like the fresh spirit in Jacobs' but it's a bit too idiosyncratic in some respects. You're right in that they're all uniquely different.

[Ornette]

Yeah, but you can say the same about any medium that's been around for a long time.

All that I'm saying is that I can't even begin to imagine how to choose by composer.

Which would you recommend? I have Gardiner's, Jacobs, this Bohm, and Marriner. I think I like Bohm's the best. Gardiner's is pristinely constructed, but a bit too Baroque. Marriner has that nice classical flavor but is somewhat dramatically bland. I like the fresh spirit in Jacobs' but it's a bit too idiosyncratic in some respects. You're right in that they're all uniquely different.

I only own one copy of the opera, and I don't even remember who it's by. My favorite performance was actually one at the Benedum in Pittsburgh by an opera company (can't remember the name) that took a very modern interpretation, woodwinds everywhere, all costumes were 1990's common clothing, the stage was tilted towards the audience with a semicircle of doors. No sets, just doors and a couch at center stage. I liked it better than the shows I've seen at the Met, BAM, SFO, Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center.