# Composer Samplers



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

I like this forum because I can learn from those who know more & who specialise in particular fields.

I am hoping that on this thread you could 'nutshell' your favourite composers and list a sample of (say) *five* pieces or works that give an idea of what your man (woman) can do.

Either his/her *five best*, or a *range* from different periods of his/her life - or for five different *instruments* - five different *genres*... oh, *you* know! 

Five can stretch as far as *ten*, if you like; or shrink to *three*.

I'd be grateful for such a sampler even from the Big Names, like Mozart or Beethoven - this is not a 'favourites' thread but a thread for *a cool look* at your composer's achievements. Plus any interesting observations on how you see your man/woman fitting into the *canon*.

Thanks in advance for any replies. :cheers:


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

I'll start with Bach.

There's his orchestral side:






His choral side






His fiddle music


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

And keep going because of the video limit

There's Bach's keyboard side:






His organ music:






And finally his "puzzle" or educational music:






These may not be his "best" or "most well known" pieces but they give a flavour of his genius.


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

Schumann

Piano Concerto Op. 54
Introduction and Allegro Appassionato Op. 92
Introduction and Allegro Op. 134
Kreisleriana Op. 16
Piano Sonata No. 1 Op. 11
Piano Sonata No. 2 Op. 22
Papillons Op. 2
Symphony No. 4 Op. 120
Cello Concerto Op. 129
Dichterliebe Op. 48


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Ingenue, I had been thinking of starting a thread myself wherein we could champion our favorite lesser known composers with introductory samples and this is very close to the same idea. Great minds and all that . . .

I'll think on who my composer(s) might be and return shortly.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Jean-Baptiste Lully:

The following two forms are mentioned as Lully's outstanding contribution by Wiki -

Passacaille:






Chaconne:






This is probably Lully's most famous single melody -

Marche:


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Jean-Baptiste Lully Part 2:

Operatic Aria:






Sacred Music: choral






Te Deum:






Despite being Italian by birth & upbringing, Lully is famous for kicking off the French Baroque - an elegant, melodic music with fewer twiddly bits but (imo) more style. He began with ballet, then, as the Sun King grew older & stiffer, moved on to opera; his sacred music is also beautiful.

Vive l'ami du Roi Soleil! :tiphat:


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

With Wolfie, it's across the range. So if you like Big Bang orchestral music, he has symphs and serenades to leave you bloated. Church feller, eh? Then listen to his masses. Chamber music? Be more specific, please! He has every type.

So in the spirit of sharing, I'll give five moments that will lead to even greater things.

*Opera: Idomeneo, K366*

A youthful, loaded swipe of genius across the stage. Catch this one by the tail, and you'll love opera forever. It will lead you directly to his comic operas, his German singspiel, but you'll also get intimations of the grand operas of the 19th century too. I think it could be argued that Figaro is perfect and DG is the greatest of them all - and Idomeneo exceeds both of them!

*Orchestral: The Haffner Serenade, K250*

I'm having love-ins with this work. The neighbours are calling the cops. It's indecent, they say. That music has corrupted a handsome man. The _Haffner _covers symphs and violin concertos, and again, it's a youthful Mozart flinging everything in there. It all sticks - and gorgeously. His taste and ability to fulfil a notion is apparent even in his greenhorn days.

*Solo Piano: Adagio in B-minor, K540*

I caught this live a few years ago in Dublin, Paul Lewis played it. And he played it beautifully, in the middle of a programme that included Schumann, Liszt and Luigi. It's the faltering motion of this one which grips, the almost-inability to continue. It fragments and loses heart, picks up and drops off again. It's sorrow without agenda. The great resigned heart. So discreet, you could mistake it for carelessness.

*Chamber music: Violin Sonata #25, K377*

This is the doyen of the form, for me. It rattling opener leading into a slow set of variations, which don't vary much at all. They don't really need to, the theme is large enough to accommodate, but they expand and digress until the piano loses the head and bolts for it, followed by the violin whipping the horses to keep up. It _nearly_ segues into a minuet and trio final movement, where the piano tickles your stomach while the fiddle saws your head off. Very engaging stuff. I keep expecting a fourth movement, but Wolfie always had more taste than me.

*Oddity: Fantasia for mechanical organ, K608*

This one's more famous in its transcription for 2 pianos by Busoni, but it's a potent work in any language. Even when performed on the organ it becomes as sinister a work as Mozart has written, and it's a piece of majesty, pre-figuring Schubert's grand work for two pianos. It's an oddity because Mozart detested having to compose it, what he essentially considered toy music for a toy instrument, and yet he made a perfect masterpiece.

:tiphat:


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

@Kieran - what a brilliant post! Thank you. :cheers:


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

A funserious side of Dmitri Shostakovich (Chornologic):

*Three Fantastic Dances Op 5*





*The Return of Maxim Op 45 (Film music excerpt)*





*Anti-Formalist Rayok (1948, sans Op No)*





*Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major, Op. 102*





*Five Romances on Texts from 'Krokodil' Op 121*





/ptr


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Surprising absolutely nobody, I will choose Mahler to start with.

A broad overview of Mahler's career, in five works.

As a student, Mahler wrote many works that have been lost to posterity, and only one movement (and part of another) survives from his *Piano Quartet in A minor*. The music is derivative of Schumann and others, and it certainly doesn't have Mahler's distinctive stamp on it, but one of the themes was eventually repurposed for the first movement of his Sixth Symphony, also in A minor.





As a young aspiring composer and conductor, Mahler composed *Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen*, for which he also wrote the poems about a spurned lover. The poetry would never stand on its own, but the direct expression of the settings, combining a folklike simplicity of melody with Wagnerian complexities of harmony and orchestration. Themes from the second and fourth songs were integrated into his First Symphony, written around the same time.





For the next decade and some, the majority of Mahler's texts came from an anthology of German folk poetry called _Des Knaben Wunderhorn_ (as it turns out, some of them were fabricated in part or full by the editors). These settings, which also entered his symphonic works, developed the folk-like style of his earlier years into a more flexible idiom than before, prone to unexpected turns of melody and harmony, as in this charming little setting of *"Wer hat dies liedlein erdacht?"*





With a new position at the Vienna State Opera and a marriage to the young and lovely Alma Schindler, Mahler's style turned away from the _Wunderhorn_ and its folk trappings to a more inward-directed idiom, in which he produced the instrumental trilogy of symphonies, 5, 6, and 7. During this period he favored the words of the poet Friedrich Rückert, and wrote the Kindertotenlieder cycle as well as four separate songs for voice and orchestra [a fifth, often played with the others, was written as a private love letter for his wife and later orchestrated by a publisher]. The delicate setting of *"Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen"* exemplifies this period to a great degree.





Mahler's last year was a tumultuous flurry of activity. A demanding work schedule in New York was followed by a summer in which he found his wife having an affair with architect Walter Gropius. During those months, as Mahler was suffering a complete emotional and psychological breakdown, he wrote a *Tenth Symphony*, in F-sharp major, although he only finished the orchestration of the first movement, and the rest remained in sketch form. The music is impassioned and shot through with life; Mahler did not, contrary to legend, know that he would die within a year. The persistent legend that he was never able to recover from the trauma of that time is also false. Following a therapy session with Freud, Mahler went on to conduct the successful premiere of his Eighth Symphony and began the next season at the New York Philharmonic, which he would not be able to finish. He died the following May.

Mahler's late style, found in the Ninth and Tenth Symphonies as well as the song symphony _Das Lied von der Erde_, is influenced by his contact with contemporary trends (including the music of his good friend Arnold Schoenberg, whose works he respected as well as struggled with, and upon whom his own works had exerted a considerable influence). It is tonally more unstable and fluid than ever, the orchestration more detailed and prismatic than before, and motivically saturated in a constant flow of development.


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## Celloman (Sep 30, 2006)

*Ralph Vaughan Williams*: An Eclectic Composer!

Chamber: Phantasy Quintet





Concerto: Oboe Concerto





Symphony: Symphony No. 2 (2nd movement)


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## Celloman (Sep 30, 2006)

Opera: Riders to the Sea (last 9 minutes)





Choral: Mass in G minor





Song Cycle: On Wenlock Edge


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

Here are some tapas D) from Prokofiev















(course I'd recommend the entire ballet)











I really wish I could put more!


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

ptr said:


> A funserious side of Dmitri Shostakovich (Chornologic):
> 
> *Anti-Formalist Rayok (1948, sans Op No)*


On a side note and no finger pointing at anyone on this thread, these videos are a perfect example of why I want to pull my hair out at some classical music traditions. I mean, in this video we are treated to the performers straightening the tablecloth? !

It's a good thing CDs and before them vinyl records went straight to the music or I would never have discovered classical.

Great choices from everyone though.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I would like to champion the works of *Franz Berwald*, possibly the romantic composer most deserving of a lot more attention. On first hearing his works I get the feeling they are somehow archetypal, that I have heard them before, yet they are not derivative that I can tell. A contemporary of Schubert and Rossini, he achieved all this forward-looking music while making a living as a surgeon and factory manager and being virtually ignored as a musician. Amazing!

(I'll be creating links because I noticed the pages started loading slowly even on my normally high speed connection.)

His most high profile works are probably his symphonies. My favorite is the *Symphony No.3 in C-major "Sinfonie singulière"* 

He also wrote unusual concertos along with more traditional ones. This *Concerto for bassoon* sounds to my ears a bit retro, harkening back more to the classical era, though he does give the bassoonist a thorough workout!

His chamber music is at times sublime and firmly within the romantic branch of the Tree of Music as the opening to this *Piano Quintet No. 1* shows.

He seemed to have a knack for larger ensembles so even his chamber works often lean toward the larger scale. Here is a *Septet* with both wind and strings.

He rarely wrote for solo piano, or any other style besides large symphonic works and chamber pieces, or at least they are very hard to find, so here as a sample of a smaller chamber ensemble, the opening of his *Piano Trio No. 3*


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

Unlike that predictable old *Mahlerian* (pffff!) I shall surprise you all by choosing Frank Zappa, a composer for whom I have never stated a particular preference in any way, shape or form. For the sake of brevity (and my sanity) I'll be sticking to his orchestral, chamber and electronic works. It still took me two days to finish this damn thing!

One of the first things to understand about Zappa is that he did not come from academia, his education came almost entirely from books and scores loaned from the library and listening to records. Unlike the stereotypical composer of his time, he was well aware of pop culture throughout his life, and, while it often became fodder for his satirical songs, it is just as often played with in the music itself. The influence of such composers as Varèse, Stravinsky and Webern was tempered by a number of things; doo-***, rhythm and blues, and, often completely ignored by the many people who have written about Zappa, his love of science fiction B-movies. Like advertising jingles and pop tunes, monster movies scores (or rather facsimiles thereof) often found their way into Zappa's pieces, and, as luck would have it, someone on YouTube had the exact same idea: here's _The Perfect Stranger_ performed the Ensemble InterContemporain under Pierre Boulez, shown here alongside the 1910 silent _Frankenstein_.

Zappa's music often operates on the rhythmic basis of a simple pulse, not unlike the minimalism of Steve Reich, for example, but it is often the case that Zappa's pulse is barraged with all manner of odd subdivisions. There are many examples of this throughout his work, but perhaps the most famous is the _Black Page_, played here by percussionist Lucy Landymore. I chose this performance in particular because, despite the "legacy" discussed in the opening portion of the video, this does get away somewhat from Zappa's formidable line of drummers and offers, I feel, a "clean" view of the piece, and also because I think Landymore does a really good job. This score is for _The Black Page No. 1_ (the drum solo plus chords and melody) and, while not displaying the drum parts themselves, gives a clear idea of the sort of rhythms at work in the piece.

A good chunk of the latter half of Zappa's career was occupied by the Synclavier, which is like the grandfather of the technology I use to make my own compositions. It's interesting to note that his usual "interview" demeanour would lighten up considerably when he was asked about the Synclavier, it's great seeing him enthuse about software upgrades and new patches and so forth. At long last, after innumerable bands and orchestras, he finally had a system that could play exactly what he wrote. Early works were mostly throwaway tests of the system, although notable pieces such as _Jonestown_ (warning: for the easily disturbed among you, this video contains documentary footage of the Jonestown mass suicide) appear on _The Perfect Stranger_ (see the titular piece above) balancing out the performances by Boulez and the EIC. Such pieces, especially from the perspective of realism, may seem quaint now, but for me as a composer even this early work with MIDI sequencing is an important piece of history.

At the end of his life, Zappa completed his magnum opus, the two hour long "opera-pantomime" _Civilization Phaze III_. The work was largely completed on the Synclavier, and features an extensive library of sounds and instrument patches which Zappa recorded and assembled himself with the help of former band members and members of the Ensemble Modern. I could easily spend many paragraphs simply talking about Zappa's work with the Synclavier, and at some point I will, but for now I'll refrain from boring you all rigid. One of the "easiest" selections from this record is _Put a Motor in Yourself_, which opens the first act. Compare with the Ensemble Modern playing an arrangement of the same piece in which different aspects of the music are brought to the fore.

So, for those of you who have listened and liked what you heard, where to next? I highly recommend the Ensemble Modern's all-Zappa album _Greggery Peccary and Other Persuasions_, featuring Ali N. Askin's and Todd Yvega's orchestrations of new and old, classic and less well known Zappa pieces, it's a great way to become acquainted with this unique composer's world. The more technically minded among you may wish to head over to Kasper Sloots's Zappa Analysis site, home to a large scale and ever expanding study of Frank's music throughout the ages, from the simple tunes of Studio Z to _Civilization Phaze III_ itself and many things in between. The individual articles on the site have been collected in the new 4th edition, which is available for free as a 110 MB, 562 page PDF file.

Lastly, for a little fun, here's the Ensemble Ambrosius playing _The Black Page No. 2_, which Frank referred to as "the easy version."


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Crudblud said:


> Unlike that predictable old *Mahlerian* (pffff!) I shall surprise you all by choosing Frank Zappa, a composer for whom I have never stated a particular preference in any way, shape or form.


Does anyone know why almost every Zappa piece has some form of xylophone or similar melodic percussion? He seemed especially enamored of that sound.


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

(ouch!, links please!, don't embed all the videos, ) (Also, sorry for the following hyper-long post and for being predictable like Mahlerian and Crudblud )

György Ligeti has three distinct periods. His _hungarian period_, from the 1940's to the 50's. His _sound mass period_, from the 60's to 70's. His _late period_, from the 80's until his death in 2006.
Ligeti was born in Romania, but in a village of strong hungarian presence (in the zone of Transylvania), and of course his parents were hungarian (and jews). Ligeti grew up listening to the folk music of those villages, as well as Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven. In the 1940's, his father and brother were killed by the Nazis (who invaded Transylvania) and his mother was sent to Auschwitz. Ligeti survived by chance, despite the fact that he was sent to a labour camp. To his surprise, his mother came back alive after the war. The extreme violence he experimented marked him for the rest of his life. After this, he traveled to Budapest and he studied at the Franz Liszt academy, where he received an outstanding and very strict musical education, with emphasis in the classics. At this time in the 50's, his favorites were Bartok, Stravinsky, the folk music of his country, but also Schoenberg and Webern. Also he was very interested in science, particularly because of the influence of his father, who wanted his son to be a great physicist or mathematician. This interest in science persisted through all his life.
From this hungarian period we have the following examples: 



 (Concert românesc, 1951); 



 (Sonata for Solo Cello, 1948/1953); 



 (Musica ricercata, 1951-1953); 



 (String Quartet No. 1, 1953-54). 
In these pieces, the influences I mentioned are very clear. In Musica ricercata we can also see some recurrent topics in the music of Ligeti: humor and constructivism. Humor in the sense of taking the supposed seriousness of the music in an ironic way. Constructivism in the sense that the music is always built up following a series of first principles, rules, and material. 
In the 50's, after the defeat of the Nazis, Hungary became part of the Soviet Union. The regime was typically stalinist. As Ligeti says, "we survived one of the worst political gangsters of the century (Hitler), for later suffering the other rival, and equally worst, gangster (Stalin)". The situation became unsupportable for Ligeti and after the Hungarian revolution of 1956 (when part of the hungarian population rebelled against Stalin and was bloodily repressed), he escaped illegally to Vienna with his wife in the search of freedom. Before escaping, he experimented a somewhat surreal experience during the revolution. All western radios were interfered. But during the revolution, they managed to turn off the interference. Then, in a shelter, when bombs were exploding in the streets, Ligeti heard some experimental pieces by Stockhausen that made an enormous impression on him.
Incredibly, just months after all that, he was in Cologne with Stockhausen, Boulez and all the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde, and ready to join them. During two years he worked in electronic pieces at Stockhausen's studio. He left because he didn't like the sound of the speakers and the limitations of the equipments.
He was very interested in the music of Boulez, written using the technique of integral serialism. But he became quite frustrated when he saw the dogmatic attitude of Boulez. Ligeti wrote an article analysing in great detail a piece by Boulez and he made an acute critique of the limitations of the system of composition. Boulez was furious and the two man remained enemies during fifteen years (Boulez, later, in the 70's, praised Ligeti's music and also Ligeti praised Boulez's music; Boulez became one of the leading promoters of Ligeti's music).
Ligeti, then, started to search for his own voice in the avant-garde. He was fascinated with the idea of "static music". "Music which is similar to a monolith, like if it always had existed and also will remain existing for ever". Ligeti also took his fascination with polyphony, the sonorities of the electronic music with which he experimented, and also a very deep emotional sensitivity from his life experiences.
The result was a very original music, of a very complex technical and conceptual nature, but also of a very deep emotion and sensitivity. This apparently contradictory dualism will be a trademark and obsession in Ligeti's music. 
Ligeti always struggled to find a music which would serve to express his very complex intellectual concerns and interests but at the same time his profound emotional sensitivity (where the fear of death is a recurrent topic).
Micropolyphony is the term Ligeti coined for the technique he devised to achieve this static music which he dreamed. It consists in the interaction of tens of different voices which, when hear, give the impression of a general dense texture which evolves in a continuous way. Ligeti says:

_"Technically speaking I have always approached musical texture through part-writing. Both Atmosphères and Lontano have a dense canonic structure. But you cannot actually hear the polyphony, the canon. You hear a kind of impenetrable texture, something like a very densely woven cobweb. I have retained melodic lines in the process of composition, they are governed by rules as strict as Palestrina's or those of the Flemish school, but the rules of this polyphony are worked out by me. The polyphonic structure does not come through, you cannot hear it; it remains hidden in a microscopic, underwater world, to us inaudible. I call it micropolyphony (such a beautiful word!)"_.

Examples are: 



 (Atmosphères, 1961); 



 (Requiem, 1963-65); 



 (Lux Aeterna, 1966); 



 (Lontano, 1967; definitely his micropolyphony masterpiece).
Ligeti, when rehearsing Lontano, makes very interesting comments about his approach to emotion in music here: 



And indeed, I think it's quite true. When you listen to his music, you feel a very intense emotion, but the music is purely abstract, there's nothing in the music that can give you a programmatic idea of those emotions. As Ligeti says in the video, you don't know what the music is talking about, since it's very abstract, but you feel that what the music is saying is very intense in terms of emotions.
It's not a surprise, then, that Kubrick used Ligeti's music for his movie 2001: a space odyssey, and to great success, since that's precisely the kind of ideas Kubrick had for the general mood of the movie.
Ligeti had a voracious curiosity and intellect. He was always interested in new ways of expression. 
By the 70's, he felt that his micropolyphony style already gave its fruits and that it was time to move on. This is an important aspect of Ligeti. He's not driven by a few musical ideas through his career, instead, the musical ideas are driven by his "meta-musical" ideas about always searching new methods and means. This is the real constant thing that guides him.
In the 70's and 80's he discovered the rhythms and polyphony of african music and Nancarrow, the harmonies of Bill Evans, a renewed interest in science through fractal geometry, a rediscovering of his hungarian roots, and a new look into the tradition of classical music.
The result was his late style.
In this style, Ligeti maintains his interest in complex polyphonic structures, but the material of the voices and the way they interact is different than his previous style. Now, it's more influenced by the polyphony of african music. 
In the new style, the interaction of the voices also create a general texture which evolves, but, unlike the previous style in which the polyphony is not directly perceived, here we can hear the complex peaks and rhythmic accentuations of the polyphony. In fact, those peaks are the things which form the general texture we perceive. Also, we hear different layers of activity. The lines weave with each other, others appear, others disappear, others begin to change. It's like watching a living organism and all his processes. Ligeti says:

_"I was writing a piano concerto, I have started on it about twenty times, but it was still not the real thing, I tried to loosen up the dense polyphony in it. I had already started this in the Kammerkonzert, [Chamber Concerto] and in the piece entitled Melodien, but I would like to loosen it further, so that there should remain a complex polyphony, but I want the individual parts to be more melodious and independent. I should like to return to the large, but not static, form, nor to thematic or motivic work. It is very difficult to express this in words, because I think in terms of music, I have never yet formulated things in this way. I shall try to outline what I have to say.

It is a kind of intervallic and rhythmic basic thought, which I would not call a motive, because the word motive is linked so strongly to the Beethoven technique of motivic development; the large form however must be developed slowly and gradually out of such small seeds, and at different levels. Let us say that the elements stand as small units, and I picture them as static units, like the stones of a kaleidoscope. At the level of the intermediate form there is a kind of metamorphosis, a kind of transformation of these kaleidoscopic pictures, an associative kaleidoscope, which is another thing. At a yet higher level there is a kind of organic proliferation, as when lianas gradually grow over a primeval forest, in other words, a very complex polyphonic lianoid structure. I could say that my earlier pieces are crystalline in nature, and that these are much more vegetative and proliferating pieces."_

Examples are: 



 (Violin Concerto, 1989-93); 



 (Piano Concerto, 1980-88); 



 (Études pour piano, 1985-2001).

Boulez on Ligeti: 




(sorry for the possible misspells and errors)
You can find some other details on my blog here:
-http://www.talkclassical.com/blogs/aleazk/1089-ligeti-school.html, a more detailed discussion of the rhythm techniques.
-http://www.talkclassical.com/blogs/aleazk/1014-list-all-pieces-ligeti.html, a list with Ligeti's pieces and youtube videos.


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## Celloman (Sep 30, 2006)

Samuel Barber is my favorite American composer. He wrote in a neo-Romantic style, but incorporated strong modernist elements, including some serialism.

A little-known fact is that he was influenced by the world of jazz. Some of his pieces are overtly jazzy, such as his Excursions (1st movement). Summer Music for Wind Quintet sounds bluesy right from the start. Some of Barber's full orchestra music makes use of jazz rhythms, such as [URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=vKJsLc0YxVs]Medea's Dance of Vengeance[/URL] (start at 8:15 to hear the dance).

Despite these jazz influences, Barber maintained a strong, European attitude throughout his career. His music stands apart from native colleagues whose music sounds more distinctly "American", including William Schuman, Roy Harris, and Virgil Thompson.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

aleazk said:


> . . .
> György Ligeti has three distinct periods. His _hungarian period_, from the 1940's to the 50's. His _sound mass period_, from the 60's to 70's. His _late period_, from the 80's until his death in 2006.


I want to like this post about 12 times.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Taggart has put a sampler on for Bach & Kieran for Mozart - thank you, both. :cheers:Now, what about Beethoven?

I have just joined the Beethoven group, and there are forty other members.

Would one of them be so kind as to post a 'sampler' for the Big Man himself? I only know the Big Stuff & I can't sort him out into 'periods' of his life. 

Please can you help? :tiphat:


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

:tiphat: 
And thanks also for all the other posts that have been put up, with such a lot of thought. They're *absolutely fabulous!*

I am so looking forward to 'going through' this thread & I do hope there will be a few posts to come yet awhile.


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## Ramako (Apr 28, 2012)

Going for the unexpected, I'll do Haydn. I'll limit myself to the quartets and symphonies, as he wrote so much, and because I know them best. I've also included pointers from each of the samples to similar works if anyone wants to find more similar works to the ones posted.

*Symphonies*

Haydn wrote many symphonies, but his first was written at approximately the age 25 (at the youngest). None of them are juvenilia, and fine works were written from the very beginning. Here's the very first one, which is as good as any:





Some other good early (though not quite as early) ones are 6, 7, 8 and 22

The early classical style is one many find unappealing however. As 1770 loomed, Haydn increasingly turned towards what is now called the _Sturm und Drang_ style, which resulted in more dramatic, 'stormy', works, frequently in the minor mode. Undoubtedly the most famous Sturm und Drang symphony is the 'Farewell' (probably due to the extramusical story associated with it):





Similar ones include symphonies 39, 43, 44, 48 and 49

It is commonly held that Haydn's symphonies after 1772 became much more patchy. I do not disagree with this statement (although 'patchy' means less consistent, not always inferior), so I'm even going to skip straight past these to symphony 88. This fine work lies in between the "Paris" and the "London" symphonies. Brahms is supposed to have said of this slow movement, "I want my 9th to sound like this".





If you like this, try the rest of the symphony, the "Paris" symphonies (82-87), or the "Oxford" (92).

Haydn's last symphonies were written for concerts in London. The one I'm going to post is called the 'Drum Roll', because of its opening movement. This finale is a good example of the sheer energy of this late style, which is more outgoing, intended for a wider middle-class concert-going audience, rather than the private, aristocratic audience of the earlier symphonies.





The London symphonies (93-104) are all very good and easily accessible

*Quartets*

The op. 20 is where the great Haydn quartets are generally considered to begin, written back in 1772, the height of Haydn's Sturm und Drang period. The quartets both look to the past, and forward, beyond the Classical to the Romantic period. This fugue is an excellent example of the baroque elements Haydn incorporated into these quartets, and is one of my favourite fugues ever written. The first quartet video I'm going to post is actually played by a piano due to youtube limitations (I do like the description though).





The whole op. 20 set is highly recommended. The F minor one and D major one are probably the most popular

The op. 33 followed the op. 20 only after a break of 9 years, in 1781, and were famously advertised by Haydn to be written in a 'new and special way'. These works are generally in a very measured 'Classical' aesthetic. I'm going to post the E flat quartet, nicknamed 'The Joke', not because it is considered the best (though it is probably the most known), but as probably the archetypal example of Haydn's humour (especially the last movement).





The op. 33 are also fairly consistent. My personal favourite is the b minor.

And finally, to finish the sample, an example of Haydn's late quartets, the famous 'Fifths' from his excellent op. 76.





If you like this one, then look forward to hours of listening, not only of the op. 76, but also the op. 71, 74 and 77.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

:tiphat: What a great post, Ramako! Really lucid & informative. Thank you - you are an :angel:! 

(Time for me to stop posting & start reading & listening, I think!  )


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

After seeing the other great replies I have decided to expand my original post.

Piano Concerto in A Minor - Most probably Schumann's greatest work. It was written in two stages, first Schumann wrote the first movement in 1841 and then, in 1845 completed the 2nd and 3rd movements. This work is generally seen as the greatest, or one of the greatest, piano concerto/s. It is brimming with fiery passion, in this work I find a sort of compelling anguish which always draws me in. This work has inspired other concertos, most notably Grieg's popular concerto also in A Minor.

Introduction and Allegro Appassionato / Introduction and Allegro - Op. 92 & Op. 134. Two works for piano and orchestra rarely mentioned. This seems altogether a bit unfair. both contain melodic gems throughout and show Schumann's incredible creativity. they may not be his best works but are often ignored but I feel they should be played more often. 

Kreisleriana - Schumann was at his best when writing for piano, this is shown throughout his piano concerto and his other works for solo piano and piano and orchestra. This piece shows the two sides to Robert Schumann making it a very personal, intimate and emotional work. Florestan represents an impulsive side to Schumann's nature while Eusebius represents his more dreamy side. The work is in eight different parts and is one of Schumann's best works for solo piano.

Symphony No. 4 - In this symphony Schumann shows he was also adept at writing for orchestral forces alone. Schumann's orchestration has been a debated for a long time and it is often said that Schumann could only write for string and often made the players work too hard. But... Schumann makes good use of the wind instruments in this piece but one criticism is they are often doubled by the strings. In the third movement Schumann makes good use of the brass, he uses them to build tension and the winds are used affectively as well.


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

Carl Nielsen

Where else to start but Opus 1? Not the greatest sound on this video, but still you get an idea of Nielsen's early period. The "Little Suite" rally ranks right up there with me with the best string orchestra pieces ever. And, by the time you reach the last movement, you're beginning to get glimpses of the Nielsen to come.






The Symphony No 3 doesn't get the attention of No. 4 & No. 5, but I find that, as a whole, it gives me a pretty complete picture of Nielsen the composer. This is music that isn't hard to appreciate, but that never stales, no matter how many times I hear it.






It's hard to pick a favorite Nielsen Concerto. I would have picked the Violin Concerto if only it had stopped after two movements. With four movements, it is very long, and I find the last two to be a little less inspired. So, I'm going with the Clarinet Concerto - a quirky little late-Nielsen piece that is very inventive:


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

The fantastic Aladdin Suite is next. I couldn't find a really satisfying YT clip, but this one of the beginning of it will do:






Nielsen wrote terrific music for wind instruments. Here's a sample:






And, of course - we must leave room for the greatest:


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Arnold Schoenberg is one of the most infamous and misunderstood composers in the history of music. His life and personality are as complex as his compositions. An Austrian Jew growing up in a non-observant home, he later converted to Lutheranism, and, as the tides of anti-semitism rose in German-speaking lands, to Judaism. He lived the remainder of his life in America, where he eked out a living teaching. Largely self-taught in music, his first instrument was the cello, which he played in amateur string ensembles. Although he took a handful of lessons in composition from Alexander Zemlinsky, they henceforth looked at each other as friends and peers, rather than teacher and student. Starting in the early 20th century he began to give lessons to others, attracting a small but utterly devoted following. Even as his own methods moved beyond the traditional, he continued to teach the fundamentals that he himself had learned, believing that such a grounding was absolutely necessary for serious composition of any kind.

Schoenberg's output was diverse, so I have tried to choose works that represent different genres as well as different stages of his compositional career.

As an aspiring young composer, Schoenberg took Brahms as his primary model, and wrote an unnumbered *String Quartet in D major* (1897) in the Brahmsian mould. Even here elements of his personal style can be detected in the music's mercurial temperament, its sudden shifts of texture and its constant motivic transformation. One critic present said that the work, which also earned the praise of the aging Brahms, "gave all the music-lovers present the impression that its author is a genuine talent who has spoken his first important word."





Schoenberg's ever-active musical mind would not rest, and his style grew to encompass the harmony of Wagner and Strauss in addition to the developmental variation of Brahms. He became increasingly interested in large, all-encompassing single movement structures, culminating in works such as his most popular work, the sextet Verklarte Nacht, as well as the String Quartet No. 1 in D minor and the tone poem *Pelleas und Mellisande, Op. 5* (1902), inspired by Maeterlinck's play (he was unaware of Debussy's opera on the same subject at the time). Motifs represent characters and situations, and the work follows the plot of the play very closely.





Upon the completion of another one-movement work, the Chamber Symphony in E major, Schoenberg felt he had discovered his own personal style, in which he could continue to compose. But another seismic shift was to occur almost immediately. The composer's wife ran away with his painting teacher, and he began to write music without key signatures, guided primarily by his own musical intuition (Schoenberg had perfect pitch and never composed at the piano). The instrumental works of this period are short, bursts that flare up and fizzle out within a few minutes or even a few measures. The first products of this new style were settings of the poet Stephan George, a cycle of songs on his *Book of the Hanging Gardens, Op. 15* followed by two movements for string quartet and voice completing a work in F-sharp minor begun the previous year. The George settings are passionate and yet opaque, the tonal ambiguities of the music complementing the emotional ambiguities of the texts.





The rapid production of compositions that followed these discoveries was brought to an abrupt halt by the onset of the First World War. A large-scale project on a text that Schoenberg wrote dealing with issues of faith and spirituality in the modern age was begun, and a substantial fragment of some forty-five minutes produced for soloists, choir, and orchestra, but he never finished it. After a few years spent working on short piano pieces, he arrived at the basis of the 12-tone technique, conceived as a method of controlling the myriad possibilities of the new total chromatic space as the tonal system had controlled the major/minor scales for the past three centuries. A new burst of compositional activity followed, and Schoenberg's attention turned towards producing works in the old forms. A new String Quartet utilized the outlines of sonata and rondo, a Suite for piano based on baroque dance rhythms (albeit highly stylized), canons were written for choir, and a set of Variations for Orchestra. He even wrote two acts of a full-length opera, Moses und Aron, based on a single 12-tone collection. The series of *5 Piano Pieces, Op. 23* (1921-1923) represents this shift in his style from the "freely atonal" first four to the final waltz (9:22 in the video link, although the waltz section begins at 9:54 after the introduction) using the new 12-tone method.





Following his move the the United States, Schoenberg wrote a number of works that combined the new style with the old, such as the Kol Nidre Op. 39 for reciter, chorus, and orchestra, the Variations on a Recitative for organ, Op. 40, and the Prelude for orchestra and chorus, Op. 44 (written for the Genesis project, a collaborative work by various composers living in the Hollywood area). He continued to use the 12-tone method in his concerti for Violin and Piano as well as his Fourth String Quartet (the last he would complete, although he left fragments of a Fifth) and String Trio. Several of the works of this period deal with Jewish themes, including the harrowing A Survivor from Warsaw, Op. 46, for reciter, male chorus, and orchestra, dealing with an incident from the Holocaust. The last piece Schoenberg completed was a setting of *Psalm 130, Op. 50b* (1950) in Hebrew for choir and soloists. Here the cry "from the depths" is imbued with special urgency and power in the aftermath of the tragedies of the preceding decade.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

This is a wonderful post, Mahlerian. :tiphat: So readable, and so informative. I love the way you always manage to put the composer & his/her music in context.

*Thank you* for taking the trouble.

When I have worked through this thread & my 'that one/this one', I shall feel a little less 'Ingénue' & will have to change my user-name.


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## TudorMihai (Feb 20, 2013)

Maybe it will come to no surprise to some members that I will go with Korngold:

I will start with his opera music (he wrote five operas):





Continuing with his concertante work





His chamber work





His orchestral work


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## TudorMihai (Feb 20, 2013)

His film music work (The Adventures of Robin Hood)





And his vocal music


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## GGluek (Dec 11, 2011)

I have witnessed at least three distinct Janacek revivals in my lifetime, each stronger than the last -- and I think he's finally entered the standard repertory. His style is oddly declamatory, but compelling. Most of the works he composed in his last decade are masterpieces. Early stuff ranges from presciently original, to minor-league Dvorak. None of the operas (going back to his earliest -- "Fate") is bad.

My sampler:

"Glagolitic Mass" -- thoroughly original celebration of the Czech spirit by an avowed atheist.

"Vec Makropulos" and "The Cunning Little Vixen." Two late operas from oddball sources (A Karel Capek play and a newspaper comic strip) -- one a dramatic philosophical quasi-Sci-Fi work, and other abundant and naturey.

"Diary of One Who Disappeared" -- song cycle for voice and piano. Kind of a "Wintereisse" lite.

"Mladi" -- a wind sextet -- spare and totally characteristic.

"Sinfonietta" -- For for those who need a little high class bombast in their lives.


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

Bump. There are many good posts here, it would be a shame if they get lost in the sea of unread threads.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

:tiphat: Thank you, aleazk!

I am still hoping for more composer-samplers.

:wave: Um, ahoy there (nervous cough)! ... *Is* there anyone out there who could *do* Beethoven, please?


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## GGluek (Dec 11, 2011)

I could do Beethoven, but it would be quirkily personal and not necessarily representative.

For instance:

Early stuff: Piano Sonata in C, Opus 2 #3. An early gem. Displays many of the preoccupations that he would develop later.
String Quartet Opus 18 #5 -- just boundless good fun, but well crafted.

Middle: "Eroica" Symphony. I've already expounded on this one.
Piano Cto. No. 4 in G. If there were somehow to be only one piano concerto, I think I would want it to be this one.
Leonore Overture No. 3. Absolute masterpiece of its type.

Late: Piano Sonata's Opp. 109 and 111.
String Quartet Op. 127.
Missa Solemnis. Each among the greatest in their respective forms.

I don't expect anyone else's Beethoven sampler to look like this.


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## HaydnBearstheClock (Jul 6, 2013)

And now let me take up Ramako's torch: Haydn - choral & oratorio style.

Now, we know the Creation - but what about the Seasons? Check out 'Ewiger, mächtiger, gütiger Gott' (at 4:52)






or try this one at 25:30:






Want some romantic-style tone poem? Try the introduction to Winter.






Want some choruses to make you jump from your seat? No problem - that's where Die Schöpfung comes in:






And now want some minor-mode battle music? Here's the Nelson mass for you:






And finally, you just have to have the Et incarnatus est from the Paukenmesse: (at 16:55)






but there are many more I could have picked .


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

GGluek said:


> I could do Beethoven, but it would be quirkily personal and not necessarily representative.
> I don't expect anyone else's Beethoven sampler to look like this.


:tiphat: Thank you for answering my distress call, *GGluek*. 
*The quirkily personal* is my absolutely favourite category of response! 



HaydnBearstheClock said:


> And now let me take up Ramako's torch...


:tiphat: Thank you also, _*HaydnBearstheClock*_! 
I'm on the Haydn Chapter in Michael Sheen's Biography of the Great Composers at present, & Haydn seems like a really nice person - probably attracts the like in his followers!


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## Trout (Apr 11, 2011)

For this thread, I would like to champion the works of the early 20th-century, British composer *Gerald Finzi* who, despite having only written a modest number of works (only 40 opuses in total), wrote music of such high quality. He was a perfectionist, so while he took many years to complete a good number of his works, he composed them with such fastidiousness that is reflected in the thought given behind each measure of every piece. I should preface this post by suggesting that it may be best _not_ to listen to these pieces consecutively just because the profundity of Finzi's works may be somewhat lost, but that is just my opinion. However you decide to listen to them, here are my picks:

*Eclogue for Piano and String Orchestra, op. 10* - Finzi composed the Eclogue originally with the intention of creating a piano concerto, but he later reworked this piece to be stand-alone after he abandoned the idea. Quite simply, this is a marvelous piece with aching melodies and timbres. The tenderness of the opening piano melody is carried throughout the rest of the piece, culminating in a quite moving climax, reminiscent of Vaughan Williams's _Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis_, but only briefly. As the piece approaches the end and the original theme is restated back in the original key, the piece takes a rather melancholic turn ending wistfully.

*Romance in E-flat major for String Orchestra, op. 11* - This may be my favorite "lesser known" discovery from all that I have explored so far in the realm of classical music. While this covers similar emotional ground as the _Eclogue_ does, I believe Finzi demonstrates greater mastery of transitioning his ideas to create a seamlessly flowing piece, full of melodies that naturally develop and unfold into one another. The piece opens with a wonderful, longing melody that instantly captivated me as it moves into the main theme of the work. Its development is not a second longer than it needs to be as a violin solo gently introduces a completely genial, second theme that soon brings the whole orchestra to an intense summit. All the while, the work eschews the romantic cliches of being overly opulent or ornate, to my ears anyways. The piece soon recapitulates the main theme bringing the work to a slow and satisfying close.

*Five Bagatelles for Clarinet and Piano, op. 23* (not the best recording, though; try the one with Emma Johnson) - Don't underestimate this work just for having the name of "Bagatelles." These are works full of diverting light-heartedness juxtaposed with moments of tender nostalgia. This set comprises of movements only 2 or 3 minutes long, with faster movements bookending the 3 slower, interior movements. I chose this piece mainly because it is one of Finzi's only surviving pieces in the chamber genre and it offers a nice, genial counterpoint to his more emotion-heavy pieces, not intending to marginalize this piece at all, though.

*In Terra Pax, op. 39* (part 2) - I wanted to include one of Finzi's choral works as that part of his repertoire is simply a trove, with a number of them being considered as among his masterpieces. Written at the very end of his life, Finzi based this piece upon Christmas themes and texts, as evident by the title of the first part of the piece, "A Frosty Christmas Eve." The piece begins peacefully with the theme of "The First Noel," forming the underlying structure of the section which soon highlights the tenderness of the baritone, the voice of the poet. The second movement, "And lo, the angel and of the Lord," follows with the soprano as the solo voice representing the angel, but this time accompanied by a choir. This movement is essentially a motley of Finzi's compositional range, combining the graceful with the triumphant and even with some sprinkles of drama here and there. It is not, however, indicative of the freneticness he was able to express in his last opus.

*Cello Concerto in A minor, op. 40* - One of his few large-scale works, Finzi's cello concerto is his last completed work which he composed knowing he was terminally ill with cancer. This piece, in my opinion, encompasses his compositional mastery at its peak, even though its consistency wavers ever so slightly. The first movement begins with a great ferocity that, despite not seeming characteristic of Finzi, is integrated well with the orchestra's building and falling dynamics throughout the movement, creating the first theme that the cello echoes soon after. Even though I wish Finzi could have developed upon that energy created by the introduction to create something even more meaningful, the first movement is a great showcase of the radiance of the cello and its interaction with the orchestra as the two exchange ideas until the movement closes with the same intensity. The second movement, however, is sublime in just about every aspect, especially with the simple yet heavenly opening theme which the movement expands upon to utterly spellbinding climaxes and modulations. I feel that this movement's sublimity and purity illustrate the zenith of Finzi's style and is a magnificent summation of his oeuvre. The third movement rounds out the work with a nice, jovial theme carried throughout. It does not quite carry the same degree of meticulous quality as the other two movements; nevertheless, it is further testament of his craftsmanship which brightly ends the final, great opus of his modest career.

Even though I consider those five among his finest, I don't think anyone can go wrong listening to any of his works. Many of them are pretty short (most are around 10 minutes long) and there are only a handful of them, as I stated earlier, all of great and similar quality. 
(By the way, I don't really consider myself that great a writer, especially on my feelings, but I hope that I was able to convey successfully how profoundly Finzi's works move me.)


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

*Trout* - fabulous! Thank you. :tiphat: 
Sidney Lanier said, 'Music is love in search of a word.' I think you *found* the words!


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

Let me share some words about *César Franck,* a French Romantic composer. Rather "Germanic" in spirit, his music evokes feelings of high passion and longing, as well as thoughts about a dichotomy between spirit and flesh, the wretchedness of mortal, fallen man, and the sublimity and ordered grandeur of the world beyond our own. He might be criticized for the grandeur of emotion in his music - do actual human beings ever have emotions like that? - but at least, he's never trivial or superficial, always serious and, well, frank (EH HEH HEH).

His *Symphony* is very well known, and justifiably so. Its three movements are quite different from each other, but the whole feels very cohesive (a musician or a musicologist could probably explain in technical terms why and how it feels so). The first movement is solemn and threatening, aiming for maximum sublimity. The second movement is tender and elegic, evoking feelings of love. And the finale is joyous and festive, satisfying and relaxing the considerable tension created by the first movement.

His *Piano Quintet* is also quite well known. One of the most passionate pieces of chamber music I know, sometimes the passion seems to destabilize the structure of the piece, but I don't care.

His oratorio, *Les Beatitudes,* is much less known, I believe, but it's definitely worth hearing for anyone who loves or is interested in Romantic oratorios. There might be some boring parts, but the parts that are good, shine with such transcendent beauty that it rivals the poetic words of St. Matthew himself.


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## Celloman (Sep 30, 2006)

Igor Stravinsky was something of a "chameleon". He was known for changing colors throughout his career, and we can see several distinct periods from his musical oeuvre.

Stravinsky was a pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov, and this lush, Romantic influence is obvious in his earlier pieces - such as his _Feu d'artifice_ for large orchestra (1908). His early ballet _The Firebird_ is a well-known work from this period.

After writing another ballet that was based on the Russian folk legend _Petrushka_, Stravinsky completely pushed the rhythmic and harmonic envelope with _Le Sacre du Printemps_ (The Rite of Spring - 1913).

Then all of a sudden, Stravinsky made a foray into the world of neo-classicism. His _Symphony of Psalms_ (1930) demonstrates a strong sense of structure and symmetry. In this piece, each subsequent movement is twice as long as the one that comes before it.

In 1954, Stravinsky once again proved that he could change from one style to another. He reverted to serialism, as demonstrated in such works as [URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=kwMt6bkFc3k]_Threni_[/URL] (1958).

He was one cool dude.


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