# Random, Generally On-Topic Snippets



## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

Reading some books and magazines this morning, I came up with several random music-related points, none of which are worthy of starting up New Topics for, but that I still want to throw out there. So, how about a thread for random *on-topic *thoughts?

Here are a couple of gems from The Best Humor From Punch (1953) -

These are actual signs / ads / paragraphs from newspapers, etc.:

Notice outside a Toronto church: _ "Do You Know What Hell Is?
.........................................Come and Hear Our New Organist"_

From China Mail: _"Be Thou with Me (Bach), with Organ accomp.: My Heart Ever Faithful (From Cantata No. 68 - Bach); Art Thou Troubled with the City of Birmingham Orchestra (from "Rondelinda' - Handel)"_

Advertisement from a Nigerian paper: _"This Concerns You!.....and YOU TOO, For your Wedding, Funeral & other merry making CEREMONIES Remember The United Yoruba Brass Band."_


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

Yeah..my thread is up!

So, my two favorite music magazines are *Opera News *and *Listen*. I wish I could make *Listen* last for a whole 90 days, then I could have something great to read every day.

Anyway, in the latest *Opera News* I read this comment in the "Spotlight" article on the new opera _Dolores Claiborne_:

_"In many modern works, the characters tend to sound similar, meandering around in endless arioso."_

Exactly! And that got me to thinking again about something - We praise composers like Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Dvorak and Tchaikovsky for being gifted melodists, right?

What if there were a few modern composers who would be just as gifted melodically, but we'll never know because the conventions of the time restrict them to writing meandering lines that never go anywhere?

Not for the first time I wonder about the tyranny of one's own time. (TOOT, for short)


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

*Listen* has an article on Laurence Equilbey, of whom I had never heard before. But, I got so intrigued with her unusual choir work, that I ordered two of her CDs from my library system - _Schoenberg's Friede auf Erden / Fraben _and _Richard Strauss A cappella. _
I love having a library that allows me to sample things I've read about (since I don't have Spotify and don't like You Tube).


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

On what exact planet do the people who write *STEREOPHILE *live?

I have never in my life met someone who would buy a $175,000 turntable with a $19,500 tonearm, not to mention a $55,000 amplifier and $50,000 speakers.

I realize that really great equipment can deliver maximum sound quality at even low volume levels (which would be great for an apartment-dweller like myself), but do I have to be a millionaire to enjoy it?

For once, I wish they'd address the listener on a budget.


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

It occurred to me this morning to wonder how hard I find it sometimes to accept a piece of music for what it is.

What I mean is, I seldom hear a piece of music without knowing in advance who the composer is and roughly when it was composed.
So, if I know in advance that the composer was, say, Mozart or Schubert, does that incline me to view the music as perhaps slightly better or more important or more pleasing than if I know it was composed by, say, Franz Xaver Hammer or Jakob Haibel?

Or, if I hear a pleasing romantic-style piece that is not composed by Richard Strauss or Antonin Dvorak, but instead by Granville Bantock or, worse yet, some modern composer writing in a somewhat anachronistic style, have I already made up my mind that it will be inconsequential or somehow "lesser" in quality?


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Vesteralen said:


> It occurred to me this morning to wonder how hard I find it sometimes to accept a piece of music for what it is.
> 
> What I mean is, I seldom hear a piece of music without knowing in advance who the composer is and roughly when it was composed.
> So, if I know in advance that the composer was, say, Mozart or Schubert, does that incline me to view the music as perhaps slightly better or more important or more pleasing than if I know it was composed by, say, Franz Xaver Hammer or Jakob Haibel?
> ...


I wonder and worry about this same thing. I nowadays try very hard to listen to music with a completely unbiased mind. But it is difficult to do so! Still, one makes all manner of peasant discoveries this way, and your musical landscape becomes a wondrous mosaic instead of a few huge towers in an otherwise bleak landscape.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Vesteralen said:


> It occurred to me this morning to wonder how hard I find it sometimes to accept a piece of music for what it is.
> 
> What I mean is, I seldom hear a piece of music without knowing in advance who the composer is and roughly when it was composed.
> So, if I know in advance that the composer was, say, Mozart or Schubert, does that incline me to view the music as perhaps slightly better or more important or more pleasing than if I know it was composed by, say, Franz Xaver Hammer or Jakob Haibel?
> ...


Ah, if you were as ignorant as me, you'd be able to avoid your preconceptions. When I hear a piece of music, I rarely know who wrote it... :lol: (even after the announcer's told me; 'Who's *he*?' I think.)


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

Vesteralen said:


> It occurred to me this morning to wonder how hard I find it sometimes to accept a piece of music for what it is.


I sometimes do a bit of digging for recommendations online and let youtube lead whither it will, but I've always most enjoyed listening to music recommended by friends--either at home or in concert. It's been more important (almost!) for me to know the recommender than the composer, in many cases. I'm sure I'm unusual in this--and certainly make no claims for it's being a good thing!--but I've always treated learning about new music as a social event including me and my good friends.

That extends to the comparatively anonymous world of TC! My recent listening to Peteris Vasks, for example, has been inflected by the knowledge that SimonNZ would take that composer to his desert island!

Objectivity is not my strong suit!


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

At least my experience yesterday with the Toivo Kuula disc showed me that I'm still capable of recognizing significant music from an unexpected source. (Significant to me, at least )


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

A couple of nights ago, I watched the first disc in the "Story of the Symphony" set with Andre Previn on DVD. It featured Haydn's 87 and Mozart's 39 (my fave!). 

I always enjoy Previn's voice when he talks about the music. When I watched the performance of the Haydn, I started to think that his voice was the only thing I was going to like about this set. The performance seemed kind of tame and lack-luster.

But, the Mozart was fantastic. Previn did such a good job with the 39th, and it seemed like the video editors were more on their game for this one as well. He did my favorite Mozart piece really proud.

Bravo.


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## JCarmel (Feb 3, 2013)

That used to be my fave, too...well, it still is, I just tend to listen to 35 a wee bit more. But that has always been my Mozart Symphony of choice from age Dot! Is that the Previn series that he made for the BBC? If so, I've still got a couple of programmes from it on video tape......somewhere! I thought his conducting was pretty good, when I watched it back in the 80's?
I must try to sling-the-Sibelius & listen to sommat else, for a change!.....so I think I'll get this much-loved one out soon & sigh a few sighs?!


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

JCarmel said:


> Is that the Previn series that he made for the BBC? If so, I've still got a couple of programmes from it on video tape......somewhere!


Yes, I think so.

I really wish somebody would make available his "Nine Symphonies by Whom?" series. What I wouldn't give to have Previn's Vaughan Williams on DVD!


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

In honor of my favorite time of year - with six months of cooler weather ahead of me, I propose an celebration of autumn.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Vesteralen said:


> In honor of my favorite time of year - with six months of cooler weather ahead of me, I propose an celebration of autumn.


Thanks, Vesteralen - I'm going to nab this for my 'seasonal' thread!


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

Interesting article in *Listen* by Arnold Steinhardt "On Interpretation: Composer Vs. Performer".

Starts out with the story of Little Suzy who crosses out J S Bach's name from the piano score she is working on and writes her own name in its place. Her comment: "He's not playing the piece. I am."

Then he goes on to examine the expectations people have for performers of famous works.

At one point, he makes an interesting observation about two opposite-extreme reviews most performers would not like to see -
1) faithful, but lacking originality; 2) blatantly ignoring composer's intentions and merely showing off own notions.

So, what then is the ideal role for the performer relative to the composer and her/his work? "Alpine guide", as Schnabel says?


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## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

JCarmel said:


> That used to be my fave, too...well, it still is, I just tend to listen to 35 a wee bit more. But that has always been my Mozart Symphony of choice from age Dot! Is that the Previn series that he made for the BBC? If so, I've still got a couple of programmes from it on video tape......somewhere! I thought his conducting was pretty good, when I watched it back in the 80's?
> I must try to sling-the-Sibelius & listen to sommat else, for a change!.....so I think I'll get this much-loved one out soon & sigh a few sighs?!
> View attachment 24890


Many a sigh I have let escape my lips when I listen to this symphony, enough to fill a heart and more....

*sigh*


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

Finished a two-page article in *Opera News *about Broadway shows crossing over to the concert stage or even the opera house.

Author makes a case for this as musicals are today's operettas. I don't find this particularly alarming, myself. Though I'm pretty sure many do.

What was more interesting were the comments about what Broadway stars can bring to the opera house (i.e. better acting skills) and what opera stars can bring to the musical (i.e voices that reach the last row).

An era of opera stars recording musicals started in 1984 with Kiri Te Kanawa and Jose Carreras in West Side Story and ended ignominiously with Domino and Patankin in Man of La Mancha, according to the article.


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

Snippet from an article in *Opera News *on Bulgarian soprano Raina Kabaivanska, whose career began in 1959:

_Yes, those times were completely different! We approached our work with much more humility. We were like little soldiers in front of the conductors....(we) gave all (our) attention and respect to every bit of advice and observation made by the maestro, without ever saying a negative word - just "Yes Maestro, I understand".

But once again, these conductors had the insight to understand talent and how to help bring it out of everyone, which in my opinion is at present unfortunately and sadly missing._

So, anyway, is this another one of the conductor-as-dictator phases that has, thankfully, gone the way of the dodo? Or, is it something to be lamented? I wouldn't know, but I'd be inclined to think more the latter than the former.


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

Have I mentioned that I LOVE my library system?

I'm beginning a new project based on the Simon & Shuster Book of Opera to really explore opera chronologically. According to this reference, the first _extant_ work that could be (admittedly by a little stretch) called an opera is Orazio Vecchi's "L'amfiparnaso".

I ordered the Naxos CD from Amazon, tried to order the DVD from Netflix (but they said "Short Wait", so I cancelled it and ordered it from Amazon, too), and ordered not one, but two, books on it from my library. The first one arrived yesterday - "L'amfiparnaso - A New Edition of the Music with Historical and Analytical Essays". It's a beautiful book containing the full score and more. Can't wait to get started on it.


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

LISTEN magazine has a keeper article called "Goodbye Again...In Defense of Brahms" by Jens F Laurson that is chock-full of quotable quotes about the man, his music, and the reactions of listeners from his own times to the present. 

All the old chestnuts are here, like his "Concerto Against the Violin", but a lot of unfamiliar ones, as well, like Britten's "It's not bad Brahms I mind; it's good Brahms I can't stand".

As a Brahms lover with a sense of humor, I have to hold onto this article for future use.


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

The Brahms article concluded with some revelatory and inspiring quotations from various performers about their responses to Brahms' chamber and solo piano music.

Then came the magazine's recommendations:

Piano Concertos - Freire-Chially / Decca
Violin Concerto - Mutter-Masur / DG
Symphonies - Wand-NGRSO / RCA
Piano Quartet - Agerich-Kremer-Bashmet-Maisky / DG
Leider - Gura-Berner / Harmonia Mundi
Horn Trio - Faust-Meinikov-van der Zwart / Harmonia Mundi

I do not have a single one of those recordings.


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## JCarmel (Feb 3, 2013)

You are not alone, Vesteralen!


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

btw, I'm so glad I decided to get to know more about secular medieval and renaissance music. I'm loving it. 

(Thinking it over, having made this an on-topic thread, I really should not have put it in the Community Forum. The good part is, few people pay any attention and nobody really cares. "There goes that crazy Vesteralen..talking to himself again!"  )


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## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

Piano quartet with Argerich sounds pretty exciting, as does the violin concerto with Mutter.... Even so, I think I would recommend Isaac Stern for that one.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

mstar said:


> Piano quartet with Argerich sounds pretty exciting, as does the violin concerto with Mutter.... Even so, I think I would recommend Isaac Stern for that one.


I'd recommend Heifetz even more!


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## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

DavidA said:


> I'd recommend Heifetz even more!


Okay, I've got to listen to it!


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## Ryan (Dec 29, 2012)

I watched dances with wolves with my wife the other day.


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

Well....getting back "on-topic"...........

I get a lot of travel magazines. I don't know why, I hardly ever travel. (Maybe that's why I get magazines?)

Anyway, I seldom really get an overpowering urge to visit a place just by an article in a magazine.

But, the article on Torino, Italy in September's *Opera News*, gave me a real urge to visit. Sounds like a wonderful place, and not just for "culture".


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

*Listen* Magazine has prompted me to order some CDs from my library system:

Dvorak - Symphony No 9 conducted by Andris Nelsons
Vagn Holmboe Concertos on Dacapo
and three CDS of music from Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz (they didn't have the one recommended, but they had three others)


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## Winterreisender (Jul 13, 2013)

Vesteralen said:


> *Listen* Magazine has prompted me to order some CDs from my library system:
> 
> Dvorak - Symphony No 9 conducted by Andris Nelsons
> Vagn Holmboe Concertos on Dacapo
> and three CDS of music from Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz (they didn't have the one recommended, but they had three others)


I am quite a fan of Andris Nelsons. Living in Birmingham, I have the chance to see him perform with the CBSO regularly. Dvorak often appears on his programs and is always a very lively spectacle.


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

Winterreisender said:


> I am quite a fan of Andris Nelsons. Living in Birmingham, I have the chance to see him perform with the CBSO regularly. Dvorak often appears on his programs and is always a very lively spectacle.


They gave his performance high praise indeed. I'm looking forward to it. The library says it's on order right now, so I'll have to wait a bit. I often use the library as a kind of listening room to decide whether I want to actually add something to my collection or not. Even though I have several versions of this work already, it sounded worth a shot. He's conducting the Bavarian Radio SO on this recording.


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