# Reflections On Music You Love



## st Omer (Sep 23, 2015)

I am one of the refugees from the Amazon Classical Music Forums. Amazon shut down their discussion forums last week and a number of us have migrated here. At Amazon I started a discussion titled "Daily Reflections on a Musical Composition". The idea was that I would post something daily about music I heard that day that evoked a memory from the past, a feeling, an impression, or an idea. It could be music of any genre but it was typically classical. It wouldn't necessarily be a comment on a large work. It could be a popular song, a movement, a short piano piece, or a large work. I am sure everybody here has the experience of hearing something that evoked nostalgia, strong emotions, or impressions. I found that posting something daily was very daunting and after a strong start the thread bogged down and disappeared until I would periodically revive it. This forum is much larger than the Amazon forum so I am hoping this may catch on and that many will participate. I am going to copy one of my posts that I save from the old discussion that may serve as a general example of the spirit of this thread. 

When I thought about starting this discussion on Sunday I listened to Schumann's "Ich Grolle Nicht" performed by the tenor Fritz Wunderlich. Ideally I think this is a song for baritone so I listened to 4 versions of it on Youtube this evening, performed by Souzay, Fischer-Deskau & Prey, all baritones. I also listened to a performance by Anna Moffo. I was first intrigued by this song when enrolled in a music appreciation class in college in the winter quarter of 1969 at a place called Snow College. It was an outpost for outcasts not quite up to attending the big universities in the state. All of the students in the class were given the assignment to listen to Schumann's "Dichterliebe" on reel to reel tapes in the basement of the main building at the small college campus where I attended school for two years. We were tested on our knowledge of the songs. The professor would play about 10 seconds of the song and we had to identify it reminiscent of the old TV quiz show "Name That Tune". It is almost chilling to think that failing that test could have gotten me shipped to Vietnam. In those days I was a serious student. I wasn't a serious student in high school but I got serious in college. One couldn't take school lightly in the late 60s. 

I never forgot Ich Grolle Nicht. I play it frequently and it takes me back to simpler times. The college I enrolled at in 1968 had about 1000 students and was located in the high desert of central Utah. There wasn't anything there but a college and a lot of turkey ranches. Desert, mountains, jack rabbits, and turkeys that's about all there was. In fact turkeys were so important to the local economy that the County Sheriff was asked to talk to all incoming freshman at our orientation about the serious crime of turkey rustling. We were told turkey rustling could land us in jail. I am not kidding about this. Stuck in a basement listening to strange German music seemed oddly appropriate at the time. One could bask in the melancholia of Schumann and forget about the turkeys. Ich Grolle Nicht was a gem among a bunch of turkeys that was "Dichterliebe" as far as I was concerned at the age of 18. I was into Dylan at the time. Listen to Dylan's "Positively Fourth Street" sometime and you might find the message similar to "Ich Grolle Nicht". I am still not much into lieder but Ich Grolle Nicht cements Schumann's place among my favorite composers.

"Ich Grolle Nicht"

I bear no grudge, even when my heart is breaking!
Love lost forever! I bear no grudge.
Although you shine in diamond splendor,
No beam falls into the night of your heart.
I will know that for a long time.

I bear no grudge, and when my heart is breaking!
I truly saw you in my dreams
And saw the night in the room of your heart,
And saw the snake that bites your heart;
I saw, my dear, how truly miserable you are.

"Positively 4th Street" (the last verse)

I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes
And just for that one moment I could be you
Yes, I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes
You'd know what a drag it is to see you.


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## CypressWillow (Apr 2, 2013)

What a charming idea for a thread, and a great post to start it off.


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## CypressWillow (Apr 2, 2013)

The Barcarolle of Chopin is tearing my heart asunder as I type this.

Not simply because every second of Chopin is, for me, the music I was born to hear. Also because Trifonov is here playing it during the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 2010. Although normally I prefer a rather expressionless pianist, so as not to be distracted (think Arthur Rubinstein, my first hero of the piano) I see Trifonov "getting" the music in the most sensitive, vulnerable way. He is so _owned_ by the music that it almost feels like an invasion of his privacy to be watching him feel it so deeply.

Written late in Chopin's life, it seems to express a longing for the beauty of this world, along with a struggle not to leave it, a struggle which resolves into peaceful acceptance at the end. I'm always moved by this piece, and marvel at the richness and clarity that Trifonov is bringing to it.


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## Guest (Oct 11, 2017)

I loved these comments, and "*Ich Grolle Nicht*" is a superb piece!! Such a tender, lyrical and heartbreaking piece about lost love. "*I saw the snake that bites your heart...I saw how truly miserable you are*". Apposite!!

Schumann was just the ultimate poet and I adore his music.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

For me Schumann ranks as one of the two greatest composers when it comes to hitting me right in the heart with emotion, the other being Bach.

For anyone deeply moved by Schumann's songs, I would suggest listening to his solo piano "suite", Kreisleriana, written while under Clara's spell, if you haven't already. One of the greatest of all masterpieces for piano. So achingly beautiful, it can make you cry.

Yes. Nobody wrote more poetic and moving music than Schumann.


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## Guest (Oct 11, 2017)

hpowders said:


> For me Schumann ranks as one of the two greatest composers when it comes to hitting me right in the heart with emotion, the other being Bach.
> 
> For anyone deeply moved by Schumann's songs, I would suggest listening to his solo piano "suite", Kreisleriana, written while under Clara's spell, if you haven't already. One of the greatest of all masterpieces for piano.
> 
> Yes. Nobody wrote more poetic and moving music than Schumann.


I particularly adore this from a very wonderful singer, recently retired after battling the odds:


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

There is also of course Schumann's great and incredibly moving song cycle for female voice, Frauenliebe und-leben. I don't expect Harvey Weinstein collects many recordings of it.

Feminists these days would most likely be revulsed, but in Schumann's time, a woman's place was in the home. Ironically, Clara was destined to break the stereotype and travel throughout Europe as a great pianist.


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## Guest (Oct 11, 2017)

hpowders said:


> There is also of course Schumann's great and incredibly moving song cycle for female voice, Frauenliebe und-leben.
> 
> I don't expect Harvey Weinstein collects many recordings of it.


I just found this!!! Rather sad, really:


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

CountenanceAnglaise said:


> I just found this!!! Rather sad, really:


I never realized this great singer is physically handicapped, a victim of the hideous thalidomide scandal of the 1950's-1960's. Thankfully, this horrible poison didn't affect his vocal cords.


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## Omicron9 (Oct 13, 2016)

Interesting idea for a thread; thanks for starting it.


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## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

CountenanceAnglaise said:


> I just found this!!! Rather sad, really:


The sad part is he is retiring. And also some folks say he is having health problems.


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## CypressWillow (Apr 2, 2013)

_"The idea was that I would post something daily about music I heard that day that evoked a memory from the past, a feeling, an impression, or an idea. It could be music of any genre but it was typically classical. It wouldn't necessarily be a comment on a large work. It could be a popular song, a movement, a short piano piece, or a large work. I am sure everybody here has the experience of hearing something that evoked nostalgia, strong emotions, or impressions." _

To return this thread to the OPs vision, here is an evocation of the past that is inextricably bound up with loss and longing for me. It was my beloved father who introduced me to Music. He loved the voice of Jussi Bjorling. I adore it, too. And this aria from Faust is not only gorgeous on its own, but also idealizes the unattainable vision of beauty and love that draws us into its circle.

I can't resist the tender, melancholic power that Bjorling brings, can't resist the beauty of just the sound of the French language, his phrasing, the unearthly wonder of that high C - can such sound emanate from a human throat?

What greater gift can a parent give than to instill a love of music into the heart of a child? I can see him today, though his life was cut tragically short at just 45. His smile as he opened the beauty of the world, _his world_, to my eyes, ears and heart.


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

*Love the thread*

st Omer - great post, Amazon's loss is our gain! Snow College and turkeys and _Dichterliebe_ are priceless. And what's with Dripping Springs, Texas? Here in Canada, improbable places often are where classical music gets the love. I second the musical choices posted on this thread. One work I love is Gabriel Faure's _Violin Sonata No. 1 in A Major_. It opens with optimism and charm -- the melody is said to be the actual "little phrase by Vinteuil" in Proust's A la recherche de temps perdu. The yearning quality of the melody is subtly reinforced by his imaginative harmonization. But -- when it comes to love, too much analysis can get in the way . . .


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Every time I hear Erik Satie's 'Gymnopedie No.1' I think of my eldest son being born. It was the first piece of music I played when I got back from the hospital.


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## st Omer (Sep 23, 2015)

CypressWillow, 

I think you have grasped exactly what I was trying to capture with this thread. Of course discussions have a tendency to go where they will go and I would encourage anybody posting to express whatever they are comfortable expressing and to respond as they see fit. Discussion forums are as much a place to interact socially as they are a place to exchange information. 

I am not musically knowledgeable in a technical sense. My contributions will be that of a listener and how certain things connect emotionally, spiritually, and sometimes intellectually.


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## st Omer (Sep 23, 2015)

Roger,

Thanks for your words of encouragement. I hope I can contribute something here. I do enjoy discussion forums for better or worse. They can take up a lot of time if you let them. 

Dripping Springs is a small town west of Austin, Tx. My wife and I still wonder how it got its name because it is very dry and we haven't seen much of anything dripping. I guess the dripping spring dried up years ago before we arrived in the early 90s.

I have actually been to Toronto and have a friend at church who is a huge Maple Leafs fan. I am a Chicago Blackhawks' fan for many years. There are some hockey fans in Texas.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

CountenanceAnglaise said:


> I loved these comments, and "*Ich Grolle Nicht*" is a superb piece!! Such a tender, lyrical and heartbreaking piece about lost love. "*I saw the snake that bites your heart...I saw how truly miserable you are*". Apposite!!
> 
> *Schumann was just the ultimate poet *and I adore his music.


Yes, Schumann's music is very poetic and beautiful and this is a great thread idea. Just to clarify (you may already know this but it isn't clear from your post) the poem was written by Heinrich Heine.


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## Guest (Oct 11, 2017)

tdc said:


> Yes, Schumann's music is very poetic and beautiful and this is a great thread idea. Just to clarify (you may already know this but it isn't clear from your post) the poem was written by Heinrich Heine.


Yes, of course, but I merely point out the musical setting and expression of that poem!! Drama aplenty.


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## Guest (Oct 11, 2017)

Here's a powerful version of "Ich grolle nicht". The one I have on CD is by Olaf Bar and it's more dramatic yet vulnerable than this Kaufmann (which is pretty wonderful):






This lovely lied reminds me of the final scene in Hitchcock's "Vertigo" when Scotty has realized that Judy is really 'Madeline' (apologies for those who don't know the convulted storyline). He angrily drags her up the winding stairway of the tower only to have her admit her complicity in a murder, then, finally, to admit (and this is a shattering performance from Stewart) "I loved you so".


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## Gaspard de la Nuit (Oct 20, 2014)

I listened to Ich Grolle Nicht sung by Anna Moffo a few weeks ago and I thought it was really moving. I liked the slower tempo.


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## st Omer (Sep 23, 2015)

I will hearken back to a one of the few live concerts I have attended. It was February 1997 in Atlanta, Georgia. I was there on company business and called the symphony business office hours before the concert to see if tickets were available. I was told there were tickets available and Mahler's 6th was on the program. I went downtown to the symphony office and was told rush tickets were available at $13.00 per person. A few season ticket holders didn't come and I got a seat on the front row toward the left of the stage. Andre Watts opened the program performing one of the Liszt piano concertos, I don't remember which one. I was not only able to hear Mr. Watt's amazing virtuosity but see it as well. His hands were like a blur up and down the keyboard. I attended the concert by myself. I was on a two week work assignment there and the evenings were getting boring so I was ecstatic that the orchestra was performing. Maestro Yoel Levi conducted Mahler's 6th. I still remember a male cellist with long black 60s Beatles' style hair and his intensity and focus and his obvious relish in taking part in performing the work.

I had never heard Mahler's Sixth before that performance and was caught up in the power and intensity of the 1st movement. The highlight for me was the 3rd movement. It immediately became one of my favorite slow movements among all symphonies. I still often listen to it without listening to the rest of the symphony and in fact as I write this I am listening to it. It is simply sublime and inspired, beautifully sad but life affirming. I can't imagine what life would be like without music. I am somewhat hard of hearing and one of my anxieties of encroaching old age is a fear that someday I will no longer be able to hear such beautiful things.


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## st Omer (Sep 23, 2015)

It is almost universally accepted that much of Brahms' music is autumnal. At the age of 67 I am starting to feel a bit autumnal particularly being a great grandfather. One of Brahms' compositions that best captures the autumnal feel is his op. 118 no. 2 Intermezzo. This is probably my favorite piano miniature by anybody. It may be small in terms of length but that piece tells me more about Brahms than his large scale works most of which rank among the best by anybody in my estimation. 

When I hear that piece I feel a connection to Brahms. It isn't anything I can explain intellectually and it is more than just an emotional response. I often have emotional responses to pop music I heard over 50 years ago that evoke memories of past events and friendships of youth. I get choked up hearing the pop hit of 1963 "Sukiyaki", but that is a story for another time and place. What I experience with Brahms' intermezzo is much different and much more profound. Perhaps I am feeling a lifetime of my own experiences both good and bad, the disappointments, the small triumphs, time lost, what to do with the time left to me. Maybe that is what Brahms was communicating in the piece. Maybe that is what was communicated to him and then he composed the music. 

It is interesting the different pace that different pianists take. The versions I own on CD are about 5 1/2 minutes long. I found several on Youtube well over 6 minutes. One by Pogorelich was 8 minutes and 40 seconds. I listened to that one and I not only felt autumnal but I was nearly to December 20th in Maine and while technically autumnal on the calendar it was definitely winter in spirit.


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## rw181383 (Aug 4, 2017)

st Omer said:


> Roger,
> 
> Thanks for your words of encouragement. I hope I can contribute something here. I do enjoy discussion forums for better or worse. They can take up a lot of time if you let them.
> 
> ...


Roger,

Great post and hello! I'm just a bit south from you in San Antonio!

Paul


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## Guest (Oct 13, 2017)

hpowders said:


> I never realized this great singer is physically handicapped, a victim of the hideous thalidomide scandal of the 1950's-1960's. Thankfully, this horrible poison didn't affect his vocal cords.


I'm told that this lethal drug is now somewhat successfully used to treat multiple myeloma - a deadly form of cancer.


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## CypressWillow (Apr 2, 2013)

st Omer said:


> It is almost universally accepted that much of Brahms' music is autumnal. At the age of 67 I am starting to feel a bit autumnal particularly being a great grandfather. One of Brahms' compositions that best captures the autumnal feel is his op. 118 no. 2 Intermezzo. This is probably my favorite piano miniature by anybody. It may be small in terms of length but that piece tells me more about Brahms than his large scale works most of which rank among the best by anybody in my estimation.
> 
> When I hear that piece I feel a connection to Brahms. It isn't anything I can explain intellectually and it is more than just an emotional response. I often have emotional responses to pop music I heard over 50 years ago that evoke memories of past events and friendships of youth. I get choked up hearing the pop hit of 1963 "Sukiyaki", but that is a story for another time and place. What I experience with Brahms' intermezzo is much different and much more profound. Perhaps I am feeling a lifetime of my own experiences both good and bad, the disappointments, the small triumphs, time lost, what to do with the time left to me. Maybe that is what Brahms was communicating in the piece. Maybe that is what was communicated to him and then he composed the music.
> 
> It is interesting the different pace that different pianists take. The versions I own on CD are about 5 1/2 minutes long. I found several on Youtube well over 6 minutes. One by Pogorelich was 8 minutes and 40 seconds. I listened to that one and I not only felt autumnal but I was nearly to December 20th in Maine and while technically autumnal on the calendar it was definitely winter in spirit.


Beautifully expressed, st *Omer*. The thing I appreciate most on this forum, and only occasionally find, is just precisely this kind of insight and sharing.

Thank you for adding another dimension of understanding and appreciation for me in listening to this beautiful piece.

As someone who is also well into her own Autumnal life-season, I resonate with your musing. I once remarked that this world is a "vale of tears," and was told that M. Scott Peck wrote that it was, instead, a "vale of soul-making." I look back on my own checquered past and take consolation in the hope that, as I've worked on my own soul-making, I have made _some_ progress. Being a kind, gentle, decent soul, and perhaps being able to shed a tiny beam of light along another's path - that would be comforting.


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## Guest (Oct 16, 2017)

For those interested in the Thomas Quasthoff story I submit this documentary, made 20 years ago:


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## st Omer (Sep 23, 2015)

I doubt most people think of Elgar when they think of song cycles. Several weeks ago I was laying on the couch on a Sunday afternoon in my den listening to Sea Pictures for the first time In several years sung by Janet Baker accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir John Barbirolli. I was struck by the subtle beauty of the song "Where Corals Lie" the poem it was set to was equal to the music.

"The deeps have music soft and low
When winds awake the airy spry,
It lures me, lures me on to go
And see the land where corals lie.
The land, the land, where corals lie.

By mount and mead, by lawn and rill,
When night is deep, and moon is high,
That music seeks and finds me still,
And tells me where the corals lie.
And tells me where the corals lie.

Yes, press my eyelids close, 'tis well,
Yes, press my eyelids close, 'tis well,
But far the rapid fancies fly
To rolling worlds of wave and shell,
And all the land where corals lie."

Thy lips are like a sunset glow,
Thy smile is like a morning sky,
Yet leave me, leave me, let me go
And see the land where corals lie.
The land, the land, where corals lie.

I once read in some liner notes on an Elgar CD that some considered him the English Mahler. I didn't find anything Mahlerian about the song it was relaxing and pleasurable to listen to. No angst or heaviness that is found in some of the Mahler songs. It was a nice way to spend some time on Sunday afternoon right before taking a nap and getting ready for the Monday grind of the 9-5 world some of us still live in. If you have some time and you are not acquainted with this 4 minute gem give it a listen. There are a number of good versions of it on Youtube.


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## st Omer (Sep 23, 2015)

I started thinking about how much I love the music Of Bach and how I had loved it for over 30 years. I remembered an organist playing "Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring" as prelude music at a church service back in the early to mid 80s in San Marcos, Texas. The congregation at the church was short on musical talent until the young woman joined our church and started playing piano and organ at our services. She was also a very talented singer with an operatic voice. I was impressed with the music she was playing and knew I had heard it before in a pop arrangement in the early 70s called "Joy" by Apollo 100. I had no idea it was from a tune composed by Bach. After the service I told the organist that I had enjoyed her playing and asked what it was she had played and she told me it was "Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring" by Bach. I told her I recognized the tune from top 40 radio. She was a classically trained musician and most of our congregation were Philistines who had very little appreciation for great music. She was nevertheless very gracious and appeared to be sincerely complimented that I appreciated the music she was playing and her skill at the organ.

There are a number of Bach tunes that seem to work no matter how they are arranged and "Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring" may be the best example of a Bach tune arranged in numerous ways that seem to please. I have a number of versions of "Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring" but curiously enough not one single complete version of BMV 147 the cantata it is taken from. I have a piano arrangement performed by Weissenberg, a version for modern orchestra and choir, one version arranged for symphony orchestra on a CD I purchased years ago that I now refer to as elevator Bach, one played on solo organ by Virgil Fox, a version on synthesizer by Wendy Carlos, one on synthesizer by Don Dorsey, a version with an organist and boys choir, and a rock version that is one of my favorites. Check it out on YouTube 



.

I got hooked on Bach over 30 years ago listening to prelude music at a church service and I am still hooked. I don't think any one person got me listening to classical music. The Sunday service about 30 years was part of a long personal evolution away from pop/rock to classical. There are about a half dozen events that played a part and the organist in the church service was one of the catalysts in that evolutionary process.

It is no mystery to me that Bach is the one composer who is most often thought of when somebody poses the question as to who was the greatest. Bach was the Muhammad Ali of classical music as far as I am concerned and everybody else are contenders to the crown.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

st Omer said:


> I started thinking about how much I love the music Of Bach and how I had loved it for over 30 years. I remembered an organist playing "Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring" as prelude music at a church service back in the early to mid 80s in San Marcos, Texas. The congregation at the church was short on musical talent until the young woman joined our church and started playing piano and organ at our services. She was also a very talented singer with an operatic voice. I was impressed with the music she was playing and knew I had heard it before in a pop arrangement in the early 70s called "Joy" by Apollo 100. I had no idea it was from a tune composed by Bach. After the service I told the organist that I had enjoyed her playing and asked what it was she had played and she told me it was "Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring" by Bach. I told her I recognized the tune from top 40 radio. She was a classically trained musician and most of our congregation were Philistines who had very little appreciation for great music. She was nevertheless very gracious and appeared to be sincerely complimented that I appreciated the music she was playing and her skill at the organ.
> 
> There are a number of Bach tunes that seem to work no matter how they are arranged and "Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring" may be the best example of a Bach tune arranged in numerous ways that seem to please. I have a number of versions of "Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring" but curiously enough not one single complete version of BMV 147 the cantata it is taken from. I have a piano arrangement performed by Weissenberg, a version for modern orchestra and choir, one version arranged for symphony orchestra on a CD I purchased years ago that I now refer to as elevator Bach, one played on solo organ by Virgil Fox, a version on synthesizer by Wendy Carlos, one on synthesizer by Don Dorsey, a version with an organist and boys choir, and a rock version that is one of my favorites. Check it out on YouTube
> 
> ...


There's a very long pedestrian tunnel from South Kensington tube station in London to the museums, and when I was at Imperial College I used to go through it twice a day on my journey to and from university. Anyway, every day there was some bloke in the tunnel playing Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring on an electric guitar. It turned into an annoying ear worm, it totally got on my nerves, I never want to hear it again.


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## Donna Elvira (Nov 12, 2017)

Hi Old Friend,
Well, Appalachian Spring, the suite from the ballet by Aaron Copland, which I just finished listening to, brings me to recent happy times of the wedding of my youngest son and his bride:
The wedding itself with the spirited dancing, even if not to the music of Aaron Copland, still with a different type of "folk" tradition.
The following days with the celebrations and speeches, pointing out, like in the ballet, of the love and challenges for the young couple ahead.
Finishing off, the couple alone in their home to build a true home according to the traditions of our people.


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## st Omer (Sep 23, 2015)

Mandryka said:


> There's a very long pedestrian tunnel from South Kensington tube station in London to the museums, and when I was at Imperial College I used to go through it twice a day on my journey to and from university. Anyway, every day there was some bloke in the tunnel playing Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring on an electric guitar. It turned into an annoying ear worm, it totally got on my nerves, I never want to hear it again.


Mandryka,

I get the ear worm thing and can appreciate even good things becoming way too familiar. One of my reflections on ear worms goes back to 1966 when I was a teenager picking cherries in one of our pastor's orchards with a some other youth. Every summer this pastor would hire a number of the local teenagers to pick his cherries and somebody always brought a radio and played the local top 40 station all day long. I remember Tommy James and the Shondell's had a number one hit that summer called "Hanky Panky". Since it was the number one hit the station played it every hour. After about 2 days of "Hanky Panky". I had my fill of the song and so did everybody else in the orchard. We finally told the guy to turn the station but the other pop station we turned to played it incessantly as well. We finally turned off the radio. To this day I absolutely detest the song. I never liked it much the first time I heard it and it was an immediate ear worm. Apparently a lot of other teenagers liked it based on its popularity for a few weeks. I once heard that Leonard Bernstein said that the great thing about popular music is that most of it isn't popular very long.

I think you may have hit on a good idea for a new thread "Ear Worms We Remember with Regret".


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## CypressWillow (Apr 2, 2013)

I had a wonderful, amazing dog. She'd been rescued from a very abusive situation and put up for adoption by the Dallas SPCA. At that time there was a department store named Gumps in Dallas. They held an adopt-a-thon there and this dog, then called "Coyote" was in one of Gumps' windows. (She was the 'doggie in the window' , but that's not what this is about.)

I hesitated before adopting her because she was so depressed and unresponsive. I feared she'd been so traumatized and damaged that she could never recover. I told her I'd adopt her if she would adopt me, and to please give me a sign she wanted to be mine. She gave my nose a rather perfunctory lick and I said "Done!"

I took her home, changed her name to Valentine, and thus began the story of the dog of my life. We had many wonderful years together. She taught me about unconditional love, and I came to understand the enormous joy of providing the context within which another living being can blossom and be happy.

I'd always loved the song "My Funny Valentine" and after we adopted each other it had an even more special meaning for me.

Who hasn't covered this song? I especially like Ella Fitzgerald and Chet Baker. My favorite version? A tie between Linda Ronstadt, with her crystalline voice and gorgeous orchestration, and Radka Toneff, who brings an especial poignancy to it. Can you choose between them? I surely can't.

I would sing the song to her, she would listen intelligently, and when we got to the last line, I'd sob a bit. And she would again comfort me, as she did every day of our life together.

Here's Linda:






And here's Radka:






And here's to you, my sweet Valentine. Thanks for being in my life. I love you.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

CypressWillow said:


> I had a wonderful, amazing dog. She'd been rescued from a very abusive situation and put up for adoption by the Dallas SPCA. At that time there was a department store named Gumps in Dallas. They held an adopt-a-thon there and this dog, then called "Coyote" was in one of Gumps' windows. (She was the 'doggie in the window' , but that's not what this is about.)
> 
> I hesitated before adopting her because she was so depressed and unresponsive. I feared she'd been so traumatized and damaged that she could never recover. I told her I'd adopt her if she would adopt me, and to please give me a sign she wanted to be mine. She gave my nose a rather perfunctory lick and I said "Done!"
> 
> ...


Please post a photo of Valentine (I like animals!)


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## CypressWillow (Apr 2, 2013)

Mandryka said:


> Please post a photo of Valentine (I like animals!)


Hi Mandryka,

I do have some photographs of Valentine, but I don't know how to get them into the computer and post them. (I'm not very tech-savvy at all.)

She had huge, sweet brown eyes, cinnamon-coloured fur, a fluffy tail. She looked like a little fox. Sometimes I called her my foxy girl, also Valentiny, Valley girl, or just Val. The sweetest sound I ever heard was the contented sigh she gave, after we'd been together a few months - I believed it was the first time in her life she'd ever been happy.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

I've been listening to Philip Glass' Symphony No. 2, and I get this feeling of awe, kind of scary, that it evokes in me, like the sense of the immensity of existence. It is spiritual, maybe religious music, in that great Western tradition of sacred music.


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## st Omer (Sep 23, 2015)

This is something I wrote on another forum several months ago. I saved the post. I am hoping to revive this thread. 

I spend several nights a week over 200 miles from home working in Dallas, Texas. I often sit and reflect on things and listen to music on Youtube on my laptop as I sit alone in my room. For some reason I decided to listen to Brahms' Requiem 2nd movement. It is very powerful but somber. It's a dirge lamenting the mortality of man. It's a beautiful dirge but tonight wasn't the time for it. Maybe the state of the world today led me to switch to something else before the movement ended. I listened to numerous versions, and arrangements, of Elgar's "Nimrod Variations" from the "Enigma Variations". If I have written of this piece before on this thread forgive me. It never fails to lift my spirits. From the somber reflections that these times often appear to me to be the end of civilization as we know it came the bright light of hope and the realization that beauty lives on and can't be blotted out, that relationships can be everlasting, and that a far brighter light than we have known awaits us at the end of the dark tunnel. I imagined passing to a place of unsurpassed light and glory and re-uniting with lost friends and family of youth. I imagined entering the Heavenly sphere with a choir of angels singing a vocal arrangement of this wonderful music. To me the "Nimrod Variation" may be the most beautiful 4 minutes in all of music. I hear it is often played at funerals, be that as it may I find it life affirming and symbolic of rebirth. It conjures up images of all that is good and that always will be good. 

My first experience with this piece was about 20 years ago when I taught a youth class in Sunday School with 11 year old boys. I was given an assignment to do a program with the boys on Easter Sunday. We enlisted one of the boy's sisters to play Mary Magdalene and put on a modest play about the crucifixion and resurrection. The boys drew straws to see who would play the role of Jesus. To my dismay the worst behaved kid in class drew the straw. He once told a joke in class about Moses tying his *** to a tree and walking a mile. He asked what stretched more than anything and like a fool I told him to tell us. He said it was skin and said he could prove it from the Bible and then the line about Moses proceeded. I never bothered to check the scriptural accuracy of the story. I tried not to laugh but it is exactly the kind of joke I would have enjoyed at the age of 11. We rehearsed a few times and Justin in the role of Jesus was more akin to his polar opposite. The day of the play arrived and my good wife, an artist, made some props, moving clouds, a tomb etc. The climax came and 11 year old Justin Hall strutted forth from the tomb with outstretched palms to the sounds of "Nimrod" playing on my boom box. It was my choice of music to accompany the Resurrection scene. It seemed appropriate at the time. Somehow everything worked and the young children in the room, ranging in ages from 4-11 were transfixed. Their adult teachers were all in tears. I saw another side of Justin that day and as the years have gone by I often remind his father of that day and we both chuckle about Justin playing the role of Jesus. It really isn't a joke because we all have our better side. Listening to "Nimrod" this night has caused me to reflect on all that was good, is good, and all that will yet be better.


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## CypressWillow (Apr 2, 2013)

I was fortunate to read Edith Hamilton's "Greek Mythology" at a young age and I was instantly entranced. My imagination was kindled, and I started on a lifelong journey.

One of my favorite myths was that of Orpheus and Eurydice. When I learned that this myth has captured the imagination of composers, authors, playwrights, filmmakers, painters, sculptors - I felt like Aladdin must have felt at the entrance to the treasure cave. It's not a coincidence that "Black Orpheus" is my favorite film of all time.

And this incredibly beautiful aria from Gluck's opera is as urgent and heartbreaking today as when it created all those centuries ago. I couldn't possibly choose between Janet Baker and Kathleen Ferrier, so I offer both.

Orpheus has lost his beloved Eurydice for the second and final time. He cannot return again to the Underworld. He must face the prospect of living the rest of his life without her. One shudders at imagining his agony. The words and the music are perfectly matched. If we have experienced such a profound loss in our own life, we cannot help but be touched by his pain, and wonder how something so tragic can be transformed by music into such breathtaking beauty.


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## MusicSybarite (Aug 17, 2017)

st Omer said:


> This is something I wrote on another forum several months ago. I saved the post. I am hoping to revive this thread.
> 
> I spend several nights a week over 200 miles from home working in Dallas, Texas. I often sit and reflect on things and listen to music on Youtube on my laptop as I sit alone in my room. For some reason I decided to listen to Brahms' Requiem 2nd movement. It is very powerful but somber. It's a dirge lamenting the mortality of man. It's a beautiful dirge but tonight wasn't the time for it. Maybe the state of the world today led me to switch to something else before the movement ended. I listened to numerous versions, and arrangements, of Elgar's "Nimrod Variations" from the "Enigma Variations". If I have written of this piece before on this thread forgive me. It never fails to lift my spirits. From the somber reflections that these times often appear to me to be the end of civilization as we know it came the bright light of hope and the realization that beauty lives on and can't be blotted out, that relationships can be everlasting, and that a far brighter light than we have known awaits us at the end of the dark tunnel. I imagined passing to a place of unsurpassed light and glory and re-uniting with lost friends and family of youth. I imagined entering the Heavenly sphere with a choir of angels singing a vocal arrangement of this wonderful music. To me the "Nimrod Variation" may be the most beautiful 4 minutes in all of music. I hear it is often played at funerals, be that as it may I find it life affirming and symbolic of rebirth. It conjures up images of all that is good and that always will be good.
> 
> My first experience with this piece was about 20 years ago when I taught a youth class in Sunday School with 11 year old boys. I was given an assignment to do a program with the boys on Easter Sunday. We enlisted one of the boy's sisters to play Mary Magdalene and put on a modest play about the crucifixion and resurrection. The boys drew straws to see who would play the role of Jesus. To my dismay the worst behaved kid in class drew the straw. He once told a joke in class about Moses tying his *** to a tree and walking a mile. He asked what stretched more than anything and like a fool I told him to tell us. He said it was skin and said he could prove it from the Bible and then the line about Moses proceeded. I never bothered to check the scriptural accuracy of the story. I tried not to laugh but it is exactly the kind of joke I would have enjoyed at the age of 11. We rehearsed a few times and Justin in the role of Jesus was more akin to his polar opposite. The day of the play arrived and my good wife, an artist, made some props, moving clouds, a tomb etc. The climax came and 11 year old Justin Hall strutted forth from the tomb with outstretched palms to the sounds of "Nimrod" playing on my boom box. It was my choice of music to accompany the Resurrection scene. It seemed appropriate at the time. Somehow everything worked and the young children in the room, ranging in ages from 4-11 were transfixed. Their adult teachers were all in tears. I saw another side of Justin that day and as the years have gone by I often remind his father of that day and we both chuckle about Justin playing the role of Jesus. It really isn't a joke because we all have our better side. Listening to "Nimrod" this night has caused me to reflect on all that was good, is good, and all that will yet be better.


I have to tell you that I enjoy a lot reading your thoughts. I like so much to appreciate the people's most human side when they refer to music, somehow I can understand and I can feel identified with their ideas (in this case with yours). As you pointed out, Nimrod is quite sublime, simply is something that words can't describe properly, it's like spiritual ecstasy or something like that. Thanks Elgar for creating such an unbelievably beautiful music, and thank you for sharing your thoughts.


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## st Omer (Sep 23, 2015)

I am not much of an opera fan but that aria is wonderful and has always struck a chord with me whenever I hear it. Thanks for your thoughts.


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## st Omer (Sep 23, 2015)

Bulldog started a game in the forum on our favorite chamber works. 

My favorite chamber work is Schubert's string quintet D956. It is one of the truly great chamber works composed by anybody. In fact it is one of the great compositions composed by anybody. I have no event, time, or place to associate it with and I don't remember exactly when I first heard it. I bought it through one of those cd buying clubs about 20 years ago where you buy one cd and get 10 free. You would get a catalogue once a month advertising selected recordings after they initial purchase. I bought a recording with the Emerson String Quartet accompanied by Rostropovich and probably listened to it as soon as it came in the mail. I listened in my den, actually loft, where I listen to music. I remember being impressed that I was hearing something very special and profound. It is a work that a listener with some sensitivity can immediately discern is a great work with greatness that goes beyond the written notes into the realm of the spiritual. To me this work is in a league of its own. 

It was composed just 2 months before the composer's death.


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## CypressWillow (Apr 2, 2013)

With actress Natalie Wood's tragic early death being again in the news lately, I was reminded of a scene in her last film, _*Brainstorm*_, where her character performs a bit of this lovely piece. This is from an article about Douglas Trumbull, the Director, extensively interviewed about the making of the film:

"Well, there was a scene in which several people are entertaining themselves playing chamber music. The scene required Natalie Wood to be at the piano playing. She has to stop playing in the middle of the piece for about 35 or 40 seconds, exchange some dialog and then go back to playing, all on time and without missing a beat. Well, I suggested, and we used, the Schubert 'Trout' Quintet. Luck*ily, Natalie knows how to play the piano, so we didn't have to fake the shots of her hands on the keys. The music is pre-recorded so she does not have the added anxiety of having to be note perfect as well as play a scene, but her musical ability makes the scene much easier and more interesting to shoot."

I've always liked the film and her performance in it, and her death before shooting was completed adds even more poignancy.

And then Arthur Rubinstein, who loved this work above all others, and hoped it would be playing when he departed this earth:






So those of us who love this transcendent work of genius are in good company!


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## manyene (Feb 7, 2015)

st Omer, I've often believed that one of the purposes of the classical music forum is to enable like-minded people to share the experience of works that have moved them, spiritually, emotionally and intellectually. This is in contrast to the tendency towards either trying to list composers and/or their works, or to 'educate'/impress/outwit others with our knowledge. Unfortunately the now-defunct Amazon discussion group - to which we both belonged in our previous manifestations - tended to encourage these unhealthy tendencies, as well as giving opportunities for trolls to simply destroy any attempt at real discussion.

I have just spent the last few days digging out old recordings that I haven't heard for some time, trying to remember the occasion when I first heard a particular work, and the fascination it had at that time. One came back when I put my Walter Brahms's Second Symphony, remembering being carried away by its glorious first movement, which I heard in our local record shop some 60 years ago in Central Africa. I think a lot of us older listeners owe a great debt of gratitude to these old record dealers, many of whom have alas now left the scene.


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## st Omer (Sep 23, 2015)

manyene,

What was your name at Amazon? I am always on the lookout for old cohorts from Amazon. I appreciate your comment. I have no technical knowledge of music so I can't impress anybody with my knowledge. I can only share my thoughts and feelings about what I like or what I associate it with. You heard the Brahms in the record shop in Central Africa 60 years ago when I was 7 years old. In 1957 my favorite song was probably "Davy Crockett" sung by Tennessee Ernie Ford. My parents were working class people and that is the type of music they listened to. It wasn't until college when I took a music appreciation course that I started to realize that there was great music other than the Beatles and the Beach Boys and a few other pop icons.

I didn't really start seriously collecting classical music until the early 90s and I remember a guy at the local Blockbuster Music shop assisting me on a lot of CD purchases. The Blockbuster in Austin, Tx. used to have a large room dedicated to only classical music and the manager of the classical section, Russell, always had a CD playing. I bought a few CDs because I liked what he was playing. Nearly all the record stores are gone and it is a shame. I remember buying a recording with Resphigi's "Church Windows" because I liked it when I heard it at Blockbuster Music.


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## Oldhoosierdude (May 29, 2016)

I will always associate Saint-saens The Swan with my oldest grand daughter. I used it with a video presentation for her thirteen birthday.


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## manyene (Feb 7, 2015)

st Omer said:


> manyene,
> 
> What was your name at Amazon? I am always on the lookout for old cohorts from Amazon. I appreciate your comment. I have no technical knowledge of music so I can't impress anybody with my knowledge. I can only share my thoughts and feelings about what I like or what I associate it with. You heard the Brahms in the record shop in Central Africa 60 years ago when I was 7 years old. In 1957 my favorite song was probably "Davy Crockett" sung by Tennessee Ernie Ford. My parents were working class people and that is the type of music they listened to. It wasn't until college when I took a music appreciation course that I started to realize that there was great music other than the Beatles and the Beach Boys and a few other pop icons.
> 
> I didn't really start seriously collecting classical music until the early 90s and I remember a guy at the local Blockbuster Music shop assisting me on a lot of CD purchases. The Blockbuster in Austin, Tx. used to have a large room dedicated to only classical music and the manager of the classical section, Russell, always had a CD playing. I bought a few CDs because I liked what he was playing. Nearly all the record stores are gone and it is a shame. I remember buying a recording with Resphigi's "Church Windows" because I liked it when I heard it at Blockbuster Music.


I was Mondoro and still do reviews, but my wife has taken up this particular baton! I was quite lucky growing up in a family which liked the more popular forms of classical music, and my mother was an accomplished amateur singer as well - this all helped. The fact that we did not have television in my part of central Africa until 1961 helped also: we had a flourishing theatrical culture and people tended to make their own entertainment. Not forgetting the record dealers: one or two were very knowledgeable and keen to pass on their knowledge to others. This has all virtually gone: YouTube has helped, as have the various music forums, but not quite a substitute for a human being who actually plays you extracts from works he recommends.


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## st Omer (Sep 23, 2015)

My thoughts today are on Rachmaninoff. He is a 20th century composer who obviously belong in the 70s. The question is which 70s, the 1870s or 1970s? Today I listened to one of the first classical CDs I ever purchased back in the mid 90s, "Rachmaninoff's Greatest Hits" and a recording of the 2nd symphony with Simon Rattle conducting the LA Philharmonic. Sometimes when I listen to Rachmaninoff I think he was a throwback to the 19th century romantics. He was born in 1873 and his music sounds to me like it could have been something Tchaikovsky composed in the 1870s. I never think of him as inspiring any forward looking 20th century composers his music seems to have been inspired by the great romantic composers of the 19th century and the best of his work is on a par with best of the 19th century romantics. Today I listened to the 2nd piano concerto, among other things, on the greatest hits album. The pianist was Gary Graffman with Bernstein conducting the NYPO. It is certainly a high cholesterol romantic classic as is his 2nd symphony. 

Why would I ask if Rachmaninoff belonged in the 1870s or 1970s? Well the 1870s half of the answer is obvious but the 1970s half may be more obscure. The answer would be Eric Carmen. Carmen scored two big hits in the 1970s using Rachmaninoff melodies in songs he wrote, sang, and recorded. His hit "All By Myself" is based on a melody from the 2nd movement of the 2nd Piano Concerto and his hit "Never Gonna Fall In Love Again" borrows a melody from the 3rd movement of the 2nd Symphony. Maybe it is a stretch to tie Rachmaninoff to the decade fashion forgot where popular music took a step backward from the great popular music of the mid to late 1960s, but there is no disputing he influenced a 1970s composer of pop music. I am sticking to my opinion that Rachmaninoff was a man of the 70s, probably both 70s. While the melodies of Rachmaninoff as used by Eric Carmen are dripping in sentimentality verging on the maudlin they have pleased classical music lovers for decades, aren't likely to fade into obscurity anytime soon, and are some of the most memorable melodies in all of music rarely verging on the maudlin when performed by classical musicians.


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