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Weedygarden

Weedygarden

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Thanks to a couple of other members, I see that I am not the only classical music lover. I do like many genre's of music, save Heavy Metal.

Probably my first classical album was Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. The beginning is well recognized. I imagine that Vivaldi's Four Seasons quickly followed in my collection, but it has been decades since I started collecting it.

One of the things I have learned is that there are better recordings of most music. I know there are several versions of this symphony.

 
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CPR classical station played this last night and it is on again this morning. I just have to be still and listen to it, even though it is not my favorite version of this song. 8:12 am Concierto de Aranjuez: II AdagioJoaquin Rodrigo. The DJ just said that there is music that gives you goosebumps and this piece is one of them. Yes, but if they had the Jim Hall version, it would be even better.
 
After I have read my daily limit of conspiracy-theories and panic-news, I usually put this on.
It's impossible to listen to it and stay angry. :D
Pastoral, 10-minute version:


(You can close your eyes and almost see the unicorns dancing around)
 
Beethoven's 5th. Not bad for a deaf guy...
 
Sorry if I have posted any of these links before. I well may have. I am of course biased towards solo piano classical, since that's the instrument I play. And I definitely tend towards the Romantic Era. Definitely!

This is one of my favorites to play on piano. It took me a couple of months to get it to a "performance ready" state. It sounds deceptively simple. it is not.



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This one I like playing too (although it's been many years since I did - I need to go back and practice it!) I love the simple melody, and it's fun because you play just about all of that melody with one finger - the fifth finger of your right hand. Other fingers just kind of noodle around (you have to be relaxed to not tire those fingers, or it really ruins the piece).



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I also love playing this Chopin nocturne. Chopin is probably my favorite to play, although some of them can get so sweet that you have to take a break and play something else so you don't get cavities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtIW2r1EalM

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This Brahm's piece is delightful to play, although not quite as good to listen to. It is a very "thick" piece, with many complex harmonies. What makes it so fun to play are the vibrations of the piano from these harmonies. The audience can't feel that, but the pianist can. I would get goosebumps while playing many passages in the piece.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20Gb0JcviRA

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This is one that I was never able to get up to the speed I wanted. The ending is so exciting and you end up half standing with the piano bouncing around when playing it. Many performers almost leap off the bench as the piece ends. Many people have heard this played on classical guitar, but the piece was originally written for piano. Everyone thinks it's Spanish, but the composer was actually Cuban. The piece is more interesting when you know the story it is telling. It is about a gaucho (cowboy) trying to win the affections of a dancer. He is singing his heart out to impress her, and she is dancing to impress him. You can easily pick out the heartfelt singing parts and the dancing parts. At the end, they become a couple. Not strictly a "classical" piece of music. However, the definition of a classical piece is not based on when it was composed. It is based on the elements and style of the piece. e.g., Rachmaninoff is considered classical, and he didn't die until 1943.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LGkE2lSKoA

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My favorite performance of Ave Maria. I could not play this. Few things with the name "Liszt" attached to them I can do ("Standchen" above being one of those few!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCucnn-95nY

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This one is beyond my ability, but I love the piece. One, because it is beautiful. Two, because of the technical difficulty in playing it. It was written by Liszt - (which is why it's so stinking difficult!) He was quite the showoff in performances. He always found ways to get your hands into position to play a certain note at just the last second, often jumping over or diving under the other hand. Not easy to do at all. This is not my favorite performance of the piece, but it does a good job of showing what is required to play it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po_a1SmZKLs
 
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A long but amazing piece of music. You will recognize parts of it from movies you have seen. It has 207 film credits, including the Simpsons. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov - IMDb

Edit, played it to the end while doing other things. I came at the end and looked at the conductor. His hair is all wet from sweat due to conducting this piece.

 
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I love classical music. I used to listen to a Classical Music Radio station when I was logging a lot of windshield time. I still keep classical CD's in the car.

Weedy: if you like Vivaldi's Four Seasons I think you will enjoy this.

 
I could play this game all day. Again, which child do you love the most? I don't think I could pick one composer. I love them all.

 
Morgan101 said:
I could play this game all day. Again, which child do you love the most? I don't think I could pick one composer. I love them all.

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Oh, yes! Some of the pieces of music are more touching, but I am trying to think if there is one I have never liked. The thing is, if this is the music that plays in movies, films, and commercials, it is great stuff.
 
You can go down the rabbit hole with 40 Fingers. They have quite a few You Tube videos. Glad you enjoyed it.
 
Starting in high school and then in college and beyond, I studied piano and Bach in particular. Inventions, Well-Tempered Clavier, Italian Concerto, I got them all. But the Sinfonia to Cantata 29 is my favorite 3 and a half minutes in all of (classical) music.

Joel Hastings does an excellent job. Bruno Gelber's version is also outstanding but somewhat different.


Bach is fun to listen to and a heck of a lot more fun to play!
 
Weedygarden said:
Oh, yes! Some of the pieces of music are more touching, but I am trying to think if there is one I have never liked. The thing is, if this is the music that plays in movies, films, and commercials, it is great stuff.
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Barber's Adagio for strings is moving and groundbreaking.
If you watch the bows on the violins, he wrote it so they are intentionally out of sync with each other.
This allows the music to flow continuously, uninterrupted for much longer than a single instrument can play.
Each player is not playing from the same sheet of music.


Hopefully, one day, people will be able to hear the whole piece without seeing scenes of Platoon in their head. :(
 
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Supervisor42 said:
Barber's Adagio for strings is moving and groundbreaking.
If you watch the bows on the violins, he wrote it so they are intentionally out of sync with each other.
This allows the music to flow continuously, uninterrupted for much longer than a single instrument play.
Each player is not playing from the same sheet of music.


Hopefully, one day, people will be able to hear the whole piece without seeing scenes of Platoon in their head. :(
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I wouldn't watch the movie so I'm safe. :)
 
Weedygarden said:
I've never seen Platoon. I will look to see if it is available somewhere to watch.
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You don't want to watch it.
It's about the barbarity and stupidity of the Vietnam war.
Some things are better off forgotten. :(
 
Bacpacker said:
I actually thought it was about as realistic as any movie made about Nam. I'm a war movie buff, don't much matter which war it was. I thought it was pretty good. Like all movies had a lot of BS in it. But there was a good element of truth in it.
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Speaking in that theme...
Classical music and 'Nam movies: Wagner, Ride of the Valkyries:
 
Long and far away I used to have , Bolero and the 1812 Overture on reel to reel or 33 1/3rd vinyl, I never went too deeply into classical music, my dad liked opera and sang in the Portland, Oregon choir, probably back in 1950's. I grew up on R&R, my first exposure to music was radio and early TV with Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and Les Paul and Mary Ford. Along came the Ventures and I had all their albums, I didn't care much for heavy metal, still like R&R and now I like blues, a lot of R&R is blues, I just didn't realize it at the time. Funny thing is I like some of AC/DC, TNT, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap and a few others, my favorite album is by Don Henley, Actual Miles, Dirty Laundry.
 
viking said:
Long and far away I used to have , Bolero and the 1812 Overture on reel to reel or 33 1/3rd vinyl, I never went too deeply into classical music, my dad liked opera and sang in the Portland, Oregon choir, probably back in 1950's. I grew up on R&R, my first exposure to music was radio and early TV with Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and Les Paul and Mary Ford. Along came the Ventures and I had all their albums, I didn't care much for heavy metal, still like R&R and now I like blues, a lot of R&R is blues, I just didn't realize it at the time. Funny thing is I like some of AC/DC, TNT, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap and a few others, my favorite album is by Don Henley, Actual Miles, Dirty Laundry.
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Bolero and the 1812 Overture are well known pieces of music.

It was after college that I listened to more classical music. A grocery store was running a special on a collection of classical CD's at some point and I bought all of them. I would listen to one over and over and then get the next one. It was great music to play in the classroom. There was a Suzuki violin program in one of the schools that I taught in, and more than half of my students played the violin.

The thing about classical music is that we all hear it often, as I said earlier, either in movies, television shows, and even commercials. We may not know the name, or hear the whole piece, but we recognize parts of many pieces. The house I sat in last week keeps a radio on 24/7 with classical music playing quietly. You cannot hear it from the bedrooms and it does not compete with the television or other stuff, but if you are quiet, you can identify some of the music. This is done to keep the dog and cat company when they are home alone.
 
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