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avatar_Pat

Classical Corner

Started by Pat, March 29, 2016, 01:25:18 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Radioman34

These are the times when I deeply miss doing my radio show. I had a 3-hour show dedicated to Robbie Burns Day, and as Bubble mentioned, this being the anniversary of the Columbia disaster, I would commemorate the occasion by reading the poem
High Flight
John Gillespie Magee, Jr

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, --and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of --Wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air...
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark or even eagle flew --
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

so_P_bubble

I have a tear in my eye...

Mary Ann

Don, a beautiful poem and very timely.  I would love to have heard you read the poem.

I remember I was still working that year (1986?) and I was the only one in the room who had a radio.  We all listened to the commentary that day.

Mary Ann

FlaJean

That is a lovely poem  and I also would have enjoyed hearing you read it.

so_P_bubble


John Morris, Composer for Mel Brooks’s Films, Dies at 91 John Morris, Composer for Mel Brooks’s Films, Dies at 91

Mr. Morris’s long list of movie, theater and television credits included the melodies to the songs “Springtime for Hitler” and “Blazing Saddles.”

so_P_bubble

https://uk.ask.com/youtube?q=u-tube+Giulio+Caccini%3A+Ave+Maria&v=T2HTn1oN2Tw

Giulio Caccini: Ave Maria

The Lithuanian soprano Inessa Galante was the singer captivated everyone's heart  with her performance of it in the 1990s



so_P_bubble

Sheku Kanneh-Mason - No Woman No Cry (Cello Version)

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

MarsGal

Aside from Scheherazade being one of my very favorite compositions, I put this up for you to see the conductor, Valery Gergiev. This guy seems so totally immersed into the music that he becomes a part of it rather than presiding over it. By the time he is done, he is soaking and dripping all over his papers and himself, a sight to behold. Adding to the scene is the sheer concentration and seriousness on the faces of the musicians, no smiles or eyes wandering between their bits. Check out the harpist. I think she should be painted; what a lovely face and hairdo. By the way, she is only one of two women I was able to count in the orchestra. First violin is Rainer Küchl, who retired from the Vienna Philharmonic in 2016. He held the post of concertmaster for 45 years. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQNymNaTr-Y  A superb performance, although I would have liked the violin to draw out the ending a little longer.

Radioman34

I think it's fair to say that the Vienna  Philharmonic has a less than stellar history. Its exclusion of female musicians since it's founding has been a constant source of irritation for many years. They actually believed that women musicians were inferior to their male counterparts and it is only in recent years that they have bowed to public pressure and and allowed a small minority to join their ranks.

The orchestra's wartime involvement bring it no glory either. They were actively involved with Nazi activities which included expelling all Jewish members of the orchestra. To cite one particular example,  there was , a trumpeter in the orchestra named Helmut Wobisch with a deep Nazi past. As a member of the SS, Wobisch spied on and denounced colleagues; he was ousted from the Philharmonic after the war but returned in 1947, became its manager in 1953 and played in it until 1968.
They have no doubt cleaned house by now, but it demonstrates the dark history that has been glossed over by the glitter and glory of the Vienna philharmonic.

JeanneP

#1989
Don. Now I can't  miss listening to the Vienna Orchestra at the end of each year. No matter where I am.   If I remember when living back in UK. Would go to listen to some of the Large ones that would be in Manchester. You saw very few women playing in them back in the 40s 50s.
When Opera season was on for 7 weeks would try to go to at least 3. Would maybe be about 2 women playing in the large orchestras playing in them. 
Did not take long for the Nazi when they went into Vienna to pick up most of the Jewish people . I don't think they got expelled but just shipped off to the camps. Got to play there for awhile. Musicians on big demand.
It as amazing how soon after the war that the people who where in the Nazi Party . Denouncing people ended up getting back in to their good job within a short time of war ending. 
JeanneP

MarsGal

I didn't (and still don't, really) know a whole lot about the German occupation of Austria and other countries. I did read, some years ago, a book about a wealthy Viennese family and what happened to them, their city, and their art collections. The book focuses on the history of their netsuke collection which the author inherited. The Hare With Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance by Edmund de Waal. I am sure there are books about the musicians' harrowing experiences, too, but I can't think of any off-hand.


so_P_bubble

That book was about the wealthy cosmopolitan Ephrussi family, a totally different view of the period.  Was your book   illustrated as well? These netsuke figurines are fascinating.

MarsGal

Oh boy! Brain drain. I don't remember. There were some old photos, but I may have seen them when doing searches on the net to supplement what I was reading. We did a book discussion on it back in 2013 on SeniorLearn.org. I do remember checking out his studio in England, which I just checked again. He has since written another book called The White Road. It is a travel book of sorts where he traces porcelain (his specialty) from its origins in China and history across the continents.

Mary Ann

This has nothing to do with the Vienna Philharmonic, and I do enjoy watching them on New Years Day on PBS, but years ago I watched a piece on Sejia Ozawa (I know I've murdered his name) and it showed him conducting several orchestras, at that time mostly in Europe.  He went to Japan and conducted an orchestra there - all male, but what really struck me was they all had black hair.  None of the US orchestras, male or mixed, have hair of one color!

Mary Ann

angelface555

I think everyone will enjoy this!


"The 'unstoppable maestro' Sir Antonio Pappano conducts Brahms' challenging and emotional violin concerto in Rome, featuring the legendary South Korean violinist Kyung Wha Chung."


http://www.euronews.com/2018/03/08/antonio-pappano-conducts-violin-virtuoso-kyung-wha-chung?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=en&utm_content=&_ope=eyJndWlkIjoiZjQ0ZGZmMGExM2NhODFiMzgyMTQyYjA2MDFlYjNmZDgifQ==

MarsGal

#1995
The world's oldest known melody. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBhB9gRnIHE

The Epic of Gilgamesh sung in Sumerian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUcTsFe1PVs I think this is just the opening, not the whole poem.

And, i found this. Psalm 104 Sung in Ancient Hebrew: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--UABwqW9Sg



Radioman34

MarsGal those were truly remarkable presentations

MarsGal

Today I am treating you to some of Gustav Holst's other works.

A piece called St. Paul's Cathedral: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRRtmrjWsPE

This is lovely. Japanese Suite, Op.33 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xpZs0j2RK8

This is the one I was listening to last night, Ode to Death https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73rX1AfaHz0



Radioman34

Today, April 30 marks the birthday of Franz Lehar in 1870.
Franz is often regarded as the greatest Viennese composer since the Strauss boys ruled the roost; which would have come as a surprise to Lehar because he was Hungarian. This piece is one of the most popular he ever wrote
https://youtu.be/kCdVcdZDXzM


MarsGal

Nice, Don. I've heard the music before, but never knew who wrote it. IN fact, I think that piece was on an old 33rpm series called something like "The 100 Greatest Classics". Of course they were the short pieces, not the whole works they came from. Don't know whatever happened to that set.

Radioman34

MarsGal it has a special charm to it that has made it so popular. It is, of course, an opera not a ballet but Lanchberry's transcription lends itself nicely to the ballet setting.

Mary Ann

Don, I seem to remember hearing words to The Merry Widow, in fact, I was singing (what I could remember) after you played it earlier, but I can't remember any of the words now. 

"Boats obey the faithful helm and hearts are true" (all I can remember).

Hi Bubble!

Mary Ann

Radioman34

Mary Ann the opera was very popular so there must be sites that will provide the lyrics for you.
https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/5176905

Mary Ann

Thanks Don, obviously my lyrics don't fit in with the lyrics you posted.  And your lyrics were the only ones I found.  I have no idea what I heard that included my remembered lyrics.  It is a beautiful song and I love to hear it. 

Mary Ann

PatH2

I love that waltz, thanks for posting it, Don.

QuoteFranz is often regarded as the greatest Viennese composer since the Strauss boys ruled the roost; which would have come as a surprise to Lehar because he was Hungarian.
He might have been irritated too.  I think the Hungarians are touchy about their past relations with Austria.

PatH2

This isn't new news, but it's new to me.  We lost Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky last November, at age 55, from a brain tumor.  I only found out a week or so ago, when I went to a concert that had originally meant to include him. 

Here's a clip of him singing Mozart

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

And here's his last public appearance, a surprise cameo at a Met gala after he was already sick:

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

I was lucky to hear him several times.  He had a tremendous stage presence, which only partly shows in these clips, and a striking appearance, over 6 feet tall, with rich golden skin set off by prematurely white hair, and, of course a gorgeous voice.

If you haven't already had enough, this "eri tu", after a slow start has some showing off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVPNC3A-Ttg

RAMMEL

Quote from: Mary Ann on April 30, 2018, 01:55:16 PM
Thanks Don, obviously my lyrics don't fit in with the lyrics you posted.  And your lyrics were the only ones I found.  I have no idea what I heard that included my remembered lyrics.  It is a beautiful song and I love to hear it. 

Mary Ann

I recall the words you posted.  I think we sang that in a school music class. (A while back).
It's the WINDMILLS

          THIMK

Mary Ann

Rick, I've been out of high school so long and I didn't take much music there.  I do have a book from 6th grade and I might see if the song would be there. 

I'm glad someone else is familiar with those words.

Mary Ann

Radioman34

#2008
PatH, truly outstanding performances! How I envy that you heard him in person.

Radioman34

Today marks the birthday of Johannes Brahms born on May 7 1833. Arguably, the most popular song that Brahms ever wrote is The Cradle Song or Lullaby originally known as Wiegenlied.  And there’s an interesting background to this work and it starts with his time as the director of a Women’s Choir, a post he took in 1859. That, incidentally was three years after his friend Robert Schumann had died.  It’s well known that Brahms had great affection Robert’s wife Clara which would then perhaps make it a bit surprising to learn that Brahms also was enamoured of a singer in his choir: a lady by the name of Bertha Faber. However, Bertha did not reciprocate his feelings.  Bertha eventually got married and to celebrate the birth of her second child, Brahms composed his famous Wiegenlied  a work incidentally, based on a song that Bertha used to sing to him.  But to ensure that decorum and propriety were properly observed,   Brahms sent the song to Bertha's husband Artur Faber with the note: "Frau Bertha will realize that I wrote the 'Wiegenlied' for her little one. She will find it quite in order... that while she is singing Hans to sleep, a love song is being sung to her." So Bertha was the first person to sing this famous lullaby and Brahms in his own way got the last word.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t894eGoymio