Dead-Composers Society

[Lux Apollo]

Needed something fun before bed to put the dreary weather and emotional turmoil of the last few days behind me, so I turned to a fun set of piano miniatures by Reinhold Glière, the 12 Esquisses op. 47 (1909). It's a collection I haven't had the chance to play yet. I really should hunt down the score in the library at WLU or UW sometime soon.

 

[northie]

I'm a great fan of music for viol consort - the dark, grainy, very textural sound appeals to me strongly. It can be a bit of an acquired taste - give it a try ...  Purcell's Fantazias and In nomines for viols were a last gasp for this form but they are amazing.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dml7DQCrs1M

 

[Lux Apollo]

Vivacious, voluptuous viols are anything but violent when very vociferously vibrating. Verily.

 

[AC Benus]

A bit of sunshine to enliven our autumnal evening I know nothing about this composer, never heard this music until 3 mins ago, but it's a charming performance. I hope you enjoy 

 

[Parker Owens]

A wonderful bit of elegance, written when the clarinet was a relatively newish instrument.

[Lux Apollo]

I thought I'd add something fun too - tonight, Ligeti's Concert Românesc:

 

[AC Benus]

…What to say about Franz Joseph Haydn…? A former Vienna Boys' Choir soprano, he went on to single-handedly change the course of Western music. He innovated the modern symphony and string quartet.

 

Here is an amazing performance, highlighting both the performers' skill, as well as Haydn's amazingly beautiful mind.

 

I hope you give it a listen.   

 

Budapest Saxophone Quartet plays Haydn, Quartet in C-Major (Kaiser quartet) Opus 96. No.3.

 

Edited October 10, 2016 by AC Benus

[Mikiesboy]

…What to say about Franz Joseph Haydn…? A former Vienna Boys' Choir soprano, he went on to single-handedly change the course of Western music. He innovated the modern symphony and string quartet.

 

Here is an amazing performance, highlighting both the performers' skill, as well as Haydn's amazingly beautiful mind.

 

I hope you give it a listen.   

 

Budapest Saxophone Quartet plays Haydn, Quartet in C-Major (Kaiser quartet) Opus 96. No.3.

 

I'll listen to this later on .. on the saxophone .. wow

[Mikiesboy]

Holy smokes that was good! Wow!

[Lux Apollo]

…What to say about Franz Joseph Haydn…? A former Vienna Boys' Choir soprano, he went on to single-handedly change the course of Western music. He innovated the modern symphony and string quartet.

 

Here is an amazing performance, highlighting both the performers' skill, as well as Haydn's amazingly beautiful mind.

 

I hope you give it a listen.   

 

Budapest Saxophone Quartet plays Haydn, Quartet in C-Major (Kaiser quartet) Opus 96. No.3.

 

 

I was born on Haydn's 250th birthday. I always hoped some of Papa Haydn's genius would make its way through the temporal aether to me, but alas...

Holy smokes that was good! Wow!

 

It was a saxy performance, that's for sure. 

[Mikiesboy]

I was born on Haydn's 250th birthday. I always hoped some of Papa Haydn's genius would make its way through the temporal aether to me, but alas...

 

It was a saxy performance, that's for sure. 

Haydn, was a good writer, so are you. Coincidence. ..I don't think so!

[Lux Apollo]

[Lux Apollo]

Okay, here's my Canadian Thanksgiving Monday contribution: Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag played on harpsichord. 

 

 

 

Ragtime is some serious fun to play on harpsichord. When my harpsichord teacher mentioned that as an option for my rep in the third year of my music degree, I asked what she thought about Golliwog's Cake-walk, a piece from Debussy's Children's Corner suite for piano. She told me to try it out that week, and I came back the next week and asked to do the entire suite instead! I only ended up playing the Cake-walk for my jury selections, but we had a lot of fun with it and I didn't have to do much adaptation to make it work on the harpsichord. I guess it's testament to the skill in Debussy's writing.

[AC Benus]

Okay, here's my Canadian Thanksgiving Monday contribution: Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag played on harpsichord. 

 

 

 

Ragtime is some serious fun to play on harpsichord. When my harpsichord teacher mentioned that as an option for my rep in the third year of my music degree, I asked what she thought about Golliwog's Cake-walk, a piece from Debussy's Children's Corner suite for piano. She told me to try it out that week, and I came back the next week and asked to do the entire suite instead! I only ended up playing the Cake-walk for my jury selections, but we had a lot of fun with it and I didn't have to do much adaptation to make it work on the harpsichord. I guess it's testament to the skill in Debussy's writing.

The Maple Leaf Inn was a bar Joplin preformed in across the street from Union Station in Saint Louis. Ragtime is Saint Louis' own. The first rag (the Harlem Rag) was published in the city in 1897, and the 1904 World's Fair disseminated it to all corners of the globe.   

 

Joplin's home in Saint Louis is now a museum. 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!   

Edited October 11, 2016 by AC Benus

[AC Benus]

It was a saxy performance, that's for sure. 

did you listen to it...?

[Lux Apollo]

did you listen to it...?

 

Oui.

 

Outstanding attention and control of the timbres they were producing, using ones appropriate to the moment (and a particular concentration on 'clarino' type sound in the upper voices). Tight synchronicity, some very minor intonation problems in a few spots. Overall a wonderful performance - A+.

 

As for the piece itself, the Kaiser is one of those pieces that if I was teaching a music history survey course I would hold up in front of the class and say THIS embodies the soul of the classical quartet (Beethoven doesn't count - he's mainly post-Classical/pre-Romantic and I will fight to the death anyone who insists otherwise!). The random musette that pops up in the middle of this movement always makes me smile.

[Lux Apollo]

The Maple Leaf Inn was a bar Joplin preformed in across the street from Union Station in Saint Louis. Ragtime is Saint Louis' own. The first rag (the Harlem Rag) was published in the city in 1897, and the 1904 World's Fair disseminated it to all corners of the globe.   

 

Joplin's home in Saint Louis is now a museum. 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!   

 

Joplin was definitely a very cool guy, and someone who deserves much more respect from classical circles (and probably jazz as well!) because his style had a definite impact in music across genres and audiences. It is a common misconception among people that the Maple Leaf in the title of this one refers to Canada and not the bar. I'm not entirely sure where the heck it came from, but it's one I've heard at various times since elementary school but it was quashed in my mind quite early on by my first piano teacher - she was a Joplin fan, both Scott and Janis.

[AC Benus]

Joplin was definitely a very cool guy, and someone who deserves much more respect from classical circles (and probably jazz as well!) because his style had a definite impact in music across genres and audiences. It is a common misconception among people that the Maple Leaf in the title of this one refers to Canada and not the bar. I'm not entirely sure where the heck it came from, but it's one I've heard at various times since elementary school but it was quashed in my mind quite early on by my first piano teacher - she was a Joplin fan, both Scott and Janis.

 

Many of his rags are named after places in Saint Louis, like the Cascades, christened in honor of the central feature of the World's Fair. The stepping fountain shown in the picture is the Cascades (This picture shows the first underwater lighting project in the world. The electrical engineer is reputed to have gone gray in 6 weeks solving all the technical problems of the installation.)  

 

 

Edited October 12, 2016 by AC Benus

[AC Benus]

Oui.

 

Outstanding attention and control of the timbres they were producing, using ones appropriate to the moment (and a particular concentration on 'clarino' type sound in the upper voices). Tight synchronicity, some very minor intonation problems in a few spots. Overall a wonderful performance - A+.

 

As for the piece itself, the Kaiser is one of those pieces that if I was teaching a music history survey course I would hold up in front of the class and say THIS embodies the soul of the classical quartet (Beethoven doesn't count - he's mainly post-Classical/pre-Romantic and I will fight to the death anyone who insists otherwise!). The random musette that pops up in the middle of this movement always makes me smile.

"...The random musette that pops up in the middle of this movement always makes me smile."

 

IKR!

 

The bagpipe intonations are so clear and wonderful in this performance, with the 'cello' sax showing just the right about of control. I love it here, and the bridge that immediately follows is so interesting. Just a few notes, but who thinks of transitioning a country dance on the bagpipes back to the main melody via a Turkish motif? Haydn does, that's who. 

 

Thanks for your comments; I love them!    

Edited October 12, 2016 by AC Benus

[Lux Apollo]

Just a few notes, but who thinks of transitioning a country dance on the bagpipes back to the main melody via a Turkish motif? Haydn does, that's who. 

 

Haydn loved having fun with his music, that's for sure.

[Drew Espinosa]

With the death of the King of Thailand, I guess I can post this.

 

[Lux Apollo]

It's been too quiet in here. We need some Kalinnikov - perhaps Symphony No. 1 in g-?

 

 

Damn, Kalinnikov could write a good melody. The second movement, the andante commodamente (starts at about 14:25), gets to me every time I hear it. Something about the harmonies and the harp-violin textures paired with that melody in the opening and closing sections is just so... I don't know, I don't have words for it right now, but it is special to me. I wish Kalinnikov had lived longer and had a chance to write more with his wonderful musical voice.

Edited October 22, 2016 by Lux Apollo

[Lux Apollo]

Okay, apparently I'm feeling symphonic this weekend. Tonight I'm offering up William Walton's 1st Symphony, in B-flat minor. I've been a fan of Walton's music since I was introduced to it in my first year of university when our amazing choir director put the cantata Belshazzar's Feast on the concert docket for us in the winter semester. That's another amazing piece of music, especially if you are singing from inside it.

 

Anyway... there is a lot to be said about this piece (the symphony), but the first movement is my favourite. The 'false ending' in the last minute of the 1st movement is awesome. It's atmosphere just drenches you as the super-charged thrust of the movement redoubles in tension and pushes into the might of the final conclusion to the movement.

 

[AC Benus]

It's been too quiet in here. We need some Kalinnikov - perhaps Symphony No. 1 in g-?

 

I have a couple of pieces lined up in my head, but not much time to pull them together. I need to finish my current writing project, and it's taking a lot of my mental focus - think black hole - but I need music to listen to while I write, so I will give these two '1st's a listen. Incidentally, one of the pieces I've been wanting to post is also someone's first symphony, hmmmm  

[AC Benus]

 The second movement, the andante commodamente (starts at about 14:25), gets to me every time I hear it. Something about the harmonies and the harp-violin textures paired with that melody in the opening and closing sections is just so... I don't know, I don't have words for it right now, but it is special to me. I wish Kalinnikov had lived longer and had a chance to write more with his wonderful musical voice.

Oh, just hearing the andante commodamente for the first time now - it instantly reminds me a similar melody (in the same key?) as a piece by Wagner. Do you know which one I mean...? 

Edited October 23, 2016 by AC Benus