Dead-Composers Society

[AC Benus]

3 minutes ago, MacGreg said:

 

Achingly beautiful. Thank you for sharing. It was the perfect backdrop to something I'm writing.

Oh, I'm glad  

[Parker Owens]

Such a sad song, and not in the sea-shanty genre. Thank you for sharing this.

[Parker Owens]

I kind of felt this one this morning...

 

 

 

[AC Benus]

Morning music from Mozart's youngest son 

 

 

[AC Benus]

2 hours ago, Parker Owens said:

I kind of felt this one this morning...

 

 

 

Hypnotic.... The continuity of the bass line lulls one into a state somewhere between desperation and hope.... 

 

Thanks for posting it 

[Parker Owens]

22 hours ago, AC Benus said:

Hypnotic.... The continuity of the bass line lulls one into a state somewhere between desperation and hope.... 

 

Thanks for posting it 

 I found one version of this on YouTube labeling it 'Unrequited Love.' I can hear that.

[AC Benus]

This one's for you, Lux! 

 

I'm just listening to it right now for the first time, and thinking this overture has elements you may like  

 

 

Edited April 6, 2017 by AC Benus
added it

[Parker Owens]

@AC...this is such a wonderful find! Where was this when I studied Grieg?

[Lux Apollo]

 

9 hours ago, AC Benus said:

This one's for you, Lux! 

 

I'm just listening to it right now for the first time, and thinking this overture has elements you may like  

 

 

 

Now this is a composer that I'm completely unfamiliar with! I can't really find much, other than to suggest that this perhaps is a tribute to the Kullervo cycle in the Karelian and Finnish epic poem Kalevala. Apparently J. R. R. Tolkien wrote a prose version of the poem from 1914 to 1915, and it was a source (among others) for his Túrin Turambar. 

[AC Benus]

4 minutes ago, Lux Apollo said:

 

 

Now this is a composer that I'm completely unfamiliar with! I can't really find much, other than to suggest that this perhaps is a tribute to the Kullervo cycle in the Karelian and Finnish epic poem Kalevala. Apparently J. R. R. Tolkien wrote a prose version of the poem from 1914 to 1915, and it was a source (among others) for his Túrin Turambar. 

I noticed a Sibelius opera named Kullervo comes up on the same youtube page... Since this is an overture, I assumed it was for a stage work as well.     

Edited April 7, 2017 by AC Benus
corrections

[Lux Apollo]

As always, so much still to discover underneath every stone we upturn.

[Parker Owens]

A mention of Sibelius turns my ear to Hugo Alfven, a Swede, and one of my favorite composers. This tune is very well known, and provides me with much that appeals to me. I can whistle pretty well, and I enjoy a solid tune I can take along with me as I walk to work. Alfven's Swedish Rhapsody no. 1 has an infectious first theme that never quite leaves my head, even as the harmonies and music get increasingly complex.

 

 

[J.HunterDunn]

Today I've been like a kid in a candystore.

 

At one point in the past I stopped following this thread, because the longer the thread became the longer it took to load the page on my now retired computer. I'm not an impatient person, but waiting five minutes or more to be able to see what was actually posted became a bit much.

 

So today with my new equipment and a much faster internet connection I tried my luck again and have been listening for hours to all your contributions. Thank you for all of the delights (mostly) unkown to me.

 

Preparation for Easter always involves the Bach passions for me. Here's an aria from the St. Johns Passion, one I performed roughly half a century ago myself,  and -oh profanity- often still sing when working in the garden. The uplifting rhythm makes work go faster.

 

 

 

[northie]

I really like Herreweghe's way of performing Bach. I still have numerous CDs of his cantata performances.

 

@J.HunterDunn I agree about the time needed to load the entries. My old tablet baulked at loading so many videos - processing problems rather than internet speed, in my case.

[J.HunterDunn]

@northie

For nostalgic reasons I still prefer Harnoncourt's passions. Mostly for the use of all male singers (an aesthetic preference, nothing to do with me being gay).

Sadly my Harnoncourts are on vinyl and worn by use. The Herrewege performance (on CD) is the one I listen to most these days.

[J.HunterDunn]

Happy Easter everyone.

 

Lent being over, Bach was allowed to use instruments again, that were associated with festive occasions: copper and timpani (you’ll look for the use of those in vain in any of the Passions).

Easter being an important Christian feast, it needed festive music.

 

As so often (and was an established custom for composers in those days) Bach re-used parts of an earlier work for his Easter Oratorio (Oster-Oratorium), BWV 249, probably first performed in 1736.

The oratorio is based largely on a cantata he wrote for the birthday of Duke Christian von Sachsen-Weissenfels on February 23^rd , 1725, which is also known as the “sheperd-cantata”, BWV 249a.

Part 1 (Sinfonia) and part 2 (Adagio) are exactly the same in both works.

 

I found a live performance that I fell in love with.

For the diehards who will listen to the whole oratorio there are English subtitles for the vocal parts.

But please take the time to at least listen to the first two parts, which are for orchestra only. The performance of the oboe solo (Mr Ponytail) in the second part stole my heart.

 

Also note the sandaled foot of the first violinist, tapping away with gusto.

 

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5ICH1gK5fQ

 

[AC Benus]

I ran into this performance of Pletnev playing some of Dominico Scarlatti's sonatas. Hearing them through this amazing artist's lens makes it clear what a huge influence the younger Scarlatti was on Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach's keyboard work. 

 

The playing of K.96 (min. 13:08) is particularly amazing. I've heard this piece many times, and most performers rush through it as a display piece; Pletnev slows it and 'feels' it in a way that brings it back into artistic relevance, imo. K.27 is also a piece I've heard many times, but never as convincingly as here. 

 

Hope you enjoy 

 

 

[Lux Apollo]

3 hours ago, AC Benus said:

I ran into this performance of Pletnev playing some of Dominico Scarlatti's sonatas. Hearing them through this amazing artist's lens makes it clear what a huge influence the younger Scarlatti was on Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach's keyboard work. 

 

The playing of K.96 (min. 13:08) is particularly amazing. I've heard this piece many times, and most performers rush through it as a display piece; Pletnev slows it and 'feels' it in a way that brings it back into artistic relevance, imo. K.27 is also a piece I've heard many times, but never as convincingly as here. 

 

Hope you enjoy 

 

 

 

Scarlatti is such a joy to play, and a joy to listen to when played by nimble hands.

[J.HunterDunn]

16 hours ago, AC Benus said:

I ran into this performance of Pletnev playing some of Dominico Scarlatti's sonatas. Hearing them through this amazing artist's lens makes it clear what a huge influence the younger Scarlatti was on Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach's keyboard work. 

 

The playing of K.96 (min. 13:08) is particularly amazing. I've heard this piece many times, and most performers rush through it as a display piece; Pletnev slows it and 'feels' it in a way that brings it back into artistic relevance, imo. K.27 is also a piece I've heard many times, but never as convincingly as here. 

 

hope you enjoy 

 

 

These admirably transparent performed sonatas were a joy to listen to indeed.

It brings back happy memories of the weekly visits of my piano-teacher when I was a schoolboy. After all those years I discovered a mistake of mine in K.9, that she seemed to have missed, and thus I still make today. Time for a pencilled exclamation mark in my copy.

[Lux Apollo]

38 minutes ago, J.HunterDunn said:

These admirably transparent performed sonatas were a joy to listen to indeed.

It brings back happy memories of the weekly visits of my piano-teacher when I was a schoolboy. After all those years I discovered a mistake of mine in K.9, that she seemed to have missed, and thus I still make today. Time for a pencilled exclamation mark in my copy.

 

What it a mistake or just a difference in the edition? The editors sometimes make changes based on what they think are printing errors, or what the editor thinks the composer meant if they are working from a messy hand-scribed original manuscript or copy.

[J.HunterDunn]

1 hour ago, Lux Apollo said:

 

What it a mistake or just a difference in the edition? The editors sometimes make changes based on what they think are printing errors, or what the editor thinks the composer meant if they are working from a messy hand-scribed original manuscript or copy.

 

It really was my mistake. I checked the two scores I have and they are the same as the youtube-score.

At the end of K.9 there are five 1/16 and two 1/32 notes. I always played six 1/16th, skipping the b. Listening and following the score in AC's post I noticed my mistake for the first time.

The oldest score I have was used while studying the sonata. My piano teacher had the habit of making a particuar sign in pencil at the end of a piece, when it was performed to her satisfaction. Although faded the sign is still there, so I'm pretty sure she didn't notice my mistake.

So now I have to live with the burden of a lifetime of retrospect shame .

[AC Benus]

2 minutes ago, J.HunterDunn said:

 

It really was my mistake. I checked the two scores I have and they are the same as the youtube-score.

At the end of K.9 there are five 1/16 and two 1/32 notes. I always played six 1/16th, skipping the b. Listening and following the score in AC's post I noticed my mistake for the first time.

The oldest score I have was used while studying the sonata. My piano teacher had the habit of making a particuar sign in pencil at the end of a piece, when it was performed to her satisfaction. Although faded the sign is still there, so I'm pretty sure she didn't notice my mistake.

So now I have to live with the burden of a lifetime of retrospect shame .

If that's your biggest 'sin' in life, then more power to you.  

[Lux Apollo]

Louis Couperin, Pavane in f# minor

 

Something melancholy for a rainy day. Love some of the crunchy harmonies that shine best in the mean-tone temperament Christophe Rousset has chosen here.

 

 

[Parker Owens]

When one thinks of Scarlatti, the harpsichord comes to mind immediately. For Bach, one could be forgiven for thinking he lived at the organ console. But what of Vivaldi? I found this and enjoyed it...

 

 

[J.HunterDunn]

@Lux Apollo

Even when the sun shines I will enjoy this. The temperament enhances the beauty of the music.

 

@Parker Owens

Unfortunately youtube wouldn't allow me access. As Bach adapted Vivaldi's music in several organ concertos I can only imagine what I missed.

 

 

Here's quite something else I like to share. I was looking for the Scherzo of the Sonatina Op. 100 by Dvorak and found this performance. The obvious joy brother and sister Shaham have playing the piece I found refreshing. The Scherzo I was looking for starts at 7:40. Enjoy !