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Music that premiered on April 15th many springs ago. Do such feelings as we experience in the blood this time of year mark opportunists for renewal, or hopelessness that one can never, never really participate in what others feel is natural?

Andre Previn and Kathleen Battle perform one of human art's greatest testaments to love, Mozart's L'amerò, sarò costante from his opera Il re pastore

 

Posted (edited)

Pierre Amoyal and the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra perform the adagio from Louis Spohr's 8th violin concerto 

 

Edited by AC Benus
Posted

George Frideric Handel, born in Halle (Saxony) in 1685, travelled widely around Europe as a young man developing his craft, especially in Italy. He settled in England in 1712 where he lived more than half his life (until his death in 1759) and studied carefully the music of Henry Purcell to develop a musical style tailored for English tastes. He became a prolific writer (opera, concertos, sacred, ceremonial) and composed much of the music that became central to British life and culture including for the London theatre and State occasions. 

In 1727, by a special act of Parliament, Handel was officially made a British citizen. Four months later King George I died suddenly and Handel was commissioned to compose music for the coronation of George II. He composed four “anthems” for orchestra and chorus and the most famous of these, Zadok the Priest, has been used at every British / Commonwealth coronation since and will be again next Saturday (6 May).

The long instrumental introduction, with its subtle modulations, chord inversions (“slash chords”?) and unexpected harmonic shifts creating a gradual, suspenseful and uniquely memorable buildup to the eventual and deeply satisfying arrival at the home key (tonic) with the dramatic entry by the chorus, is explained here:

https://realstrings.wordpress.com/2015/07/02/zadok-the-chords/


Annie Lennox plays the intro (almost)

 

and I just love this joyous version

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
Posted
  On 5/10/2023 at 3:32 PM, Backwoods Boy said:

Thanks for the exposure to lesser-known composers.  I think I hear influences of Bach and Handel.

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Thanks ❤️ I just bumped into this recording last night and thought it was worth sharing :)

 

Posted (edited)

S.Rachmaninoff. Piano Concerto No.3 in D minor, Op.30.
Soloist Alexandеr Malofeev (17 y.o.).
Russian National Youth Symphony Orchestra, Conductor Dimitris Botinis.
Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, 30/12/2018

 

Edited by Backwoods Boy
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  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

Joanne Polk performs "Autumn" from Amy Beach's Four Sketches

 

 

Posted

Savva Zihs performs Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in c minor

 

Posted
  On 6/10/2023 at 12:01 AM, AC Benus said:

Savva Zihs performs Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in c minor

 

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Fascinating, as were the suggested follow-on classical performances and further exploration into the history and wide uses of an instrument I had always associated with folk music - primarily polkas.  Thanks for triggering an hour's worth of education.

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Posted
  On 6/10/2023 at 1:00 AM, Backwoods Boy said:

Fascinating, as were the suggested follow-on classical performances and further exploration into the history and wide uses of an instrument I had always associated with folk music - primarily polkas.  Thanks for triggering an hour's worth of education.

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There are some amazing concert artists out there, and youtube introduced me to the art of this instrument too. Bach sounds great on a powerful accordion, and there is so much artistry in the "breath control" to boot.

The other instrument that opens up the true music-making abilities of Bach is the guitar. I'll look for some of the pieces I rolled into the final Secret Melville script. They're awesome

Posted

Salieri's gender-bending Il mondo alla roversia (The World in Reverse) caused a sensation when it hit the stage in 1795. Here's a truly theatrical rendering of its rollicking overture

 

 

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Bach on guitar:

Flute Sonata BWV 1034, Movement 3, Andante (Russell transcription for guitar): https://youtu.be/Qvg6B3qU55A

Violin Sonata BWV 1003, Movement 3, Andante (transcribed for guitar): https://youtu.be/p7yJ7G05GRw

Flute Sonata, BWV 1034, Movement 3, Andante (transcribed from flute and guitar): https://youtu.be/6tUnHDgB2ko

 

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

Marian Anderson performs "Es ist vollbracht" [This mournful night] from Bach's Johannespassion

 

 

Posted

Viva il dramma per musica! Maayan Licht reminds us gloriously that Alexander was a Great big queen

This entire 4 hour production from last year of Leonardo Vinci's Alessandro nell'Indie is awesome, with plenty of Metastasio camp and queerness built right in! 

Posted

More of Maayan Licht's performance as Vinci's Alexander the Great. Giant, honking phallus, anyone . . . ? lol

 

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Posted (edited)

Franz Lehàr - Wiener Frauen Overture

 

The writing starting at min. 4:00 is so modern in harmony; amazing orchestral control as well

 

Edited by AC Benus
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Posted
  On 9/19/2023 at 2:52 AM, AC Benus said:

Franz Lehàr - Wiener Frauen Overture

 

The writing starting at min. 4:00 is so modern in harmony; amazing orchestral control as well

 

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Wow. Shades of Williams and Sousa, and such lush orchestration. This made my morning. 

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Posted

Since we had Lehàr last time, now for his rival Franz von Suppé. Jonathan Scott's arrangement and performance of the Dichter und Bauer overture for organ. Bach, eat your heart out  

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
Posted
  On 9/30/2023 at 11:47 PM, AC Benus said:

What virtuoso playing! Break-neck tempo too

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Enchanting! He has his dancing shoes on, it seems, as his fingers fly across the keyboards. 

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Posted (edited)

Waldteufel78 performs "Samt und Seide" (Velvet and Silk) from Carl Michael Ziehrer's operetta Der Fremdenführer (The Vagabond). A rendering like this shows how late-era waltzes smoothly contributed to the formation of Ragtime in the 1890s (in Saint Louis, its birthplace. The first Rag was printed there in 1896).

 

Edited by AC Benus
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