Dead-Composers Society

[AC Benus]

This might be the only piece of blowhard Braytoven I ever post, but perhaps all of his egotistical works should be performed on guitar

 

 

[Lux Apollo]

 

[AC Benus]

I've been listening to a lot of Viotti recently. Here is a charming example; the finale to his 26th (!!!) violin concerto. Hope it brings a smile

 

 

[Zombie]

On 6/1/2020 at 7:06 PM, AC Benus said:

This might be the only piece of blowhard Braytoven I ever post, but perhaps all of his egotistical works should be performed on guitar

 

can’t remember if this has been posted before, but even if it has it’s still worth enjoying again

Dudley Moore (comedian, Hollywood star, organ scholar, composer, pianist and overall underrated musician) had real insight into Beethoven with this brilliant and hilarious parody  

 

 

[AC Benus]

1 hour ago, Zombie said:

 

can’t remember if this has been posted before, but even if it has it’s still worth enjoying again

Dudley Moore (comedian, Hollywood star, organ scholar, composer, pianist and overall underrated musician) had real insight into Beethoven with this brilliant and hilarious parody  

 

🤣 Brilliant! Although there were two dead giveaways it was not genuine Beethoven: one, Maestro Moore's polyphony is better, and two, the coda is too short and simple 🤣

Thanks for posting this. Reminds me of Victor Borge's variations on Happy Birthday to You. 

 

Edited June 5, 2020 by AC Benus

[Lux Apollo]

Vasily Kalinnikov (1866-1901) is a minor figure in the late Russian Romantic, dying very early of tuberculosis just shy of 35 years old. I first learned this Nocturne from a set of four pieces for solo piano at the end of my high school days and have treasured it since. 

[AC Benus]

1913 recording of Gabriel Faure playing Faure Pavane, Op. 50. It's really nice 

 

[Lux Apollo]

7 hours ago, AC Benus said:

1913 recording of Gabriel Faure playing Faure Pavane, Op. 50. It's really nice 

 

Love this piece!

[AC Benus]

Kai Adomeit performs the Adagio from Johann Franz Xaver Sterkel's piano concerto in D, Op. 26  

Adagio 12:26

 

[Lyssa]

 

[AC Benus]

Joel von Lerber performs Guillaume Connesson's Toccata

 

 

Edited July 2, 2020 by AC Benus

[AC Benus]

J.S. Bach Cantata Christ lag in Todesbanden BWV 4, Karl Richter

 

[Parker Owens]

On 7/2/2020 at 1:07 PM, AC Benus said:

Joel von Lerber performs Guillaume Connesson's Toccata

 

 

This is flat-out awesome 

[AC Benus]

The one and only Oscar Peterson 

 

[AC Benus]

Oscar Peterson, Variations on a Theme by Bach 

 

[AC Benus]

I've never heard this until today...

00:18:02 Piano Sonata No.2 in F, K280: II. Adagio

[AC Benus]

Glen Campbell performs Rossini 

 

[AC Benus]

Vivica Genaux performing Hasse's Fra quest’ombre Solimano

 

[Zombie]

8 year old Emily Barton plays Handel’s Zadok The Priest

...with a little help from dad, Paul “The Elephant Man“

...and mum on “bucket” drum

 

 

 

 

 

[Zombie]

Minuet no 11 in G Minor, pub 1779, by English Composer Ignatius Sancho (1:00)
 

 

Edited October 1, 2020 by Zombie

[northie]

@Zombie Have you seen the BBC 4 programme Black Composers?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08qs7vf

[Zombie]

4 minutes ago, northie said:

@Zombie Have you seen the BBC 4 programme Black Composers?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08qs7vf

I was going to watch it but something came up - thanks for the iPlayer link

Sancho was a significant figure in English society and history. A man of many talents, music being just one, he lived a full and most interesting life.

If I’ve time I might post more in The Lounge - more people should know about him.

[Zombie]

“Reveille“ from “Pushkin's Garland” by Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov

 

Composers love acoustic effects and in this piece a boy soprano is separated from the choir to produce a sort of answer or echo. It’s called antiphony (“music in which an ensemble is divided into distinct groups, used in opposition, often spatial, and using contrasts of volume, pitch, timbre, etc“ - Grove) and has roots in ancient music and across cultures (“call and response” is another term commonly used in religious and also gospel music). 

Vaughan Williams used a similar trick in his Fantasia On A Theme By Thomas Tallis performed by a double string orchestra separated by distance to create a “surround sound” and echoing effect for the audience. In an acoustic space like a church or Gloucester Cathedral, where the Fantasia premiered in 1910, the effect is dramatic.

Sadly I get none of that with this recording on my feeble iPad  and I doubt the performance was miked to capture the effect - I guess you had to be there...

Anyway, this is part 7 (of 10) from the Russian neo-romantic composer ’s 1979 choral concerto (set to verses by Alexander Pushkin).

Oh yeah, and you’re in for a real surprise when blondie opens his mouth...

 



 

 

 

[AC Benus]

1 hour ago, Zombie said:

“Reveille“ from “Pushkin's Garland” by Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov

 

Composers love acoustic effects and in this piece a boy soprano is separated from the choir to produce a sort of answer or echo. It’s called antiphony (“music in which an ensemble is divided into distinct groups, used in opposition, often spatial, and using contrasts of volume, pitch, timbre, etc“ - Grove) and has roots in ancient music and across cultures (“call and response” is another term commonly used in religious and also gospel music). 

Vaughan Williams used a similar trick in his Fantasia On A Theme By Thomas Tallis performed by a double string orchestra separated by distance to create a “surround sound” and echoing effect for the audience. In an acoustic space like a church or Gloucester Cathedral, where the Fantasia premiered in 1910, the effect is dramatic.

Sadly I get none of that with this recording on my feeble iPad  and I doubt the performance was miked to capture the effect - I guess you had to be there...

Anyway, this is part 7 (of 10) from the Russian neo-romantic composer ’s 1979 choral concerto (set to verses by Alexander Pushkin).

Oh yeah, and you’re in for a real surprise when blondie opens his mouth...

 

 

I've known this vid for a while, but did not know this is part of a modern composition (set to Pushkin no less! ). Thanks for that info. Pushkin is famous for his one Gay piece of verse, which is suppressed in English, and barely known (so I am told) in Russian. Here is it:

 

Imitation of the Arabic [Verse Style]

 

My sweet boy, my tender boy,

Show no shyness; you are mine for evermore.

We share the commingled fire of insurgency;

We live in the realm of fearless partnership.

 

I fear not the dangerous taunts of other men,

For one being divided in two is how we survive;

Our brain like that of a sweet walnut

Encased by a single sturdy shell.  

Alexandre Pushkin, 1835

 

_

 

[AC Benus]

1 hour ago, Zombie said:

 

Oh yeah, and you’re in for a real surprise when blondie opens his mouth...

 



 

 

 

The boy's falsetto is amazingly artistic and controlled. I believe the Russian tradition of basso profundo is basic to their (Byzantium-inherited) cultural grounding of what singing is. If you haven't heard Dmitry Seleznev perform, this will be a pleasant experience (and he's easy on the eyes too )