Classical music!

Originally posted by Scriabin
BTW, I used to enjoy just about every piece of classical music I got to hear.

No longer the case. It has become especially clear listening during the day in the office to WETA that there is too much repetition or self reference in the works of a lot of baroque and classical period composers. Too much of the same thing written over and over again -- like he same week.

One begins to suspect that WETA really prefers pieces in a major key --

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BTW, I used to enjoy just about every piece of classical music I got to hear.
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I like to go to a good library and spend five hours choosing stuff I want to sample.

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No longer the case. It has become especially clear listening during the day in the office to WETA that there is too much repetition or self reference in the works of a lot of baroque and classical period composers. Too much of the same thing written over and over again -- like the thousand and one Vivaldi pieces that sound not enough different to keep me enchanted any longer. But I don't dislike Vivaldi, I just don't want quite so much of him, I guess. And Telemann, there's another one I can hear less often. Why don't they play more Handel?
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Baroque I am warming up to little by little. No rush.

I have always liked Bach's keyboard music more than most else from him. WETA is, imo, way too heavy on Baroque.

Listening to the lectures of Robert Greenberg on vary music history subjects has caused me this year to a be a little more opened to Baroque composers rarely heard.


With WETA you can almost predict when the next selection will be either Telemann or Vivaldi.


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I will say that WETA has helped me renew my admiration and appreciation for Haydn.
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Haydn was the first of my favorite composers.
But he gets plenty of air time. And I'd prefer that some of it be used to introduce some other composers.

Then again I am probably a little elites about it.

I like all of his London symphonies, practically all of his Paris symphonies. There are some gems among the 70s, and some great earlier symphonies among the 22 - 50 group.


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You will note that among the top 90 hits, only Dvorak's 8th and 9th appear. Although I've written them more than once, they do not play his 7th in D minor.
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The 7th is great. Go back down to hear the 6th and the 5th also. Of couse the 8th and 9th are regular staples for the Western concert hall.



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It came, therefore, as something of a surprise that while WETA still won't play it, both the National Symphony and the Baltimore Symphony had Dvorak's 7th on their programs in the same week.
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Makes no sense to me either why WETA won't play it more.

In fact it makes no sense that they would not play with Dvorak some of the symphonies of Kurt Atterburg like his 1rst and 2nd symphony.

Neither do I understand why they won't play more of the music of Arnald Bax or Edward Tubin.

I was blown away by the Estonian Eduard Tubin's 4th and 5th symphonies. The one called the Idyllic is georgeous. And the other is called the Legendary.

I like his first symphony too.


Years ago there was a chance that you might hear a Tubin symphony in the DC area. Not lately. I guess it just doesn't sell.

But its not Tubin's fault. I can tell you that.


--

Originally posted by sonhouse
You are talking about MIDI stuff? I have Kontakt 3, Sonar 7, an RME hammerfall multiface I/O with midi ins and outs and 8 audio ins and outs. Kontakt is a sampler host program, I think with it's own format. But Sonar might be able to convert to sound. I also have Cakewalk's Project 5, a MIDI equivalent of Sonar for audio. Some of that stuff might work.
Di ce, I'll give it to you but most all the musicians already have heard it I think.

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So if you have not heard my stuf on myspace, I'll give it to you but most all the musicians already have heard it I think.
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Thanks for introducing me to my very first experience with myspace. I heard your compositions and particularly thought Heather's Waltz and the River were very beautiful, especially the tempo change and guitar work on the River.

I have tried converting (with a couple of free conversion tools on the web) one Finale file to MP3 but so far it doesn't sound as good - orchestral sounds seem to come with too much Reverb.

Since I really just want to compose I am being dragged kicking and struggling into the Technical issues which go along with Web and Internet conversion. I am not as savvy yet as you are.

Though I have been a computer programmer my realm was in Business applications much more than this newer Web - MIDI - MP3 conversion stuff.

Thanks much, and check your mailbox for a way to hear if not the orchestral things yet, some guitar and vocal creations. They are the singing of Bible Scripture songs - all original melodies.

I plan to return to your myspace to hear the songs again for some more digestion. And I think I should look more into MySpace.

jw

Originally posted by Scriabin
How about piano soloists -- who has some favorite recordings we should know of.

I would include probably too many. I just heard the Rachmaninoff 3rd the other night in an old recording by Van Cliburn -- never had heard that one. I was interested and liked the way he brought that piece to life very much. I've never been a Van Cliburn fan. The two at the ...[text shortened]... enstein, Gould, Cortot, Bolet, Katchen, Fisher, Watts, Wild, Serkin, Haskil, and on and on ...

I don't know that recording by Van Cliburn - have to agree with the Argerich and Horowitz ones. If you don't know them, recordings that you should definitely know of are the Chopin recordings of Cortot. There seem to be different versions of pieces he recorded (as in different recordings of the same pianist) but I think the earlier recordings are better (since he's not too old by then). I'm very much a fan of his 4th ballad and 3rd Sonata by Chopin, especially the slow movement.
I have a DVD where Horowitz is recording the Mozart 23rd Concerto with Carlo Maria Giulini and the Scala Orchestra of Milan. I'm sure it's on CD's as well. His 2nd movement is incredibly beautiful.
Noticing I would probably include too many as well - oh, Scriabin, you didn't include Rachmaninoff's own recordings of his concerto in your list! A definite must-hear.
Anyone have some tips on recordings of Gaspard de la Nuit by Ravel I should listen to? I know Argerich, Pogorelich, Perlemuter and some others. I think I still like my own recording best (just kidding 😉).
Beautiful piece.

Originally posted by davaniel
I don't know that recording by Van Cliburn - have to agree with the Argerich and Horowitz ones. If you don't know them, recordings that you should definitely know of are the Chopin recordings of Cortot. There seem to be different versions of pieces he recorded (as in different recordings of the same pianist) but I think the earlier recordings are better (si others. I think I still like my own recording best (just kidding 😉).
Beautiful piece.

I tend to hear the music composition more than the performance.

But I like Glenn Gould and Horowitz. But there are plenty of names I do not remember whose playing impressed me.

I especially liked to hear a collection of Scriabin sonatas performed by some woman.

Sorry I cannot remember the name. I focus more on the composition. Its just a quirk.

The Greatest Hits of Twelve Tone Row:
http://www.themusicpage.com/hearAudio.php?v=870

for your listening pleasure.

Originally posted by gregsflat
The Greatest Hits of Twelve Tone Row:
http://www.themusicpage.com/hearAudio.php?v=870

for your listening pleasure.

LOL!

That's pretty clever.

Originally posted by gregsflat
The Greatest Hits of Twelve Tone Row:
http://www.themusicpage.com/hearAudio.php?v=870

for your listening pleasure.

Ha ha, nice! Actually two of the mentioned pieces are among my favourite classical pieces - Schönberg's Pierrot Lunaire and Berg's violin concerto. Pierrot Lunaire doesn't use the twelve-tone technique though, and Berg's violin concerto is only partly dodecaphonic.

Originally posted by Nordlys
Ha ha, nice! Actually two of the mentioned pieces are among my favourite classical pieces - Schönberg's Pierrot Lunaire and Berg's violin concerto. Pierrot Lunaire doesn't use the twelve-tone technique though, and Berg's violin concerto is only partly dodecaphonic.

"Arnie" Schoenberg wrote the book, that I considered my composition bible when I was more studious, called "Elementary and Structural Forms of Harmony" It wasn't matrix or serial mathmatics of tonal possibilities, but actual regions of harmonic relations based on classical theory. He wrote in this style for years, and I never feel he rejected tonality.

The narrator in the joke link uses the word "Klangfarben" in a sentence. It has always been my favorite word in the musical dictionary.

Originally posted by jaywill
[b]=========================================
So if you have not heard my stuf on myspace, I'll give it to you but most all the musicians already have heard it I think.
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Thanks for introducing me to my very first experience with myspace. I heard your compositions and particularly thought Heath the songs again for some more digestion. And I think I should look more into MySpace.

jw[/b]

Hey, thanks for the compliment! I did those recordings with my laptop and a firewire 410 going to Sonar. The M Audio Firewire 410 has 2 mic preamps and is very small, so all I needed was a couple of mic stands, 2 mics,earphones, the 410 and the lap, that was it. Did all those cuts in a hotel when I was on the road working for a few weeks in Toledo. I got a hotel that was out of the way and got a room way in the back away from everyone and it was quiet enough to record. I had a couple of guitars, a mandolin and a couple of lap dulcimers with me. Now I am trying to set up my new Kurzweil keyboard to work with Kontakt 3 and Sonar 7, which so far is not going so well, the keyboard is fine but the software gives out an audible glitch after 7 minutes of playing so I think I have to get a new HD and load a fresh copy of XP and then load Kontakt and Sonar. Kontakt has a 33 gigabyte sample library. Kontakt is a sampler, one of the best. If you want to check out how good a piano can sound sampled, go to imperfectsamples.com and listen to the first demo. It is unreal how real it sounds! The sample for that one piano when uncompressed is almost 38 GIGAbytes all by itself! But it sounds great and I am going to go after it when I get Kontakt 3 and Sonar 7 working together. Kontakt BTW is from a German company called Native Instruments and they have a whole lot of products like soft synths and samplers and recording software. Great company.

Just a note of interest here. Jaywill has sent me four CD's of his own compositions. These particular ones are played on his guitar with great skill, and sung in a pleasing baritone with a wide range. These are inspirational songs and not along the symphonic line which he also does. Audrey

Originally posted by ale1552
Just a note of interest here. Jaywill has sent me four CD's of his own compositions. These particular ones are played on his guitar with great skill, and sung in a pleasing baritone with a wide range. These are inspirational songs and not along the symphonic line which he also does. Audrey

Thanks ale1552.

That is a compliment.

My orchestral and piano compositions are written in Finale Music Writing software. I am still learning how to convert those files.

They sound the best when they are played as Finale files, IMO. That means that you have to have Finale installed to play them that way. Not a lot of people own Finale unless they compose themselves.

Originally posted by jaywill
Thanks ale1552.

That is a compliment.

My orchestral and piano compositions are written in Finale Music Writing software. I am still learning how to convert those files.

They sound the best when they are played as Finale files, IMO. That means that you have to have Finale installed to play them that way. Not a lot of people own Finale unless they compose themselves.

You didn't shoot me any piano or orchestral music, got a link?
I am just getting my Kontakt 3 from Native Instruments, a huge sample base with 3 acoustic piano samples and lots more, up and running, had a problem with the older PC, it seems Kontakt really stresses out the PC, takes lots of CPU horsepower to run but have written a couple of new tunes using my Kurzweil PC1 and that combination.