By special request, let’s discuss our favourite Classic Music and why?

youtu.be/mGaruN5VZPA?si=z8KuwA717QUbJAKv

Yuga Wang’s repertoire of encores is hugely entertaining. Some are fun and quirky but this Song Without Words by Mendelssohn is my favourite.

Time for more peoples favourites to come out 🙂

If you are a big Baroque fan as I an currently, this is a very short piece its hard not to love as the voice soars.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGSzOPy0YJo&list=RDTGSzOPy0YJo&start_radio=1

Greyduster

A note of caution on buying a ‘proper’ piano. I made the mistake of opting for a traditional strung piano instead of a good digital one with properly weighted keys. My piano is a lovely instrument but they are temperamental regarding changes in temperature which can cause them to go out of tune quite quickly. The last time I had it tuned, it cost me a king’s ransom. Now I’m struggling to even find a tuner! Digital pianos never go out of tune.

Interesting .... I have used a state-of-the-art digital Yamaha piano for some time and enjoyed it a lot. But I have just managed to retrieve our family piano from where it was stored and the sound is far superior and the touch more subtle.

But as you rightly say - it is very sensitive to the weather and tuning is not cheap. I have a bowl of water stored in its depths and water containers hanging from the radiator and these do help.

The piano has a lovely soft tone and holds lots of memories for me - I just wish I could play it better!

Greyduster

A note of caution on buying a ‘proper’ piano. I made the mistake of opting for a traditional strung piano instead of a good digital one with properly weighted keys. My piano is a lovely instrument but they are temperamental regarding changes in temperature which can cause them to go out of tune quite quickly. The last time I had it tuned, it cost me a king’s ransom. Now I’m struggling to even find a tuner! Digital pianos never go out of tune.

Oh boy!
Thank you so much for that advice!

I was toying between 'traditional' and digital, and you've persuaded me.

Tuner's are a bit like hen's teeth. I did know one in 1976, but he was older than me, and I'm 84, so he might not be 'operative' any longer.

Digital it is!

Before this thread peters out, can I throw in a shout for Borodin, another of my favourite composers? Most people know the Polotsvian Dances from Prince Igor and the Steppes of Central Asian, but he wrote lovely string quartets, exciting symphonies, and a lovely suite of pieces called the Petite Suite. The last piece is called Serenade and sadly is only a few minutes long, because it’s gorgeous! Some may recognise the tune because, along with others melodies, it was ‘borrowed’ for a well known Hollywood musical.

A note of caution on buying a ‘proper’ piano. I made the mistake of opting for a traditional strung piano instead of a good digital one with properly weighted keys. My piano is a lovely instrument but they are temperamental regarding changes in temperature which can cause them to go out of tune quite quickly. The last time I had it tuned, it cost me a king’s ransom. Now I’m struggling to even find a tuner! Digital pianos never go out of tune.

Wyllow3

Just heard this on Nighttracks R3 and R3 Unwind

sublime

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x-OHljZzHQ&list=RD2x-OHljZzHQ&start_radio=1

... I'm currently attempting that, but I only have an old Cassio keyboard and the keys are not weighted so it doesn't sound right. But am looking at buying a proper piano.

It's lovely, hauntingly sad.

I thought the pianist was wearing blue rubber-gloves at first!

How do you think it compares with the original by Allesandro Marcello?

I love the oboe - I've linked to the beginning of the Adagio rather than the whole concerto

youtu.be/vE2O_yfgtBU?list=RDvE2O_yfgtBU&t=214

It's melancholy, but then, it is in D Minor - with a flattened third - used traditionally for requiems, laments, etc. I love it though!

Live music is about the only thing I would like to live in London for. sigh.

(I find it a bit overwhelming, having been brought up in smaller Northern cities abutting lovely the most lovely countryside)

Just heard this on Nighttracks R3 and R3 Unwind

sublime

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x-OHljZzHQ&list=RD2x-OHljZzHQ&start_radio=1

hollysteers

I have to drive a distance to get to my favourite country lanes, it’s not great around here.

Truthfully, where we lived in Surrey - though hard-by Cobham, was not all that inspiring, so we also drove a short distance to get to those country lanes that conjure up what you described!

Greyduster

Not long after DH died, I drove home along a favourite country route, early in the morning, the sun still quite low, with the slow movement of the Emperor Concerto playing on the radio. It was the calmest and most at peace I had felt for a long time. I stopped the car to listen to it, so that I wouldn’t have to concentrate on anything else. Sublime.

I can actually sense what you've written about that early morning experience - I'd imagine your mind was in a receptive state. I understand why you stopped the car.

The second movement of the Emperor was my partner's favourite piece of music of all time. It was played at his funeral last year.

When I hear it now, on the radio, I am motionless - it is immensely poignant, but also, consoling.

Apparently, Beethoven composed the concerto whilst taking refuge in his brother's basement in Vienna when the city was under siege, and occupation, by Napoleon's army. He described the experience to his publisher saying that all around him there was "nothing but drums, cannons, men, misery of all sorts."

Bearing that in mind, I always feel that the final movement is both defiant and heroic.

Not long after DH died, I drove home along a favourite country route, early in the morning, the sun still quite low, with the slow movement of the Emperor Concerto playing on the radio. It was the calmest and most at peace I had felt for a long time. I stopped the car to listen to it, so that I wouldn’t have to concentrate on anything else. Sublime.

Dickens

hollysteers

I love listening to classical music whilst driving along country lanes, the two seem to go together so well.

I didn't learn to drive until my early 50s - my late partner taught me - and we drove around the leafy-lanes of Cobham in Surrey listening to the violin concertos of Bruch, Mendelssohn and Beethoven... as an antidote to my impatience with my mistakes. (I did pass the test, first time!)

Classical music and country lanes are now cemented in my mind...

Glad to hear you passed your test first time helped by classical music and country lanes.
I have to drive a distance to get to my favourite country lanes, it’s not great around here.

hollysteers

I love listening to classical music whilst driving along country lanes, the two seem to go together so well.

I didn't learn to drive until my early 50s - my late partner taught me - and we drove around the leafy-lanes of Cobham in Surrey listening to the violin concertos of Bruch, Mendelssohn and Beethoven... as an antidote to my impatience with my mistakes. (I did pass the test, first time!)

Classical music and country lanes are now cemented in my mind...

Greyduster

Some of these young musicians are amazing. I was mesmerised by Freddy Kempf when he won Young Musician of the Year in 1992 aged 14. He played Rachmaninov’s Second, and then the scintillating Balakirev Islamey. I was lucky enough to see him in concert twice and his playing was a huge thrill.

Just a couple of days prior I watched him as soloist and conductor (New Zealand Symphony Orchestra) performing the first movement of Beethoven's 'Emperor' concerto - a video from 2015.

I assume there's a recording somewhere in the archives of the 1992 competition - I didn't see it that year.

Romola I too saw Menuhin at the Bath Festival as a teenager; wonder if we were at the same concert?

Difficult to choose, but Vaughan Williams is a firm favourite. Practically anything of his, 3rd and 5th symphonies in particular.

His song “Silent Noon” with words by Dante Gabriel Rossetti is to me one of the most perfect songs ever composed.

I love listening to classical music whilst driving along country lanes, the two seem to go together so well.

I’m a regular concertgoer and like to sit near the front for symphony concerts. I’m frequently completely overwhelmed by the beauty of the compositions and fail to understand how anyone could be unmoved.

OOo Luckygirl !!!

Witzend

One I forgot, not ‘classical’ in the vintage sense, is the IMO very beautiful theme from Sense and Sensibility, called ‘My Father’s Favourite’ since its described as such in the film, with Marianne playing it.

Such a clever piece ... it mimics the music of the period so brilliantly.

Wyllow3

My young musician of the year favourite was the cellist Laura van der Heijden playing Brahms Cello Sonata No 2.

She played a relatively simple piece technically as opposed to some others playing virtuoso stuff

but oh the total commitment sort of body and soul

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkZTblmpNds&list=RDQkZTblmpNds&start_radio=1

(under 3 min)

I have met Laura ... she is a lovely young woman as well as a consulate musician.

One I forgot, not ‘classical’ in the vintage sense, is the IMO very beautiful theme from Sense and Sensibility, called ‘My Father’s Favourite’ since its described as such in the film, with Marianne playing it.

My young musician of the year favourite was the cellist Laura van der Heijden playing Brahms Cello Sonata No 2.

She played a relatively simple piece technically as opposed to some others playing virtuoso stuff

but oh the total commitment sort of body and soul

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkZTblmpNds&list=RDQkZTblmpNds&start_radio=1

(under 3 min)

Some of these young musicians are amazing. I was mesmerised by Freddy Kempf when he won Young Musician of the Year in 1992 aged 14. He played Rachmaninov’s Second, and then the scintillating Balakirev Islamey. I was lucky enough to see him in concert twice and his playing was a huge thrill.

... and thank you Cossy for starting this!

I'm going to look at everyone's choices and recommendations, there's some pieces I've not heard of.

This has been a lovely thread!