Anyone into classical music?

[gary]

@gusbologna2000

[quote=“gary”] Berlioz is the inventor of the modern orchestra.

I don’t know if I would go all the way as to say he invented it, but he certainly did a lot with the orchestra he used. His bassoons in the march in Symphonie Fantastique are killer, as well as the strings and the brass in the last movement. Yeah, that whole piece just blew me away when I listened to it in college.

I’m currently listening to the Beethoven String Quartets (I think I’m always listening to those), Ligeti, Bach Fugues, and, now again, Berlioz [/quote]

Ligeti. cool.

I think wasn’t Berlioz the first person to use big orchestras of 100 people? He had trouble getting his pieces performed; people often thought they were too difficult. It was always a chore fitting all those people inside.

[gary]

@rantheman

one of the gems of my CD collection is “Rachmaninoff Plays Rachmanininoff”. I love hearing the original composer play his own pieces. just something about it that’s so much more earthy and real than hearing a “piano champion” play them.

yes. I really wish I could hear Liszt. He must be unbelievable.

[Satellite_TV]

@gary

yes. I really wish I could hear Liszt. He must be unbelievable.

Beethoven’s gone, but his music lives on,
And Mozart don’t go shopping no more.
You’ll never meet Liszt or Brahms again,
And Elgar doesn’t answer the door.

Schubert and Chopin used to chuckle and laugh,
Whilst composing a long symphony,
But one hundred and fifty years later,
There’s very little of them left to see.

They’re decomposing composers.
There’s nothing much anyone can do.
You can still hear Beethoven,
But Beethoven cannot hear you.

Handel and Haydn and Rachmaninov
Enjoyed a nice drink with their meal,
But nowadays, no one will serve them,
And their gravy is left to congeal.

Verdi and Wagner delighted the crowds
With their highly original sound.
The pianos they played are still working,
But they’re both six feet underground.

They’re decomposing composers.
There’s less of them every year.
You can say what you like to Debussy,
But there’s not much of him left to hear.

Claude Achille Debussy-- Died, 1918.

Christophe Willebald Gluck-- Died, 1787.

Carl Maria von Weber-- Not at all well, 1825. Died, 1826.

Giacomo Meyerbeer-- Still alive, 1863. Not still alive, 1864.

Modeste Mussorgsky-- 1880, going to parties. No fun anymore, 1881.

Johan Nepomuk Hummel-- Chatting away nineteen to the dozen with his mates down the pub every evening, 1836. 1837, nothing.

Monty Python

[gusbologna2000]

Sattelite TV - Yeah, it’s a shame that all the classical music that people know are from dead guys, but at the same time, that what the people want. Orchestras have so much trouble getting people to attend new music concerts that new music is just rarely played. Ask the average person - or, better yet, the average musician - to name 5 living classical composers, and I’d be surprised if a quarter of them could.

Gary - Berlioz did make his orchestra a lot bigger - but if I’m not mistaken, Berlioz was a famous conductor in his time, so finding an orchestra and a hall big enough wouldn’t be too much of a problem. Beethoven’s 9th was written by this time, and they had to have stages for the operas at the time… This is all speculation though, I could be completely wrong. Berlioz’s big problem was like you said - his pieces were extremely difficult at the time, and just way out there too - Symphonie Fantastique in particular had critics saying Berlioz didn’t know what he was doing, the piece was too vague, etc. into the 1900’s. And, in a sense, for good reason. You listen to that piece and it sounds like a late romantic piece, when it was written just after Beethoven died.

Yeah, a lot of the classical music I listen to is modern music. Any modern composers you’re into?

[gary]

I picked up Biret’s performance of Symphonie Fantastique. Got it from the iTunes Music store last night. I haven’t had a chance to listen to it; it’s supposed to be a lot better than Howard’s. How can it be worse?

I wonder if anyone has any favorite Liszt interpreters. I was at the dunhua Eslite a few nights ago. Reading about Liszt just makes want to hear him more. Imagine the premiere of his concerto no.1 with him playing and Berlioz conducting. Can you imagine?

After hearing Liszt play his etudes, Chopin wrote a friend saying i wish I could take from him the way he plays my etudes. Mendelssohn was also amazed when Liszt sight a messy copy of his concerto and played it unbelievably well. He is the greatest piano player that has ever lived.

I’m getting into more of his works. I picked up the Trancendental Studies. I have them by Arrau and Richter; I prefer Richter much more. And ah I wish Horowitz would have done more of Liszt. The Sonata is incredible.

[gary]

After listening to Biret’s Fantastique, I can say it’s much better than Howard. Sadly, the more I listen to Liszt, the more I realize Liszt himself is one of the few people ever alive that can play his works.

Biret takes 12 minutes to play the last movement. Can you imagine any conductor doing that with the symphony? The transcription has parts that are extremely difficult, pianists really mess up the tempo. Few pianists ever alive can handle it. Even Horowitz has problems with Liszt. Liszt, having known Berlioz and hearing him conduct the Fantastique, is really the only one who could play it. too bad!

I picked up Berman’s complete recording of Ann

[gary]

It seems one of the few pupils of Liszt, perhaps the only, that could be considered a virtuoso, is Emil von Sauer. He composed a decent amount too–can any pianist who hasn’t composed really be considered a musician?

He’s even been recorded. He has performed Tchaikovsky’s piano concertos under Tchaikovsky’s conducting. Too bad those were so long ago; they’re probably among the best performances, ever.

[gary]

If you’re ever looking into more Liszt, stay away from Arrau. I’m liking Berman. His 12 etudes d’ex