What are you listening to and WHY might anyone be interested? (Vol. XIII)
Posted by: Richard Dane on 01 January 2017
2017 has arrived today, so time to start this thread afresh.
Last year's thread can be found here;
1983 - vinyl - Uk first pressing...
I rarely listen to this album because it is a musical mess mainly due to the two prima donnas (whatever the plural is) different opinions on the material and recording of it. Mind you, Doris( or it Brenda?) isn't always right: this album proves it!
Mark Knopfler
Private Investigations The Best Of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler - CD Rip
Edward
A3+ Tidal. Agnes Obel Philarmonics. Beautiful songs and sounds.
Iconoclast posted:
Good choice. I don't have the CD but I found it in Tidal. Now streaming it, TYVM for posting.
.....Now Playing
Justin Adams - Desert Road
Erich posted:Iconoclast posted:
Good choice. I don't have the CD but I found it in Tidal. Now streaming it, TYVM for posting.
You're welcome.
Jeroen20 posted:Iconoclast posted:
Thanks for posting this one. It's now on my shopping list.
You're welcome.
Now Playing.....
Over the Rhine - Good Dog Bad Dog
Linford Detweiler (bass, keyboard, acoustic guitar, songwriter), Karen Bergquist (vocals, 12 string acoustic guitar & acoustic guitar, songwriter), Ric Hordinski (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, lap steel guitar, songwriter), Norman Johns (Cello), Brian Kelly (drums, percussion)
An excellent album, great songwriting, just love the acoustic guitars throughout the album and Karen's singing.
Florestan posted:Franz Liszt: Daria Telizyn (piano)
Sonata in b minor, S178 | Concert Etudes No. 1 Il Lamento and No. 2 La Leggierzza
In the world of performing artists there are the showmen and then there are the artists who serve only the music. There is also music written by every composer that tends to call for showmanship and this is fine. Here the showmen show their showmanship best and the artists fair rather poorly. The converse is also true.
It is in the profound type of music that is written for those dreamers (like me) that seek something spiritual and life-affirming that you find the quiet and like minded souls. It is no secret the Il Lamento has long been one of my favourite pieces of music. I have many recordings of big name artists who get lot's of thumbs up on Youtube or likes on Facebook but somehow there is something not quite right overall (as I compare what I see or want to hear/feel from the music). Of course this is personal but for me when I first heard Daria Telizyn play Il Lamento I knew this is as close to perfect as I have yet to hear. Quirky and not as polished as the best snake oil salesman does not even matter to me. This is playing of the highest order when it comes to heart and soul on a human level.
As I commented previously, everything has to be in context. You can't play the Mephisto valse slowly and without energy or passion. You shouldn't race through "Du bist die Ruh" as this is contrary to what the piece is about. Il Lamento then should make you feel grief and sorrow and you cannot race through this or play with a metronome. Finding the key to musical interpretation and understanding then has to acknowledge some aspect of matching the emotional meaning with context in musical interpretation. What did the composer wish to accomplish with this piece? Also, the listener has to be prepared to acknowledge what emotions should be sought out. This scares many as they try to keep that stiff upper lip and tamp down any emotion.
For my money (and satisfaction) I will spend much time with Daria Telizyn as in this particular music she obviously gets it. The suffering and pain is palpable and genuine and if you know this music you might feel it too. It doesn't help to know that she is no longer with us. Thankfully though the highest quality diamonds are always rare while there is no shortage a Yuja Wangs in this world where fast food seems to satisfy.
Downloaded La Leggierzza for starters. Very nice.
I agree with you about Yuja Wang. Impressive technically but leaves me cold emotionally. The classical equivalent of Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, etc
......continuing on.....
Over the Rhine - The Long Surrender
This is my favorite 'Over the Rhine' album. A very pleasant 55 minutes......
Iconoclast posted:Florestan posted:Franz Liszt: Daria Telizyn (piano)
Sonata in b minor, S178 | Concert Etudes No. 1 Il Lamento and No. 2 La Leggierzza
In the world of performing artists there are the showmen and then there are the artists who serve only the music. There is also music written by every composer that tends to call for showmanship and this is fine. Here the showmen show their showmanship best and the artists fair rather poorly. The converse is also true.
It is in the profound type of music that is written for those dreamers (like me) that seek something spiritual and life-affirming that you find the quiet and like minded souls. It is no secret the Il Lamento has long been one of my favourite pieces of music. I have many recordings of big name artists who get lot's of thumbs up on Youtube or likes on Facebook but somehow there is something not quite right overall (as I compare what I see or want to hear/feel from the music). Of course this is personal but for me when I first heard Daria Telizyn play Il Lamento I knew this is as close to perfect as I have yet to hear. Quirky and not as polished as the best snake oil salesman does not even matter to me. This is playing of the highest order when it comes to heart and soul on a human level.
As I commented previously, everything has to be in context. You can't play the Mephisto valse slowly and without energy or passion. You shouldn't race through "Du bist die Ruh" as this is contrary to what the piece is about. Il Lamento then should make you feel grief and sorrow and you cannot race through this or play with a metronome. Finding the key to musical interpretation and understanding then has to acknowledge some aspect of matching the emotional meaning with context in musical interpretation. What did the composer wish to accomplish with this piece? Also, the listener has to be prepared to acknowledge what emotions should be sought out. This scares many as they try to keep that stiff upper lip and tamp down any emotion.
For my money (and satisfaction) I will spend much time with Daria Telizyn as in this particular music she obviously gets it. The suffering and pain is palpable and genuine and if you know this music you might feel it too. It doesn't help to know that she is no longer with us. Thankfully though the highest quality diamonds are always rare while there is no shortage a Yuja Wangs in this world where fast food seems to satisfy.
Downloaded La Leggierzza for starters. Very nice.
I agree with you about Yuja Wang. Impressive technically but leaves me cold emotionally. The classical equivalent of Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, etc
I have seen her in concert multiple times and yes she is more technical oriented, but when you are there it emits more then just the technical side. I am just awaiting for her to get a bit older and be able to balance with other aspects as well.
Hope to see him in concert soon...
Green Day. 21st Century Breakdown. On CD from 2009. I tend to think of rock operas as a by-gone niche from the 1970s. Green Day has two brilliant offerings from this century with this and their prior album "American Idiot". Both outstanding.
Sounding fantastic through my Sony / Shure work setup -
Doves - Lost Souls
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893): Nikolai Lugansky (piano)
Sonata No. 2 in G major, Op. 37, 'Grand Sonata' | The Seasons, 12 characteristic pieces, op. 37b
As a pianist, it is strange that Tchaikovsky never really stood out as a central figure alongside of major stars of the piano world. Of course, everything centred around the Piano Concerto and their were the odd pieces here and there in the grade books which included a Season or two and the like.
I also have a handful of recordings with the pairing of the Grand Sonata and The Seasons but for the majority of my life the interest in those recordings seemed to be with The Seasons. About one year ago things changed though and it was like a new discovery for me with the Grand Sonata. Since then it has become one of my favourite works of music.
The attraction, like with all Russian music, is its focus (whether deliberate or not) on fate, death, pain, and suffering. With Rachmaninov though the sorrow is more "sweet" and "tender." Written for an individual but understood by a broad cross-section of people. Tchaikovsky is more similar to Schumann in a way as much of his music has that unique way of inner voices suddenly appearing here and there which give clues to a much deeper turmoil simmering beneath the surface. Lugansky says it best he alludes to "This sense of inner solitude that stands out in his music..." and "[his music] affirm[s] the existence of the individual soul trying to find its place" knowing that "Fate is stronger than [we are]."
The Andante (2nd movement) is really what first attracted me to this Sonata. A profound piece of music with its downward fatalistic imagery as well as those hugely symbolic repeated notes (our struggle against Fate). You can hear this similarly in Rachmaninov's d minor Piano Trio, for example, like reluctantly pounding those nails into our coffin whether we like or not.
The Andante for me though is an amazingly profound piece of music. Utterly sad and full of despair but yet beautiful in that it Tchaikovsky is sharing his fears and vulnerabilities with us - the same ones that we all have but many dare not go this far. If you compare two works clearly about death (our fate) you could say that Tchaikovsky here is writing about the future whereas Rachmaninov (d minor Piano Trio) is giving us a sense of the emotions after the fact beginning with the funeral procession. If you think of Chopin's 2nd Sonata his goal in that work was to describe the events in life before death leading to the Funeral March and finally just ending in nothingness (the wind meandering to and fro.
So like with most music or literature and so on the composer or author tends to contrast a problem with a happy solution. The most simplistic, unsatisfying stories like this allow many to imagine that life is good and 'always' ends happy, happy, happy. Many believe this. Tchaikovsky and most other great composers I think worked it out more honestly. The Seasons may be Tchaikovsky's working thesis on this as he lays out what is in store naturally for all of us which is our own seasons or the cycle of life - a time for being born, growing and blossoming to life and our eventual winter season or death.
CD rips:-
Tori Amos - American Girl Posse
Anderson,Bruford, Wakeman and Howe - Evening of Yes
Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop