What are you listening to and WHY might anyone be interested? (Vol. XIII)

XTC, Black Sea was next.

Squeezing in a bit of this

And now listening to (maybe last indulgence in the theme for tonight) Annie and Dave's finest. Be Yourself Tonight.

Nice live performance. 

Riverside, Eye Of The Soundscape, WAV CD Rip.

I am still on an instrumental theme, this is an album I only played a couple of times when it was first released. Maybe my mood tonight as it has clicked for me now.

kevin J Carden posted:

And now listening to (maybe last indulgence in the theme for tonight) Annie and Dave's finest. Be Yourself Tonight.

 

Had Eurythmics on in the car system all this week, good stuff.

1968 - Vinyl - U.K. First pressing...

DrMark posted:

A selection I came to own as a result of this forum - great album.

found 'Eva by Heart' to be also a great album ( in musical + audio terms)  

A+3 | 24/96 WAV

(1971)

More Doors before I hit the sack. 

Vinyl [MFSL]

1977 - Double vinyl - Uk (11 tracks) first pressing...

Robert Schumann (1810-1856): Alessandra Ammara (piano)

Carnaval Op. 9 | Davidsbündlertänze Op. 6

Hard to pick my favourite Schumann but these two works rank very highly with me but Davidsbündlertänze may just have the edge out of two.  Since most may just listen and enjoy I thought I would go a little deeper into the behind the scenes of what Schumann was creating here.

In these two works especially, Schumann is telegraphing a whole book of secret 'love' messages to Clara Wieck.  Carnaval, of course, has characters, in masks, appearing and in a few Schumann actually writes the name of the character as a heading.  For example, Chopin shows up as do Florestan and Eusebius.  It is the latter two that are the most noteworthy as they actually represent Schumann himself.  Florestan represents Schumann's impetuous, passionate and combative side while Eusebius represents his introverted, poetic and dreamy side.  You can hear this represented in the music itself.  Note: If Forum rules allowed it I would also be Eusebius here ;-)

Here are a few interesting points that make Davidsbündlertänze a fascinating work of art.  Of course, the piece is really a collection of love letters to Clara and in fact opens with a quote of Clara Wieck's beginning of the Mazurka op. 6 no. 5.  Maybe only Robert and Clara are the only ones that knew the full extent of the secret messages and the veiled musical quotations?  The heading of the work has the following text (which you should keep in mind throughout the work):

In all und jeder Zeit
Verknüpft sich Lust und Leid:
Bleibt fromm in Lust und seid
Dem Leid mit Mut bereit
                    Alter Spruch

In each and every age
joy and sorrow are mingled:
Remain pious in joy,
and be ready for sorrow with courage.
                   Old Saying

In case you don't quite see how important Florestan and Eusebius are to the dialogue the original score had each or both names written at the end of each of the eighteen pieces here.  Today, some editions omit this but the Henle Urtext has an [F. und E.], [F.], or [E.] under the last bar of 15 of the 18 pieces to indicate what Schumann ascribed to make the meaning of all the hidden messages a little clearer.  The work is divided into two books.  The end of book one is actually headed by a quote from Florestan:

Hierauf schloß Florestan und es zuckte ihm schmerzlich um die Lippen 
(Hereupon Florestan stopped and his lips quivered sadly).

The end of book two is headed by the quote of Eusebius: 

Ganz zum Überfluss meinte Eusebius noch Folgendes; dabei sprach aber viel Seligkeit aus seinen Augen 
(Eusebius considered the following quite superfluous; but at the same time he expressed much happiness with his eyes)

 If you think composers didn't have secret messages for select individuals buried within the music then think again.  Some added jokes but most had messages for their honey's to find.

Eventually Clara Wieck became Clara Schumann and we know how this all ended.  After, (and maybe before) Robert Schumann died, Johannes Brahms also had a crush on Clara.  Not sure if they ever connected but Johannes Brahms continued with the secret messages to Clara through his music.  I would think that Brahms really had to suppress his feelings for her?  The most haunting piece of music that illustrates the pain Brahms felt is in his Piano Quartet no. 3 in c minor, Op. 60.  Listen to the first minute which contains the reply of Brahms following a blunt shout of pain from the piano.  The strings enter in unison and painfully cry out "Clar-aaa, Clar-aaa" twice...   this is repeated a whole tone lower after (indicating even more sorrow).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V0suSqUBIM

Yes, Robert Schumann was fully transfixed by Clara and in a different way so was Johannes Brahms.  It is their story but if you have lived long enough each of us can probably relate to the music which can trigger similar emotion in use hundreds of years after it was composed.  Once you get touched by music there is no turning back as it is a universal language each of us can understand if we choose to get acquainted with its meaning and purpose. 

Ammara is a wonderful player and the recorded sound is quite good.  Occasionally, she may push the speedometer a bit but overall it is Schumann to be experienced.

Now Playing......

Faith Hill - Take Me As I Am

Friday evening......it has been a long day, on call and the beeper has kept me busy. It been 7 + hours since I have had a chance to put on some music and I thought spending a little time with Faith would be nice.

Now Playing......

Joni Mitchell - Blue

Moving from Faith over to spend time with Joni..... having some fun on a Friday evening.

Now Playing....

Branford Marsalis Quartet - Footsteps of Our Fathers

......moving into a little jazz on this Friday evening.

Now Playing......

Steve Rothery - The Ghosts of Pripyat

A mention from Slim68 above and the idea of finishing off the day with some instrumental stuck a chord, so I thought I would give this a spin. .......opening track is quite nice!

BBC Proms: Charles Mingus Revisited.

Now on iPlayer. Much better than the Dizzy/Ella effort with some excellent soloists and a tight band. Throw in the best tunes Mingus wrote - for example, Hora Decubitus, near the end, which really swings -  and it's a great show.

seakayaker posted:

Now Playing......

Steve Rothery - The Ghosts of Pripyat

A mention from Slim68 above and the idea of finishing off the day with some instrumental stuck a chord, so I thought I would give this a spin. .......opening track is quite nice!

This is a 45rpm album, which I managed to play the whole of one side at 33rpm and didn't notice! Oops!

Mid 1980s vinyl. Because the sun is shining here in London.

On vinyl. I'm very much looking forward to the new album and to seeing him at the RAH in December: