New
Tue, Jun 26 2012, 8:55AM
Good morning, my name is Matt and I just joined the forums. I look forward to some interesting discussions and hope I can learn a lot more about music. My main interests are Beethoven and Schubert.
Tue, Jun 26 2012, 9:08AM
#2
RE: New
Thanks !
I've always liked classical music, it was always playing in the house when I was a child. I really started getting into it in my mid to late teens when I got a recording of Schubert's 8th symphony. Even now I cannot comprehend this piece of music although that sounds like something of a cliche. I don't have much musical education so I can't analyse pieces but I just enjoy them all the same. I think Beethoven's music has such emotional depth (not to imply that other's don't too but Mr B is my favourite, it's all personal preference I suppose).
Tue, Jun 26 2012, 9:15AM
#3
RE: New
Yes Mr B is a favourite of mine too. His artist genius towers over everything and everyone. Personal preference it may be, but there is taste and style, and there is bad taste and poor style. I think MrB is as tastefull and as stylish and you can get. You don't need musical education, just ears and a brain.
Tue, Jun 26 2012, 2:09PM
#4
RE: New
Beethoven and Schubert are two solid and major foundations of Classical Music. However, to focus only on them is a very narrow path to the essence of this Music.
Bach is the most essential listening, if you are a sort of novice in the Classical Music field. Haydn too and, by all means, Mozart.
Do you wish any suggestions on recordings or works to start with?
Parla
Tue, Jun 26 2012, 11:03PM
#5
RE: New
I think Beethoven's music has such emotional depth (not to imply that other's don't too but Mr B is my favourite).
Beethoven's 'depth' in music is interesting. No one would seroiusly doubt it's existance, but how much comes 'from' the music when we hear it and how much do 'we' bring to the music as a listener due to pre conditioning.
Wed, Jun 27 2012, 7:43AM
#6
RE: New
Beethoven and Schubert are two solid and major foundations of Classical Music. However, to focus only on them is a very narrow path to the essence of this Music.
I'm not focussing only on them, I just said they were my favourites. My CD collection includes Bach, Chopin, Rossini, Schubert, Mozart, Debussy, Bruckner, Beethoven, Stamitz, Hertel, Liszt, Brahms, Teleman, Vivaldi and Satie. I have quite a wide range of composers I like but Beethoven and Schubert are closest to my heart, no doubt for what maybe sentimental and personal reasons.
Wed, Jun 27 2012, 8:44AM
#7
RE: New
Hertel is a new one for me, there is a great picture of him on Wikipedia, he looks like the sort of composer who would write a concerto for 8 Kettledrums, wind and strings. What would a cadenza for 8 kettledrums be like!
Wed, Jun 27 2012, 9:41AM
#8
RE: New
For which Hertel are we talking about? There is Johann Christian and Johann William, father and son. Their instrument was the trumpet, not the...kettledrums. Apparently, the son was also good in composing some concertos for the bassoon as well (there is an interesting CD on the Swiss label Tudor) and for Organ (there is a very interesting CD, on MDG, with the six Organ Sonatas, op.1).
Parla
Wed, Jun 27 2012, 12:58PM
#9
RE: New
Welcome Matt!
Do you have any favorite recordings (or sets overall) of Beethoven's piano sonatas? The one that I go to most often is this one with Wilhelm Kempff (though I'm still exploring other recordings too):
http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Complete-Piano-Sonatas-L-V/dp/B0000012XC...
Best wishes,
Petra
Thu, Jun 28 2012, 2:29PM
#10
RE: New
Hi, Petra,
I must say that I am very partial to Alfred Brendel. I don't have the complete sonatas by any one performer but I have the complete Beethoven piano concertos by Brendel (the 2nd movement of the 5th concerto just makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up every time !)
There are some great recordings on youtube but sadly they always seem to be followed by comments with people bickering about who is "best".
In my musically naive opinion, arguing whether Horowitz is better than Kempf is a bit like arguing whether a BMW is better than a Mercedes. They are both oustanding and quality, but you may favour one's interpretation over the other. Neither is better, they are just different.
In response to Hertel, I mentioned it because I am an amateur trumpet player (no formal training or qualifications I might add) and I notice Parla made reference to the trumpet. I'm very fond of the trumpet concerto in D by J. W. Hertel which Håkan Hardenberger so beautifully recorded in the mid 1980s on the Philips label.
Matt
Fri, Jun 29 2012, 10:50AM
#11
RE: New
I must say that I am very partial to Alfred Brendel. I don't have the complete sonatas by any one performer but I have the complete Beethoven piano concertos by Brendel (the 2nd movement of the 5th concerto just makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up every time !)
There are some great recordings on youtube but sadly they always seem to be followed by comments with people bickering about who is "best".
In my musically naive opinion, arguing whether Horowitz is better than Kempf is a bit like arguing whether a BMW is better than a Mercedes. They are both oustanding and quality, but you may favour one's interpretation over the other. Neither is better, they are just different
Yes, I like the analogy Waldstein. Horowitz as a BMW laden with a couple of 'bilng' wearing 'dealers' racing through the streets as fast as they can. Kempf the reliable Mercedes but a little heavy and underpowered for the money. Brendel the Audi, understated and tasteful, and last but not least Richter the VW, will keep on going when all the others let you down, nothing overpriced yet nothing cheap and tacky, can be a little weird in the camper van department (Schubert) but why pay more for less.
Fri, Jun 29 2012, 11:10AM
#12
RE: New
For the Hertels, there is a comprehensive SACD, on MDG, with most of the significant Trumpet Concertos of the son, J.W, and two of the Sinfonias for 3 Trumpets and Timpani of the father J.C. Excellent disc for anyone interested in Trumpet and the composers in question.
For the Piano music of Schubert, one should not ever neglect the unique in character and writing two sets of Impromptus. The third of the First Set (D.899), in G flat major (one of the very few pieces of music written in this rare key), is a superb serenade, incredibly beautiful as it unfolds. The First of the second set, in f minor, is also a great example of exceptional brilliant writing for the piano. There are numerous brilliant recordings, both on Fortepiano and the modern ones.
Paino
Fri, Jun 29 2012, 12:23PM
#13
RE: New RE: New
Do you have any favorite recordings (or sets overall) of Beethoven's piano sonatas?...
May I mention Jean-Efflam Bavouzet - by coincidence I've just read about him in The Week. He's completed all 56 of Haydn's sonatas and is in the throes of the Beethovens with volume one out now. 'This is one of the biggest discoveries I have come across on years,' said Andrew Clark in the FT.
Fri, Jun 29 2012, 12:26PM
#14
RE: New
Hi Matt and welcome to the forum!
Hi Parla. Yes the beautiful G flat major impromptu. No pianist can play it unless their little finger right hand is good - seriously - it is one of the few pieces I can think of from the top of my 'ed which will certainly develop your little finger, your weakest. It's those notes played by the 5th finger which have to sing out over the accompaniment. Can you think of any others Parla?
Mark
Hi Kev - I think I'm right in saying that composer John McCabe has recorded the full set of Haydn sonatas also.
Fri, Jun 29 2012, 12:26PM
#15
RE: New RE: New
I must say that I am very partial to Alfred Brendel...
I'm always debating with myself whether to listen to Brendel or Perahia but maybe I'll add a new discovery (see above).
Welcome to the forum Matt. Beethoven and Schubert, your interests are built on solid foundations.