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Classical Masters

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For people who love opera, ballet, and classical music. A place to relax and enjoy the soothing sound of the masters. (Incept date, 0401.10)

Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_music
Location: Earth
Members: 43
Latest Activity: Apr 15

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Downstage

Discussion Forum

Hindemith, Mathias Grunewald, the Nazis, &c.

Started by James M. Martin Jul 4, 2012. 0 Replies 0 Likes

When I was a bachelor at a…Continue

Virtual Choir 3.0 - Water Night

Started by Loren Miller. Last reply by Tony Carroll Apr 2, 2012. 1 Reply 1 Like

Words may not suffice here. The average choir may be ... what? Thirty, maybe 50 for a medium ensemble, and a large orchestra chorus might go one or two hundred. Worthy of note, Eric Whitacre's…Continue

Tags: Water Night, Virtual Choir, Eric Whitacre

For Christopher...

Started by Loren Miller. Last reply by Loren Miller Dec 16, 2011. 2 Replies 1 Like

I sometimes like to think I have a way with words here and there. Today, having learned of the death of Christopher Hitchens, I find the words coming in fits and starts, but any attempt at giving…Continue

Tags: Dmitri Shostakovich, Christopher Hitchens

Is Music Dangerous?

Started by Loren Miller. Last reply by Loren Miller Aug 10, 2011. 3 Replies 1 Like

It was a few years ago when I attended a Cleveland Orchestra concert which included Dmitri Shostakovich’s Fourth Symphony. Up to that time, I had been aware of his more popular works, such as his…Continue

Tags: Shostakovich Symphony No. 4, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Stalin, Shostakovich

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir - Lux Aurumque

Started by Loren Miller. Last reply by Loren Miller Apr 5, 2011. 3 Replies 0 Likes

When is a choir not a choir ... yet still a choir?When is an ensemble not assembled, yet is assembled?Ask Eric Whitacre. Some time back, he was sent a link on YouTube of a woman, singing a single…Continue

Tags: YouTube, Lux Aurumque, Virtual Choir, Eric Whitacre

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir 2.0 - * UPDATED *

Started by Loren Miller Apr 5, 2011. 0 Replies 0 Likes

On 7 April, 2011, Eric Whitacre will release his latest Virtual Choir project, with the performance of his work, "Sleep." This project involved the participation of no less than 2,051 voices from 58…Continue

Tags: YouTube, Sleep, Virtual Choir, Eric Whitacre

The Playlist Vault of Classical Masters on A|N

Started by Roy The Infidel. Last reply by Roy The Infidel Sep 22, 2010. 9 Replies 0 Likes

Archive of featured playlists on Classical Masters.Continue

Tags: masters, classical, playlist, vault

Tags: Lady MacBeth of Mtsensk, Soviet, Shostakovich, Michael Tilson Thomas

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Comment Wall

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Comment by Loren Miller on April 8, 2010 at 7:56am: Oh, NO!!!! Tom Ewell's IN DA HOUSE!!! Can Marilyn be far behind?

Comment by Jaume on April 8, 2010 at 7:52am: so don't LISTEN to Rach, dude!

I do my best. But when someones plays Rach in the vicinity and I'm unfortunate enough to be within hearing range, I know it'll itch for 7 years at least!

Comment by Roy The Infidel on April 8, 2010 at 7:13am: What controversy? :D I guess more Rach, eh? Piano this time.

Comment by Loren Miller on April 8, 2010 at 7:08am: [Tosses sfortzandi grenade into foxhole, blows Jaume into zillions of little hemidemisemiquavers!]

Okay, so don't LISTEN to Rach, dude! Saves more for ME that way!

I LIKE Rachmaninoff ... a LOT. I love the fluidity of his orchestrations and that NO ONE wrote for strings the way he did, never mind piano. I like that he took the concept of the Romantic period and utterly epitomized it with his music as no one else did. I REALLY like his Paganini variations, that he actually DID something with them, unlike so many others who fooled with that work (and for that matter, the only other one worth mentioning is Lutoslawski!).

I really dig what he had to say with his 2nd symphony. His 3rd? Not that much novel until the 3rd movement, wherein I think he says a LOT. Symphonic Dances? Second one's a bit weak, but the first and third are GORGEOUS, and as good a capstone on his career as he could have hoped for.

Is he the best of the Romantic period? Not hardly ... but I sure as hell like what he brought to the party!

Comment by Jaume on April 8, 2010 at 2:04am: Okay, let's start our first controversy ;-)

Rachmaninoff is the most overrated composer ever. Virtuosity without substance, unless you count oozing pathos as substance. When I hear the 2nd piano concerto, I feel like a wounded toro in the arena.

[ducks, runs, jumps into the nearest foxhole]

Comment by Loren Miller on April 7, 2010 at 7:38pm: Ahhhh, the Rach 2nd!!! Perennial favorite of mine. Now let's all cue up the 3rd movement and sing along:

Never gonna fall in love again
I don't wanna start with someone new
'Cuz I couldn't bear to see it end,
Just like me and you ....

[barf, gag-retch!]

Comment by Loren Miller on April 7, 2010 at 6:52am: Yours truly is a big one for 20th century music, especially the Russians: Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Khachaturian and Stravinsky, but don't forget the French, especially Debussy and Ravel and the Americans: Gershwin and Copland. There's also the matter of guys most people never heard of, like Walter Piston and Witold Lutoslawski and too many others to count. These and many others I enjoy six times a season at the home of The Cleveland Orchestra, Severance Hall:

Comment by Roy The Infidel on April 6, 2010 at 7:31pm: "Without music, life would be a mistake." - Friedrich Nietzsche

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