The Classical music thread

What Classical elements have been reworked to create either performance? (cf. comments about William Orbit and Pieces in a Modern Style)

Sorry my bad. I should have said “version” not “reworking”.


I have a soft spot for Opera. A neighbour trained to become a singer, although for reasons I don’t know, she never made it and I would often hear it soaring from next door. Puccini being a particular favourite of hers.



Flower Duet from Lakme
 
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Aw, I love the flower duet. I'll link my current Go To version below. The blend of voices is just so perfect to my ears, possibly unmatched (controversial I know, especially under a post featuring big hitters such as Dessay, but hey, cards on the table and all that), but either way they are just so mesmerising to watch. Maybe you will like it too? I've nursed quite the girlcrush on Sabine ever since watching a video of her tackling the notorious Queen of the Night aria and this recording left me with an equivalent tendre for the mezzo. There's a comment underneath delighting in how she sings with her whole body. YESSSS! And that velvety tone is so decadent.



More from Lakmé, this time solo Sabine with some impressive colouratura shenanigans. Absolute babe.



And another from Crebassa, this time velvety Impressionism.



Here is my favourite operatic duet. Gotta be this version as well - my mother owned the VHS in the 80s and it was never usurped in my affections, Shawshank ladies included. Again, I love how their voices bring out the best in each other and should mother clack her cloggs before I do, this will top the list of funeral tunes.

https://youtu.be/gaVIwwNhocg
 
2much2young, you deleted your Bronson post! Gush away, dude.

In my reply, now also deleted (because it would make no sense without yours), I linked to this famous aria, because you mentioned listening your neighbour, who loved Puccini and I saw the opera it is from for the first time earlier this year - totally forgot about it the other day when swooning over Sabine and Marianne.

 
Sorry deleted it by mistake!! It’s been a long day!!

Yes Puccini, I would often turn the music/TV off in my own house to listen to her’s playing at full blast!! It was never the same when she switched from Vinyl.

I’ll be binging out on your thread this xmas.
 
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Sorry deleted it by mistake!! It’s been a long day!!
Not in a bad way, I trust. For what it's worth, I've done similar myself countless times.

Yes Puccini, I would often turn the music/TV off in my own house to listen to her’s playing at full blast!! It was never the same when she switched from Vinyl.

I’ll be binging out on your thread this xmas.
Hope you find something you enjoy, dude.

Was just thinking that having posted O Mio, maybe now is a good time to shoehorn in this epic even though it is totally not opera and I have posted it to death over the years (fave piece of music ever). The Puccini opera in question is quite short, so featured after the interval for headliner Stravinsky. This was first time I have seen Rite performed by BOTH a dance troupe and live orchestra. It was fucking awesome. Today I'm going with the Yoel Levi/Atlanta version - read: the best version in my not-so-humble opinion. :lol: The dynamics are just incredible...the Pixies of Rite, basically...and the tempo never drags. YouTube keep taking it down, which is a pain in the butt when I can't find my album, but the codger's commentary appears to have saved this one from a similar ban. The piece starts at 2m12s.

 
I really don't know nuffink about classical but I've been listening to a lot of symphonies over the last couple of years and this one is my favourite.
 

I absolutely love The Bridegroom. Will give the others a sniff later, cheers.

I really don't know nuffink about classical but I've been listening to a lot of symphonies over the last couple of years and this one is my favourite.

Ditto this - I don't really know much by Brahms. On the subject of symphonies generally, one of my Christmas voucher acquisitions was a much-longed for Vaughan Williams boxset featuring all nine of his plus sundries conducted by Andrew Davis with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. It's flipping lush and I know you're partial to a bit of Lark, so consider this a recommend.

I came online to post this, which has been rinsed over the last month or so. Posting both the YouTube link and Bandcamp, the former being devoid of flow-interrupting track jumps (HD available - fave section 9-10mins), the latter for mini blurb and purchase options. Hauntingly beautiful.



https://el-se.bandcamp.com/releases
 
I want to get some classical CDs for my music collection, but I confess mostly ignorance when it comes to what is what.
I mean I grew up with Vivaldi (my mum was a huge baroque fan), and my dad like Holst (Particularly the Planets), and my history teacher would spend lesson educating us on the finer point of why Mozart pissed over Beethoven (not that I necessarily agreed, but it beat learning about Maria Theresa!), but apart form liking Rimsky Korsakov when it is on classical fm (I listen to it in the car for driving, to help cope with the traffic) I feel there is soo much I am missing out on. So I would really appreciate if you could give me some particular names (and particular recordings, as people seem to say it matters who plays the piece as much as the piece in many ways) to start me off. I don't like listening to youtube as I find their compression really awful and i've become an audiophile, or maybe my hearing has just got shot as I got older.
 
....when in a conspiratorial frame of mind, I think it’s no coincidence.

“You should view the world as a conspiracy run by a very closely-knit group of nearly omnipotent people, and you should think of those people as yourself and your friends.” - Robert Anton Wilson
 
Krzysztof Penderecki, composer of the most disturbing piece of music I ever heard, has died. The piece in question is linked in the first article - the second expands on his life and influence a little.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/mar/29/composer-krzysztof-penderecki-dies-aged-86

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/mar/29/a-guide-to-krzysztof-penderecki-music

Here he is conducting the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra performing Gorecki's Symphony of Sorrowful Songs with Beth Gibbons as unlikely soloist. It seems rather fitting somehow, having also been inspired by bereavement, albeit of a more personal nature, and being one of the last recordings he ever made.

RIP




EDIT: Dead linked fixed. Full performance, this one! ^^^ I wonder how long it will be before the copyright police come calling? Catch it while you can.
 
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