And put on an all-Tchaikovsky night with pianist, Olga Kern, playing Piano Concerto One. It was breathtaking, but the night was marred by yet another musician defecting to more salubrious pastures. The Concertmaster, Emmanuelle Boisvert, has been picked off by the Dallas Symphony.
This marks about the eighth or tenth musician lost since the strike. And probably the biggest loss. Can we resume the status of a wold-class symphony? Doubtful now. More like a Civic Orchestra. And can Leonard Slatkin be far behind once his contract expires?
Here she is. Emmanuelle Boisvert.
WHAT PIECE OF CLASSICAL MUSIC IS YOUR FAVORITE? I am torn between Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, Beethoven's Ninth and Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto #3.
20 comments:
Very nice music, Patti. I always go with Beethoven. Wagner is a close second.
I wish I could say it was some obscure piece of atonal music that only ten people in the world have heard and understood, but in all honesty it's the 4th movement of Beethoven's 9th--in particular, the "Song of Joy." I can't hear that thing without crying.
Beethoven's 9th & 5th, Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto #1, Copland's Appalachian Spring, and pretty much anything by Mozart. I hated Mahler when I was younger, but I'm really coming around to some of his work now.
I need to learn to like Mahler too.
Too bad, Patti.
I don't know enough to go with other than the obvious, but yes, the "Ode to Joy" is amazing. I do like the "1812 Overture" plus a lot of Mozart, and Offenbach is always fun.
No to Mahler.
Jeff M.
Mahler's 1st (Titan) remains my favorite.
"Roll Over Beethoven" by Berry is my favorite. It is "classical music" is it not?
Although I greatly admire her talent, the shriek of the bow popping against those strings is like nails scratching on a blackboard to me. I wish I was broader in my musical tastes. I'll work on it.
Me, too, Charles. It was the only clip I could find.
Kevin and Phil have an ongoing battle over whether classical music is dead, Chuck. I think you need to get in on it.
I don´t have a specific piece, but though I love Beethoven, Bach is my favourite.
Mahler is WONDERFUL! Start with Symphony 1, it's the most accessible, I think, then #3. I have the entire cycle, the wonderful recordings done some time back with the NY Phil led by Bernstein. Still one of the best sets done.
I read somewhere - Classical Monthly, perhaps, that Slatkin is as good as gone. Still, nothing wrong with a good local orchestra, such as we have here in Portland.
Anything by Mozart.
I honestly don't know if i can pick one favorite. The first classical piece I ever really responded to was Holst's The Planets and it's the one I've seen in person the most times. Followed closely by Mozart's Requiem which would probably top the list if I absolutely had to pick.
My favorite piece to listen to though has to be Rhapsody in Blue followed by anything by Aaron Copeland. His stuff always makes me think of Disney World. I also have this very brassy version of Messiah that I adore, as I'm a major brass junky.
If folks find even a solo violin reading of a bit of Grofe's GRAND CANYON SUITE challenging, I am indeed saddened by how the classical audience has fallen away (this is a kids' concert staple, or was, and with good reason--very accessible, in context certainly).
Music doesn't die, oddly enough, it just becomes less (and then sometimes more) popular.
My goodness, Patti, despite the overabundance of eye makeup, and a clear belief that blondes have more rosin (and/or get to lay more hammers down), what striking-looking as well as talented (one demonstrably) soloists. Detroit hires for glamor, or did?
When that was an option, Todd. Now they will hire those willing to pay for very little although Philly looks to be in bad shape too.
My favorite pieces...tough. Lots of JS Bach vie for that, a little Palestrina before him, Haydn particularly of the "classical" pre-"romantics"...Mussorgsky particularly among the romantics, and Mahler helping pave the way for the likes of Hindemith, Holst, Satie, and all that crowd. My affection for Hovanhess's music appalls my court/ceremonial fellow-fans the most, I think...I see him as no more gimmicky than Copland, at the mutual worst, and comparable at their best. (At their worst, they could've taken lessons from Leroy Anderson as to how to at least make such treacle sprightly.) And, of course, third stream music, not least Monk (increasingly seen as in this tradition, I'd say), Brubeck, Lewis, and Mingus (likewise), as well as the likes of Ellinton and Akiyoshi, of course. John Cage...Varese...Amy Beach...Penderecki...they start to be a cacophony of candidates, more than their work ever was...
The Phil Phil management, as sharp as pudding and as smart as a bag of hammers, made a deal wherein the Kimmel Center got to charge the orchestra for use of their hall, and the Kimmel management got access to the orchestra's space at the Academy for Music for free...if this wasn't a kickback deal, it might as well have been. That and the economy as its been Have Not Helped.
pardon, Academy of Music. A good space, if indeed small, and not deserving of being treated as nothing, particularly when finances of such institutions can be so precarious.
I once danced at the Academy of Music. In middle school, each school represented some aspect of spring. I think our school were leaves and scattered around. Quite a night.
My taste runs to the romantics; Phil's toward the Baroque.
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