Let the Games Begin: The Classical Music Draft, Part I

[sardus_pater]

And the final pick is made entirely with the heart and it is J. S. Bach again.

A precise choral prelude from Orgelbüchlein (Little Organ Book). I know Sachsen will give me the entire set, which I don't object to, it's not like there are no other gems in the book (BWV 599, 622 etc.).

But the super highlight for me is a prelude I love and it is BWV 639 - Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ (Orgelbuchlein n. 41).

http://www.mutopiaproject.org/ftp/BachJS/BWV639/Ich_ruf_zu_dir/Ich_ruf_zu_dir-preview.png

A 3 voices counterpoint. The voices sound like separated, each "telling" a different thing in the same context far more then elsewhere in Bach's work. Alongside the higher one which is the original chorale melody (and the pedal) there is the awesome stream of notes of the middle voice, a sublime melody, the real protagonist of the piece IMO.

I could listen to it for hours.

To be noted (and listened to) also the transcription for piano made by Busoni.

01. - W.A. Mozart - Requiem
02. - M. Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition
03. - L.v. Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 14 (Moonlight)
04. - G. Rossini - William Tell (esp. the Overture)
05. - P. Glass - Music in Twelve Parts
06. - J.S. Bach - Brandenburg Concerto No. 1
07. - G.P. da Palestrina - Missa Papae Marcelli
08. - S. Prokofiev - Romeo and Juliet
09. - G. Ligeti - Lux Aeterna
10. - J.S. Bach - Little Organ Book (esp. BWV639 - Ich ruf zu dir)

[Sachsen]

I've been going round and round for a while on this one, even as late as last night before bed, re-listening to several works (am I the only one taking this thing a little TOO seriously???).
No, you're not the only one... I moved a CD player into the bathroom so I could listen to works while showering and shaving in the morning. I went to the library at one point and checked out several CDs of picks that I hadn't heard in awhile and wanted to review. I've been listening to nothing but the Tulsa classical radio station (http://www.kwgs.org/kwtu-new.html) in the car. I've gone a little overboard the last couple weeks. ;)

So - when do we start voting? Maybe give everyone until Friday, 11:59 pm, to get in their picks, then start sending votes to Sachsen by PM?
Man, I hate to start voting when so many people haven't picked yet. I'm going to send them all another PM as soon as the "regulars" have all picked their 10th and give them a day or two to get their lists caught up before we start voting. After all, we need their votes as well!

So come on, everyone - get your 10 picks posted! (And yes, I know, I haven't posted my 10th yet... still thinking about it...)

[Norsk Troll]

I know I'm not in on this "draft" thing, but I'd like to chime in on some cool classical pieces:Then please delete your post, since this "draft" thing isn't over and we don't wish to name pieces not yet selected. You're welcome to add your favourites after it is over (although several of the pieces you mentioned have already been discussed).

[JeffS]

Then please delete your post, since this "draft" thing isn't over and we don't wish to name pieces not yet selected. You're welcome to add your favourites after it is over (although several of the pieces you mentioned have already been discussed).

Done. And sorry. :)

[Smiley321]

I love chamber music, and this piece is as good as it gets for me:

Schubert, C-major string quintet. Exhilarating music, every bit as good as the "Trout" to me, even though I love piano/violin music. This is Schubert at his summit, too bad they didn't have a cure for syphillis back then.

[Iceblink]

10th round... can't believe it's still here... but I didn't see it, and I searched for a couple things...

I take some Mozart. I don't think I have any yet.

Serenade for Strings in G major...

AKA...

Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.

So there!

Sad not to take something else I wanted... but oh well.

[Karl K]

OK, I've been busy in some other forums but I am back...and better than ever.

For my 6th pick in the Classcial Music Draft I select, Hector Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique. .

This piece was inspired by the love of Berlioz's life, Harriet Smithson, who he married two years after the premier of the work.

Leonard Bernstein called this symphony the first musical expedition into psychedelia because of its hallucinatory quality, and because rumor has it Berlioz composed at least a portion of it under the influence of opium.

Berlioz also coined the phrase idée fixe (fixed idea) to describe the notion of a repeating melodic eleement.

It is still programmed widely today.

[Karl K]

For my 7th pick in The Classical Music Draft I select Beethoven's Late String Quartets (Opp. 127, 130, 131, 132, 133, 135).

For some commentators, these quartets, especially the Grosse Fuge (Op. 133) are considered to be the truly first pieces of modern music that get beyond the conventions of romanticism.

Many consider the Lindsay Quartet's renditions the best of a whole raft of fine records; the cycle is done on 4 separate CDs. I own just this one.

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B0000030QN.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V41079229_.jpg

I also own the Alban Berg Quartet's complete set:

http://ec3.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000AQACR0.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

Both are tremendous.

[Karl K]

For my 8th pick in The Classical Music Draft I select Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 8 in C minor (Opus 65).

This was the second symphony Shostakovich wrote during the wartime years and it is dark, tragic, somber -- it really conveys how horrible the war was for the Russian people.

The Soviet government renamed it the Stalingrad Symphony to emphasize its dark tone. But even that was insufficient for the Kremlin, which banned its performance for 10 years after the war.

Shostakovich's reputaton is in decline, but I find this piece of music very moving.

[Karl K]

For my 9th pick in the The Classical Music Draft I select J.S. Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin, BMVs 1001, 1003. 1004, 1005)..

There are many fine recordings; I own this one by Perlman.

http://ec3.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000002RQF.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

Two things about the S & Ps are interesting to me. The first is that Bach wrote out these manuscripts with even a greater precision than he did others in his oeuvre, with all dynamics and phrasing completely spelled out. The second is that, as written, some portions of these works are impossible to play, requiring the player to play all 4 strings at once in a chord. Some players have even used a curved bow in a effort to be true to the score.

[Karl K]

For my 10th and final pick of the The Classical Music Draft, I select Corigliano's Symphony No 1.

This symphony, which debuted in the early 90s and which I heard live with the CSO, when Corigliano was composer in residence, is neo-romantic program music -- it is Corigliano's attempt to come to grips with the AIDS epidemic.

I was pretty blown away when I first heard it, and just listened to it again recently in preparation for this draft. It is a bit more erratic than I remembered, but portions of it are very powerful.

Here's the recording done by Barenboim and the CSO.

http://ec3.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000005E7K.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V1115839127_.jpg

Corigliano is also a very successful film composer. He did the score for Altered States (1980) (Oscar-nominated), Revolution (1985) and The Red Violin (1999) (which won an Academy Award).

[Panfilo]

My 9th Pick is:

Carmen- Georges Bizet

This was the original opera I was going to get. But I guess Turandot had to be included with Nessun Dorma.

Bizet's main achievement.

Three of the most recognizable pieces of music ever created.

Prelude
Toreador Song
and my favorite Habanera

[YankHibee]

As I suggested I would be doing, I'm including John Cage, who has local connections through the fabled Black Mountain College http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Mountain_College.
http://content.answers.com/main/content/img/webpics/John_Cage.jpg

My selection is Roaratorio: An Irish Circus on Finnegans Wake http://www.johncage.info/cdlabels/cdcovers/wergoroaratorio.jpg

Roaratorio, Cage's 1979 composition, is a work of staggering complexity. To put it simply, it involves several elements all working together at once to create a soundscape of Finnegans Wake. Basically, there are three simultaneous elements:
(1) John Cage reading lines from the text, selected so as to form the mesostic "JAMESJOYCE" over and over again. (A mesostic is when several horizontal lines of poetry are written, one on top of the other, and a word is spelled vertically through a strategic placement of letters.) The actual excerpts from the Wake were selected by a process that combined arbitrary rules with elements of artistic preferece, creating a unique overview of the entire novel. The "libretto" is not read straightforwardly, but is alternately spoken, sung, hissed, shouted, muttered, whispered....
(2) A barrage of sound effects, all inspired from the text, many recorded in Ireland and other geographical locations mentioned in the novel. This adds up to literally hundreds of sound effects: thunder, explosions, breaking glass, birds, bells...! Limited to a manageable amount through chance operations, the effects were then keyed into the work at the places where they appeared in the Wake itself.
(3) Irish traditional music, played at various times at various intensities: jigs, reels, airs and songs, forming an ambient presence like music drifting from a Dublin pub into a busy street.
The overall effect of the compostion is quite striking and certainly unique. The elements are not intended to work harmoniously, nor are they intended to relate to each other; but they are all linked to the master plan of the novel itself, conspicuous by its very absence. Hence the term "An Irish Circus," which brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation to the idea of cycles, or rather several competing cycles each with their own center of attention -- a circus to reflect our environment itself.

http://www.themodernword.com/joyce/music/cage_roaratorio.html

[Norsk Troll]

My 9th Pick is:

Carmen- Georges Bizet

This was the original opera I was going to get. But I guess Turandot had to be included with Nessun Dorma.

Bizet's main achievement.

Three of the most recognizable pieces of music ever created.

Prelude
Toreador Song
and my favorite HabaneraI think it's been gone since the early rounds (and your not the first person to try and select it again).

[Panfilo]

I think it's been gone since the early rounds (and your not the first person to try and select it again).

D'oh

Dam Gringo Tex and his movies.

Back to the drawing board.

[DoctorD]

sachsen, do we get a paragraph or two to lobby for our draft choices?

[Haole]

My 10th pick:

Fantasia X, Mudarra

The vihuela preceeded the guitar and, Alonso Mudarra wrote many fine pieces for this instrument as well as the early guitar. Many a guitar geek has spent some time in a stairwell or, better, a big booming chapel and let this Fantasia X ring out. You can play Mudarra's music till your hands freeze up - they are fun to play and just ring out with that distinctive Spanish Renaissance sound.

Here's one of the great performances: Julian Bream in Spain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEWhgYtotuc

[Haole]

No, you're not the only one... I moved a CD player into the bathroom so I could listen to works while showering and shaving in the morning. I went to the library at one point and checked out several CDs of picks that I hadn't heard in awhile and wanted to review. I've been listening to nothing but the Tulsa classical radio station (http://www.kwgs.org/kwtu-new.html) in the car. I've gone a little overboard the last couple weeks. ;)


Well, this is good to hear. I've been pouring through my WMP files, googling, listening all day and so on....I can't make the BIG, FINAL pick some blockbuster concert favorite....I just went with some pieces at the end of the draft that really have touched me through the years. Guitar pieces. The only repertoire I'm really comfortable discussing and, have run my hands over a few thousands of times.

We should post a list of pieces, after the draft ends, to see where everyone is at. It's good to see some of these pieces mentioned that I haven't thought about or heard in many years.

Cool stuff, this is.

[Haole]

I've been quite surprised by the quality of writing and, more importantly, the number good links provided by Wikipedia.

Anyone else working the Wiki?

[Haole]

As I suggested I would be doing, I'm including John Cage, who has local connections through the fabled Black Mountain College


A toast to Robert Creeley...speaking of famous faces in famous places.