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

[Iceblink]

Ok.... so I made my second round pick Saturday at 2:27 PM. Does that mean I can go Sunday at 2:27 and every subsequent day at 2:27?

Or if I miss that and go Sunday at 4:00, do I go Monday at 4:00?

Or did everyone's 24 hour clock start after the 15th pick of the first round, meaning we can all go 24 hours after that pick?

Or when in the world am I supposed to go next for my third pick?

[Sachsen]

Ok.... so I made my second round pick Saturday at 2:27 PM. Does that mean I can go Sunday at 2:27 and every subsequent day at 2:27?

Or if I miss that and go Sunday at 4:00, do I go Monday at 4:00?

Or did everyone's 24 hour clock start after the 15th pick of the first round, meaning we can all go 24 hours after that pick?

Or when in the world am I supposed to go next for my third pick?

Heh.

I asked for votes and got five replies to go along with my own. There was only one vote (and Norsk Troll said he didn't care, but we know better, so that's two) to go with the convolutedness described above. The rest of the opinions opted to continue picking in order, each drafter continuing with a ten-hour clock. So far, everyone is keeping it moving pretty well; we've only had two picks out of twenty-four use their entire ten hour clock. *coughICEBLINKcough* ;)

Bottom line, we'll continue picking in order unless the whole thing drags to a virtual stop in a few rounds, in which case we'll commence with everyone being able to pick every 24 hours.

[GringoTex]

Bizet's Carmen.

Inspired one of Hollywood's greatest musicals:

http://216.168.37.61/posteritati/jpg/C4/CARMEN%20JONES%20CZE.jpg

[sardus_pater]

My second pick is the stunning Pictures at an Exhibition (Hartmann suite) by the savage genius of

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/df/Mussorgsky_by_repin.jpg/200px-Mussorgsky_by_repin.jpg
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky

My pick is the original suite for piano.

Ravel did a good job orchestrating it but IMO while still being great stuff it lacks the crude beauty of the original.

The performance should end with the pianist destroying his instrument.

I love each and every note of it but if I have to chose some highlights... apart from the greatness of the promenade theme I'd say gnomus, the old castle, bydlo, baba yaga/great gate of kiev

Evgeny Kissin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIA8hHXfbC8

I liked how Elena Kushnerova plays here the ending part.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELUtvCvbGKU

Just for fun (and guitarists like me).... watch this adaptation for guitar... impressive playing by Yamashita... to say the least. I thought it was impossible.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FNlwmpU7Rk (promenade-gnomus-promenade#2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ri8oJJ_Vrc (the old castle-promenade#3-tulieres-bydlo)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx3iIlpn5g4 (promenade#4-ballet of the unhatched chicks-schmuyle-the market at limoges-catacombae)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX7RxnNH470 (the hut on hen's legs (baba yaga)-the great gate of kiev)

[sardus_pater]

Simply the most Russian of them all, probably the best as Stravinsky admitted himself - no small feat for Igor.

What about Mussorgsky for the "most russian of them all" title?

The fact he died mainly as a result of his alcoholism is a plus.

[NGV]

My second pick is the stunning Pictures at an Exhibition (Hartmann suite) by the savage genius of

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/df/Mussorgsky_by_repin.jpg/200px-Mussorgsky_by_repin.jpg
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky

My pick is the original suite for piano.

Well, shoot.

That makes two pieces that have been taken from my list so far, both by you (although I was going to pick the Ravel orchestration).

Great choice - I've loved this one since I was a kid.

[Norsk Troll]

if I have to chose some highlights... bydlo
I have very fond memories of playing the solo in bydlo. Not a difficult part, and not one you can let your emotions go crazy on - you have to convey everything without losing a pure and clear tone, nor can you even over-do the dynamic changes - in a lot of ways, you have to let the composition speak for itself. But it does such a good job of it, that you don't want to trade it for a virtuoso solo. Always one of my favourites.

[Sachsen]

Bizet's Carmen.

Inspired one of Hollywood's greatest films:

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/6300216810.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V1122563297_.jpg

FYP. ;)

[Michael K.]

I like the way this draft has proceeded thus far. With a round and a half gone, we've seen a nice even distribution of undisputed "canon" works, personal favorites, and things that fall somewhere in between.

This, however is one of my totally instrumental picks.

Assuming that picking the entire Ring cycle would go against the spirit of the game, if not the rules, I'm picking Wagner's Die Walkure.

It is prototypical Grand Opera, and of course, Ride Of The Valkyries is among the most iconic pieces of music created in the past 130 years. It is saturated with Cultural Importance, even in the minds of those who do not and would not know or care anything about opera/classical music.

And since GringoTex revealed his cinema-derived selection strategy, I sense it'll force him to go back and make one change on his draft board. Strategery.

My favorite performance is, of course;

http://www.wiseacre-gardens.com/buttons/opera/opera_.jpg

Kill da wabbit, kill da wabbit, kill da wabbit.

[scottinkc]

. I'd like to know which recording of this is the best. I have one that I don't like so much.

The "Flute" mentioned with Ziesak and Sumi Jo (swoon) is a good one. I prefer my Taminos a little more full blooded, so would probably go with an old Fritz Wunderlich recording over Heilmann (Fischer-Dieskau is the Papagano, but I don't remember the rest). There is a pretty good video from the Met, from about 1990, with Kathleen Battle and Francisco Araiza, which is not too bad.



What about Mussorgsky for the "most russian of them all" title?

I could go along with this, more so than Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky was certainly the more popular, but I think his works show a huge influence by the German Romantic composers of the time. With a couple of exceptions, I think they could almost pass for German pieces. Mussorgsky, and other members of The Six, had more of that "crude beauty" which I would associate more with pure Russian music.

[scottinkc]

And I would like to state right now that, regardless of his future picks, I WILL NOT vote for Karl K. The sole reason being his use of the word "fiddle".

[Sachsen]

Kill da wabbit, kill da wabbit, kill da wabbit.

Bwunhilde is hot.

http://gallery.awn.com/data/521/WhatsOperaDoc.jpg

[Norsk Troll]

The "Flute" mentioned with Ziesak and Sumi Jo (swoon) is a good one. I prefer my Taminos a little more full blooded, so would probably go with an old Fritz Wunderlich recording over Heilmann (Fischer-Dieskau is the Papagano, but I don't remember the rest). There is a pretty good video from the Met, from about 1990, with Kathleen Battle and Francisco Araiza, which is not too bad. I think the Jo recording with Arnold Ostman conducting, with Barbara Bonney as Pamina, might be considered better than the Solti performance. Claudio Abbado has a recording that just came out recently with an unheralded cast, but it is apparently getting rave reviews (http://www.opera.co.uk/magazine/cdreview.htm). I have the Harnoncourt Zauberflote, also with Bonney, paired nicely with Hans-Peter Blochwitz as Tamino. I'm happy with it - one quirk of the recording is that they replaced the bulk of the spoken recitativo with a woman narrator - that doesn't ruin it for me, since all those bits are separately tracked, and I skip them anyway (as I would also skip the recitativo - when I'm listening only, I don't really feel the need to sit through that).

[Sachsen]

I think the Jo recording with Arnold Ostman conducting, with Barbara Bonney as Pamina, might be considered better than the Solti performance. Claudio Abbado has a recording that just came out recently with an unheralded cast, but it is apparently getting rave reviews (http://www.opera.co.uk/magazine/cdreview.htm). I have the Harnoncourt Zauberflote, also with Bonney, paired nicely with Hans-Peter Blochwitz as Tamino. I'm happy with it - one quirk of the recording is that they replaced the bulk of the spoken recitativo with a woman narrator - that doesn't ruin it for me, since all those bits are separately tracked, and I skip them anyway (as I would also skip the recitativo - when I'm listening only, I don't really feel the need to sit through that).

I LOVE Barbara Bonney in my recording of the St Matthew Passion (John Eliot Gardiner) -- Pamina seems like it would be a great role for her crystal clear voice. I'll have to try out the Ostman.

[Norsk Troll]

I'm picking Wagner's Die Walkure. ...

Kill da wabbit, kill da wabbit, kill da wabbit.While Bugs Bunny was a actually a great introduction of the opera to kids, the real opera is simply wonderful. Had I not taken Tristan, I would have taken Walküre.

Wotan's farewell to Brünnhilde and Magic Fire music is simply outstanding - and what a way to close an opera!

http://www.ffaire.com/wagner/fire.jpg

[Norsk Troll]

I LOVE Barbara Bonney in my recording of the St Matthew Passion (John Eliot Gardiner) -- Pamina seems like it would be a great role for her crystal clear voice. I'll have to try out the Ostman.She is one of my favourite all-time sopranos. And for some trivia, she's related to Billy the Kid (William H. Bonney).

[Haole]

I could go along with this, more so than Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky was certainly the more popular, but I think his works show a huge influence by the German Romantic composers of the time. With a couple of exceptions, I think they could almost pass for German pieces. Mussorgsky, and other members of The Six, had more of that "crude beauty" which I would associate more with pure Russian music.


I think they all owe more to Glinka for their language than anyone.

Stravinsky manned the barricades for Tchaikovsky whenever the latter's "Russian" musical character was under question.

Here's part of a Stravinsky letter from 1922:

" I wish to emphasize that I have always felt a close communion with the spirit that animates Tchaikovsky's music, as well as with the "sense" of his art. The love that I have for 'Boris Godunov', or for a symphony by Borodin, and my esteem for "The Five," does not imply that I adhere to their tendencies, of which my own music has been mistakenly regarded as a continuation. On the contrary, I feel far closer to a tradition founded by Glinka, Dargomizhsky, and Tchaikovsky. The Russianism of "The Five" is manifested above all in an opposition to the conventional Italianism that reigned in Russia. Also, "The Five" found its voice in a picturesqueness that easily caught the imagination of foreign audiences. But this is over, and the old opposition to Italianism no longer has any raison d'etere. We now savor anew those works in which the need for the picturesque - which now seems to me to be conventional - has been superseded.

Tchaikovsky may wear a top hat with his Russian blouse and belt, but the boyars' costumes fancied by "The Five" were out of date in the period in which they lived. Tchaikovsky is also reproached for being "German." What nonsense, or is this simply to confound him with the pianist Anton Rubenstein? First of all, Tchaikovsky is a melodist, which is not the case with the Germans, who confuse "melody" and "theme." And is Tchaikovsky's melody not more Russian in essence than are the waltzes of 'Sadko' or 'Scheherezade'.?"


In 1934 Stravinsky elaborates further his feelings about the "Russian School" in an article about "Mavra":

"But whereas the esthetic of The Five was directed to the cultivation of the national ethnograhic element that they found [in Glinka] .....Tchaikovsky, like Dargomizhsky and others less well known, continued the tradition established by Glinka, the tradition of which, even though it employs popular Russian melos, does not fear to present it in a Europeanized aspect."

[NGV]

For my second pick, I take Johannes Brahms - Ein Deutsches Requiem (Op. 45).

http://www.filharmonia.krakow.pl/photos/brahms%5B1%5D.jpg


I first got to know this piece by rehearsing and singing it (in a college choir) rather than by listening to it, and I think that's part of the reason I love it so much. It's a piece that may take a little time to fully absorb, but it's really, really worth the time.

All of Brahms' creative powers are in full effect here: Brahms the meticulous craftsman, Brahms the historical scholar, and Brahms the Romantic. Textually, it's far removed from the standard Requiem; Brahms carefully selects and combines German excerpts from the Old and New Testaments, and avoids references to Christ and warnings of divine judgment. Despite the seemingly nationalistic title, Brahms intended this to be a Requiem for all people, and I think he succeeded. That success owes a little to the universality of the text, but owes much more to the timelessness of the music. In my opinion, it's the best Requiem of them all- and there's plenty of competition.

I guess my favorite movement is the second ("Denn alles Fleisch, es ist wie Gras"). They're all great, though.

[Sachsen]

For my second pick, I take Johannes Brahms - Ein Deutsches Requiem (Op. 45).
Yes! FINALLY Brahms makes an appearance -- it took us 28 picks to get him in?? A disgrace. And this is a wonderful work to bring him in on. I have told my wife numerous times that I want this work performed at my funeral... for some reason she doesn't seem too enthusiastic about the idea...

Despite the seemingly nationalistic title, Brahms intended this to be a Requiem for all people
Indeed. An appropriate translation to better explain Brahms' intentions would be "A Requiem by a German" rather than "A German Requiem".

[Norsk Troll]

I have told my wife numerous times that I want this work performed at my funeral... for some reason she doesn't seem too enthusiastic about the idea...Not that she doesn't love you, Sachsen, but really - I mean, have you thought of the cost to have all those performers there? Sure, it's what you wanted, but you're dead, and she has to think about the best way to spend that money on herself and the kids!