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

[Karl K]

With my next pick in the draft, I select Chopin’s Polonaise, Op. 44, in F sharp minor.

This is without question my favorite piece of solo piano music. As the Chopin Etudes are exercises in technique coupled with emotion, this piece, running nearly 12 minutes, is all about complexity, grandeur, contrapuntal intricacy. The piece is symphonic in its sweep and musical range. Chopin uses the entire bass register of the piano, and virtually all of the upper register, with astonishing trills and arpeggios through out.

For those who have never listened to it, I ripped the piece from my Evgeny Kissin Chopin Volume 1, his Carnegie Hall Chopin recital. I am sure Evgeny won't mind, especially if you go and buy it. I recommend it strongly.

If you can’t download it, I will give you another method to access if you PM me.

http://www.drivehq.com/file/DF.aspx/1-05%20Chopin_%20Polonaise%20In%20F%20Sharp%20Mi.mp3?isGallery=&share=true&shareID=385628&fileID=7658366&pay=&sesID=tij20o555mbc1abdvomumr55&forcedDownload=true

All the great pianists have done this piece; Kissin’s is spectacular.

The piece starts almost ominously, then moves into its thematic structure, at points elegiac and then percussive. At around 3:30 the mood changes with a military march and trills surrounding the playing of a single insistent note first in the bass register, then the treble…then at around 5:15 a transition to a beautifully lyrical passage, the dance portion, sweet and elegant, which goes on till around 8:15, when the mood turns somber, with a single base line, framed by a set of dissonant, modern, almost atonal arpeggios, then a percussive return to the main theme, with the dissonant arpeggios reappearing. Then a key change as we head to the finale…a simple percussive base line, and then a final triumphant chord concludes the piece.

Simply stunning.

This is Kissin's record. No specific pieces on the cover, so I am sure Sachsen will allow it.
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000003F0R.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V1115838967_.jpg

[Sachsen]

"Bowman was aware of some changes in his behavior patterns... he could no longer tolerate silence... he kept the ship's sound system running at almost painful loudness...

"Thereafter, he played only instrumental music. He started with the romantic composers, but shed them one by one as their emotional outpourings became too oppressive... He finally found peace, as so many others had done, in the abstract architecture of Bach, occasionally ornamented with Mozart.

"And so Discovery drove on toward Saturn, as often as not pulsating with the cool music of the harpsichord, the frozen thoughts of a brain that had been dust for twice a hundred years."

--- Arthur C. Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey

http://g.sheetmusicplus.com/Look-Inside/covers/AP-6-245322.jpg

I defy anyone to name another work that has had more influence on the history of keyboard playing -- perhaps on the history of music. As lovely as the Goldbergs are, their importance pales next to the monumental '48'.

"If all musical masterpieces were to be lost and only the Well Tempered Clavier would survive, we could reconstruct the entire musical literature from this one work." -- Hans von Buelow

"Whenever I became bogged down during the act of composing, I would return to the Well Tempered Clavier and immediately new musical ideas would begin to grow out of me." -- Ludwig van Beethoven

Classical music begins and ends with Bach. End of story.

[Karl K]

For my third pick, I choose

Beethoven- Piano concerto no.5

This is known as the Emperor concerto, and I can't think of a more apt title. The first adjectives that come my mind when describing it are "noble" and "majestic". Emperor indeed.

This was one of my earliest classical listens, but I no longer have the cassette tape, and so have no idea who performed on it (it had a blue cover, if that helps). One of the copies from the library has Rudolf Firkusny, with WIlliam Steinberg and the Pittsburgh Symphony, which I enjoy very much.

Here's my story of why the Emperor has a special place for me.

One June, not a few years ago, the Chicago Symphony season was coming to an end, and my wife, who was 7 months pregnant at the time, and I had our final concert in our Tuesday B series, whose program included the first piece, the Emperor with italian master Maurizio Pollini at the keyboard, and Barenboim at the podium.

The weather turned in Chicago that day; what had begun as a mild weekend turned blisteringly hot into the week.

So we arrive at Orchestra Hall, and the air conditioning is not working!! (This was before the renovation). It is an oven inside. Well, the orchestra staff was generous enought to allow refunds for those who didn't want to endure the heat.

We decided to stick it out, at least for Maurizio. The orchestra members took off their coats and ties, and rolled up their shirt sleeves. The orchestra was a sea of white shirts -- strange view. Pollini and Barenboim kept their ties and tails on. The concert began.

And it was spectacular. We were on the floor, 10 rows back, and could see Maurizio sweating profusely. The Emperor requires a lot of physical exertion. If the heat bothered Pollini, it certainly didn't affect his playing, and his well-known flamboyant stage presence. He was into it.

Standing ovation from the sparse crowd at the end. Proof that even for these high profile concert artists, the show must go on.

My wife had had it...so we didn't stick around for part 2; I can't even remember what the second item on the program was. But I'll never forget the passion Pollini put into the Emperor, in the sweltering heat of Orchestra Hall, that one June day.

[Sachsen]

And to imagine the concert hall in the days before A/C was invented... the scene you described must have been commonplace, which may explain why the audiences were a lot more restless back then -- maybe people rioted at The Rite of Spring 'cause it was too hot! ;)

[Smiley321]

OK, time for the best opening hook of all time:

dut-dut-dut-duhhhhhhhh

Beethoven's 5th Symphony

Powerful, universal, it's in everybody's collection. I had to check and make sure it was still available. How it can fall to the third round, I don't know, are there allegations of steroids when he composed it?

[DoctorD]

OK, time for the best opening hook of all time:

dut-dut-dut-duhhhhhhhh

Beethoven's 5th Symphony

Powerful, universal, it's in everybody's collection. I had to check and make sure it was still available. How it can fall to the third round, I don't know, are there allegations of steroids when he composed it?That means the theme from Dragnet is still available? (Am I dating myself?)

[DoctorD]

I defy anyone to name another work that has had more influence on the history of keyboard playing -- perhaps on the history of music. As lovely as the Goldbergs are, their importance pales next to the monumental '48'.

"If all musical masterpieces were to be lost and only the Well Tempered Clavier would survive, we could reconstruct the entire musical literature from this one work." -- Hans von Buelow

"Whenever I became bogged down during the act of composing, I would return to the Well Tempered Clavier and immediately new musical ideas would begin to grow out of me." -- Ludwig van Beethoven

Classical music begins and ends with Bach. End of story.All 48? shouldn't you choose between the first and second books? :)

I have the Richter recording (recently reissued) and can highly recommend it.

And sachsen - just which temperment are we supposed to use with these works?

[GringoTex]

And for the first out of left ********ing field pick of the draft, I select Michel Legrand's

http://www.moviemartyr.com/images/1964umbrellas01.gif

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EaH8KbIyT4

Cinema's greatest opera.

[Ghost]

OK, time for the best opening hook of all time:

dut-dut-dut-duhhhhhhhh

Beethoven's 5th Symphony

Powerful, universal, it's in everybody's collection. I had to check and make sure it was still available. How it can fall to the third round, I don't know, are there allegations of steroids when he composed it?

You know, I was shocked it wasn't taken in the first round. But when it slipped to me in the second round, I just assumed it would slip to me in the third. A lotof it is because some of the more hardcore afficianados around here want to puff their chests about the depth of their knowledge. It's really incomprehensible that it's fallen this far. It's on frickin' Voyager, for Heaven's sake.

[Norsk Troll]

Classical music begins and ends with Bach. End of story.Bach humbug.

[Norsk Troll]

A lotof it is because some of the more hardcore afficianados around here want to puff their chests about the depth of their knowledge.If you're including me - I took his 9th! I'm not going to take more than one from any composer.

[Karl K]

And to imagine the concert hall in the days before A/C was invented... the scene you described must have been commonplace, which may explain why the audiences were a lot more restless back then -- maybe people rioted at The Rite of Spring 'cause it was too hot! ;)

And think about the uncomfortable concerts in the dead of winter. Imagine trudging through the snow and horse manure in late 18th century Vienna to see The Magic Flute, or the damp and rainy streets of London to hear Haydn, then shivering in the hall as a thousand candles burned and smoked.

Meanwhile, Maurizio Pollini is still going strong, recording and concertizing like mad.

See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurizio_Pollini

Also, some might be interested in this well done radio review of Pollini's new Chopin record by critic Tim Riley at WBUR in Boston.

See: http://www.here-now.org/shows/2006/08/20060823.asp

Go the bottom of the page.

Riley extracts a passage played by Rubinstein, and then the same passage by Pollini. The contrast is striking.

The knock on Pollini is that he is TOO technical: Riley likens him to a surgeon. Yet I think the criticism of Pollini as an emotionless technician is misplaced, and Riley, to his credit, agrees. Pollini wants to extract and shape every note and chord, so the contrast between virtuosity and passion is as clear as can be.

[Ghost]

If you're including me - I took his 9th! I'm not going to take more than one from any composer.

Im almost certain to, particularly at the rate that my limited number of choices have been eaten up. Others complain about having a couple of choices stolen. I've had five ro six - Messiah, Rhapsody in Blue, The Four Seasons, etc.

[Karl K]

You know, I was shocked it wasn't taken in the first round. But when it slipped to me in the second round, I just assumed it would slip to me in the third. A lotof it is because some of the more hardcore afficianados around here want to puff their chests about the depth of their knowledge. It's really incomprehensible that it's fallen this far. It's on frickin' Voyager, for Heaven's sake.

To be honest, the 5th really isn't Beethoven's best symphony: rather, it's his most famous. It isn't incomprehensible at all.

The 9th is way better, the culmination of all of his main ideas. Eroica is more finely crafted.

Anyway, my approach to this draft is to select those pieces of music that are particularly compelling to me personally, and to share the little I know. Nothing more than that.

[Ghost]

To be honest, the 5th really isn't Beethoven's best symphony: rather, it's his most famous. It isn't incomprehensible at all.

The 9th is way better, the culmination of all of his main ideas. Eroica is more finely crafted.


Exactly.

[dtang]

And for the first out of left ********ing field pick of the draft, I select Michel Legrand's

http://www.moviemartyr.com/images/1964umbrellas01.gif

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EaH8KbIyT4

Cinema's greatest opera.


Cool song. I'd vote for a hidden gem like this one than the obvious classics in a heart beat, because "hidden gems" that actually live up to being a real gem are rare. This one is one of the rarity.

[Karl K]

Pollini on Chopin; this is one smart guy.

http://www.deutschegrammophon.com/special/?ID=pollini-nocturnes

Click on Insights, to the left.


One could certainly say that Chopin invented modern piano playing. Perhaps one could also say that he invented the most beautiful sounds in the history of the piano. Debussy and Ravel took over a lot from him. But it's not only his style of piano playing, with its concomitant sonorities, that influenced later generations, it was also his style of composition. As a musician, Chopin is sometimes seen as being "without a father or son". He represents an exceptional and unique moment in music. And it really is difficult to find a "father" for him, even if he looked up to Bach and Mozart.

[DoctorD]

You know, I was shocked it wasn't taken in the first round. But when it slipped to me in the second round, I just assumed it would slip to me in the third. A lotof it is because some of the more hardcore afficianados around here want to puff their chests about the depth of their knowledge. It's really incomprehensible that it's fallen this far. It's on frickin' Voyager, for Heaven's sake.I got my own Beethoven symphony! Before we started I figured that drafters #10 and higher were going to be really pissed off.

BTW, that Ashkenazy recording I recommended also has a great #5 on it (although with an obvious horn mistake in the fourth movement).

[Smiley321]

I got my own Beethoven symphony! Before we started I figured that drafters #10 and higher were going to be really pissed off.

BTW, that Ashkenazy recording I recommended also has a great #5 on it (although with an obvious horn mistake in the fourth movement).

The good news is, everything by Miklos Rosza, Ennio Morricone and Dominic Frontiere is up for grabs

[sardus_pater]

I was planning differently but I go with another piano solo piece before there's no beethoven (that I love the most) left.

Ludwig van Beethoven
opus 27 no. 2 - Piano Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor "Quasi una fantasia"

Otherwise known as "moonlight sonata".

I think it doesn't need explanations... a beauty from the well known, still magnificent, 1st movement to the furious 3d movement.