I find Beethoven's 7th to be his best work. (The third mvmt of the 9th has always bored me.) Throw in Haydn's last dozen, The Creation, Rossini's Barber of Seville and Italian in Algiers, much of Schubert, Beethoven's 3'd and 5th, the violin concerto and the 5th piano concerto, as well as Mozart's last symphonies, Don Giovanni, and the last string quintets and the clarinet concerto and you have a tolerable playlist.

Also Handel's Messiah which, even if the story is horseshit, has wonderful music.

(March 16, 2015 at 1:31 pm)Minimalist Wrote: Late in the evening of May 1, 1786 Western music hit its absolute peak when the premiere of Mozart's Il Nozze di Figaro concluded. It declined, slowly at first, from that apex until the 20th century when it fell into steep decline.

I knew that you're not a middle of the road person on this matter

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(March 16, 2015 at 1:41 pm)Minimalist Wrote: Also Handel's Messiah which, even if the story is horseshit, has wonderful music.

Yup. I think Bach's St. Matthews Passion deserves its fame as well, even if, well, that.
Some of the Arias in the beginning are a bit drawn out, but there is great drama in there, with these awesome scenes of turmoil, especially when they start to get into the "let's crucify someone" part


That beginning choir (the first ~7 mins before the first recitative) is just completely out there

(March 16, 2015 at 1:37 pm)Alex K Wrote: which I think is one of the most beautiful things I know. This particular recording has a small cast and good soloists, which is great, but they take it relatively fast, which gives it a certain operatic quality. Others, like Gardiner's, sound more monumental and meditative.

Listening to it now while working. Interesting instrumentation. Some kind of lute and a 6 string bass?

To each his own. I don't find Classical, or even Baroque (which I like) overly detached. There's plenty of emotion there. It just isn't really about the emotions of the composer at the time, but rather the mood he was attempting to convey. I like Beethoven, but as concert music progresses into the Romantics I get less and less enthused. It becomes all emotion and no head. Not that there aren't particular pieces from that era that I adore. Modern concert music I simply don't understand.

(March 16, 2015 at 1:45 pm)JesusHChrist Wrote: Listening to it now while working. Interesting instrumentation. Some kind of lute and a 6 string bass?

Yeah, strange thing that! I think it's called a Viol or Gamba.

We have dropped our subscription to the Phoenix Symphony this year because they insist on pairing Great Music with modern shit.

They are doing Beethoven's 9th to begin the 2015/16 season and pairing it with Schoenberg. Later on, they are doing the 7th and teaming it with 20th and 21st century garbage. Really, I don't need to hear 'Sonata for Chain Saw and Piccolo." It spoils the Beethoven!

There's an All Mozart program later in the year. I'll go to that one.

(March 16, 2015 at 1:49 pm)Jenny A Wrote: but as concert music progresses into the Romantics I get less and less enthused. It becomes all emotion and no head. Not that there aren't particular pieces from that era that I adore.

I think I understand what you mean. This is one of my favourite pieces from that era which I'd say falls into the category "plenty of head"

p.s. LOL the cellphone

Jeez I just realize that I don't like the Harnoncourt version

Cool topic - I've been getting into classical music lately, I've never bothered to explore.

Beethoven's 9th symphony is obviously one of the most well know works. My mother has lots of Mozart and Beethoven compilation CD's so I have lots of music to listen to.

I'm also exploring Stravinsky and Schubert. Any recommendations are grateful

(March 16, 2015 at 1:54 pm)Minimalist Wrote: Really, I don't need to hear 'Sonata for Chain Saw and Piccolo." It spoils the Beethoven!

I've been joking that I've composed an elegy for two burning cellos and a silent piano. I don't dig this new nonsense either. I'll defend Schönberg, though!

I'd rather have my nuts slammed in a car door than listen to any of that atonal shit.

I have always gotten a charge out of Praetorius and Susato and others from that early 16th century genre, though.