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Post by Phaedrus on Apr 1, 2020 10:35:32 GMT -5
It’s the birthday of the pianist and composer Sergei Rachmaninoff, born in Novgorod, Russia (1873). He was a halfhearted student in his early days at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, and his teachers felt he probably did not have much of a career ahead of him. He grew to be a tall, imposing man (Igor Stravinsky called him “a six and a half foot scowl”), and his hands were so big they could span an interval of 13 keys on the piano. He escaped from Russia just before the Revolution and spent most of the rest of his life in the United States. When Vladimir Horowitz arrived in New York City, the two pianists sealed their friendship by going down into the basement of Steinway and Sons and playing Rachmaninoff’s own Third Piano Concerto (1909). Horowitz played the solo part on one piano, and Rachmaninoff the orchestra reduction on another. Rachmaninoff was in the middle of writing his famous Second Piano Concerto (1901) when his first symphony received a lukewarm response. He stopped writing music for three years, during which he felt as though he was a man who had suffered a stroke, losing the use of his head and hands. He was able to overcome his nervous breakdown by visiting a psychiatrist, who cured Rachmaninoff by repeating the following words to him each time they met, “You will write your Concerto. You will work with great facility. The Concerto will be of excellent quality.” Rachmaninoff’s music was very popular, particularly his piano compositions, which were filled with dark and massive chords and strong melodic lines. Prokofiev once remarked, “With Rachmaninoff, all its notes stood firmly and clearly on the ground.” His most famous works include various piano concerti, Symphony No. 2 (1907), and the Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini (1934).
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Post by Wolfgang on Apr 1, 2020 11:53:06 GMT -5
Rachmaninoff is one of my favorites. I've got all of his piano concertos, some of his piano sonatas, and a few other works on CD. In the film Shine, the lead character played by Geoffrey Rush suffers a mental breakdown while trying to master Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3.
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Post by Wolfgang on Apr 1, 2020 12:00:57 GMT -5
Rachmaninoff had big hands which was evident in his piano compositions. He required pianists to hit big chords that really stretched the physical limits of the finger spread. My piano teacher had small hands and she said she cheated a lot with Rachmaninoff by not playing certain notes simply because she couldn't reach them.
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Post by Wolfgang on Apr 1, 2020 12:30:29 GMT -5
A Rachmaninoff classic:
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Post by Wolfgang on Apr 1, 2020 15:53:45 GMT -5
One of the first major Mozart pieces (Piano Sonata No. 12, K. 332) I ever learned. Hours and hours of practice. Amazingly, I never got tired of it, in contrast to Schumann pieces which always drove me crazy as if they were poisoning my brain.
Interestingly, in the Mozart sonata, it sounds very "jazzy" in the section from 1:10-1:30 with a lot of dissonances and off beat syncopations.
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Post by nowhereman on Apr 1, 2020 17:18:38 GMT -5
Happy birthday SErgei! 2nd Piano Concerto with Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini with New YOrk PHilharmonic and Gary Graffman is probably my favorite recording. Third Piano concerto is with Vladimir Horowitz and also the New York Philharmonic.
Speaking of birthdays March 31, 1732 marked the birthdate of Franz Joseph Haydn, the father of the symphony.
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Post by nowhereman on Apr 1, 2020 17:24:46 GMT -5
Compositions that I hate: (You've probably heard all of these pieces even if you don't recognize the names/titles) 1. Fur Elise (Beethoven) 2. Ninth Symphony (4th Movement) aka "Ode to Joy" (Beethoven), sorry Phaedrus3. Fifth Symphony (Beethoven) 4. "The Happy Farmer" from Album for the Young (Schumann) 5. "Traumerei" from Scenes from Childhood (Schumann) 1. Fur Elise was one of the pieces I played at a recital when I was still in grade school. 2. I agree on the 4th movement of Beethoven's NInth. I'm so used to listening to instrumental classical music that this indeed seems like an abomination. Having said that I still have several recordings... Still enjoy the first, second and third movements. 3. Beethoven's Fifth was the first orchestral work I ever listened to. My dad had classic recordings from the 1960s and for a long time it was my favorite. Over the years I've come to not enjoy the second and third movements as much. Beginning to end I prefer Beethoven's Sixth aka Pastoral. Even #7......
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Post by nowhereman on Apr 1, 2020 17:31:24 GMT -5
I know there are lots of music that suffers from over exposure. Those you listed are all pieces that falls into that category. Pachelbel's Canon, the Nutcracker, Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik are some others. How about these not so overexposed pieces? 1. Dvorak Slavonic Dances - he composed 16. My favorite is #4. 2. Dvorak Czech Suite 3. Dvorak Piano Quintet, Op. 81 4. Tchaikovsky Symphony #3 aka "Polish" 5. Beethoven Piano Concerto #1 6. Saint Saens Piano Concerto #1 7. Mozart Piano Concerto #20
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Post by Wolfgang on Apr 2, 2020 19:13:28 GMT -5
This is the piece that should be coming out of your speakers when you're holding a pretentious catered wine and cheese party. Business casual please.
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Post by hammer on Apr 2, 2020 19:31:00 GMT -5
This is the piece that should be coming out of your speakers when you're holding a pretentious catered wine and cheese party. Business casual please. I always thought Vivaldi's Four Seasons Spring was right up there on the pretentious scale ...
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Post by Wolfgang on Apr 2, 2020 19:39:27 GMT -5
This is the piece that should be coming out of your speakers when you're holding a pretentious catered wine and cheese party. Business casual please. I always thought Vivaldi's Four Seasons Spring was right up there on the pretentious scale ... Yeah, that would rank up there, too. Quite possibly at #2.
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Post by vup on Apr 3, 2020 10:28:55 GMT -5
I happen to be in the camp that Beethoven's 9th is the magnum opus of magnum opuses.
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Post by vup on Apr 3, 2020 10:38:07 GMT -5
Liszt's transcriptions for Beethoven's 9th for two pianos is glory defined. Check out 52:25 in the following performance:
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Post by Wolfgang on Apr 3, 2020 10:55:40 GMT -5
I wonder if page-turning people mess up. I don't think the performer stops playing at that point, but I'm sure they get angry inside.
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Post by cindra on Apr 3, 2020 11:40:19 GMT -5
I wonder if page-turning people mess up. I don't think the performer stops playing at that point, but I'm sure they get angry inside. There are some funny videos of it on youtube. The page is mostly there as a crutch, the performers have practiced so much they could play it off the top of their head. If the page turner physically messes up the performer by dropping the sheets on them or something it's a problem, otherwise it's pretty easily fixed.
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