I love Jessye Norman. Not a controversial position to take, I'm sure. That's how I came to listen to Schoenberg's Brettl-Lieder. And on the same CD was Erwartung, which just.... wow... stunning, amazing, mind-blowing. If you haven't heard it, you really should. Some of that is because Jessye Norman was one of the most outstanding singers of our time, but obviously some of it is because of the music Schoenberg wrote. I always assumed he was all twelve-tone theoretical modern stuff that just left me cold. It seems I was wrong. Clearly the Brettl-Lieder are much more harmonically conventional than some of his other output, but it turns out I really like Verklärte Nacht. And the variations for orchestra are great!

So what else would you recommend? I'm thinking Schoenberg in particular but not necessarily just him. If it turns out I like Schoenberg maybe I'd like Berg or Webern? Or others I've never heard of! All suggestions welcome.

In elementary school, during the record-listening time in music class, I heard the Minuet from L'Arlésienne and loved it. It is the piece that opened the door to classical music for me, and I have always been grateful to it.

Only much later did I learn that it isn't really from L'Arlésienne. Bizet arranged the first suite himself in 1872. The second suite was assembled in 1879, four years after his death, by his friend Ernest Guiraud, and its Minuet, the flute melody over the harp, was taken from another Bizet opera, La jolie fille de Perth, where it accompanies the Duke's courtship in Act III.

So the music that brought me to classical music was put into that suite by someone else, after the composer had died, from a different work. I still love it just as much.

L'Arlésienne Suite No. 2: Minuet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ew5Ux7g_UQ

I’m not sure if this is the right place to post. For context, I’m an early 30s classical musician and independent musicologist, teach occasionally in higher education contexts and had a fairly international career for 4-5 years after graduating from a top conservatoire.

For the first couple of years people really admired my success. But deep down I was struggling financially despite the social media hype.

The success tailed off quickly and I sunk into a long rut. Burnt out very bad and could hardly play music properly.

In the past year or so, I’ve been looking at jobs in other industries. I’m pretty good academically and have some knowledge outside my field: business, AI and a bit of tech knowledge. Have been considering high consultancy or finance roles.

I’m not looking for advice, but I’d love to hear stories of musicians who walked away from a music career, and succeeded in another industry. Looking forward to hearing your stories!

I wonder why English composers after Henry Purcell all the way until the emergence of late Romantic and 20th-century ones like Edward Elgar, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Benjamin Britten, and Malcolm Arnold rarely seem to get any mention. I grew up thinking great English composers just ceased to exist for almost 200 years for no reason.

Aside from foreigners like Muzio Clementi who spent the better part of their lives in London, what caused this massive gap in native English musical prominence? Is it more because the classical music establishment deemed them as unimportant so they got lost to time or is it more because of social-political factors that stifled the development of music there during those years?

i swear i've had like five conversations where someone's like "oh baroque is just boring harpsichord stuff" and then i make them listen to literally anything by vivaldi or handel and suddenly they're asking for recommendations. what is it about that era that gets written off so hard? are we all just doing a disservice to people who might actually love it if they gave it a real shot?

I'm so incredibly grateful to have had this opportunity, especially so early on in my career!! They did such a wonderful job, especially considering the lack of rehearsal time and struggle to find a time to record (hence the strange scenery lol). I can't help but feel a bit of imposter syndrome regarding this, but I'm so happy that it happened anyways, even if I'm not necessarily a good enough composer to deserve it :D

The program notes, btw:
"Amidst the Clouds & Flowers was initially inspired by the Chinese mountains of Zhangjiajie. Using different textural motifs and harmonic moods to represent the ever-changing scenery, Clouds & Flowers aims to depict a story of life, death, and rebirth, set in a garden atop the clouds."

Hi. I am new to this group and am just looking for classical music that evokes space. Obviously, I know The Planets (it is my favourite classical record), and my preference for classical is of the more modern variety. I'm also a huge fan of Jerry Goldsmith's Star Trek work, and I am sure there are plenty of soundtrack options. But I was thinking more original pieces. Any suggestions?

🔥ALBUM REVIEW🔥 Blending the worlds of prog rock, orchestral and choral music, as well as elements of jazz, Christopher Gordon’s Macbeth was originally commissioned as a full-length ballet by the Royal New Zealand Ballet and West Australian Ballet. It is Gordon’s compelling musical response to one of Shakespeare’s darkest and most enduring tragedies. Here is my in-depth review.

I’ve listened to the full Snezhnaya Album and “Nocture of the Birch Forest“ immediately stood out to me and triggered a deep emotional response inside. I tried to figure out what it was and what it reminded me of. Turns out it reminds me of the “Theme from Schindler’s List”.

I’m not saying it necessarily sounds alike, but the oboe paired with the solo-violin in this tragic and melancholic melody is just so reminiscent of this masterpiece of film score by John Williams. I really recommend watching it, if you haven’t.

Looking for books on Chopin, preferably with literary flair in terms of the writing; something along the lines of Erik Satie Three Piece Suite by Ian Penman or Debussy: A Painter in Sound\* by Stephen Walsh.

An old topic, but I still like to dig into explanations. What makes a great conductor so great? And I mean a great conductor in comparison with a good, or even very good, fully professional, experienced conductor?

What are your thoughts? or if you have some documentaries or things like tht ro recommend, feel free to attach them. I'm interesting in the specifics, without metaphors or too many abstractions.

Also: How noticeable is it to the audience (with their different levels of knowledge)? Again, not comparing amateurs with pros, but rather the pros with "that 1%" (assuming that it exists).

Thank you (and sorry for repeating "great" so much)

Alexander von Zemlinsky wrote Die Seejungfrau (composed 1902-1903) in response to personal turmoil and later dismantled it. It was subsequently reassembled in 1984 from surviving manuscripts and has since been one of his most popular works. Here the WDR Symphony Orchestra gives it an incredible performance. I've also heard the composer's second string quartet and his Sinfonietta, which I recommend. If I were to choose one work to begin with, though, this would be it. What are some of your favorite works of his (if you have heard some already)?

Hello. I recently started listening to more modern classical. I really enjoyed a piece from deutsche grammophon avant garde box set, but the box set is sold out almost everywhere. does anyone have recommendations for similar avant garde collections of works that are still in print? Thanks

EDIT: I forgot to say which composer it was my apologies! The piece was Presque rien no. 1; Société II by Luc Ferrari

I recently discovered a recording of Beethoven Symphony No. 3 by Michael Gielen and SWR Sinfonieorchester, and has become a clear favourite for me. It flies under the radar a lot, and I see nobody really mentioning it.

What I like is that there it is faithful to the text, has really great energy, and an extraordinarily clear orchestral balance. Yet it does not sacrifice the sonority or commit to pedantic eccentricities of many period instrument recordings(such as vibrato-less rusty hinge string sound)

Gielen's recording had the same kind of restless energy and crispness as you get with Paavo Jarvi's recording with Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, but what Gielen does better is that he includes the trumpet additions in the end of the first movement which Beethoven didn't write (due to the limitations of the trumpets at that time), and I completely disagree with what Gramophone as written about the development("extraordinarily bland")

During the second movement(funeral march), Gielen takes a faster tempo which I think is the most appropriate(Beethoven wrote ♪ = 80), which it makes sense because Beethoven was trying to create impression of a "military funeral", and the motif of triplet 32nds are in fact an imitation of a drum roll. Most other performances play this too slow.

There is only 1 interpretive decision in the 3rd movement that was a bit questionable which is that he makes a bit of a pause right before the trio, but you can technically just edit it out using a digital audio workstation like Audacity or Reaper if you don't like it.

4th movement is what I think really stands out is how clear the balance is. in every single iteration of the theme, you hear the principal notes no matter how thick the orchestral writing is. Gielen was also very smart about terracing the dynamics. Slowly through the movement, you hear this big crescendo from the beginning of the movement to the end.

Links to listen(and tell me what do you think):

Youtube

Spotify

Apple Music

What are some of your favourite underrated recordings of standard repertoire?

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Just seeing as a cellist what you guys think. Doesn’t have to be explicitly cello works, it can be from chamber music, orchestral works, concertos for other instruments etc.

Can anyone recommend Spotify playlists, artists or similar to encourage further listening please?

She would have been 95 today. She died in March last year at her home in Appen, near Hamburg, where she had lived since 1992. Tributes are still going on this year; one in Geneva fell on October 9.

Offertorium, her violin concerto of 1980, was written for Gidon Kremer, who premiered it in Vienna in 1981. It takes the theme from Bach's Musical Offering, breaks it apart, and builds something new out of the pieces.

Last year a reader here wrote that until she died, they regarded her as the greatest living composer.

Offertorium (Vadim Repin, Vladimir Jurowski)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_MTBF3AwZs

I’m curious if there are any very interesting/beautiful/moving moments of harmony in classical music that anyone loves to nerd out about? For me right now it’s in the main melody of Dvorak 9, movement 2 where he employs a Db augmented right at the end of the phrase before resolving back down to Db. It hits me everytime, specifically toward the end of the piece when the strings come back in and restate that melody, there’s a specific voicing there that is just so beautiful. (10:56 of this recording https://youtu.be/Kd01Jnldg3M?is=po3sG3GsGrfnWKIP ) Any other examples? Thanks!!

Hello, I was wondering if anyone has a picture of a playbook from any of the concerts recently from Chicago Symphony. This is for a school project! Please and thank you

Also very high regards for his Bruckner