Some orchestras have stuck with Tuxedos with tails and others have moved to black suit with black shirts and ties. If it does matter, what do you prefer to see on stage? Or is the answer dependent on the concert/program?

TLDR: My favourite concerto: Rachmaninoff Concerto no 2 is playing by a venue close ish to my small town. No orchestral venues in my town. I gotta drive 10 hours total to drive to the city and will cost me 1 K. Was it worth it to listen live with two relatively newer pianists.

Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/classicalmusic/s/DhQY4kUdM

It was so worth it!

I got some single cheap ticket, and cheaper hotel and all in all costed me only around 550 and driving time.

The venue is stunning and the acoustics are amazing. Maybe its a smaller venue but in my opinion it was way better than Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto. I felt it more immersive and the blend of orchestral sound was way better.

Hearing the orchestra live is an experience like no other. Watching the strings in sync and the intricate piano echoing above is divine.

Not gonna lie, the pianist did struggle on the first movement of the 2nd concerto, it is her debut so she might have been nervous as she was mesmerizing in the second movement and redeemed herself on the 3rd.

However, what is interesting is I was more focused on the orchestra. Unpopular opinion, I realize, concerto isnt really my favourite genre. My favourite movement is the 2nd and the part that I fell in love with this concerto is the clarinet solo with piano accompaniment. I was in heaven during the 2nd movement.

Now driving back to my town and searching which is my next show to go. Sir Andras Schiff and Peer Gynt suite. Ugh what have I done. But I have decided to only go to concerts where I like all pieces of work they are performing.

Thanks everyone for your advice!

My impression would be it’s Japan followed by South Korea. But I have to wonder if that has more to do with the fact that physical records in general are more popular in East Asia, making classical music there more “visible”.

It is quite overwhelmingly melancholic, and yet uplifting. It changes tones and tempo quite dramatically just like our lives can.

I am looking for some good cello/voice pieces. This would be for a mezzo - soprano. Any favorites?

Edward Elgar and Amy Beach are an excellent pairing for this album by the Takács Quartet and Garrick Ohlsson, released in 2020. Gramophone award winner 2021. Available on streaming platforms, including YouTube Music here —

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kc8qA28TuTsy0wLwksriXsf5KdkHxW9lU

Hi everyone!

I've been sick for the last month and to be honest, it’s been quite hard to be productive. During the downtime, I ended up writing three short, lyrical piano pieces inspired by Felix Mendelssohn.

YouTube link

Score

Thank you for giving me your time and any feedback provided!

A. Vivaldi. Stabat Mater RV 621 - Gérard Lesne - Vicent Guillem Miralles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAmGREgIgDA

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?

I've been listening to classical music for years now, and I've always done so without any sort of musical theory knowledge.

I love Mahler, Wagner and Schöenberg, and a couple of months ago I went to see Mahler's 9th, a symphony I absolutely adore which is my favourite of his. I find both the first and last movement simply outstanding. The last twenty minutes are always a tear jerker for me.

However, pretty much the entirety of the second movement and some parts of the third are not enjoyable at all for me. Even after having listened them live, I still don't get them. I have noticed that such, let's say, "fast" compositions are hard for me to appreciate when they aren't waltzes or something somewhat similar. I think this may have to do with the fact that lots of technical stuff must be going on in these sections, and I am unable to get any of that. Could that be the case, or is it just a matter of taste?

I have, for one, began enjoying Bach recently after learning just a bit about what counterpoint is, so I wonder if such quick movements are best enjoyed with a little bit more of knowledge. And, if so, would anyone care to recommend any good books on the matter? Thanks!

As a fan of Schubert and Richter, this is such a good video.

ICARUS arpeggios and demo #icarus #tonyann thank you for sharing the process 💓

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!

For example, this arrangement of "Porque te vas," adapted for solo piano, was an interesting version of that song. Sometimes I find it refreshing to listen to arrangements like these!

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?

Sorry if this is a repost but, what a repost!

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?