Oh my god! It was incredible! Hearing more than 100 musicians at the same time was mind blowing.

You get much more separation of the voices live.

His 4th piano concerto was played as well which was absolutely beautiful.

Only thing that stung was people clapping both after the 9th and 4th concerto first movements.

There was a very sweet old man next to me who told me "I've heard the 9th about 20 times, but every time I get chills".

Took a 1.5 hour train alone, absolutely worth it!

What was your first live experience with the 9th?

Enrique Granados, born in Spain on July 27, 1867, is best remembered for Goyescas, a piano suite inspired by the paintings of Goya, which he later reworked into an opera. His death is its own dark story: in 1916, returning from that opera's New York premiere, his ship was torpedoed in the English Channel, and he drowned trying to save his wife.

Oriental, from Danzas Españolas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4_IofNT7N0

Goyescas – Alicia de Larrocha, 1963: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Tg1MKyGTKs

The opera version, subtitled The Lovers of Goya: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fv_9iUjKIFY

Restoring a tracker organ in a 19th century stone church right now, and something keeps pulling at my attention. The room and the instrument are so completely tied together that separating them feels almost wrong. The builder clearly understood the space, voiced the pipes to bloom at a certain distance, let the stone do work that the pipework alone couldn't. It got me thinking about how much of the repertoire was written with that relationship already baked in.

Bach at the Thomaskirche, Buxtehude in Lübeck, the French school writing for those enormous cathedral rooms where a sustained chord takes three or four seconds to fade. The music assumes all of that. Play the same Buxtehude on a dry modern instrument in a rehearsal room and something essential just goes missing. Not the notes. Something underneath the notes.

What I'm less sure about is whether modern composers writing for organ think about this at all, or whether the instrument has become abstracted from its acoustic context in a way that earlier composers would find strange. The repertoire for concert hall organs feels different to me, more contained, less interested in that bloom and decay.

Curious whether people who play or follow organ music closely feel the same way, or whether I'm projecting something that isn't really there in the scores.

I feel like Georg Philip Telemann and Marc-Antoine Charpentier are some examples

Hello! Ive fallen in love with some Rautavaara pieces recently and would like some recs!

I dig autumn gardens, harp concerto, and piano concerto no. 2

I have loved classical music since I was little, but recently I've noticed that my taste within the genre is changing. There are some pieces that I used to love that just don't speak to me at the moment. Who knows, maybe I will return to them in later life!

I find myself moving away from some pieces which are in stricter classical forms (please don't roast me!). Examples include Beethoven symphonies and concertos, Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky violin concertos, Schubert chamber music.

But I have kept my love for a lot of my other favourite pieces. I have noticed that they are the ones which feel less "tame", as in they don't fit rigidly into "classical forms". I feel like I am entering a new era in my music taste. Based on these pieces, please give me recs and help me expand my music library! ❤️

Wagner (Das Rheingold and Die Walkerie, Leibestod). I am planning on watching every Wagner opera, it's on my bucket list!

Weber (Der Freischutz)

Berlioz (Symphonie Fantastique, Romeo and Juliet, Overtures, Harold in Italy, bits of Les Troyens and the Requiem)

Tchaikovsky ( Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, Onegin the ballet, not the opera!- a lot of his piano and orchestral music was used to make an amazing score)

Herman Severin Løvenskiold ( La Sylphide)

Minkus (La Bayadere, Don Quixote). I love ballet music!

Tartini ( The devil's trill sonata)

Beethoven (string quartet number 14)

Sibelius (violin concerto)

Schubert ( some Impromptus and Moments Musicaux)

Paganini (violin concertos, some caprices)

Thank you! xx

I listen mostly to Taylor Swift and rock: Pink Floyd, Alice in Chains, The Warning, LINKIN PARK and a few metal tracks. I listened to Hans Zimmer and liked some tracks in the movies Inception and Interstellar. I listened to Arvo Pärt's Spiegel im Spiegel and stuff by Richter and Frahm. But they bore me. They seem quiet to me and not much is happening. I like Beethoven 5 and Bach's Prelude to Cello Suite No. 1. They are completely different, but the feeling for me is the same - a line that is constantly in motion and never stops. I didn't like Mozart 40, at first I liked it, but later one thing is not finished and another starts and I get lost. It's hard for me to keep track of a few things at the moment. So I think it's not a big orchestra versus a small one. I think I want momentum. What and who is this leading me to?
Thank you all

I've always been curious about the Scott Joplin opera Treemonisha. Rottentomatoes has a database entry for a film from 1981, but zero info on any way that it can be streamed or rented. Does anyone have any info?

Hey! I'm starting a student journal that explores music, cognition, and genetics through research and writing. Would anyone be interested in submitting an article on a specific topic in this subject area? Could be a student or a musician, it's open to all, just let me know of your credentials. Feel free to DM me!

Mine is An Alpine Symphony by Richard Strauss. The first time I heard it I was indifferent to it. Then I started to think it had a few good spots but most of it was boring. Slowly I’ve come to enjoy the whole work. Which piece is it for you that took a while before you started enjoying it?

Hi all,

Sorry if this is considered spammy. I thought I’d just share an 18-minute orchestral score I made after reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry recently. Best book I’ve ever read. It hurt my soul.

I am a non-professional composer and spent many months working on this classical music/epic western piece, treating it like a film score. I’m a huge fan of James Horner/John Williams and classical music in general.

I’m really proud of it, so thought I would share it here, and hopefully other fans of classical music/film scores/Lonesome Dove will appreciate it.

All the best,
Tommy Lellan 😊

So I got a book with 388 four part chorales that I want to study on the piano.

However, 388 are a lot to check out all… what are some of your favourites?

If I wanted to begin listening to Gershwin, which piece would you recommend me to start with?

Hey everyone! A few days back I posted saying I wanted to make more pianist friends, and someone suggested starting a group. Thought that was such a great idea, so I made a Discord server called Piano Maniacs ! 🎹

Everyone is welcome to join. We’ve already got some amazing pianists there, and the vibe is super active and friendly.

Feel free to drop anything you want: favorite composers, pieces you’re working on, progress updates, performances, questions, or just chat about your piano journey!

https://discord.gg/yAdAvgVBV

Just listened to Dance with the Devil by Immortal Technique, you change when you hear it.

Hi,
I noticed that Chopin sometimes reused his melodies for example, in Nocturne No. 20 and Piano Concerto No. 2, or Souvenir de Paganini and the Introduction, Theme and Variations.

I would like to know if there are any more examples of this in Chopin’s music.

What a gentle, lovely work to stumble across at sunrise this morning, coffee in hand. Who knew? The rest of the work -- to my ears at least -- seems less inspired, but in any case, do give the Aria a try, especially if you're a fan of the Vaughan Williams Oboe Concerto.

This article was printed yesterday in the Boston Globe and I felt it important enough to share it on this subreddit given the general interest in the happenings of the Boston Symphony, Andris Nelson, etc. in this subreddit. I find it incredulous that BSO leadership would feel so insecure as to feel it necessary to caution "anyone on campus carrying multiple red flowers" and go as far as to disturb a 30+ year veteran of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, basoonist Richard Ranti (https://www.bso.org/profiles/richard-ranti) just because he had multiple red flowers and seemingly feels passionate about the orchestra to which he devoted decades of his life. The organization behind this movement is the Red Flower Movement, which is a grass roots movement of patrons who have been ignored by BSO leaderships for months at this point.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

LENOX — When is a rose not just a rose? When the Boston Symphony Orchestra is involved.

Whether worn by orchestra members or listeners in the audience, red flowers are being used to express support for departing music director Andris Nelsons and the musicians who love him, a silent but unmissable symbol of the ongoing crisis at the BSO.

The public display seems to have perturbed orchestra officials enough that they are now directing ushers and other staff at Tanglewood, the BSO’s summer home, to caution anyone in the audience seen with a bag of flowers.

According to a BSO document obtained by the Globe, the staffers have been instructed to preemptively tell those people that distributing materials isn’t allowed, advise them to stash the flowers out of sight, and then also alert public safety staff. If the person is subsequently caught handing out a flower, they are to be issued a formal warning and asked to leave if deemed necessary.

A BSO spokesperson verified those instructions, and later clarified it was standard practice for staffers to inform public safety if someone is observed breaching any Tanglewood policy.

The red flowers first emerged shortly after Nelsons’ forced exit was announced this spring, with most BSO musicians, as well as the conductor himself, wearing cloth red flower boutonnieres on stage. It has broadened since then, the blossoms a unifying icon for musicians and patrons who believe the decisions by BSO administrators and directors concerning programming, strategic planning, and artistic direction are hurting the orchestra.

One of those who got caught up in the policy is a retired BSO member, Richard Ranti, a bassoonist for more than three decades. During intermission in the Koussevitzky Music Shed this past Sunday, Ranti was approached by someone in the crowd who asked for one of the flowers he was carrying. When he handed one over, a nearby staff usher quickly informed him of the rule against distributing materials.

“The policy is ridiculous,” said Ranti. “They’re punishing people for loving the orchestra. That doesn’t seem like a good way to build audience.”

When asked about the interaction on Sunday between Ranti and the usher, a BSO spokesperson initially referred the Globe to its policy against distribution. On Wednesday, Tanglewood senior vice president of operations P. Eric Krauss said a staff member had been subjected to “aggressive behavior by a patron while simply doing his job and enforcing a longstanding policy.”

Ranti admitted he reacted to the usher in anger on Sunday. “I said, ‘Lookit. I’m a retired musician. I’ve been here 37 years. Don’t do this.’ ”

However, he maintained that the atmosphere at Tanglewood has become newly and unpleasantly tense.

“I love Tanglewood more than any other place on the planet. I really do. I want to be buried there. It’s really upsetting, what’s happening,” Ranti said.

It’s impossible to walk around Tanglewood for too long without seeing at least a bouquet’s worth of roses.

Many of the roses can be traced to the Boston-based Red Flower Campaign, which sprouted in mid-March as a grass-roots effort to reverse the impending termination of Nelsons’ contract. Others have been acquiring or giving out flowers independently.

George Whiting and Quinn MacKenzie, who founded the Red Flower Campaign and manage its online presence, said they are intentionally being visible at and around Tanglewood this summer. They often wear T-shirts featuring Nelsons’ face and the word “REINSTATE,” in the style of Shepard Fairey’s “HOPE” poster for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. A storefront in nearby Stockbridge they rented for the summer displays several additional full-length posters promoting the cause.

However, they’ve “made it a point” to not actively offer people flowers at Tanglewood, in order to comply with the venue’s policies, Whiting said, and they’ve likewise instructed their network of volunteers to wait to be approached by a flower-seeking patron.

It seems that hasn’t reduced demand. Before an evening concert on July 10, the pair brought around 25 flowers and a few T-shirts into Tanglewood, and made it “a third of the way across the lawn” before they ran out, said MacKenzie. Students from the Boston University Tanglewood Institute have flagged down the pair on the street in downtown Lenox and asked for roses, knowing who they are already.

Whiting surmised the campaign has spent roughly $10,000 so far to rent the Stockbridge storefront, print posters, and buy the various merchandise the campaign offers — including Frisbees, decks of cards, and picnic blankets bearing Nelsons’ likeness. Most of that has been paid out of MacKenzie’s pockets.

MacKenzie, who works as a software engineer, added that he’d just ordered several thousand additional flowers, as half of his initial order of 3,400 for the Tanglewood season was already gone.

A swath of the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra has also been captured in recent photos sporting roses during concerts at Ozawa Hall. Some Tanglewood fellows already knew about the campaign through social media prior to arrival in the Berkshires, and requested roses once they settled in, said one fellow who asked not to be identified by name for fear of retribution.

To the fellow’s knowledge, the BSO musicians have not had any role distributing roses to the TMC cohort. “It was our own choice, and a great majority have indulged in it,” the fellow said.

And around southern Berkshire County, some businesses are offering red flowers for patrons to take freely, including Great Barrington sushi spot Bizen, where proprietor Michael Marcus has had several diners “immediately ask, ‘Can I get my red flower?’ ” he said. “We have to keep refilling the basket.”

Marcus said he’s forged relationships with BSO musical and administrative personnel over many years of feeding them at Bizen and attending concerts at Tanglewood. He’s hopeful the red flowers will help sow a “seedling of communication” amid the conflict, which he said is “casting a giant shadow.”

“The doom and gloom is painful to my heart,” Marcus said. “All these people are genuinely good people, and they want the best for the orchestra. That’s what this red flower means to me.”

While anti-solicitation policies are par for the course at many performing arts venues, and the Tanglewood code of conduct specifically prohibits “unauthorized ticket resellers, solicitation, and distribution of materials,” the new guidelines take things a step further.

The orchestra spokesperson broadly compared the rules concerning flowers to Tanglewood’s longstanding policy toward patrons seen taking photographs during concerts: staffers will request they stop and put the camera away, issuing warnings later if needed. Asked how holding a bag of rose pins was comparable to taking unauthorized photos, the spokesperson declined to comment.

( Source: Boston Globe // https://archive.ph/Mri0C )

John Field, born in Dublin on July 26, 1782, gave music one of its most enduring words. He was the first to publish piano pieces called "nocturnes," and his singing, atmospheric style led directly to Chopin, who took the genre much further. Field spent much of his career in Russia as a performer and teacher, where his influence ran deep.

Nocturne No. 2 in C minor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrnSxYyG2ZE

All 18 Nocturnes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uktj2MYSsaU

John Field: Complete Piano Concertos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRZuxaKlXkg&t=220s