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Post by Zi on Jan 28, 2023 15:27:50 GMT
I'm listening to The High Road to Kilkenny - Gaelic Songs and Dances of the 17th and 18th Century by Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien
Pavane posted a video of articulation by Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien which reminded me I had one of their CDs so I decided to listen. Historical instruments, bagpipes, Celtic harp, penny whistle - all amazing and joyous.
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Post by pavane on Jan 28, 2023 18:40:28 GMT
I've listened to quite a lot of different things today...
I was going to "attend" last night's Berlin Philharmonic concert but got home too late and missed it. I decided to watch today but was feeling a bit tired and lazy and watched a couple of other things that I'm very familiar with and thus are comfort listening - specifics were Brahms symphony no 4, Mahler no 9, and a Brahms piano concerto.
Having posted earlier about jazz/blues I listened to some Bessie Smith: I like it but haven't listened for a while as it drives Mrs P mental. That led to some Sydney Bechet, and then the clarinet thing led to the Poulenc clarinet sonata and then some Karl Leister (he's a clarinetist renowned for super-duper tone so it's aspirational listening - the actual music was bitza this and bitza that).
I've got some Bach harpsichord music tinkling away in the background (sorry JS!) as I'm typing this.
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Post by evergreen on Jan 28, 2023 22:39:39 GMT
Love Sidney Bechet! I've got several of his CDs but haven't played them for a while, I must get them out again.
I've been listening to Schubert's Impromptus. I can't say I'm familiar with Schubert's music, but a relative heard one of his Impromptus on the radio and liked it, so I bought him the CD for Christmas and then I bought the CD for myself because I liked it too.
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Post by pavane on Jan 29, 2023 10:11:53 GMT
I find Schubert a bit of a mixed bag - I love some of it, but I once had to study the octet and didn't like that very much, and I'm not a big fan of the songs, they are just not my thing.
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Post by Zi on Jan 29, 2023 17:04:06 GMT
Sibelius this morning - Finlandia and Karelia Suite because Finlandia (a small bit of it) turned up in a sight reading exercise for the recorder. Now Pat Metheny's Map of The World because the sunset is beautiful and for some reason I was reminded of this music... no idea why. The CD cover shows a sunset - maybe it was that.
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Post by Zi on Feb 3, 2023 11:41:01 GMT
keff asked me to say which of Einaudi's I Giorni I liked best so that's what I've been listening to and this is what I thought. I’ve listened only once but these are the ones that have had an immediate impact and I’d definitely listen to again. It’s mostly very soothing music – it doesn’t make huge demands on me – I get pictures but they are calm, tranquil very infrequently insistent. I’ve heard Limbo twice now – and I do like it very much. It has some substance. Sometimes I am swept along by the beauty but there’s no impact on me. My husband says that music doesn’t have to make an impact but most of what I listen to (that isn’t recorder music) says something to me that is insistent. So, I’ve probably chosen the more ‘insistent’ tracks… But it’s all subjective remember. And I’ve never been taught how to listen to and interpret music – I just see pictures and make of them what I will. It’s not like poetry or drama or art where I have had some training and know how to look and listen - up to a point! I do think he’d make a brilliant composer for films and Mr Z says he has. I thought that the games industry might use him but having heard two CDs there’s nothing there to show the variety that games often need. He isn’t vehement enough – he’d do the quiet, reflective, intimate bits but often we need huge landscapes and mountains and battle and death and suffering and I’m not sure I can imagine him doing that. He’s too nice. And he always resolves everything – never leaves matters unsettled; and sometimes they can’t be resolved… Here are the ones I’d like to hear again – I think they’re in the order they played… except the Canzone. Melodia Africana 1 and Canzone African IVI giorni
In un'altra vita
La nascita delle cose segrete
Inizio
Limbo
Bella notteI am glad to have listened to him and I'm delighted to have the CDs in my collection. Have I wittered? If so a million apologies.
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Post by keff on Feb 3, 2023 12:10:52 GMT
Thank you Zi, I am really impressed how you have analysed your thoughts on this music. One of the reasons for making this request was to compare the the pieces that you liked and those I attempted to play. My choice was probably made in pieces that I thought were quick wins and these are those that I tackled more or less in order. They also had to be short enough to play to a piano group.
I Giorni,
Limbo
Melodia africana 2
I due fiumi.
Occasionally I would sight read Melodia africana 1, Samba, Melodia africana 3, Quel che resta, Bella notte without seriously trying to learn them.
I shall evaluate those pieces I didn't properly learn in the light of this thread. Thanks again.
Edit. When I first played I Giorni to a piano group I included in the introduction that some pianists are fundamentally opposed to Einaudi's music and often will say that the whole piece is based on one chord. The following month I played Limbo and had primed a member of the audience to ask me if it was based on one chord. My answer..."no, it is based on two'.
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Post by evergreen on Feb 3, 2023 13:00:32 GMT
I'm listening to the sound of silence. Not the Simon & Garfunkel song though!
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Post by Zi on Feb 3, 2023 14:00:08 GMT
I'm listening to the sound of silence. Not the Simon & Garfunkel song though! I have tinnitus so I never have silence now but I do remember it and it's precious. The S&G version is great! I feel like getting out that and my Paul Simon stuff because I loved some of his solo work... Art's Only Have Eyes needs some beating as a love song! So much music - so little time!  |
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Post by Zi on Feb 3, 2023 14:08:23 GMT
keff - I thought I'd responded to you but I hadn't! I like the way you go about things and return to them to re-evaluate. As I say, I can imagine how people are attracted to his music and I'm glad to have it here to listen to. I can listen to quiet, reflective honestly!  And priming audience - excellent!
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Post by evergreen on Feb 3, 2023 19:37:14 GMT
"Only Have Eyes" Can't find a Heart smiley but this was one of my favourite records at the time
I'm now listening, or more accurately watching on Youtube, Ben E King singing Spanish Harlem. Imagine a Heart smiley again...
And don't you just love the sax solo in the middle |
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Post by pavane on Feb 3, 2023 20:27:13 GMT
And don't you just love the sax solo in the middle Talking of sax solos (not exactly in the middle) this is Mrs Pavane's favourite. She complains that when it gets played on the radio the sax solo is usually most annoyingly cut, thus losing the best part of the whole thing  Here's a sort of hearty smiley thingy btw 😍 |
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Post by Zi on Feb 4, 2023 10:30:56 GMT
This has reminded me of those bits of music that never really got recorded. One that sticks in my mind is Anthony Stewart Head singing an acoustic version of Behind Blue Eyes in Buffy The Vampire Slayer... no one ever saw fit to release it. So all there is, are smidgens of it with the cast talking over... It's about the only time in the whole of Buffy that I just want them to be quiet! So, having listened to the bit in existence I'm now playing The Who in concert (as they were always meant to be) as loudly as I dare because not everyone in the house is mad about The Who... Well, no one's perfect! If anyone wants to listen to the acoustic version with ASH then it's here... |
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Post by pavane on Feb 5, 2023 11:28:23 GMT
There is quite a lot about the what here and relatively little about the why, and I'm wondering about how people choose what to listen to. We have a lot of CDs, albeit not all in a single location, but don't listen to them very much because most of them are also on assorted devices in digital form, and it's easier to click on a file than do the business with a physical CD. However, I miss the act of browsing and thinking "I haven't listened to that for a while". I listen to a smaller range of music going down the digital route because I have to make choices and they naturally include things I've listened to recently.
I don't use any digital streaming services for music. I have a couple of friends who do and like the fact that they get recommendations via which they sometimes discover new things they like, but I (possibly childishly) dislike getting algorithmically derived suggestions - I take a (similarly childish) delight in always deleting cookies set by youtube so I can be amazed at the rubbish that is "trending now" (sigh) or whatever.
How do you choose?
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Post by pavane on Feb 5, 2023 18:56:21 GMT
I don't particularly like big band jazz, and trumpet isn't my favourite instrument, but a track I come back to all the time is Bunny Berrigan playing I Can't Get Started. The song is good fun, and the trumpet playing is fantastic.
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And priming audience - excellent! 