For me, it was Scriabin's Vers la Flamme, played in recital by Vladimir Feltsman a few days ago. I've never been a fan of Scriabin but yes, this absolutely blew me away.

 

Yeah, Horowitz said windedly after playing the piece: "That was difficult."

It's difficult for me to listen TO-- and I really like Scriabin. Ha. Ha. Ha.

The Feltsman must have been something special.

 

The Ring under Karajan.

Always admired it but HvK teaches you to love the beauty of the music.

 

Oh does he! His streamlining sympathies are eminently natural.

You HAVE TO hear this Divertimento No. 15 in B flat, K. 287 that the House of Karajan does at the Royal Festial Hall from May of 1972:

Che finezza!

The Allegro?-- de-LIGHT! The Theme and Variations?- so damned cute. And, yes, the pièce de résistance, the Adagio: E squisita!!!

 

Richard Barrett: Dark Matter
Karlheinz Stockhausen: Luzifers Abschied

 

Oh yeah Licht is filled with gems! its a shame each opera is 70$

 

Michael Finnissy's String Quartet No. 2.

I'm probably going to end up buying the sheet music just because I'm so curious to see how it's even possible to notate something so amazingly intricate. There's also a DVD that's been produced which analyzes the piece and it's performance by the Kreutzer Quartet from the standpoint of musical anthropology which I'm also going to track down.

 

David Maslanka's 4th Symphony. I had never heard of this composer until I stumbled upon him during one of those Youtube expeditions just wandering about and coming across so much new (to me) music. The work as a whole is fantastic, but the ending blew me away in the fashion of Mahler!

 

Maslanka

David Maslanka's 4th Symphony. I had never heard of this composer until I stumbled upon him during one of those Youtube expeditions just wandering about and coming across so much new (to me) music. The work as a whole is fantastic, but the ending blew me away in the fashion of Mahler!

I have been singing the praises of Maslanka since I joined TC. Did you catch the You Tube of the performance of the Fourth Symphonywith the United States Navy Band? Awesome!

His large output include nine symphonies, two for orchestra, seven for band. All of them except the first have been recorded.

 

first movements of Myaskovskys 24th and 25th symphonies
last movement of Glazunov 6th symphony
Keith Jarrett-two different versions of Heartland from the recently released Bregenz Munich concerts
kalinnikov-1st symphony

 

Allan Pettersson, Symphony #7.
One 46 minute continuous movement.
The segment from 29" to 35" is among the most poignant music I have ever heard.

 

pettersson



It is one of the mysteries of our times that Pettersson has not been recognized as the major composer he is.My favourite is his SY 6, but then all between SY 6-10 are moving and majestic. Masterpieces of the 20 th century.

 

Gesualdo's Moro, Lasso al mi Duolo.
I knew it was written i the early 1600s, but my brain was rioting against that information.

 

Graffman laying Chopin. I didn't realise he was such a great Chopin pianist.

 

Graffman laying Chopin. I didn't realise he was such a great Chopin pianist.

I didn't realize they had that kind of relationship!

 

John Zorn's Vocal piece "Shir Hashirim" quite knocked my socks of when I first heard it!

/ptr

 

I think as I get older pieces don't blow me away as they used to do, or not as often. I think during the entire year of 2013 I was only amazed and impressed with one work that stayed on my playing rotation for several weeks. That was Samuel Barber's Piano Concerto, Op. 38. I think it was something about the rhythms and the orchestral stabs that got my attention and I remained focused enough to appreciate it.

A year before that it was Hugo Alfvén's Symphony No.4 in C-minor, Op.39 "Från havsbandet" . This continuous four movement work sends chills up my spine when the wordless vocal soloists come in. The simultaneous joy and anguish in the voices . . . I'm always a sucker for wordless vocals though I tend to shy away from art song, operatic arias and so forth. I suppose it helps that these sound off-stage, distant, and therefor mystical. (Listening to it again to test the link and it still works. I have goose bumps.)

 

Does anyone else know orchestral version of the Benedictus from Elgar:"Te deum and benedictus"?; near the end of the benedictus there are 2 immense bass drum with side drum massive strikes; they give me a physical shock and send shivers everywhere, esp on good hi-fi; never heard a physically shocking sound like it; exhilaratingly powerful music too. Hickox has the only orchestral version I think. Steve

 

Dohnanyi has been a nice recent discovery for me.

 

The happy Holzbauer Mass in C Major.

 

I have blown away by this :

 

aah, its so tender!

 

Peter Mennin 7th Symphony.
The more I hear it, the more impressed I become.
One of the towering works of American composition.

 

Mennin



Welcome to the club.

 

Although I had listened to it before, when I lately again listened to Vittorio Rieti's Concerto for Harpsichord and orchestra it did really near astonish me with its remarkably fresh and lively writing, great orchestration (you can tell he was thinking directly in instrumental terms), so I guess this quirky and excellent neo-classical piece from 1957 "blew me away."

 

the last few days I have a special attraction to Antonio Vivaldi


All his works for cello, violin, mandolin, flute, oboe

 

the last few days I have a special attraction to Antonio Vivaldi

All his works for cello, violin, mandolin, flute, oboe

You are attracted to old dead people?

Oh. Sorry! Didn't see the second sentence!

 

Thanks to techniquest and arpeggio for posting about David Maslanka's 4th symphony. For whatever reason I have tended to pay less attention to concert band music, but this symphony was wonderful. Apparently I now have to add many more such works to my already absurdly long list of music I must hear.

 

I haven't really been blown away by anything lately. I hope I'm not becoming jaded.

 

no worry

in a few days you will be fine

 

"Oh. . . but'cha are Blair, ya are." (q.v. Bettie Davis in "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane")-- couldn't resist the 'Blair' pun; since I'm so weak at it anyway.

 

Babbitt - All Set:

Yes, "serial jazz"!.

 

Babbitt Jazz



This one of the reasons I love this forum. I have never been much of a fan of Babbitt but I now have been introduced to a Babbitt work that blows me away.

I have yet to learn anything new from the "negative waves" I have read about Babbitt.

 

Recently, I've been exploring Dvorak in some depth... as he is almost certainly the most important composer whose work has been underrated in my collection for far too long. I found his 7th Symphony to be especially grand.

The last work to truly "Blow me away?" It surely must be Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel. I must have had the work... recorded by HvK... sealed on my shelves for some 7-10 years... yet never got around to listening to it. When I did... I was absolutely charmed... enthralled... seduced. I played it back to back at least twice more then rushed to my computer to order a couple alternative recordings... all of which I played as soon as they arrived.

 

Recently, I've been exploring Dvorak in some depth... as he is almost certainly the most important composer whose work has been underrated in my collection for far too long. I found his 7th Symphony to be especially grand.

The last work to truly "Blow me away?" It surely must be Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel. I must have had the work... recorded by HvK... sealed on my shelves for some 7-10 years... yet never got around to listening to it. When I did... I was absolutely charmed... enthralled... seduced. I played it back to back at least twice more then rushed to my computer to order a couple alternative recordings... all of which I played as soon as they arrived.

I know what'cha mean: I too have an elective affinity for the Dvorak Seventh.

I especially like the lilting grace of that waltzy part of the first movement-- soooo lovely-- and how it gracefully cascades into a climax; especially Belohlavek's efforts with the Czech Philharmonic on Chandos.

 

non capisco

in Tosca? clarify


i must feel sleepy

 

non capisco

in Tosca? clarify

i must feel sleepy

Different priest in Tosca; singing priest; both dead; same fetish.