Classical Music :)

I haven't seen a classical music thread around, so I thought I'd go ahead and create one. If there is one though, please somebody notify me. I thought this thread would be nice for the few people here who like classical music/can play an instrument, and it would be used for:

• Sharing pieces of music (i.e. YouTube links) that may be new to people
• Talking about particular pieces of music
• Talking about your own repertoire, or maybe your own quirky habits when playing your instrument, etc

I'll start the thread off with two concertos from one of my favourite composers of all time, Ralph Vaughan-Williams:



If I am lucky enough to find the score for the Vaughan-Williams Piano Concerto, I am going to be learning it next (academic) year! I only play piano btw, and also compose (but that's not an instrument).

I hope this thread becomes useful and enjoyable to people

This is excellent!

I like Haydn piano sonatas, although the complete collection on iTunes is $80 so I haven't bought it. I also enjoy Beethoven symphonies and have listened to them all. Bach piano and violin partitas are also wonderful. I've always liked Bach's BWV 1031 as well. The highlight is a boxed set of the entire works of Mozart, consisting of 170 CDs sorted into nine categories. Eventually I may get the Haydn box set or the Bach box set. Chopin is nice and so is Bartók.

Regarding Vaughan Williams, I sang Fantasia on Christmas Carols (1912) in chorus in December. I sang tenor, and I do not envy the classmate who got the solo, although he was by far the best man for the job. It was tough to memorize, being nearly twelve minutes in length, but completely worth it. It was such a rewarding experience.

Awesome topic! If you don't know, I'm 13 and play the cello (I also love listening and talking classical music) and am currently working on some pieces such as Mendelssohn's Song Without Words, the first Bach cello suite, and an ensemble piece by Haydn for flute, violin, and cello. Here are the links to some of these:

I'm playing the andante in this one

Also, here is a Stravinsky piece i discovered in the fall which not a lot of people know about but I think it's really cool. Check it out:

NatureFreak:

I like Haydn piano sonatas too, although to be honest I haven't actually listened to any in full!! I will get there eventually. It hasn't become part of my repertoire which may be why. I LOVE Beethoven sonatas though. Hope you get one of those box sets eventually As for Bach partitas, I'm learning the 6th one in E minor, but the first movement (Toccata) is bloody hard!! His violin partitas are amazing, although I've only heard bits from different ones. There is a YouTube channel called 'gerubach' or something like that that do scrolling scores for Bach pieces, their aim is to make videos on EVERY Bach piece. It's a useful resource for learning pieces as well.

I am really envious that you've sung Vaughan-Williams. I should maybe suggest that to my choir at school/college. But memorising it must have been tough. Sounds like a lot of fun though

Eguy:

That's cool, I didn't know you played anything. I really like the cello, and I began writing a suite of 5 pieces last year for piano and cello called 'Sketches'. The first 2 are composed and recorded, so I may upload at some point. Currently listening to your links. The Mendelssohn sounds wonderful and tricky, you must be a really good cellist! I have played a few of the Lieder ohne Worte for piano, but didn't know a cello piece existed under the same title. I have played the 2nd mvt of the C minor piano trio and the 1st mvt of the D minor trio, so I do appreciate Mendelssohn although I haven't listened to much of his music other than his piano music. Bach's cello suites are lovely too. Also liking the Haydn. Especially the last movement. I'm glad you posted the Stravinsky piece, it certainly is new to me. The third piece feels a bit boring compared to the other two, but some very nice harmonies. Feel free to post anything here that you know of which is rare or obscure, I will probably be doing the same!!

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Another quick vid from me, Two Studies for Piano by Witold Lutoslawski. Very interesting composer if you haven't heard of him. I was stupid enough to buy the score of these pieces, and they are seriously technically demanding. Should have thought about that one. He originally intended to do a set in all the major and minor keys but didn't complete them. The first study is probably inspired by Chopin's Op. 10 No. 1 study in C major, with the arpeggiated stuff at the beginning. Enough babble, here's the video:

I think that there are four people in this community who have perfect pitch: Eguy, Polarium, hPerks, and myself.

An out of tune piano drives its mournful sound deep into my soul. I'm sure that some of you may feel the same way. There are two practice rooms at my school, each with pianos that are in reasonably nice condition but were horrendously out of tune. I played them both last week and the sound burrowed into my brain, causing considerable discomfort. Some keys, when struck, emitted two quite different tones sometimes up to half a step apart, clashing horribly. The pianos hadn't been tuned in years. Then last weekend—oh joy!—I heard news that the pianos had been tuned at last. I played them both this afternoon before a chorus lesson and it filled me with such happiness.

I am sure you know the feeling. That was just a little episode that made my day so much better that I felt the need to share.

NatureFreak wrote: I think that there are four people in this community who have perfect pitch: Eguy, Polarium, hPerks, and myself.

5 people* (myself)

Rosalyn wrote:

NatureFreak wrote: I think that there are four people in this community who have perfect pitch: Eguy, Polarium, hPerks, and myself.

5 people* (myself)

Make that six.

Xedron wrote:

Rosalyn wrote:

NatureFreak wrote: I think that there are four people in this community who have perfect pitch: Eguy, Polarium, hPerks, and myself.

5 people* (myself)

Make that six.

Seven.

hPerks wrote:

WOW
That's insane. I can't do that.

Sometime we should all do a voice chat and test our senses of pitch. That would be interesting.

For those who do not know, perfect pitch is when you can hear a note anywhere and tell what note it is without any reference at all. For example, as I am typing this there is a lawn mower mowing the field outside the school. It is emitting a pitch of G2, meaning G in the second octave (on a piano). Perhaps some of you may have relative pitch, which means when you hear a song you can sing it back (not immediately, mind you) in the same key that you heard it in, but you won't be able to tell what that key is. So in essence, if someone told you to sing a C# (Hey, isn't that a programing language or something...?), you could sing them a C# just off of the top of your head if you have perfect pitch. If you've heard a song before and you have relative pitch, say Classic Vibe in MBG (I mean, why not?), you could sing it back in the same key that you heard it in but you wouldn't be able to tell that it's in A minor. This being said, I think that Regislian has relative pitch but not perfect pitch. Judging by this:

my absolute pitch isn't sensitive enough for that stuff.

I don't think that HPerks has perfect pitch then, if he can't tell that a piano is out of tune, but relative pitch is entirely plausible.

There's a good website for testing whether or not you have perfect pitch.
www.musictheory.net/exercises/ear-note
Click the little sliders in the top right corner. Check all of the notes, broaden the range, and most importantly, turn off the reference note. Then try to identify notes. If you consistently get them right, congratulations, you have perfect pitch!

Thanks for reading that, and if you didn't, that's fine too—I just wanted to get it out there.

I've always loved Bach and harpsichord music Too bad it died out after the piano took over, it's got such a unique sound to it

hPerks wrote:

Dang nice!

Regarding perfect pitch, there's 2 different forms of perfect pitch, active and passive. When you have passive perfect pitch you can recognize and identify what tone it is, recognize complex chords and decompose them. You can't sing a specific tone though. (I have this)
In active perfect pitch you are able to sing a specific tone.

Personally I'm not a great fan of Bach, even though (after having to study a lot of his pieces) I do have a lot of respect for his music. I prefer to play the more romantic composers: Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev & Brahms to name a few.

hPerks wrote: there have been a couple times where I've woken up and my perfect pitch was flat or sharp by a semitone

Yes! That happens to me pretty often actually, especially if I'm sick when I wake up or I've slept quite deeply. I hear an E for example and it sounds a quarter tone flatter than an E even though I know it's an E. It takes a while to adjust, maybe an hour.

EDIT: According to Regislian's definition I have active perfect pitch.

EDIT: Here's what I use to test my pitch. www.musictheory.net/exercises/ear-note/99dyyfnr1syyynyy

Thanks Kalle for that vid, they were on my listening list!!

Does this count?

Lol, not quite Weather But it is interesting to see how classical music can affect game music, but all the underlying intentions of classical music are not really there. Interesting though.

Just wanted to say here as well that I never expected to see so many people contribute something to this topic! Thank you for providing some interesting comments here, and although I know that people are busy and this topic isn't 'regularly updated', I will still try and post something at least once every week, such as a video, to keep the topic going.

[strike]Soon I will upload a recording of a piece to rival hPerks' recording of the Ravel Toccata... (Friendly rivalry , but it's still not quite as difficult as the Ravel)[/strike]

EDIT: Did not get round to rivalling hPerks. I could record it at home but the quality will be very poor.

Sorry for a double post. I just discovered this British composer called Alexander Chapman Campbell, who has composed a very relaxing but intelligently made album for piano called 'Sketches of Light'. It consists of 12 pieces each with the word Light in the title, and seems to be subtly descriptive. Although it sounds a little like Einaudi and similar composers, it really is different in my opinion and I will look to buy the sheet music if it exists. I like the keys he uses - not remote but not so often used. If this is of interest to anybody, check out these links:

Listen to the first four pieces from his album 'Sketches of Light'
Homepage

A bit of early Renaissance choral music if anyone's interested. The composer was from the Netherlands interestingly, and had some really lovely harmonies.

This is really fantastic! I like this kind of music. It's quite relaxing even.

I was wondering, do you have any idea why many early classical music is often recorded half a step lower than it was written in? It kind of annoys me, having perfect pitch and seeing a score in a certain key but then having to listen to it half a step down.

Here are my favorites (I may post more):

Hi, nice to know there's another person with an appreciation for classical music! Imo, Für Elise is overrated, it's just a Bagatelle. Yes, it may be pretty but I don't like it anymore simply for the reason that I've heard it far far too much. His piano sonatas are rather magnificent though. 'The Planets' by Holst is an excellent suite, I have a piano solo version of this and it's really interesting music. Have you listened to the whole thing? It really is worth it if you haven't. Also nice to hear some Mozart - I've never dabbled in his operas but am familiar with a few piano works, being a pianist. Thank you for sharing, and feel free to share more whenever you like. Want to keep this topic surviving

The Evoker wrote: Imo, Für Elise is overrated, it's just a Bagatelle. Yes, it may be pretty but I don't like it anymore simply for the reason that I've heard it far far too much.

Yes, I completely agree with this statement. Für Elise would be a great song if the entire world didn't know it.

Also agreeing with that statement, though looking at my interest in music, any classical song can become one of my favorites if it's turned into a metal version. One example is the metal version of Mozart's Turkish March played in the background of the trailer for Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. (Insert guitar riff here.)

eNetro314 wrote:

yes ~

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here is a song i really like that uses (i hope i'm right about this lol) polevetzian waltz so yeah

homestuck.bandcamp.com/track/wind

from homestuck album medium

Regarding Saint-Saens, I must be honest and say that I used to hate his music entirely. However, I’ve gradually heard little bits over time and it is not as bad as I thought. However, it does sound a little like a really intelligent 6-year-old wrote it. But the Carnival of the Animals works really well as background music.

I love Debussy’s Petite Suite. It is also very lovely for piano duet as it is originally. But the orchestral version is nice too, and as a composer, I find it interesting to see how it has been orchestrated. I even have a solo piano version (which is quite difficult). The Cortége and Menuet are my favourite movements. I imagine the orchestral version of the Menuet would be sublime but not heard it before.

I haven’t heard this Prokofiev Romance piece before, but I must say I adore it. Very romantic. I am very glad you shared this piece! The Lt. Kije suite is interesting, but not entirely to my taste.

Not sure that Sousa is *classical* music, but okay…

I like Borodin’s harmonic style, but never really heard anything of him apart from a limited piano output. But played some of these dances on piano, and I especially love the first one.

Ravel’s Bolero is lovely too. And the Mother Goose suite is great. I have learnt the whole of the piano duet version (primo part) too.

Vaughan-Williams is always good for me. Have you heard The Lark Ascending? That may be of interest if you like Fantasia on Greensleeves.

I also quite like a bit of good ol’ Stravinsky. I must be honest, I have not yet listened to the Firebird! I must remind myself to do so. I know that Nature_Freak likes the Rite of Spring, and I do as well.

Bizet is okay, but not my favourite.

here is a song i really like that uses (i hope i'm right about this lol) polevetzian waltz so yeah

homestuck.bandcamp.com/track/wind

from homestuck album medium

I don't think so... The Prince Igor stuff was the Polvetsian dances, but I don't hear any of that here. Even still, quite interesting music! Very ambient.

Also agreeing with that statement, though looking at my interest in music, any classical song can become one of my favorites if it's turned into a metal version.

Rozi, lol. Just lol. But I do agree

Btw, how do you show '<username> wrote:' before a quote?

Glad to see this topic is thriving! Anyway, here is an awesome piece I discovered today by one of my standout favorite composers, Sergei Prokofiev. It's called "Overture on Hebrew Themes." I'm sure Matan will like it (that is, if he ever checks this topic)

You might find more quality playing elsewhere (not that this is bad or anything) but I like this recording because of the score.

I have a longer, more elaborate post coming soon, but that'll be later

...

I love this piece! Found it about 4 years ago. Would really like to hear it played live one time, but how often do you a see a string quartet, piano and clarinettist in a concert hall together Before I joined the community officially, I thought that Matan should listen to it too

TheEvoker wrote: Btw, how do you show '<username> wrote:' before a quote?

Press the quote button in the bottom right corner of the post you'd like to quote.
You can also do it manually by typing "[username] wrote" and bolding the letters.