Enjoyed a live performance last weekend that included portions of Copland's Rodeo. And at the conclusion, poignantly, a performance of the Ukrainian National Anthem.
Last edited:
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Classical Music Thread
- Thread starter mikzn
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Attended two sold-out concerts - two years of pent-up energy released in two concerts it feels!
Concert programme
The first concert:
Encore: Waltzing Matilda (arr. Ray Chen):
Concert programme
The first concert:
Encore: Waltzing Matilda (arr. Ray Chen):
The second concert (Pt 3/3) - Five encore pieces:
The fifth piece was Spain by Chick Corea (arr. Elizalde and Chen for piano and violin) - I think it's the first time the arrangement has been performed to a large audience:
The fifth piece was Spain by Chick Corea (arr. Elizalde and Chen for piano and violin) - I think it's the first time the arrangement has been performed to a large audience:
Beautiful rendition of Waltzing Matilda. This piece haunts me from the film “On The Beach” about the crew of an American submarine who are among the few remaining humans after a nuclear war. They end up Australia, the last place on earth as they face their inevitable end. Music was so fitting.
Lucky you! Many such events are sold out here as well...
I think everyone was rearing to go - they even 'squeezed' two orchestras on stage (the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and the Youth Orchestra) for the Sibelius performance. Quite a change from a maximum of 30 musicians on stage!
Gave a full hearing of Ligeti's "Requiem". Scared the hell out of me.
Last edited:
First off, how the Hotel Echo Lima Lima did I miss this thread!? 7 pages in and I'm just now seeing this! ?
That now said, I have no hesitation in saying that I'm a guitarist and primarily play rock and metal music on my electric guitars. But seeing that I started my life in music as a concert bassoonist, I have always had an ear for concert band, orchestra, and classical music.
It was said by a guitarist simply known as Miyako (you may know her from a Japanese band called LoveBites) that the hardest type of music to learn and play are classical music and metal, as metal is basically bred from classical. She should know; she's a concert pianist and was going to do that for her career until she picked up a guitar and learned it on her own at 21.
In a single song, her bandmates in LoveBites allowed her to fuse both of her worlds together, where she gets to play both piano and guitar on stage, while playing pieces from her favorite classical composers, which are of the Romance era of classical music, in Rachmaninov and Chopin. Here, you'll see her playing Revolutionary Etude (Etude Op. 10, No. 12) and incorporating it into their song Swan Song, which is a take on the Black Swan. It doesn't help that the singer, Asami, was a ballerina at one point in her life.
The fact that we have in this neoclassical age the ability to take something as modern as rock music and add classical elements to it, like the entire midsection of the song Orion by Metallica. The way that midsection is composed, it is in the time and feel of a classical waltz, which are once again, elements brought in by Chopin, Tchaikovsky, and Strauss.
It is because of this that I've branched out from the main genres of music I've played and am finally bringing in more classical elements, jazz elements, and more fusion, in crossing all 3 genres together. As there is even room to bring in something like Flamenco (I'll touch on that later), this thread opens up a hell of a lot for me.
BL.
That now said, I have no hesitation in saying that I'm a guitarist and primarily play rock and metal music on my electric guitars. But seeing that I started my life in music as a concert bassoonist, I have always had an ear for concert band, orchestra, and classical music.
It was said by a guitarist simply known as Miyako (you may know her from a Japanese band called LoveBites) that the hardest type of music to learn and play are classical music and metal, as metal is basically bred from classical. She should know; she's a concert pianist and was going to do that for her career until she picked up a guitar and learned it on her own at 21.
In a single song, her bandmates in LoveBites allowed her to fuse both of her worlds together, where she gets to play both piano and guitar on stage, while playing pieces from her favorite classical composers, which are of the Romance era of classical music, in Rachmaninov and Chopin. Here, you'll see her playing Revolutionary Etude (Etude Op. 10, No. 12) and incorporating it into their song Swan Song, which is a take on the Black Swan. It doesn't help that the singer, Asami, was a ballerina at one point in her life.
The fact that we have in this neoclassical age the ability to take something as modern as rock music and add classical elements to it, like the entire midsection of the song Orion by Metallica. The way that midsection is composed, it is in the time and feel of a classical waltz, which are once again, elements brought in by Chopin, Tchaikovsky, and Strauss.
It is because of this that I've branched out from the main genres of music I've played and am finally bringing in more classical elements, jazz elements, and more fusion, in crossing all 3 genres together. As there is even room to bring in something like Flamenco (I'll touch on that later), this thread opens up a hell of a lot for me.
BL.
Attended a concert featuring Chloe Chua and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra - when jaw dropping was not a hyperbole:
Concert programme
Vivaldi - Four Seasons
Chloe performing Concerto No. 4 "Winter"
Locatelli - Violin Concerto op. 3 No. 12
This left me in stitches...
Concert programme
Vivaldi - Four Seasons
Chloe performing Concerto No. 4 "Winter"
Locatelli - Violin Concerto op. 3 No. 12
This left me in stitches...
The reaction to "Professor Chloe" was priceless. But, you have to wonder if it was scripted.
I guess there were some arrangements beforehand and that the flow was expected; it's not very likely that they did shoots like this completely unscripted.
Meanwhile, I attended a concert featuring Fabio Biondi and Stephen Hough performing Mozart Piano Concerto No. 21 with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.
The Economist published an obituary of Franz Mohr, Steinway chief tuner, May 7 '22 issue:
www.economist.com
Franz Mohr was the man who made great concerts possible
Steinway’s chief piano tuner for 24 years died on March 28th, aged 94
The post above reminded me of Verne Edquist's story, which was featured in Hafner's book about Glenn Gould's pianos and his relationship with Steinway. Edquist was blind, as were many piano tuners in the years following the First World War.
The book is a great read for Glenn Gould fans, obviously, and anybody who likes classical piano.
slippedisc.com
The book is a great read for Glenn Gould fans, obviously, and anybody who likes classical piano.
Death of Glenn Gould's blind piano tuner - Slippedisc
The Glenn Gould Foundation mourns the passing of...
slippedisc.com
A Romance on Three Legs: Glenn Gould's Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Piano
A Romance on Three Legs: Glenn Gould's Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Piano
www.amazon.com
I saw a documentary on Netflix about how Steinway prepares it's pianos for individual artists for recording sessions or concerts. Not just tuning, but getting the action right as well. They spend days working on several pianos to get them just right.
Thanks @KaliYoni! (One of the great perks of working in the library is being able to check books out quicklyThe post above reminded me of Verne Edquist's story, which was featured in Hafner's book about Glenn Gould's pianos and his relationship with Steinway. Edquist was blind, as were many piano tuners in the years following the First World War.
The book is a great read for Glenn Gould fans, obviously, and anybody who likes classical piano.
Death of Glenn Gould's blind piano tuner - Slippedisc
The Glenn Gould Foundation mourns the passing of...A Romance on Three Legs: Glenn Gould's Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Piano
A Romance on Three Legs: Glenn Gould's Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Pianowww.amazon.com
)
That's interesting. Was this because of war injuries, which it seems would have affected people in all sorts of occupations. If this was concentrated within one particular occupation, that is very curious. Or, perhaps there's another explanation… ?
Apparently I could have clicked the link to the article above, but this was easier!
(answers below)
Last edited:
It could be both cause and effect.
Firstly, in the years immediately after the First World War, (and, I would wager, possibly preceding it, as well, James Joyce's short stories offer an insight into this world where people gathered around a piano after dinner), radio had yet to become popular (for, this was before its use became widespread), many middle class homes still relied on the piano, for entertainment, for music, for social gatherings. Likewise, gramophones (record players, what became known as stereos, domestic music systems) - and the industry around the recording of music - were also both in their infancy. So, people would have been expected to make their own entertainment.
Bear in mind that this would have been an era when considerable numbers of middle class people were at least vaguely competent - and were expected to be vaguely competent - on the piano.
So, numbers alone (market, demand for music, the tools of music, teaching music, instruments, servicing those instruments) would have meant that there was a rather large market for people who taught music, and for people who serviced - and tuned - musical instruments, for a living.
Moreover, secondly, when one is blind - from what I have read (and heard) - one tends to rely more on other senses, and sometimes, as a consequence, one's hearing can become quite acute, and incredibly sensitive. This is something that could prove to be exceedingly advantageous when seeking to make a living from tuning pianos, where precision in sound analysis would matter.
And, all of that is quite apart from the fact that as a result of the war - WW1 - injuries (from combat, bombs, bullets, shrapnel, gas, etc) resulting in blindness - would have meant that these conditions (and the need to be able to make a living subsequently notwithstanding such serious disabilities) would have been more pronounced, and, dare one say it, visible, in society.
Last edited:
I read Hafner's book a few years ago so my memory may be off on this...but in addition to what Scepticalscribe said above, some other factors were:
- Extensive chemical warfare in WWI produced a lot of vision-impaired and blind veterans.
- In the early 20th century, many societies held views that placed a large value on making people "productive", regardless of their socioeconomic situation or physical fitness.
- Piano tuning is well suited as an occupation for many vision-impaired people because the work takes place in a consistent environment–stationary pianos with standardized construction–and relies a lot on physical touch and sharp hearing.
@Scepticalscribe and @KaliYoni are spot-on, and those were the points that were covered in A Romance on Three Legs. It seems that piano tuning is still being taught at the W. Ross Macdonald School (formerly the Ontario School for the Blind) where Edquist attended.
Discovered and enjoy some of the more obscure Baroque composers. In particular:
Johann Joachim Quantz
Georg Muffat
Marin Marais
Jan Dismas Zelenka
Alessandro Marcello
Francois Couperin
Louis Couperin
Really under-appreciated, IMO. Worth a listen.
Johann Joachim Quantz
Georg Muffat
Marin Marais
Jan Dismas Zelenka
Alessandro Marcello
Francois Couperin
Louis Couperin
Really under-appreciated, IMO. Worth a listen.
Last edited:
Excellent.
I love Baroque music and I also love discovering little known (or remembered) composers from that era.
Actually, Marin Marais was exceptionally famous at the time, especially in France, (there is an interesting French movie, starring Gerard Depardieu as Marais, on his life, which I caught around two decades ago), but, obviously, is little known these days outside France.
I'm not familiar with any Japanese composers. I'm not even sure if Yo Yo Ma is Japanese, so I'll have to look that up!