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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Aug 27, 2011 - 11:23pm PT
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I happen to be somewhat eclectic in my musical tastes, and even though I play a bit of trumpet and euphonium I really love piano works. Some of my personal faves: J.S. Bach "Goldberg Variations" as performed by Glenn Gould, and almost all of Beethoven's piano sonatas. Another work I dearly love is ther Pachebel "canon" played on either flute or violin. James Galloway plays it beautifully on flute.
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Aug 28, 2011 - 01:47pm PT
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Selfish Man-- I guess it's personal, but I can't tell you how
many times I've played Gould's 1981 recording--I all but wore out
my vinyl copy, and my CD will probably need replacement one of these days--
I think it's incomparable.
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Aug 28, 2011 - 01:57pm PT
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My CD of Gould's "Goldberg Variations" is the 1981 performance!
Has anyone else seen the movie "Vitus?" Teo Ghiorghiu performs the variations (in part); not bad for a then-twelve year old prodigy!
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selfish man
Gym climber
Austin, TX
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Aug 28, 2011 - 02:11pm PT
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SteveW,
Gould's 1955 vs. 1981 recording could easily create a controversy more powerful than Wings of Steel :)
Here's Maria Yudina's version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1hs2OLIzYE
I guess she's not very well known in the US as she had never traveled outside her country... Remarkable personality and an amazing artist. She was comrade Stalin's favorite musician, too, which is likely the reason someone with her views could survive at all
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apogee
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 10, 2012 - 07:59pm PT
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RIP: Alexis Weissenberg
Alexis Weissenberg, who has died aged 82, was a reclusive pianist who, more than almost any classical musician, was capable of polarising critical opinion.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/9005891/Alexis-Weissenberg.html
Just listened to a striking remembrance about this brilliant pianist- this was my first exposure to him...I'd be very interested in hearing other impressions of his works...
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Jan 10, 2012 - 08:10pm PT
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Broke,
"Vitus" is a great movie! Plus it's got airplanes! That was some impressive
playing for a 12 year old!
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Jan 10, 2012 - 10:20pm PT
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Reilly-
Teo has lots of recordings on You Tube--too many to list here. Yep! I liked the Pilatus PC-6, too. Nothing quite like having 1100 horsepower in a light airplane
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mongrel
Trad climber
Truckee, CA
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Jan 11, 2012 - 12:11am PT
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Well, so many interesting posts I couldn't resist weighing in. But I would beg to differ about the recordings of some pieces that I personally prefer:
For Bach on the piano, Rosalyn Tureck is far superior to Glenn Gould, much better pacing, sense of the interior of the musical lines, and way better touch; on harpsichord, not so clear but I'm partial to the DGG Ralph Kirkpatrick recordings. On organ, there is no contest: Helmut Walcha; blind since birth or childhood but the definitive Bach organist of the modern era.
For Chopin, the incomparably superior recordings were made by Dinu Lipatti decades ago. He only made a few recordings then up and died on us. Unfortunately the fidelity is not great, but the piano comes through well anyway. Horowitz's former piano teacher said even he should hide his recordings in shame in comparison to Lipatti. That's saying something!
I wonder if the trumpeters who have posted here could express opinion about a remarkable player and recording I heard recently in transit somewhere: Michael Haydn trumpet concerto played by Hakan Hagegard. I was beyond stunned by the gorgeous tone he managed, at soft or at most mezza voce volume level, in incredibly high tessitura in a slow tempo movement. I totally could not believe it. And it did not seem to be some mini trumpet or clarino pitched at D or higher. Sounded like a standard Bb or C trumpet in tone. Beautiful.
JEleazarian, how wonderful to attend these great performances with your daughters performing! Wow. Cool posts. There was another fabulous Verdi Requiem at UC Davis this last fall, Sacramento Chorus (whatever their exact name is). I was hugely impressed. Soloists were excellent too especially the soprano who sang with total abandon and commitment all night, like a 5.12X lead, and pulled it off perfectly.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Jan 11, 2012 - 01:03am PT
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Be sure you sit down while you read this from "The Economist":
Fiddling with the mind
Old, expensive violins are not always better than new, cheap ones
Jan 7th 2012 | from the print edition
THOUGH individual tastes do differ, the market for art suggests that those who have money generally agree on what is best. The recent authentication of a painting by Leonardo da Vinci, for example, magically added several zeroes to the value of a work that had not, physically, changed in any way. Nor is this mere affectation. In the world of wine (regarded as an art form by at least some connoisseurs), being told the price of a bottle affects a drinker’s appreciation of the liquid in the glass in ways that can be detected by a brain scanner.
It seems, now, that the same phenomenon applies to music. For serious players of stringed instruments the products of three great violin-makers of Cremona, Nicolo Amati, Giuseppe Guarneri and Antonio Stradivari, have ruled the roost since the 17th century. Their sound in the hands of a master is revered. They sell for millions. And no modern imitation, the story goes, comes close. Unfortunately, however, for those experts who think their judgment unclouded by the Cremonese instruments’ reputations, Claudia Fritz of the University of Paris VI and Joseph Curtin, an American violin-maker, have just applied the rigorous standards of science to the matter. Their conclusion, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is that the creations of Cremona are no better than modern instruments, and are sometimes worse.
Unlike previous “blind” trials of violins, in which an instrument’s identity was concealed from the audience but not from the player himself (and which have indeed suggested that modern instruments are often as good as old ones), the one organised by Dr Fritz and Mr Curtin sought to discover the unbiased opinion of the men and women who actually wield the bow. They and their colleagues therefore attended the Eighth International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, held in September 2010, which gathering provided both a sample of testable instruments and a pool of suitable volunteers to play them.
Exactly which instruments were tested remains a secret. That was a condition of the loans, in order that an adverse opinion should not affect a fiddle’s market value. There were, however, six of them: two Stradivarii and a Guarnerius (all from the 18th century), and three modern violins made to Cremonese patterns.
A total of 21 volunteers—participants in the competition, judges and members of the local symphony orchestra—were asked to put the instruments through their paces. The catch was that they had to do so in a darkened room while wearing welders’ goggles, so that they could not see them clearly, and that the chin-rest of each violin had been dabbed with perfume, lest the smell of the wood or the varnish give the game away.
There were two tests: a series of pairwise comparisons between old and new instruments that allowed a player one minute to try out each instrument, and a comparison between all six, in which the player was allowed to play whatever he wanted for however long he wanted, subject to a total time-limit of 20 minutes.
In the pairwise test (in which players were not told that each pair contained both an old and a new instrument, and in which the order of presentation was randomised), five of the violins did more-or-less equally well, but the sixth was consistently rejected. That sixth, unfortunately for the reputation of Cremona, was a Strad.
In the freeplay test, a more subtle approach was possible. Players rated the six instruments using four subjective qualities that are common terms of the violinist’s art: playability, projection, tone colours and response. The best in each category scored one point, the worst minus one, and the rest zero. Players were also asked which violin they would like to take home, given the chance.
In this case, two of the new violins comprehensively beat the old ones, while the third more or less matched them (see chart). The most popular take-home instrument was also a new one: eight of the 21 volunteers chose it, and three others rated it a close second. Not surprisingly, the least popular instrument in the second test was the Stradivarius that did badly in the first.
The upshot was that, from the players’ point of view, the modern violins in the study were as good as, and often better than, their 18th-century forebears. Since Dr Fritz estimates the combined value of the three forebears in her experiment as $10m, and the combined value of the three modern instruments as around $100,000, that is quite a significant observation.
Human nature being what it is, this result will probably have little effect in the saleroom: the glamour of Cremona will take more than one such result to dispel it. But it does suggest that young players who cannot afford a Strad should not despair. If they end up with a cheaper, modern copy instead, they might actually be better off.
from the print edition | Science and technology
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Jan 11, 2012 - 11:12pm PT
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Bumpity bump!
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Urizen
Ice climber
Berkeley, CA
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Jan 23, 2012 - 02:37pm PT
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Reilly,
Really interesting article, thanks. Unfortunately it's only suggestive, not conclusive. It doesn't mention, for instance, whether the test players used the same bow, their own bow, or what. And bows make a huge difference. Also, as with guitars, the choice of strings and the set-up of the instrument are extremely influential. Chances are that any of the older violins, such as the dud Strad, have had, during the last 300 years, new nuts, new bridges more or less competently cut, new soundposts more or less skillfully set, fingerboards shaved, etc. So the sound and playability of the instruments are just as likely to have been affected by their treatment by previous owners and their luthiers as by the skill of the original builder or the quality of the materials used. Too, all hollow-body stringed instruments seem to benefit from being played rather than stored, and this test, since it had to conceal the provenance, doesn't address the influence, if any, of this circumstance.
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Gary
climber
That Long Black Cloud Is Coming Down
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Jan 23, 2012 - 03:50pm PT
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My gf and I have a subscription to a Casual Fridays series with the LA Phil. We got the cheapest seats possible at Disney Hall, up in the balcony, but they're pretty good seats actually.
Last Friday was Symphony 1 by Gustav Mahler. I'm not much of a critic, but like Supreme Court justices, I know the goods when I hear them. It was captivating, the third movement especially.
The Friday Casual series is casual. The orchestra comes out in street clothes. The program is shortened, and after the concert, you can mingle and drink with the musicians and also there's a question and answer session with the conductor, featured soloist if there is one, and random members of the band.
Dudamel is the real thing. He's crazy about music.
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Urizen
Ice climber
Berkeley, CA
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Jan 23, 2012 - 04:07pm PT
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In spite of my distaste for the airport departure area architecture of the Disney Concert Hall lobbies, and the superfluous wedding cakery of its exterior, I will readily admit that the auditorium itself is a masterpiece--not just in terms of its use of materials and acoustics, but in its democratic design. There are no aristocratic private boxes, and there are no bad seats. I've been in the back row of the top balcony and wanted for nothing. This is a testament to some rare vision on the part of the directors of the organization, as are the crossover shows and the hiring of relatively young and untested conductors. Saw Gustavo D. and the SFO play the complete "Firebird" a few years ago. Sensational; one of the best concerts I've ever heard them give--and a free demonstration of incredibly nuanced but unmannered conducting at the same time.
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mongrel
Trad climber
Truckee, CA
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Jan 23, 2012 - 05:00pm PT
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Regarding the item in the Economist, I sent this to my brother who is a violinist and violist and he responded that "Word is that about 20% of Strads are practically playable. The others are compromised by age and modification. I have a 2007 violin that in most concert situations outplays my precious 1818 Thier. The Thier has a much deeper, intricate and more intimate sound, appropriate for smaller audiences. The fresh fiddle kicks butt in a bigger situation."
So, not only are there the issues raised by Urizen, but also the selection of the individual instruments that were used, and the setting - one wonders how the results would compare if they did exactly the same testing in various different rooms and halls? Anyway, unequivocally it would appear that, like even the great wines, a significant proportion of the product is not better after a long period of time, but instead deteriorates into poor playability or drinkability.
+1 on the comments on the Disney Center acoustics and approach.
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Gary
climber
That Long Black Cloud Is Coming Down
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Jan 23, 2012 - 05:40pm PT
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What's interesting about Disney is while the acoustics for music are great, speech is incredibly garbled in that hall. At the Q + A sessions, it's very difficult to understand what's being said, especially if a heavy accent is involved.
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