If Music Be The Food Of Love, Play On: The Music Thread: What Are You Listening To?

lizkat

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Chopin for me tonight, Vladimir Ashkenazy performing the 4 ballades and 4 scherzi in the remastered Decca recordings from 1964 and 1967. The debate over merits of Ashkenazy's performances of Chopin over the years may well prove endless, but for the particlar works here I do prefer these earlier and (comparatively) understated versions.


Here is the Ballade 3 in A flat Op 47

 

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Chopin for me tonight, Vladimir Ashkenazy performing the 4 ballades and 4 scherzi in the remastered Decca recordings from 1964 and 1967. The debate over merits of Ashkenazy's performances of Chopin over the years may well prove endless, but for the particlar works here I do prefer these earlier and (comparatively) understated versions.


Here is the Ballade 3 in A flat Op 47



My mother introduced me to the music of Chopin when I was a child, and I also remember her clear instructions at the time re the correct pronunciation of his name.
 

lizkat

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My mother introduced me to the music of Chopin when I was a child, and I also remember her clear instructions at the time re the correct pronunciation of his name.

Hah, I remember trying to sound out the pronunciation of Shostakovitch when I first saw it on the album cover of some recording my mother had purchased. Couldn't figure out what syllable took the emphasis. That proved quite a stumbling block, even after I learned to say it properly, since if ever after that I hesitated for even an instant while thinking about it, I was unsure all over again how it went.

And so in his honor I will rummage around tonight in my playlists and find something of his to enjoy, not having visited that section of my music library in quite awhile.
 

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Hah, I remember trying to sound out the pronunciation of Shostakovitch when I first saw it on the album cover of some recording my mother had purchased. Couldn't figure out what syllable took the emphasis. That proved quite a stumbling block, even after I learned to say it properly, since if ever after that I hesitated for even an instant while thinking about it, I was unsure all over again how it went.

And so in his honor I will rummage around tonight in my playlists and find something of his to enjoy, not having visited that section of my music library in quite awhile.

As a child, I recall how fascinated I was by the difference in how with my (phonetics derived from English) I would have prononced the name "Chopin" and how my mother instructed me to pronounce it.

And, ah, yes, the Russians......a whole different set of sounds. And spellings.

I remember my fierce struggle to spell "Tchaikovsky" (because I wanted to write about how much I liked the Nutcracker Suite") correctly in primary school.

Re Dmitri Shostakovich (or, Shostakovich), might I suggest the Suite for Jazz, No 2, the Waltz?
 

lizkat

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As a child, I recall how fascinated I was by the difference in how with my (phonetics derived from English) I would have prononced the name "Chopin" and how my mother instructed me to pronounce it.

And, ah, yes, the Russians......a whole different set of sounds. And spellings.

I remember my fierce struggle to spell "Tchaikovsky" (because I wanted to write about how much I liked the Nutcracker Suite") correctly in primary school.

Re Dmitri Shostakovich (or, Shostakovich), might I suggest the Suite for Jazz, No 2, the Waltz?

I think I have someplace a recording of the jazz suites and ballet music, not sure I uploaded it to my itunes library but I bet I can find performances in Apple Music, so that's a good idea!
 

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Too lazy to switch up to my Apple Music library and look for that Shostakovich, figured I have some of his other works on hand in a music library I've been working on lately to straighten out the tags...

Right, so I go to main panel and click in composer and then type 'Dm' as that library hasn't had its composer names flipped properly to have last name first... so what pops up but 'Dmitri Kabalevsky.'

Heh, nice try. But I ended up listening to a Kabalevsky cello concerto anyway. It's on an album with assorted cello pieces by Kabalevsky and Prokoviev, performed by Leonard Elschenbroich.

Elschenbroich Prokofiev and Kabalevsky.jpg
 

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Too lazy to switch up to my Apple Music library and look for that Shostakovich, figured I have some of his other works on hand in a music library I've been working on lately to straighten out the tags...

Right, so I go to main panel and click in composer and then type 'Dm' as that library hasn't had its composer names flipped properly to have last name first... so what pops up but 'Dmitri Kabalevsky.'

Heh, nice try. But I ended up listening to a Kabalevsky cello concerto anyway. It's on an album with assorted cello pieces by Kabalevsky and Prokoviev, performed by Leonard Elschenbroich.

View attachment 2237

Yes, quite some years ago, a Russian friend kindly gave me a CD of the music of Kabalevsky; Prokofiev, I love.
 

lizkat

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So this afternoon some works by Prokofiev and Ravel for piano, four hands, performed by Martha Argerich and Mikhail Pletnev

I always haul this album out and play it a few times at Christmas every year. The album won a Grammy for best chamber music performance in 2005.

Argerich  and Pletnev - Ravel, Prokofiev 2 pianos 4 hands.jpg


Part of it is Ravel's Ma Mére L'Oye (Mother Goose), originally just a set of five piano duets that the composer wrote for the very young children of some friends. Another friend later transcribed it for solo piano, and Ravel himself later orchestrated it into the score that's probably best known in performance, but he also then further elaborated on it as a full ballet score.

The rest of the album is a performance of Mikhail Pletnev's promised gift to Martha Argerich (doubtless hence the whimsical artwork): a score for two pianos, four hands based on Prokofiev's Cinderella ballet. The score is Pletnev's own selection, arrangement and reordering of sections of the orchestral version of the work.
 

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So this afternoon some works by Prokofiev and Ravel for piano, four hands, performed by Martha Argerich and Mikhail Pletnev

I always haul this album out and play it a few times at Christmas every year. The album won a Grammy for best chamber music performance in 2005.



Part of it is Ravel's Ma Mére L'Oye (Mother Goose), originally just a set of five piano duets that the composer wrote for the very young children of some friends. Another friend later transcribed it for solo piano, and Ravel himself later orchestrated it into the score that's probably best known in performance, but he also then further elaborated on it as a full ballet score.

The rest of the album is a performance of Mikhail Pletnev's promised gift to Martha Argerich (doubtless hence the whimsical artwork): a score for two pianos, four hands based on Prokofiev's Cinderella ballet. The score is Pletnev's own selection, arrangement and reordering of sections of the orchestral version of the work.

Gorgeous album sleeve art.

I am still with Jordi Savall.

Jordi Savall & Hespèrion XXI - Venezia Millenaria.
 
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