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Chopin Great Composers pay tribute to other "Greats" Liszt Opera/Vocal

Great composers pay tribute to other “Greats”

Posted on December 3, 2007

UPDATE: Be sure to read the comment from Emiellucifuge  .. and my response.

It’s fascinating to compare “Transcriptions” of one great composers work, with the “original.”  Here are just two examples: Liszt on Beethoven and Chopin on Mozart. Beethovens’ 5th Symphony – first movement. Yeah .. yeah – I know. We’ve all heard it a million times! Still interesting to see what Liszt did with it. And here’s Liszt. I just can’t see the point! To “render” such a masterwork and not really do anything with it. I don’t think it’s the pianist at fault (Glenn Gould) … just wondering why Liszt bothered.

liszt transcription of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony Alegro-con-brio

And then Chopin gives his interpertation on Mozart.

First here’s Mozart’s La di darem la mano from Don Giovanni

la ci darem la mano

 

Then here are 4 variations Chopin composed for it. At least he did something with the theme! … played around a bit with it!

variation-iii sempre sostenuto

 

variation ii veloce ma accuratamente

 

variation i brillante

 

tema allegretto

G.I. Gurdjieff Piano Satie Two eccentrics? or ....

Two eccentrics? .. or visionary forunners of Minimilism and “New Age” music?

Posted on November 14, 2007

Eric Satie (1866-1925) and G.I. Gurdjieff (1872-1949)

Satie was the archetypal poor, struggling artist. Eccentric? You bet. 84 identical handkerchiefs and 12 identical velvet suits! For 27 years he never let anyone in his home. He used to walk miles and miles over Paris every day. Some of his compositions he called “Furniture music”! (meant to be background)

Gurdjieff? Genuine “advanced soul” and “spiritual master” to some. Charlatan to others. A most charismatic man who led a full, colourful life. Both were involved in the cutting edge culture of their day, and both had contact with the “In Crowd” (*NOTE: this is Thomas de Hartmann playing, not Gurdjieff. Some people feel de Hartmann was the person close enough to Gurdjieff to play his compositions the way they were meant to be played)

Have a listen. Meditate, be hypnotised or fall asleep! (seriously – some beautiful moments)

Satie gymnopedies no. 1 lent-et-douloureux

trois-gymnopedies

 

Satie – one of the gnossiennes series

six gnossiennes

 

Satie – Reverie-du-pauvre

reverie-du-pauvre

 

Gurdjieff – holy affirming / holy denying / holy reconciling

holy affirming holy denying holy reconciling

 

Gurdjieff – Meditation

meditation

 

Gurdjieff – Rejoice Bellzebub

rejoice bellzebub

 

Update on just how eccentric Satie was! You only need to read the first paragraph of this article.

http://www.af.lu.se/~fogwall/article8.html

Heavy metal inspiration?! Liszt

Totentanz by Franz Liszt

Posted on November 14, 2007

I read recently that Liszt has been a key inspiration to some of the heaviest heavy metal bands around! To portray ‘evil’, the devil and/or death itself seems to be the goal of a sub genre of heavy metal. To my ear – THIS is evil/death/devil done to perfection! Liszt can be ethereal, angelic and spiritual … or dredge up the spirit of dread. I mean if this isn’t the Devils’ theme song! Not surprisingly his life reflected this fascination with the seeming opposites of good and evil. **this is just the first few moments of a 16 minute plus piece ** *

PS – Totentanz:Dance of Death, also variously called Danse Macabre (French), Danza Macabra (Italian and Spanish) or Totentanz (German), is a late-medieval allegory on the universality of death: no matter one’s station in life, the dance of death unites all. La Danse Macabre consists of the personified death leading a row of dancing figures from all walks of life to the grave—typically with an emperor, king, pope, monk, youngster, beautiful girl, all skeletal. They were produced to remind people of how fragile their lives were and how vain the glories of earthly life were.[1] Its origins are postulated from illustrated sermon texts; the earliest artistic examples are in a cemetery in Paris from 1424.

Totentanz by Franz Liszt

 

And Again

Franz starts off a bit bombastic, but then lead us into some truly Trancendent piano.  The “climax” particularly (* this piece is part of what launched me on my Classical Music quest *)

Sonetto-del-petrarca no. 104

Sonetto del petrarca no. 104

Tchaikovsky Tchaikovsky teases us

Tchaikovsky teases us

Posted on November 14, 2007

The following two selections (*edited from the same piece: Tchaikovsky’s Violin concerto in D, op. 35 / Allegro Moderato) show how a great composer can pull us to the edge of our seats. Waiting. Longing to hear when, where and how the elements of composition are going to “Climax” ( “Come Together” as the Beatles might say! ) And that’s just what it’s like. A tease …that proceeds… to fulfilment. (*even though I know it’s coming I still get goose bumps) Tchaikovsky has done it as masterfully as it could be done in his Violin concerto – (especially in the “Second Tease”.)

First Tease

Tchaikovsky violin concerto in D extract

 

Second Tease

Tchaikovsky violin concerto extract

Bach Organ

If you have great Bass speakers and if you are going to die soon!

Posted on November 10, 2007

Here is “Come Sweet Death” by J.S. Bach. (*performed by Frederick Swann – who was Virgil Fox’s main student/acolyte. Virgil Fox himself the only interpreter of Bach’s organ works I would choose to listen to! ; although he was a very controversial figure in the Organ world*)

Mr. J.S. Bach. Some say the Greatest of them all. As he neared death he composed this piece. To my ear it’s the sound of the Soul passing into the unknown Beyond. IF I had great bass speakers, and IF I knew when I was dying! … I’d love to hear this. PLEASE persevere through the early ‘morbidness’! – because The Soul’s lift-off is coming. (***Warning: If you don’t have great bass speakers you might be disappointed. I’ve never heard this on a proper sound system. It’s probably one of those pieces you’d have to hear in ‘person’. Be prepared to adjust volume!

Come Sweet Death