Quasi una Fantasia

The piece speaks for itself. The montage is quite charming too.

The darkest of the dark- Totentantz!

Not the best recording! but this is a wild piece!

Rage over a lost Penny

Sounds like a very Jewish title.... a' la Borat. 

Just discovered this cute piece. 

comments

Yes Ferruccio, we will certainly scare off the 13 visitors we have had this month. In any case, that rendition was right up my alley, and I am not going to start playing it that fast and blame it on Gould, I especially liked how fast it was at 2:20 because that when my nose usually hits the Piano- asleep! 

Gouldianized Beethoven

I suspect that I will scare off the ever so few readers we had managed to attract to our blog with this post but it is too good to resist: One of the most famous and most recorded piano pieces played unlike anyone else. Too fast, you will say, it's supposed to be Adagio sostenuto. And where's the video, you may ask. All I can say is that it took me a long time, but I now delight in Gould's heretical interpretation.

A lesson in interpretation

When I first began to listen to classical music, I thought, rather naively I now realize, that composer composed and musicians simply played whatever notes were lined up on the partition. As long as they were free of mistakes, any two interpretations would pretty much be the same. And then I discovered Gould who brought Bach to life like no else. Certain purists will say that he gouldianizes too much. I am not one to judge. But I have listened to countless recordings of the goldberg variations and they either put you to sleep (composed as they were to help the insomniac Count Kaiserling fall asleep) or simply fail to inspire. Gould's 1981 recording elevates the soul. Maybe it's the humming, maybe it's the prominence of the left hand or maybe it's just a great pianist revisiting a piece 26 years after it launched his career. Even if you don't like music, just look at Gould as he savors every note.

Mahler goes Gloomy and Klezmer

Mahler's 1st Symphony is supposed to be a death march. But somehow in middle of the piece at about 2:20 it goes Klezmer out of nowhere. As the second video shows, with Bernstein explaining, it is quite a gloomy piece. I love it!
Apparently, this funeral march is really quite happy, because it the funeral of the hunter in the woods and all the animals are quite happy about this particular death, or so it says on the video's description.

A favorite piece with a great interpretation

Rachmaninoff's 2nd, would rate on my top favorites. This rendition by this little known Ukrainia lady, Valentina Lisitsa, if played with a little more of a deliberate rhythm which seems to be more in line with what the piece can best be.

Cafe Music

This piece and composer have an interesting personal story behind it:
When I was about 17 I was traveling on the plane to London and heard this piece "Cafe Music" by Paul Schoenfield and it somehow stuck in my mind. A few years later I went to Yeshiva in Migdal emeck which is like the Arm pit of Israel. Take a left at the end of the world and then another left, that kind of thing. When I was there I met this guy who told me he was a composer and I went to his apt, it was this tiny apt in an israeli apt building. There in this little room was this Beautiful Steinway probably worth more then the house was! As he was telling me which pieces he had composed I recognized the name "Cafe Music" and started singing it to him. It was his piece! Small world!
Here it is:

food hog, smoker, linguist and oh, a pianist too

The intro is a little on the Putz side but this is one of the great performances of this insane rhapsody by Rachmaninoff; Oh ya, Rubinstein is amazing!

Ferruccio- you won't be able to top this

Mitsuko Uchida is the most passionate Oriental you have ever seen! Check her conducting AND playing the darkest of all Mozarts!

Bernstein plays and conducts

Although this is quite modern, the combination of Bernstein playing and conducting is amazing!
Ravel's Piano Concerto in G is quite a trip

Mozart Piano Concert No. 24 C Minor - Allegro

Zweef inaugurated this compilation with a Bach concerto in a minor key and it is fitting that my first post be one of Mozart's only two piano concerti in the minor key. There are many great performances of this concerto, but this one by Lang Lang is unlike any other insofar he almost seems to add a few notes (listen at 2:29). Sublime!

Evgeny Kissin

Great Tough piece, thats always a crowd pleaser! La Campanella by Liszt.... I will have some of the more serious liszt coming soon... think Tottentantz!

Rodrigo!

Here is the most passionate Rodrigo's conerto de aranjuez second movement. Conducted by Barenboim.
This song I could listen to for hours... so full of emotion and vibrant passion!


I just found this version of it sung by Andrea bocceli... sounds interesting.

moonlight 3rd with barenboim

So here is the the 3rd. movement of beethoven's very famous Moonlight sonata. The first part is what most people know, the third part is where the passion is!
Although we don't like Barenboim's politics, we love his music!

A little Gould

Ok, so this next video is of Glenn Gould playing the most amazing Bach Dminor Piano concerto.
As you will learn I am crazy about minor pieces. Especially Baroque in minor.... amazing!
Check out how low Gould sits on the piano. and be sure to listen to all the voices intertwining!

Let's begin

In starting this blog we will begin with all the old pent up classical pieces which have been festering in my sharing self for quite some time.
We will begin with The Second movement of Beethoven's 7th. Which to me is one of the most moving pieces I know.
I first heard when I had taken my son to this children's thing at the Meyerson about Beethoven. When I heard the tune it caught my imagination like wildfire and I listened to it for two weeks straight.
Here it is.