Posted on 06/10/2014 3:05:01 PM PDT by Borges
Classical Ping
I am not to fond of Shostakovich, never have been. Every time that hear the term, cognitive dissonance, I think of his music, or what he calls music.
Or Phillip Glass.
Bach, Brahms, Beethoven and Strauss were forbidden to be played in Milwaukee during WWII. What a loss!
Shosty wasn’t nearly as dissonant as his contemporaries. What do you think of Strauss’ most dissonant music not to mention Mahler and Schoenberg.
And Wagner and Bruckner I presume...
Then there are the Four Last Songs . . .
Many older guys in Germany thought they had the Nazis pegged: young, crude guys who like marching and shouting, but who are basically OK. They only found out their error after 1933.
That’s a wonderful story about the oboe concerto. BTT
Are you sure of that? A great deal of this kind of crap occurred during WWI, but a lot less in WWII. Or at least that's my understanding.
I suspect the reason may be that we were fighting "the Germans" in WWI, while in WWII we were fighting "the Nazis."
Well, I just heard that on a PBS program called “The Making of Milwaukee”. I didn’t live here than, so it surprised me. I know that they taught school a half day in German in my town (a suburb of Milwaukee) until the beginning of WWII and they had militaristic youth clubs of a German flavor in Grafton (another Milwaukee suburb).
John de Lancie, the oboist, was the father of John de Lancie, the actor - who is known for his role as “Q” in several of the Star Trek sequel series’.
Strauss, in 1948, wrote “Four Last Songs,” recorded by Lucia Popp twice - first in her prime with Tennstedt conducting, and again mere weeks before her death with Michael Tilson Thomas. This was probably the most sublime music he ever wrote, and well worth a listen.
We are going to have to talk about Mr. Glass one day. I know many of his compositions can be inane, obtuse, or monotonous at the first hearing, however there are many other pieces that are ecstatically vibrant and bring pleasure that endures over time. I will revisit the topic of the many things that are Glass on another day. I don’t want to take away from this thread. Richard Strauss was truly a musician and a performer suited to his time. As was his father.
I would encourage you to listen again to his chamber music; piano music, string quartets, etc.
The symphonies can be a little "tendentious" in the view of some.
On the other hand, I think the string quartets are probably the most beautiful and inspired pieces of chamber music since late Beethoven. No. 8 in C minor is a masterpiece that will last forever, IMHO. Really breathtaking.
2001: A Space Odyssey.
Great movie, and great classical music.
1968—we thought the age of space was truly upon us.
We haven’t been to the moon in 42 years.
That’s what I’m talkin’ about.
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