Classical Music

Music For The Day

Samuel HooperLeave a comment

Prelude no. 10 in G flat major, Op.23, by Sergei Rachmaninoff:

 

Tender and wistful, with a hint of that Russian romanticism only really shining through towards the end, this piece makes quite a contrast to some of the more bombastic preludes in the cycle. And the cadence at the end, the final two chords, are beautiful, like a book being closed at the end of a bedtime story.

The prelude is performed here, as were previous examples of Rachmaninoff preludes on this blog, by pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy.

Music For The Day

Samuel HooperLeave a comment

A moving performance of Aaron Copland’s “Billy The Kid”, arranged for two pianos and performed by Albert Tiu and Thomas Hecht:

 

The arrangement is slightly richer in detail than the solo piano version, yet still retains that essential, desolate sparseness that makes up so much of Copland’s best writing. In so doing, it also put me in mind of another of Copland’s works, the hugely evocative Quiet City with its glorious solo trumpet.

Happy Monday to my readers.

Music For The Day

Samuel Hooper2 Comments

I don’t know who has laid down the definitive best recording of Verdi’s opera “Otello” – not because I have failed to listen to them all in my thirty years on this Earth, but because there are several top contenders. This one, surprisingly, only barely makes the cut for the top five. It does, of course, on the strength of Kiri Te Kanawa and Placido Domingo in the title roles.

Here is “Gia Della Notte Densa” by Domingo and Te Kanawa performed at the Royal Opera, under the excellent baton of Georg Solti:

 

I defy anyone to name a better performance of this particular duet.

And I’m sorry, but not all arts are equal. Dissenters and critics are free to call me out and accuse me of snobbery on my Comments or Contacts pages; but if you took Miley Cyrus’ twerking antics at the VMAs, multiplied it by a million and plated it in gold, you would have, at most, a hundredth of this performance.

Music For The Day

Samuel Hooper1 Comment

A very different feel in today’s Music For The Day, quite a marked contrast from the frenetic and technically challenging piano music of the past few days. Today we feature the finale from Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian Spring”, incorporating the well-known Shaker melody “The Gift to be Simple”.

 

The close harmonies in both the strings and the woodwind are delightful, and of course are so much a part of Copland’s unique American sound.

This recording was performed by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Leonard Bernstein, though my all-time favourite version remains the orchestrally slimmed-down original arrangement in the excellent recording by the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of the composer himself.