Author Topic: There ain't 'arf been some clever bastards...  (Read 2122 times)

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
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There ain't 'arf been some clever bastards...
« on: 30 December, 2017, 03:02:55 pm »
I shall kick off with Mr. J. S. Bach. For the past few days I have been learning his A minor 2 part invention, number 13. It's really amazing how much sheer cleverness he manages to cram into such a short piece of music consisting of only two strands.

Here's a 17 minute video of Valentina Lisitsa playing all 15.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFKbmBPaeus
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: There ain't 'arf been some clever bastards...
« Reply #1 on: 30 December, 2017, 03:12:09 pm »
I am remembering my son perusing a score (Mahler?) and chuckling at the funny bits.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
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Re: There ain't 'arf been some clever bastards...
« Reply #2 on: 30 December, 2017, 11:49:33 pm »
I've never been a fan of Mahler. Trouble is, there's just too much music to learn!

I'm not keen on Bruckner's symphonies, but some of his choral music is superb.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Samuel D

Re: There ain't 'arf been some clever bastards...
« Reply #3 on: 31 December, 2017, 12:56:56 am »
I am not musically adept, but Bach made me grin with delight on many an occasion. I have spent whole weeks playing chess (you’re the chess tutor on YACF, right?) with Heifetz’s 1952 recording of the sonatas and partitas for solo violin on replay. That combo held me under a deadly sway and I still cannot be trusted with aesthetic pleasures of that calibre.

Another clever one was Beethoven. You may have heard of him. His late string quartets offset much bad in the world. More bad incoming? Just play opus 131 again. That a human made that music is hard to accept.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: There ain't 'arf been some clever bastards...
« Reply #4 on: 31 December, 2017, 02:16:34 am »
Beethoven quartets are wonderful. Heard the full cycle played by the Lindsey for £1.80 as a first year Pennywise Student Oafette. (Half-price 60p tickets x 6)

Re: There ain't 'arf been some clever bastards...
« Reply #5 on: 31 December, 2017, 07:43:10 am »
It's a long list but I think the common factor is creating things that are "beyond my ken", things that I couldn't begin to imagine.

Schubert is top of the list for me, particularly the string quintet, the 2 two piano trios, (m)any of the songs, and (as a clarinet player!) his last work "Der hirt auf dem felsen".

fuzzy

Re: There ain't 'arf been some clever bastards...
« Reply #6 on: 31 December, 2017, 09:39:16 am »
I don't get music :-[

Yes, I enjoy a good popular music concert and retro music festival but, I don't go out of my way to listen to music. I don't collect CD's or vinyl.

Most of my lightbulb moment memories are visually triggered, unlike some who hear a piece of music and are transported right back to a place in time where that piece was significant to them.

Not wired right I suppose.

Torslanda

  • Professional Gobshite
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Re: There ain't 'arf been some clever bastards...
« Reply #7 on: 31 December, 2017, 11:16:28 am »
Don't beat yourself up. With Marcel Proust it was the taste of a Madeleine that transported him back to childhood. At that time musical stimulus was exclusively live.
VELOMANCER

Well that's the more blunt way of putting it but as usual he's dead right.

essexian

Re: There ain't 'arf been some clever bastards...
« Reply #8 on: 31 December, 2017, 12:56:12 pm »
I had to do a double take on this when I thought Mr Wow was talking about this....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY2GmYE_piE


 ;D

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: There ain't 'arf been some clever bastards...
« Reply #9 on: 31 December, 2017, 01:07:16 pm »
I had to do a double take on this when I thought Mr Wow was talking about this....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY2GmYE_piE


 ;D

I am well aware of the oeuvres of the excellent, and sadly late, Ian Dury. Hence the thread title! Also, I was born in Billericay (and I'm Doing Very Well...)

When I taught music in a boys' secondary modern in the late 1970s, as a treat at the end of term I allowed my little dears to bring in their own music to play on the music dept. record player. Thus it was that I was introduced to the lyrics of Plaistow Patricia. Fortunately, no senior staff members were in earshot at the time.

I suspected, by the buzz of excitement which hovered over the class, that Something was Afoot, but, good sport that I am, carried on anyway.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: There ain't 'arf been some clever bastards...
« Reply #10 on: 31 December, 2017, 04:50:58 pm »
I've never been a fan of Mahler. Trouble is, there's just too much music to learn!

I can't stand him. To me, listening to his stuff is akin to riding down a long, straight, wet road into a headwind with the sun going down dead ahead for about three hours.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

professor palindrome

  • Sex at noon taxes
Re: There ain't 'arf been some clever bastards...
« Reply #11 on: 05 January, 2018, 12:08:24 pm »
I've never been a fan of Mahler.

Not even the tranquil bits ?
There's "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" on Youtube, sung by Janet Baker.
OR   Fischer-Dieskau if you prefer a baritone

Re: There ain't 'arf been some clever bastards...
« Reply #12 on: 05 January, 2018, 12:13:02 pm »
I'm a Mahler fan. It's Mozart I have a bit of  blind spot on.

Kathleen Ferrier's "Das Lied von der Erde"  with Bruno Walter is fantastic.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

professor palindrome

  • Sex at noon taxes
Re: There ain't 'arf been some clever bastards...
« Reply #13 on: 05 January, 2018, 12:22:04 pm »
I'm a Mahler fan. It's Mozart I have a bit of  blind spot on.

Including the slow movement of the Clarinet Quintet ?

Re: There ain't 'arf been some clever bastards...
« Reply #14 on: 05 January, 2018, 12:58:35 pm »
I'm a Mahler fan. It's Mozart I have a bit of  blind spot on.

Including the slow movement of the Clarinet Quintet ?

Don't know that one. I like some Mozart though, the Requiem for example and some of the Opera music but a lot I find just fizzy and annoying.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.