NO PIANO ALLOWED

[soliloquy]

Ok, I assume that people here don't SOLELY listen to piano music.  I want to compile a list of pieces that you've come across that you feel everyone should hear: those rare gems that are obscure but shouldn't be by any means.  Here are the two rules:

NO SOLO PIANO PIECES
NOTHING COMMON EG. BEETHOVEN/SHOSTAKOVICH SYMPHONIES


My votes:

Berg Violin Concerto*** (some movements are tonal)
Berio 34 Duets for Two Violins*** (some movements are tonal)
Britten Violin Concerto
Corigliano Pied Piper Fantasy*** (some movements are tonal)
Debussy String Quartet
Dutilleux Cello Concerto
Giordano "La Mamma Morta" from Le Chenier (Can't go wrong with Maria Callas)
Glass Violin Concerto
Glass String Quartets Nos. 2 and 5
Kabalevsky Cello Concerto No. 1
Kodaly Solo Cello Sonata
Massenet Piano Concerto
Nyman "The Piano Concerto"
Schnittke Sonata for Cello and Piano***
Tsontakis Four Symphonic Quartets
Xenakis Synaphai***

(*** denotes a primarily atonal piece.  Will all please do this to protect the stuck-in-baroque boring losers from having to hear something interesting?)


Yes, I know most people here are quite wary of listening to a piece by Xenakis, but this is definitely not the random style of "Herma" which seems to be the only piece most people have heard of Xenakis.  Synaphai is probably the most viscious, exhilerating piece ever.  I shall dispense recordings of it and the others as needed since some of them are hard to get.


Anyway, I strongly urge everyone to go out and give these pieces just listed and any other pieces that get listed in this thread a listen if you haven't already; that's what this is here for.

[pianistimo]

you like cello music?  me, too.  actually, i like pretty much all the instruments of the orchestra and have no pet peeves about clarinets or oboes or anything.  the harp is probably my favorite instrument besides the piano. 

i like to listen to irish music
to jazz - cole porter
to the allentown band in the summer - they often play from a whole range of music (marches to contemporary)

but, the thrill isn't always to hear it on cd or radio but LIVE.  to me, that's the experience.  to see the performers and feel the vibrations of the music. 

the philadelphia orchestra has been a revelation to me of mastery.  i was  shocked that most of the older people (gray haired) have either died off or retired and most of the orchestra is now made up of people in their early 20s or 30s.  and yet, the music is such a high quality.  i haven't been to chicago - so can't compare that - but, in terms of enjoying listening to an orchestra - that's been the amazingest experience i've had besides hearing live pianists.

missed andre rieu.  that was a bugger.  my husband goes off to baltimore for a three day business trip and he was sidetracked off a street for the entourage of andre rieu.  if i'd have known that -i'd have gone along despite protests that the company doesn't allow it.  sometimes you just have to make experiences for yourself.

i wanted to hear the saint saens organ concerto live - but didn't buy tickets in time.  it was sold out!  i think it was around may 13 or something.  but, i think they will have more organ recitals for the new wannamaker.  i wanna hear it.

ok.  here's my list (directly off wrti) but i want to hear all these in person sometime:
antonin dvorak - legend #3 op. 59
johann strauss II - die fledermaus overture
sousa marches - allentown band
antonio vivaldi - concerto for harp
ralphvaughn williams - five variants of dives
marice ravel -  mirors:4 alborada del gracioso
sergei prokofiev - russian overture op. 72
karl ditters von dittersdorf - harp concerto in A

so i plagarize.  i like wrti. 

used to go to the library of wcu to see what they had.  i think they are converting old lp's to compact disc.  are there other libraries that have a lot of compact discs now? 

[pianistimo]

ps  - don't you think that it's also a big matter as to who is conducting?  ricardo muti is my favorite conductor past/present - but, am sure as i learn about mroe conductors there will be more to learn.  what i like to hear is a well thought out and planned interpretation - and not a sixth grade version of pieces.

which reminds me, we heard my daughter sing in her school choral (which sang really well) but the sound guy was deaf.  the feedback was atrocious in the high ranges and the more he messed with the panel the worse it got.  finally -he just moved the knobs a tiny bit and it went away - but it RUINED the whole show.  why don't they practice doing the sound system BEFORE a performance.  especially since the kids had practiced so much and parents were RECORDING their children.  i could have walked over and strangled the guy - but it wouldn't be very nice.  plus he was really old and maybe wouldn't even understand what was going on.  maybe he hears like a rabbit (can't hear high frequencies).

[soliloquy]

Look pianonut!  *dangles shiny quarter and tosses it into some other thread that needs to be thrown wickedly off topic*


Boulez is my favorite conductor tho.

Wait.

Look what you did ><

Now I'm off topic =(

I love you and I hate you.


EVERYONE BACK ON TRACK!

[henrah]

Mahler's second symphony, named Ressurection (or is it Resurrection?) is marvelous.

And I've always loved - and always will love - Danse Macabre. Ever since hearing it as the theme of Jonathan Creek, I've always loved it.
Henrah

[johnny-boy]

"Night on Bald Mountain" - Mussorgsky

[soliloquy]

arg

[pianistimo]

dear soliloquy,

i will probably chase the quarters because my children take all of mine.  all i have left is pennies.  what can you do with those (lately i've taken to paying for a few mc donald happy meals with them).

sorry to get things off topic.  am easily distracted and it's not getting better with age.  i walk downstairs to get something and by the time i'm down i forgot what it was i was supposed to get.  usually people who've had a broken leg don't like to walk up and downstairs so much -but it's actually been part of the cause of my speedy recovery.

[soliloquy]

I hate stairs.  I <3 elevators.  Ish ok.  What ever happened to 50 cent pieces?  I liked those.  They felt like they were worth something, but they were also shiny.  The new bills are shiny, but it's just not the same.  How come people aren't following rule No. 2?  Is it difficult?  What do you think?  Maybe they just don't read the whole introduction to the thread; they get overly excited and in their haste skip over Rule No. 2?

[pianistimo]

excuse me for asking, but what's rule #1? oh, yes.  to only pick rare gems.  well, i kind of blew that one.  i wouldn't exactly call sousa marches what i'd listen to in late afternoon -but they are a good wake up call.
 ok. rule #2 should be obscure.  ok. i messed that one up too.

let's try rule #3 - no solo piano pieces and nothing 'common.'  i think i adhered to that semi - ok. 

[soliloquy]

Rule No. 1 is no Solo Piano Music
Rule No. 2 is no common pieces EG Night on Bald Mountain, Danse Macabre 

[pianistimo]

oh.  that was herah and jonny-boy.

[johnny-boy]

Rule No. 1 is no Solo Piano Music
Rule No. 2 is no common pieces EG Night on Bald Mountain, Danse Macabre 

It's only common if you’re familiar with it. Out of 20 people at work, I was the only one that knew this work. Not so common - at least not to the common man.

I guess "common" or "not common" is in the ears of the beholder.

Best, John

[pianistimo]

yes. he made up the rules anyway and doesn't seem to count the common as a problem.  ie obscure but shouldn't be?

private libraries, the library of congress (yes, what are they doing with all that music?  hoarding it?), people that walk around with dark suitcases to and from auctions.  don't worry, i'll find an obscure piece.  flea markets are amazing.  hole-in-the-wall antique bookstores.  estate sales?

why can't the common person get into the moldenhauer archives/library of congress?  or do i just not know how to get into the boxes without going over there?  wait a minute.  i actually typed it in again and found a site:  https://memory.loc.gov/ammem/browse/index.html  and click on 'sheet music.'

or look under 'manuscripts' and ponder why walt whitman's notebook is not showing up all the pages.  black cover over most of the pages.

[prometheus]

The second rule is ambigious.


I do like Penderecki - Seven Gates of Jerusalem, though.

[johnny-boy]

The second rule is ambigious.


I do like Penderecki - Seven Gates of Jerusalem, though.

I thought so too.

Maybe Beethoven's 5th. Symphony could be considered "common" (most people I work with are familiar with that), at least more so than "Night on Bald Mountain". "Jingle Bells", in my country, could be considered common.

Best, John

[mikey6]

well, if you're on a muso forum asling muso's, common repertoire would be works in the common repertoire 'bald mountain' and 'mahler' would be pretty standard n'est pas?
(and by the way, so it the Berg Violin Concerto)

respighi - queen of sheba rocks!
honegger - pacific 231

[walking_encyclopedia]

Rule No. 1 is no Solo Piano Music
Rule No. 2 is no common pieces EG Night on Bald Mountain, Danse Macabre

hmmmm....no piano music eh?

i guess it would have to be a tie between:


Ottorino Respighi-  Pines of Rome

and

Nickelback-  "Photograph"   

[musik_man]

Schoenberg Verklaerte Nacht
Mahler Symphonies 1-10, Das Lied von der Erde, Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen, Kindertotenlieder
Ravel Sheherazade, 5 Popular Greek Melodies
Stravinsky Petrushka
Prokofiev Alexander Nevsky
Bach St. Matthew Passion
Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem
Rachmaninov Vocalise, Vespers
Barber Violin Concerto
Shostakovich Violin Concerto 1, Cello Concerto 2
De Victoria Requiem for 6 Voices
Gesualdo Tenebrae Responses
Byrd Masses for 3, 4 and 5 voices
De Machaut Messe di Notre Dame
Mozart Die Zauberfloete, Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni
Gilbert and Sullivan H.M.S. Pinafore
Rimsky-Korsakov Russian Easter Festival Overture
Respighi Church Windows, Autumal Poem, Ancient Airs and Dances, 3 Boticelli Pictures
Bernstein Candide

Non-classical artists you ought to be familiar with
Charles Mingus
Miles Davis
John Coltrane
Led Zeppelin
The Who
The Beatles
Simon and Garfunkel
Yes
King Crimson
Jefferson Airplane
Frank Zappa
Pink Floyd
Allison Kraus

[what]

Neutral Milk Hotel - Pretty much all of In the Aeroplane over the Sea
Bob Marley - Redemption song, Waiting in Vain, Get Up Stand Up, Positive Vibrations, just to get you started
Velvet Underground - Heroin, Black Angel's Death Song, etc.
Bob Dylan - Don't Think Twice it's Alright, The Times They are a Changin, Hard Rain's Gonna Fall, I Shall be Released, Mr. Tambourine Man, Like a Rolling Stone, etc.
Nick Drake - Pink Moon, River Man, Hazey Jane I, Place to Be, One of These Things, Northern Sky, From the Morning, etc.

Lots of other artists too but these guys always show up on my playlist when there's no piano music.

[musik_man]

Neutral Milk Hotel - Pretty much all of In the Aeroplane over the Sea
Bob Marley - Redemption song, Waiting in Vain, Get Up Stand Up, Positive Vibrations, just to get you started
Velvet Underground - Heroin, Black Angel's Death Song, etc.
Bob Dylan - Don't Think Twice it's Alright, The Times They are a Changin, Hard Rain's Gonna Fall, I Shall be Released, Mr. Tambourine Man, Like a Rolling Stone, etc.
Nick Drake - Pink Moon, River Man, Hazey Jane I, Place to Be, One of These Things, Northern Sky, From the Morning, etc.

Lots of other artists too but these guys always show up on my playlist when there's no piano music.

Which album would you recommend?  I bought Live at Max's and the playing is great but the sound is terrible.

[what]

Which album would you recommend?  I bought Live at Max's and the playing is great but the sound is terrible.

Live at Max's is a pretty cool album, really good tracks for the lo-fi recording but a lot of their studio recorded tracks are definitely the kind that are hard to reproduce live.

Of their studio recorded albums, I think they pretty much topped out with The Velvet Underground and Nico but their album The Velvet Underground is also pretty good in a different way. Not a fan of White Light/White Heat. Loaded seems to lack the substance and definitely the undergroundness of their previous albums, supposedly recorded to be more radio friendly.

If "Velvet Underground and Nico" is everything that brings you to the trip and the beginning of the trip, and White Light/White Heat is the tripness itself, then "The Velvet Underground" is what it's like coming down from and after the trip when you can relate to both frames of mind and Loaded is giving all that tripping up. Well that generalizes, but I like it.

Anyways you definitely want to give "The Velvet Underground and Nico" and "The Velvet Underground" a listen through.

[donjuan]

Paganini: Violin Concerto No. 1
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 "Pathetique"
Liszt: Les Preludes

[soliloquy]

I thought Rimsky-Korsakov did Scheherezade o.o  Did Ravel do one too?


Anyways, rule let me clarify on Rule No. 2.   Only name pieces that most people haven't heard.  Everyone's heard Night on Bald Mountain, Mahler Symphonies, Scheherezade, Mozart Operas etc.

[johnny-boy]

"Everyone's heard Night on Bald Mountain"

I doubt that.

John 

[thalbergmad]

Stephan Grapelli and the Hot Club de France - Swing that music

Flatt & Scruggs - Foggy Morning Breakdown

[anodibu]

One that immediately comes to mind:

Schnittke - Violin Concerto No. 4

One of my favourite violin concerti

[musik_man]

I thought Rimsky-Korsakov did Scheherezade o.o  Did Ravel do one too?


Anyways, rule let me clarify on Rule No. 2.   Only name pieces that most people haven't heard.  Everyone's heard Night on Bald Mountain, Mahler Symphonies, Scheherezade, Mozart Operas etc.

Ravel's is for Orchestra+Soprano

[russ]

WELL!

I dont think they should be limited to artsy fartsy neo-classicals... SO! (although I didnt read the last 50 or so replies )

I do believe that Schism (a Tool cover) by Apocalyptica is a perfect balance between an almost hectic, but sprightly main theme, and a melancholic section towards the end. The harmonies created are by far some of the best I've heard.

**apocalyptica are a string quartet (I think?) who do mainly covers and arrangements, for those that are unfamiliar...**

dare yous all to download it

[musik_man]

Because I'm listening to it at the moment, I add Verdi's Aida to my list.

[soliloquy]

"Everyone's heard Night on Bald Mountain"

I doubt that.

John 

Even *** deaf people have heard Night on Bald Mountain.

[johnny-boy]

Even *** deaf people have heard Night on Bald Mountain.

Do you know "everyone"? Just because something is familiar to you doesn't mean that it is to "everyone".

John

[prometheus]

I am sure the billions of people in China and India have not. Not forget to mention Africa and South America.

For some reason people really think they are the center of the world.

[gilad]

i agree with johny boy and prometheus.
and i think this thread is stupid and rigidly defined.
even deaf people have heard night on a bare mountain??
ok.
rule 3 should have been no music that deaf people have heard.

[soliloquy]

Every orchestra I know of does Night on Bald Mountain at LEAST once a year, not to mention on any Halloween pops concert.  Also, it was in Fantasia, and everyone who has been 4 years old at some point has therefor heard it.

[lisztisforkids]

Myakovsky, cello concerto. Utterly beutiful...

[Tash]

ok i'll go australian:
carl vine: choral symphony
ross edwards: maninyas
nigel westlake: antarctica
graeme koehne: 1914

then my biased choir tastes
britten: saint nicholas
durufle: requiem
vaughan williams: dona nobis pacem
monteverdi: vespers

[johnny-boy]

Every orchestra I know of does Night on Bald Mountain at LEAST once a year, not to mention on any Halloween pops concert.  Also, it was in Fantasia, and everyone who has been 4 years old at some point has therefor heard it.

Can you give me a list of all the orchestras you know of?

John

[tompilk]

Stanford concertos are good... so is Harty...
Tom

[soliloquy]

Can you give me a list of all the orchestras you know of?

John

How bout this.  Find three Orchestras IN THE ENTIRE WORLD that didn't play Night on Bald Mountain during one of their seasons.  Go for it; just go to any professional Symphony Orchestra's website and look at their annual programs.  Find me three; I defy you.


Oh I forgot to add to my original list:
Vivaldi Four Seaons Concerti
Bruch Violin Concerto in G Minor
Saint-Saens Cello Concerto No. 1
Handel Messiah
Beethoven Synphony No. 5
Respighi Suite "Pines of Rome"
Wagner Tannhauser Overture
Mozart Symphony No. 40
Shostakovich Symphony No. 5
Rachmaninov Symphony No. 3
Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue

And lets not forget the equally rare Tchaikovsky Nutcracker Suite


I take it you don't attend the Symphony very often if you think Night on Bald Mountain is obscure    I don't even understand how you could possibly say that!  Are you like, living in a cave?  I have no idea why you're even arguing about this.  I guess you're SO insecure that if someone calls you on some bullshit you spout you'd rather argue a lie than just admit being wrong or misunderstanding something.



Oh wait I forgot the Beethoven Choral Symphony and Ponchielli's Dance of the Hours!

[johnny-boy]

Calm down soliloquy. Everything's going to be fine. Yeah, your right, and I was wrong.   Are you feeling better now?

John

 

[BoliverAllmon]

shostakovich string quartets
mahler symphonies
Bach solo cello suites

[lisztisforkids]

How bout this.  Find three Orchestras IN THE ENTIRE WORLD that didn't play Night on Bald Mountain during one of their seasons.  Go for it; just go to any professional Symphony Orchestra's website and look at their annual programs.  Find me three; I defy you.

 We have 2 orechstras in my town. And neither of them have played Night on A bald mountin since I can remember.

[johnny-boy]

I've also checked several websites as suggested and have not found any orchestras that included "Night on Bald Mountain" in their programs. But soliloquy you’re still right, and I'm wrong. I'm sure I just happened to check the few that didn't include it on their programs.

John

[elspeth]

Rodrigo, 'Concierto Pastorale'
Bach's flute sonatas
Phillip Feeney, the score for the ballet 'Dracula'
Scarlatti, the 'Devil's Trill' sonata

Mediaeval Baebes, despite the affected spelling

Mostly Autumn, especially the albums 'The Last Bright Light' or 'Passengers'

[elspeth]

Sorry, 'Devil's Trill' is by Tartini, not Scarlatti! Oopsie... it's been a long day...

[jre58591]

Sorry, 'Devil's Trill' is by Tartini, not Scarlatti! Oopsie... it's been a long day...

<----------------

i think a good non piano solo piece is dohnányi's variations on a nursery theme. kapustin's chamber music (with and without piano) is some of the best ive ever heard. also, some of xenakis's electronic music was pretty good.

[prometheus]

Those variations are for piano.

[jre58591]

Those variations are for piano.

there is an awful lot of orchestra in that piece, and soliloquy (skepto?) just specified that piano solo pieces arent allowed. this isnt a solo piece. he mentioned such pieces such as nyman's and massenet's piano concertos (great pieces btw), which are in the same category as this piece, so dohnányi's variations on a nursery theme are acceptable.

[prometheus]

Rule two may be ambigious as I pointed out before. Rule number one surely isn't.