All Hail the King

[djealnla]

In case nobody has noticed, our dear member "thalbergmad" already has more posts than the once indomitable "pianistimo"!

Just thought I'd draw attention to this fact. 

[thalbergmad]

Indeed, but my posts are probably only marginally of more value than hers and considerably less than most people here.

I did promise to leave for 3 months and concentrate on playing when i exceeded her total, but so far i have failed to do so. I really want to get some recordings done for the audition room and clearly 30 minutes a day is not good enough to get much done. I am working on three pieces at the moment and plan to have at least two ready by the end of the year.

Posting crap on here is enjoyable, but playing is better.

Thal

[birba]

Couldn't agree with you more!  I, too, am hoping to post something before the year goes out...

[thalbergmad]

I am confident I can finish the Herz Nocturne and Woelfl Sonata, but the Tomasek is unlikely.

Damn, I am on pianostreets again.

Thal

[birba]

You see?  It's magic!

[littletune]

   Littletune can't wait to hear recordings from Thal and Birba!!!     

( Littletune is starting to talk like Bob  )

Thal you can't leave now, first you have to make a picture of me with a moustache 

[thalbergmad]

Regretfully, I am not very artistic, but there are some here who are.

Oh blast, did not want to log on again tonight.

Thal

[ahinton]

Regretfully, I am not very artistic, but there are some here who are.

Oh blast, did not want to log on again tonight.

You could consider asking Nils if there is any kind of cure, as he would know if anyone does - but I think that we'd all rather you didn't...

Best,

Alistair

[oxy60]

I really want to get some recordings done for the audition room and clearly 30 minutes a day is not good enough to get much done.

Indeed it isn't, especially to put up a recording HERE. Frankly I would rather play live for a large audience where there might one person who knows the difference. Putting a recording here is like playing for those five professors at a graduate recital..

[littletune]

You could consider asking Nils if there is any kind of cure, as he would know if anyone does - but I think that we'd all rather you didn't...

Best,

Alistair

Yes we would all miss you Thal!!

Indeed it isn't, especially to put up a recording HERE. Frankly I would rather play live for a large audience where there might one person who knows the difference. Putting a recording here is like playing for those five professors at a graduate recital..

Oh no, please don't scare Thal and Birba! I really wanna hear their recordings!  It's not so scary  well it is.... but not that much  And you could try posting something too Oxy, you would see it's not that scary then     

[goldentone]

I am confident I can finish the Herz Nocturne and Woelfl Sonata, but the Tomasek is unlikely.

I really look forward to hearing you, Thal.  Would hate for you to go on
a sabbatical, though.

[djealnla]

To celebrate this great occasion, I think that everyone should listen to the following splendid piece by our favorite resident pianist.     

[thalbergmad]

As long as I live, i do not think i will understand music like that although i can appreciate the skill in playing it.

Thal

[djealnla]

As long as I live, i do not think i will understand music like that although i can appreciate the skill in playing it.

Thal

I must confess to being puzzled by your confusion. What did you misunderstand? Music like this is fairly post-modern to my ear, and even if it no has thematic development or imitational techniques in it, then one can at least look at its form or examine its counterpoint or lack thereof. So which of these things did you find lacking here?

Also, I wouldn't mind starting a topic on the issue of "understanding" music. 

[thalbergmad]

Perhaps it would have been better if I had said I do not understand the point of the music.

Random notes, no memorable melody, just aimless wandering.

I am glad it appeals to some, but it does nothing for me.

Thal

[birba]

I think with two soloists of this caliber, I would listen to anything.  Remarkable playing.  She was absolutely wonderful and you could almost imagine her playing the bruch concerto.  And, of course, Jonathan powell is first-rate.  That said, I have to agree with thalbergmad regarding the music.  It did seem like aimless wandering, though I think I figured out the development and ricapitulation.  The violinist's phrasing and beautiful sound really made it sound almost convincing. But, in the end, it was mono-tone.  Like one level of sonority.
At any rate, I WISH I could do half that well!  

[ahinton]

Aimless wandering? Unmemorable? I must have been listening to a different piece! OK, given that it is a sonata, one might have anticipated that it would venture into territories other than those exploed within its 10½ minutes or so, but what it did present were numerous ideas that have certainly stuck in my ear - indeed, the opening one so much so that it's already becoming something of an earworm! Splendid performances, espeically from the pianist! I reallyu enjoyed listening to it.

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

Well, I guess it is because I am a cactus and lack the intelligence to appreciate such music.

Saying that, it is nowhere near the most horrid music I have heard all year. That would easily be Blomdahl's Chamber Concerto which sounds like chimps attacking a music shop.

Thal

[ahinton]

Well, I guess it is because I am a cactus

Prickly fellow that needs very little water to survive, are you, then?

and lack the intelligence to appreciate such music.

No one here is accusing you of lack of intelligence.

Maybe you just didn't particularly enjoy the piece!

Best,

Alistair

[djealnla]

Saying that, it is nowhere near the most horrid music I have heard all year. That would easily be Blomdahl's Chamber Concerto which sounds like chimps attacking a music shop.

Rofl, now I want to hear that piece. 

[thalbergmad]

It is available very cheaply for download at Amazon.

It would not be worth it if it were free.

Thal

[littletune]

So is that Violin Sonata anything like Alistair's music? Cause I still couldn't get any of his music... I found one thread here on pianostreet where someone posted some links, but then it said that I have to download some program to listen to it, and I did, but then that program that I downloaded said I had to get another program to do I don't know what...  and then I did download that second program but then it just told me that there was something wrong with the files or something so I couldn't listen to anything and I installed two programs just so they told me there was something wrong and I couldn't listen to anything!!   
Well whatever I thought that Violin Sonata was pretty cool and interesting  It's like you're flying above the Earth and watching what's happening on it and then sometimes you get lost cause there's fog all around you and sometimes you get caught in the wind and in the rain and sometimes some meteors are flying around you and things like that. And then in the end you turn into a meteor and you fall back on Earth with the meteor shower, well if you're too small then you just disintegrate in the Earth's atmosphere but that doesn't really matter cause you can't really die anyway.     
Oh I was dreaming today about Alistair    I was dreaming that he wrote an opera and my friend and me were watching it and it was about space like it was happening on other planets and things like that. It was really cool   

[djealnla]

Oh I was dreaming today about Alistair     I was dreaming that he wrote an opera and my friend and me were watching it and it was about space like it was happening on other planets and things like that. It was really cool    

Haha, that reminds me of a dream I had in which I heard Medtner's 15th Piano Sonata. When I woke up, I couldn't remember almost anything from the piece.  

[littletune]

Yes that happens to me too! When I dream I hear all the music and all of the instruments so clearly! Like I know exactly what every instrument is playing but then when I wake up I forget everything... well I still remember it for a few minutes but then after a few minutes I just forget it completely!!  Oh well   

[gep]

To celebrate this great occasion, I think that everyone should listen to the following splendid piece by our favorite resident pianist.     

A great many thanks for putting up this link! What a most enjoyable and wonderfully evocative piece of music! And so very well played too! The 'bravo's' afterwards were more then deserved, I think!
It really is a pity (for me!) that I know so very little of his music, only his 6th Sonata (also a wonderful piece) and a few highly intriguing snippets. I really do hope he will get around to recording all his Piano Sonatas, to my knowledge they would fill one CD, a CD that no doubt would be welcomed by quite a few! (So, if you are reading this Jonathan, please do consider the idea!).
JP's music, based on the far too little I know, seems to hint at things rather than making them explicite, making the music wonderfully teasing, letting the listener "fill in" any connections rather than doing so for him. Which means that the music can sound new and different each time you hear it (especially when listened to at greater intervals or different states of mind). Which is the essence of all great(er) music!

All best,
gep

[ahinton]

Oh I was dreaming today about Alistair    I was dreaming that he wrote an opera and my friend and me were watching it and it was about space like it was happening on other planets and things like that. It was really cool   

Well, I'm sorry to pour cold water on your rêverie, but I should perhaps point out that, many years ago, I did once say to a soprano that one of my ambitions as a composer was never to write anything for the stage...

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

A great many thanks for putting up this link! What a most enjoyable and wonderfully evocative piece of music! And so very well played too! The 'bravo's' afterwards were more then deserved, I think!
It really is a pity (for me!) that I know so very little of his music, only his 6th Sonata (also a wonderful piece) and a few highly intriguing snippets. I really do hope he will get around to recording all his Piano Sonatas, to my knowledge they would fill one CD, a CD that no doubt would be welcomed by quite a few! (So, if you are reading this Jonathan, please do consider the idea!).
JP's music, based on the far too little I know, seems to hint at things rather than making them explicite, making the music wonderfully teasing, letting the listener "fill in" any connections rather than doing so for him. Which means that the music can sound new and different each time you hear it (especially when listened to at greater intervals or different states of mind). Which is the essence of all great(er) music!

All best,
gep

In addition to endorsing all that you write here, I would like to put in a special please for his Second String Quartet - one of the most impressive of his works that I have heard to date (I have to admit that I've never heard his much earlier First String Quartet).

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

Hinton agrees with gep. How very strange.

Since this is my thread, I wonder if we might keep your mutual appreciation and weirdo contemporary "music" out of it.

Thal

[ahinton]

Hinton agrees with gep. How very strange.

Why so?

Since this is my thread

Er, no - it's thread initiated by someone else in celebration of the enviable record that you have attained by becoming the most frequent poster on this forum and it would therefore be nice if you showed the grace to accept the compliment inherent in this thread.

I wonder if we might keep your mutual appreciation and weirdo contemporary "music" out of it.

Wonder away, then. First of all, you appear not to have considered the possibility of such a mutual appreciation of you and it would therefore hardly be appropriate to keep such an appreciation out of thread like this one which, whilst not "yours" per se, is at least about you. As to "weirdo contemporary music", I've not noticed any being mentioned here, so I cannot comment on that.

Best,

Alistair

[littletune]

Well, I'm sorry to pour cold water on your rêverie, but I should perhaps point out that, many years ago, I did once say to a soprano that one of my ambitions as a composer was never to write anything for the stage...

Best,

Alistair

Oh don't worry Alistair!  It probably wasn't even really an opera you know... probably I just imagined it cause I have too much imagination and I always see pictures and movies and everything in my head  So you don't have to write anything for the stage if you don't want to, just write whatever you feel like writing... 

Best,

Littletune

[thalbergmad]

Perhaps we could get Alistair to write an opera

The Glencoe Massacre would be a suitable subject and I don't think it has ever been set to music. The premier could even be held on site.

Thal

[gep]

Hinton agrees with gep. How very strange.

Really? Oh well, it aint a crime, ey?

Since this is my thread, I wonder if we might keep your mutual appreciation and weirdo contemporary "music" out of it.

Thal

Since you do not own this site, please do tread carefully with putting any threats on this thread, there's a treat!  
My or Alistair's weirdo contemporary music??? Assuming that with that you mean Powell's music, and not Alistair's (which isn't exactly weird) or mine (which is non-existant, sadly), I wonder how you can find very nice melodic lines, an interesting piano part, intriguing colourfulness, etc. weirdo? Hmmmmm…. Well, any music written presently is contemporary (like the music you like better was contemporary when it was written!). But this Sonata being weirdo?? I think you will find something like this:

&feature=related
rather more weird! (Mind you, that is predicting your response, not an indication of my tastes on this music!)
Ah well, De gustibus et coloribus non est disputandum, of course!

Perhaps we could get Alistair to write an opera 

I doubt that, but in any case I'd much rather hear his Symphony no. 1, if I'm to choose an as yet non-existant work, or otherwise there are quite a few works as yet unperformed I'd love to hear!
But at least I'm happy you (too) look forward to a big Hinton piece!

all best,
gep

[thalbergmad]

Since you do not own this site, please do tread carefully with putting any threats on this thread

You mean like burning down archives??

Thal

[gep]

You mean like burning down archives??

Thal

Hmm, I think that archive of yours, considering the likely age of some items, would be highly flammable. Do be carefull!

gep

[thalbergmad]

But at least I'm happy you (too) look forward to a big Hinton piece!

Indeed i do.

The big concerto by Arthur Hinton deserves a recording.

Thal

[ted]

I enjoyed the Powell sonata enough to download the clip for future listenings. I found its form to be very cohesive, with a good amount of self-reference and quite a number of interrelated motifs. I personally prefer organic forms to architectural ones, which latter tend to be moulds into which musical matter is pushed. I think what struck me most in this piece though was its curiously deep sentiment, which appears to be spontaneously expressed, rather like a good improvisation. To notate such music, even approximately, and to get it to work in performance, is pretty hard to do. This one does it easily.

[thalbergmad]

&feature=related

Personally, I prefer Mrs Mills.

Thal

[ahinton]

&feature=related

Personally, I prefer Mrs Mills.

You mean the dark satanic variety?

Best,

Alistair

[birba]

Alright, Ms. Mills!  Play on!