The Classical Appreciation Thread

kibble_alex wrote: How about a piano piece that have chords that stretch over two octaves in each hand (no arpeggiating) called "Go On Then Brahms, Have a Crack At That" I think it will be recognised as highly innovative in the classical world, don't you agree? Of course, I'm not mocking my favourite composer in a spiteful way What are your opinions on my video from a fellow pianist's perspective? And I love the Paganini variations, I even prefer them to Liszt's versions.

Well, I can play an interval of 8+3 (sorry, I don't know how intervals, especially the composed ones, are called in English - the terms are, anyway, a lot different than in Romanian) with my right hand and an interval of 8+4 with my left hand, so it wouldn't be hard to play those overly stretched chords.

About the video, I don't wanna make impressions like a critic - though, in a way, I like doing music critic i.e. see my reviews - maybe something from the recording blur somewhat the nuances (nuancing), otherwise I enjoyed listening to it. Seems to be a kind of "recreational" play as well...

I didn't play this piece, if I did, I'd probably say a lot more "do this instead of that"...

I like the Liszt-Paganini studies, I played nr. 2 (or 6?) in my 7th & 8th grade. The evolution was pretty much the same as in Brahms' case: grimaces during the first months, then, in the 8th grade, performances in presto leaving my colleagues with their mouths wide open.

jammun wrote: Haven't really been through all this thread, but I've always been partial to string quartets:  Beethoven, Debussy, Ravel.  Seems to me this is about as close to a rock band as you can get, obviously not power-wise, but in terms of instrumentation, just lacking the drums.  For classical to me less is more.

Hi, I'm new here, but just wanted t chime in this thread because I completely agree with jammun about string quartets.  In fact my current project is completely based around that idea: http://www.myspace.com/deathmaiden

As you can see from that I'm pretty fond of Schubert's Death and the Maiden quartet, as well as his other late quartets.  I also like Beethoven's late quartets, though they can get a bit dense if I'm not in the mood.

Other string quartets I enjoy: Bartok's 4th, Shostakovich's 8th, and Ravel's.

Aside from that, composers and pieces that cme to mind:

Sibelius' Violin Concerto (amazing melody)
Stravinsky - Rite of Spring
Bartok's Piano Sonata
Haydn - Farewell Symphony
Bach - Passacaglia in C minor (and Stokowski's orchestration!) Art of Fugue

more modern stuff:

Arvo Pärt - Tabula Rasa
Steve Reich - Music for 18 Musicians
Alfred Schnittke - Concerto Grosso No. 1 (Current favorite)

That's all I can think of right now...