LarryC Posted July 12, 2004 Share Posted July 12, 2004 Over the past few weeks, GaryMD and I have watched and listened to videos of two classical works, Maurice Ravels Tzigane (French for gypsy) for violin and orchestra, and Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakovs Cappricio Espagnole. In Tzigane, the violin initially plays solo for some minutes as the orchestra only watches. Then, a harp surprises by entering, followed by other instruments almost one-by-one, while the violin displays more and more in astonishing pyrotechincs and virtuosity. In places, the violinist (Maxim Vengarov, a twenties-something Russian) plays an amazingly rapid succession of bow strokes, pizzicato (plucking the strings) with the fingers of the right (bowing) hand, and pizzicato with the LEFT hand, which also nearly simultaneously forms notes for the bowing and pizzicato by the right all faster than the eye can see. As in other compositions by Ravel, only fragments of his gypsy melodies emerge, soon interrupted by multiple, distorted fragments of the subject, as if viewing a cubist painting. The filming gives the viewer a remarkable close-up of the bowing and fingering that could not possibly be seen in ordinary concert viewing. The equally remarkable orchestral effects(Ravel also composed Bolero, same deal) are clearly seen as the cameras dart masterfully from instrument to instrument and to and from the violinist. We then watched a Berlin Philharmonic performance of the closing part of Rimsky-Korsakovs Cappricio Espagnole, a brilliant orchestral showpiece that requires great virtuosity by all players, especially the violins. Once again, great camera work provides swift, almost instrument-by-instrument close-ups of what is happening in the orchestra, a most privileged viewing that is simply not available from most audience seating . These videos were taped from the ARTS Channel (http://www.classicartsshowcase.org/), a national cable TV channel provided to cable broadcasters free of charge. It features videos, about 5 to 15 minutes long, of well-selected examples of opera, orchestra, choral, and chamber music, animation, film, architecture, and theatre. Local stations that carry the ARTS channel can be found by state and city under Channels on the above website, although one may have to call stations in their locale for exact times and other information (many areas do not have it). ARTS is supported by a foundation started by two individuals now deceased, Lloyd Rigler and Lawrence Deutsch (who made their fortunes in Adolphs Meat Tenderizer!), and provided free to broadcasters. However, it does not permit advertising; with such little incentive, its carried mostly by college and public school system TV. For example, in the Montgomery County, MD, Comcast cable franchise, its carried by the Montgomery County Public Schools channel, 24 hrs/day on weekends and holidays and the wee hours of weekdays. Unfortunately, ARTS publishes no schedule, so you never know what youre going to see. It can take lots and lots of watching to see musical gems like what we saw. I mention all this because of how difficult it can be to learn classical music. One big reason: a lot goes on in classical that takes close listening to hear and enjoy! Watching a musical score while the music unfolds is one way to appreciate this, although, clearly, few have the opportunity to see a score and probably need some ability to read music, as Gary has. This approach can show and reinforce what the composer did in writing his (or her) work, and enhance ones ability to pick up on subtle, sometimes fast-moving details. To illustrate, below is a pic of the first page of the score of Mars, the Bringer of War in Holsts The Planets. Some heard this extraordinary work at Indy, which brought a round of applause from very intent listeners. As you can see, the score usually initially lays out all instruments to be played in a particular movement, though many are often silent at first, as here. I hope the pic is large enough for important details to be visible. Marss exceptional orchestral power is signaled by the unusually large brass complement: 6 french horns, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, a bass tuba, and the unusual tenor tuba. Two players on 6 kettledrums and a raft of other percussion instruments stand ready to add to the impending melee. You can see the irregular, hammering, gunfire-like 5 beats per measure (5/4"), and that all strings are instructed by the col legno to beat the wood of upside-down bows on the strings instead of the usual horsehair surface, to create an angry, mystifying sound at the opening. The score gets far more complicated as it goes on! Garys fine CD, incidentally, is: Gustave Holst: The Planets, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, David Lloyd-Jones, conductor, Naxos 5.110004. We also listened to the totally fabulous Reiner/Chicago Symphony recording of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, on RCA LSC-2446, a 200-gm LP reissue available at Acoustic Sounds and other outlets. This classic performance of this fascinating work has won a great, well deserved, reputation among music lovers and audiophiles. Reiner's interpretation and very careful balancing and shading is a thing of wonder, while the Chicago outdoes itself in the performance. To write this kind of music with such exceptional mastery, composers really have to know and understand the instruments they write for! Ravel had to have a very intimate knowledge of how to write his complex violin passages, and Rimsky-Korsakov had to have a similar expert knowledge of all the instruments, again including the violin (he wrote a renowned book on orchestration). It surprises some that classical composers wrote every last note for every last instrument of their compositions -- there is almost no arranging by someone else in mainstream classical music. Perhaps the largest barrier to enjoying classical music is that the literature can be daunting to those who are almost entirely unfamiliar with it. There is no easy answer to this, other than taking any available opportunities to listen regularly, and perhaps accumulating CDs that interest one. One forum member has a large windfall collection of classical CDs, and is beginning to work his way through them with a bit of guidance. Knowing someone knowledgeable to share in the interest can help. Anyway happy listening! Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymd Posted July 12, 2004 Share Posted July 12, 2004 It's difficult not to be fascinated when following the score, knowing 1 person sat down and wrote an entire piece of incredible music with no instruments other than what was in his head. These performances are extremely educational. Listening is not quite the same as watching the orchestra/conductor and the quality of the camera work is amazing. They often show great performances from the 40s/50s but they didn't have the technology to quickly zoom in on instruments the way they do with the more current productions. If you get a chance to see some of these, I strongly urge that you do. Check with your local cable company to see if the ARTs channel is available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scriven Posted July 12, 2004 Share Posted July 12, 2004 I looked into receiving the ARTS Channel. I am a Dish subscriber and it looks like none of the local channels that I receive carry ARTS. Dish does carry it on a second satellite but that would require installing a second dish. (For more info see: http://www.classicartsshowcase.org/dish2.html) ---------------- On 7/12/2004 10:39:50 AM larryclare wrote: ... One forum member has a large windfall collection of classical CDs, and is beginning to work his way through them with a bit of guidance. Knowing someone knowledgeable to share in the interest can help. ---------------- I am the member that Larry refers to with the classical CD collection. Most of my classical collection consists of 62 CDs of the Vienna Master Series all recorded in pure digital. I picked up the collection in the late 80s or early 90s and very rarely listen to them. I generally listen to rock but I have always thought that I have been missing a huge amount of great stuff. (After all, lots of people have enjoyed classical music for literally hundreds of years!) Larry is being very modest when he says Knowing someone knowledgeable to share in the interest can help. I tried on several occasions on my own to listen to them but could never get excited enough about it to stick with it. With Larrys help I have already gotten much farther than any time I tried on my own in the past. In my case having someone knowledgeable to help made all the difference in the world. I would like to take this occasion to publicly thank Larry for his help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymd Posted July 12, 2004 Share Posted July 12, 2004 ---------------- On 7/12/2004 1:07:25 PM scriven wrote: I would like to take this occasion to publicly thank Larry for his help. ---------------- Ditto. I have the luxury of Larry's expertise in my own backyard. I now listen to classical music about 1/3 of the time which is approximately 100% more than I did a year ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-MAN Posted July 12, 2004 Share Posted July 12, 2004 One of the most important lessons that I have ever learned in life was free for the taking and had far reaching results that I had no idea of at the time but has influenced my life greatly. When I was in college, the art studio (I was an art major)always had classical music playing. I asked why they didn't play a jazz station instead, as I thought that more appropriate for the "art" being made at the time as well as my taste at the time... The answer I got, which has actually become a part of my music life now, was this: "Classical is about the MUSIC and Jazz is about the PERSON". The truth of this took years to sink in but now I really don't listen to jazz very much at all. DM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebes Posted July 12, 2004 Share Posted July 12, 2004 Great report Larry and an interesting topic. What little classical music I listen to is usually with eyes closed, even if it's at the Kennedy Center. I guess having good camera work for an orchestra is at least equivalent to going to a rock concert and working your way down front to see everybody banging and strumming away. You and Gary have been mentioning "The Planets" for quite some time now. Lots of brass and Klipsch, kinda like that idea a lot. Sounds like I need copy. Where would one get one? Quite a treat to see the orchestral score too. Now we know why the conductor's waving his baton so frantically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymd Posted July 12, 2004 Share Posted July 12, 2004 Marty, I have a SACD/CD hybrid from Naxos which is very good. You can find it just about anywhere SACDs are sold and it's only about $15. I think Larry mentioned it in a little more detail in his post above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebes Posted July 12, 2004 Share Posted July 12, 2004 Thanks Gary. Hope to buy a few tunes this weekend that will be on my list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxg Posted July 13, 2004 Share Posted July 13, 2004 Now that is a post!!! Nice one. I guess they are working their way through all the composers - and you hit on "R". That is assuming that the Holst references were not from the same show. If my guess is correct next week will be "S" - good ground S - lots of great composers there - from Stravinsky to Strauss to Schubert and so on. Schubert's violin compositions are amongst my favorites and they too demand huge degrees of virtuosity. As for the ones you covered - Ravel's Bolero is a peculiar piece - some people love it - some hate it. I am firmly in the former camp on that one. I find Bolero to be a wonderfully relaxing piece to listen to and have several copies on vinyl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted July 13, 2004 Author Share Posted July 13, 2004 ---------------- On 7/13/2004 2:38:16 AM maxg wrote: ...I guess they are working their way through all the composers - and you hit on "R". That is assuming that the Holst references were not from the same show. If my guess is correct next week will be "S" - good ground S - lots of great composers there - from Stravinsky to Strauss to Schubert and so on. Schubert's violin compositions are amongst my favorites and they too demand huge degrees of virtuosity. As for the ones you covered - Ravel's Bolero is a peculiar piece - some people love it - some hate it. I am firmly in the former camp on that one. I find Bolero to be a wonderfully relaxing piece to listen to and have several copies on vinyl. ---------------- That's not quite the plan, the "Rs" were a concidence. We've also watched great videos of pieces by Rossini, Wagner, Weber, and others. Bolero's imaginative orchestration is responsible for a lot of its expressiveness IMO, and I used it to demo instrumental sound. I'm not familiar with Schubert violin works, may look into that. My belated thanks to Picky for help in adjusting the score page to the right file and picture size. Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted July 13, 2004 Share Posted July 13, 2004 You are more than welcome, Larry. I was glad to be able to help. BTW: 'Scheherazade' has long been one my absolute favorite classical pieces. Nice post! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Mobley Posted July 13, 2004 Share Posted July 13, 2004 I went and looked at the Naxos stuff, be aware that on their sit the SACD is listed as 6.110004, not 5.110004. Looks like the numbers starting with 5 are DAD-A, nubers starting with 6 are SACD. I just got a a Sony 333ES that plays SACD, I'm going to try a couplre of these. Thanks go to Larry for taking time to write up a really informative post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted July 13, 2004 Author Share Posted July 13, 2004 Great correction, Tom. I wasn't sensitive to SACD vs. DVD-A when I looked it up on the website. Thanks for the comment. Did you ever get to remove the bass-killer inserts from your other K-horn? Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Mobley Posted July 13, 2004 Share Posted July 13, 2004 Larry, I've worked on it some, got discouraged because my results weren't repeatable. I need to sit down, think over my testing strategies, work up a spreadsheet, and start over. I'm actually thinking of getting into it tomorrow, as it happens. Boy, a lot of typos in my last msg. I'm usually more careful than that. What's a nuber, anyway? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxg Posted July 14, 2004 Share Posted July 14, 2004 "We've also watched great videos of pieces by Rossini, Wagner, Weber, and others." Now that is a mix!! Rossini - Opera I hope - we are in total favorite territory here - along with Verdi and Puccini. Weber I am not too familiar with - I think I have an Organ piece or 2 of his knocking around - possibly on the back of some Bach organ works - I will have a hunt and see - it doesnt show up on my database so I might be wrong on that one. I did find some Widor - maybe I am getting confused - nto the first time that has happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted July 14, 2004 Author Share Posted July 14, 2004 ---------------- On 7/14/2004 2:01:26 AM maxg wrote: ...Rossini - Opera I hope - we are in total favorite territory here - along with Verdi and Puccini. ---------------- We've focused on orchestral pieces, and because ARTS videos aren't that long, it's been Rossini, Weber, and Wagner overtures and preludes, movements of concertos and short soloist/orchestral works, and the like. Their opera and choral videos are usually arias or choruses. I myself have not been as big a fan of opera as of orchestral and choral works. Weber -- I like Der Freischutz, both overture and opera, and we have viewed the Oberon overture, one of my favorites. The rest of his works haven't interested me that much. I've never been able to get into Widor. Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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