The epic classical music thread

[krischan]

Les Preludes by Franz Liszt:

It's like Beethoven and Wagner in one. The finale is overwhelming!

As a child, once I watched the movie "Animals are beautiful people". There is a scene in which thousands of pelican hatchlings were doomed to die because the dry season came too early, so their parents had to leave and all of them went on their death march through the desert that was once a lake, leaving a trail of dead pelican babies. I was totally devastated and went into tears. But then, rain clouds appeared like mighty war machines while the 2:45 part of Les Preludes was played. At first, the heat evaporated the rain and the pelican babies kept on dying, but finallly the rain prevailed when there was only one baby pelican left. That must have been 45 years ago and both the scene and the music left a permanent impression on me. My childhood memories gave this piece of music a special piece in my heart.

I had to sweep away a tear while I wrote this.

 

[krischan]

I'm more a friend of instrumental music, but I think that no musical instrument can do this:

I hope it doesn't sound sexist, but to my taste, the female voice is the most beautiful musical instrument.

 

[krischan]

Guess I'll share one of mine:

Saturn is my favourite.

 

[Dredd]

Saturn is my favourite.

Neptune is mine.

 

[krischan]

@jmervyn: Sorry, I almost forgot my annual May posting... and I think this belongs into this thread anyway.

The cherry and apple trees are already through with blossoming and now the birches sprout their leaves. May is my favourote month of the year, in particular when being on home office all the time. The fresh green makes me feel great. I'm just a bit annoyed about my latest investment, a robot lawnmower which is getting stuck every day on my coarsely maintained lawn. But OK, it's my job to provide the proper conditions, with no all too deep holes in the lawn. I hope things will sort out once I flattened out all problematic spots.

 

[jmervyn]

@jmervyn: Sorry, I almost forgot my annual May posting... and I think this belongs into this thread anyway.

I don't like Spring, but I *do* love that piece.

My lawn robot, AKA my child, will be leaving the house next school semester. I doubt he's going to actually mow the lawn first.

 

[krischan]

I don't like Spring, but I *do* love that piece.

My lawn robot, AKA my child, will be leaving the house next school semester. I doubt he's going to actually mow the lawn first.

I TOTALLY love spring, it's when everything comes to life again. The fresh green is awesome! Tomatoes, potatoes, beans, everyting's growing fine.

The lawn robot, well, it's not my child, but my 600€ slave, but hmm... let's say you have a strangely romantic relation to yours. Ours is called Oscar BTW.

 

[jmervyn]

I TOTALLY love spring, it's when everything comes to life again. The fresh green is awesome! Tomatoes, potatoes, beans, everyting's growing fine.

What Spring means to me is difficulty breathing, picking boogers out of my eyes 4-5 times a day, and everything coated in about 2mm worth of yellowish-green tree sperm.

 

[krischan]

Oh, so you have a few allergies? Well OK, that explains it. Thank god I have none because I'm from the countryside and played a lot on the farm of my uncle when I was a child. All the stuff there might have had a hardening (or bluntening) effect, I guess.

When the **** (for those with infantile minds: I mean the plant) is blossoming in late May (i.e. right now) , everything is turning yellow here. I don't care though, the only reason for me to wash the car is preventing corrosion. BTW, we have a rather cool and rainy May this year which is said to be good for the crops. We have a saying for that, of course: Ist der Mai kühl und nass, füllt's des Bauern Scheun und Fass. Practice your German!

 

[krischan]

I hope it doesn't sound sexist, but to my taste, the female voice is the most beautiful musical instrument.

From Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro".

"... and for the briefest of moments, every last man at Shawshank felt free."

Edit: New link.
Edit 2: New link again.

 

[jmervyn]

Oh, so you have a few allergies? Well OK, that explains it.

Actually, I outgrew them for the most part (I can't pet the cat & then touch my eyes) but there's SO much of the pollen here that it's hard to believe. I'm not kidding about the 2mm worth of scum on everything.

When the **** (for those with infantile minds: I mean the plant) is blossoming in late May (i.e. right now) , everything is turning yellow here.

I always found the **** almost beautiful... that said, I can't resist the following:

Practice your German!

You're not the boss of me. I practiced my cut & paste instead. I don't recall if there's a comparable phrase in the U.S. because we've de-emphasized agriculture & agrarian activity so much. There's "April showers bring May flowers" but that's the only one I recall.

 

[krischan]

OK, back to the recent topic, the female voice.

Maria Callas, the goddess:

 

[krischan]

BTW, here's an aria of Mozart Magic Flute, an opera that's said to be suited for children (Edit: Better link):

Here's my (incomplete) translation:

The vengeance of hell is boiling in my heart.
Death and despair, death and despair
is flaming around me.
If not through you feels
Zararastro pain of death, Zararastro pain of death,
then you are my daughter no more
(...)
Outcast forever, abandoned forever,
destroyed forever, all bonds of nature.
(...)
Hear, gods of revenge,
hear the mother's oath!

Any questions? FYI, this is regarded as one of the all-time greatest arias. And Diane Damrau is singing this perfectly!

Edit 2:

Reaching the high notes is one thing, making it sound like being sung with ease is another. Also, the octaves at 1:45 are awesome and the triplets at 1:56 are out of this world!

 

[krischan]

You're not the boss of me.

Hey hey hey, I was just making a relaxed suggestion. Even though I'm German, my advice aren't orders. Although I'm pleased if you regard them as such.

 

[krischan]

Beethoven: Great pianist, the greatest composer.
Liszt: Great composer, the greatest pianist.

 

[inspiredunease]

Bach will always be my first love. I played this for my music A level performance and it's the one piece of music I can still play reliably (if poorly these days) from memory:

 

[Pancakes]

Jupiter is my favorite of the Planets Suite, but I prefer Thaxted, the slightly abridged standalone version.

It doesn't count as classical necessarily, I guess, but lately I've been digging Ennio Morricone's scores. His compositions never fail to lend an optimistic and inspiring mood to any situation.

 

[krischan]

Whoops, my Christmas Eve posting is coming a bit late:

Edit:

No German Christmas Eve mass is coming without these two.

 

[Krueger-HC]

 

[krischan]

In celebration of the perfect launch of the James Webb telescope, here's Haydn, The Creation, the famous part:

(0:00)
Im Anfang erschuf Gott Himmel und Erde. Und die Erde war ohne Form und leer. Und Finsternis war auf der Fläche der Tiefe.
In the beginning, god made Heaven and Earth. And the Earth was without form and void. And darkness was upon the face of the deep.

(1:48)
Und Gott sprach: Es werde Licht. Und es ward LICHT.
And god said: Let there be light. And there was LIGHT.

If everything goes well with that telescope, we will come closer to the "let there be light" time than ever before! Because of the perfect launch, its life expectancy might be much higher. A lot of fuel could be saved, fuel that can be used to keep it it at the L2 Lagrange point.

(2:33)
Und Gott sah das Licht, dass es gut war, und Gott schied das Licht von der Finsternis.
And god saw the light, that it was good, and god shed the light from the darkness.

Edit: The trumpets at 2:25-2:30 are totally mind-blowing! During the premiere, the orchestra had to pause for a while after this part because the audience was so much in awe about its power. People were stunned, started to cry, fainted etc.