Currently Listening to....

I just posted the lyrics in the comments below the vid, trying to correct a not-very-good version I found on the net. So I had to play it through several times, and it just gets better every time - there's so much going on in here!
 
Definitely left-field for cdg, but there must be some classical music fans here. Here, assuming it works for non-subscribers, is a superb performance of Mahler's 1st Symphony recorded at the Sage concert hall in Gateshead

[video]http://www.christoph-eschenbach.com/mahler/?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MAHClassicalnewsletterMay&utm_content=version_A&sourceNumber=7858[/video]
 
Doesn't embed, but does play for me.
 
So why should there be no classical fans on CDG. Even allowing for our specialist tastes we might like symphonie fantastique and it's march to the scaffold, the execution scenes in trovatore and Tosca never mind the dragging to hell of Don Juan and don Giovanni. And the auto de fe scene in don Carlos. And don't forget the mikado , that guy had some very sadistic ideas even if they never came to fruition.
Yes you're not the only classical fan in the community. And with free Spotify there's so much music available at no cost. Having said which I still love my vinyl and even my extensive cd collection. There's something about physical music which is really special.
 
And I'm just back from watching the local amateur dramatic society. And a few minutes of a Bach violin concerto, his first played by Menuhin is on the CD player, is as great a preparation for bed as anything.
 
I like classical music! My National Public Radio station used to play all classical music, all the time. It was wonderful. THEN, they changed the format so there is now only about two hours of classical music each week. The rest of the time is devoted to news, talk and game shows. It is horrible. The station says the change was made due to customer demand, but I don't buy that for a minute. There was probably some financial incentive for them to lower their standards to such a deplorable level.
 
We are pretty lucky over here. We have two dedicated classical music channels, classic fm and BBC Radio 3. The BBC is probably the more serious with live concerts and complete works but it has dumbed down a little recently. Then the BBC supports the BBC symphony orchestra, a world class ensemble, as well as the regional BBC philharmonic, orchestra of Wales and one in Scotland. No lack of choice.
And fortunately they seem to,survive the Tory inspired cuts.
 
Lindier, I guessed you would be a classical music lover. Alex I hadn't particularly expected, but then Alex always unexpects.
The Sage was designed by Norman Foster, and is a stunning space wrapped around two concert halls (one large, the other small and intimate), both with superb acoustics - one of the fairly rare modern buildings that works brilliantly for its
intended purpose as well as being a stunning piece of design.
http://www.sagegateshead.com/
 
Yes. It's nice that two of the more thoughtful contributors on site enjoy classical music. It might persuade some of our colleagues that you don't have to be a snob to enjoy it. And if they try it maybe they will be equally smitten by it. Well a guy can dream can't he.
Our concert hall is the old Town Hall. Least said about its acoustics the better. It's okay for the charal socities and the big orchestras at full blast but a bit of a disaster for smaller ensembles. And I remember many happy hours as a kid sitting behind the orchestra on a Saturday night listening to your local Northia sinfonia and many other
great orchestras
And am currentl listening to the Pathetique. A wonderfulnwork by Tchaikovsky, one of my favourite composers.
 
I don't know and appreciate classical music as well as I would like. I think Tchaikovsky is one of the composers I would appreciate if I got to know him better. Mahler has always 'spoken to me' for some reason, as does Mendelssohn. And I am appreciating Beethoven's 5th much more since seeing a BBC programme about it - now I am getting the French Revolutionary references suddenly it al means much more to me - and I'm liking what I think he is saying.
 
For UK members only unfortunately (and now by sign-in, but it's free), and only for the next month:
I tuned into a Prom concert on Friday night billed as 'BBC Proms 2017: Philip Glass and Ravi Shankar' not at all sure I was going to like it, and was rivetted by one of the finest musical performances in any genre that I've ever watched/listened to.
I'm not sure what I'd call it - the BBC blurb says
'Two goliaths of 20th-century music, Ravi Shankar and Philip Glass, recorded the studio album Passages together in 1989. The result was a unique fusion of Hindustani sitar music with American minimalism. Tonight the album is performed live and in full for the first time, with Shankar's daughter Anoushka playing the sitar alongside a dazzling array of Indian soloists and the Britten Sinfonia, conducted by Karen Kamensek'
I'd go for a fusion of Indian and Classical, but there again the Western element is maybe closer to rock than classical at times - towards the end the conductor (female - not something we see as often as we should) is swinging along with the beat. But who cares about categories - this is just stunningly good music, full stop!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b091gmbb/bbc-proms-2017-philip-glass-and-ravi-shankar#
 
Following on from Arrow's powerful thread on the current political dangers:
http://cutedeadguys.net/threads/56603-VERY-SERIOUS-SITUATION-Trump-amp-Kim-Jong-Un
ending with a fine performance of Mozart's Requiem

A very different but fine lament on the horrors of war:


Written in Scots, a lament for the Scottish casualties at the disastrous battle of Flodden in 1513.

I've heard them liltin' at the ewe milking
Lassies are liltin' before dawn o' day
Now there's a moanin' on ilka green loanin'
The Flow'rs o' the Forest are a' wede awa'.

At baughts in the morning, nae blythe lads are scornin'
Lassies are lanely and dowie and wae;
Nae daffin', nae gabbin', but sighin' and sabbin'
Ilk ane lifts her leglin, and hies her awa'.

At e'en in the gloamin', nae swankies are roamin'
'Bout stacks wi' the lasses at bogle to play;
But ilk maid sits drearie, lamentin' her dearie,
The Flow'rs o' the Forest are a' wede awa'.

In har'st at the shearin', nae youths now are jeerin',
Bandsters are runkled, an' lyart, or grey;
At fair or at preachin', nae wooin', nae fleechin',
The Flow'rs o' the Forest are a' wede awa'.

Dool for the order sent our lads to the Border,
The English, for ance, by guile, won the day;
The Flow'rs o' the Forest that fought aye the foremost,
The prime o' our land lie cauld i' the clay.

We'll hae nae mair liltin' at the ewe-milkin',
Women an' bairns are heartless an' wae;
Sighin' an' moanin' on ilka green loanin',
The Flow'rs o' the Forest are a' wede awa'.



Glossary
ance: once
ane: one
awa': away
bairns: children
bandsters: harvest workers
blythe: carefree
bogle (about the hay stacks): a hide and seek game
bughts: sheepfold or milking pen
cauld: cold
daffin': being playful
dool: mourn
dowie: sad
e'en: evening
fleechin': cajole, flatter
gabbin': gossiping
gloamin': twilight
guile: cunning
hae: have
har'st: harvest
hies: hasten
ilk: each
jeerin': taunt
lanely: lonely
leglin: milk pail
liltin': singing
loanin': pasture
lyart: white streaked hair
mair: more
nae: no
runkled: wrinkled
sabbin': sobbing
scornin': teasing
shearing: reaping
swankies: young men
wae: sorrowful
wede awa': carried off by death
 
I like everything about Scotland...the bagpipes, the kilts and this lament. It's funny though that your glossary includes nearly every word in the piece! Well, at least now I know how to place a proper order at the kip house in Glasgow: I'LL HAE MAIR SWANKIES.
 
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And another, in a Vietnam movie soundtrack

 
And for a change of tone:

"Pink Floyd - Another Brick In The Wall
Lifted from "Pink Floyd The Wall" film, this video is actually comprised of two songs: "The Happiest Days Of Our Lives" and "Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 2" This video became the official video of "Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 2" after the release of the film in 1982.
This single is by far Pink Floyd's greatest ever mainstream success, instantly attaining classic status, and is perhaps their most famous piece of work.
1ABINTW Pt. 2 even became the protest song of a group of South African students during the apartheid regime, the song was subsequently banned in South Africa.
The song itself is a protest against the rigidity of British schools, and in particular, the boarding school system Waters would have been part of as a young boy.
The poem read out by the schoolteacher is a direct reference to "Money"
1The schoolteacher in this video was portrayed by the late, great, Scottish actor Alex McAvoy who passed away in June 2005.
If you haven't seen "The Wall" I would Highly recommend you to do so."
 
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