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Marianne

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I'm a classical musician (cellist) and teach high school orchestra as well as theory/world music/music history. I love this thread! Somebody mentioned Handel's Messiah and Monty Python..you should know that Monty Python actually did an oratorio, complete with choir, soloists, and orchestra, called "Not the Messiah: He's a Very Naughty Boy!". It's basically Life of Brian in oratorio form. Highly recommend.

For those of you who liked the Messiah...Bach's St. Matthew Passion. I'm not religious in the least but I've played this a few times and love it, especially the finale.

:lol: I have to find that!

And I also love the St. Matthew Passion -- not being a believer doesn't reduce my enjoyment at all.

Favorites for me:

Composers -- Mozart and Bach for anything, Brahms and Chopin to play on the piano, Bach, Mozart, Brahms to sing, plus individual pieces by various others.

Timbres -- choral singing, string ensembles, piano.

Forms -- madrigals, lieder, cantatas, oratorios, sonatas, symphonies.

It's hard to only list a few favorites, though. Some things just catch my ear, and my heart -- I wore out a record of the Bartok Concerto for Orchestra as a teen, and my love for vocal ensemble music extends back as far as one can go historically and embraces contemporary a capella groups and barbershop! :D

For your listening pleasure -- de Victoria's O Magnum Mysterium, a setting of this Christmas text (well, in Latin):

O great mystery,

and wonderful sacrament,

that animals should see the new-born Lord,

lying in a manger!

Blessed is the Virgin whose womb

was worthy to bear

Christ the Lord.

Alleluia!

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Another gorgeous setting of a religious text, Faure's Cantique de Jean Racine:

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But not everything I like is ethereal. I used to have this in my alarm clock CD player, after a long spate of waking up to the Overture from Marriage of Figaro or the quartets dedicated to Haydn:

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but lately I've been waking up to this:

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Enjoy!

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Latraviata, I love Peter Schickele.

Also Anna Russell and Victor Borge. The mix of concert music, parody and general silliness is right up my alley.

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x59vFkATXR4

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Latraviata, I love Peter Schickele.

Also Anna Russell and Victor Borge. The mix of concert music, parody and general silliness is right up my alley.

Yif-5xBbxd4

x59vFkATXR4

Thank you thoughtful! I'd never heard about Anna Russell, she is absolutely brilliant.

Of course I know Victor Borge and the man had me crying of laughter!

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Thank you thoughtful! I'd never heard about Anna Russell, she is absolutely brilliant.

Of course I know Victor Borge and the man had me crying of laughter!

You are welcome -- enjoy exploring her. She was a riot.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Can anyone recommend a good way to sort of "get started" listening to classical music? I mean technically, I've been listening for years, but the most I can tell you is that I like Baroque, violin concertos, and countertenor singing. I find that most "intro" books to the subject are kind of pedantic. I'd basically just like to expand my knowledge and learn how to identify what I'm hearing and actually be able to truly enjoy a classical concert. (I tend to get antsy after about 30 min because I don't like not knowing what's happening! But maybe I'm missing the point? LOL)

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Sounds like a good start already! If you like baroque, try Archangelo Corelli's concerti grossi. As for classical music concerts, how are you approaching them? I'm a huge opera fan and I notice some people go in with the idea that they are supposed to sit almost piously like they are in church or something. Think about how you approach any other type of music concert. You already are familiar with the artist and most of what they are going to be playing, right? Don't go into ancient music concerts cold, take the time to familiarize yourself with it beforehand.

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Sounds like a good start already! If you like baroque, try Archangelo Corelli's concerti grossi. As for classical music concerts, how are you approaching them? I'm a huge opera fan and I notice some people go in with the idea that they are supposed to sit almost piously like they are in church or something. Think about how you approach any other type of music concert. You already are familiar with the artist and most of what they are going to be playing, right? Don't go into ancient music concerts cold, take the time to familiarize yourself with it beforehand.

Yes, great advice! Corelli and Vivaldi!

I was raised with classical music, so from a very young age, in fact as long as I remember I hear classical music and opera. Until my fortieth, I chose to fragmentary listen to opera because sometimes an entire opera was a bit too much. Perhaps it sounds trivial, but every piece of music ever written is to be found on the internet, just google it and read everything about the composer, when and why he composed a particular piece. Youtube is a goldmine and the more you listen the more you find out which performance and solists you like best.

It should caress the ear, as my late mother used to say, and that's the point.

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You mean the Carmina Burana by Carl Orff?

Yes, the idea of secular music by monks and other religious is wonderful. I wonder if I could pass it off as religious music to the Duggars.

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Jamie Barton, famous in a small town in Ga for publicly rebuking Shorter College for being all fundie and hating on teh gay, is doing a kick a$$ job in the Met's Norma. She's outspoken for equality AND sings the house down!

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I apologize in advance to anyone who hates it when people post the same thing to two threads, but, La Traviata, I don't know if you've looked at the VFM is closing, Doug is resigning thread, and I thought this would amuse you.

It's a fun montage, and strikes me as the perfect thing for sending the message "it's over."

ReewuKqhZls

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I apologize in advance to anyone who hates it when people post the same thing to two threads, but, La Traviata, I don't know if you've looked at the VFM is closing, Doug is resigning thread, and I thought this would amuse you.

It's a fun montage, and strikes me as the perfect thing for sending the message "it's over."

ReewuKqhZls

Thank you Toughtful! Very funny!! :lol: :lol:

Indeed applicable to Pagliacci Doug!!

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  • 2 weeks later...

This week has been all Tchaikovsky, all the time. It's so weird to actually be in his homeland.

I'm planning to blast this classic through the halls of my workplace if and when I ever quit (even if it is about a Russian victory) - well, it's a tossup between this and a booming chorus of "Ode to Joy":

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  • 2 weeks later...

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