Symbol Owner Posted March 26, 2012 Author Share Posted March 26, 2012 Dave, I could fill this thread up with Beecham 'stories' -- here are couple more: 1.) This one is from memory, I can't find it quickly on line, so apologies to those of you who have heard it already, if it is not word perfect! Beecham was rehearsing Puccini's 'La Boheme', and his Rodolpho, ( the great British tenor Heddle Nash, I think) was serenading Mimi, lying on the floor of the stage. Nash: "Sir Thomas, how can I possibly sing from this position?" Beecham: "My dear boy, some of my greatest exploits have been performed in that position!" ( He had at least three wives, in turn, that is(!), and numerous mistresses). 2.)Beecham was asked:"Have you heard any Stockhausen? (a notoriously'difficult' ultra-modern atonal composer) "No", he replied, but I may have stepped in some". :D : That, Robin, is the nearest that I can get to combining clssical music with dog's mess! (lol) Colin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brambles Posted September 24, 2012 Share Posted September 24, 2012 Hi All. Thought I would revive this thread with this which I have just found and is really interesting - well to me anyway. Also to mention Valentina Lisitsa has some new videos which are well worth listening to. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWRri-kYPM0&feature=plcp ( do remember to select HD ) Jon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Symbol Owner Posted September 25, 2012 Author Share Posted September 25, 2012 Jon, Thank you so much for that! Wow! Also, thank you for reviving this old 'thread' of mine. I don't expect any of you old codgers to have noticed, but I haven't appeared on here for some weeks, not becuse I have been off motorhoming unfortunately, but because I have been ill for over six weeks and in Bath Royal United Hospital for the first two and a half weeks of this month -- Psoriatric Arthropathy was the diagnosis if you wish to know -- not life-threatening, but incredibly painful -- and 6 weeks to discover what it was! Every possible test going! However, there is a 'magic bullet' steroid drug which is slowly working its way into my system and I am now back at home and feeling considerably better. Not being able to do much in the way of moving about means that I have beenabsorbing music by the bucket load from any number of sources,so to find it on here as well Jon, was absolutely wonderful! Such a fascinating documentary! As the son & grandson of practical musicians --organ & piano -- and with a brother who is mainly self-taught as a very competent harpsichordist, I am fascinated by the actual process of producing a keyboard sound -- which this showed so well. I have not usually been a 'fan' of the virtuoso Romantic school of piano music and have never taken much notice of Rachmaninov and the Russians -- perhaps after this I should! I still prefer Valentina in this though:- My own listening has been somewhat focused on the fact that my 30-year-old niece got married at St. Bride's Church, Fleet Street, at the weekend, with a professional choir and all the 'works' -- but I of course, was unable to be there -- BUT -- I WAS there in spirit, because I had helped her to choose the incoming and outgoing music, so was present in the sounds of Bach & Handel. This was what she came in to on her fathers arm:- All brides are Queens for the day, aren't they? Thaks so much once again Jon, Cheers, Colin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Symbol Owner Posted September 25, 2012 Author Share Posted September 25, 2012 This is what a respected music critic has to say about Valentina, Jon, -- I thought that she might be 'over-hyped' too - how wrong I was! http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/tomserviceblog/2012/jun/15/valentina-lisitsa-believe-the-hype Cheers, Colin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brambles Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 Hi Colin. Sorry to hear you have not been well but glad you are now feeling somewhat better. Listening to link , Valentina "Moonlight" Sonata - Live at WQXR's Beethoven Piano Sonata Marathon , Beautiful. So dont excpect much more sense from me until it is finished playing and shall click your other links. Yes, Valentina puts a new life into Russian music for me as well. Gosh, I am in love with her, not just her music but her personality which often comes across when she is playing. Ahhhhh!, that was beautiful. Shall listen to next link now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brambles Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 Arrival of the Queen of Sheba . Marvelous, very good choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Symbol Owner Posted September 26, 2012 Author Share Posted September 26, 2012 Brambles - 2012-09-24 8:04 PM Also to mention Valentina Lisitsa has some new videos which are well worth listening to. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWRri-kYPM0&feature=plcp ( do remember to select HD ) Jon. I missed this link at first Jon -- I must work my way through some of these -- some lovely stuff here! The first one ( Mozart violin sonata) reminds me that I had read that Valentina acts as accompanist to one or two other soloists as well as playing solo. She apologises, ( in the attached notes) for being louder than the violin -- I can't say that I noticed it on my equipment, however, Mozart wrote his violin sonatas:- "Pour le piano avec le violon" (For piano with violin) unlike later sonatas, where the string instrument is the lead partner and the piano is the accompaniment, so she needn't have worried if she was the more forward of the two, that is what the composer intended -- he was a pianist after all! It would be nice if this wasn't a 'conversation' just between you and I, Jon. Where are the other music-lovers who contributed to this 'thread' previously? Syd and Martyn (Lord) thornber in particular. Thanks again for sharing your passion for the lovely Valentina -- it really was a super surprise to find this topic back again! Colin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syd Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 Hi Colin I am also following and enjoying this thread but am currently out in sunny Spain so not spending too much time on the computer Cheers Syd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Symbol Owner Posted September 26, 2012 Author Share Posted September 26, 2012 Brambles - 2012-09-25 10:02 PM Arrival of the Queen of Sheba . Marvelous, very good choice. The 'outgoing' voluntary was this fabulous piece by Bach -- the 'Jig' Fugue, I bet they danced down the aisle to this -- I defied them not to! Colin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Symbol Owner Posted September 26, 2012 Author Share Posted September 26, 2012 Syd - 2012-09-26 3:04 PM Hi Colin I am also following and enjoying this thread but am currently out in sunny Spain so not spending too much time on the computer Cheers Syd Thanks for that Syd -- you lucky blighter -- enjoy! Perhaps we'll have 'speech' on here about music sometime soon. Colin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syd Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 Not before November Colin :D :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Symbol Owner Posted September 26, 2012 Author Share Posted September 26, 2012 Sunseeker! Great! See you then! Cheers, Colin. P.S. keep the jokes coming Syd! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 Symbol Owner - 2012-09-26 3:28 PM P.S. keep the jokes coming Syd! Classical music and dirty jokes :D.....................now that's entertainment ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Symbol Owner Posted September 26, 2012 Author Share Posted September 26, 2012 If you look back, Dave, youll see that I already have done a couple -- see the 'Beecham 'jokes' above! Cheers, Colin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 Symbol Owner - 2012-09-26 8:13 PM If you look back, Dave, youll see that I already have done a couple -- see the 'Beecham 'jokes' above! Cheers, Colin. But that was back in March Colin 8-)........................I can't remember what I had for breakfast, and if I have to start reading through everything before I post I'll never post another word :-S......................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Symbol Owner Posted September 27, 2012 Author Share Posted September 27, 2012 Dave, I always forget -- I'm blessed with what everbody that I know says, is an 'elephantine memory' (particularly for music and musical topics) and can read ( and take in) text quicker than anyone I know -- perhaps having one (left) eye is an advantage in this case -- any way I usually rapidly scan/read every thread before I post. Any way, here are a couple more Beecham 'stories' (rather than'jokes', although I think they're funny, although not usually smutty) -- he was quite a character, and strange and funny things happened to and around him, probably because of his enormous personality and the effect that he had upon people. 1.)At one concert, Beecham and his orchestra were accompanying the famous violinist Jascha Heifetz in a violin concerto (possibly the Beethoven) When during the cadenza, ( that part in the piece where the soloist shows off on his own for a bit before the orchestra joins in again to finish the movement) Beecham looked around whilst Heifetz' violin was soaring into the stratosphere, and said:"I say chaps" ( his band was all male) "Has any one got a boiled sweet?" There was a shuffling amongst the ranks, and a viola - player produced one from his trouser pocket, which Beecham unwrapped with a flourish and sucked with evident relish, before Heifitz completed the cadenza and Beecham directed the orchestra back into the conclusion. A few days later, at an orchestral rehearsal, Beecham said to the viola player in question:- "Mr.X, thank you very much for that boiled sweet the other night, but it had a very strange flavour" Yes Sir Thomas, it had been to the cleaners three times!" 2.)A trombone player made his debut one morning. "You are new,aren't you?", asked Beecham. "What's your name?" Ball,sir", "How very singular", observed Sir Thomas. Cheers, I hope you like 'em Dave, there are more where they came from! Colin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Symbol Owner Posted September 27, 2012 Author Share Posted September 27, 2012 Brambles - 2012-09-25 9:47 PM "Moonlight" Sonata - Live at WQXR's Beethoven Piano Sonata Marathon , Ahhhhh!, that was beautiful. Shall listen to next link now. But -- Jon, much as I like that (on a modern piano) as I said to Robin Hood earlier on this thread, the real revelation of my musical education, over the past 50 years, has been the use of 'period' instruments to play the music of the past. Similar to the ones that the composers had available to them in their day. This is the type of piano sound that Beethoven ( and Haydn & Mozart) heard in the salons of Vienna during the late 18th. and early 19th. century:- 'Moonlight' Sonata, absolutely beautiful! A Steinway is a dreadful beast by comparison! Cheers, Colin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brambles Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 Wow Colin, sounds so different and after listening to the period piano it sounds quite lack lustre on a modern piano. However I am not sure what I prefer as I do find it quite harsh at times on the traditional 18th century. Thank you for this comparison and I will sit down later when I can really tune in and compare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Symbol Owner Posted September 27, 2012 Author Share Posted September 27, 2012 That is rather a clangerous modern copy of a Viennese fortepiano ( as these early instruments are known)and could be better recorded. Early English Pianos, by makers like Broadwood (both Haydn & Beethoven had one) are mellower, as are later Viennese fortepianos by makers like Graf -- Beethoven's last piano was a Graf -- he cut the legs off it to use the floor as an extra soundboard because his deafness was so extreme. Here is a wonderful series of you tube clips (5 of them) about the restoration of Beethoven's own Broadwood piano -- complete with recitals of some of his piano music by Melvyn Tan -- a specialist early piano player. This is a really mellow instrument, the buckskin covered hammers on soft iron and brass wire making a very different sound from the modern felted hammers on steel strings -- not to mention the 'sounding box' that the whole instrument is compared with the modern grand which has a total cast iron frame -- only the huge soundboard transmitting thenotes. Enjoy Jon, hope you can last your way thro' the whole 5 sections of it --absolutely fascinating! Colin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Symbol Owner Posted September 27, 2012 Author Share Posted September 27, 2012 The Fantasia Op.77 that Melvyn Tan plays on that piano of Beethoven's is just amazing Jon,if you don't look at all (or any ) of the others, do check that out on No.5 -- the sound is just amazing! Finally, here is another little demonstration, this time of a beautiful modern copy of a viennese fortepiano of Mozart's time -- the variation of tonal colour in the little instrument is just stunning! Cheers, Colin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brambles Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 Absolutely stunning, Thanks for posting. Fascinating story about the restoration and really interesting. Just love the voice of the piano as I call it and the different tones as you mentioned are wonderful. Listening to number 5 just now .. almost finished and really quite astonishing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Symbol Owner Posted September 27, 2012 Author Share Posted September 27, 2012 Great Jon, so glad you liked it. C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Symbol Owner Posted September 27, 2012 Author Share Posted September 27, 2012 Even Chopin (died 1849) benefits from the use of the lighter French pianos of his period the Erard used here has the modern elements of a cast-iron frame, double escapemant action and felt hammers, but the overall lighter sound produces a much mre 'authentic' Chopin sound ( in my opinion) Than a huge modern 9' concert grand. It sounds lovely in the Hofmann arrangement for piano & string quintet. Chopin's orchestration uisn't up to much anyway. Here it is:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM3HH Even more interesting is this:- which explains, far better than I can, both the construction and sound of these French grand pianos which Chopin used; this one is a Pleyel of 1848. http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=_sBvZh_GI9A&feature=endscreen C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Symbol Owner Posted September 28, 2012 Author Share Posted September 28, 2012 Sorry Jon, if this is seeming to be a bit of a lecture, but I have been fascinated by the use of period or 'authentic' instruments and the historically informed performance of them, since reading professor Thurston Dart's book:"The interpretation of Music" (1954) and buying an L.P. of Nicolaus Harnoncourt and his Vienna Concentus Musicus playing on historic instruments a few years later. Having travelled back in time from Valentina's performances on a modern piano to Melvyn Tan on Beethoven's Broadwood, here are some related, but different, youtube clips. Dart, in his book, says this of the baroque trumpet:- (sometimes called the clarino or natural trumpet -- 'natural' bcause it is wthout the valves of a modern instrument) "To obtain these very high harmonics ( the clarino register) from a natural trumpet makes such merciless demands on a player's lips & lungs that the special technique required has long fallen into disuse and there seems little chance of its ever being revived" This wonderfully, has not been the case -- starting with a great American Trumpeter called Edward Tarr, in the 60's, a succession of players now play the early trumpet in its full register -- even some amateurs. Here is our own prince of the natural trumpet, who rejoices in the wonderful name of Crispian Steele - Perkins:- The baroque orchestra shows string players with old-fashioned short baroque bows (looking much more like an archery bow that modern ones) playing on gut strings (not wound wire or spun steel). Oboists with lovely wooden instruments, with only the odd key -- recorder-type holes in the body are used to produce the notes. The strange instrument with a long neck is a type of bass lute called a theorbo, or in English, archlute. The whole ensemble is being driven from that gorgeous-loking harpsichord - no conductors, at least, not in instrumemntal music in those days. Doesn't the trumpet blend in well with the llittle orchestra? These natural instruments are much more gentle than modern valved instruments ( particularly the so-called 'Bach trumpets'/piccolo trumpets) and have a much more noble sound. The (French) horn, like the trumpet, was a similarly 'natural' instrument, as Anneke Scott's piece shows:- Other available clips have her playing various horn sonatas etc., as you can see. I have met Anneke, who is first horn in John Eliot Gardiner's orchestra(s).She is a very fine player and a lovely person. I had an animated conversation with her, about all sorts of horns, on a car journey from Cambridge to Waterloo station on New Years' Day 2010, after she had played (perfectly) the fiendishly difficult horn obbligato in the 'Quoniam' of Bach's B Minor Mass, which my brother and his friends performed in the converted Methodist chapel in which he lives. Hope you like all of this Jon -- and any others of you classical music lovers out there! Cheers, Colin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Symbol Owner Posted September 28, 2012 Author Share Posted September 28, 2012 By the way, Jon, if you ever want to see any of these ancient pianos and take the motorhome to Kent, the place to go is Richard Burnett's museum of pianos at Finchcocks, Goudhurst, Kent - an astonishing collection! C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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