Finally got round to having a listen to the classical post t'other day. Really good, and i felt educated too- will aim at more informative posts in the future, but going to keep it short with this one:
(Late Addition): For some dark Japan night-time visuals this video is excellent- put together by a guy called Samuel Cockedey, the sound track is a suitably broody cinema-esque piece by Paul Frankland, aka Woob, called "Paradigm Flux."
I'm sure some of you are aware of this fast and fun stuff rom South Africa but I hadn't listened in a while and am enjoying a little sesh at the moment.
Thought I'd follow suit with the classical twist the blogs taken at the moment. This means I may well waffle a tad. Firstly, a few extracts from one of the greatest works from (in my opinion) the greatest composer that ever lived, J.S. Bach.
Bach's Goldberg Variations are a set of pieces composed for some Count or other that had trouble sleeping. There's an opening aria, which is then used as the basis for thirty variations. The far and away best player of them that you can get hold of is Glenn Gould, either his 1955 recording, which is much more youthful and energetic, or his 1981, near the end of his life, which is more introspective. Both are superb. My favourite variation is number 25, nicknamed the Black Pearl, however I can't find Gould playing it on youtube and don't want to sully it by posting an inferior player. It's well worth the 79p or whatever off iTunes if you don't fancy the whole set.
Here's the aria with some variations. If you're in a rush, I'd recommend listening the aria and then the 15th variation, at 4:48.
Secondly, a classic from the Romantic period, with Chopin's raindrop prelude. The piano music of Chopin is well worth a look, although it tends to be played to death on Classic Fm...
Finally, to end with, a piece from perhaps the most significant composer of the 20th century, Schoenberg. Schoenberg broke with tonality from 1908 onwards, and could be argued to be a beginning link in a chain that progressed through others (like John Cage, who studied under him) to Stockhausen and eventually to Aphex Twin and the like. In this piece you can hear him struggling with the confines of traditional tonality, creating a magnificent work.
Anyone in London up for going to see Beethoven's 9th Symphony and Berg's Violin Concerto this Saturday?
£5 to prom at the Royal Albert Hall. it's guaranteed to be epic...full symphony orchestra + choir performing some of the most powerful music ever written, in an incredible venue (acoustically and visually) for less than you'd pay to get into a shitty club where they're spinning mashups of Lady Gaga and Justice.
Gotta get down there early to queue and make a day of it though.
