Classical Music - Are there any aficionados on here?

[VeryOldMan]

Are there any?
It all seems to be Pop and Taylor Swift on the board!

Drop a post on your favourite performers, composers or pieces of music.

Love some modern composers too eg Karl Jenkins, Ennio Morricone.

"Give me church music any day. Nothing beats evensong in a cathedral."

Using the Book of Common Prayer and either The English Hymnal or Hymns Ancient and Modern, (Revised)

But even his duff ones are better than many offerings from his compatriots!

I sing in a choir which meets up a couple of times a year to sing the weekend services in cathedrals when their main choir is on holiday. It's honestly one of my favourite things to do, especially Evensong. The Communion services are a lot more stressful because there's much more variation in the staging. You get to see lots of behind the scenes bits, too, which is magical - there's a cloister in Hereford that isn't open to the public, and an amazing crypt in Wells that was full of ecclesiastical junk.

We could be twins! Love all those.

Ah yes, singing in a cathedral is something else. Our parish church choir has been allowed to sing in both Truro and Exeter cathedrals which is a real honour. I love Evensong, such a huge variety of settings. My personal favourites of the settings for the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis are by Purcell, Walmisley and Gibbons. But the Eucharist setting by Darke is wonderful

Following

We're very lucky in that our director is a former university music librarian and loves finding obscure things for us, so, for instance we did a Gibbons Mag & Nunc that isn't currently in print that he transcribed for us.

I sometimes sing with another choir that does this stuff too, and is run by the head of ICU for one of the big London NHS trusts, and around half its members are doctors. Someone in the congregation collapsed while we were singing in Liverpool Anglican once, and he just coolly beckoned someone else out to conduct and strode down the aisle to attend to the collapsee. It was very cool!

squeakydinosaur. It sounds a very good choir for any medical situations . Very reassuring that someone would be able to do an emergency tracheotomy with their pencil or the conductor’s baton if circumstances demanded.

I would love to be able to sing. It must feel so uplifting.

Now, if you want Nunc Dimittis, you need to listen to Arvo Pärt...

I couldn’t let the thread end without defending Haydn. I agree about the dull symphonies, but you can ignore those and listen to the amazing string quartets and The Creation!

Are we allowed to talk about composers who are a bit more jazz than classical? I’m utterly obsessed with Michel Portal today but he’s having a negative impact upon my productivity as I’m more immersed in listening than getting on with my important work. One pleasure at a time!

https://www.discogs.com/release/17716600-Michel-Portal-MP85 🤩

Im in! I'm definitely in the choral music camp and sing in a choir. I like listening to Classic FM in the car, most of my journeys are relatively short. The adverts are VERY off putting though!

Well, there's always the original piece of Orchestral jazz - Milhaud's La Création du Monde;

And another one I rather enjoy is Tsfasman's Jazz Suite for Piano & Orchestra;

Doesn't look like they like sharing that one - I'll try another;

Thanks WaverOfSticks! I’m so so pleased I asked, loving Tsafsman Jazz Suite 1 so far. If I had 85 fingers and a lot of lessons maybe I could play it one day.

It's a wonderful little piece! I don't know much of his other music, but I definitely need to look into it when I have the leisure!

I’m spending this morning with Tsfasman via Spotify. 10/10 would recommend!

Added Suite 1 to my Ambitious/To Learn list, musescore have the sheet music for free! Which reminds me to ask if there’s anywhere to buy music that doesn’t involve a subscription? I use musescore and musicnotes but resent both their subscription models.

For Public Domain music I use https://imslp.org/ - I see they have a handful of his pieces.

But obviously it's no use for more recent stuff.

Ahhhh 🙏 thank you!

Haydn The Seasons is a great choral piece, especially in the original German - I was lucky to sing in a university choir.

Is there anything more beautiful than the opening Kyrie of this mass?

That glorious crescendo when the trombones come in - just stunning!

Utterly magical!

About to start on BBC R3 Proms, 2 dn half, Arnold Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht & Gustav Mahler: Kindertotenlieder
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live:bbc_radio_three