Kevin's Watch

Ha ha ha ha!






(stayin' alive, stayin' alive... )

I always liked Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade myself.

I believe he was better known in his day as a teacher though. I heard that The Flight of the Bumblebee was composed by R-K in response to a dare by a violinist acquaintance that he couldn't compose a piece of music that he, the violinist, couldn't play.

Prokofiev and Holst are also quite interesting, both Pictures in an Exhibition and The Planets paint beautiful images through the music. The Great Gate of Kiev from Pictures is a very moving work.

::nodding:::

I do like both The Planets (Holst) and Pictures at an Exhibition (Mussorgsky, although I like ELP's version the most).

I can't believe I did that. For some reson I always get Prokofiev and Mussorgsky confused, even though I know the difference. DeBussy also paints musical pictures which is why I like him so much. One of his pieces, "Footprints in the Snow," is so haunting it should be used in a ghost story movie, especially Tomita's version of it.

Ooo, I'll have to hunt down Tomita's version. I didn't know there was one.

It's on a cd called "Snowflakes Are Dancing" The remastered version also has "prelude to an afternoon of a faun" on it which was originally on another record. Unfortunately, most of his CD's are OOP. I have been able to recreate most of my collection on ebay, but I still find Snowflakes in Borders and Barnes & Noble, usually in the New Age section. I think you can get that on Amazon also.

Thanks!

It appears a composition - an aria - by Bach has been discovered.

news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050608/ap_on_en_mu/bach_discovered_10

That's quite astounding considering the age involved!

My apologies for not having written in this thread until now. My mind has been difficult to focus lately.

safetyjedi wrote:I have recently been listening to a lot of Bach's works and am amazed at the diversity of his music. "Sleepers Awake" is my favorite piece of music in the world.

By this, do you mean Cantata 140? If so, then I must congratulate you on your fantastic taste!! Deservedly among his most popular cantatas. Sheer genius!

If you do NOT mean the cantata, but are talking about the chorale prelude, or for anyone who doesn't know about the cantata, then listen up. There is a fairly short tune called Wachet auf - Sleepers wake. Off hand, I don't remember if this tune was composed by Martin Luther or not, but some of Bach's cantatas were based on Luther's "chorales", and others were based on other chorales from the Lutheran church. In his cantatas, Bach took one of these simple, unharmonized, tunes, and wrote several movements based on it. The movements are for different numbers of voices and instruments, and each is harmonized in a different way. The first movement is an instrumental introduction. The last is in the style, more or less, of the hymns I knew from Presbyterian church as a kid. The others can be for one or more solo voices; one or two solo voices and one or two solo instruments; full chorus; etc.

Since it's Bach, there's imitation between the vocal/instrumental parts. Usually a fugue, and sometimes a double fugue. (I gave a quick description of fugues in one thread or another. Anyone know where?)

I've listened to MANY recordings of this particular cantata, and one gets my overwhelming recommendation. All the rest are played too fast for my tastes. People often perform Bach as though everything he wrote is Flight of the Bumblebee. (Same with Joplin.) But this:
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/ ... l&n=507846
is gloriously beautiful. Of course, that's just my opinion. Others like other recordings.

Oh just great now there's another one I just have to have. You are probably getting a kick back on this or something. (just kidding)
Seriously though, thanks and I can't wait to get it!

Do you already have a recording of the whole cantata? Because if you do, you're probably more used to it, and wouldn't like the tempos of this one. We tend to prefer what we first get used to, so...

Well, it's too late now, I have already ordered it. Actually, I like listening to different performances of especially Bach's works, so this is right up my alley.

Good attitude!

Well, I just got around to listening to my CD in total, (long story) and I must say it is truly awesome and very moving. I had also ordered Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli when I ordered the Bach CD so that is next on my listening list.