| THIS IS A READ-ONLY ARCHIVE FROM THE SORABJI.COM MESSAGE BOARDS (1995-2016). |
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But I'm listening to a 1929 recording of him conducting his "Isle of the Dead." This is some piece. I love the almost-major chords. After this comes his "Vocalise." Years ago, I was in the car listening to the one classical radio station in this area (which has now been replaced by a shite rock station) and there was a recording of a woman singing "Vocalise" and her voice actually, like, did the trills. I had never heard anyone do that before, and I have no idea who she was, and I have tried for years to find that recording with no luck. Blast. |
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interstingly enough, rachmaninov and joplin were both noted for their ridiculously huge hands. rach had a 13-key span and it shows when you try to read his pieces. so, i can play part of one of his preludes and that's the end of my rach repertoire. it sucks. i'd love to play those rich chords of his. does anyone here play any rach pieces? |
You know who's easy to sightread? Mendelssohn. But he's so unsatisfying. His pieces are rather...trite or something. Maybe I'm not being fair, because my experience with him is limited to his Songs Without Words. And he can be pretty at times (I like #2 and #14), but he doesn't seem to have that spark that Chopin has, for example. I don't like sightreading Chopin. Satie is my favorite. He's just adorable. The strange directions he gives..."somewhat cooked" is one I remember. Awesome. And the little stories that go along with the pieces that the pianist is forbidden to divulge to the audience...how clever! Have you ever seen his handwritten scores? He used different colored inks for the different notes and calligraphy with the titles. His titles are neat too: "Genuine Flabby Preludes for a Dog," "Pieces in Pear Form," "Waltz of Chocolate and Almonds." I like too how he usually had no time signature or measures or dynamic or tempo directions...he just leaves it up to the pianist's discretion. How generous! He was a really talented composer too. I love his fifth Gnossiene, with all the silky ornaments...it's so bubbly and happy, like champagne. And what a sense of humor! The way the third part of "Embryons desseches" refuses to end and keeps repeating all those chords...that's funny! And "Le porteur de grosses pierres"...how it really sounds like someone stumbling around carrying a big rock that he drops at the end. Erik Satie....how I love thee! |
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Do you know what other pieces are on the CD? |
i like reading chopin, except when he writes in F# or Cb or some other key with stupid amounts of accidentals. but struggling through it is always rewarding. i've never heard a chopin piece that wasn't just... perfect. he's one of my favorite composers. tori amos is also fun to sight-read. i'm really bad at sight-reading. |
SATIE - THE EARLY PIANO WORKS 3 Gymnopédies Gnossiènnes Nos. 1-6 Petite ouverture à danser Prélude de la porte héroïque du ciel Danses gothiques Ogives I-IV 3 Sarabandes Sonneries de la Rose et Croix Pièce froides Prière 4 Préludes REINBERT DE LEEUW, piano For $15 what's the diff? I ordered it last night. I'll let you know what happens. I'm sure you can't wait. If you'd like I'll burn you a copy. Also, do you know about buying a piano? I assume Mark does but I wouldn't bother him with it. May be you or someone can help. $500 recently came my way which I will actually be able to hold on to and not have to pay bills with. What do I need with a motorcycle and a two year old baby at this stage of my life? The two just don't mix. A friend of mine who is an EMT says they call them donorcycles. I only rode it a few times anyway - I'm sure $500 will not buy much of a piano but it will be a start. Thanks - Mike |
I do know about Satie, however. The "prélude de la porte héroïque du ciel" and the "Sonneries de la Rose et Croix" are very dissonant. If the "piece froides" include the (ooh, french name escapes me but in english:) "crooked dances," you're in for a treat. If they are the (in english) "Pieces to scare you away" you are also in for a treat, but not as big. Gymnopedie #3 is my favorite. I also like the Gnossienes. Tell me what you think of it when you get it. |
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I was just wondering. I'd never heard about it until I moved there. |
Found a used Baldwin upright over the weekend for $900. Even I can hear it needs a tuning so it must really need a tuning. It appears to be mechanically sound - nothing broken inside - the keys are all in good shape - wish me luck! |
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baldwins are nice, middle-of-the-road pianos. they're like fords. do you know how old yours is? i've got a behemoth--a 1924 p. s. wick cabinet grand. it weighs about a ton and it looks like hell, but i love the way it sounds. |
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I don't think I'm familiar with the Symphonic Dances, or maybe I've never connected the title to the piece. Hmmmm...investigation is needed... |
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The CD also has a recording of Nelly Lee singing "Vocalise," and yes, she does that neat trill with her voice. There's also Stravinsky's "Jeu de Cartes," but I haven't gotten to that yet. On Saturday night, I drove for two hours in the dark while listening to Gorecki's Symphony No. 3. It was quite a disorienting experience. |
I have Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No.3, Ozawa, Boston Symphony Orchestra, with Evgeny Kissin. Damn he's good, and he's got a great head of hair. |
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i just listened to mark playing Rachmaninoff, yesterday. |
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Etude #6. i have no idea what it was on, sorry Dougie. |
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thats what i thought of when i read "heard a piano 'roll'" |
but then it would crash. and that would make me sad. |
My day was made this morning when I was flipping through the stations on the radio and I caught the last 3/4 of Aaron Copeland's Concerto for Clarinet and Strings -- my favorite piece ever. I even bought the score years ago, so I could follow all the instruments along. I first heard it when I was 13 and reading "Something Wicked This Way Comes." Hearing it again always makes me feel like I did then. |
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I'm listening to the soundtrack from "Shine" at the moment -- plenty of Rachmaninoff here, and the incidental music composed for the movie is really good. Especially the first track -- the chords are really interesting and dissonantly pretty. |
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Whoa, thanks, Dougie! |
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i'm listening to chief zehaie spin east african tunes (mostly eritrean) on the radio. the older i get, the more satie's music appeals to me. |
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but i found something that i want to buy and play at work: Yat-Kha: Yensei-Punk Just North of Mongolia lies the Republic of Tuva. Its musical speciality is "throuat singing," a technique that creates multiphonic drones sounds, and Albert Kuvezin, leader of the Tuvan quartet Yat-Kha (the name of one of their traditional stringed instruments) augments those signature sounds with distorted electric guitar and booming bass and drums. cool like the north asian tundra. |
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let me know if you hear any of it. |
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i ordered the yat-kha, along with robert johnson, lost sonatas on george antheil, and peggy lee ("is that all there is?"). i should get it in about 2 weeks. |
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