The Classical Music Thread

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Here's the incredible introduction to Haydn's "Die Jahreszeiten" (the Seasons) -- An Oratorio written late in his life with a brilliant use of tone painting, something later taken up by Beethoven in his "Pastoral" Symphony.

 

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Haydn's Op.33 Quartets are one of the first developments in the mature Classical style. Before the Op.33 Quartets, Haydn proclaimed he was largely writing music to please his employer. Once his employment was over with, he announced to the world about a fresh and new development in music, his Op.33 Quartets. With these quartets, accompaniment lead the way to independent melodic ideas, and thus a whole new world of music was born:

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Uyst4dMhak

 

 

One only needs to hear the opening measures to see the explosion of the mature style in which we start in D major, and quickly modulate to the tonic: B minor, and in these short moments creating enough material to expand and elaborate through the rest of the movement.

 

The Op.33 and Op.76 quartets are not only considered amongst Haydn's best; but the best ever written for the "genre".

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Time for some Luigi Cherubini, one of the standout contemporaries of Mozart and Beethoven. Known largely as a French Opera composer from Italy, Cherubini also composed religious works such as the Requiem in C minor, admired by Beethoven, and the 2nd Mass in D minor which feature masterfully written counterpoint considered by many as worthy of the praise Mozart and Beethoven have received. Here are his two requiems and 2nd Mass:

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wI5gsik90Q

 

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I've come to realize even though I love Mozart's last Symphonies, I prefer Haydn's any day of the week, especially the "Paris" and "London" Symphonies.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImxwlZ37N2g

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCw7I3NSntU

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Mozart's Divertimento in E-flat major, K. 563, his only completed string trio, is one of my favorite works by the composer. Divertimenti were generally regarded as beautiful pieces to be enjoyed as background music at parties and celebrations; but Mozart's is in no way a simple party piece. This is usually the work I point people towards who are looking for Mozart recommendations.

 

 

 

 

 

[Visutox 188]

Mozart's Divertimento in E-flat major, K. 563, his only completed string trio, is one of my favorite works by the composer. 

Same here. Brilliant piece of art. Magisterial. 

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Happy Birthday to the best of the best, Johannes Brahms!

 

 

 

 

Symphony No.2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do5sp6FiXGE

 

 

Piano Concerto No.1

 

Clarinet Quintet

 

 

Also, let's not forget about Tchaikovsky's birthday today!

 

 

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It's time for more Brahms; but this time it's the 2nd String Quintet. The first movement has one of the greatest themes Brahms ever wrote, hands down. The way the Cello comes in after the development to start the Recapitulation is breathtaking -- which is then followed by the violin a bar later.

 

[Fin Paulux 17]

I want to share a lot on this topic, but I'll avoid saying something everyone here already knows ( Tchaikovsky is amazing, Bach's raw power, my sentimental attachment to Schumann and Chopin).
Barenboim in my opinion does really good job playing Beethoven, as to Chopin my favourite is probably Martha Argerich. 

 

 

[hiroki 5521]

I want to share a lot on this topic, but I'll avoid saying something everyone here already knows ( Tchaikovsky is amazing, Bach's raw power, my sentimental attachment to Schumann and Chopin).

Barenboim in my opinion does really good job playing Beethoven, as to Chopin my favourite is probably Martha Argerich. 

 

interesting. i certainly like Argerich for composers like Liszt and Rach by virtue of her massive technique and how she's perpetually so controlled even amidst the most difficult passages, though part of me also feels like her renditions of Bach and Chopin are always vastly underrated. her interpretation of Bach's Partita #1 (on youtube) is one of my favorites to date.

 

haven't heard much of Barenboim so can't comment on that.

 

 

PS: we need to start putting videos under spoiler tags. this page lags like hell for me ._.

[colorful人生 2777]

I'm surprised that this thread is only 2 pages .

 

I wish I was familiar with more composers (and classical music in general), but I'm kinda picky since I'm partial to ambient/atmospheric classical music.

At least from my experience, I would consider Erik Satie and Claude Debussy to be my favorite composers.

 

 

Satie's Gymnopédies compositions are my favorite, and I also like Debussy's orchestrations of them.

Something I found interesting from a video I watched is that Ryuichi Sakamoto ("Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" Composer) drew inspiration from Debussy whom he states took inspiration from "Asian music". 

(quite a bit of back-and-forth there)

 

I would love to have been at this performance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgSeZpcMOBE