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Sat, 15 Jan 2005 14:04:49 -0500 |
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Bernard Chasan wrote:
>Music primarily is perceived via sound - no getting around that fact.
Of course this is true, but I have been listening to(and watching)DVDs
of classical performances lately. Most of the ones I have been watching
were either solo piano or piano concertos.
One of my most enlightening purchases is the DVD of the 2 Brahms concertos
with Zimerman/Bernstein and the VPO. The sound is very good (probably
analog), but only the first movements of each work are watchable since
the other 5 movements have the picture out of sync with the music. The
Brahms first has been one of my 2 favorites for years, but watching the
2nd has given me an entirely new perspective on that work.
Another not unrelated purchase was the 2 CD set on Naxos of the Brahms
2nd with Jeremy Siepmann explaining the entire work. Jando plays, and
plays well. While I don't exactly agree with everything that Siepmann
says, his analysis has made me more aware of various parts of the concerto
and their relationships. I don't really believe that Brahms actually
did all that stuff consciously, in part, based on my experience as an
architect. I just make many design decisions intuitively and I think
that most composers do this too.
Back to my original point, from which I digressed, watching music being
played is about the only time that I actually get to just sit and pay
attention to the music - bar by bar. All my other listening experiences
are either listening while I do other things at home or listening on
headphones at the office. This is one reason that I am not too interested
in the new SACDs and others of that ilk.
FYI - the Jando CD is set up so that you can't just program the tracks
to hear the whole concerto. I had to copy it to my hard drive and delete
some of the spoken dialog from some of the tracks and then burn it to
blank CD. I essentially did the same thing to the Zimerman using my
spare DVD player, editing out the tune-ups and stuff between tracks.
Zimerman is fantastic in the 2nd, but his d minor concerto first mvt is
a bit metronomic is some places. A minor problem considering how well
he plays everything else.
Whoever it was that didn't particularly like Brahms should listen to the
Naxos CD.
And BTW - where does the quote "twas ever thus" used in this thread come
from? Shakespeare? I tried the internet and couldn't find the answer.
Joel Hill
Tallahassee, FL - USA
ALKAN Web Page: http://www.nettally.com/joelhill/alkan
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