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@thane16 Aaron Copland owes much to Charles Ives. It’s the whole “standing on the shoulders of giants” foundation and progression that is art. Copland’s music (the more programmatic pieces, anyway … not so much the avant garde ones from later in his career) do give a sweeping sense of Americana. Maybe it’s that sense of nostalgia that appeals to…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u By george she did it!!

Ooops that was @whohar too. And @ps1l0v3y0u @JanetteB glad you’re spared, this time. The heat wave is impressively awful though.

I remember in the 80s with weeks of heat at C37+ & school letting us out at 11:45 with arvos at friend’s pools or a cheeky sneak into the back of cool movie theatres.

The kettle story is a great one. I had similar exp…[Read more]

@janetteb @thane16 @ps1l0v3y0u @nerys @whisht

Yes, the bushfires were fairly close – about 50km / a half hour drive away. We saw nothing until last Saturday when the sky filled with a light smoke, turning the sky orange-brown and the sun a vivid red. Something that would have signaled the end of days to those unscientific folk in times gone past.…[Read more]

@ whohar @nerys @PS  oh yes! Sibelius’ style was something I came to appreciate much later in life. @PS I first read that post without my glasses & read “prism of the Frog.” Ok, there, better research THAT one, as I’ve never heard of The Frog. I thought it’s probably a libretto by Aristophanes with music by Schoenberg because that’s EXACTLY what…[Read more]

@mudlark    I am so sorry about your friend. It sounds like you had some good shared experiences that you will always remember.

I love the term “crumblitude” and intend to use it! Its a great word that totally works.

@thane16  Thank you for asking about my leg. It is  good most of the time although a little stiff in the morning but that only mat…[Read more]

@thane16 Love Fanfare for the Common Man! I think part of the reason I love Copland’s music is because of his use of open fifths. Such resonant chords. In high school my wind ensemble played El Salon Mexico. Quite a challenge for a small-town Indiana band, but we loved it.

And I love it that as a young’un, you thought ELP composed that music.…[Read more]

@thane16 @nerys @mudlark @whohar @whisht

Much (though far from all) my knowledge of Classical comes via the prism of Prog. Mind you first time I heard Tapiola by Sibelius it was a ‘building a library’ program… basically a Head of David like 1/2 hour wall of sound interspersed with two terribly educated gents asking each other… ‘which one do yo…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u Aaron Copland is my favorite composer. He kept his private life very quiet, while composing gorgeous music across a spectrum that ranged from the programmatic style he’s best known for, to a more avant garde style. Appalachian Spring moved me to tears the first time I heard it, and still does.

@mudlark I’m sorry about the death of…[Read more]

@PS @whohar

ooh yes, I’m a Brahms fan. And I also like him because he understood the significance of technique (you mentioned this too, Whohar & its application to written structures) & that the pre-Romantic tradition of tight, organised, quite rules-driven composition needed to be understood before moving into an area where breaking rules c…[Read more]

@whohar @thane16

Howard Goodall (of multiple tv theme contributions) presented an interesting program a decade or more ago called ‘The Story of Music’, about the Western Classical Tradition. Not sure if it’s still in circulation.

However, I found I parted company with his narrative after Beethoven. Not because I don’t like Romantic Classic…[Read more]

@mudlark. Good to hear from you but sorry to hear about your friend, (and the health issues. I hope they are all in hand.) Your story about the kettle made me smile. Back in 1983 my friend and I, newly arrived in London, bought a kettle. We had no idea of how to attach the plug. In Australia appliances always came with plugs attached. We were…[Read more]

@thane16

Thanks, puro, and a happy new year to you also. And congratulations on the conducting gig.

My Christmas/New Year was quiet and pleasantly self indulgent – and for once the weather was good; cold but crisp and sunny. Sadly, shortly afterwards I received news of the death on Christmas Eve of one of my oldest friends , which put a…[Read more]

@winston

I realised I hadn’t read your post properly. 😞
I hope your leg isn’t ailing you too much? Falls are an awful part of life.

Where we live, many paths have had roots & tree trunks encroaching on them & so daily walks are best, but if it’s hot, then evening walks are the only option. & then …..crash.

I like Russel Tovey too. First time I…[Read more]

@whohar (I’ve DMed you too).

honestly, one of the best books on the Romantic style of music (ie 19th century) & its relationship with the social & political climate of its time, is Leon Plantinga’s [Yale] Romantic Music: A History of Musical Style… the chapter on Brahms is revealing. It can be borrowed.

The other is Jan Swafford, Brahms, A B…[Read more]

@thane16

As a relative neophyte to classical music (outside of the better known pieces), do you have a link / source to a Brahms primer? ie a where to start with Brahms type thing.

@whohar

one of my dear professors, Bebbington, loved Brahms, though himself, a student of Wagner & his conducting, recalled how Wagner enthusiasts fanatics interfered with the premiere of Brahms’ 3rd. Brahms, eternally calm, wrote hidden allusions to Wagner in some of his works.

It’s rarely played, & like a lot of his work, sometimes met…[Read more]

@whohar will do! It’s very kind of you.

@thane16. <waves>

Keep me posted on the dates please (either here or DM), and I’ll see if can attend – bushfires notwithstanding.