Music of the Day

[uppercase]

Omar Khayyam, excerpts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHJF9eG6R2Q&sns=em

[NJS]

Maybe, there might be a separate thread for the spoken word, including recitals of poetry?

NJS

[couch]

Excellent idea, NJS. And to start it off, I'll post a reading (by your own Tom O'Bedlam) of a poem tailor-made for you!

[uppercase]

Barcelona Nights by Ottmar Liebert

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh1isv5s0uo&sns=em

[gherrmann]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R36dxzbsU4g

in truth, though, this really deserves to be played (loudly) on a proper stereo system rather than from youtube via crap PC speakers.

[josephrmmorris]

This is my first time posting, but I might manage to introduce someone to Gypsy Jazz for the first time, so here's what I'm listening to this morning:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73E-NVzU1-U

I would recommend almost anything on Patrus53's channel.

Thanks,
Joseph

[Cordovan]

Forgive me if this is a repost - but certainly worth sharing.

Toscanini conducting the NBC orchestra playing the overture from La Forza del Destino
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JQvyg3kJ54

[alden]

Previn at his finest

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP8KRJFj_R4

[NJS]

Sarah Chang:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmD9DA6d ... =endscreen

NJS

[Frederic Leighton]

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli.

[Miles Messervy]

Vivaldi's Concerto for bassoon in E minor [RV 484]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIM3V6yveqU

There's an extraordinary, "period informed" rendition of this piece by Trevor Pinnock and The English Concert. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it on YouTube.

[davidhuh]

O Solitude
O solitude, my sweetest choice!
Places devoted to the night,
Remote from tumult and from noise,
How ye my restless thoughts delight!
O solitude, my sweetest choice!
O heav'ns! what content is mine
To see these trees, which have appear'd
From the nativity of time,
And which all ages have rever'd,
To look today as fresh and green
As when their beauties first were seen.
O, how agreeable a sight
These hanging mountains do appear,
Which th' unhappy would invite
To finish all their sorrows here,
When their hard fate makes them endure
Such woes as only death can cure.
O, how I solitude adore!
That element of noblest wit,
Where I have learnt Apollo's lore,
Without the pains to study it.
For thy sake I in love am grown
With what thy fancy does pursue;
But when I think upon my own,
I hate it for that reason too,
Because it needs must hinder me
From seeing and from serving thee.
O solitude, O how I solitude adore!

A very moving interpretation was given by Iestyn Davies at Wigmore Hall tonight. Enjoy Michael Chance before going to sleep
http://youtu.be/rSS-CjH-SXE

cheers, David

[alden]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5mxU_7BTRA

Why is Horowitz superior in elegance to Mehta?

Cheers

[hectorm]

Horowitz´s superior elegance it´s only mildly related to the clothes he is wearing. He had the extraordinary power of projecting elegance even while wearing a simple black turtleneck with the sleeves pulled up his forearms.
Notwithstanding (or maybe more adroitly I should say for example), I want to call the attention on his wearing a bow tie with his morning dress. This rarely seen detail –utterly appropriate- is not per se more elegant than a four-in-hand and one could even argue the contrary. But within Horowitz´s physical and personality frame, it becomes so since it´s worn with more comfort and self accepting humor.
It´s not fair. In comparison, poor Zubin (although himself not precisely a slob by any means) didn´t stand a chance.

[alden]

Horowitz´s superior elegance it´s only mildly related to the clothes he is wearing. He had the extraordinary power of projecting elegance even while wearing a simple black turtleneck with the sleeves pulled up his forearms.
Notwithstanding (or maybe more adroitly I should say for example), I want to call the attention on his wearing a bow tie with his morning dress. This rarely seen detail –utterly appropriate- is not per se more elegant than a four-in-hand and one could even argue the contrary. But within Horowitz´s physical and personality frame, it becomes so since it´s worn with more comfort and self accepting humor.
It´s not fair. In comparison, poor Zubin (although himself not precisely a slob by any means) didn´t stand a chance.

Excellent analysis Hectorm. But let me lead one step deeper. Horowitz is playing one of the most stirring and beautiful piano pieces of the last century (especially the second movement.) It is abundant in emotion and lyricism. But look at Horowitz, model of pregnant understatement, in his playing. An elegant form leading to pithy substance. Mehta, in contrast, is hamming it up, overacting, styling, passing the boundaries of substance into the realm of show.

So the differences in dress between the two reveal differences that are much deeper than superficial cloth. Clothes do not make the man, they reveal the man.

PS. If you would like to see a performance of real artistic merit, take a look here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AapjpeqmviM
(Somewhere Rubinstein is smiling, I can see him.)

Cheers