Classical Music for Aficionados
Franz Liszt PIANO CONCERTOS NOS. 1 & 2 - TOTENTANZ Krystian Zimerman (piano) Boston Symphony Orchestra Seiji Ozawa DG 1988 Totentanz (Dance macabre) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BFT2rlaMIo Cheers |
Franz Liszt SONATA IN B MINOR Alfred Brendel (piano) Philips 1982 Liszt: Piano Sonata in B minor, S.178 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xDv_37vwZ0&t=234s Cheers |
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM Lilian Watson (soprano) Delia Wallis (mezzo-soprano) London Symphony Orchestra Andre Previn EMI Classics 1977 /1985 / 2002 Notes: "It is not surprising that Mendelssohn grew up with an interest in, and a love for the works of William Shakespeare, since it was his father's brother-in-law, August Schlegel, who had translated them into German. In 1826, when he was seventeen years old, Mendelssohn composed "in a state of delirium", so he said, an Overture inspired by Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. Seventeen years later he added to this some incidental music for use at performances of Shakespeare's play in Berlin." A Midsummer Night's Dream: Incidental Music, Op.61 Overture https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuXF5CY4pKs Scherzo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jX55L1aXMQ Song with Chorus, "You spotted snakes" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr-ry0iIMI4 Wedding March https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_waxRSDlC0 Finale https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDOBXy65D28 Cheers |
My favorite Liszt Sonata/Six Paganini Etudes compendium is still Andre Watts' initial foray on CBS Masterworks. I wish the fidelity were better, but Watts plays them with unmannered, headlong passion. There's nothing cute in his performances. He has an innate sense of what the pieces are telling us and where the pieces should go. |
