MetaFilter posts tagged with classical

New classical music! With Twitter!

StrikeTheViol — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 17:39:13 -0800

Eric Whitacre

greekphilosophy — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 13:23:36 -0800

Over the past few years, Eric Whitacre has been taking the composition world by storm. And now he's all over the web. (Most links silent, personal website has an autoplay rainstorm going on.) His choral works range from the mysterious and brooding Water Night to the rambunctious modern madrigal, With a Lily In Your Hand, to the wonderfully lush Sleep (formerly a setting of Robert Frost's "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" - tragically halted by copyright infringement, but still available thanks to the magic of YouTube). While his instrumental compositions run the spectrum from silly musical parody (Godzilla Eats Las Vegas) to poignant melancholy (October) with some delicate crossover between vocal and instrumental (Lux Aurumque - first choral, then instrumental!). If you are or think you may be even remotely interested in contemporary classical music, you owe it to yourself to become familiar with the work of Eric Whitacre.

a semi-staged production of Shakespere's A Midsummer Night's Dream with Mendelsohn's incidental music

feelinglistless — Mon, 11 May 2009 14:42:19 -0800

Last night, BBC Radio 3 broadcast a semi-staged production of Shakespere's A Midsummer Night's Dream with Mendelsohn's incidental music. Now they've put a video of the performance up on their website. Sorry if this isn't available in your area. It was actually broadcast on television last night, but only on the BBC's digital red button service something which was hardly publicised so this is a handy catch up which will be available to the end of the year. I think it's one of the best productions of the play I've seen. It constantly subverts the expectations and implications of what a 'semi-staged' production can do and there are many wonderful moments developed from out expectation of how the cast are going to handle particular aspects of the play in a venue what should be relatively hostile venue to this kind of work.

Ancient Greece

netbros — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 09:24:40 -0800

Explore the History of the Ancient Greek World from the Neolithic to the Classical Period. Covering important topics, such as Art and Architecture, Mythology, Wars, Culture and Society, Poetry, Olympics, History Periods, Philosophy, Playwrights, Kings and Rulers of Ancient Greece.

Meet the Composer

NemesisVex — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:01:17 -0800

If you've ever enjoyed Steve Reich's Different Trains, John Adams' Nixon in China or Harry Partch's The Bewitched, you probably have Betty Freeman to thank. Freeman supported the works of such composers as Philip Glass, John Cage and Witold Lutoslawski (and many, many more), often early in their careers. She was a photographer herself, and the subject of David Hockney's Beverly Hills Housewife. Freeman passed away at age 87.

Evelyn Glennie talks about music and deafness

aisforal — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:10:07 -0800

Evelyn Glennie speaks at TED. Don't know her? Visit her site.

International Music Score Library Project has reopened!

archagon — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:14:56 -0800

Rejoice, classical music lovers! After closing in October 2007 due to copyright issues, the International Music Score Library Project (previously) has reopened! (In June, but there's no FPP about it.) From a quick overview, it seems the site has most of every major (pre-20th-century?) composer's opus - far more than any other "free sheet music" website.

Trumpeteer Videos

Kattullus — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 21:41:56 -0800

Trumpet Kings is a blog dedicated to videos of trumpeteers, mostly jazz but there are a few classical ones. On the companion youtube channel there are 184 videos. These are some of my favorite things: Wynton Marsalis - Riot, Dizzy Gillespie - trumpet battle, Maynard Ferguson - Round Midnight, Louis Armstrong - C'est Si Bon, Miles Davis - No Blues, Ray Anthony - Harlem Nocturne, Booker Little - Minor Mode Blues, Ingrid Jensen - Foxy Trot and Sergei Nakariakov - Bach's Air.

"How can you tell when a violist is playing out of tune? .... The bow is moving. "

fearfulsymmetry — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 07:56:24 -0800

Why are viola players always the butt of the joke in the orchestra? Some viola jokes. Are you still laughing now?

Guardian's Top 50 Arts Videos

djgh — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 21:42:57 -0800

The Guardian has compiled a list of their top fifty arts videos, the majority being from either rare or obscure sources and uploaded onto YouTube.

Ronsheim's lectures on 20th century music

Wolfdog — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 04:36:06 -0800

Course materials and taped lectures (nearly 70 hours worth) from John Ronsheim's classes on 20th century music at Antioch College.

music

plexi — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:14:30 -0800

The future of classical music lies in China. Chinese enthusiasm for Western classical music is deep, says New Yorker music critic Alex Ross, but traditional Chinese music is older and more classical than anything in the West.

Canadian Brass

Upton O'Good — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:12:59 -0800

The brass quintet Canadian Brass is both venerable--it's been around 38 years--and prolific--its discography is as long as your arm. While they often play classical arrangements, they also mix in jazz and blues, along with a complement of showmanship and humor. (Also, they play Flight of the Bumblebee on the tuba.) [Mouseover for titles.]

Stop messing up the music.

Tlogmer — Mon, 26 May 2008 17:33:32 -0800

The most important essay about music I've ever read. (And part 2.) Make sure to listen to the examples. For example, this one.

The Yellow Shark [NOT MUDSHARK-IST]

not_on_display — Sat, 17 May 2008 13:18:06 -0800

In 1993, we said goodbye to Frank Zappa, fallen victim to prostate cancer. A 1993 Today Show interview with Frank. A 1993 BBC documentary about Frank. {Parts 2, 3, 4.} "Outrage at Valdez," from 1993's The Yellow Shark. [Zappa mega-post previously on MeFi]

Online Music & Performing Arts Films

progosk — Thu, 08 May 2008 07:21:20 -0800

Medici.tv is an online "television" dedicated to performing arts and music documentaries. Its current catalogue includes many classical concerts, documentaries by Johan van der Keuken and on the Kinshasa musical underground (previously), portraits (lots of Glenn Gould, Shostakovich by Sokurov, Maya Plisetskaya...), and plenty more. Launched April 30th, it's streaming its full contents in lovely quality for free until May 15th. Geek tip: check Safari's "Activity" window....

Orchestral Maneuvers in the dAKAH

mikoroshi — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:00:13 -0800

In LA, a 63 (70!)-piece orchestra blends the styles of Charles Mingus and Duke Ellington with hip-hop, European classical music, and free jazz. Spend some time with the dAKAH Orchestra and it's founder Geoff "Double G" Gallegos.

South Asian Classical Music

ferdydurke — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 16:42:42 -0800

Hundreds of hours of classical music from the Indian subcontinent (realplayer files). Bonus youtube videos of Ashwini Bhide Deshpande , an extraordinary North Indian classical vocalist. Finally, one of the most ancient styles, dhrupad, by Ustad Wassifuddin Dagar

Playing with Dictators

Wolfdog — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 06:15:08 -0800

Playing with Dictators - an editorial on the New York Philharmonic's decision to play a concert in North Korea. One musician's account of the performance.

DAMMIT!

jbickers — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 13:36:10 -0800

Think you've had clumsy moments? Ten bucks says you've never had one quite this bad.

Art Image Bank

Rumple — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 10:39:35 -0800

Art Images for College Teaching is a searchable, browsable collection of 2,027, well, art images for college teaching, and appears to be mainly the personal collection of Art Historian Allan Kohl (previously on MeFi), and thus represents his interests and specialities, not to mention the variable quality of his photographic skills. Rather strong in Ancient and Medieval, especially architecture, but tapers off as you become more distant from Europe or closer to the 20th century. Nice sets include the Lion Hunt from Ashurbanipal, Iraq; the exterior sculpture of Chartres; and grave stele.

Béla Fleck and the Flecktones

stavrogin — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 23:03:26 -0800

Béla Fleck and the Flecktones. He plays the banjo, but he isn't just some hick. He enjoys Chicks, jamming with friends, wide open spaces and fights.

20th-century classical-experimental-electroacoustic music

sushiwiththejury — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 09:44:11 -0800

The Avant Garde Project is a bunch of experimental outofprint music digitized from LPs. Free. Available in Flac and 192 kbps MP3. Start off at the Archive.

Petrouchka

grumblebee — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 07:41:16 -0800

My favorite piece of music is Stravinsky's "Petrouchka." (Scroll down to the 2002-2003 Season for mp3s.) Today, I was blown away by this recording (CD for purchase, alas) of parts of the piece played on accordion. (If you're a Stravinsky fan, please do yourself a favor and acquire this CD!). I've always associated accordions with polkas (and Ennio Morricone music ... and, of course, the Doctor Who theme). I never knew they were rich enough to stand in for a whole orchestra! And I didn't know much about accordions used in classical music. Anyway, back to Petrouchka: here are videos of the ballet: bit, I II, III, IV.

another beautiful french guitarist

nicolin — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:32:52 -0800

To me, he embodies The classical guitarist with all the clichés attached. But he can also make any material his own, or use forms with humor. He's got good compositions too.