What have you been listening to.

Ella Beck

Member
I've just listened to this short section of video, elderpiano - it's interesting, and also thought-provoking.

While I accept that Schubert showed an amazing maturity in his final works, and that he had shown that it was possible to move music in new directions after Beethoven, I still don't see how it was a 'myth' that Schubert hadn't achieved his maturity (or peak). After all, if you die at the age of 31 and are a genius like Schubert who knows what you might not have gone on to achieve.

It does make me want to find out more about Schubert, though. Thanks for sharing. :)
 

John Watt

Member
I haven't died young, but I know what too much empty music time in my life is, only aspiring to greatness.
Jools Holland and Doctor John, Max Rebenek, are coming at the keyboards from two different perspectives.
Jools Holland made it big as a band organist first, while Dr. John was more of a songwriter with a New Orleans style.
I still remember a couple of his songs, covered by everyone from country to jazz artists, having big hits with them.
Mr. George Benson did my favorite.

This thread asks "what have you been listening to", and that's a very big question for me.
I was invited to live in this apartment, being offered a very low rent with free hydro, free telephone,
and free high speed internet. I only access my johnwatt.ca domain/email provider, Magle.dk, YouTube and Kijiji,
my habits for over seven years. Of course I look at suggested news from Mozilla Firefox when I turn this on.

My building owner visited a few weeks ago and said I should plug in my DVD player, which has Blue Ray,
and it's not adding streaming costs if I'm watching YouTube on my computer or my big screen TV.
So I started watching a lot of YouTube, sometimes hours in a row, living alone for the first time.

I can condense that down to one video, not that I watched it more than once, except for finding it again for here.
It's an acoustic guitarist, standing up and moving around while he's playing... playing Beethovens' 5th.
I always had a jazzy and Nicolo Paganini violin style approach to playing in any band, country, rock, disco to pop show-bands.
I might not have been able to use all the sonic effects like Jimi Hendrix, told to tone it down,
but I justified my diverse approach to those bands by saying I was using a more expanded style, dramatizing their abilities,
not just being stereo onstage, and not wanting to be on the beat and in line with what everyone else was playing.
Sure, that was an excuse sometimes for not actually learning the songs...
but if you can get on the dance floor and play it up big time that goes over more than any serious solo onstage.

That's a big reason why I really like this musician, he pulls off Beethovens' 5th with an acoustic guitar standing up.
I'm serious enough about this posting to go back to YouTube and see if he has anything else,
like maybe a variation of a Jimi Hendrix song.
and yes... I was sitting here with my guitar and portable amp riffing along with this performance.
I think he needs me to be his lead guitarist-vocalist.
I always thought Beethoven was missing a spontaneous creative solo element with his symphonic performances,
like most of those classical composers. I heard he was the last major composer to jam out his own solos.
yeah... imagine writing a symphony and getting symphony players to play it in a concert hall in front of a dress audience,
so you can conduct and jam out your own piano solo. That's a life I'll never know.
When I wrote a letter to the Beethoven Museum in Germany in the late seventies,
asking for a piece of wood from his piano there so I could use it as an inlay for a new guitar I was building,
their reply actually had a slight nasty tone to it.
I don't know anybody who goes for a walk in nature and sketches outlines for orchestral music.
Our high-tech society is pathetic compared to the human abilities before electricity came along.
And I remind you, the Clan Watt never manufactured. I hafta say that.

 

John Watt

Member
I just watched the Jools Holland and Dr. John video.
I grew up seeing twin pianists, a regular feature on the Ed Sullivan Show.
Ferrante and Tiecher come to mind, if I'm spelling that right.

Even though, in your video, they have a rehearsed effort to be onstage the same,
I would have made doffing their hats and bowing a part of it, more of a show,
and they just were riffing off solos.
I would have played a part of "Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy",
as a concession to modern American military war efforts,
or a fluttering "Over the Rainbow", to make some melodies stand out,
and present some different stride styles.

The announcer was full of too much hype. He could have been more real.
Maybe he was paying for the costume rentals.

I'm adding this video because it's the only one I've watched more than once,
maybe four times now.

 
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Ella Beck

Member
Yesterday, 22nd November, was St Cecilia's Day - St Cecilia being the patron saint of music. Someone on another forum posted this 'grand motet' by Charpentier in honour of the saint & I am listening to it now. It's lovely.

 

Ella Beck

Member
I'm listening to Diego Ortiz at the moment - this YouTube video by Jordi Savall.
I love this renaissance Spanish composer and have played one or two fo his gorgeous pieces on my violin.

 

Ella Beck

Member
Have just come back from my fiddle lesson where we played some gorgeous Playford tunes together - including this first one, Lady Catherine Ogle, by the Broadside Band. We have this cd and often play it in the car when we're driving up north.

 
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