YouTube: the thread for interesting video links

[TBuckley]

I found this 2017 Finnish performance of the Hymni from Sibelius' Finlandia particularly moving - due in large part to use of a mixed choir and the church setting.
Some orchestral effects, mainly percussion related, I could have done without but nothing too distracting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cC1AWfiz8lk

[Sir Velo]

Not YouTube per se but described in some quarters as "Netflix for those who love churches" this might just be the best 40 quid you'll spend this Christmas.

[seabright]

New Year's Day was marked on YouTube by the addition of a Johann Strauss Polka ('Light of Heart') conducted by James Loughran. It came from a "Viennese Night" Prom in 1975 and was splendidly performed, despite the exhibitionist antics in the arena. He's still with us aged 90, according to his Wiki bio, so here he is in his 40s ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJGAM90E95A

[gradus]

For Tommy admirers, here's a Hurwitz chat on Beecham whose genius he describes in amusing (imv) terms:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd9Q4IjkSAY

[gradus]

An astonishing video of Valentina Lisitsa playing Liszt's Totentanz on the St Pancras station public piano, an old August Forster upright that someone donated : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NZpPg_9N90
From the same 'recital' there are also videos of her performing the Rachmaninov G min Prelude and the finale of the Appassionata.

[seabright]

^^^ Talking of Liszt, does anyone know of a commercial recording of his orchestration of the 'Andante cantabile' movement from Beethoven's "Archduke" Trio? ... It was the opening movement in Liszt's 1870 Cantata marking the centenary of Beethoven's birth, so was that ever recorded too? ... Anyway, here is a 1986 performance of the 'Andante cantabile' played by the Ulster Orchestra in what was its first - and only? - BBC radio broadcast ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu52SZkMc20&t=1s

[Bryn]

^^^ Talking of Liszt, does anyone know of a commercial recording of his orchestration of the 'Andante cantabile' movement from Beethoven's "Archduke" Trio? ... It was the opening movement in Liszt's 1870 Cantata marking the centenary of Beethoven's birth, so was that ever recorded too? ... Anyway, here is a 1986 performance of the 'Andante cantabile' played by the Ulster Orchestra in what was its first - and only? - BBC radio broadcast ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu52SZkMc20&t=1s

Which can be found on amazon.co.uk ( ASIN : B000059R71 )

[seabright]

Thank you for looking but that's Liszt's 1st Beethoven Cantata of 1845, written for the unveiling of a Beethoven monument in Bonn. It's his 2nd Cantata of 1870, written to mark the Beethoven centenary, that contains the "Archduke Trio" orchestration. If you can find a CD of that you'll be enthusiastically thanked! ... The full title is "Zur Säkularfeier Beethovens" ("For the Secular Celebration of Beethoven.")

[Bryn]

Thank you for looking but that's Liszt's 1st Beethoven Cantata of 1845, written for the unveiling of a Beethoven monument in Bonn. It's his 2nd Cantata of 1870, written to mark the Beethoven centenary, that contains the "Archduke Trio" orchestration. If you can find a CD of that you'll be enthusiastically thanked! ... The full title is "Zur Säkularfeier Beethovens" ("For the Secular Celebration of Beethoven.")

It does not help that a search for that very title leads, among other hits, to the same recording. There does, indeed, appear that no commercial recording of the second cantata has been released, to date.

[seabright]

Thanks again and so far it looks as if the purely orchestral "Andante cantabile" movement hasn't been extracted from the Cantata and recorded commercially either. Whether there have been other broadcasts of it, besides the Ulster one, would probably be impossible to say, as it may have been played on the radio abroad somewhere.

[seabright]

Chicken plays Puccini ... I don't know if the uploader of this video is having us on or not, with some technical 'computer generated imagery,' but there are over 9 million views from people watching a chicken pecking out Puccini's "O Mio Bambino Caro" on an electronic keyboard! ... Well, judging from the comments underneath, it seems that the bird has been trained to peck each key as it lights up, so maybe it's not CGI after all! ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFYxRp9K9L4

Hilarious!

[seabright]

Rachmaninoff's "The Bells" had its UK Premiere under Sir Henry Wood in Liverpool on 15 March 1921. However, he never performed it at the Proms and it had to wait until the 1973 season to get its first performance there. Andre Previn conducted and the three soloists were Sheila Armstrong, Robert Tear and John Shirley-Quirk. Three of those have departed the globe but Ms Armstrong will be celebrating her 80th birthday later this year. It was Rachmaninoff's 149th birthday on Friday last, so the YouTube upload of the Proms Premiere video was suitably appropriate. Incidentally, I wonder if the Proms audience might have been somewhat taken aback by the soprano's attire! ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tzf_ekrC9xc&t=1209s

[seabright]

Sibelius's Violin Concerto with Heifetz and Stokowski, in a 1934 set of RCA 78s, represented their only collaboration in their entire careers. In fact, Heifetz refused to approve the recording, evidently because the balance didn't favour him. He might also have disliked Stokowski milking the music for all it was worth when the soloist had a few bars rest. Anyway, the recording was eventually released on CD and I remember Rob Cowan's review commenting on the solo viola being louder than Heifetz in a couple of places in the first movement. Jascha re-recorded it with Beecham and the LPO the following year but there were no balance problems there! ... Here's the "unapproved" Philadelphia version. I wonder what Sibelians think of it? ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNElh8WFbZQ&t=1356s

[seabright]

I'm not sure where Erich Leinsdorf fits in the list of "Great Conductors of the 20th Century," as there were comments here and there which described him as "cold and unfeeling" or "rigid and unsmiling." He doesn't seem to have conducted much Tchaikovsky in his concert and recording career but one performance, described in his Wiki entry as "white hot," was of the 5th Symphony with the Boston SO in 1969. Here's the finale and "white hot" is just about right! ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvWOilQJbeo

[Mario]

WOW!

Mario