Musical questions and answers thread

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  • ferneyhoughgeliebte
    Gone fishin'
    • Sep 2011
    • 30163

    Originally posted by Pulcinella View Post
    Arnold's own recording (with the LPO on Lyrita) takes 54'11"; Penny (National SO of Ireland on Naxos) 37'47"; and Handley (RLPO on Sony, originally Conifer) 37'26".
    What, if anything, does that tell us?
    (I don't think there are any repeats that the composer follows that others don't!)
    There's a recording of a Live performance conducted by Arnold (the World Premiere, in fact) which matches the 37 minute duration of Handley & Penny (in fact, he's even sprightlier):

    Malcolm Arnold: Symphony No 4, Op 71. [Malcolm Arnold-BBC Symphony Orchestra-Nov 2,1960-premiere].


    There may be all sorts of reasons why he takes his Music so much slower - and, no, there are no issues of "missing repeats" here. His psychological & physical problems in the 1980s are well-documented, and he had ceased composing completely by 1990, when he made the Lyrita recording - ill health? Old age? Indifference? A completely different man from the one he was 30 years earlier?
    [FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]

    Comment

    • Serial_Apologist
      Full Member
      • Dec 2010
      • 37687

      Originally posted by Richard Barrett View Post
      Whoa. Really? Surely you'd have to have more evidence than that before coming to such a sweeping conclusion.
      In my case more an instance of taking one to recognise one than having any evidence basis, really...

      Comment

      • Pulcinella
        Host
        • Feb 2014
        • 10948

        Originally posted by ferneyhoughgeliebte View Post
        There's a recording of a Live performance conducted by Arnold (the World Premiere, in fact) which matches the 37 minute duration of Handley & Penny (in fact, he's even sprightlier):

        Malcolm Arnold: Symphony No 4, Op 71. [Malcolm Arnold-BBC Symphony Orchestra-Nov 2,1960-premiere].


        There may be all sorts of reasons why he takes his Music so much slower - and, no, there are no issues of "missing repeats" here. His psychological & physical problems in the 1980s are well-documented, and he had ceased composing completely by 1990, when he made the Lyrita recording - ill health? Old age? Indifference? A completely different man from the one he was 30 years earlier?
        You're probably right in thinking old age/illness: his 1980 and 1990 recordings of the Sarabande and Polka from Solitaire (Bournemouth, EMI: 5'47"/2'55"; LPO, Lyrita: 5'39"/2'46") are similarly lethargic compared to Bryden Thomson and the Philharmonia in 1990 (Chandos: 3'09"/2'22"), to choose another example from my shelves. I've probably set a hare running that didn't need to be let loose!

        Comment

        • Eine Alpensinfonie
          Host
          • Nov 2010
          • 20570

          Originally posted by ferneyhoughgeliebte View Post
          (R-K's Scheherazade benefits tremendously from a conductor's alterations to the score - such as replacing it with a different work.)
          R-K in turn did great things to improve upon some of Mussorgsky's works. I'll always regret that he never did a version of Pictures...

          Comment

          • ferneyhoughgeliebte
            Gone fishin'
            • Sep 2011
            • 30163

            Originally posted by Eine Alpensinfonie View Post
            R-K in turn did great things to improve upon some of Mussorgsky's works. I'll always regret that he never did a version of Pictures...
            Where's me pills??!! WHERE'S ME PILLS?????!!!!
            [FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]

            Comment

            • Eine Alpensinfonie
              Host
              • Nov 2010
              • 20570

              Originally posted by ferneyhoughgeliebte View Post
              Where's me pills??!! WHERE'S ME PILLS?????!!!!


              Comment

              • Bryn
                Banned
                • Mar 2007
                • 24688

                Originally posted by ferneyhoughgeliebte View Post
                Where's me pills??!! WHERE'S ME PILLS?????!!!!
                Never mind the pills. Just put on some of the real, unvitiated stuff and take a few deep breaths.

                Comment

                • BBMmk2
                  Late Member
                  • Nov 2010
                  • 20908

                  Ferney, I’ll take you back to the ward, matey!
                  Don’t cry for me
                  I go where music was born

                  J S Bach 1685-1750

                  Comment

                  • Eine Alpensinfonie
                    Host
                    • Nov 2010
                    • 20570

                    One question I'd like to have the answer to:

                    Why, when I can play Chopin Études, Late Beethoven Sonatas and Rachmaninov preludes, can I not play The Entertainer?

                    The two hands refuse to work together.

                    Comment

                    • LeMartinPecheur
                      Full Member
                      • Apr 2007
                      • 4717

                      Originally posted by Eine Alpensinfonie View Post
                      One question I'd like to have the answer to:

                      Why, when I can play Chopin Études, Late Beethoven Sonatas and Rachmaninov preludes, can I not play The Entertainer?

                      The two hands refuse to work together.


                      In the words of this master pianist in a German copy I own, "Üben, immer üben!"
                      Last edited by LeMartinPecheur; 28-08-20, 21:05. Reason: Removal of random smiley at top
                      I keep hitting the Escape key, but I'm still here!

                      Comment

                      • DracoM
                        Host
                        • Mar 2007
                        • 12972

                        Q: does the VPO delay or what the 2nd or 3rd beat of a bar when playing Viennese waltzes?
                        No other band can play like this, and I wonder how it is done.
                        They seem NOT to get it from the conductor, but from an almost tribal telepathy and unspoken, unwritten orchestral instinct....AFAICS

                        Comment

                        • Richard Barrett
                          Guest
                          • Jan 2016
                          • 6259

                          Originally posted by DracoM View Post
                          Q: does the VPO delay or what the 2nd or 3rd beat of a bar when playing Viennese waltzes?
                          No other band can play like this, and I wonder how it is done.
                          They seem NOT to get it from the conductor, but from an almost tribal telepathy and unspoken, unwritten orchestral instinct....AFAICS
                          The second beat is played slightly early. That's just how all Austrian musicians (and not just them) know that waltzes are played. Of course it has to be learned, but it's no more telepathic than jazz musicians knowing how to swing or Japanese gagaku musicians knowing how to speed up gradually over the course of a piece. None of this is any more difficult than playing equal beats!

                          Comment

                          • DracoM
                            Host
                            • Mar 2007
                            • 12972

                            OK, well it SEEMS a spontaneous move by the whole band - I love it, and ............well, I find it v.diff to imitate.

                            Comment

                            • Richard Barrett
                              Guest
                              • Jan 2016
                              • 6259

                              Originally posted by DracoM View Post
                              OK, well it SEEMS a spontaneous move by the whole band - I love it, and ............well, I find it v.diff to imitate.
                              It does take time and effort to be sure, but so does getting any other subtle musical feature right... more generally, though, the point of demystifying music is to make its central mysteries even more apparent (and more mysterious)!

                              Comment

                              • DracoM
                                Host
                                • Mar 2007
                                • 12972

                                Comment

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