Musical questions and answers thread

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Yes.

Or even "Es muss sein"? The reference is to the superscriptio at the head of the finale Beethoven's F major String Quartet, Op 135, but I suspect that anamesis is also pointing out the notation of this motto (G - E - Ab) with its diminished fourth, as well as its cousinship with the Shostakovich theme that I mentioned a few posts ago (and which I hadn't previously been aware: that "daa-dee-DADADA" over the F double sharp pedal a referencing of bars 5 - 12 of the Beethoven finale (just before the Allegro begins).

[amateur51]

Or even "Es muss sein"? The reference is to the superscriptio at the head of the finale Beethoven's F major String Quartet, Op 135, but I suspect that anamesis is also pointing out the notation of this motto (G - E - Ab) with its diminished fourth, as well as its cousinship with the Shostakovich theme that I mentioned a few posts ago (and which I hadn't previously been aware: that "daa-dee-DADADA" over the F double sharp pedal a referencing of bars 5 - 12 of the Beethoven finale (just before the Allegro begins).

Are you suggesting that Shostakovivh was a DADADA-ist?

[french frank]

What exactly is a chamber orchestra ?
Is it simply down to the number of musicians involved,do they bring in extra troops for the bigger works ?
Is there repertoire that couldn't be programmed by a co ?
Apparently Bruckner is not out of bounds.

Wiki includes this.

I'd thought it was the orchestral equivalent of a chamber choir - a smaller group (in terms of amateur choirs, usually of an especially high standard). I'd be interested to know the exact answer too. Would the SCO have been augmented to perform the Bruckner?

[gurnemanz]

What exactly is a chamber orchestra ?

A definition based on an old East German joke : The Gewandhaus Orchestra or Staatskapelle returning from a tour to the West.

[french frank]

A definition based on an old East German joke : The Gewandhaus Orchestra or Staatskapelle returning from a tour to the West.

Slightly more seriously, I see the COE has 60 members (had to correct my first answer, having misread Swedish Chamber Orchestra as Chamber Orchestra of Europe and, accordingly, Thomas Dausgaard as Claudio Abbado. Funny thing, the brain .

[Petrushka]

A definition based on an old East German joke : The Gewandhaus Orchestra or Staatskapelle returning from a tour to the West.

I see that Bernard Haitink is conducting the COE in the Berg Violin Concerto next June. I had thought that the piece used a standard symphony orchestra set up including bass drum and cymbals but then I see that it has been recorded by the Orchestra Mozart (and Abbado) which is certainly a chamber orchestra so I too am puzzled by the definition.

[richardfinegold]

A definition based on an old East German joke : The Gewandhaus Orchestra or Staatskapelle returning from a tour to the West.

[EdgeleyRob]

A definition based on an old East German joke : The Gewandhaus Orchestra or Staatskapelle returning from a tour to the West.

[Richard Barrett]

As with so many musical definitions, a chamber orchestra isn't anything "exactly" - it can refer to an organisation like the COE, which began as an orchestra playing smaller-scale works using basically 18th-century instrumental resources but subsequently allowed itself to expand into later (and larger) repertoire; or it can refer to the ensemble for which some particular piece of music might be specifically written, like Berio's Requies "for chamber orchestra", with a minimum of 44 players specified. (On the other hand, for example, Brahms's favourite Meiningen Court Orchestra consisted of around 40 players at the time he conducted it.)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Are you suggesting that Shostakovivh was a DADADA-ist?

Who Nose?

[EdgeleyRob]

As with so many musical definitions, a chamber orchestra isn't anything "exactly"

Ah,I rather thought that might be the case when I asked the question.

[french frank]

Ah,I rather thought that might be the case when I asked the question.

Yes, 'exact' answer appreciated - 'inexactly'.

[verismissimo]

As with so many musical definitions, a chamber orchestra isn't anything "exactly"...

Exactly. As with ALL definitions - not given by God, but formulations made by a particular person (or group) at a particular time, in order to be useful, not restrictive. (And very possibly "not accurate" the next day or even on that day if viewed by another).

So the meaning eg of what constitutes art, or music, or literature now is quite different from how it might have been formulated a hundred years ago. And will certainly be different again a hundred years on.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

A definition based on an old East German joke : The Gewandhaus Orchestra or Staatskapelle returning from a tour to the West.

[amateur51]

I see that Bernard Haitink is conducting the COE in the Berg Violin Concerto next June.

Where is he doing this Petrushka? And who is the violin soliist please?