Masterpieces? Probably not, but ....

[Bryn]

. . . as is well known, I tend to feel that almost everything Nielsen wrote was masterpiece...

[jayne lee wilson]

Why does this put me in mind of Salieri...?

[Bryn]

Why does this put me in mind of Salieri...?

Though I do think Langaard deserved better than he got, both during his lifetime and since, and he wrote more symphonies than Nielsen, though none of them that much of a challenge to those of Nielsen. Must give them another spin, sometime soon. Antikrist deserves another viewing, too.

[ahinton]

Sibelius' Pelleas and Melisande

What wondrous music that generated - this, Fauré, Debussy and Schönberg...

[rauschwerk]

Telemann's output was so enormous that it can't have consisted entirely of masterpieces - however, there's lots of really beguiling stuff, for example here (Concerti con molti stromenti) https://store.harmoniamundi.com/release/190021

I used to think Telemann didn't do grandeur, but the concerto for 3 trumpets and timps on this album is as fine as anything in Handel, and there are many excellent things in the other pieces.

[Richard Barrett]

Telemann's output was so enormous that it can't have consisted entirely of masterpieces

... which is the kind of thing that's always given me pause to wonder how useful the concept of a "masterpiece" actually is. When did it begin to be used in the modern sense (which is quite different from its original meaning)? Who decides what is and isn't a masterpiece and on the basis of what criteria? Are masterpieces still being created? If so are they being recognised as such or does some period have to elapse before the stamp of approval is given? and why?

[vinteuil]

.

... isn't the question of 'masterpiece' a special case of the larger debate as to what (if anything) constitutes the 'canon'? The same philosophical arguments will be prayed in aid to disentangle the issues involved. I always find 'aesthetics' to be one of the less illuminating rooms in the house of philosophy - but I suppose someone's got to do it...


.

[Richard Barrett]

I always find 'aesthetics' to be one of the less illuminating rooms in the house of philosophy - but I suppose someone's got to do it

It's a can of worms to be sure. As you say it's related to the idea of the "canon", something I've always found suspicious, given that it's a symptom of a wider agenda many of whose manifestations don't bear close scrutiny. But that's for another thread I guess. All I wanted to say here was that all of us here look for very many different and sometimes unreconcilable things in music, and that this is the important thing, not whether the music itself has been inducted into some version of the "rock 'n' roll hall of fame".

[Bella Kemp]

I once heard Greig described as a 'great, little composer,' which irritated me at the time, but now I seem to understand it somehow.

[hmvman]

I once heard Greig described as a 'great, little composer,' which irritated me at the time, but now I seem to understand it somehow.

Well, a pianist friend of mine did say that Grieg was a miniaturist...

[LMcD]

.

... isn't the question of 'masterpiece' a special case of the larger debate as to what (if anything) constitutes the 'canon'? The same philosophical arguments will be prayed in aid to disentangle the issues involved. I always find 'aesthetics' to be one of the less illuminating rooms in the house of philosophy - but I suppose someone's got to do it...


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I'm afraid I'm nowhere near clever enough to analyse/deconstruct or whatever any of the words in the title of my modest little thread!

[ardcarp]

Couldn't some of Khachaturian's oeuvres come into the 'not quite' category? eg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPp3Qh-GRqs

Also maybe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZLMKkEGFRo

[Serial_Apologist]

Couldn't some of Khachaturian's oeuvres come into the 'not quite' category? eg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPp3Qh-GRqs

Also maybe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZLMKkEGFRo

That Maskarade waltz was regularly on the wireless when I was a small tot; it was one of the earliest musical impregnations on my soul, and from the frequency of broadcast and that of music from "Gayane" (sp?) it must have been before the Iron Curtain ended the wartime pact. Wonderful music!

[cloughie]

I once heard Greig described as a 'great, little composer,' which irritated me at the time, but now I seem to understand it somehow.

Maybe but didn’t he write some good tunes?

[ardcarp]

That Maskarade waltz [Kahchaturian] was regularly on the wireless when I was a small tot; it was one of the earliest musical impregnations on my soul, and from the frequency of broadcast and that of music from "Gayane" (sp?) it must have been before the Iron Curtain ended the wartime pact. Wonderful music!

Wiki article here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aram_Khachaturian

Spelling Khachaturian's name can maybe Khachoneout, but (like Grieg) he could certainly spin a good tune and a Khatchy theme.