SUNDAY MORNING CLASSICS AT TBP – The Burning Platform

A collaboration of: “The Classic Music Mafia”
Anthony Aaron and Steve C.

Steve C / Classical Music Mafia: Here is the image of “The Classic Music Gangsters”, a whimsical and imaginative group of classical musicians with a playful gangster twist. The scene is set in an old-fashioned music hall with a rich, vintage decor, where the musicians perform in stylish gangster attire from the 1920s. The atmosphere is mysterious yet sophisticated, capturing the unique blend of classical music and a light-hearted gangster theme. – aka.attrition

Every Sunday morning we present a selection for our TBP family to enjoy.

We present symphonies, ensembles, quartets, octets, etc.

Not all of our music is strictly ‘classical’. We may be straying a bit, but we strive to make all of our selections ‘classy’.

We will give tips on proper ‘symphony etiquette’ and even some selections that are a bit light and fun, aimed at a younger audience. These pieces will be pointed out as such, and can be a great way to introduce children to a world of music that they may not have been exposed to or may consider old and ‘stuffy’.

A full symphony is as long as it lasts. We don’t want to keep a symphony short. However, we do have a number of shorter pieces that we try to keep under fifteen minutes. You can listen to each piece and hopefully you will find one or more that you like.

We hope you enjoy our Sunday selections.

Anthony Aaron

Bruckner: Symphony No. 7

Anton Bruckner (4 September 1824 – 11 October 1896) was an Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses, and motets. The former are considered emblematic of the final phase of Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich harmonic language, strong polyphonic character, and considerable length. Bruckner’s compositions helped define contemporary musical radicalism, with their dissonances, extemporaneous modulations, and wandering harmonies.

In the pantheon of 19th-century composers, Anton Bruckner occupies a unique, if not enigmatic, place. This heir to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, widely known as a composer of symphonies at a time when the music drama and the symphonic poem were all the rage, avoided the infusion of literary concerns that so affected the Romantics. That Bruckner came to recognize the pure absolute music of the symphonic genre as his ideal, as a result of his encounter with the music of the arch-literary composer Richard Wagner, is one of history’s great ironies. It was a hearing of Wagner’s opera Tannhauser in Linz in 1863 at the age of 39 that initiated Bruckner’s inner path of self-discovery. Wagner, the master of harmonic innovation, was the key to artistic freedom.

Bruckner became a great composer almost overnight. As a result of this encounter with Wagner he immediately began to compose his first important works of instrumental music, his first three symphonies, under the spell of this master. Bruckner’s individuality and steadfast assurance proved effective in the fact that he was not overwhelmed by the theatrical values of Wagner’s operatic work, but by the sonority of his orchestration and perhaps the musical filling of large chunks of time.

The Seventh Symphony was Bruckner’s memorial to Wagner.

A historic, superlative concert: the Berliner Philharmoniker performs Anton Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony in E major (WAB 107) under the baton of Sergiu Celibidache at the Konzerthaus Berlin in the spring of 1992.

After the war, the chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic from 1922 to 1945, Wilhelm Furtwängler, had to submit to the denazification process. The young Sergiu Celibidache became interim conductor of the top orchestra from 1945 to 1952. After that, Furtwängler returned to the stage. In 1954, the Philharmonic did not choose the predestined Celibidache as Furtwängler’s official successor, but Herbert von Karajan. Sergiu Celibidache was so incensed by the fact that he was passed over that he swore never to conduct the famous orchestra again. It took 38 years before they could collaborate again: the concert of Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony only took place at the instigation of the then German president, Richard von Weizsäcker. In the meantime, Celibidache had become an internationally sought-after conductor.

Anton Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony premiered in 1884. The second movement is a piece of funeral music that Bruckner composed in 1883 in response to the death of Richard Wagner.

Despite its length and the extensive development of its thematic arcs, Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony remains one of his most performed works to this day, performed in concert halls all over the world.

(00:00) Allegro moderated
(28:09) Adagio
(58:48) Scherzo
(1:11:15) Final score

The following two came to us thanks to Anonymous.

Ottorino Respighi-Gli uccelli (The Birds) (complete)

Respighi – Botticelli Triptych (Trittico Botticelliano) | Three Botticelli photographs for orchestra

The following four come to us courtesy of Ursel Doran.

Chris Botti and Caroline Campbell at Cht. St. Michelle 7-25-15 ©James L. Kahan 2015

A few performances of the fantastic violin playing of a beautiful lady!!!

HAUSER & Caroline Campbell – Czardas

Céline Dion – River Deep, Mountain High (Taking Chances World Tour: The Concert)

Celine Dion performs at the $100 million palace built especially for her in Vegas!!

Elton John, Luciano Pavarotti – Live Like Horses (Live)

Elton John, Luciano Pavarotti – Live Like Horses (Live) –

Anthony Aaron

5 Minutes On… Chopin – Nocturnes Op. 27 No. 2 (Db major) | Daniel Barenboim

Chopin Nocturnes, Op. 27

I Larghetto (00:00)
II. Continuing Pause (04:56)

Brightness

Keith Jarrett • Jan Garbarek

Kitaro – Koi

I’ve been listening to Kitaro’s music since the mid 80’s when we bought audio equipment. I started with his album ‘Silk Road’ …

Steve C.

The Preludes (Franz Liszt) Daniel Barenboim with Berlin Philharmoniker – Berlin State Opera (1998)

Les Préludes (Franz Liszt). Daniel Barenboim with Berlin Philharmoniker – Staatsoper Berlin (1998).

Franz Liszt – Les Préludes – Organ arrangement

Now let us listen to the same song played on the organ.

Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 • Volker Hartung • New Cologne Philharmonic Orchestra

This is another one I can’t open right away. It’s definitely worth a listen, but you’ll have to cut and paste to hear it.

Franz Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, originally written for solo piano, comes fully to life in the orchestral version in this fiery performance by the Neues Philharmoniker in Cologne conducted by Volker Hartung.

Recorded live in Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Germany.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNi-_0kqpdE

Valentina Lisitsa plays Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2

Now let’s listen to the same piece as above, played on the piano.

Recorded live on May 22, 2010 in Leiden, Netherlands