Classical Music

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txfilmfan
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Re: Classical Music

Post by txfilmfan »

Reminds me of this offering. The ads featured John Williams (the actor, not the composer).

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laffite
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Re: Classical Music

Post by laffite »

txfilmfan wrote: February 3rd, 2023, 8:33 am Reminds me of this offering. The ads featured John Williams (the actor, not the composer).

Thanks, txfilmfan, that's a nice category, famous songs that come from Classic melodies. The fellow mention "Stranger from Paradise." You probably know this already but as a FYI for those who don't, that every song from KISMIT uses the music of Alexander Borodin, including Stranger But not all the song are immediately familiar. I'm trying to think of another from K but so far cannot.

Another category is Classical Music used in film, which are quite abundant.

Here is one :



There is something ludicrous that this music is used. Probably a commentary on the hell of war. There is a dark humor but can also draw hilarious laughter. An incredible choice for such a serious movie and for a dire and disturbing scene.

Thoughts txfanfilm, and others?
Sabine Azema in Sunday in the Country
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txfilmfan
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Re: Classical Music

Post by txfilmfan »

laffite wrote: February 3rd, 2023, 4:27 pm
txfilmfan wrote: February 3rd, 2023, 8:33 am Reminds me of this offering. The ads featured John Williams (the actor, not the composer).

Thanks, txfilmfan, that's a nice category, famous songs that come from Classic melodies. The fellow mention "Stranger from Paradise." You probably know this already but as a FYI for those who don't, that every song from KISMIT uses the music of Alexander Borodin, including Stranger But not all the song are immediately familiar. I'm trying to think of another from K but so far cannot.

Another category is Classical Music used in film, which are quite abundant.

Here is one :



There is something ludicrous that this music is used. Probably a commentary on the hell of war. There is a dark humor but can also draw hilarious laughter. An incredible choice for such a serious movie and for a dire and disturbing scene.

Thoughts txfanfilm, and others?
Something similar is used in A Clockwork Orange, with the ultraviolent protagonist's (Alex) love of classical music, and Beethoven in particular, contrasting with his and his gang's acts of violence. Kubrick can't take credit for this seeming juxtaposition, though, as it's in the original source novel as well.
Last edited by txfilmfan on February 4th, 2023, 7:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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laffite
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Re: Classical Music

Post by laffite »

txfilmfan wrote: February 3rd, 2023, 8:33 am
[ ... ]

Something similar is used in A Clockwork Orange, with the ultraviolent protagonist's (Alex) love of classical music, and Beethoven in particular, contrasting with his and his gang's acts of violence. Kubrick can't credit for this seeming juxtaposition, though, as it's in the original source novel as well.
This is like looking through the wrong end of a pair of binoculars. I don't know ACO and will never see it. Still, interesting comment from what I can make of it.

O Beethoven, you have been rankly abused !!

:tickedoff:
Sabine Azema in Sunday in the Country
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laffite
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Re: Classical Music

Post by laffite »

Sabine Azema in Sunday in the Country
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txfilmfan
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Re: Classical Music

Post by txfilmfan »

laffite wrote: February 6th, 2023, 3:23 pm
Another Kubrick reference. Every time I hear this now, I think of only one thing: Eyes Wide Shut
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laffite
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Re: Classical Music

Post by laffite »

txfilmfan wrote: February 7th, 2023, 10:14 am
laffite wrote: February 6th, 2023, 3:23 pm
Another Kubrick reference. Every time I hear this now, I think of only one thing: Eyes Wide Shut
Thanks, Tex. I did not know that Kubrick used this. Was not aware of this waltz either. It strives to be gay but betrays a vague, sinister tone.

I love that version of AnnaK (2012). It is too stylized for some but I love it. I have seen the entire movie but on return viewings (four so far) I stop at about the 3/4 mark, painful to see our eponymous heroine go to pieces.

I'm really into the Waltz. I had to research a familiar sounding waltz on a movie soundtrack and went to the three Strauss' , these long videos on utube. Who said, "Everybody loves a Waltz." Not everyone does of course, but I get it. They are uplifting. Anyone suffering depression or sad feelings might try them. They are gorgeous!
Sabine Azema in Sunday in the Country
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Dargo
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Re: Classical Music

Post by Dargo »

Your thread here laffite, looks like a good place to relay the following story of a part of the road trip my wife and I undertook the week before this past Christmas of 2022.

We had just checked into our room at the historic Paso Robles Inn located in that central coast area California town. We had traveled there to do some wine tasting at a few of the now 300 in number vineyards located in the surrrounding area.

I noticed in the corner of the large entry room of the building which our room sat on the second floor right above it, there was a beautiful grand piano and on the piano's sheet music holder there was a placard explaining that this piano was once the property of Ignacy Jan Paderewski's. Evidently, the great Polish pianist, composer, politican and humanitarian once owned a small ranch in Paso Robles during the early part of the 20th century.

Image

About an hour or so after we had arrived to our room, I began to hear what sounded like someone beginning to play the opening bars of Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue', and so rushed out the door and down the stairway to investigate this.

As I got to the bottom of the steps and turned to my left, I found a gentleman of about 60 years old (not the one pictured above) who was indeed playing that piano. He looked up at me as I said, "Yeah! I THOUGHT I heard someone playing Gershwin on this thing!" He smiled back and continued on with his performance of this work, AND played btw all by memory. Flawlessly, I might add. And so I took a chair next to the piano and listened in.

He played the entire approximately 14 minute piece, and which sounded similar to this recording of Gershwin playing it...only a bit slower of course, as it is widely know that in this recording, Gershwin played it a bit faster than how it is presently usually played.



After he finished, I applauded him and told him what a nice job he did. I then asked him if he was a professional pianist and if he had ever performed this with a full orchestra? His reply was to say that he was also just a guest at this hotel and from San Francisco, and that in his youth he had dreamed of one day being a professional, but by the time he turned 20 he had pretty much given up the instrument when he entered the job market at that age, and had only returned to playing it within that last few years.

We talked a little further about our respective lives, and then later as I was shaking his hand and bidding him a good evening, I said to him, "Thank you for making my day!"

(...he seemed genuinely touched by my comment and replied back with a similar sentiment)
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LiamCasey
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Re: Classical Music

Post by LiamCasey »

Dargo wrote: February 8th, 2023, 3:51 pm Your thread here laffite, looks like a good place to relay the following story of a part of the road trip my wife and I undertook the week before this past Christmas of 2022.
Lovely story, Dargo. Thanks for sharing.
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Dargo
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Re: Classical Music

Post by Dargo »

LiamCasey wrote: February 8th, 2023, 8:36 pm
Lovely story, Dargo. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Liam. Glad you enjoyed it.
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Swithin
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Re: Classical Music

Post by Swithin »

One of my favorite pieces of classical music is Gregorio Allegri's exquisite Miserere Mei. Here's the piece, performed by The Sixteen. The text is a setting of Psalm 51.



And here it is, as I first heard it, in one of the crucial scenes in Maurice (1987), performed (appropriately) by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge.

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laffite
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Re: Classical Music

Post by laffite »

Dargo wrote: February 8th, 2023, 3:51 pm Your thread here laffite, looks like a good place to relay the following story of a part of the road trip my wife and I undertook the week before this past Christmas of 2022.

We had just checked into our room at the historic Paso Robles Inn located in that central coast area California town. We had traveled there to do some wine tasting at a few of the now 300 in number vineyards located in the surrrounding area.

I noticed in the corner of the large entry room of the building which our room sat on the second floor right above it, there was a beautiful grand piano and on the piano's sheet music holder there was a placard explaining that this piano was once the property of Ignacy Jan Paderewski's. Evidently, the great Polish pianist, composer, politican and humanitarian once owned a small ranch in Paso Robles during the early part of the 20th century.

Image

About an hour or so after we had arrived to our room, I began to hear what sounded like someone beginning to play the opening bars of Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue', and so rushed out the door and down the stairway to investigate this.

As I got to the bottom of the steps and turned to my left, I found a gentleman of about 60 years old (not the one pictured above) who was indeed playing that piano. He looked up at me as I said, "Yeah! I THOUGHT I heard someone playing Gershwin on this thing!" He smiled back and continued on with his performance of this work, AND played btw all by memory. Flawlessly, I might add. And so I took a chair next to the piano and listened in.

He played the entire approximately 14 minute piece, and which sounded similar to this recording of Gershwin playing it...only a bit slower of course, as it is widely know that in this recording, Gershwin played it a bit faster than how it is presently usually played.



After he finished, I applauded him and told him what a nice job he did. I then asked him if he was a professional pianist and if he had ever performed this with a full orchestra? His reply was to say that he was also just a guest at this hotel and from San Francisco, and that in his youth he had dreamed of one day being a professional, but by the time he turned 20 he had pretty much given up the instrument when he entered the job market at that age, and had only returned to playing it within that last few years.

We talked a little further about our respective lives, and then later as I was shaking his hand and bidding him a good evening, I said to him, "Thank you for making my day!"

(...he seemed genuinely touched by my comment and replied back with a similar sentiment)

Great story! Beautifully told! Since you listened to both versions you are in a good place to tell of the differences. Gershwin though of course quite the virtuoso. I'm not used to hearing the piano solo version. Gersh was free and easy with it and no doubt there were bits of minor improv, especially finding ways to accent the jazzy elements that could not be done with the piano/orchestra.

Very nice that the gentleman played the whole thing for you. I would have liked to have seen and heard that. Did you take that picture? You said that he in the photo was not the one who played so prob not.

Yeah, great to post it here. It's rather barren around here and I'm glad you dropped in,ha. There is no rule that you cannot post elsewhere. It's such a story.

Thanks, Dargo.
Sabine Azema in Sunday in the Country
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Dargo
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Re: Classical Music

Post by Dargo »

laffite wrote: February 9th, 2023, 12:50 am
Great story! Beautifully told! Since you listened to both versions you are in a good place to tell of the differences. Gershwin though of course quite the virtuoso. I'm not used to hearing the piano solo version. Gersh was free and easy with it and no doubt there were bits of minor improv, especially finding ways to accent the jazzy elements that could not be done with the piano/orchestra.

Very nice that the gentleman played the whole thing for you. I would have liked to have seen and heard that. Did you take that picture? You said that he in the photo was not the one who played so prob not.

Yeah, great to post it here. It's rather barren around here and I'm glad you dropped in,ha. There is no rule that you cannot post elsewhere. It's such a story.

Thanks, Dargo.
Thanks laffite. Glad you enjoyed my story as well.

The pic of the unknown gentleman at Paderewski's piano was just one that I found on the internet while composing my story, and I picked this one from some of the others that I saw because I thought it best showed off the piano and the position within the hotel's entry hall where it sat, in a corner and near the base of the stairwell that I mentioned I walked down.

(...and yeah, you might be right about the recording Gershwin made of perhaps his most revered work and about the manner in which he played it in order to, as you said, accentuate the jazzy elements...while listening to it during the time I found it on YouTube in order to post it within my story, I began to get the same impression myself)
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laffite
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Re: Classical Music

Post by laffite »

Dargo wrote: February 9th, 2023, 1:56 am
laffite wrote: February 9th, 2023, 12:50 am
Great story! Beautifully told! Since you listened to both versions you are in a good place to tell of the differences. Gershwin though of course quite the virtuoso. I'm not used to hearing the piano solo version. Gersh was free and easy with it and no doubt there were bits of minor improv, especially finding ways to accent the jazzy elements that could not be done with the piano/orchestra.

Very nice that the gentleman played the whole thing for you. I would have liked to have seen and heard that. Did you take that picture? You said that he in the photo was not the one who played so prob not.

Yeah, great to post it here. It's rather barren around here and I'm glad you dropped in,ha. There is no rule that you cannot post elsewhere. It's such a story.

Thanks, Dargo.
Thanks laffite. Glad you enjoyed my story as well.

The pic of the unknown gentleman at Paderewski's piano was just one that I found on the internet while composing my story, and I picked this one from some of the others that I saw because I thought it best showed off the piano and the position within the hotel's entry hall where it sat, in a corner and near the base of the stairwell that I mentioned I walked down.

(...and yeah, you might be right about the recording Gershwin made of perhaps his most revered work and about the manner in which he played it in order to, as you said, accentuate the jazzy elements...while listening to it during the time I found it on YouTube in order to post it within my story, I began to get the same impression myself)
I was thinking just these last few minutes what piece would I choose to hear if I had a similar experience. What comes immediately to mind is the Hungarian Rhapsody #2 by Liszt, an incredibly well known and beloved piece. Bugs Bunny played it in a famous cartoon. I should know the title of that cartoon but I don't. I go back to good ole college days, I was in the library where they had sound proof booths. This guy was in there playing that. I pressed my face against the glass with my eyes bugging out and with my ears down to my jowl, like Dopey. Or was if Sleepy. All of them then. He let me in and played the whole thing. Hands and fingers all over the place while I was hovering over keys, I mean that piece is an A-1 premier crowd pleaser. A rare occurrence as the one you had.

And now, Dargo, please give a listen here to Miss Tiffany Poon (great name!) who honors us with this piece by Liszt. If you are short of time, go directly to 4:50 (but better from the beginning, that really sets up the fireworks!) and listen to the very end. I listened very carefully and I did not hear one wrong note. Enjoy the razzle-dazzle,

:)

Sabine Azema in Sunday in the Country
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Dargo
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Re: Classical Music

Post by Dargo »

laffite wrote: February 9th, 2023, 2:33 am
I was thinking just these last few minutes what piece would I choose to hear if I had a similar experience. What comes immediately to mind is the Hungarian Rhapsody #2 by Liszt, an incredibly well known and beloved piece. Bugs Bunny played it in a famous cartoon. I should know the title of that cartoon but I don't. I go back to good ole college days, I was in the library where they had sound proof booths. This guy was in there playing that. I pressed my face against the glass with my eyes bugging out and with my ears down to my jowl, like Dopey. Or was if Sleepy. All of them then. He let me in and played the whole thing. Hands and fingers all over the place while I was hovering over keys, I mean that piece is an A-1 premier crowd pleaser. A rare occurrence as the one you had.

And now, Dargo, please give a listen here to Miss Tiffany Poon (great name!) who honors us with this piece by Liszt. If you are short of time, go directly to 4:50 (but better from the beginning, that really sets up the fireworks!) and listen to the very end. I listened very carefully and I did not hear one wrong note. Enjoy the razzle-dazzle,

:)

Yep, Tiffany does well there, alright.

And btw, the version Bugs performs of this is titled "Rhapsody Rabbit" (1946), and you might also remember the version Tom the cat did just the following year in the MGM cartoon short titled "The Cat Concerto". Here's a side-by-side comparison of them...

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