wow this was fun to read - I was playing in the orchestra at Spoleto! so interesting to me that the Shostakovich was your favorite because I barely remember playing it haha. The Mahler was the highlight for me (other than the Prokofiev ballet, which I take you didn't see). I do think that Mahler is music that you kind of have to play to really appreciate it because it is so massive and difficult to digest.
come back to Spoleto this year! we are doing some pretty cool programming including the Bach B Minor mass
Thanks for reading, fun to hear your perspective! I didn't catch the Prokofiev, the Mahler was amazing. I enjoyed it a lot and it is the kind of thing that you need to see live. So many basses! My absolute favorite may have been seeing the Haydn Creation, I'm in a bit of a Haydn hole lately.
This is very interesting. However, Classical doesn’t imply old unless you really mean the Classical period. Otherwise, perhaps serious music is really what you mean and that can be brand new.
Thanks! I've read bits and pieces along the way and I've actually been listening to more Bach this year so far, particularly the Great 18 Chorale Preludes and the Goldbergs. Been enjoying this Andras Schiff lecture/concert in chunks before bed:
Love your post and the excerpts you picked. He's coming to my city this year and I'm very excited to see him, I think he'll be playing late Beethoven piano sonatas. I'm also going to see the Mass in B Minor tomorrow performed by a local ensemble.
Did any particular work or series of works particularly surprise you along the way? I know you wrote that your top works are mostly unchanged, but anything threaten to enter that upper echelon unexpectedly? I looked through what you've written for the answer to this question, but didn't find it.
and how I now prefer harpsichord to piano for a lot of this music -- check out Leonhart's Inventions, Jarrett's French Suites, and Hantai's WTC.
I also liked a lot of the cantatas more than I'd expected, but it really depended on the performances. My favorites, as I wrote were Karl RIchter and the new cycle by Rademann. Happy hunting!
I've also been on a big classical kick this year! If you like the jazziness of Shostakovitch, check out Prokofiev, especially his piano concertos no. 1 & 3. He's probably been my most-listened artist this year.
Though it leans more funk/soul than disco overall. This is my 1,000+ song mega-playlist of gems from my Funk/Soul/Disco radio show days. Essentially I was just listening to an ungodly amount of this music and flagging the songs that stood out to me as I went and then I'd sort through it to make my radio show playlists. I made it 10+ years ago and have since migrated to Apple Music, so I'm sure there's some songs I'd cut if I went through it again but here it is. Listen on shuffle:
A friend recently asked me to make a curated 20-song "greatest hits from my funk/soul dives" playlist for her birthday. This is something I made recently and stand by. Plenty of famous stuff on there, meant more as an overview:
wow this was fun to read - I was playing in the orchestra at Spoleto! so interesting to me that the Shostakovich was your favorite because I barely remember playing it haha. The Mahler was the highlight for me (other than the Prokofiev ballet, which I take you didn't see). I do think that Mahler is music that you kind of have to play to really appreciate it because it is so massive and difficult to digest.
come back to Spoleto this year! we are doing some pretty cool programming including the Bach B Minor mass
Thanks for reading, fun to hear your perspective! I didn't catch the Prokofiev, the Mahler was amazing. I enjoyed it a lot and it is the kind of thing that you need to see live. So many basses! My absolute favorite may have been seeing the Haydn Creation, I'm in a bit of a Haydn hole lately.
This is fun to read.
This is very interesting. However, Classical doesn’t imply old unless you really mean the Classical period. Otherwise, perhaps serious music is really what you mean and that can be brand new.
This is great - I spent last year listening to the complete works of JS Bach. Here's my writeup of Vikingur's Goldbergs.
https://yearofbach.substack.com/p/february-9-the-goldberg-variations
Thanks! I've read bits and pieces along the way and I've actually been listening to more Bach this year so far, particularly the Great 18 Chorale Preludes and the Goldbergs. Been enjoying this Andras Schiff lecture/concert in chunks before bed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz4jLkfmIhc&t=2013s&ab_channel=ClassicTV
Love your post and the excerpts you picked. He's coming to my city this year and I'm very excited to see him, I think he'll be playing late Beethoven piano sonatas. I'm also going to see the Mass in B Minor tomorrow performed by a local ensemble.
Did any particular work or series of works particularly surprise you along the way? I know you wrote that your top works are mostly unchanged, but anything threaten to enter that upper echelon unexpectedly? I looked through what you've written for the answer to this question, but didn't find it.
I will watch that Schiff lecture. You should definitely see this material performed live, it's a whole different thing...
Surprises along the way included this record, which I've listened to a lot: the violin/harpsichord sonatas: https://yearofbach.substack.com/p/june-1-six-violin-sonatas-monica
and how I now prefer harpsichord to piano for a lot of this music -- check out Leonhart's Inventions, Jarrett's French Suites, and Hantai's WTC.
I also liked a lot of the cantatas more than I'd expected, but it really depended on the performances. My favorites, as I wrote were Karl RIchter and the new cycle by Rademann. Happy hunting!
I've also been on a big classical kick this year! If you like the jazziness of Shostakovitch, check out Prokofiev, especially his piano concertos no. 1 & 3. He's probably been my most-listened artist this year.
Thanks for the recommendations! Putting the first one on now.
Congratulations on your classical journey! Can you share that disco playlist?
Though it leans more funk/soul than disco overall. This is my 1,000+ song mega-playlist of gems from my Funk/Soul/Disco radio show days. Essentially I was just listening to an ungodly amount of this music and flagging the songs that stood out to me as I went and then I'd sort through it to make my radio show playlists. I made it 10+ years ago and have since migrated to Apple Music, so I'm sure there's some songs I'd cut if I went through it again but here it is. Listen on shuffle:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5Rkg8cb2b2u1XMMgsiQfzv?si=zuGh7nOQSlisAJvsgyUVBA
A friend recently asked me to make a curated 20-song "greatest hits from my funk/soul dives" playlist for her birthday. This is something I made recently and stand by. Plenty of famous stuff on there, meant more as an overview:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5cdPD0qu988eqyGrNqiMQk