A collaboration of: “The Classic Music Mafia”
nkit, Austrian Peter, and Steve C.
Every Sunday morning we present selections for our TBP family to enjoy.
We present symphonies, ensembles, quartets, octets, etc.
Not all of our music is strictly ‘classical’. We may stray a little, but we strive to make all of our selections ‘classy’.
We offer tips on proper ‘symphony etiquette’ and even some selections that are a bit light-hearted and fun aimed at a younger audience. Those pieces will be so designated, and might be a good way to introduce kids to a world of music that they might not have been exposed to or think of as old and ‘stuffy’.
A full symphony will run as long as it will. We don’t want to cut a symphony short. However, we also include some shorter pieces that we try to keep under fifteen minutes in length. You can sample each and hopefully find one or more that pleases you.
We hope that you enjoy our Sunday selections.
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade – op.35 – Simply Stunning Performance
Gimnazija Kranj Symphony Orchestra on Great Christmas Concert 2010 in Cankarjev dom
Gallus Hall, Ljubljana. Slovenia.
Amazing concert was sold out in a couple of hours.
Solo violin: Matjaž Bogataj.
Conductor: maestro Nejc Bečan. (I like this guy. He’s not afraid to include saxophones in his orchestra)
Concert direction: Primož Zevnik.
The audience was thrilled by virtuoso playing and special stage charm and energy. Legendary.
1. The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship (Largo e maestoso — Lento — Allegro non troppo — Tranquillo)
2.The Kalendar Prince (Lento — Andantino — Allegro molto — Vivace scherzando — Moderato assai — Allegro molto ed animato)
3.The Young Prince and The Young Princess (Andantino quasi allegretto — Pochissimo più mosso — Come prima — Pochissimo più animato)
4.Festival At Baghdad. The Sea. The Ship Breaks against a Cliff Surmounted by a Bronze Horseman. (Allegro molto — Lento — Vivo — Allegro non troppo e maestoso — Tempo come I)
This one comes to us via TN Patriot.
Muse – Knights of Cydonia (Orchestral Version)
Arrangement and conducted by Tess Ringeling.
Performed at the conservatory of Utrecht as part of the bachelor of Music in Education.
The Gladiator
Today, I bring you the music of Hans Zimmer.
Hans is a German film-score composer, conductor and musician.He was born in Frankfort, West Germany in 1957.
He plays piano, keyboard, synthesizer, guitar and banjo. He is a huge fan of Ennio Morricone. He has scored “The Gladiator,” “Pirates of The Caribbean,” “Inception,” “The Lion King,” “The Dark Knight Trilogy” and many many more.
Since the 1980’s he has composed music for over 150 films. Zimmer’s works are notable for integrating electronic music sounds with traditional orchestral arrangements.
We’ll start with “The Gladiator” live in Prague. Absolutely worth a listen.
Now We Are Free
Next up, is Hans with the amazing Czarina Russell the song “Now We Are Free.”
I played this song performed by Celtic Thunder a few weeks ago and asked if anyone knew the language.
Fortunately, commenter d-venabili informed us all that it is what as known as Melismatic singing which basically meant that the original vocalist for this piece (Lisa Gerrard) was singing made up syllables that had no meaning except to her, perhaps.
A little research shows that he , indeed, is correct. Lisa Gerrard states that the lyrics for the musical piece “Now We Are Free’ is a language that she made up at a younger age and that it is a language that she speaks to God in. So, she’s got that going for her…
Pirates Of The Caribbean
Next up is a portion of the film score for “Pirates Of The Caribbean.”
The similarities of Morricone and Zimmer are obvious.
This a beautiful and exciting orchestral arrangement.
The Da Vinci Code
I’ll finish this week off with the incredibly beautiful piece titled “The Da Vinci Code” live in Prague.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMDkw9SjEFc
Some nice orchestral pieces this week.
Hope you enjoy.
Heart – Stairway to Heaven Led Zeppelin –
Kennedy Center Honors HD
When Peter first sent me this, having seen it many times myself, I thought it was all wrong for our little feature.
My thoughts on it changed however, and I decided that since I am such a big fan of Heart, Nancy Wilson in particular (I don’t know how he knew that), and it is performed by almost a full orchestra with a chorus I would include it.
I hope you will enjoy it – Steve C.
Richard Wagner – Rienzi Ouverture
The Orchestra of the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar plays the Ouverture of Richard Wagner’s opera “Rienzi” at the Neue Weimarhalle on May 10th.
Conductor: Professor Nicolás Pasquet.
The Classic Music Mafia – Adding some class to this joint one Sunday at a time.
Heaven help us…
…likes how today’s features are slightly ‘off script’ and focused on beautiful music, & not restricted to just classical.
So, on that note, I stumbled on this one earlier in the week.
2-1/2 minutes of pure beauty that some may enjoy.
Happy Easter to All.
Cheers!
Thanks SMC.
It’s always good to hear from you.
I posted this to our April 25th edition.
Stevie, if you want something from her that is another beautiful piece, definitely sticking with the classical theme, the one below of Bach is very good, as well.
It may be even better than the Passacaglia tune.
I’ll leave it to you to choose which one you log for 4/25/21.
Thanks again, for all your efforts, my friend. Ditto, Nkit and Peter.
I will use them both
All I wanna say is they don’t really care about us … “We will rock you” huge flash mob.
Indeed…Gates, Soros and Klaus really don’t care about us. The question is can we summon the Cojones to Rock them. I’m game, are y’all?
Stucky. – Good find.
I posted it to our May 2nd edition.
Many thanks…
Yer Welcome.
A couple days ago I posted a Kristofferson vid about Clinton’s missiles killing an Iraqi artist. Above, we will rock you. I love protest songs!
Maybe you guys would be willing to do themed selections every once in a while — like a Sunday of protest songs. Maybe not … it would be a big departure from your original intent. Just an idea to consider, that’s all.
===============
I like the older protest songs mostly … think, Eve of Destruction. The Doors’ “Unknown Soldier” depictions of the horrors of the Vietnam war is about as gruesome as it gets.
—
The again, Muse did “Psycho” (2015) … a pretty nice depiction regarding the f*ucked up state of mind that too many soldiers have. (This is for brian … my psycho friend.)
.
Thanks for letting me ramble.
We will discuss it, but…
Hi Steve, I too think like Stucky – sometimes protest songs might help raise our morale as the times become even more trying?
Very cool
Stairway To Heaven. What an unexpected and beautiful selection; I’ve never heard that cover before. I also have a great appreciation for the Wilson’s. That was the first song I ever learned to play all the way through, clear back in ’77.
All these are excellent.
In keeping with The Da Vinci Code, here is Vanessa Mae. There was a live version, but this highlights her violin better.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFxiMyfOt78&w=994&h=559%5D
It was very moving when the presentation made Robert Plant cry.
Vixen Vic – I agree with you.
It was just too good to leave out…
TS – This also a good find, but because it’s just an album cover I can’t really use it.
Try and find a live version and I’ll post it for sure…
It’s not the best resolution, but not too bad.
[youtube
Good going TS. I knew you could do it.
I’ll use it on May 23rd.
Thanks…
Wow.
Good stuff. Hans Zimmer, “The Gladiator” is a favorite. It’s time to summon our inner Maximus.
THANKS EVER SO MUCH for the effort of this posting every week.
The variety this time is great! Going from Heart to the power of Wagner is indeed variety.
We are experimenting a bit more as we progress…
Sorry if I posted this before…
Brian – Many thanks for your contributions.
I added them both to our May 9th edition…
Probably the rebel in me that likes this so much…
Brian, this was just a hoot!.
Thanks for sharing it.
Bookmarked and saved for future encore performance reviews.
That was most excellent.
It was.
This should go in a future SMC… just saying.
Are you a Mean Mary fan?
I surely am… Cut my teeth on Scruggs…
Added: About the only ‘music’ I’m not a fan off… gangster rap, dicso/pop, opera. and naturally opposed to anything my friend Stucky likes… 🙂
Happy Easter all…
Hey, some opera is good. Anything Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, Offenbach.
I stay away from Wagner. Beethoven only wrote one “Fidelo”, which has a great overture but I don’t like the rest of it.
Dvorak wrote wonderful operas. Rusalka is a fantastical masterpiece. He was always overshadowed by Brahms and Beethoven but I guess a society can appreciate only so many geniuses at a time.
I like the scores , the music is often very powerful. Just to be clear what opera I do not like is the fat lady or guy, bellowing latin or italiano. The bugs bunny opera… Yes I know there are differing types on opera just as there are many types and flavours of music delivery in every genre. I was being overly general…
But I still oppose Stucky’s choices just because I can…
@nkit… Sorry didn’t mean to hijack your section here. And the Passion is very powerful, the voice very haunting and somber. opera… sigh…
no problem, my friend.
I discovered her about 2 months ago. Man, she is awesome! Her version of “Death and the Maiden” is incredible.
“Dark Woods”, “Jezebel”, “Rose Tattoo”, “Brand New Day”, “Blazing” to name a few.
And then she does really fun stuff like “Big Red Barn”, “Where for art thou Jane” and “Dance of the Thistle downs”.
I can’t believe it too me so long to find her.
Me either. She is flat out awesome. There’s a few of them around here.
If you are into people that just nail it in their musical genre, you need to check out Abby the Spoon Lady. Seriously, not kidding, just delightful playing and she is a real character.
https://spoonlady.com/
That lady is a HOOT!! What an enjoyable read!
It’s a shame, a real damned shame, that some A-HOLE chicken-sh*t coward voted down. IMHO, this is NOT a thread to vote down on. Someone took the time and effort to post something that touches their heart … but, if ya don’t like it just move on, ya maroon!!”.
Hey … A-Hole, this is just for you!
Yo Stuck,
Thought you would enjoy it. She even has a tutorial on how to play the spoons!
It is not as easy as it looks.
That person who down voted this thread just has no soul.
Maggie – Thanks so much for that.
I had never heard of her, but she’s awesome.
I’ve added it to our May 16th edition…
Good stuff Maggie…added her to my Spotify lineup
I was aware of here but didn’t really did down on her stuff until today. Glad I did!
One of my favorites, of course? Big Red Barn!
Thanks again Maggie.
I’ll add them both on May 16th…
Thanks Pogrom.
I’ll add it with Ghosts two selections on May 16th.
Thanks for this one, buddy. At the risk of imposing,
Can you do some digging, when time allows,
and find out who the vocalist is at about the 2:30 mark in the above piece?
Sounds suspiciously like the lady who sings a couple of stunning tunes from the original musical score of the movie The Nativity.
I think her name is Azim.
TIA.
For reference, (posted here before, perhaps around Christmas)
So far, no luck. All I can say is that it was composed by John Debney and performed by The City Of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. I’ll keep digging.
update: You are referring to the Iranian singer Azam Ali. I can’t tie her to the resurrection yet, but it sure sounds like her.
thx for trying. I’ll dig a bit myself later.
I’m w my SIL, niece, nephew, and brudder’s Grandkids for Easter.
Appreciate you trying, and the clarification on Azam Ali.
It seems that the singer in resurrection is Tanya Tsarouska.
What a great selection of music for this resurrection Sunday afternoon. My hat is off to you guys for your diligence in coming up with some really good music week after week. Who knows, maybe this place will become a classy joint to hang out?
I really enjoyed the Zimmer selections. Any one who can channel their inner Morricone is someone I want to listen to.
Thanks TN Patriot.
We all do our best each week.
At the moment Jim says that we are the only classy thing on TBP, but who knows?
TN, thanks for your comment. Zimmer is great, and Morricone made quite an impact on him.. They both are fantastic. I’m working on another Morricone submission right now. It is all his music, but by some famous musicians. It is interesting how the Maestro’s work has permeated the music of so many. I am glad that you enjoyed the music, and thanks again for letting us know. Your feedback is important to me, as I believe that if we wish to succeed with this, then it helps to give the listeners what they like when possible.
Thanks everyone. But, heck, sometimes nice, beautiful music just doesn’t cut it. Sometimes, well, you need Wendy O Williams and the Plasmatics. I mean, what is not to like about chainsaws, sledgehammers, fire, smoke, crowd surfing, anti-social behaviour? Most fun I ever had at a concert was NYE with Wendy and friends. What a hoot. No idea what the music was like, but we had a blast.
THATS hilariously funny… punk rock is definitely got a few brain cells overcharged and shorting out… The tutu is the best… uuooohhh…
Yeah the tutu was a riot. The guitarist would launch himself into the crowd time after time. He had this massive spiked Mohawk, and would throw himself out to be caught and then thrown back onstage. Wendy was damn near naked. The crowd were there just for a good time, and damned if that is not what they got. I. Am sure the music sucked.
But it sure was fun. I smile every time I think about it.
The best band I ever saw in concert, and I have seen a great many, was a local band out of Nashville called the White Animals. They were a punk/new wave/glam/rock band that had an absolute cult following in the pubs, bars, music venues of Nashville. They were bigger than Jason and the Nashville Stompers, for good reason. They had little success with nation wide record sales, but they were absolutely tremendous live. I suspect it was sort of like the Beatles, who were said to be the best pub and small club band ever. I have not been able to find any video of them live at clubs from the 1980s, but this was a staple of their shows.