A collaboration of: “The Classic Music Mafia”
Anthony Aaron, nkit, 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.
Steve C.
Nobuyuki Tsujii – Rachmaninoff – Piano Concerto No 2 in C minor, Op 18
Sergei Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No 2 in C minor, Op 18
1 Moderato
2 Adagio sostenuto – Più animato – Tempo I
3 Allegro scherzando
Nobuyuki Tsujii, piano
BBC Philharmonic
Juanjo Mena conductor
Live recording. London, Proms 2013
The Next Two Pieces Come To Us Thanks To ursel doran.
Tchaikovsky – Waltz of the Flowers
Heaven has helped us once again as usual every Sunday!!
Tchaikovsky – Waltz of the flowers in a video montage.
A well-recognized piece worth repeating for its beauty.
Bach Busoni Chaconne D Minor BWV 1004 Valentina Lisitsa
Bach’s piano piece. Busoni chaconne.
Brilliant performance from a not well-known, (to me), artist.
The Next Piece Comes To Us Thanks To “m”
Yuja Wang & Leonidas Kavakos “Sonate pour violon et piano JW 7/7” de Leos Janacek Live Paris 2022
Yuja Wang & Leonidas Kavakos – JANÁČEK: Violin Sonata
(audience-recorded and a bit shaky at first, but gets better after 2 min.)
The Next Ten Pieces Come To Us Thanks To Anonymous
Sketches in Sepia
Ding Dong Merrily
Les Baxter and his orchestra – Mai Tai – 1963
If we’re veering from the general theme of classical, but continuing with melodic, emotionally evocative, well-arranged, imaginative, virtuosic symphonic music, then let’s explore the branch referred to as “exotica’; specifically the brilliant and prolific Les Baxter:
Les Baxter – Stars In The Sand (1961)
Congo Train (Remastered)
The Baxter tune I hope to hear as I check out of this world – especially the carefree sax break at about 1:37 or so:
Yma Sumac – Flame Tree ℗ 1972
ALSO:
The uncanny virtuosity of Yma Sumac:
Yma Sumac In Her Duet With A Flute – Insane Harmonization
Cuba Libre (Gurarcha)
AND: Xavier Cugat:
Sadness Theme
There’s so much more from the Fifties thru Seventies: Italian movie soundtrack stuff, Space Age, Bachelor Pad, Lounge, Easy Listening. All those terms and others bring intriguing results.
Maurice André Albinoni Concerto en ré mineur Op 9 n°2
The Next Three Pieces Come To Us Thanks To Anthony Aaron.
Arvo Pärt Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten – Proms 2010
My youngest brother’s wife passed last night … so much sadness for him … these next three pieces are dedicated to him in his time of great loss …
The Parting Glass – Ceiliuradh at the Royal Albert Hall
BARBER Adagio for Strings
The Next Three Pieces Come To Us Thanks To Amb. Cornholio.
Sh Ulziibayar Morin khuuriin contsert №5
The Mongolian state morin khuur ensemble performs Morin khuuriin contsert №5 by composer Sh. Ulziibayar:
Olena UUTAi & Saina “YAKUTIA”
Olena UUTAi & Saina “YAKUTIA” (SUBTITLES)
Song about our native republic – incredible and far Yakutia.
Welcome to the magical and most cold place in the world!
How to play Jaw Harp. Olena UUTAi
Olena Uutai teaches the khomus (jaw harp) on her YT channel, seems simple but actually not so much:
Anthony Aaron,
Moya Brennan & Enya
I have long enjoyed the music of Enya — whose family members and others formed the Irish vocal group, Clannad …
Here’s Enya and her sister, Moya Brennan …
Loreena McKennitt – Caravanserai
Loreena McKennitt …
Simon & Garfunkel – The Sound of Silence – Madison Square Garden, NYC – 2009/10/29&30
Born in ’47, and brought up on the greatest rock music of all time, over many years I’ve come to recognize some songs as the ‘anthems’ of my generation …
One of those songs is ‘The Sound of Silence’ … the original, of course, by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel … but later renditions by Disturbed and Wuauquikuna have also caught my attention
Hopefully you will enjoy this beautiful piece that was given to us by the incredible creativity of Paul Simon …
Disturbed – The Sound Of Silence
The Sound Of Silence by Wuauquikuna
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – The Danish National Symphony Orchestra (Live)
Clint Eastwood’s ‘spaghetti westerns’ with Sergio Leone had the stirring music of Ennio Morricone …
nkit
Alison Balsom, international soloist discovers pTrumpet for the first time
We’re going to stay with Alison Balsom this week.
We’ll start out with Alison discovering the pTrumpet. No, that’s not a typo. The pTrumpet is a trumpet completely made of plastic. Let’s listen to the sound.
Alison Balsom – Josef Haydn Concerto pour trompette et orchestre
Next we’ll revisit Alison playing Joseph Haydn’s “concerto pour trompette et orchestre.”
Alison Balsom Rondo Minore Maggiore
Next, Alison picks up the pace with “Rondo Minore Maggiore.”
ALISON BALSOM “Variations on Bellini’s Norma” Jean-Baptiste Arban
Next Alison performs “Variations on Bellini’s Norma” – Jean-Babtiste Arban.
Libertango (Alison Balsom)
We’ll finish with Astor Piazzolla, Libertango. Alison Balsom. London, 2009.
I hope that you have enjoyed her work.
Have a fantastic Sunday.
Steve C.
Ladyva – Boogie Woogie by the Pyramids of Giza
Magical concert of Ladyva performing ‘Ladyva’s Stomp’ one of her own songs under the stars by the Pyramids of Giza in Cairo, Egypt.
Ladyva – Ladyva’s Stomp
Ladyva performing her own song “Ladyva’s Stomp”.
Ladyva – Für Elise
Ladyva performing Ludwig van Beethovens Für Elise in a Boogie Woogie Interpretation with Charlie Weibel on the drums. (arr. N.Brina)
Ladyva Trio Live @ JazzAscona
Tunes: Axel Zwingenberger’s Boogie Woogie Be With Me & Brothers Boogie, Silvan’s Night Train Trip (S. Zingg), Elvis Presley’s Trying to get to you and from the King of Boogie Woogie Albert Ammons, the famous Boogie Woogie Stomp.
Charlie Weibel (drums)
Roman Brand-Lee (doublebass)
The Classic Music Mafia – Adding some class to this joint one Sunday at a time.
Heaven help us…
This short video below features: excerpts of Valery Gergiev conducting Shostakovich’s 6th and 7th symphonies; ….. footage of the Siege and Blockade; Dmitry Shostakovich speaking briefly and playing part of the first movement of the Seventh Symphony (in 1941); statements of Shostakovich’s colleagues and survivors of the Siege.
Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony was written in 1941, primarily during the Siege of Leningrad by the Nazi forces. When it had its premiere in the war-torn city on 9th August 1942 – performed by the emaciated, surviving musicians of the Leningrad Radio Orchestra that was supplemented with military performers, before a starving but euphoric audience – it was hailed as a universal beacon of resistance to barbarism.
.
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The rest of the amazing story behind this symphony can be read here ===> https://thesaker.is/dmitri-shostakovich-leningradskaia-the-end-of-the-siege-and-the-triumph-of-the-spirit/
That’s a good one Stucky.
I enjoyed listening to the music while real file footage was showing.
We’ll use it in six weeks and credit you for it.
Thank you, sir. (You, too, SMC).
fyi … in addition to the story behind the symphony, the link I supplied also has the full symphony, about 90 minutes, at the very end of the article.
Excellent find, Stucky … many thanks — and for The Saker’s article, too …
Anthony – Where ya been?
I haven’t heard from you in a couple of weeks…
Are you still with us?
Yes, sir … just enjoying the grey and rain of the Pacific Northwest …
Thanks Stucky, a fine listen and a good read.
Wow. LOTS of content to listen to today. Bravo to all.
Good submission Stuck. Especially the link added for the extended reading about history.
This very short organ solo piece is a superb demonstration of the performer’s skills.
The comments below the video are spot on with proper praise!
I am always in awe of the creative genius necessary to create these fabulous instruments.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Village+Dances+Robert+Ballard+Goran+Sollscher,+guitar&rlz=1C1PQHB_enUS905US905&source=lnms&tbm=vid&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjtx_PWzcH1AhWSTt8KHXlaBCsQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw&cshid=1642725638498423&biw=1163&bih=517&dpr=1.65
HUMAN© Inside™
SOP? start @ the bottom and work my way up. Barely a 1/4 ‘in’ and the headphones died.🙍♂️
“Poor Planning”, if familiar with…
http://www.physics.smu.edu/scalise/www/misc/bricks.html
Quite eclectic, look forward to the rest of the offerings.
Thank You All so much for the time and effort involved.
Weekly ‘GREAT RESET’, always look forward to same.
No response required/requested.
Agin’, Thank You!
Just found this literally 5 minutes ago …hope people see it. Talented little girl and ADORABLE!!!
Speaking of the Balalaika, wouldn’t be fair to not include “Lara’s Theme” from the movie Dr. Zhivago …. set beautifully to dance.
The man is the MOST amazing organizer and this performance is simply off the charts for beautiful!!
That little honey is over the top. I know this classical section is for a respite from the horror, but if anything happens to her because we can’t stop this criminal war crap, I’m going to eviscerate whoever’s responsible for it.
Oh, and here’s her channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@anastasiatyurina9670/videos
Beautiful tone:
Crazy cool engineering:
Extraordinary genius work here!!
More on this:
https://www.youtube.com/@Wintergatan/videos
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wintergatan
It’s been some years since I first saw a video of this machinery … some brilliant inventor/musician must have spent a lot of time and energy to come up with this.
Simply … brilliant … Rube Goldberg would be proud.
Thanks for posting this.
Thanks to all who contributed to SMC this week! A special shout out goes to Stucky, the Saker’s article is very enlightening.