A collaboration of: “The Classic Music Mafia”
Anthony Aaron, 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.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): Emperor Concerto
Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73
Piano: Johanna Hanikova
Conductor: Lukas Klansky
PKF Prague Philharmonia
LIVE 15.3.2019
Bohuslav Martinu Hall, Lichtenstein Palace, Prague
The Next Three Pieces Come To Us Thanks To ursel doran.
Yuja Wang: Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor Op. 18
She really gets into this piece and pounds the keyboard HARD when called for!!!
Yuja Wang: Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major, Op. 102(Carnegie Hall, 2021)
The Shostakovich piece is also marvelous.
Maurice Ravel – Bolero | Alondra de la Parra | WDR Symphony Orchestra
Have to post this marvelous work!!
Bolero = Famous old favorite with the marvelous lady conductor!!!
This Next Piece Comes To Us Thanks To Anonymous.
Recuerdos de la Alhambra by Francisco Tárrega
This Next Piece Comes To Us Thanks To Former Mafioso nkit.
The Alan Parsons Symphonic Project “Time” (Live in Colombia)
I am sorry for posting more Alan Parsons, but this song is getting mucho ear time around here…
Anthony Aaron
Max Richter has written a number of pieces over the years for movies … this is his recomposition of Antonio Vivaldi’s ‘The Four Seasons’, performed by The Unsung Collective.
Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi Recomposed – The Four Seasons, The Unsung Collective
Conducted by Dr. Tyrone Clinton.
The Unsung Collective performs in St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, Harlem NY
Violin soloist Michael Jorgensen
Khachaturian – Masquerade Suite
The ballet, following Lermontov’s drama, tells the tragic tale of a bracelet lost at a masked ball which leads Arbenin to wrongly accuse his wife Nina of infidelity. Despite her protestations of innocence, Arbenin poisons her, only to learn that she was guiltless.
I’ve offered Mei-lan and Ali Pervez Mehdi before … here’s a new piece that I’ve found. Their ‘music’ brings peace and serenity to my soul … hopefully you will experience that, too.
Calming Music | Heria | Mei-lan Maurits and Ali Pervez Mehdi
Steve C.
I am going to treat you all to a little blind girl playing the piano.
Her name is Lucy and she is truly wonderful.
Incredible Pianist Lucy Stuns Leeds Railway Station
This is the incredible moment Lucy, a 13-year-old who is blind and neurodivergent, played a highly-complex Chopin piece, leaving Mika and Lang Lang speechless.
Lucy plays Mozart
Sonata in E flat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je99NqPxdgg
Lucy At the Royal Albert Hall
Performing at the Royal Albert Hall, 1000 years by Christina Perri
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ub1Gow0U__Y
13 Year Old Blind Lucy’s Final Performance at the Royal Festival Hall on The Piano Show
13 year old blind Lucy’s final performance on Channel 4’s The Piano at the Royal Festival Hall!
Lucy performs Arabesque No 1 by Debussy.
Claudia Winkleman, Mika and Lang Lang have been great as hosts and judges, but it’s the contestants who shine in this heartfelt competition
Made by Love Productions, the firm behind The Great British Bake Off, the series invited amateur players of all ages to perform on “street pianos” in Glasgow Central, London St Pancras, Leeds and Birmingham stations.
Lucy, 13, from West Yorkshire is neurodivergent and blind. She had played Chopin in the Leeds heat and chose Debussy for the final –a harder piece, thought Lang Lang.
Viewers watched Sean, Lucy, Jay (St Pancras winner), and Danny (Birmingham) having mentoring sessions with the judges.
Lucy was second on stage, accompanied by her teacher, Daniel. Waiting backstage was her mum and the three lads who by now had assumed full big brother status.
As she walked to the piano, Lucy asked for Sean and the others, and her mum. It was her way of reassuring herself, part of a pre-performance ritual. Seated at the piano she was at home, perfectly relaxed. A stirring three minutes later, Lang Lang was leading the audience in a standing ovation. Number of dry eyes in the house? Zero.
But it soon proved to be something different. There was the soaring level of genuine talent on display, enough to stop commuters in their tracks. Add to this Winkleman’s way of putting people at their ease, and Channel 4 was on its way to a hit, with audiences of close to two million on the night.
The judges have played their part too. If a panellist on Britain’s Got Talent panel says you are brilliant it’s nice but hardly the first time they’ve doled out the compliment. If Lang Lang calls you a genius, as he did with Lucy, it matters.
There was one last surprise for the finalists – a piano each, delivered to their homes!
The Classic Music Mafia – Adding some class to this joint one Sunday at a time.
Heaven help us…
Thanks as always Sunday music crew,will find (hopefully)something over the top/bombastic this week while I peruse the world news(insanity!).
This will broaden me horizons as one cannot live on Tull/Zep and hard rock/metal forever……..,or can they?
James, I’m feeding 5 feral kittens and Mother for the last 6 weeks, once in the morning and again when I get home. Goal is to get the kittens non feral and find them good homes. I try to spend at least 30 minutes with them in the AM and PM.
Excellent job Stack,you are doing epic worx!
I ever find a fair price on a lot of acreage(40+) and home will build a adoption/foster home for all sorts of critters,am well enough financially to leave monies when I die for them to be re-homed by friends.
Actions like yours give me a smidgen of faith in humanity!
Just be careful … those 6 cats may do like the rescues we had — they get a grip on your heart that can make it virtually impossible to get rid of them.
Enkeet, never apologize for putting up some APP.
Men & women of experience reflect on time occasionally, sometimes with smiles, and at other times with melancholy.
Either way, the beauty of the music taps our emotions.
If not sure how to enjoy a piece of music, think of the deaf man, who cannot.
Then say a Thank You, to our Source, w gratitude.
~ Cheers!
Hope this is okay.
Thanks so very much again for providing this temple to worship the Music, Sirs.
Here is a gorging on the now famous international talent of Yuja Wang.
The complete Insanity of her talent and skills.
The favorite Liszt performance!!
Mendelssohn’s Concerto No. 1 from ten years ago. More virtuosity!!
Selection of her finales of some well-known pieces.
Two submittals of very divergent variation.
Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” – Famous piece with the several ladies singing!
The French stirring national anthem call to arms by a truly gifted voice.
This is a short clip of a portion of the annual summertime open-air concert at the Eiffel Tower, performed at sunset for the marvelous light show to go with the music. Some past years on the menu bar for those that would like more. The chorus performing the national anthem is worth hearing after enjoying the performance with the translation of the truly magnificent singer previously posted.
I have been enjoying Anna Fedorova’s performance of Rachmaninoff’s “Rapsody on a Theme of Paganini”
on the big screen and went looking for it to save and send along here, as some proper classical work is always good. This collection popped up and is too good not to share.
https://www.classicfm.com/composers/rachmaninov/best-essential-works/
Steve C — many thanks for the awesome pianist, Lucy … truly gifted — and and a magnificent inspiration, too.
And Ursel — many thanks for Wagner’s ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ performance. I’ve rarely heard the singing by the Valkyries … just the music (a la ‘Apocalypse Now’ and others).
Many thanks, one and all … and be sure to tell all your friends about TBP and the great feature days it has — SMC on Sunday; FF on Friday; Tuesday Tunes on Tuesday; The Good Old Days on Thursday …
One question, though … Wednesday Hump Day had a couple of iterations … I found it to be fun and fantastic, both. So — what happened to it? It’s like a great series that got cancelled before Season One was even finished.
We have in months-long past been to the Yamaha horn factory in Japan.
The VERY long history of this piano manufacturing is something to behold.
Bosendorfer piano manufacturing and history *back to 1850* or so. The history here is amazing.