A collaboration of: “The Classic Music Mafia”
Anthony Aaron, and Steve C.
Steve C / Classic Music Mafia: Here is the image depicting “The Classic Music Gangsters,” a whimsical and imaginative group of classical musicians with a playful gangster twist. The scene is set in an old-world music hall with rich, vintage decor, where the musicians are performing in stylish 1920s-era gangster attire. The atmosphere is mysterious yet sophisticated, capturing the unique blend of classical music and a lighthearted gangster theme. – aka.attrition
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.
Anthony Aaron
Mahler “Symphony No 10 (Cooke version)
We (finally) come to the end of Mahler’s Symphonic cycle … his 10th Symphony. I hope this hasn’t been too laborious a journey …
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) left his 10th symphony unfinished, and apart from the complete opening Adagio, the remainder was a collection of semi-scored sketches, cryptic notes and loose pages of score that to the observer seemed like an impenetrable puzzle.
Deryck Cooke made a performing version of the complete work in the 1950s, using the manuscripts published by Mahler’s widow, Alma in 1924. His was a remarkable achievement, allowing the listener into the world of a composer who appeared to be on the brink of a new musical world, and where he comes closest to the Second Viennese School.
Mahler’s 10th is one of his most moving and personal works. The stabbing dissonant chords in the 1st movement depicted the agony of a heart attack he suffered in New York, and the pain at the death of his eldest daughter. The funeral procession of a dead New York fireman that Mahler saw is also depicted by the drum beat ‘death’ motif. At the end of the work, after one of the most heartfelt farewells in music, Mahler wrote on the score ‘to live for you, to die for you’, and beneath the passage where the violins leap upwards he writes the name ‘Almschi’ – Alma.
Symphony No 10 by Gustav Mahler
(Revised performing version of Mahler’s draft
prepared 1966-74 by Deryck Cooke in
collaboration with Berthold Goldschmidt,
Colin Matthews and David Matthews)
1. Adagio
2. Scherzo
3. Purgatorio (Allegretto moderato)
4. (Scherzo)
5. Finale
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Simon Rattle, conductor
The Next Five Pieces Come To Us Thanks To Ursel Doran.
This piece was originally posted by us, but that was back in 2022 so it’s OK to re-post it now. I try not to re-post anything within one year.
I am also re-posting it because this is one of my two favorite conductors. This time it’s Nejc Bečan and the other is Alondra de la Parra who I have mentioned before is wonderful.
I really like this guy because he is arranging and conducting for music students, which means that they are always new to him and yet they always, and I mean ALWAYS sound professional.
I posted an arrangement by them a while ago where a cymbal crashed off a chair or someplace and yet the orchestra and chorus never missed a beat. They were all playing professionally.
I also really like that he always includes saxophones in his orchestra. Most conductors won’t. I guess it’s because the old time arrangers/conductors didn’t, but I believe that if saxophones had been invented by the time they wrote their music they would have.
Nejc uses them wherever his arrangements, which are always very well written, for them fit. That’s the way it should be in my opinion.
I also really like Alondra because not only is she a good conductor, but her arrangements are always very stimulating and new to me. My guess is that it’s because she always includes the orchestra when arranging them. Everyone has a say in them.
I believe that the female conductor that I included in my shorts last week – Marta Gardolinska – would do well to listen to and learn from the both of the above arrangers/conductors. – Steve C.
Smetana: Vltava (The Moldau) – Stunning Performance
A sanctuary of goodness truth and beauty to worship the salve for the soul! Music, thanks much Sirs!
A submittal of an old favourite.
Piano Duel – Yuja Wang vs. Khatia Buniatishvili
Yuja and Khatia in the same video is a treat!!
P.I.Tchaikovsky: Capricho Italiano op. 45 – Sinfónica de Galicia – Jesús López Cobos, director
A very classic classical piece that is a beauty!!
Maurice Ravel – Bolero | Alondra de la Parra | WDR Symphony Orchestra
This piece is also a favorite of mine. And please note that Alondra has included two saxophones in it, just the way that Maurice Ravel wrote it in 1928… – Steve C.
Our favourite conductor and a VERY old VERY well known piece.
Urge read the note below the video on the composer.
Copland Conduct Hoedown from Rodeo
The famous fabulous composer / conductor performs one of his famous pieces! Get your toes tapping!!
This One Comes To Us Thanks To James.
Kansas – Dust in the wind HD (feat. London Symphony Orchestra)
As always,thanks Sunday Music Crew!
A little soundtrack to keep the daily news demons at bay.
So,my drop is Kansas with the LSO,pretty good version.
Enjoy the weekend folks!
The Next Six Come To Us Thanks To Anonymous.
Jethro Tull: Bourée
GENTLE GIANT Free Hand 06 Talybont
Vaughan Williams: Norfolk Rhapsody No. 1 in E minor
On A Quiet Lake by Florence Price (played by Lara Downes)
Brahms: 4 Ballades, Op. 10 – No. 4 in B
Schubert – Gretchen am Spinnrade | Yuja Wang
This One Comes To Us Thanks To m.
Tracking Yuja Wang’s Heartbeats During Her Rachmaninoff Marathon | Carnegie Hall
While it’s a little annoying how much they’re trying to milk the ‘heartbeat’ story,
it is interesting for the detail of Yuja’s Rachmaninoff marathon:
The Next Eight Come To Us Thanks To Former Mafioso nkit.
Alice Fredenham How come you don’t call
Here is some more Alice Fredenham for those of you who can not get quite enough of her.. As Simon said, “Your voice is like liquid gold.” He later upgraded her voice to liquid platinum. No wonder.
Here is Alice in studio:
Alice Fredenham – Someone to Watch Over me. (Official)
What’s not to love?
Alice Fredenham: “My Funny Valentine” (2014 special delivery)
Next is a studio version of the song that she sang for her BGT audition – “My Funny Valentine.”
alice fredenham — I only Have Eyes for You 2015
I Only Have Eyes For You..
Alice Fredenham – I Feel Like Makin’ Love (Official)
And lastly,
Golden Buzzer: Nightbirde’s Original Song Makes Simon Cowell Emotional – America’s Got Talent 2021
Stay with me on this..It is worth it.. I promise… very neat on a few levels
What America’s Got Talent didn’t get a chance to tell you about Jane Marczewski Nightbirde
RIP you pretty lady..
Simon Cowell Cries After Golden Buzzer Tribute Audition To Nightbirde On America’s Got Talent 2023
This is especially beautiful:
This One Comes To Us Thanks To Leah.
HAUSER – Song to the Moon
Thanks for another week of music. Love Charlotte’s voice.
This one came through this week. The music, the venue, the candles, and Hauser create an exquisite experience.
Hope you enjoy.
Anthony Aaron
Bach – Concerto for three harpsichords in D minor BWV 1063
In the Concerto for three harpsichords in D minor, performed by the Netherlands Bach Society for All of Bach, Bach plays with monophony and polyphony. It is a solo concerto, but then for three harpsichords. Sometimes all the instruments play the same melody, but then they go off on their own again. And even when they follow their own path, there are still always lines played by two, three or four hands together. When the harpsichordists are actually all playing something different, their instruments still sound like one big combined instrument.
Netherlands Bach Society
Lars Ulrik Mortensen, harpsichord 1
Siebe Henstra, harpsichord 2
Menno van Delft, harpsichord 3
[…]
Alla Siciliana
Allegro
Bach – Concerto for two violins in D minor BWV 1043
The two solo parts of the Concerto for two violins in D minor, performed by the Netherlands Bach Society for All of Bach, have survived in Bach’s own handwriting. This autograph dates from around 1730, a few years after the composer had moved from Köthen to Leipzig. Bach composed most of his instrumental concertos in the period 1717–1723, while working at the court of Leopold von Anhalt-Köthen, but this work appears to be an exception.
Netherlands Bach Society
Shunske Sato, violin and direction
Emily Deans, violin
Vivace
Largo ma non Tanto
Allegro
BACH’S TOCCATA & FUGUE
Xaver Varnus plays Toccata and Fugue in D minor (edited by Mendelssohn) on the great Sauer Organ of the Berliner Dom. Recorded live on the Opening Night of the “Berliner Internationaler Orgelsommer 2013”.
At the time of its dedication in 1905, the great Sauer Organ of the Berliner Dom was the largest in Germany, with its 7269 pipes and 113 registers, distributed across four manuals and pedals. The court organ builder Wilhelm Sauer, from Frankfurt on the Oder, created an instrument that embodied the newest technical and musical developments of German organ building at the time. In that way, the organ met the high expectations of both the organ builder and his client: in the Protestant Cathedral of the capital city, there was to be a monumental, modern, and in every way extraordinary instrument of the highest quality. The organ of the Cathedral of Berlin represents the highpoint of Sauer’s career. At the same time, it marks the end of the long development of Romantic orchestral organs, whose sound corresponds to the characteristic sound of a symphonic orchestra of that period. Today, the organ in the Cathedral of Berlin is the largest late-Romantic pneumatic action organ in the world that has survived in its original condition.
Xaver Varnus has played virtually every important organ in the world, including those in Bach’s Thomaskirche in Leipzig (2014), Berliner Dom (2013), Notre-Dame (1981), Saint-Sulpice (2006) and Saint-Eustache (1996) in Paris, National Shrine in Washington, D.C. (1985), and Canterbury Cathedral (2004), as well as the largest existing instrument in the world, the Wanamaker Organ in Philadelphia (1985).
Chaplin and Keaton Violin and Piano Duet – Limelight
Sometimes, musical performances are meant to entertain us with more than just the music … the performers are there to entertain us with their comedic and other gifts.
Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin were two of the most gifted comedians in the history of video … I do not know of any other time that the two of them ever performed together. Enjoy …
Victor Borge – Performance at the White House
Victor Borge performs his musical comedy routine at the White House. At the show he notices all the pianos in the White House play the same tune, and has trouble playing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1.
Harpo Marx playing “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2” by Liszt
Harpo and Chico Marx were both fairly accomplished musicians … and neither was shy about demonstrating their talents in the many Marx Brothers movies in which they starred …
a night at the opera (1935) – Chico Marx at the piano
Steve C.
These are all just ‘kids’.
W.A. Mozart: Konzert für Fagott und Orchester in B-Dur KV 191. Katharina Mätzler, Fagott
Konzert für Fagott und Orchester in B-Dur KV 191. Katharina Mätzler Fagott
Dirigent: Benjamin Lack
Stella Sinfonietta
W.A.Mozart: Horn Concerto nr. 4 KV 495, Euregio Academy Orchestra, Annemarie Federle, Peter Bogaert
Solo horn: Annemarie Federle, conductor: Peter Bogaert, Euregio Academy Orchestra. A concert recording from the Hagen aTW performance of the EOA’s 2023 edition, a more early-music oriented edition focussing on music by Wassenaer, Haydn and Mozart, with an exciting excursion to Schnittke.
This recording features our young artists, coached and conducted by Peter Bogaert, with the extraordinary Annemarie federle as horn soloist.
F. Schubert: Ouverture (im italienischen Stil) D.590 in D; Euregio Academy Orchestra, Peter Bogaert
From 15 till 24 October 2021, the first Euregio Orchestra Academy was organized in the border region Netherlands-Germany. After an intense week of rehearsals near Osnabrück, 3 concerts took place with young talented musicians aged 12 till 25.
This video was shot during the 2nd concert in the Ehemalige Kirche in the town of Hagen am Teutoburger Wald.
The Classic Music Mafia – Adding some class to this joint one Sunday at a time.
Heaven help us…
