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Jack Kelso

Handel's great oratorios do very well with Mozart's modernized instrumention. The Columbia Ormandy release of "Messiah" is a marvelous tribute to this. Also interesting is Mendelssohn's orchestration of Handel's pastoral opera, "Acis and Galatea". I'm not a purist....and enjoy Stokowski's Bach arran...

Jack Kelso

His Mendelssohn 3rd and 5th as well as Schostakowitsch's 5th were my introduction to these beautiful works---and I still consider these first-rate recordings (by any standard).

Tschüß,
Jack

Jack Kelso

yes, Szell is quite good, but it's a bit too...restrained...I guess is the word.. That describes the whole Szell set. Yes they are generally very good, but they never quite "take off" and get into the zone so to speak. To me, they're a bit stiff and lacking in fire and flourish. IMO, 1 is excellent...

Jack Kelso

Jan van Gilse (1881-1944) Seriously? I've got the symphony disc on cpa, and it's as dull as they come. Third rate Schumann and Brahms written 60 years too late. That sound's like Jack's kind of music all right... :wink: Please remember that I ONLY have a little overture of Gilse to go by.....! :cry...

Jack Kelso

I forgot to mention the fantastic recording of Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt/Vienna Phil., one of the best I've ever heard! Also great is Pierre Monteux!

Tschüß,
Jack

Jack Kelso

When listening to Schumann's piano music one should keep in mind that he based his style to a large extent on J.S. Bach's intensity. The rhythmic power disturbs or perplexes many a great musician, even Yehudi Menuhin was bothered by Schumann's original use of syncopation. Giomar Novaes, Geza Anda, A...

Jack Kelso

If Johan Wagenaar isn't included in the TOP SEVEN Dutch composers then there's something very wrong. Alone his orchestral works come close to Richard Strauss (e.g., "Cyrano de Bergerac" concert-overture, "Summer of Life" and "Saul en David"). Other fine composers of orchestral music are Johannes Ver...

Jack Kelso

My first "Eroica" was Scherchen on Westminster with the Vienna Phil. Wonderful! Newer performances I love now are Bernstein/NY Phil. and MTT/Orch. of St. Luke's. Both take the repeat of the Allegro con brio, which not all symphonies profit by! This one does. I'm not all that thrilled with non-hi-fi/...

Jack Kelso

I don't know about Ralph's photos of Chalkie, but I can put my hands on a couple of pictures of Chalkie that I took on a couple of occasions. Not, of course, of the caliber of Chalkie's work - and I think someone did manage to get my latest meetup shots on CMG - I don't remember who did it, or how,...

Jack Kelso

Yes, but this article also points to bipolar disorder as a mental condition which could have influenced many if not virtually all of his work. Which may explain why his work is so uneven...but, it was known back then as Manic Depression, bipolar is a relatively recent term for the same disease... T...

Jack Kelso

Yes, but this article also points to bipolar disorder as a mental condition which could have influenced many if not virtually all of his work. Which may explain why his work is so uneven...but, it was known back then as Manic Depression, bipolar is a relatively recent term for the same disease... T...

Jack Kelso

Well, that's what I meant, above, by clearly establishing the cultural parameters of this poll. The use of twentieth century as the sole point of reference is not only confusing but also misleading. We must remember that Elgar, Mahler, R. Strauss, Nielsen and Sibelius were all born within eight yea...

Jack Kelso

Really, I don't think those late Romantics (Elgar, Mahler, Richard Strauss, Sibelius, Nielsen, etc.) belong on a list of "greatest" 20th-century composers. We've been through this one before. Let's keep it to those who brought in new styles, like Bartok, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Hindemith, Prokofiev...

Jack Kelso

The "Great Wall Symphony" by DU Mingxin should qualify.

Nice piece.

Tschüß,
Jack

Jack Kelso

Yes, but this article also points to bipolar disorder as a mental condition which could have influenced many if not virtually all of his work. Which may explain why his work is so uneven...but, it was known back then as Manic Depression, bipolar is a relatively recent term for the same disease... T...

Jack Kelso

Thank you, Jack. I may take a stab at this one. I am also very curious about Schubert's Unfinished being Finished ... Good that you keep an open mind to this, Lance. Liszt transcribed the "Fantasie" for piano and orchestra to give the Schubert repertoire a concerto. Why not a string quartet? The or...

Jack Kelso

Really, I don't think those late Romantics (Elgar, Mahler, Richard Strauss, Sibelius, Nielsen, etc.) belong on a list of "greatest" 20th-century composers. We've been through this one before. Let's keep it to those who brought in new styles, like Bartok, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Hindemith, Prokofiev,...

Jack Kelso

NAXOS' new release of American composer Andy Stein's arrangement of Schubert's D Minor String Quartet ("Der Tod und das Mädchen") is a real winner, for purists and adventurers alike. JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic do extremely well with this new work (for full orchestra), quite differen...

Jack Kelso

Pretty soon we're going to get the list of most popular conductors, first-place winners being Lawrence Welk (in the USA) and James Last (Germany).

Golly, I'd sure like to know how Mantovani would have interpreted Bruckner's Fifth---!

Tschüß,
Jack

Jack Kelso

Hey, Lance! Did it occur to you that perhaps---only perhaps---the list stems from Chalkie!? (Using an alias, natch!). :roll: :lol: Tschüß, Jack No Jack, it's not from me, but, it does show quite a universal indifference to Schumann's shoddy output... :lol: Hey, Chalkie! How do you expect to win the...

Jack Kelso

How does this lineup rate with YOUR thoughts on the subject? Rank Score Composer 1. 540 Ludwig van Beethoven 2. 472 George Gershwin 3. 248 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 4. 216 Frederic Chopin 5. 214 Johannes Brahms 6. 198 Franz Schubert 7. 181 Felix Mendelssohn 8. 181 Dmitri Shostakovich 9. 174 Franz Lis...

Jack Kelso

Oh, I almost forgot: Bela Bartok.

Can one consider 20th-century masters without mentioning HIM...?!?

Tschüß,
Jack

Jack Kelso

This "list" is just as much a joke as the recent Dozen Piano Composers. Where is Hindemith? Maybe someone will soon start another crazy one with the "Greatest Song Composers" and begin with: 1. John Lennon 2. Henry Mancini 3. Franz Schubert 4. Robert Franz 5. George Gershwin 6. Michael Jackson, etc,...

Jack Kelso

Schumann's illness has been diagnosed as "deterioration of the nervous system" by Dr. Franz Richarz, who perhaps believed that the composer basically committed suicide through self-starvation. This is based on a relatively new theory. John Davario explains that he suffered "the symptoms of general p...

Jack Kelso

Yes, I know, I know. On another similar thread, I said I almost DIDN'T show these lists, however, perhaps we all need some good "laffs" from time-to-time. And yes, John, the absence of Schumann is ridiculous. Take these particular Top Dozen lists halfheartedly. This is a ranking list of piano compo...

Jack Kelso

This is a ranking list of piano composers . Only top dozen Best Piano Composers, according to different criteria, are presented. The ranking is in particular based on the number of occurences of each piano composer in web pages, news, pictures and people votes in corresponding context. How does thi...

Jack Kelso

As for the theory that he was a suicide, and a forced suicide at that, this was concocted by a Russian musicologist nearly a century after his death. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyotr_Ilyich_Tchaikovsky#Death Then Jack obviously believes it if a Musicologist says it's true... :wink: Aha! There goe...

Jack Kelso

Bloch's two concerti grossi for string orchestra are also beautiful and very unusual works. Howard Hanson does a wonderful interpretation of them (with "Schelomo") on Mercury!

Tschüß,
Jack

Jack Kelso

Schumann isn't exactly Saint-Saens or Tschaikowsky, you know.... :D Very true, Jack, he certainly isn't a Tchaikovsky or a Saint-Saens, he only has about a quarter of their talent... :lol: Guess you're right, Chalkie. They had the talent----and Mozart, Beethoven and Schumann had the genius. Tschüß,...

Jack Kelso

'tis true serendipity to have found this thread, since I'm very curious about why Ives lost his inspiration. From 1969 to 1983 I suffered a dry spell which robbed me of my ability to draw. I still had ideas, but could not bring myself to put them down on paper. Only when I started my antidepressant...

Jack Kelso

Oh, I'm not putting down Mannheim, which has been the center of a number of important music and theatre developments for more than two centuries. But it's mainly an opera and theatre town, with only a few "academy concerts" by the National Theater's resident orchestra plus some concerts by orchestr...

Jack Kelso

As scholars study the late Schumann works they become more and more impressed with the depth of content in works such as the Violin Concerto, Märchenerzählungen für Klavier, Viola und Klarinette, the Maria Stuart Lieber, "Die Braut von Messina" Overture, the "Faust" music and many, many more. Why d...

Jack Kelso

. . . Karl has pointed out that Sibelius's symphonies figure in this season's programs of the two most celebrated orchestras in the German-speaking countries. Sibelius's symphonies may not be big in Mannheim . . . . His work is probably too breathtakingly modern for a provincial town like Mannheim ...

Jack Kelso

As the music critic for our daily newspaper ("Mannheimer Morgen") wrote, Sibelius lacked the structure of Bruckner and the logic of Brahms, which might be a reason why Sibelius has never really "made it" big onto the concert programs in German-speaking countries (as he has in Anglo-Saxon ones). Sib...

Jack Kelso

Let's get real, folks. The great composers--and for once I will give that an inclusive rather than exclusive interpretation--seem to have been immune to senility. I don't think that any of the examples cited here amount to anything approaching evidence of decline in powers due to age. Composers lik...

Jack Kelso

Stravinsky lost some things as he got older, but he also gained things. There remains, though, an essential personality that remained unchanged, and that keeps me listening to all of his music, early middle and late. Sibelius, contrary to what Jack says, kept getting better and better in his major ...

Jack Kelso

Let's get real, folks. The great composers--and for once I will give that an inclusive rather than exclusive interpretation--seem to have been immune to senility. I don't think that any of the examples cited here amount to anything approaching evidence of decline in powers due to age. Composers lik...

Jack Kelso

Handel is another one of those "greatest" whose work became more subtle and harmonically spiritual as he aged (e.g., "Theodora", "Jephtha", etc.). Bruckner also got more mature and didn't lose any power of expression. Richard Strauss and Sibelius seem to have tried a lot harder to achieve their earl...

Jack Kelso

That is the only Reis Recording on cpo that I did not enjoy, Lance loved it, it just failed to impress me.. I will be moving beyond the symphonies soon, so I'll be getting it as well. Your spelling is pronounced in German "rice"----but it's really Ries (like "Reese" in English), but I'm sure that w...

Jack Kelso

I forgot to mention the two very individual symphonies of Swiss composer Robert Hermann (1869-1912), which I bought in Mannheim. A few Sterling recordings I got for under 5 Euros! Apparently not all are "pricey". They came out of a "bargain bin".

Tschüß,
Jack

Jack Kelso

Recently I found August Halm's (1869-1929) fine A Major Symphony.....never knew it was available (I had it on tape from radio about 25 years ago). Earlier, I received the complete symphonies (8) of Swiss composer Hans Huber (1852-1921). Also works by Emile Jaques-Dalcroze and Zygmunt Noskowski, very...

Jack Kelso

The following story, from what I've read, is supposedly true: One day, Schumann mentioned to his good friend Mendelssohn that he was contemplating either writing some string quartets or undertaking a pilgrimage to Rome. "That you must decide for yourself, Robert" was Mendelssohn's reply. Some weeks...

Jack Kelso

Elgar's D Major "Pomp & Circumstance (Nr. 1), Berlioz' "Rackoczy March", Mendelssohn "War March of the Priests", Meyerbeer's "Krönungsmarsch", etc. are among my favorite marches....(if a march must be....

).

Tschüß,
Jack

Jack Kelso

The following story, from what I've read, is supposedly true: One day, Schumann mentioned to his good friend Mendelssohn that he was contemplating either writing some string quartets or undertaking a pilgrimage to Rome. "That you must decide for yourself, Robert" was Mendelssohn's reply. Some weeks ...

Jack Kelso

While I can't speak for the entire set, I DO know his Fifth is far and away the finest (for me!) in my collection. Only Solti and maybe Maazel come close....

Tschüß,
Jack

Jack Kelso

Let's see, what can I add to that eloquent subject line? I've become a Schumann fan. It's tempting to group him with Mendelssohn and Chopin because of the birth years, and he's by far my favorite of the three. So... any favorite packages of the quartets? Yes, there are several excellent ones. In fa...

Jack Kelso

Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag, Robert! ("Happy Birthday"!).

Listen to something special---like a Handel oratorio!

Tschüß,
Jack

Jack Kelso

For my tastes, his Fourth Symphony can rank with the best British symphonies since Elgar. And his "Job" Ballet is also very enjoyable. I don't know anything by Vaughan Williams I do not like, but a few things come across to me as a bit bland.

Tschüß,
Jack

Jack Kelso

I agree that Karajan was a superb Beethoven, Schumann, Bruckner and Brahms interpreter, but his Mozart leaves me cold. I don't know his Mahler, so I won't comment yet. Karajan was less successful with non-Austro-German repertoire (English, French, Russian, etc.). And his often too slick interpretati...

Jack Kelso

Uh-huh....and now Sibelius and Roussel have sneaked into this Schumann thread.... :roll: Gee---I guess I don't feel so bad now, eh......?! :lol: Tschüß, Jack Except that, because it was a reply to Lance it is a one off comment about my likes and dislikes, you won't see me constantly adding Sibelius...

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