Which CD would you play first?

[slofstra]

This question was inspired Richard Mullany's post below, and is a reverse take on the normal 'Desert Island' CD question.

The question is - if you were stranded on a desert island for a month with NO music (think Tom Hanks' Castaway), and then returned to your home, which CD would you play first? Why?

(You can see Richard's answer in his thread).

[Brendan]

Before any classical, I'd play Juju by Siouxsie and Banshees and Junkyard by The Birthday Party to clear the cobwebs out and remind me of who I am. Then I'd select from the classical shelves at leisure.

But I probably wouldn't be primed for a big orchestral piece - too overwhelming after 4 months sans music. Probably Schubert's 2nd piano trio with Busch-Busch-Serkin.

[Donald Isler]

That Schubert work is terrific, as is that recording, but I wonder if that slow movement isn't a bit deep, and jarring for one's "re-entry" to normal life?

[Brendan]

I'm sure I'd go the blub after the first few measures - almost do when I'm happy going in! But that may be the reason I'd go for it. Hell, after 4 months Taco Bell Canon would probably have me sobbing!

[Jack Kelso]

After long and methodical reflection, I believe I'd choose the first movement of either Schumann's 3rd Symphony or Brahms' 3rd Symphony.

Both are good, lively, positive pick-ups.....after such a long while without any tone except sea-breezes, gulls, waves and my own voice.

Tschüß!
Jack

[arglebargle]

An extended absence would probably have me back to Bach... possibly the Concerto for Two Violins BWV 1043 would be a good re-entry point just to get reoriented. Followed by the 6 Suites for Solo Cello to contemplate. And then Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola K.364 to celebrate. Then perhaps some nice solo piano. Maybe Chopin's Nocturnes.

[RebLem]

First, the Shostakovich Piano Quintet--the St Petersburg Quartet version. Then, probably, a middle period Haydn string quartet, or maybe Dvorak's Cypresses. Finally, the Segerstam or Kubelik Mahler 2nd.

I think, but there are many other possibilities, too. The Byrd Mass in 4 parts, the Mackerras Handel Messiah (with Janet Baker), The Bach Cantata 147 or Brandenburg 2, the Hogwood Mozart 40, the Beethoven SQ 15, Schumann's Kinderszenen, the Rostropovich/Talich Dvorak Cello Concerto, a Stravinsky Rite of Spring, the Bohm Brahms 1 (1960, Berlin, not the later one with the VPO that's part of a set), the Solti Brahms 4, the Szeryng/Monteux Brahms Violin Concerto, a couple different Prokofiev Classical Symphony recordings. And so on, as Kurt Vonnegut would have said.

[Corlyss_D]

Las Cantigas de Santa Maria, by Savall and by Ensemble Unicorn.

[Scafell]

If possible I'd remain on the island. If it were a choice of staying in the silence and natural sounds of the island or coming back to 21st century living and all that entails (traffic, children screaming, lawnmowers, rap music from 2 streets away, aircraft etc etc) then I'd stay put and sacrifice the ability to listen to my music!

On the other hand, as that's unlikely, I would choose from amongst the following.

Beethoven's 14th piano sonata
Chopin's nocturnes or either piano concerto
Nick Drake's "Five Leaves Left"
Renaissance's "LIve at Carnegie Hall"

[Sapphire]

The question is - if you were stranded on a desert island for a month with NO music (think Tom Hanks' Castaway), and then returned to your home, which CD would you play first? Why?

Cheating slightly, I have a CD (which I keep in the car) made up of various favourites:

• Schubert - "Notturno" D 897
  Schubert - Adagio, String Quintet, D 956
  Schubert - Impromptu No. 3 in G flat Major, D 899
  Beethoven - Piano Sonata 23 "Appasionata", Andante Con moto
  Schumann - Romance in F, Op 28/2
  Bach - Watchet Auf (Ruft Uns die Stimme, Zion hort, Gloria Sei...)
  Handel - Messiah (“I know that My Redeemer Liveth")
  Mozart - Le Nozze, "E Susanna non Vien ... Dove Sono"
  Wagner – Das Reingold, Entry of the Gods into Valhalla

And the reason is because I'm a


Sapphire

[Jack Kelso]

....and I have the first three Bach "Brandenburgische Konzerte" on a tape in my car!

Jack

[Ken]

After long and methodical reflection, I believe I'd choose the first movement of either Schumann's 3rd Symphony ...

Jack stole my rescue music!

[Ricordanza]

My first love is the piano, but the first piece that came to mind this morning is the Beethoven Violin Concerto. Maybe, on the long flight home from the desert island, I'd think of something else...but perhaps not.

[absinthe]

Before any classical, I'd play Juju by Siouxsie and Banshees.....

Interesting. I thought of Belladonna by same.

Other than that, I'd try for an extension of the month...maybe another month or two of not wracking my mind deciding what to play next.
.

[Ralph]

Anything by Dittersdorf to help restore my sense of return to normalcy.

[karlhenning]

The question is - if you were stranded on a desert island for a month with NO music (think Tom Hanks' Castaway), and then returned to your home, which CD would you play first? Why?

I like this, Henry!

It might be one of a number of pieces, but right off, the first I thought of was Nielsen's Symphony No. 4, Det uudslukkelige (The Inextinguishable), Opus 29. Because every time I listen to it, it feels so completely fresh; it bristles with warmth and vitality.

Cheers,
~Karl

[IcedNote]

I'd listen to whichever song is on the jukebox at the local pub.

-G

[karlhenning]

I'd listen to whichever song is on the jukebox at the local pub. 8)

-G

Play "Freebird"!

[Chalkperson]

First, probably Dark Side of the Moon, but then a Shostakovich Symphony, either 1,4,5,7,8,11...

[karlhenning]

Oh, Chalkster, the lunatic is on the grass . . . .

[slofstra]

I want to read the responses more closely when I have a chance to savour them (this weekend). And I don't have my own answer just yet. But let me interject this on a 'hookie' break at work.

A few years ago I took my oldest daughter to Switzerland (my choice) and then Paris (her choice). We were well into our second week of the trip and strolling in the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris when we heard the phrases of Duke Ellington's music drifting across the park. Drawn by those strains wafting on the breeze, we came to an open air bandstand featuring
an award winning high school band from Seattle, Washington playing Ellington's music at a free open air concert. And man, these kids could play.
My daughter noted later in a memory scrapbook of the trip that we liked the music so much because we had not listened to any music - at all - for a couple of weeks. I thought it was purely the ability of these kids (and they were good). But it struck me then that a 'fast' from listening is okay once in a while, and that that concert in the park was like a first meal after not eating for a while. The flavours of the music were that much more vibrant and pleasant to ears that had not heard the like for a while.

Typically, when we or I travel I don't bother taking any music along. It's one less thing to worry about and I know it'll be there when I get back.
I also often keep 'silence' in the background, and really listen when I do listen - but that's just me. I do enjoy the CBC in the background when I'm doing mundane work in the office. But a lot of background music and noise in general (TVs for example) just tire the mind.

[Wallingford]

Actually, probably nothing other than one of George Carlin's better (or even mediocre) albums would let me get a decent grip on reality.

[elektra]

Beethoven-Synphony No. 9-Final movement-Ode To Joy.
What else could be more appropriate for rejoicing?

[slofstra]

I'm sure I'd go the blub after the first few measures - almost do when I'm happy going in! But that may be the reason I'd go for it. Hell, after 4 months Taco Bell Canon would probably have me sobbing!

Hey, Brendan! Check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ccPF3B1C3k

[slofstra]

Very enjoyable reading this over.

I would be unable to bear any of my 'heavy' favourites such as Barber's Adagio, Theme from Thomas Tallis, Dona Nobis Pacem, Mahler Symphonies, Beethoven # 9, Hammerklavier, Mozart's Requiem.

I think I would need to hear something joyful -
Starting with piano:
First, Keith Jarrett's Sun Bear Concerts (Osaka or Kyoto).
Then, Beethoven's 'Waldstein' Sonata
Then, Mozart - Exsultate Jubilate
Then, Haydn's Creation (Der Schopfung) - especially "Die Welt, so gross, so wunderbar"
Then, Brahms String Quartet No.1, op. 25
Then, Handel's Messiah - all the mezzo parts, + "And his name shall be call-ed Wonderful, Counsellor"
Then, Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24, k 491.

And then on the second day ...

[Auntie Lynn]

Faure's Masques et Bergamasques
-or-
anything by Creedence Clearwater...

[slofstra]

Anything?? Surely, NOT 'Proud Mary'.

[Jack Kelso]

Very enjoyable reading this over.

I would be unable to bear any of my 'heavy' favourites such as Barber's Adagio, Theme from Thomas Tallis, Dona Nobis Pacem, Mahler Symphonies, Beethoven # 9, Hammerklavier, Mozart's Requiem.

I think I would need to hear something joyful -
Starting with piano:
First, Keith Jarrett's Sun Bear Concerts (Osaka or Kyoto).
Then, Beethoven's 'Waldstein' Sonata
Then, Mozart - Exsultate Jubilate
Then, Haydn's Creation (Der Schopfung) - especially "Die Welt, so gross, so wunderbar"
Then, Brahms String Quartet No.1, op. 25
Then, Handel's Messiah - all the mezzo parts, + "And his name shall be call-ed Wonderful, Counsellor"
Then, Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24, k 491.

And then on the second day ...

Now---do you REALLY mean Brahms' 1st String Quartet....or the TRUE opus 25....his wonderful "Piano Quartet No. 1 in g minor"

Quite a difference!

Tschüß!
Jack

[slofstra]

Very enjoyable reading this over.

I would be unable to bear any of my 'heavy' favourites such as Barber's Adagio, Theme from Thomas Tallis, Dona Nobis Pacem, Mahler Symphonies, Beethoven # 9, Hammerklavier, Mozart's Requiem.

I think I would need to hear something joyful -
Starting with piano:
First, Keith Jarrett's Sun Bear Concerts (Osaka or Kyoto).
Then, Beethoven's 'Waldstein' Sonata
Then, Mozart - Exsultate Jubilate
Then, Haydn's Creation (Der Schopfung) - especially "Die Welt, so gross, so wunderbar"
Then, Brahms String Quartet No.1, op. 25
Then, Handel's Messiah - all the mezzo parts, + "And his name shall be call-ed Wonderful, Counsellor"
Then, Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24, k 491.

And then on the second day ...

Now---do you REALLY mean Brahms' 1st String Quartet....or the TRUE opus 25....his wonderful "Piano Quartet No. 1 in g minor"

Quite a difference!

Tschüß!
Jack

I wondered what Emanuel Ax was doing on the cover of that CD? I do this kind of thing with some regularity. Thanks for the correction. Yes I meant the piano quartet; and it is quite wonderful. Not as sublime as his later work, but energetic, melodic and joyful.

[Richard Mullany]

If I had chosen to select one piece it would have been, like Arglebargle, the JSB Concerto For Two Violins #1, the second movement.
How it can be that a piece of music can be heard so many times, in such a variety of places and in so many stages of one's lifetime, some high and some lows still never lose its immediacy, freshness and utter beauty is, as are so many mysteries about music, sheer magic.
I have several recordings of this music but my favorite is the old DG with the Oistrakhs, father and son.
It was made during the first time that they were in London during the times when travel by anyone but especially a famed artist was all but unheard of. I wondered at the time why the authorities allowed it. I think because they wanted to show the world that they were representative of the cultural equality of Soviet art. I tried to imagine what it must have been like for them, father and son, to be at least for awhile in the warm sunlght of freedom because, for me, it is the bright sunny sounds they bring, the lightness of butterflies as they weave their voices together in a glorious flight of tones. I honestly don't think it would have been the same under different circumstances back home.
Like all of music I marvel at how repetition never mars its pleasure, never becomes stale, never fails to touch whatever it is in our minds or souls that responds as it does. I can only compare it to slowly turning a diamond as every facet reflects a different color with every movement. I am going on too long and lushly so enough. What a interesting thread this is!

[knotslip]

This is easy for me - Dvorak's 9th symphony. Probably followed by some Debussy and some Beethoven piano sonatas. I love many other genres of music as well so I am not sure which genre would hit the CD player first. But, the classical mentioned above would be the first classical music I played.

[karlhenning]

Now---do you REALLY mean Brahms' 1st String Quartet....or the TRUE opus 25....his wonderful "Piano Quartet No. 1 in g minor" :D

I wondered what Emanuel Ax was doing on the cover of that CD? :) I do this kind of thing with some regularity. Thanks for the correction. Yes I meant the piano quartet; and it is quite wonderful. Not as sublime as his later work, but energetic, melodic and joyful.

And wonderful in Schoenberg's scintillant orchestration!

Cheers,
~Karl

[Jack Kelso]

Now---do you REALLY mean Brahms' 1st String Quartet....or the TRUE opus 25....his wonderful "Piano Quartet No. 1 in g minor"

I wondered what Emanuel Ax was doing on the cover of that CD? I do this kind of thing with some regularity. Thanks for the correction. Yes I meant the piano quartet; and it is quite wonderful. Not as sublime as his later work, but energetic, melodic and joyful.

And wonderful in Schoenberg's scintillant orchestration!

Cheers,
~Karl

Yes, Schoenberg did a fine job---I recorded this "Brahms' Fifth" from radio twenty years ago. It is truly Brahms' best piano quartet and one of his most inspired works.

Tschüß!
Jack

[slofstra]

Karl or Jack,
Tell me more about this orchestration. I've not heard of it before. Is it readily available?

[karlhenning]

Karl or Jack,
Tell me more about this orchestration. I've not heard of it before. Is it readily available?

Henry, this Naxos reissue has both the orchestration of the Brahms Quartet, and the delightfully quirky Cello Concerto after Monn (which cellist Fred Sherry called "Schoenberg's Petrushka":



I find it an entirely enjoyable disc (though I have all the recordings on the original Koch issues).

Cheers,
~Karl

[karlhenning]

One interesting tidbit I just scared up, is that the first performance of this Brahms/Schoenberg was 7 May 1938, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra directed by Otto Klemperer.

Cheers,
~Karl