Spinning Today (Classical version)

[jandl100]

Far from my fave piece of music - I find it relentlessly and irritatingly ecstatic, even though I know it does vary quite a lot! - but Solti's is the best version I have heard. And it fits on a single CD!

One of those once-every-couple-of-years pieces of music for me.

[MartinT]

Try this, Tom, for an idea of the Snowflakes are Dancing (Debussy) album:

[MartinT]

I find it relentlessly and irritatingly ecstatic, even though I know it does vary quite a lot!

Don't you find the finale simply wonderful, Jerry? And that single organ pedal that shakes the room creates quite an effect. The Solti is the best performance I've heard.

[.mus]

Hmmm... I like what he's doing with the sound stage - playing with the space - but I'm still unsure about the voicing. If I think of, say, Wendy Carlos's electronic versions of Bach or Beethoven, while the midi voices that she uses certainly sound unlike the instruments that they're replacing, they nevertheless seem - to me at least - to suit the pieces really well, but I don't get this sense with the Tomita. Thanks for the pointer though

I'll explore more, as it's certainly the sort of thing that I should like, given my fondness for both electronic and classical music.

[jandl100]

Don't you find the finale simply wonderful, Jerry? And that single organ pedal that shakes the room creates quite an effect. The Solti is the best performance I've heard.

Hmm. The best bit's right at the end, the closing couple of minutes are indeed aweinspiring - but that's after about 77 minutes of over-ecstatic tedium and maunderingly pointless vocal lines! - and I've more than had enough by then.

Perhaps I should just skip along to the 'good bits' - that wouldn't take long at all with Mahler's 8th.

I guess the piece just isn't for me, is it.

[MartinT]

It's certainly not up to the magnificence of the 2nd, for sure.

[jandl100]

My ratings for the Mahler's symphonies ...
1 -- 3/10
2 -- 9/10
3 -- 8/10
4 -- 3/10
5 -- 8/10
6 -- 10/10
7 -- 3/10
8 -- 1/10
9 -- 5/10

[Gromit]

My ratings for the Mahler's symphonies ...
1 -- 3/10
2 -- 9/10
3 -- 8/10
4 -- 3/10
5 -- 8/10
6 -- 10/10
7 -- 3/10
8 -- 1/10
9 -- 5/10

Weirdly (or not) I'd tend to agree with the above, although my favourite is the 5th by some margin.

I've never been a great Mahler fan, although do enjoy his songs, and Das Lied von der Erde which I've played in a couple of times.

As the *Bluffer's Guide to Music states:

'Mahler - the sort of music that you could get up and leave, then return to 20 mins later, not feeling you've missed anything'.

*A great book - not to be taken seriously of course; the more you know music, the funnier it is.

[MartinT]

I'd generally agree with those ratings, Jerry, except that the 2nd is my favourite and I think you've been a bit hard on the 7th and the 9th.

[jandl100]

tbh, I think ol' Gustav rather lost the plot after the magnificent 6th. He was beginning to get it back with the 9th, and the 10th looks like it might have been interesting but still a huge distance back from the awe-inspiring magnificence of the 2nd, 3rd, 5th & 6th symphonies.

Just my opinion.