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I have had my doubts, but even the mighty Beethoven is no. 2 for me

G

Goosemaster

Lifer
I am listening to a Telarc Recording of an Andante (ma non troppo lento) by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and I swear if I were a hershey's chocolate bar, I would have made quite a mess in this chair😱

Sibelius' stuff jsut makes me melt.


I know I need to "STFU" about him, but his music is just so well, brillant. Serious tones intertwined with vibrant yet longing Finnish melodies...

From the moment I first Heard the Violin Concerto in D I was hooked, and have yet to find a Composer with such power over emotion.


 
I have a really hard time deciding who I like the most, everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses.

All classical music > * IMO.
 
Originally posted by: MCrusty
I have a really hard time deciding who I like the most, everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses.

All classical music > * IMO.
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You do have a point, but in the end, I default to the Finn.

Beethoven has the undesputed mastery of the note, but after having listened to so much of Sibeliuses works, he proves more effective. Most of his operas and or concertos originate from poems and such, and it comes out in his music. Ther is no denying that Beethoven's 9th or 5th will grind a caravan to a grinding halt in awe, or that an Edvard Grieg Piano arrangement will bring you to tears, but Sibelius does all that and more.

If you listen to Heifetz's presentation of the Violin concerto in D minor or The Maiden in the Tower preformed by Erland and MariAnne Haggander, you might not have a clue as to what they are saying, but you feel it in a precisely controlled dose.

I would wager to say that Beethoven is a demonstration of the power of technique without assumption. Sibelius assumes you know and appreciate all of that, and raises the bar of what you can do with instruments.


Just listen to the RCA victor Heftez Violin Concerto in D recording. It has been a while since I have experienced the 'shock and awe' that came with hearing a single violin command an entire orchestra with such presence.

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
I'd probably put Turlough O'Carolan at the top of my list, followed by Bach and Vivaldi.
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...never heard of him...*looks him up frantically* 😀

That said, my argument is inherently weak as I can make the Same argument for Bedrich Smetana and ma vlast, specifically Vltava...😛
 
Turlough O'Carolan is one of the greats of Celtic music, a blind Irish harpist who wrote a number of short instrumental pieces called "planxties."

My favorite interpreter of his works is actually an American, Joemy Wilson. Sweet music if you have the taste for it, especially in pure folk form rather than blurred and watered down by someone like Vaughan Williams, the butcher of Greensleeves.
 
Great Edvard Grieg story on NPR

All Things Considered, February 24, 2005 · When he was a child, music critic Tom Manoff heard the music of Edvard Grieg, particularly his piano concerto in A-minor. This piece of music is known as a workhorse. In pop music, it would be referred to as a "greatest hit." Tom Manoff talks about the status of the warhorse in classical music and we hear Grieg's piano concerto performed here by Leif Ove Andsnes.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4512250
 
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