The Classical Music Thread

Igor Stravinsky & the New York Philharmonic - "Le sacre du printemps" (1940)

I enjoyed this highly praised piece of modern classical this week with its bright production job & stunningly original arrangement holding up really well all these years later. There's a darkness to this orchestral ballet that must have been quite intimidating at the time & I find it inconceivable that an individual has had the breadth of mind to produce something so significant with such a disparate array of different melodic parts. I'd imagine that it would certainly have helped that the composer is also conducting the orchestra here as his vision is beautifully realised. The influence on some of the great soundtracks of more modern times is obvious too ("Star Wars" in particular).

For fans of Sergei Prokofiev, Béla Bartók & Arnold Schoenberg.

3.5/5

Giacomo Puccini's "Teatro alla Scala: Tosca" (1954)

A 110-minute Italian opera from the Romanticism movement that's broken up into in three acts. Unfortunately, I found the first act (which makes up the first half of this release) to be a bit of a chore but I quite liked the second & third acts, particularly the final one. I tend to enjoy the more dramatic & firey sections the most with the more theatrical stuff largely going over my head.

For fans of Giuseppe Verdi, Gioachino Rossini & Georges Bizet.

3/5

Andrés Segovia - "The Segovia Collection, Vol. 3: My Favorite Works" (1988)

A compilation CD I purchased back in the 1990's when I was absolutely obsessed with guitar technique & wanted to hear the best the world had to offer. Segovia certainly delivers in terms of Spanish classical guitar too with all ten tracks on offer showcasing his incredible abilities in solo performances that sound to the average listener as if there are multiple instrumentalists contributing, given his unparallelled skill in managing disparate basslines & melodies simultaneously. I enjoy this as relaxing background music more than anything these days.

For fans of Julian Bream, Narciso Yepes & David Russell.

3.5/5