I love classical music, and particularly these composers, too. The music of the Baroque period seems to speak to me. I know Mozart is a little later but I also love Schubert who is later still and some say not quite in the same class. I really enjoyed this piece.
Thanks for your comment, Patricia. I wrote a dialogue between Mozart and Springsteen that will be in my Substack in a few weeks. I think you’ll like it.
Patricia Cusack: Franz Schubert wrote two movements, decided to leave the orchestration incomplete, put the score in a desk drawer, where it was found decades after his youthful death.
That was the Unfinished Symphony, with its breathtaking whisper and flutter of strings at the symphony's beginning and the quiet, haunting melody of the winds later echoed by the strings.
That plus the "Great Symphony."
Plus the impromptus as played by Alfred Brendel.
And the noble, deeply moving and somber melody of his piano sonata.
Franz Schubert is at the very mountain peak of great composers I love.
And I love moderns like Dmitri Mikhailovich Shostakovich. A most memorable concert was circa thirty years ago at the Kennedy Center, where three generations of Shostakovich were at play: The Composer's music; The Son (Mikhail Dmitriievich Shostakovich) as Conductor; The Grandson (Dmitri Mikhailovich Shostakovich) at the keyboard.
Shostakovich in a string quartet can recall the innocence of a Jewish dance or the utter despair and sorrow of the Shoah.
I am very thankful that in the 1950s, Leonard Bernstein (on TV) had introduced the young, impressionable Armando to Shostakovich, who was not only a wonderful composer, but had to preserve the integrity of his art under Josef Stalin and his reign of terror.
So much great music is food for the soul.
The music doesn't merely uplift, though it does that.
The music can feed the soul.
One pianist I love is Hèléne Grimaud, who not only is one of the great musicians, but who cares and has founded an enormous wolf preserve in upstate New York:
You know so much more than I do about classical music. I fell in love with the music of Schubert many years ago, there was/is so much to love. I especially love his String Quintet in C Major and String Quartet no 14. So many wonderful, deep, compositions written in the year of his tragically early death. I remember attending a concert where I came across the music of Shostakovich, it was his Piano Trio No 2 in E Minor. I loved the passion and drama of it and that led me to find more of his music. The stories behind the composers always fascinate me. Thank you for recommending Hèléne Grimaud. I'll look at her website and listen to her play.
It’s refreshing to read such detailed insights into these great composers from a highly educated non-musician! Of course, there are many other great composers that followed these three giants as well as some before .Frank Joseph Haydn prepared the groundwork for young Mozart, and then Beethoven and Brahms who followed were no less great. Thank for reminding us of the foundations of western music.
Very insightful. During the 1970’s I had a stereo record player and a small cool Sony tape recorder/player. I made compilation tapes of classical music 🎶 of all different styles. I added the overtures of famous operas, lots of your three favorites plus lots of Chopin. I’d play those tapes while getting myself and my son David, young, ready to launch each morning. We’d leave energized by those great performances. I love Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and the Brandenburg Concertos. Timeless. Thanks for that.
Wait a minute - where is the reference to Beethoven? Last summer, I witnessed, again, a live performance of his 7th. In prior years - his 5th piano concerto. And his pastorale is mesmerizing.
Let’s add the three movement orchestral piece - Escales - by Jacques Ibert to this list. It takes me immediately to the Amalfi Coast or virtually anywhere at sea near a coastline.
While I agree with you I couldn’t help thinking of Handel, whose Messiah is absolutely glorious, or Beethoven, whose Ninth Symphony is likewise. All over this country various choirs perform the former every year around Christmas, and in Lenox, MA the BSO performs the Ninth every summer at Tanglewood. People come from all over Berkshire County to sit on the lawn and picnic during the performance. I can’t imagine these composers fading into the woodwork any time soon.
I love classical music, and particularly these composers, too. The music of the Baroque period seems to speak to me. I know Mozart is a little later but I also love Schubert who is later still and some say not quite in the same class. I really enjoyed this piece.
Thanks for your comment, Patricia. I wrote a dialogue between Mozart and Springsteen that will be in my Substack in a few weeks. I think you’ll like it.
I look forward to reading it.
Patricia Cusack: Franz Schubert wrote two movements, decided to leave the orchestration incomplete, put the score in a desk drawer, where it was found decades after his youthful death.
That was the Unfinished Symphony, with its breathtaking whisper and flutter of strings at the symphony's beginning and the quiet, haunting melody of the winds later echoed by the strings.
That plus the "Great Symphony."
Plus the impromptus as played by Alfred Brendel.
And the noble, deeply moving and somber melody of his piano sonata.
Franz Schubert is at the very mountain peak of great composers I love.
And I love moderns like Dmitri Mikhailovich Shostakovich. A most memorable concert was circa thirty years ago at the Kennedy Center, where three generations of Shostakovich were at play: The Composer's music; The Son (Mikhail Dmitriievich Shostakovich) as Conductor; The Grandson (Dmitri Mikhailovich Shostakovich) at the keyboard.
Shostakovich in a string quartet can recall the innocence of a Jewish dance or the utter despair and sorrow of the Shoah.
I am very thankful that in the 1950s, Leonard Bernstein (on TV) had introduced the young, impressionable Armando to Shostakovich, who was not only a wonderful composer, but had to preserve the integrity of his art under Josef Stalin and his reign of terror.
So much great music is food for the soul.
The music doesn't merely uplift, though it does that.
The music can feed the soul.
One pianist I love is Hèléne Grimaud, who not only is one of the great musicians, but who cares and has founded an enormous wolf preserve in upstate New York:
https://helenegrimaud.com/wolves/
I would invite one to feed her soul on the whole website of Hèléne Grimaud.
One can see her perform one of my favorites in a live performance, the Concerto of Robert Schumann.
The chords that Robert Schumann created always reach into my heart and soul.
You know so much more than I do about classical music. I fell in love with the music of Schubert many years ago, there was/is so much to love. I especially love his String Quintet in C Major and String Quartet no 14. So many wonderful, deep, compositions written in the year of his tragically early death. I remember attending a concert where I came across the music of Shostakovich, it was his Piano Trio No 2 in E Minor. I loved the passion and drama of it and that led me to find more of his music. The stories behind the composers always fascinate me. Thank you for recommending Hèléne Grimaud. I'll look at her website and listen to her play.
A very nice post. I would add Rachmaninoff's piano to the list.
It’s refreshing to read such detailed insights into these great composers from a highly educated non-musician! Of course, there are many other great composers that followed these three giants as well as some before .Frank Joseph Haydn prepared the groundwork for young Mozart, and then Beethoven and Brahms who followed were no less great. Thank for reminding us of the foundations of western music.
Thanks for your comment, G
Very insightful. During the 1970’s I had a stereo record player and a small cool Sony tape recorder/player. I made compilation tapes of classical music 🎶 of all different styles. I added the overtures of famous operas, lots of your three favorites plus lots of Chopin. I’d play those tapes while getting myself and my son David, young, ready to launch each morning. We’d leave energized by those great performances. I love Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and the Brandenburg Concertos. Timeless. Thanks for that.
,
Thanks for your comment, Claudia
Wait a minute - where is the reference to Beethoven? Last summer, I witnessed, again, a live performance of his 7th. In prior years - his 5th piano concerto. And his pastorale is mesmerizing.
https://open.substack.com/pub/marcfriedmanesq/p/beethovens-eroica-a-revolutionary?r=tq8hk&utm_medium=ios
Let’s add the three movement orchestral piece - Escales - by Jacques Ibert to this list. It takes me immediately to the Amalfi Coast or virtually anywhere at sea near a coastline.
Nice retort.
While I agree with you I couldn’t help thinking of Handel, whose Messiah is absolutely glorious, or Beethoven, whose Ninth Symphony is likewise. All over this country various choirs perform the former every year around Christmas, and in Lenox, MA the BSO performs the Ninth every summer at Tanglewood. People come from all over Berkshire County to sit on the lawn and picnic during the performance. I can’t imagine these composers fading into the woodwork any time soon.
https://open.substack.com/pub/marcfriedmanesq/p/beethovens-eroica-a-revolutionary?r=tq8hk&utm_medium=ios
Agreed. On my Substack there is a recent essay about Beethoven’s Eroica symphony and what it does to me.