Classical Music, Opera, and Ballet

[swanflake]

Carmen has to be my favorite music of all time--I prefer the ballet version by Shchedrin (sp?), but the opera by Bizet is fantastic too. I'm afraid though that I've listened to it too much and lost some of my passion for it. I should put it away for a year and then see if my love for it is rejuvenated. And the story behind it has to be my favorite story of all time.

Act III from Tosca is beautiful, but I think the music from the first two acts are totally boring. That's how I feel about all of Puccini's operas. Each one had a few fantastic pieces, but the rest of it wasn't too spectacular. Like I of course love One Fine Day, but the rest of Madame Butterfly? Ehh. But the story is of course painfully exquisite.

I want to see Faust by Charles Gounod. I love Allegro Vivo but haven't heard much else from the opera. Hmmm, I need to check Netflix to see if I can get any good operas and ballets on DVD.

What are some of your favorites?

[mrpancake]

Ah, I love classical music. I'm sort of assuming we're including music from the Romantic period under classical as well. Romantic is probably my favorite music period of all time, and for that, I don't think Chopin can be beat. I loved playing his pieces on the piano and I love listening to them. There's so much there. I also really like Schubert and pretty much anything he's written. His songs are just beautiful and they have a flow about them that many others don't have. As far as ballet, I think the music from Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty is some of my favorite music of all time. Sorry, I can't think of much more to add, I'm sure I will in due time.

[india7]

I love Carmen and Madame Butterfly, and as for the composers, I've always been a big fan of Mozart and Tchaikovsky.

One of my favorite classical CDs was one that I got at Lincoln Center a couple of years ago - it's a two CD set of just a bunch of great classical pieces by pretty much everyone!

I have a big love for Lincoln Center, and classical music as a result. When I was a kid, my Dad would dress us up, shove us in the car against our will and drag us into the city to see a classical concert or an opera, always at Lincoln Center. At age 10, I frankly would have rather had a dentist appointment. He had to bribe us - "Behave at the opera, and you can pick out one thing at FAO Schwartz afterwards". But he persisted, and it finally paid off. By the time I was in college, I officially loved opera. And living in NYC, when I walk past FAO Schwartz, I don't get the warm fuzzies so much. But when I walk past Lincoln Center? Yeah, I well up a little. Because even though I didn't know it when I was 10, I know now at 42 that those were some damn good times.

And it wasn't all torture - Dad would also drag us into the city every Christmas to see The Nutcracker - and what 10 year old isn't going to love that? Edward Villella danced in the role of the Prince (I think a couple years in a row), and he was wonderful, but we always tried to catch it with Baryshnikov. To this day, as my Dad's getting forgetful at age 78, he'll say, "Remind me - we never did get to to see Baryshnikov as the Prince, did we?" And I'll say, "No, but Edward Villella was no slouch!"

[underjoyed]

swanflake said:

Carmen has to be my favorite music of all time--I prefer the ballet version by Shchedrin (sp?), but the opera by Bizet is fantastic too. I'm afraid though that I've listened to it too much and lost some of my passion for it. I should put it away for a year and then see if my love for it is rejuvenated. And the story behind it has to be my favorite story of all time.

I just saw Carmen, performed by the NYC Opera on Friday. It was opening night, which can sometimes be prone to nerves, but it was a very good performance. In fact, Micaela was a better performance, I thought, than Carmen, although both were wonderful.

When I was living in Vienna, I saw (among other things) an absolutely wonderful production of Il Barbiere di Sivigilia, with perhaps the best performance of Figaro I have ever heard. Other than that, I love Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro (especially "Ah tutti contenti") and Turandot, if only for Nessun Dorma. I managed to catch that one in Verona (they have a summer opera festival and performances are held at the Roman amphitheatre). It - and that aria in particular - was so incredible that I didn't even feel my as$ going numb from the concrete seats.

[bossyboots]

I was raised on Classical music and Opera -- didn't really listen to pop music until I got a transistor radio and snuck in listening time when I was supposed to be sleeping. I missed disco the first time around as a result. It was already 80s punk/new wave time when I got to high school and really started listening. I attended my first live opera performance at the now-defunct (or at least renamed, I think) O'Keefe Centre in Toronto at around age 8: Turandot with my aunt (who is now deceased; it's one of my most precious memories of her).

Anyhoo....I have too many favourite Operas to list. Madama Butterfly for sure, and La Bohème. Turandot and La Fanciulla del West. In fact, my love of Puccini feeds my hate of Andrew Lloyd Webber, whom I feel is a cheap knock-off artist. Also like some Mozart operas, too -- the Magic Flute especially.

My tastes in classical music have shifted over the years. For a long while, I was all Chopin, all the time. Then it was anything played on the (classical) guitar. Now, I'm really into Bach. I love just about everything he's done, especially his violin concertos. And the Cello Suites? To die for. We were in Florence two years ago, just walking around in the evening, and we came upon a music student busking with his cello. He was playing the Cello Suites beautifully, and it was a totally magical moment that I'll never forget. Perfect weather, lovely music and one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

If you like violin music, I urge you to check out anything James Ehnes has recorded. His Bruch Violin Concerto is exquisite. He is, in my opinion, the very best. And a Canadian to boot!

Thanks for this thread, SwanFlake -- it's made me very happy.

[heyalice]

I love Dvorak. I love baroque.

[swanflake]

mrpancake said:

Ah, I love classical music. I'm sort of assuming we're including music from the Romantic period under classical as well.

Is Romantic considered to be different that classical? I've never been formally educated about any this, like the difference between Romantic and Baroque and whatnot. Everything I learned, I learned from watching figure skating and renting operas and ballets on video from the public library.

And I love it when rock musicians do cover versions of classical stuff. I love The Doors re-orchestration of Albinoni's Adagio in G minor. Can anyone think of any other examples of rockers having done work like that?

[heyalice]

I believe William Orbit did something like that in the last year. It's called PIECES IN MODERN STYLE

[kafka]

I just found this thread and I'm so glad you started it, Swanflake. Bizet's Carmen is my absolute favorite opera but Turandot comes close.

Since I love anything with with the violin, my favorite piece is probably from the Anne Rice Violin CD where a (then) 14 yr old Polish prodigy, Leila Josefowicz, plays a Sarasante fantasy rift on Carmen. It's a great CD and you can listen to that piece (No. 4) here. Unfortunately, they probably only have 30 seconds of it and the real glory comes towards the end when it just builds and builds, with her fingers flying like the devil. Never heard anything like it.

Other than that, Beethoven is probably my alltime favorite. Any of his symphonies but especially the 9th's "Ode to Joy." Mozart, Bach and then Handel follow.

What I listen to most often though is probably Ashkenazy playing Mozart's 23rd piano concerto, Alfred Brendel playing the 21st piano concerto, and Rudolph Serkin playing the 20th. They were 3 of my Dad's CDs but I basically stole them and refused to give them back. ;D

[chiqui]

I love going to the ballet, more for the music than the dancing. Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet, The Firebird, Billy the Kid, The Nutcracker, and Coppelia are some of my favorites. I got into it for three years when having a seasonal subscription wasn't too expensive. I also liked a lot of the modern, experimental dances and ballets, but for the life of me I can't remember their names.

My favorite opera is The Merry Widow, though officially it's an operetta.

Gilbert and Sullivan bores me to tears, though. The Pirates of Penzance? Snoooozeville.