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Praise and Vent Thread with clarity


maestrowick

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Well many people forget very early Webern

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=aexn2Ps5Cgc

And one of his early string works

http://www.youtube.c...feature=related

He was quite a Romantic in the Mahler-Hugo Wolf manner. Basically the same aesthetic but using serialism later on. In fact, i can see why he went to serialism, he got the Romantic harmonic language down quite well - I mean where else could he have gone? Richard Strauss?

The stuff I find less "emotional" is Webern's very late stuff where he, like Schoenberg, goes into a neo-classism.

Jason - re Bach, totally agree about Bach getting too much limelight, Rameau and some Zelenka also point to some future trends too - Rameau especially.

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I like Ligeti's micropolyphonic compositions. They seem to take me on an ever shifting journey where all the events melt into the next one.

I don't like Tchaikovsky's viola parts. Almost everything that the violas play are either the fifth degree of the chord, uninteresting countermelodies that are designed not to be as good as the actual melody (which is either played by the violins or cellos), or fast running notes that are satisfying to play well but are never noticed by the listener.

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Cup of what???

Tea. But because you went qwqwqw all day, it's QWEE. Get it? :P

As for the viola parts, I don't think that's always true. I never thought about it that way, and I never thought....it was BAD. I like the way that the melody slips in and out, and I don't mind playing a 2nd part or doubling the cellos or violins. I would prefer not to, but I'm not complaining.

Now, MOZART'S VIOLA PARTS. AUGH! You hold a note. Then you do some diddle and play 15 eighth notes. Then you hold, then some trill or something, then BING BANG BONG and you're done. No 3rd position either! :( No high C and D!

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Ah yes. I'm playing the viola part in some Mozart divertimento. All I do is spiccato on the same note for twenty bars and then the music modulates to the dominant.

Earlier this year I played the viola part in a couple of mvts of Tchaikovsky's serenade for strings. The waltz was boring. I wish the viola would get better things to play every now and then.

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I don't like Tchaikovsky's viola parts. Almost everything that the violas play are either the fifth degree of the chord, uninteresting countermelodies that are designed not to be as good as the actual melody (which is either played by the violins or cellos), or fast running notes that are satisfying to play well but are never noticed by the listener.

You've obviously never played the 6th Symphony then.

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I'm not reading this whole thread but on the topic of Webern:

I find that his second cantata (his last completed work) wears its heart on its sleeve in a way that Webern rarely permitted.

I've always associated works like the piano Variations and String Trio with a sort of classically restrained emotional content, delicate with intimations of something more passionate under the surface. It's not Wagner and it's not supposed to be.

Particularly I would listen to the second movement of the String Trio for an example of the latter style: it has sort of a barely-restrained agitation about it that constantly threatens to throw the whole piece off its balance. The Variations are more cool and collected, on the whole.

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YES Tchai 6 is awesome :)

A vent:

Taco Bell Cannon. I don't get it. What's the big attraction? It's the same boring 3 chords with a little diddle in the 2nds/violas. And the poor cellists! Ugh.

You've seen the "Pachelbell Rant" on YouTube then?

BTW, it's 'canon' not 'cannon' in this instance.

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