Orchestral Music System Videos - Symphonic or Tone Poems, etc.

[tima]

We have threads on Violin and Piano music videos, and a thread on Videos - oomph, tympani, menace, power .

Here is a thread for posting system videos of orchestral music that does not fall into one of the above categories. There's plenty of it.

Please post self-recorded Audio System videos. Catalog numbers are really helpful.

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I will start with something a bit different -- at least for me.

Here is composer Arnold Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht -- about 13 minutes out of the middle of a ~29 minute recording. It is performed by Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic from the Deutsche Grammaphon 'The Original Source Series' issuance of 4 LPs in a slip case.

The TOSS 4-LP slipcase set includes a second LP of Schoenberg music and one record each from his disciples Alban Berg and Anton Webern. The set gives a sense of Schoenberg's musical development. These three Austrian guys were members of what is known as The Second Viennese School. von Karajan recorded this music in 1973/74. DG wouldn't pay for it but HvK thought the world needed to have these composers for history and so he covered the expenses himself. The recording was made on tape and here is DG's reissue via Emile Berliner studios, an AAA set with nice art work.



The young Schoenberg started out writing tonal music not unlike the 19th C romantic composers before him. His Verklärte Nacht is an example in his own style. You can hear that he is on is way to something different. Over the following years he would invent Serialism, an approach to music that is different from the traditional melody and harmony of the recent (to him) composers such as Wagner and Mahler. Later I'll record some of that so you can hear the contrast.

 

[tima]

He seemed like such a nice man ...

We heard from the young Schoenberg at an age when he was begining to compose and in the style of his 19th Century forbears. This was 1899. (Though some of you may have not found his Verklärte Nacht as particularly romantic.) Into the 20th C. he began experimenting with new tonalities. By the 1920s Schoenberg developed his own 12-tone 'method' -- a new system for creating music. It was the "emancipation of dissonance" against the tyranny of the majority -- the majority being those composers who worked with melody, harmony, completion and release. His system became known as Serialism. It shifts the musical emphasis to rhythm, counterpoint and timbre. He believed he had freed music from the need to resolve to consonance.

Here is Schoenberg's first full orchestral piece using the 12-tone method, Variations for Orchestra. This LP is the flip-side of the preceding post. There are 12 Variations -- this video includes the Introduction, Theme and the first 5 Variations:

Did you make it through to the end? heh.

Schoenberg's 12-tone method is easy to understand at a high level. (Don't fear the musicology words.) It 'rejects' using the diatonic scale on which most pleasing melodic Western music is based. The diatonic scale is simply the 7 pitches in an octave: C-D-E-F-G-A-B. Serialism uses the chromatic scale which uses all 12 notes in an octave: C-C#-D-D#-E-F-F#-G-G#-A-A#-B.

Schoenberg takes these 12 notes in a chromatic scale and organizes them one after the other in what he calls a 'tone-row'. This serializes pitch. The order of the notes comes from the composer - any order he wants -- with the proviso that no note may be repeated until all 12 are sounded. After all 12 notes are played the same row may repeat or a differently ordered row may play.

This approach can yield music that is angular and dissonant but it can also produce melodic harmony -- it's up to the composer in his ordering of the tone row. The resulting avant-garde music had its hey-day from the 1920's through the 1960s (Stockhausen, Boulez and others). Later composers serialized rhythm and dynamics. We continue to find adaptations into the 21st Century.

For the "true audiophile" who loves sound for its own sake. (One of which I am not.) I did find that after listening to the above several times it became palatable and interesting.

 

[oldvinyl]

Check out the DG recording of these composer’s string quartets by the Lasalle Quartet. The Nonesuch Pierrot Lunaire is another gem.

Schoenberg’s Bretti Lieder is mind bending and quite the contrast to his atonal and serial style.

 

[Tiltedfault]

He seemed like such a nice man ...

We heard from the young Schoenberg at an age when he was begining to compose and in the style of his 19th Century forbears. This was 1899. (Though some of you may have not found his Verklärte Nacht as particularly romantic.) Into the 20th C. he began experimenting with new tonalities. By the 1920s Schoenberg developed his own 12-tone 'method' -- a new system for creating music. It was the "emancipation of dissonance" against the tyranny of the majority -- the majority being those composers who worked with melody, harmony, completion and release. His system became known as Serialism. It shifts the musical emphasis to rhythm, counterpoint and timbre. He believed he had freed music from the need to resolve to consonance.

Here is Schoenberg's first full orchestral piece using the 12-tone method, Variations for Orchestra. This LP is the flip-side of the preceding post. There are 12 Variations -- this video includes the Introduction, Theme and the first 5 Variations:

Did you make it through to the end? heh.

Schoenberg's 12-tone method is easy to understand at a high level. (Don't fear the musicology words.) It 'rejects' using the diatonic scale on which most pleasing melodic Western music is based. The diatonic scale is simply the 7 pitches in an octave: C-D-E-F-G-A-B. Serialism uses the chromatic scale which uses all 12 notes in an octave: C-C#-D-D#-E-F-F#-G-G#-A-A#-B.

Schoenberg takes these 12 notes in a chromatic scale and organizes them one after the other in what he calls a 'tone-row'. This serializes pitch. The order of the notes comes from the composer - any order he wants -- with the proviso that no note may be repeated until all 12 are sounded. After all 12 notes are played the same row may repeat or a differently ordered row may play.

This approach can yield music that is angular and dissonant but it can also produce melodic harmony -- it's up to the composer in his ordering of the tone row. The resulting avant-garde music had its hey-day from the 1920's through the 1960s (Stockhausen, Boulez and others). Later composers serialized rhythm and dynamics. We continue to find adaptations into the 21st Century.

For the "true audiophile" who loves sound for its own sake. (One of which I am not.) I did find that after listening to the above several times it became palatable and interesting.

Well that was refreshingly different. I can’t say I’m a big fan of twelve tone music but like you, after listening a few times it becomes more “palatable”. I can take Webern more easily maybe because so many of his pieces are blessedly short, but this Schoenberg piece was interesting. I wouldn’t go so far as to say enjoyable as serial music seems structurally incapable of expressing joy, but it managed to keep my interest and was sonically very nice through my modest earbuds. Appreciate the post, especially the background notes to the piece.

 

[tima]

Well that was refreshingly different. I can’t say I’m a big fan of twelve tone music but like you, after listening a few times it becomes more “palatable”. I can take Webern more easily maybe because so many of his pieces are blessedly short, but this Schoenberg piece was interesting. I wouldn’t go so far as to say enjoyable as serial music seems structurally incapable of expressing joy, but it managed to keep my interest and was sonically very nice through my modest earbuds. Appreciate the post, especially the background notes to the piece.

Thank you. I very much appreciate your reply.

Webern was stricter than Berg -- both are easier to accept sooner. imo.

 

[Al M.]

He seemed like such a nice man ...

We heard from the young Schoenberg at an age when he was begining to compose and in the style of his 19th Century forbears. This was 1899. (Though some of you may have not found his Verklärte Nacht as particularly romantic.) Into the 20th C. he began experimenting with new tonalities. By the 1920s Schoenberg developed his own 12-tone 'method' -- a new system for creating music. It was the "emancipation of dissonance" against the tyranny of the majority -- the majority being those composers who worked with melody, harmony, completion and release. His system became known as Serialism. It shifts the musical emphasis to rhythm, counterpoint and timbre. He believed he had freed music from the need to resolve to consonance.

Here is Schoenberg's first full orchestral piece using the 12-tone method, Variations for Orchestra. This LP is the flip-side of the preceding post. There are 12 Variations -- this video includes the Introduction, Theme and the first 5 Variations:

Did you make it through to the end? heh.

Schoenberg's 12-tone method is easy to understand at a high level. (Don't fear the musicology words.) It 'rejects' using the diatonic scale on which most pleasing melodic Western music is based. The diatonic scale is simply the 7 pitches in an octave: C-D-E-F-G-A-B. Serialism uses the chromatic scale which uses all 12 notes in an octave: C-C#-D-D#-E-F-F#-G-G#-A-A#-B.

Schoenberg takes these 12 notes in a chromatic scale and organizes them one after the other in what he calls a 'tone-row'. This serializes pitch. The order of the notes comes from the composer - any order he wants -- with the proviso that no note may be repeated until all 12 are sounded. After all 12 notes are played the same row may repeat or a differently ordered row may play.

This approach can yield music that is angular and dissonant but it can also produce melodic harmony -- it's up to the composer in his ordering of the tone row. The resulting avant-garde music had its hey-day from the 1920's through the 1960s (Stockhausen, Boulez and others). Later composers serialized rhythm and dynamics. We continue to find adaptations into the 21st Century.

For the "true audiophile" who loves sound for its own sake. (One of which I am not.) I did find that after listening to the above several times it became palatable and interesting.

Thank you, Tim, this was very enjoyable and for me approachable upon first listening -- but then, I am already a fan of modernist music. I loved the tension within the music, and I found the piece hauntingly beautiful.

It also sounded good on my computer soundbar. The music came across clearly.

I enjoyed your musical explanation as well. A minor correction: Stockhausen and Boulez already serialized rhythm and dynamics themselves. An early model and influence for this was for them "Mode de valeurs et d'intensités" by Messiaen from 1949, even though Messiaen would not have called himself a serialist.

 

[tima]

Later composers serialized rhythm and dynamics.

A minor correction: Stockhausen and Boulez already serialized rhythm and dynamics themselves.

They were the later composers I meant, although I see how you could read the two sentences as chronological.

 

[Al M.]

They were the later composers I meant, although I see how you could read the two sentences as chronological.

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[wil]

He seemed like such a nice man ...

We heard from the young Schoenberg at an age when he was begining to compose and in the style of his 19th Century forbears. This was 1899. (Though some of you may have not found his Verklärte Nacht as particularly romantic.) Into the 20th C. he began experimenting with new tonalities. By the 1920s Schoenberg developed his own 12-tone 'method' -- a new system for creating music. It was the "emancipation of dissonance" against the tyranny of the majority -- the majority being those composers who worked with melody, harmony, completion and release. His system became known as Serialism. It shifts the musical emphasis to rhythm, counterpoint and timbre. He believed he had freed music from the need to resolve to consonance.

Here is Schoenberg's first full orchestral piece using the 12-tone method, Variations for Orchestra. This LP is the flip-side of the preceding post. There are 12 Variations -- this video includes the Introduction, Theme and the first 5 Variations:

Did you make it through to the end? heh.

Schoenberg's 12-tone method is easy to understand at a high level. (Don't fear the musicology words.) It 'rejects' using the diatonic scale on which most pleasing melodic Western music is based. The diatonic scale is simply the 7 pitches in an octave: C-D-E-F-G-A-B. Serialism uses the chromatic scale which uses all 12 notes in an octave: C-C#-D-D#-E-F-F#-G-G#-A-A#-B.

Schoenberg takes these 12 notes in a chromatic scale and organizes them one after the other in what he calls a 'tone-row'. This serializes pitch. The order of the notes comes from the composer - any order he wants -- with the proviso that no note may be repeated until all 12 are sounded. After all 12 notes are played the same row may repeat or a differently ordered row may play.

This approach can yield music that is angular and dissonant but it can also produce melodic harmony -- it's up to the composer in his ordering of the tone row. The resulting avant-garde music had its hey-day from the 1920's through the 1960s (Stockhausen, Boulez and others). Later composers serialized rhythm and dynamics. We continue to find adaptations into the 21st Century.

For the "true audiophile" who loves sound for its own sake. (One of which I am not.) I did find that after listening to the above several times it became palatable and interesting.

Great writing on Schoenberg.

It definitely takes a brain shift going from traditional tonal to 12 tone. I enjoy the different experiences. Coincidentally, the last week I’ve been listening to Glen Gould play Schoenberg, Krenik and Berg. Fantastic music.

 

[tima]

Great writing on Schoenberg.

It definitely takes a brain shift going from traditional tonal to 12 tone. I enjoy the different experiences. Coincidentally, the last week I’ve been listening to Glen Gould play Schoenberg, Krenik and Berg. Fantastic music.

Thank you.

I enjoy Gould's playing. For those you mention, do you have any catalog numbers at hand?

 

[tima]

How cold is it?

It is so cold that his breath crystallizes on his beard. His ancient sleigh creaks and moang as it races, crunching through new snow. Väinämöinen (we'll call him V), a demi-god, one time magician, is riding in the most extreme nordic landscape where the world is dark, evil and once known as the land of the dead. Its name is Pohjola. The foundation, the root of the world tree is here.

V hears faint singing and spots a drop-dead gorgeous maiden sitting on the edge of a enormous rainbow. She is weaving a cloth of gold. He is so taken by her beauty that he asks her to get into his sleigh and to become his wife. The enticing young woman agrees but only on the condition that V first perform a series of tasks for her to prove he is worthy. Among these are tying an egg into a knot and carving a boat from fragments of wood. V's magic is not wholly gone and he succeeds at many of the tasks. Alas, evil spirits descend from the darkend forest and cause V to cut himself with his axe. This nearly does him in. He abandons the tasks and the maiden, riding off alone.

The maiden is a daughter of the land. She is Pohjola's daughter. She is Louhi, a powerful witch.

Sibelius was fascinated by the Kalevala -- the Finnish national epic mythology -- where the story appears. This piece is the first story in that work. A master of tone poems and symphonies alike, many of his smaller works speak in music of these tales. Sibelius himself directed the first performance of Pohjola's Daughter in 1906 at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg Russia.

Bernstein was not a Sibelian in the mold of Ormandy, Collins, Kamu, Kajanus, Segerstam or Berglund, etc. Nonetheless I find this performance a fine rendering. You can hear the music tell the tale.



Leonard Bernstein / New York Philharmonic
1965 Columbia Masterworks – MS 6749
Released in honor of the composer's 100th birth anniversary

After Mahler, I have more music of Sibelius on LP than other composers.
That is not Pohjola's Cat.

edit: spelling

 

[oldvinyl]

Thank you.

I enjoy Gould's playing. For those you mention, do you have any catalog numbers at hand?

Columbia ML 5336 is the Berg, Schoenberg and Krenek album.

Columbia M2S 736 is The Music of Arnold Schoenberg Vol. 4. Includes solo piano and songs for voice and piano. I only have this volume and should track down the other three.

Columbia MS 7039 Schoenberg Piano Concerto.

Enjoy!

 

[tima]

Columbia ML 5336 is the Berg, Schoenberg and Krenek album.

Columbia M2S 736 is The Music of Arnold Schoenberg Vol. 4. Includes solo piano and songs for voice and piano. I only have this volume and should track down the other three.

Columbia MS 7039 Schoenberg Piano Concerto.

Enjoy!

Thank you for taking the time to look those up.

 

[Tiltedfault]

How cold is it?

It is so cold that his breath crystallizes on his beard. His ancient sleigh creaks and moang as it races, crunching through new snow. Väinämöinen (we'll call him V), a demi-god, one time magician, is riding in the most extreme nordic landscape where the world is dark, evil and once known as the land of the dead. Its name is Pohjola. The foundation, the root of the world tree is here.

V hears faint singing and spots a drop-dead gorgeous maiden sitting on the edge of a enormous rainbow. She is weaving a cloth of gold. He is so taken by her beauty that he asks her to get into his sleigh and to become his wife. The enticing young woman agrees but only on the condition that V first perform a series of tasks for her to prove he is worthy. Among these are tying an egg into a knot and carving a boat from fragments of wood. V's magic is not wholly gone and he succeeds at many of the tasks. Alas, evil spirits descend from the darkend forest and cause V to cut himself with his axe. This nearly does him in. He abandons the tasks and the maiden, riding off alone.

The maiden is a daughter of the land. She is Phojola's daughter. She is Louhi, a powerful witch.

Sibelius was fascinated by the Kalevala -- the Finnish national epic mythology -- where the story appears. This piece is the first story in that work. A master of tone poems and symphonies alike, many of his smaller works speak in music of these tales. Sibelius himself directed the first performance of Phojola's Daughter in 1906 at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg Russia.

Bernstein was not a Sibelian in the mold of Ormandy, Collins, Kamu, Kajanus, Segerstam or Berglund, etc. Nonetheless I find this performance a fine rendering. You can hear the music tell the tale.

View attachment 159155

Leonard Bernstein / New York Philharmonic
1965 Columbia Masterworks – MS 6749
Released in honor of the composer's 100th birth anniversary

After Mahler, I have more music of Sibelius on LP than other composers.
That is not Pohjola's Cat.

That was very interesting to me personally when I saw the name Väinämöinen. There was a fine lp my father used to play of songs by Bartok and Kodaly appropriately titled Hungarian Songs. One of the songs by Kodaly was called Wainamoinen Makes Music, which is a lovely song performed with harp and the fantastic Budapest Girls Choir. Now I know who Wainamoinen is and the simple song lyrics make more sense.

Pohjola’s Daughter was nicely performed and being weak in Sibelius, I felt compelled to download a copy of Bernstein’s version. Your video sounded quite good sonically to me and I enjoyed the entire piece, though I must say Finzi seems to completely lose interest around the 3:45 mark.

 

[tima]

That was very interesting to me personally when I saw the name Väinämöinen. There was a fine lp my father used to play of songs by Bartok and Kodaly appropriately titled Hungarian Songs. One of the songs by Kodaly was called Wainamoinen Makes Music, which is a lovely song performed with harp and the fantastic Budapest Girls Choir. Now I know who Wainamoinen is and the simple song lyrics make more sense.

Pohjola’s Daughter was nicely performed and being weak in Sibelius, I felt compelled to download a copy of Bernstein’s version. Your video sounded quite good sonically to me and I enjoyed the entire piece, though I must say Finzi seems to completely lose interest around the 3:45 mark.

Thank you for your delightful post!

It is said that Väinämöinen is a master of playing the kantele, a five or six string Finnish/Karelian harp that he invented. Perhaps it was he playing for the Budapest Girls Choir.





Pohjolas Daughter?

Sibelius was one of my first loves in my discovery of Classical music, starting with his Symphonies. I will record more of his music. If you are interested in exploring, I reccomend his Symphony Nr. 2 with Szell on Philips 835 306 LY. Learning the context and background of music is fun.

But this is not a Finnish Mythology thread so I will move on.

And fwiw ... in an instant cats will stop whatever they are doing and groom themselves.
Finzi's favorite is Mozart.

 

[tima]

To all, please feel free to post your home system videos of Orchestral music.

 

[tima]

Continuing with 20th C music, here are the first 12 minutes of Igor Stravinsky's The Firebird, performed by Antal Dorati and the London Symphony Orchestra.

This is music from the 1910 eponymous ballet performance of Segei Diaghilev's company Ballets Russes. This was a big hit in Paris and began the relationship between Diaghilev and Stravinsky that produced Petrushka (1911) and The Rite of Spring (1913).

The ballet, based on a Russian folk poem, tells the story of the mythic Firebird creature captured in the forest by good guy Prince Ivan. As a gift for setting her free the Firebird gives Ivan one of her magical feathers which can summon her in the event of danger.

Turns out that Tsarevitch Ivan is in love with one of thirteen princesses who unfortunately are under the spell of prototypical immortal Russian bad guy Koshchei. When Koshchei uses monsters to attack Ivan, he uses the magic feather to summon the Firebird who makes quick work of the monsters by putting them to sleep.

The Firebird reveals to Ivan the secret of Koshchei's evil power. His soul lives in an egg. Ivan tosses the egg between his two hands and breaks it. This destroys Koshchei and lifts the spell on the princesses. Ta-da! Ivan marries his princess and the Firebird attends the wedding festival.

(This all makes me think of the rescue mission in Mozart's crazy opera The Abduction from the Seraglio.)

Stravinsky's orchestra is a big one with all the percussion instruments one could ask for. The composer introduces all sorts of exotic playing techniques such as col legno (swatting at string instruments with bows), glissando (sliding from one note to another -- here trombones and horns), fluttertongueing (on woodwinds - sounds like fun.)

Stravinsky creates leitmotifs (musical phrases) that associate to people, places and things. Human mortals get diatonic scales while the supernaturals are represented with chromatic scales. (see the Schoenberg Variations video on that.) Welcome to the 20th Century. Firebird is a fascinating piece of music and it is easy to hear all the fun sounds from the instrumentation, even if you don't know their names.



Mercury SR90226 / Speakers Corner Box Set
Recorded in 1960.
Here is one of the great recordings from the Fine team at Mercury using 3 microphones.

 

[andromedaaudio]

Orchestra 7,5 ips tape

 

[tima]

Orchestra 7,5 ips tape

Is that your system? What is the music?
Thanks for posting.

 

[andromedaaudio]

Is that your system? What is the music?
Thanks for posting.

Yes its my system playing all tubes Convergent / XPE speakers .

I bought 10 tapes al 7,5 IPS from a dutch recording engineer , these are back up recordings .
This recording could well be a " one of " live recording done in the 80 ties, i have to look it up but probably recorded in the 80 ties .
The Telefunken M 15 A seen in the vid was bought from him as well.