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There is a rather annoying string instrument sound that goes for a few seconds before this lovely selection by Luigi Boccherini: "La Musica Notturna di Madrid - Passa Calle."

I've been in the mood for a little harpsichord music and came across this selection, "A Fancy" by English composer William Byrd. Enjoy!

My final selection will be "Ubi Caritas" by Maurice Durufle it is performed by the Cambridge Singers. Enjoy the rest of your day!

Hey Griffin, I’ve loved all your Sunday’s postings, they have had a huge variety ( “La música nocturna de Madrid” is marvellous).

I especially enjoyed "Ubi Caritas" by Maurice Durufle, the melody of this choral work is so beautiful.

Hi Recaredo. I'm so glad you enjoyed the selections. "La music nocturna de Madrid" was another one of those delightful discoveries I found while I was exploring and listening to some Fandangos. I've been exploring some of those ever since you introduced us to Fandangos a few weeks ago.

There seems to be no let up in the variety of posts today. At a little over half an hour this is a long one. I hope you have time to enjoy it.

It's good to see you back, Griffin, I hope you're relaxing again now.

Haydn and Mozart together crafted the sonata principle out of the baroque's binary form. Beethoven changed the significance of the last movement and made it more important than the first. Schubert changed the structure from three or four distinct movements into one in his Wanderer Fantasy and introduced continuity throughout with a common theme. While transcribing the fantasy for orchestra Liszt hit upon a new idea.

In his B minor sonata Liszt was transformed from a flashy showman into composer extraordinaire. The work was to influence Wagner's leitmotif ideas, resulting in his Ring cycle. Tchaikovsky, Franck and Sibelius were also to be influenced by it.

Until last Friday I believed that the best performance of this phenomenal opus was by Martha Argerich. I saw this on Friday, have watched it several times since, and am convinced that, despite the lack of quality in this live recording and an out of tune piano, Pogorelich produces an outstanding masterpiece. The cameraman takes a minute to settle but the result is worthwhile.

The sonata opens with three distinct motifs. The first is a descending sequence that doesn't quite reach the last note of the scale. The second (0:55) uses falling triplets also does not quite reach a conclusion. The third motif (1:10) uses a repeated note and is again inconclusive. After a short pause the work begins its many manipulations of these three motifs, mixing them up and working them against each other until a flurry of double octaves (2:40) is subsumed by a crescendo of the first theme rising in anticipation (3:20) up to the breathtaking entry of a fourth theme (4:00).

The second theme returns (5:10) in single notes but it has changed almost beyond recognition. Likewise the third theme returns (6:20) also barely recognisable and leading to a closing passage terminating with a new and forceful entrance of the second theme (9:30).

There is a tumultuous maelstrom using every technical difficulty I can think of as the three main themes interact with each other. Even the fourth theme returns (11:48) with a much darker mood but the storm dies out and the skies clear as the fifth and final theme makes its entrance (15:00).

This is the equivalent of the slow movement of a sonata. The other four themes are now affected by this new mood, which continues for a few minutes until it dies away to silence (22:40).

From the silence comes the three themes again each in yet another guise. Then the second arrives as counterpoint (24:00). Just as Beethoven acknowledged his mentor, Bach, in the Hammerklavier, Liszt acknowledges him in the final movement of this sonata. Liszt does fugue.

The fugue finishes in fireworks that give way (26:20) to Liszt's version of a recapitulation.

The coda (30:50) begins with rapid octave scales culminating in the final version of the fourth theme (31:20). The fifth theme makes its final appearance (32:00) then themes three and two whimper away.

Finally the first theme descends slowly to the depths of the piano keyboard, hanging gently on the supertonic, C, while in the upper register soft chords rise to the dominant F# major and at the very end, after half an hour of waiting, the descending scale finishes on a single note, a quiet tonic B.
Magnificent!

Happy Easter everyone!

[video:youtube] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc7A-oO1vKc[/video]

Eglantine, this is SO COOL! I love it. More please! I couldn't hear it from my ipad because of compatibility issues. However, I'm now at my desktop and it is great.

It must of been a bit strange, however, to hear my English Madrigal post right after this! Thanks!

Thanks to Rossy first, for excellent starting posts on Sunday Classical. I really liked Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor. And then, of course, Griffin's exclusive compilations! Thanks Griffin, I thoroughly enjoyed them, specially the Haydn's Cello concertos and Luigi Boccherini's "La Musica Notturna di Madrid - Passa Calle"; they are marvelous!
Here is something from me (dunno whether it's been posted already or not, but I really like it):
[video:youtube]UEW9Rnb7hbw[/video]

Griffin, I’m glad you liked fandangos, I think these dances make a very evocative music.

Richard thanks for your detailed explanation on the sonata in B minor. I’ll listen to Pogorelich’s performance carefully this night; it seems to be a gem.

Rupak, I also love the Scottish symphony. Very good post!

Recaredo, thanks. It's a magnificent performance but a flawed recording. When I first heard the B minor sonata I thought it was unmusical and it went over my head. When I first heard it analysed it became one my favourite pieces. I seldom hear the fourth theme entry without catching breath and shedding a tear - even following the score without hearing it.

When you've followed my notes you might want to check out alternative performances. I've treasured Argerich's CD for years but I've just ordered Pogorelich's CD on the strength of this video.

Have a great Easter.

Hey Griffin, there really isn't any more, as these were all one-offs. I think that cover was actually the best thing that PM Dawn ever did.

But there's some other not at all bad stuff on the tribute album. Such as this Cure version of Purple Haze. (best listened to on a decent hi-fi)



Also The Pretenders made Bold As Love very much their own:



There was some interesting teamwork elsewhere, such as Nile Rodgers playing with Eric Clapton.

Lots of posts here I need to explore, but it will have to be later, as I mainly have my head inside some cupboards today, with Polyfilla, wire wool, and paint... I'll also have to get a saw out at some point :-( (I'm not very practical, and am bound to do something dumb with the saw, like hacking off a finger.)

Richard, like Recaredo, I decided to wait until I was free of any distractions in order to listen to the Liszt B Minor Sonata. Despite it's technical flaws with the camera recording, it was a breathtaking performance. I found the notes you compiled very helpful as well. Of particular interest to me was the influence this work had on Wagner's use of the leitmotif in the Ring cycle.

You should also know that hearing the Liszt piece was an interesting self discovery about how I seem to be more open to listening to his music at this time in my life as opposed to how i felt about his music when I was a college student in the 1960s. Thanks for sharing it!

Hi Eglantine, we posted at the same time! I hope things are going well with the remodeling project. Careful with that saw, however! I'll be listening to your post a bit later when I get to my PC.

I will be back a bit later with a little music to share.

Sandy, we actually have the entire Animusic collection. The one you played is my most favorite from the DVD we have. Here is another favorite of mine.

And for the record, I already posted "Pipe Dream" and "Resonant Chamber" long ago, without any hesitation

I think we may have some new posters here Rupak, that havent gone very far back to read things... Rupak has allready posted these folks, and they were excellent!!! Rupak posted them first!!!

Thanks Rossy, but I think we don't have any strict "posting right" staff here So who posted before doesn't really matter. And it's almost impossible to check more than 150 pages before any posting! What I really meant was I thought Sandy might have a little hesitation to post Animusic staffs because it's not actually performed by real people. That's why Griffin encouraged him with another excellent creation by Animusic. I wanted to pull this thing a little further because we are free to post here anything that we think is interesting and after all a creation worth posting. So, we shouldn't have any hesitation on posting good staffs (That's why I didn't think twice while posting them). And because of this freedom that Rossy's given us this thread is far better than any live radio station or even an ipod full of tons of music.

Wow Rupak thanks, that actually made me feel appreciated, but no worries about me getting a swollen head, Mrs R is bound to make me feel not appreciated very soon, so it will even itself out!!!

I wasn't sure whether I should post this because on the one hand it is an excellent cover; on the other, the song is so overplayed that people may no longer desire to hear it.