Which animal would you be?

[Kramerman]

id want to be a sloth

[Kramerman]

but of the polled animals, id want to be a dog that is owned and taken good care of by a loving family .


and i would want to save little timmy from drowning in the pool and be on that show 'miricle pets' on PAX tv

[Boris Godunov]

And I'm not being fair...depends on what you listen for in a symphony. I listen for architecture, thematic development and overall systemic coherence, in addition to memorable melodic and harmonic invention.

Tchaikovsky didn't actually write "symphonies," he wrote symphonic tone poems with several unrelated movements slapped onto the end of them. So they totally lack structural integrity.

However, if you're looking for pretty melodies, emotionalism and some lush orchestrations, you'll find that aplenty.

Manfred, however, is indeed garbage--a mush of cheap melody lacking in any intellectual integrity or musical value. Tchaikovsky should have followed the instincts he normally had for his works and incinerated it.

[Japher]

Mahler, Japher. Mahler.

I only have an hour!!!

I have the 6th, only... Saw the SF Symph play it a few years back (more like 5)... My wife - GF - at the time were watching after an old Jewish woman who had season tickets, she rocked... Which Mahler would you suggest?

[Boris Godunov]

The Mahler 6, you mean? Because that's the only 6th.

[Japher]

However, if you're looking for pretty melodies, emotionalism and some lush orchestrations, you'll find that aplenty.

I am a big fan of the Romantic Period... Had only my in-laws known that.

I keen on Baroque music too... Classical period troubles me (too structured), and neo-classical I am more in-tune with certain composers. Beehtoven and Stravinsky are my Favs, with Telleman and The Bach Family tied for 3rd.

I really don't look for one thing in particular, if I like it I like it... Even with Berlioz I only like his 1st Symph and Hector on The Mountain.

[Japher]

The Mahler 6, you mean?

Yeah... "Tragic", he is very good just long.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Japher
Classical period troubles me (too structured)

...

Beehtoven and Stravinsky are my Favs, with Telleman and The Bach Family tied for 3rd.

This is inherently contradictory. All of those composers were titans of musical structure, and Beethoven was probably chief among them in terms of having the most tightly-woven structures. Well, maybe Bach...

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Japher
Yeah... "Tragic", he is very good just long.

Mahler's 6th is my favorite of his symphonies. If you don't have the Bernstein VPO recording on DG, then you'd best go and get it. There simply isn't any other recording.

The 6th is long, yes...I personally think the dramatic impact of the finale would be better had he tightened it up considerably. I would have excised the second iteration of the opening "horror" chord--in fact, jumping from the end of the first development section the the second iteration of the major "triumphal" theme. That would cut a good 5 minutes without losing any original thematic material.

[monolith94]

Since this has turned into a classical music discussion, I would just like to mention that I have fallen for Rimsky-Korsakov's "Symphony 3 C, IV Allegro con spirito".

And I don't care what Gudonov says, the Nutcracker is pure fun, and shall always be a staple of my holiday season.

[Japher]

This is inherently contradictory. All of those composers were titans of musical structure, and Beethoven was probably chief among them in terms of having the most tightly-woven structures. Well, maybe Bach...

True, but they (Classical compossers) sacrificed theme for structure. The creativity involved in the Romantic era is much greater, and was not so focused on maintaining the new relatives that is structure... I think Beehtoven's 9th is a good example, in the way he kept the same theme through each movement while altering the structure to reveal new "themes" where as someone like Mozart would change the theme to create juxtaposing structure between movements in order to generate the contrast.

Monolith: RK rocks, check out some of his violin concertos, they are the cream of the crop.

[monolith94]

Right now I'm listening to "Sym No.6 - 1 : Adagio - Allegro con troppo" by Tchaikovsky, and I'm greatly enjoying it.

[Dis]

Panther

[MrFun]

Can I guess for others?



Boshko = squirrel

Rah = ferret

KrazyHorse = kitten/cat

SlowwHand = skunk

Stefu = reindeer

Blackwidow = blackwidow spider (DUH!)

Starchild = peac*ck (for its obvious beauty)

Alexander's Horse = kangaroo

[MrFun]

For myself, I voted cat.