Recommend Violin Music

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov


But ya know what, I think that's great. One thing I can't stand about modern conductors is their rigidity and the idea that interpretation is limited to different tempos. I ache for the days when we had conductors like Toscanini, Furtwangler and Stokovski. Each performance for them had elements of whimsy, they lived in the artistic moment and they weren't afraid to take liberties with the music itself to add to the excitement of the works and keep them fresh. To me, that's what the art of music should be about.

Likewise, I get bored with soloists who just stick to the script. If I wanted to hear the same version of the Emperor Concerto, I would buy one recording and never listen to anything else. How dull is that?!

Of course, at last count I had 14 different recordings of the Brahms 4th symphony...

Any idiot can play or conduct with precision. It takes a willingness to be daring and original to be a true artist.

I didn't say I disliked Kennedy's Beethoven; I implied that it's a bad idea for someone coming to the piece for the first time to hear his.

Who doesn't love Stoki? I have the RCA Stoki Stereo Box set - there's some great stuff in that.

On the other hand I can't stomach any other recording of Mahler 1 than Kubelik's.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Agathon
I didn't say I disliked Kennedy's Beethoven; I implied that it's a bad idea for someone coming to the piece for the first time to hear his.

Oh, I wasn't arguing with you at all. But I wouldn't have a problem with someone getting it as their first hearing.

Who doesn't love Stoki? I have the RCA Stoki Stereo Box set - there's some great stuff in that.

A lot of the musical purists bristle at the liberties he takes. And he takes a LOT to get the sound he wants, to the point of practically reorchestrating large chunks of music.

I admit I dislike his reading of "A Night on Bald Mountain" featured in Fantasia, but that's a matter of personal taste, since the popular version of it orchestrated by Rimsky-Korsakov is so dramatically different than Mussorgsky's original anyway.

On the other hand I can't stomach any other recording of Mahler 1 than Kubelik's.

Oh, if only Furtwangler's was in stereo sound!

[Buck Birdseed]

One really cool piece of violin music I saw recently was from the TV footage of this weird Christmas Performance of a Budapest orchestra consisting entirely of like a hundred gypsy musicians playing violins, cellos and cimbalom. After a really dull performance of Am der Schönen Blauen Donau with dancers I was ready to dismiss it as another Weiner Philhamoniker New Years Concert ripoff, but then they did this gorgeous Jazzy Improv on Diniku's "The Lark", with five different Violin soloists of spectacular technical ability trying to outdo each other, Rap Battle style. Really fun, and stupendous violin stuff with some really cool sounds I thought you never could get out of a violin.

[orange]

very good suggestions so far I've been downloading for a little while and like what I hear...

...but do you have any more powerful recommends? Stuff that really sets a strong mood? Some of the stuff was 'hard' but still slow...or had that restaraunt feel...

[Boris Godunov]

Maybe if you said specifically what you liked and what you didn't like as much, people could offer more things in those veins.

[molly bloom]

Re: Recommend Violin Music

Originally posted by orange
Anyone know of any particular bands or groups that use primarily violins or electric violins? I'm looking for the more powerful breed of this kind of music, not the high pitched squeely fancy expensive restaraunt violin songs.

Any suggestions?

You might want to try Hawkwind when Simon House played with them; also David Bowie's 'Stage' live album has House playing electric violin- notably the track 'Warszawa'.

Eddie Jobson (when in Roxy Music and Curved Air) also played electric violin, sometimes treated with synthesizer. Try 'Stranded', 'Country Life' and 'Viva! Roxy Music' for some tracks, especially the live version of 'Out of the Blue' on 'Viva!'

Laurie Anderson also uses either electric or modified violins, and you might want to try either 'Big Science' ro the box set, 'United States I-IV'.

It's a stretch, but I seem to recall in punk's early days in Blighty, there was a group called Bethnal which (bizarrely for a punk band) featured a violinist. Can't remember if it was electric or not.

Also- folk rock may not be to your taste, but try early Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span- 'Liege and Lief' and 'Please to See The King'.

Happy hunting....

[MattyBoy]

Any idiot can play or conduct with precision. It takes a willingness to be daring and original to be a true artist.

A friend is a violinist, living in NYC. She certainly plays with this attitude and she's an awesome performer. Nothing seems to upset her more than musicians who aim to play with soulless precision.

She plays in a conducterless, strings-only group called SONYC - (Hear them here) (read about them here)

[orange]

Specifically I liked Ashley MacIssac a lot, as well as some of the Apocalyptica stuff (though some was kinda slow...maybe there are specific songs which are better?)

I'm currently downloading the one you suggested, Boris, and trying Joshua Bell, as well as Bond (Reismark's suggestion) and getting more MacIssac

[orange]

oh, and Rasputina - i liked that too

[Skanky Burns]

[Buck Birdseed]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov
Oh, and if you download this, don't be surprised by the similarity to a certain famous Andrew Lloyd-Webber tune. Yes, he stole it.

And then threatened to sue swedish artist Håkan Hellström for daring to also steal (or rather borrow) it. Totally true.