In good old days, you always found some radio stations played classical music all day long. Some of them had special programs at specific time of the day. Also you found a lot of cities had their symphony orchestras. When time goes by, the number of them dwindled & a lot them simply disappeared in the thin air. It seems the market of the classical music get smaller each year. Does this mean the interest of people change? Yes & no, here are some of my observations: 1. There is not much innovation in the format of concert. People get bored when nothing is new or exciting. This is especially true for the young generation. I think the conductor should say something about the uniqueness of the concert instead of saying nothing & play.
2. The package of the classical music is not good enough to attract young people. For example, when people see Un Bel Di on CD, they don’t have any clue if there is no explanation on the cover. This is true for most of the arias of opera.
3. Radio stations lack of creative programs & enthusiasm.
4. CD is not cheap enough. Especially you have to buy the whole disc, not just one piece of music.
5. Only things bucking the trend are Three Tenors, Andre Rieu, Vienna New Year Special Program, PBS special music program, competitions, auditions etc. They are all something new in the musical package.
6. Internet & electronics suddenly change the market. Now you can buy a single piece of music at $1 & load it to iPod or something similar.
7. Only high profile orchestras survive. They record series music for Grammy awards or others.
Radio station KDFC is the only survived station that broadcasts 24 hours classical music in San Francisco. It gets the poll from the audiences for Top 100 Classical Music. It also creates a package this year that loads all 100 pieces of music in iPod & sells it at $299. If this is not revolutionary, it must be a quantum leap in music distribution. If you try to buy CDs to complete this top 100, you will have to spend more than one thousand dollars.
Here is the list of KDFC’s Top 10 of 2010 (the parenthesis is the rank of 2009)
1. Beethoven Symphony #9 (1)
2. Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto #2 (10)
3. Vivaldi Four Seasons (2)
4. Dvorak Symphony #9 (7)
5. Bach Brandenburg Concerto 1-6 (3)
6. Beethoven Symphony #6 (4)
7. Pachelbel Canon in D (11)
8. Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue (5)
9. Beethoven Symphony #5 (8)
10. Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto #1 (20)
This represents the taste & interest of the people in San Francisco bay area. In the past several years, the # listed in the top 10 change often. The only one consistent is the #1, Beethoven Symphony #9, Choral Symphony. It really shows the #9 of Beethoven is one & only one in its own class in most people’s mind. It is also the longest piece that takes almost one hour to play it from the beginning to the end. From #2 to #10, their ranks change every year. It says the taste of people changes every year. For example, Rachmaninoff’s piano concerto #2 jumps from 10 last year to 2 this year, a quantum jump. My list is different from the KDFC’s. I don’t mean my taste is better. It just means my taste is different from a lot of people. Here is my top 10 list:
0. Beethoven Symphony #9 (Choral)
1. Dvorak Symphony #9 (From the New World)
2. Beethoven Symphony #5 (命運)
3. Beethoven Piano Concerto #5 (Emperor)
4. Brahms Violin Concerto
5. Rachmaninov Piano Concerto #2
6. Beethoven Symphony #6 (Pastoral)
7. Schubert Symphony #8 (Unfinished)
8. Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto #1
9. Mozart Symphony #41 (Jupiter)
I do like to make some comments about KDFC’s list. Four Seasons & Canon in D are nice to the ear. But you just can’t listen to them often. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto 1-6 is not uniform in quality. You just can’t lump them in one & try to compare to other classical music. It is more reasonable to pick #5 or #6. As to Rhapsody in Blue, it is just not exciting. Perhaps a lot people like jazz & pick this piece for the mood. I found that all pieces in my list are either symphony or concerto. I think it is fairly obvious as these two forms of music use extensively & intensively almost all instruments that we can find in an orchestra. The depth & power of expression & interpretation of human emotion are just too great to describe. Everyone should have his/her own top 10 list as everyone is different & special.
3 comments:
To pick top tens is too hard to do. I will try for three.
Since we all seem to like romantic music, let me list my top three romantic pieces. Again, personal favorite is always subjective; I don’t expect your agreement.
As far as romance goes, most tend to have a sad or even tragic ending. Maybe sadness and tragedy tend to shake human heart more than the feeling for happiness. Just look back forty years, how 梁祝 swept Taiwan and Hong Kong. I don’t think Disney movies’ “happily ever after” would ever have that kind of effect.
Here we go, my top three picks of 最纏綿的音樂, not necessarily in the order.
1. 2nd movement of Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto in D major – about ¼ to the end, the halting, hesitating weaving of violin, clarinet, flute and bassoon can choke your heart. Personally, I feel this is as close as you get to 蘇東坡的 “如怨如泣如訴如慕”.
2. Prelude and “Liebestod” from “Tristan and Isolde” by Richard Wagner – it really squeezes and releases your heart so slowly and lingeringly. The first time I heard it I was left stunned and speechless. I think it fits the bill of “此情綿綿無絕期”, I replace 恨with 情.
3. 3rd movement of Beethoven’s 9th symphony. What can I say? It is so inhuman - the whole symphony is. I can’t leave here without saying that the 4th movement is the greatest where he finally shook loose all of the burdens and broke free. Friedrich Schiller should be so grateful for Beethoven’s using his poem.
As for love songs, my top pick is “Core N’grato” by Salvatore Cardillo. In the last two decades, the best performance is by Jose Carreras, whether in recital, concert or in “The three tenors”. Here is the YouTube link to one. There are older recordings that are as good though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmVx5SO7cek
Another song that we all know well is “Home sweet home”. Through the years, I have come across so many wonderful renditions in various languages with diverse emotions - 幢憬, 懷念, 無奈 (有家歸不得), 溫馨etc.
I hope you all like my picks.
Wei picked the Top Three Most Romantic Music. This is a tough one because there are so many romantic pieces of music. You ask 10 people & you get 10 different answers. Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto (D major) is indeed a romantic piece. It is interesting that the most famous three violin concertos are all in D major, Beethoven & Brahms are the other two. It is also interesting that all three of them composed one & only one violin concerto. Perhaps they thought it was so great that they just couldn’t compose another one. Back in 1960, Mendelssohn’s violin concerto (E minor) was popular in Taiwan. I liked it at that time. When time went by, my interest changed gradually. In 1970, my favorite was Tchaikovsky’s and 1980, Beethoven’s. Since 1990, I love violin concerto of Brahms, romantic & philosophical. As to Beethoven’s 9th, 3rd movement, it is in its own class. It is so serene, romantic & make you meditate too. It is the longest piece among all slow movements of symphonies. For Home Sweet Home, one of the most memorable one was the last performance(告別演出) of Joan Sutherland in 1990 at Covent Garden in London. It was shown in PBS on new year’s eve with Luciano Pavaroti & Marilyn Horne watched & listened by her side. It was really a moving performance & the last piece was this Home Sweet Home before the drop of curtain. She was in green gawn & sang this famous "Home Sweet Home" as she considered the Covent Garden her home truly. I couldn’t find it on YouTube. Instead I found the one she sang in 1989 in the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9w4d6y7tQM&feature=related
There are some operas with happy endings: Martha, Marriage of Figaro, Oberon, Barber Seville, L’Elisir d’Amore. But it is true that the sad endings are more often in opera. Some notables are Carmen, Tosca, La Traviata & Madame Butterfly. The horrible one is LuLu by Alban Berg. All members of the opera killed each other & not a single soul survived to say goodby to the audiences.
Talk about the romantic music, here are some more:
Beethoven: Romance #1, & #2
Bruch: Scotch Fantasy-Adagio Cantabile
Chopin: Andante Spianato in G
Massenet: Thais
Opera:
Mozart: Don Giovanni:
La ci darem la ma
Vedrai carino
Batti, Batti, O bel Masetto
Puccini:
Un Bel Di
O Mio Babbino Caro
Rossini:
Una voce poco fa
Donizetti:
L’Elisir D’Amore-Una Furtiva Lagrima
Songs:
Mendelssohn:
Spring Song
Brahms:
Waltz #15 in A-Flat
Schumann:
Widmung (Liebeslied)
The good old movie “Song of Love” (1947) is about the story of Schumann, Clara, Brahms & Liszt. In the movie, you will hear the above two pieces played with violin. "Widmung" is Dedication in German. It has another title: "Liebeslied", or "Song of Love". In the movie, Brahms almost got Clara agreed to marry him when the Brahms' Waltz was played. At the crucial moment, the violinist played Widmung of Schumann, they realized & understood that Schumann would always be in between them. So they called it off. I found a video clip of Widmung in YouTube played by LangLang. LangLang is a funny pianist, but he played this piece solemnly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBdffJHZ2LM
Kissin is an upcoming pianist from Russain. Here is the link that he played Brahms' Waltz.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy6uV-eMOEs
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