What are you listening to now :)

[Chris]

Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 16 in G major, Op. 31, No. 1. Some wonderful humor in this one, of course. Perfect for this rainy day.

[Preston]

Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody 2, the original for piano. I am really enjoying this piece. I have listened to it for orchestra, but only once- so, off to do that again in a moment.

I found something interesting while looking for the Liszt Rhapsody- Liszt's music based on themes from Beethoven's The Ruins of Athens!

[Roehre]

Today:

Puccini:
La Rondine

[Preston]

Today:

Puccini:
La Rondine

Must have been a busy day for you, Roehre, !

[Bonn1827]

Today:

Beethoven, Trio "The Ghost", Du Pre/Zukerman/Barenboim

The sea is thundering, pounding and aggressive today - just part of its ever-changing mood (I know people like this, really!). The company has been congenial and the whole atmosphere is being settled at last by Beethoven.

I had to come back and edit this one hour after posting - there are 2 enormous whales off the coast right now playing in the water as they head south!! The sea has settled and they are clearly visible. Somehow one feels very insignificant now!!

[Roehre]

Must have been a busy day for you, Roehre, !

An hour and a half of music, it still was Preston

===========

Today:

Puccini:
Madama Butterfly

Ferdinand David:
Violin Concerto no. 5 in D minor opus 35 (1858) (R3: P03)

Bella:
String quartet in c op.25 (1880 rev 1925)

[Preston]

An hour and a half of music, it still was Preston

I think you misunderstood what I was saying. Not to blame you, I should have been more clear.

I was saying that since you only posted one piece of music, when you usually post a good bit more, you must have not had the time to listen to more music, , therefore making it a busy day.

[Roehre]

I think you misunderstood what I was saying. Not to blame you, I should have been more clear.

I was saying that since you only posted one piece of music, when you usually post a good bit more, you must have not had the time to listen to more music, , therefore making it a busy day.

I normally take the time to listen to approximately 2 hours of music, usually spread over the day. It was rather busy, as it certainly was even more today, and still I managed to listen to a complete opera .

Today:

Bella:
String quintet in d (1868)

[Bonn1827]

Today:

Puccini: "Tosca" Act 1 - Maria Callas/Guiseppe de Stephano

This fabulous opera and performance captures the awesome, frightening and transcendent qualities of love - stripped of passion's (merely) physical properties. Puccini was able to capture this in his music (incredible, when you think of what was happening a couple of countries away in the Second Viennese School!). Shakespeare captured the same kind of love and passion with language - particularly from "Othello" -

"Perdition catch my soul but I do love thee, and when I love thee not chaos is come again". (These lines always rocked my senior English students to the core each time I read them!)

All this goes beyond the merely physical and, certainly, melodramatic.