#moszkowski

Chopin and Rachmaninoff, I will always love you (and you're my #2 and #4 on my Last.fm, respectively). However, Moszkowski Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 59 in E has stolen my heart.

I'm mildly shocked that while this lovely piano concerto was popular during Moszkowski's lifetime, it doesn't get a lot of contemporary interpretations like Rachmaninoff's, Tchaikovsky's, Beethoven's, and Chopin's, etc. Piers Lane's is still the best, so far. Really insane....

Geez, can someone really popularize Moszkowski's again?!? THIS IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL, MOST LISTENABLE but unfortunately MOST CRIMINALLY UNDERRATED piano conerto ever, with lots of memorable "hooks" (as I call them). It also sounds something like The Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon would write if he were a classical composer.

I wish there's a movie or a TV series using this concerto as a central theme. Cos this is really OST-ready - it also sounds Disney-esque. I guess it's on the public domain now?

This Week's Listening & Muses - April 1-7

Schmitt - Suites from Antoine et Cléopâtre. For r/classicalmusic 's piece of the week. I haven't listened to much by Florent Schmitt, I know his symphonie concertante and some piano works. I liked his orchestration, like Debussy mixed with Strauss. Doesn't captivate me as much as the piano and chamber works but it is luscious.

Mendelssohn - Concerto in Ab Major for two pianos. Decided to listen through more of Hyperion's catalogue of "Romantic Piano Concertos", which were some of the works I listened to getting into classical music and were formative to my tastes. Mendelssohn's double piano concertos were written when he was a teenager for him to play with his sister Fanny, and they weren't published in his lifetime and apparently he thought they were immature. The concerto was charming and made me think of the early/classical Beethoven piano concertos

Moszkowski - Piano Concerto in E major. Another recording from the Romantic Concertos series, I hadn't listened to this one much before and wasn't that interested. Listening to it again now, I loved the exuberance and larger-than-life sounds

Schmidt - Symphony no.1. A less popular symphonist I was really into years back, late romantic and decadent. I didn't like this one as much at first, but listening now I'm surprised that I used to find it boring. It's very loud, grand, "majestic", and like a lot of romantic symphonies, long. It's great for blasting on speakers

Messiaen - Turangalîla. To break up the Romantic monotony, I was happy to see Marc-André Hamelin as the pianist for this masterpiece. Bombastic, "futuristic", otherworldly, fun and beautiful and sometimes mind-boggling.

been in a depressed mood lately so have been forcefully injecting dopamine into my ears with very dense and optimistic / symphonic piano music from the turn of the century

21 de março, 2023

18 de fevereiro, 2023

Moszkowski - Suite for Two Violins & Piano in G minor, Op. 71 I. Allegro energico