Toddskins

By all means!

Here's the link to purchase: https://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Concerti-Concerto-Essential-Classics/dp/B000002801?ie=UTF8 Recorded in 1961, Three CD's in the box Pianist: Leon Fleisher Conductor; George Szell w/ the Cleveland Orchestra Concertos No. 1 and No. 3 Concertos No. 2 and No. 4 Concerto #5 (aka The Emperor) - Triple concerto Nothing else compares. Read all the reviews on that link, who also say this is perfection and explain why. What Beethoven intended. I personally owned the recording of Piano Concert No. 5 (Emperor) on CBS tape way back when in the 70's, and bought it again on cassette tape when the first one wore out. Then the 2nd tape wore out, too, and I could not find it anywhere. I had to do without for like 15 years (I wrote this in 2003) until not too long ago, doing a search on the web, discovered that it had been reproduced on CD and now owned by Sony. I was elated to get it again. I have listened to many artists' rendition of The Emperor and they all stink by comparison. Fleisher's playing, along with this orchestra is nothing short of perfection! His playing skill was phenomenal. Other artists play the piano too slowly, and miss so much of the character of the piece, because many passages need "effect" that Fleisher brings out in his performance. I cry sometimes listening to this because of how excellent it is. Another critic wrote about the Cleveland Orchestra and Fleisher on piano, saying that they work perfectly together, complementing one another in the most exquisite ways, fully aware of one another, seeming to accent one another at perfect times, and laying back to allow each other their time of expression, also in the perfect way. He was so right in his analysis. This is as good as it gets! Buy it. Some Background: Leon Fleisher was a child prodigy on piano and was winning awards and honor, competing against Russian pianists and winning. His career cut short in 1965 by a strange paralysis in his right arm, which was only worsened as Leon tried harder to make his arm work. He contemplated suicide, but realized he loved music and did not want that to end. A medical procedure in 2004 gave him back the use of his right arm. Here is a very short transcript of the 20-minute interview Charlie Rose of CBS 60-minutes conducted with Fleisher in 2005. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/a-tale-of-two-hands/ Then imagine how I felt about this pianist and the recording I had stumbled upon in the 1970s in a bargain box at a music store, and my yearning to obtain it again when it was no longer available, and then the utter amazement of his being interviewed on TV by Charlie Rose... God was involved in all of this.

Regarding bagatelles, I read somewhere that they can be considered as musical sketches, ideas, that were never developed into full scale concertos. If that statement is true it boggles my mind at what they could have become. Like a sketch pad of ideas and he did not live long enough to develop them into full scale (smile). The bagatelles are so wonderful, and a few of them are under 1-minute long! The finger work on some of them are flabbergasting. If you do happen to get that CD, one of my favorites is track #9 (Opus 119 #2 Andante con moto). Only 47 seconds in length. Track #20 (Op. 126 #2 Allegro) is really neat and #3 Presto is awesome. And #6 Presto Andante amabile e con moto, too. So much wonder in these. I love them all and have listened to that CD hundreds of times. Truly.

I agree with those Beethoven pieces you mentioned as being fantastic, except perhaps for the late string quartets. I'm referring to the things that came at the near end of his life. He began to experiment, I believe it was characterized as by one writer. II heard some portrayed in a movie about Beethoven and thought the same thing. "Huh?" Regarding the bagatelles, may I suggest what I believe to be most fantastic recording of them performed by Stephen Kovacevich on a great sounding Steinway. Magnificent playing and just the right amount of reverb. His performance of them is stellar. 24 tracks. I don't know Classical music and all the technical things like so many do. Apparently there are more than 24 bagatelles? Some near mint copies still available for sale on this link: https://www.discogs.com/release/5159102-Beethoven-Stephen-Bishop-Kovacevich-Bagatellen BTW, the performances on that disk are the best. I have listened to him do them on Youtube from other recordings, and they are not good. On the disk I am linking, the performances are played faster, perfect articulations, and sound way better than the slower versions I have heard elsewhere.

Some background: Chopin had escaped Poland just prior to very turbulent times when the Russian czar crowned himself king of Poland and imposed tyranny and oppression against them, and intended to use the Polish army (the last insult) against France. The Poles were revolting and times got violent. Here's the whole free movie on Youtube, but I have it marked to begin at this one scene which is memorable. Chopin's music teacher (from his youth) had sent a letter to a music publisher in Paris when Chopin was a kid, and the publisher had responded positively to the letter. But they now show up 11 years later and the publisher is not interested at this time, as the kid is no longer a possible prodigy. When they had entered the publisher's business they had left their music folders on a piano in the front. This is a setup for a bit of humor, too. The publisher is adamant and wants them to leave as he is busy as his secretary had told them. But Chopin's teacher is stubborn, and does not want to leave. Then an employee of the publisher comes in to the office where all this talk is going on and announces that Franz Liszt is there! At this time we hear some music coming from piano playing out front. The cool part of what comes next is how Liszt does not want to stop playing and Chopin suggests that he play the melody while Liszt plays the bass, allowing them to shake hands without stopping the music (as only Hollywood can do. lol). As we know now, Liszt loved Chopin and it was with Liszt's help that enabled Chopin to have a successful career, as the movie demonstrates. From the 1945 movie, A Song To Remember. From the 24-minute mark to 30:30:

I agree with everything you have written on here, AngelCityOutlaw. I have said the same things for a few decades. I have written many posts on Youtube songs as well as other music or musical gear sites. Just because something is complex in no way means it is good. And if something is simple, likewise, does not make it good. The 3-chords of the vast majority of Rock songs does not make them good. There are many that are, but most are not. I've written a few times that the playing proficiency of Jordan Rudess (Keyboardist from Dream Theater) is to be envied. But the guy knows nothing about composition. Or maybe I should write, "His compositions suck". Being able to play a thousand notes fast without error is truly something to be envied. But if the riff or stanza sucks, it sucks and shows nothing of merit for the song. I love a large number of pop songs, but let me take a sentence to define what I mean by "pop". I mean the songs that were hits on the radio. BTW, I stopped listening to radio in 1988 because I gave up on it. Nothing worthy of my listening time was being produced and I was constantly assaulted with trash that the populace embraced. The intelligence of the world listening society began diminishing severely by the end of the 1980's, and while there were still a few good bands and songs that "somehow" made it to the top of the mediums (I'm still not sure how I ever heard of Collective Soul, which came out in 1994 and I own about half of their CD albums), the vast majority (almost 100%) of music being played on the various mediums were dismal. For the record, I believe Beethoven was the Master of composition, but I do not like all Beethoven. His latter works stymie me. But up until that time (probably because he had gone totally deaf) Beethoven combined both Intellect and Good Feeling in all of his compositions. And they were extraordinary. Beyond amazing. Intellect as was given to us by Bach and Good Feeling (the beginning of the Romantic era, most notable in Chopin). When listening to any of Beethoven's music you can recognize brilliant intellectualism, and are amazed at how wonderful they sound (feel good) at the same time. The same cannot be said of the vast majority of the eras' composers that this thread started off naming for all the periods. I also 100% agree with your comments about the past 100 years of corrupt academics. That it could even possibly be imagined that Math Music is something, I hold with such total disgust (head shaking left to right)... Oh, one last comment. I read a news clip from a critic who wrote that he had heard Mozart play and thought that nobody could ever be better until he watched and heard Beethoven play (around the year 1800, if I recall) and he said that hearing Beethoven was like hearing the devil himself.

Beato has said this oftentimes. Listen to the opening comment on this video of his. And then it's a joy to watch him tell the story he does in this video. And a great learning for many. The Most COMPLEX Pop Song of All Time

Lost? How so? I think you need to go back and read Genesis chapters 6 thru 9. Noah was the only man who was not lost (along with his family). Here's the pertinent paragraph: Gen 6:5 The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Gen 6:6 And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him to his heart. Gen 6:7 So the LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them." Gen 6:8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

Miso, Noah was not lost in the flood. He and his family were the only ones who were saved. The rest of the world was lost.

The title was misleading, to me. I kept waiting for a Hammond B3 to be heard in the arrangement, but alas... lol

AngelCityOutlaw, your opening sentence is circular. I had to read it a few times because I thought I was missing something. Then your comment about what Rick Beato said regarding guitars with real mics, I'm sure you must have missed Beato's overall criticism. Because I'm sure he has said what you are saying -- about writing skills. I just happened to watch this a week ago and it's right on with your thread title. Beato knows that music is about writing skills. I'm not a registered user here, so I suspect the link won't be allowed, but I'll try: Todd