Music recommendations

[Sue U]

Dude we did this yesterday where u been?

viewtopic.php?p=328560#p328560

[Joe Guy]

Scenes we'd like to see: Jason Aldean found wearing a ball gown in a small town.

[BoSoxGal]

Scenes we'd like to see: Jason Aldean found wearing a ball gown in a small town.

To a hoe down!

[Joe Guy]

Okay, I've only heard the song once, but here's a quick attempt at a short version of 'Try That in a Ball Gown'....

Dance around somebody on a sidewalk
Sing to an old lady at a red light
Show your butt to the owner of a liquor store
That's pretty cool, well we can kiss if you like

Wink right at a cop, flirt in his face
Stomp with your foot and pick it up
Yeah, now show your stuff

Let's try that in our ball gowns
Skip and jump just like a happy toad
Around here we never dance alone
We cross dress fine, it don't take long
For you to learn how, oh please don't say you won't
Try that in your ball gown......

[Jarlaxle]

.

[Bicycle Bill]

So where's the link, Jarl?

You see that little button on the far right that says "youtube"?   All you need to do is to put the identifier of the YouTube clip you're trying to post in between the brackets.  For example, if the complete URL is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSTIsZULYmY, then just enter the jumble of letters and numbers that follow the 'v=' — in this case, KSTIsZULYmY — and it automatically embeds the video so that you get something like this:



And yes, that's the former Mrs. Gregg Allman performing in the video with Meat Loaf.

-"BB"-

[BoSoxGal]

Jason Aldean was playing here in eastern Massachusetts Saturday when we had some torrential rainshowers which stopped his show for a couple of hours. Then I guess a weak (EF-1) tornado touched down a few miles from the venue. So I guess we all know how liberal Massachusetts God feels about the small town ditty.

[Scooter]

Have you not listened to it or are you simply a bandwagon-jumper?

Let's see, lyrics that glorify vigilante violence, combined with a video that juxtaposes the site of a lynching with clips of black folks getting "uppity" about getting mowed down in the streets by police.

I have no problem jumping on a bandwagon about that.

[BoSoxGal]

Oh hey I forgot to mention, Jason Aldean told his Boston area fans that his song is about the same thing as how Bostonians came together Boston Strong in the wake of the Patriots Day Boston Marathon bombing by the terrorist Tsarnaev brothers.

So basically Aldean equates those terrorists with antifa activists taking to the streets to protest police state brutality and unlawful murdering of citizens. M’kay.

But it’s not racist.

[Joe Guy]

So, Aldean was actually kinda singing about them small towns like Boston...

[BoSoxGal]

I’m trying to decide about splurging to see Yo Yo Ma perform with the BSO this fall - I saw him once in college at the performing arts center where I worked and I was terribly disappointed because he played some atonal modern music that I didn’t enjoy so it was a huge letdown for me, but he is coming to Boston to play Shostakovich whose bleakness and angst I utterly adore so much the better opportunity.

Anyway I looked up the piece to get a sense of it and found this amazing archival performance of Rostropovich playing the Shostakovich cello concerto #1, which was written expressly for Rostropovich to play. It is because of things like this that I still think YouTube is the best of all the internet tools.

Enjoy the brilliance!

[Sue U]

The Shostakovich is a great piece, I think you can hear a lot of his buddy Prokofiev in it as well. I was never sure whether that's homage or appropriation or just the stylistic preferences of the early 20th Century Russian school, but I think both composers were really adept at balancing modernism with popular appeal.

Yo Yo Ma is of course a great cellist but when I hear him play all I hear is Yo Yo Ma playing cello. To my ears, his style is so distinctive that it kind of overwhelms the piece itself. All performers have their own style, but for some it seems a vehicle to bring out the richness or subtlety of the music while for others the music is a vehicle for self-expression. I analogize it to acting: there are some who can bring a role to life in a way that you never notice the actor him/herself, and others where you're always conscious that it's so-and-so playing this part as some version of him/herself. I don't think there's anything necessarily wrong with either approach, it's really a matter of taste and how much you enjoy the individual performer's style.

ETA:

Anyway I looked up the piece to get a sense of it and found this amazing archival performance of Rostropovich playing the Shostakovich cello concerto #1, which was written expressly for Rostropovich to play. It is because of things like this that I still think YouTube is the best of all the internet tools.

I agree, especially when it comes to music. I'm currently working on Bach Cello Suite 5 (transcribed for viola) and I use the numerous YouTube videos of great players to learn. (My current favorites for this piece are Mischa Maisky and Stephen Isserlis.) Comparing different artists' interpretation of the work is really fascinating. If I had had these videos available when I was in music school my life and career path may have been entirely different.

[BoSoxGal]

Yo Yo Ma is of course a great cellist but when I hear him play all I hear is Yo Yo Ma playing cello.

He’s the Julia Roberts of cellists, you mean?

I think I am probably just that much less (quite a bit) musically discerning that I probably don’t experience that distinction. I imagine if I spent more time listening comparatively to recordings I might start to?

I have just made a pledge to donate my TV to charity and start listening to more music and reading more books; I think I shall devote some time each week to comparative classical performances online.

I wish I had a good sound system; need to find a good Bluetooth speaker that actually has a decent sound. Does anyone have a recommendation?

[Joe Guy]

I have this speaker. It's only about 6 inches tall but the quality of the sound is very impressive.

[Sue U]

Yo Yo Ma is of course a great cellist but when I hear him play all I hear is Yo Yo Ma playing cello.

He’s the Julia Roberts of cellists, you mean?

Exactly.

I'm sure Joe's speaker is terrific, but there are also a lot of good bluetooth speakers for under $100 and even some solid choices under $50, depending on what you're looking for in sound and features. I use a rather inexpensive speaker for general purposes and use earphones for really close listening. When I want to get fancy I plug my phone or computer into my stereo, which has some nice old-fashioned speakers.

[Sue U]

I think I am probably just that much less (quite a bit) musically discerning that I probably don’t experience that distinction. I imagine if I spent more time listening comparatively to recordings I might start to?

Once you start really paying attention you'll hear all kinds of differences in phrasing, dynamics, tempo, meter, etc., and for strings all kinds of differences in left hand position, string choice and bowing that change the character of the music. There's similar stuff for winds and brass but strings is my thing so that's where I focus.

Comparing two artists playing the same piece is a great way to start, but get really familiar with one version first so that you'll hear the differences when you listen to the second. I like comparing Hilary Hahn and Midori Goto (I love them both and they have a lot of the same pieces in their repertoire). So, for example, I hear Hilary's version of the Prokofiev Violin Concerto 1 and it's beyond beautiful, flawless, absolute control and precision, sparkling like the finest cut diamonds; Midori plays it like an animal, visceral, like she's tearing it from her soul. Their respective versions of the Bach Sonatas and Partitas are likewise distinct, Hilary with heavenly perfection and astounding voicing, Midori with deep sensitivity and her heart on her sleeve. On thing is sure, you won't regret the time you spend listening and getting to know any of the great artists now available through the magic of the interwebs.

[Joe Guy]

You should hear me play the drums. It's like I pulled my heart out of my chest with my bare hands, flattened it between high hat cymbals and then beat it to death with a pair of drumsticks.

[Sue U]

I guess that's why you play guitar.

[Joe Guy]

Pretty much... Drums can take a lot energy out of a person.

[Sue U]

BTW, Hilary Hahn released a recording of the Ysaye violin sonatas this summer that is just terrific -- they are wonderfully clever and fun pieces and she is very obviously having a good time with them. (Available on Spotify and probably other services as well.) Of some note is that her teacher at Curtis was himself a student of Ysaye's a hundred years ago, so she is essentially his pedagogical granddaughter. Tracing musical lineage is another kind of game you can play that can help in understanding an artist's perspective.