The most perfect version I’ve ever found of this well-known piece by Bach.
Allegri’s Miserere flawlessly performed by Tenebrae.
omg they are fantastic, huh?
Stunningly beautiful.
I think that oboe player took maybe two breaths during the whole thing…
Gorgeous. The singing, absolutely. But the venue/staging–also perfect.
a Baroque idea of Native American music
a Baroque idea of a Turkish march
(do you think they were tempted to have him hit his own foot with the staff?)
This one always gets me where I live:
Klaus Nomi performs his dying wish
Leontyne Price’s farewell performance at the Met in 1985, singing “O patria mia” from Aïda. Watch her reactions to the ovation at the end, trying not to break character.
I was there, that night. Not a dry seat in the house.
I wish the sound quality were better.
[snert]
I just watched this whole thing. I love this piece of music. Mind-boggling presentation. The National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain kicks classical ass. Four full-size concert harps, eight French horns, seven trombones, a bazillion string players of every kind. Wonderful staging and camera work, too.
Years ago I was development officer for the local Symphony and later grant writer for a Chamber Music festival. I have lost touch with music. Damn, this past year, I have lost touch with everything.
This thread has raised my spirits tremendously on a sad-ish day…
Fantastic thread idea! Here’s one of my faves:
Schubert’s Trout Quintet, performed by Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zuckerman, Jacqueline du Pré, Zubin Mehta and Daniel Baremboim. The audio quality isn’t the greatest since it’s a film from 1969, and it’s sad but wonderful too to see du Pré at the height of her career, just 4 years before MS forced her into retirement. She’s only 24 in the film.
The piece itself starts at 14:00, but the documentary before it is wonderful.
Brahms Requiem:
DR / Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Herbert Blomstedt, Camilla Tilling, Peter Mattei
Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations, performed by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. Variation IX (Adagio) “Nimrod” (my favorite) starts at 14:46.
I think we should include some modern classics, as which these surely qualify. The fiftieth anniversary concert:
Further on the NYOGB: they memorably did Anna Meredith’s HandsFree as a encore piece at the Proms ine year:
Another great moment: Janine Jansen in the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto at the First Night of the Proms 2005 - the glint in her eye as she launches into the final movement:
As Thelmalou says, spectacular!!
Does anyone have a favorite video for Sibelius’s Karelia Suite? I haven’t found a live version that I like. Here’s a lame one, with a superimposed smoky train chugging away:
John Williams, “Hymn to the Fallen”:
Bedřich Smetana’s Vltava (English title The Moldau). Vltava is the Czech name for the river that flows through Prague and is the Republic’s longest.
Wonderful minimalist French production of Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms. This beautiful conductor is a joy to watch.
I was in a chorus that sang this a few years ago and found myself seated next to the harpist. Holy moley, did she have to be on her toes fingers! Bernstein specified in the notes that he wanted the second movement (the 23rd Psalm) sung by a boy soprano. Oh well…
Watch this clip of a recording session of the Chichester Psalms with an exceptional treble solo. (It’s on Facebook, so I can’t embed it.)
There are some pieces of music that just sound better with a boy’s voice.
Here’s another piece sung exceptionally well by a chorister, the Pie Jesu from Fauré’s Requiem.
