Sunday, March 17, 2013

Things That Keep Me Sane (No.1 in an occasional series)

8 comments:

Jim Murdoch said...

Oh Bartók’s been a favourite of mine for many years. I remember being blown away the first time I heard Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta and I set out to listen to everything by him and there won’t be much—certainly no major work—I’ve not heard and most of it I own copies of. Hard to pick a favourite. Possibly Piano Concerto No 3 but really I’ve heard nothing by him I haven’t loved.

Steerforth said...

Yes, I love the 3rd as well, particularly the last two movements. When I was learning to play the piano, he was a firm favourite because he wrote pieces that were very easy, but always quirky and interesting. In some ways, Bartok's ability to write a musically interesting piece for a level as low as Grade 2 piano impressed me even more than the pyrotechnics of the concertos.

Annabel (gaskella) said...

In the days when I was good on the piano (ie when I practiced), I loved playing these, and some of his jazz-inflected Mikrocosmos pieces. Fantastic stuff!

zmkc said...

Yes. Have you ever looked at Dumneazu's blog - he goes straight to the source and records it on his mobile phone now and then.

Steerforth said...

Annabel - Microkosmos is wonderful. I also loved 'For Children', which had some genuinely beautiful moments.

Zoe - No I haven't. I shall Google them now.

Canadian Chickadee said...

Personally I prefer Glenn Miller or the Moody Blues or a good heavy metal rock band...a lot of classical music is so morose, it makes me suicidal. Just call me Phyllis Stein....

Steerforth said...

Is there such a thing as a good heavy metal band? ;)

Canadian Chickadee said...

RE: a good heavy metal band

It all depends on your tolerance for noise, I guess!

My dad was a musician, and the jam sessions and practice sessions were endless, so my tolerance to noise is pretty high ....