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On Mon, 14 May 2012 18:28:00 -0700, Kevin Wampler wrote:
> On 5/14/2012 6:06 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>>
>> Yeah, that's it. (I've played all three pieces, maybe that's why I
>> conflated them....I suppose I could blame that)
>>
>>
> I take it you're a violinist (based on this and your comments to
> Invisible)? I was not aware of that, are you still active?
Yep, and haven't played in a while. I need to get my violin repaired,
actually - had some maintenance done several years ago and some varnish
got stuck to the top of the sound post - the repair's going to cost about
$400 to complete (we have a neighbor who's a violin maker who works on
instruments for a few members of the Utah Symphony).
I played in the Greater Twin Cities' Youth Symphonies in Minneapolis as a
kid - and toured the USSR in 1988 with the orchestra.
>> For my punishment, I shall have to listen to all three pieces.
>>
>> Oh, damn. :)
>>
>>
> Behold the sad fate of those who disappoint Jim!
LOL
Fortunately, I have good recordings of all three pieces. :)
Jim
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On 5/14/2012 7:05 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Mon, 14 May 2012 18:28:00 -0700, Kevin Wampler wrote:
>
> (we have a neighbor who's a violin maker who works on
> instruments for a few members of the Utah Symphony).
Am I then correct in my assumption that you're an athiest who lives in
Salt Lake City? If so, how is that? The other non-Mormons who I know
who live there sometimes seem a little frustrated. (Feel free not to
answer if too personal/inflammatory for a semi-public setting like this).
> I played in the Greater Twin Cities' Youth Symphonies in Minneapolis as a
> kid - and toured the USSR in 1988 with the orchestra.
That's awesome!
> Fortunately, I have good recordings of all three pieces. :)
Out of curiosity, who are the recordings by? I've always taken to
Karajan for Beethoven and have a soft spot for Maazel's Tchaikovsky
symphonies, but I've focused on breadth rather than depth in my
classical music listening so I'm pretty ignorant on this matter.
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>> Ode to Joy.
>
> Do you mean from the last movement of Beethoven's 9th symphony, or some
> other arrangement?
IDE. I just played what they put in front of me.
> There's no massive pizz section in the 9th symphony
It only /started/ pizzicato. After that it went arco again.
> As for playing loud - oh, yes, you can - more pressure and faster bow
> strokes. If the strokes aren't fast enough, then it sounds scratchy (and
> that's no good).
Hmm, interesting.
As I say, I haven't played violin for about 20 years. So having one in
my hands again, I'm struggling to remember what you're actually supposed
to do with it... I guess the long and short of it is that I need to find
a professional violin teacher.
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>> Oh crap, you're right. How I mixed up Beethoven and Tchaikovsky is
>> beyond me and is completely embarrassing. :)
>
> Well, you know, they were both ummm... composers who were born within a
> century of each other? :-)
That's nothing. I keep confusing Euler and Euclid. And apparently, in
spite of the almost identical names, they actually lived /two millennia/
apart!
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On Mon, 14 May 2012 22:48:33 -0700, Kevin Wampler wrote:
> On 5/14/2012 7:05 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> On Mon, 14 May 2012 18:28:00 -0700, Kevin Wampler wrote:
>>
>> (we have a neighbor who's a violin maker who works on
>> instruments for a few members of the Utah Symphony).
>
> Am I then correct in my assumption that you're an athiest who lives in
> Salt Lake City? If so, how is that? The other non-Mormons who I know
> who live there sometimes seem a little frustrated. (Feel free not to
> answer if too personal/inflammatory for a semi-public setting like
> this).
You are correct in your assumption. It's not bad, but we want to move to
Portland (our son graduated from the University of Utah last year, and he
and his girlfriend are moving to a place in town in July if all goes to
plan).
We're actually in the downtown area, so being an atheist (but not really
"out" per se to our neighbors) isn't bad. Working in Utah County can be
interesting, but I've got a number of good friends who are members of the
church.
Sometimes when I get together with lunch with more than one of them,
though, the talk turns to what's going on in their respective wards,
which isn't of as much interest to me as what's going on with them. But
it's one of the side effects of being in this kind of culture.
It also can be frustrating as Utah is a place with the highest incidence
of scams (and successful scammers). It's an interesting correlation.
But I've had some really good philosophical discussions with my former
boss (who's a good friend as well). It can be difficult to find someone
who's secure enough in their beliefs that they're willing to have a
discussion that has the potential to challenge those beliefs, but in the
instances where I have, the discussions have been very good.
>> I played in the Greater Twin Cities' Youth Symphonies in Minneapolis as
>> a kid - and toured the USSR in 1988 with the orchestra.
>
> That's awesome!
It's one of the best memories I have of growing up. :) We played mostly
American music, though there was a Bartok violin concerto that a sub-
group performed, and a few other things (like "Moscow Nights"). But lots
of Copeland and music written by American composers on that trip.
But one year we did perform the Tchaikovsky 4th, and that was just /
fun/. That orchestra didn't do the Beethoven when I was in it, but I had
a high school orchestra director who was /awesome/ who wasn't afraid to
give us original scores rather than simplified arrangements. We read
through Beethoven's 2nd and 5th there, and I remember doing the 9th (the
final movement only, IIRC, it's been a while) at some point along the way.
>> Fortunately, I have good recordings of all three pieces. :)
>
> Out of curiosity, who are the recordings by? I've always taken to
> Karajan for Beethoven and have a soft spot for Maazel's Tchaikovsky
> symphonies, but I've focused on breadth rather than depth in my
> classical music listening so I'm pretty ignorant on this matter.
Von Karajan for the Beethoven - I've got the 1950's recordings on CD (and
ripped to MP3, naturally). Maazel does good with the Tchaikovsky, but
I've got a few different recordings. The thing that gets me often is
that there are certain tempos that just feel "right", and often when I'm
listening to a recording, I'll say "too slow" or "too fast" because it
doesn't feel right to me. That's part of the reason the Von Karajan
recordings work so well for me - they're pretty much definitive as far as
I'm concerned for tempos.
I'll have to look at who I've got doing the Tchaikovsky at home - I
didn't get a chance to listen last night as I had an interview to prep
for this morning (which didn't go off due to a technical glitch in the
phones on my end), but by the end of the week I'll have listened to them
all again. :)
Jim
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On Tue, 15 May 2012 10:15:43 +0100, Invisible wrote:
>>> Ode to Joy.
>>
>> Do you mean from the last movement of Beethoven's 9th symphony, or some
>> other arrangement?
>
> IDE. I just played what they put in front of me.
>
>> There's no massive pizz section in the 9th symphony
>
> It only /started/ pizzicato. After that it went arco again.
There again, I don't recall there being any pizz in the last movement of
the 9th. But it /has/ been a while.
>> As for playing loud - oh, yes, you can - more pressure and faster bow
>> strokes. If the strokes aren't fast enough, then it sounds scratchy
>> (and that's no good).
>
> Hmm, interesting.
>
> As I say, I haven't played violin for about 20 years. So having one in
> my hands again, I'm struggling to remember what you're actually supposed
> to do with it... I guess the long and short of it is that I need to find
> a professional violin teacher.
That probably would help, yes - even if just for a refresher. Maybe a
local school orchestra director would be willing to take a few hours and
sit down with you?
Jim
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On 15/05/2012 2:06 AM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> For my punishment, I shall have to listen to all three pieces.
>
> Oh, damn.:)
Maybe you all would like to do a musicality test.
https://ssl.bbc.co.uk/labuk/experiments/musicality/
Just to let you know, I scored low for everything. Hmm!
--
Regards
Stephen
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On Tue, 15 May 2012 20:41:56 +0100, Stephen wrote:
> On 15/05/2012 2:06 AM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> For my punishment, I shall have to listen to all three pieces.
>>
>> Oh, damn.:)
>
> Maybe you all would like to do a musicality test.
>
> https://ssl.bbc.co.uk/labuk/experiments/musicality/
>
> Just to let you know, I scored low for everything. Hmm!
Will have to check that out when I get home. :)
Jim
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On Mon, 14 May 2012 22:48:33 -0700, Kevin Wampler wrote:
> Out of curiosity, who are the recordings by?
On Slacker.com, I found a recording of the T4 by the USSR State Symphony,
listening to it now. The first movement has been good, but getting up
towards the slowdown near the end of the movement, their tempo is a bit
fast for my taste.
But it is kinda hard to criticize the USSR State Symphony, particularly
playing music of a Russian composer. :)
Jim
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On Tue, 15 May 2012 20:41:56 +0100, Stephen wrote:
> On 15/05/2012 2:06 AM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> For my punishment, I shall have to listen to all three pieces.
>>
>> Oh, damn.:)
>
> Maybe you all would like to do a musicality test.
>
> https://ssl.bbc.co.uk/labuk/experiments/musicality/
>
> Just to let you know, I scored low for everything. Hmm!
I didn't do too bad - better than I thought for the memory test (only
missed one). Classification was an interesting one - didn't get it
perfect for any of them, but was pretty close on most of them.
Very interesting, thanks for sharing that. :)
Jim
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