[Luis Mad]

The 10 Most Beautiful Piano Pieces | Lang Lang, Hélène Grimaud, Vladimir Ashkenazy a.o.​

Don’t miss the final part with Rachmaninov!

 

[Light - Man]

Thanks Luis, it is always good to hear about the concerts that you go to. I might pluck up the courage to go to a concert again in the next few months. I used to meet Her Lightness after work most often in the Shelbourne Hotel on St. Stephens Green, which is in the center of Dublin city and is only a short walk away from the NCH, National Concert Hall, Dublin. We met most Friday's for many years and had a glass of vino and a meal before going to the concert. Most often on a Friday it would be the NSO, which is the National Symphony Orchestra but sometimes on other days it would be the NCO, National Concert Orchestra, which often had the addition of singers, etc. I have not been to a concert since Jan 2020. On Friday 13th, Dec 2019 having broken an ear, I stopped booking concerts and only went to one or two in Jan 2020 before COVID 19 cancelled the few remaining concerts that we had booked. We went to so many concerts over more than 20 years, that we don't really miss it much. Her Lightness now has little interest in going to any further concerts. We tend to socialize at home at the weekends, listening to music and eating plenty of healthy food, washed down with a few sips too many of the old vino.

This a starter that we had yesterday, prepared by Madam, which was peeled tomatoes, smoked salmon with some pulped avocado below and some pulped black olives and grapes. She has such patience making stuff, usually looking out to the back garden. We have bird feeders and our garden is bombarded by Magpies dive bombing the birds constantly. We saw a bluetit being taken during the week, luckily it does not happen often and we knock on the window to scare off the Magpies and sometimes birds of prey, like sparrow hawks and Kestrels.

'This piece is also known as Chopin - Spring Waltz, but actually it's Mariage d'Amour, that was composed by Paul de Senneville and arranged by George Davidson. The composition of Mariage d'Amour was popularized by Richard Clayderman.'



Passacaglia - Handel Halvorsen



More of Olga's videos here

 

[Luis Mad]

Hi John,
very personal decision if attending concerts is worth it or not. I have been to concerts all of my life but for many years I did not attend regularly classical concerts but very few times every year. I actually sort of rediscovered classical music through an invitation by my sister in 2019. She told me a year in advance in 2019 that she was going to invite me to a concert by the Wiener Philarmoniker. I remember I started to listen again to pieces, started to attend regularly to concerts and then came the pandemic and the Wiener Philarmoniker concert never took place. Then I got a season ticket for the national orchestra and have attended many concerts in the last three years. The offer in Madrid is pretty impressive. I cannot possibly attend all the concerts I would like to. Working, money and with other activities I have settled now with maximum one concert per week. Otherwise I do not really dig it so much. Unfortunatelly many great concerts tend to concentrate in some weeks, mainly in January, February, while other weeks have no concert at all.
My wife and I love to attend concerts many Fridays when we have the season ticket. It is for us the start of the weekend and time to relax and dig the music. Afterwards sometimes we have dinner out or at home but always with a bit of Spanish wine or in my case sometimes beer.

Here some beautiful music...

Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 / Lars Vogt, Boian Videnoff - Mannheimer Philharmoniker​

 

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[Luis Mad]

Sir Simon Rattle dirigiert Mozart | Elbphilharmonie LIVE​

// PROGRAMM00:00 Intro
06:33 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Sinfonie Es-Dur KV 543 no 39
40:09 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Sinfonie g-Moll KV 550 no 40– Pause –
1:37:09 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Sinfonie C-Dur KV 551 no 41 »Jupiter«


Mahler Chamber Orchestra
Sir Simon Rattle | Dirigent

 

[Light - Man]

Gluck - Orfeo ed Euridice - Yuja Wang



Emmanuel Pahud and Ulla Miilmann plays Orfeo ed Euridice by Gluck



W. A. Mozart: Concerto for flute and harp K 299 - Jean Pierre Rampal, Yoshino Naoko

 

[Luis Mad]

What's the secret behind the Vienna Philharmonic's unique sound?​

 

[Light - Man]

Someone had to do it! ...........................

André Rieu & Los Del Rio performing Macarena live in Maastricht



André Rieu & His Johann Strauss Orchestra performing Libiamo (The Drinking Song) from La Traviata live in Maastricht.



André Rieu & Lou Bega performing Mambo No. 5 live in Maastricht

 

[Luis Mad]

Macarena? I need more wine! Here someone from Spain that I prefer. a very pasionate performer

Maria Duenas Korngold Violin Concerto (2023)​

Maria Duenas plays Korngold Violin Concerto with Petr Popelka and the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra. Concert date 2023/10/13.

 

[Light - Man]

Indeed Luis, Maria is a super talent. She has a very bright future! She is also very attractive which is also a bonus.

If Maria ever came to Dublin, I would very likely go to her concert. I can imagine the tickets being quite expensive though.

Macarena was a very catchy feelgood tune, and with those very healthy young dancers it was a good video. I tend to embrace most music for what it is. I don't try to be cool about the music that I like, or snooty about peoples tastes. BTW, of course I am not saying that you are either.

Unlike most Spanish people it seems, myself and madam, tend to have our final meal of the day as early in the evening as possible. This helps to ensure a better sleep which is so important for us all. There is recent evidence to say that intermittent fasting, which involves fasting for 16 hours and having an 8-hour eating window. However it can be a little hard to fast for 16 hours, 14 hours seems easier for us. Some research suggests intermittent fasting can help with weight loss and benefit brain and heart health. The idea of going for a meal at 9 or 10 pm is alien to me for many years. Of course, in my early adulthood, I had no such concerns and would eat anytime of the day.

 

[Luis Mad]

Thank you John. I love all types of music: classical, jazz, pop, rock, folk, funk etc. Somethings are not so much my cup of tea like most reggaeton. Macarena is fine with me but, as most Spaniards, I have been overexposed to it for years…
Maria is amazing. She will be playing at least twice in Madrid next season. Once with the Philarmonia orchestra playing Korngold that one is going to be really expensive. The other one will be the Mendelssohn concert with the Spanish TV and Radio Orchestra with presumably much lower prices. Probably it will be difficult to get tickets for any of those but specially for the cheaper one. I believe prices depend much more on the orchestra than on Maria, she is just 20, a rising star, not a superstar yet. Locally in Spain, I would say that she is already a star in the rather small classical music circles.

I hope she will play in Dublin and that you get to see her live. Maybe with the RTE Orchestra? She is great. Here more Maria. The passionate Piazzola suits her well.

Libertango - Piazolla/ Maria Dueñas, Kaspar Uljas, Mihhail Gerts & ERSO​

As to dinners. Early dinners are no doubt healthier but that in unfortunately not the usual in Spain. A Spanish food expert was recently asked about diets and he said he would only give two pieces of advice: earlier dinner and lighter dinner. There is a traditional Spanish saying De grandes cenas están las sepulturas llenas = graves are full of large dinners. And late dinners I would add.

 

[Christer]

Macarena? I need more wine! Here someone from Spain that I prefer. a very pasionate performer

Maria Duenas Korngold Violin Concerto (2023)​

Maria Duenas plays Korngold Violin Concerto with Petr Popelka and the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra. Concert date 2023/10/13.

The last? of the "Great Romantic Violin Concertos" admirably played by young Maria in the Rudofinum Prague. I wish I had been present at that Concert. I have been there quite a few times.
Beautiful music from the past. But to my surprise it seems the era of Great Romantic Piano Concertos is not over quite yet?
On BBC Radio 3 as recently as last week, the 22nd of May I heard the European Premiere of Stephen Hough's Piano Concerto of course with the composer himself performing his Concerto (The World of Yesterday).
For those interested to hear what he has composed for Piano and Orchestra and what a stunning Pianist he is, head over to "BBC Sounds" and the Concert from Bridgewater Hall in Manchester last week.
Cheers CC

 

[Luis Mad]

Here a recent discovery. the wonderful Gulbenkiam museum of the beautiful city of Lisbon has in its youtube page some interesting concerts. Check this one

Concerto para Piano n.º 2 de Rachmaninov – Orquestra Gulbenkian / Nuno Coelho / Nikolai Lugansky​

PROGRAMA Sergei Rachmaninov Concerto para Piano e Orquestra n.º 2, em Dó menor, op. 18— INTERVALO DE 20 MIN —Richard Strauss Assim falava Zaratustra, op. 30
Orquestra Gulbenkian
Nuno Coelho, Maestro
Nikolai Lugansky, Piano

 

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