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Speaking only for myself, I do not mind this off-topic thread at all. Like you, Rick, I also studied the clarinet, from age 11 until seduced by the guitar and anti-war folk-rock. Though never a fan of Copland, I have to admit, this piece is beautiful. But I really love Vaughn-Williams! In addition to Lark Ascending, I'd like to recommend his "Fantasia on a Theme by Tomas Talis". And if still more is needed, Gorecki's Symphony No. 3, Op. 36. Symphony of Sorrowful Songs is a melancholic tour-de-force. Richard Roberts ZERO OHMS "We are no longer the same after hearing certain sounds, and this is more the case when we hear organized sounds, sounds organized by another human being: music." - Karlheinz Stockhausen "If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph: THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD WAS MUSIC." - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. My apologies for the plethora of off topic posts here at L.D.lately but I just feel really close and safe in this community and wanted to share with you all. I'll knock it off, if anyone is bugged by the OT nature of some of them. (((((()))))))) anyway: I came back home tonight in a very melancholic mood. The great Russian poet, Yevtushenko, said, "It's good to have a healthy melancholic attitude towards life." My father and I both loved that quote and both had a strong sense and love for things, melancholic in life and, particularly, in music. Anyway, I was missing my dad tonight, big time and wanted to share with you all some of my musical memories of his influence on both mine and my siblings' life. My dad was a clarinet player, professional, in a small big band that toured around Texas during World War 2. He loved orchestration and he had a very strong mentor in a university professor who turned him on to the world of Classical orchestral arrangement........ ........He told my father, "If you love Benny Goodman, you have to come listen to this." and proceeded to show my father the score and play for him, a recording of "Le Sacre Du Printemps" (The Right of Spring) by Stravisnsky. He went on to teach him about classical music and my father fell in love with Bartok, Mozart, Stravinsky, Dvorak, Beethoven, Bach, Debussy, Ravel, Ralph Vaughn Williams, Charles Ives, and Aaron Copland, amongst many many others. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of Classical music which was amazing given his humble roots growing up in a small town in East Texas during the depression. He, along with a wonderful 3rd grade teacher , Mr. Balantine (who made us chill out every day for 30 minutes in school and gave a short lecture on the history of a different classical music composer giving me tons of knowledge for a child of 8/9 years of age) gave us an incredible education about classical music. Thinking about him, I asked my wife if she had ever heard the exquisitely sad and beautiful, Aaron Copland 'Concerto for Clarinet' which was a piece of music that my father dearly loved and turned me onto. I played clarinet myself , formally, from the ages of 8-13 in the school orchestra....................that was, until, I was seduced by the rebellious energy of Rock and Roll and started to teach myself how to play the drums at the onset of puberty. She said no so, I found this marvelous and emotional clip of Michael Tilson Thomas conducting this beautiful sad piece with the amazing Richard Stotzman playing the lead clarinet. 'Andante' section for 'The Concerto for Clarinet' by Aaron Copland If you have a moment, please listen to it I love it and I wish to pay homage to my wonderful and dearly departed father. If you enjoy this music and don't know Copland very much, I"d highly recommend that you eschew the things he was most famous for (including things like the ballet for 'Billy the Kid") and head straight for the masterful '3rd Symphony' and , of course, 'Appalachian Spring' If you still want a bit of a melancholic fix......................look up 'The Lark Ascending' by the 20th century British neo-classicist, Ralph Vaughn Williams (his 3rd Symphony is also a masterpiece of melancholia imho). |