Meeting in Music: Brahms

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Following the guide below you will be able to create the ultimate HQ rip and upload for sharing here at the Meeting in Music Internet Community or on your own blog if you have one.

RIPPING A CD USING EXACT AUDIO COPY (EAC)

1. Start Exact Audio Copy and load the clean and scratchless CD into you drive.
2. Pressing ALT+G will pull track and album info from the FreeDB database if this feature is set up properly.
3. If no info is found the CD is not registered in the database and you will have to type in the info manually.
4. Adjust the Drive Settings according to the model of your drive and enable the ”Create Log-file” option.
5. Adjust the Compression Settings to rip in Flac format at 768 kBit/s. Alternatively rip in the Ape fomat.
6. Rip the CD by pressing Action -> Test & Copy Image & Create CUE Sheet -> Compressed...
7. Check the log-file to see if any ripping errors or AccurateRip inaccuracies were registered.

SCANNING THE COVERS OF THE ALBUM

1. Scans of the front and back covers should be included if available as should the booklet. 300dpi is standard.

COMPRESSING THE FOLDER USING WINRAR

1. Wrap the audio files and images in a folder marked the composer and album name etc.
2. Set Compression method to ”Store” and the volume size to 200000000. Add a 3% recovery record.
3. Compress the folder using a not-too-obvious filename.

UPLOADING TO A FILEHOST AND SHARING WITH THE WORLD

Now all you need to do is to upload the rar-files to a filehost of your choice. Mega.nz is the standard and most stable option but there are many others and some services even feature upload to multiple filehosts. Finally the download links are ready to be presented on your blog.

THE MEDIEVAL ERA (600 - 1450)

At around 500 AD, western civilization began to emerge from the period known as “The Dark Ages”, the time when invading hordes of Vandals, Huns and Visigoths overran Europe and brought an end to the Roman Empire. For the next ten centuries, the newly emerging Christian Church would dominate Europe, administering justice, instigating “Holy” Crusades against the East, establishing universities, and generally dictating the destiny of music, art and literature

During this time, Pope Gregory I is generally believed to have collected and codified the music known as Gregorian Chant, which was the approved music of the Church. Much later, the University at Notre Dame in Paris saw the creation of a new kind of music called organum.

Secular music was sung all over Europe by the troubadours and trouvères of France, and it was during the Middle Ages that western culture saw the arrival of the first great name in music, Guilliame de Machaut.

THE RENAISSANCE ERA (1450 - 1600)

Generally considered to be from c.1420 to 1600, the Renaissance (which literally means “rebirth”) was a time of great cultural awakening and a flowering of the arts, letters, and sciences throughout Europe.

With the rise of humanism, sacred music began for the first time to break free of the confines of the Church, and a school of composers trained in the Netherlands mastered the art of polyphony in their settings of sacred music. One of the early masters of the Flemish style was Josquin des Prez. These polyphonic traditions reached their culmination in the unsurpassed works of Giovanni da Palestrina.

The late Renaissance also saw in England the flourishing of the English madrigal, the best known of which were composed by such masters as John Dowland, William Byrd, Thomas Morley and others.

THE BAROQUE ERA (1600 - 1750)

Named after the popular ornate architectural style of the time, the Baroque period (c.1600 to 1750) saw composers beginning to rebel against the styles that were prevalent during the High Renaissance. Many monarchs employed composers at their courts, where they were little more than servants expected to churn out music for any desired occasions. The greatest composer of the period, Johann Sebastian Bach, was such a servant. Yet the best composers of the time were able to break new musical ground, and in so doing succeeded in creating an entirely new style of music.

The instrumental concerto became a staple of the Baroque era, and found its strongest exponent in the works of the Venetian composer Antonio Vivaldi. Harpsichord music achieved new heights, due to the works of such masters as Domenico Scarlatti and others. But vocal and choral music still reigned supreme during this age, and culminated in the operas and oratorios of German-born composer George Frideric Handel.

THE CLASSICAL ERA (1750 - 1820)

From roughly 1750 to 1820, artists, architects, and musicians moved away from the heavily ornamented styles of the Baroque and the Rococo, and instead embraced a clean, uncluttered style they thought reminiscent of Classical Greece.

At this time the Austrian capital of Vienna became the musical centre of Europe, and works of the period are often referred to as being in the Viennese style. Composers came from all over Europe to train in and around Vienna, and gradually they developed and formalized the standard musical forms that were to dominate European musical culture for the next several decades. The Classical period reached its majestic culmination with the masterful symphonies, sonatas, and string quartets by the three great composers of the Viennese school: Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven.

During the same period, the first voice of the burgeoning Romantic musical ethic can be found in the music of Viennese composer Franz Schubert.

THE ROMANTIC ERA (1820 - 1910)

The earliest Romantic composers were all born within a few years of each other in the early years of the nineteenth century. These include the great German masters Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann; the Polish poet of the piano Frédéric Chopin; the French genius Hector Berlioz; and the greatest pianistic showman in history, the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt. The field of Italian opera was dominated by Giuseppe Verdi, while German opera was virtually monopolized by Richard Wagner.

Composers like Antonin Dvorak began looking for ways in which they could express the musical soul of their homelands. Legends were therefore used as plots for operas, and folk melodies and dance rhythms were frequently used as inspiration for symphonies and instrumental music.

With the continued enhancement of instruments, plus the invention of new ones, the late Romantic composers of the second half of the nineteenth-century created richer and ever larger symphonies, ballets, and concertos. Two of the giants of this period are the German-born Johannes Brahms and the great Russian melodist Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY ERA (1910 - 1960)

In the early part of the twentieth century music became either outwardly expressive (as in the early symphonic poems of Richard Strauss, the huge symphonies of Gustav Mahler, or the operas of Giacomo Puccini), or more introverted (as in the so-called “impressionist” music of Claude Debussy). The previous century’s tide of Nationalism found a twentieth century advocate in the Hungarian Béla Bartók.

In a time of deepening psychological awareness, the expressionistic music of Arnold Schoenberg and his disciples germinated and flourished for a time.

Twentieth-century music has seen a great coming and going of various movements, among them post-romanticism, serialism and neo-classicism in the earlier years of the century, all of which were practiced at one time or another by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky.

Many of the greatest and best-known composers of the century, including Russian composers Sergei Rachmaninov, Sergei Prokofiev, and Dmitri Shostakovich along with British composers William Walton and Benjamin Britten were those who wrote music directly descended from the approved models of the past, while investing these forms with a style and modernistic tone of their own.

THE LATE 20TH CENTURY ERA (1940 - 2000)

Composers of this era sought to free music from its rigidity, placing the performance above the composition. Similarly, many composers sought to break from traditional performance rituals by incorporating theatre and multimedia into their compositions, going beyond sound itself to achieve their artistic goals. In some cases the line is difficult to draw between genres. Composers were quick to adopt developing electronic technology. As early as the 1940s, composers such as Olivier Messiaen incorporated electronic instruments into live performance. Recording technology was used to produce art music, as well.

The musique concrète of the late 1940s and ’50s was produced by editing together natural and industrial sounds. Steve Reich created music by manipulating tape recordings of people speaking, and later went on to compose process music for traditional instruments based on such recordings. Other notable pioneers of electronic music include Edgard Varèse, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Luigi Nono, and Krzysztof Penderecki.

As more electronic technology matured, so did the music. In the 1950s aleatoric music was first championed by American composer John Cage. Early minimalist compositions of the 1960s such as those by Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass stemmed from aleatoric and electronic music.

THE CONTEMPORARY ERA (from 1975)

In the broadest sense, contemporary music is any music being written in the present day. In the context of classical music the term has been applied to music written in the last quarter century or so, particularly works post-1975. Minimalism was practiced heavily throughout the latter half of the century and has carried over into the 21st century, with composers like Arvo Pärt, Henryk Górecki and John Tavener working in the more popular “mystic minimalism” variant.

Recently there has been increasing stylistic variety, with far too many schools of composition to name or label. However, in general, there are three broad trends. The first is the continuation of modern avant-garde traditions, including musical experimentalism. The second are schools which sought to revitalize a tonal style based on previous common practice. The third focuses on non-functional triadic harmony, exemplified by composers working in the minimalist and related traditions.

3/28/2016

Passion (für) Johannes

A very Happy Easter to all MIMIC's friends.
Back to our beloved Johannes Brahms, and a few lovely Mendelssohn classics as a perfect complement...

Johannes Brahms
Liebeslieder Walzer Op. 52a
Neue Liebeslieder Walzer Op. 65a
Walzer Op. 39

Ivo Varbanov & Fiammetta Tarli, Piano Duet
Omnia ICSM 001 (2013)
READ MORE...

3/10/2016

The long Goodbye

It was during the historical months which saw the Berlin wall tumble down that Kurt Masur recorded his exquisite Symphonies cycle, roughly at the same time, Harnoncourt, a Berliner, gifted us with one of the most celebrated cycles ever.

The two venerable Maestros, whose musical ideas - albeit so different in many ways - have always been marked by a constant research for authenticity, have now left us bereft of their rigorous approach to the Masters, of their humble sensitivity.

Not only we remember them with deep gratitude, but we are also pleased to add a few others gems by other great interpreters of their time.

Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 1 Op. 21 in C Major
Symphony No. 3 Op. 55 in E-Flat Major 'Eroica'

The Chamber Orchestra of Europe
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Teldec 9031-75708-2 (1990)
READ MORE...

11/02/2015

The SGORBY Rips #3

Another quality rips batch of outstanding recordings, kindly offered by our friend and contributor, Sgorby of Milan. Enjoy and have a nice start of the week!

Bedřich Smetana
Die Moldau

Franz Liszt
Les Préludes

Alexander Borodin
Polovtsian Dances

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Daniel Barenboim

DGG 415 851-2 (1977)

9/07/2015

Summer Nights #11

More beautiful Summer evenings this year, travelling, listening to marvellous music and meeting friends and authors from this website of ours and more.

The first of these 2 Nights features lots of Haydn, including some classic recordings of the Master's great Oratorios and Masses, the sublime Quartets and his wonderful late Symphonies.
Plus, some exquisite Concertos transfers by our "Magister Bononiensis" Enrico B.

Brahms can never be missing, any season...

A truly great "Great" by the Bostonians under W. Steinberg and my beloved Gieseking's unique sound exploring two classical favourite concertos in the '30s.
A Weber Concertos rare LP from the hands of the unforgettable American virtuoso Malcolm Frager, coupled with a young Anner Bylsma on a modern cello.

Lots of little gems in the Bonus section, like Badura-Skoda and Solti in Mozart's last Concerto or Charles Munch's last appearance in Rome with a splendid account of Mendelssohn's "Reformation" Symphony...

Johannes Brahms
Piano Quintet Op. 34 in F Minor

Rainer Küchl, Eckhard Seifert, Violin

Peter Götzel, Viola, Franz Bartolomey, Cello

André Previn, Piano

Philips 412 608-2 (1984)

1/25/2015

The Odd Couple

Chopin and Mozart alongside, on a Sunday, for a selection of classic recordings that should not be missing from any self-respected collection...
Amongst the household names (Pollini, Argerich, Zimerman, Perahia) a splendid recording of the complete Etudes by Tomassi and a rare recording of Mozart's big Wind Concertos by von Dohnányi and his outstanding Cleveland principals.

Frédéric Chopin
Piano Concerto No. 2 Op. 21 in F Minor
Robert Schumann
Piano Concerto Op. 54 in A Minor

András Schiff, Piano

Concertgebouw Orchestra

Antal Dorati

Decca 411 942-2 - 1985

5/11/2014

The Mahler I ♥♥♥ ... The Lieder

We started this series dedicated to the great Bohemian composer with the sublime Das Lied von der Erde, two months on it's with the Lied that we say goodbye to our beloved Gustav, well aware of the fact that in each of his wondrous symphonies lies a heart beating for the song, in its highest dimension.

The early Das klagende Lied is a work full of charm, where Mahler showcases a stunning command of the orchestral and choral forces. The beautifully scored Waldmärchen, which the composer removed from his later revisions, presents a theme intensely redolent of Kundry's aria in Wagner's Parsifal (also heard at the beginning of the Hochzeitsstück), and has been reintroduced in the performing practice some 100 years later.

The magnificent Kindertotenlieder, and the other set on Rückert's poetry are later masterpieces, sorrowful meditations on the love for life and nature, recurring themes in Mahler's artistic core.

Last but not least, Des Knaben Wunderhorn is a truly extraordinary score, taking us - song after song and with childlike enchantment - into the magical world of our ill-fated, unforgotten Genius.

Gustav Mahler
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
Rückert-Lieder
Des Knaben Wunderhorn (Excerpts)

Susan Graham, Mezzo-Soprano, Thomas Hampson, Baritone
San Francisco Symphony
Michael Tilson Thomas
HQ Digital Download - SFS (2007)
READ MORE...

12/23/2013

Of Darkness and Radiance: Tribute to Shostakovich #2

Today's MIMIC offering is our second batch of classic recordings of Shostakovich's chamber and concerto masterpieces. From the deep meditations of his celebrated Op. 87 to the masterly Violin and Cello Concertos, to then focus on the Russian Maestro's stunning late quartets and chamber music with piano. The spirit of this great man lives on in our ears and souls.

Dimitri Shostakovich
24 Preludes and Fugues Op. 87

Keith Jarrett, Piano
ECM 437 189-2 (1992)

READ MORE...

11/04/2012

The World of Debussy # 6: Debussy & Ravel - String Quartets and Piano Trios

Claude and Maurice, whose music was often associated with each other's, were actually very different men and composers. Surely, at the turn of the century Ravel regarded the genius from Saint-Germain-en-Laye as his most inspiring guide into the new music, but later remained anchored to his own peculiar style and unmistakable aesthetics.
Where the inventions of the two great masters are stylistically close, is in their String Quartets, inevitably often played and recorded together. In purely classic form, mindful of Fauré's and Saint-Saëns' lessons, these elegant quartets are rightly popular, and they feature in most string ensemble's repertoires permanently.
When it comes to the Piano Trios, Debussy's youthful effort, though brilliant it may be, is no match for Ravel's famous masterpiece, one of the most enchanting and seminal chamber pieces of all times. Take the Rosenfeld/Hoffman/Previn recording: in the 2nd Mov. Pantoum, 2nd theme (at min. 1:47), the jazzy modulation by the piano will make you think of Bill Evans, while in the Final (at min. 4:12) an intense chordal sequence foreshadows some of Messiaen's uncanny harmonies of many years later.
Among the other sublime pages here presented, Debussy's late Cello Sonata, Ravel's two Violin Sonatas (including the dreamlike Sonate Posthume in one movement) and the atmospheric beauty of the Chansons Madécasses, on poems by Evariste Parny.

Maurice Ravel
String Quartet in F Major
Claude Debussy
String Quartet in G Minor Op. 10

Quatuor Ysaÿe

Decca 430 434 2 (1991)