Meeting in Music: Liszt

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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.

9/08/2015

Summer Nights #12

Cruising once again on the wings of a late Summer evening.

Debussy's intellectual yet sensual Mélodies and Jeux (my absolute favourite orchestral Debussy) a score that holds the secret to the musical mistery of the great Master from Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

The warm fragrance of a Spanish night like the one I'm sinking into right now, in de Falla's celebrated Noches en los jardines de España.

And then, the embrace of a Nordic Romantic with Stenhammar's Concertos meeting the sunny tones of Rota's in Tomassi's definitive recording. A rare Dohnányi and Rajna chamber music disc, some rare Liszt from John Browning and the never forgotten Hildegard Behrens, plus, some splendid Chopin by two distinguished ladies of the Romantic piano like Tanyel and Varsi.

Other rarities: for the many Eduardo Mata's fans, a Strauss and Wirén transfer of mine, plus a stunning Prokofiev by de Waart transfer by Enrico B.

Not to be missed: Pollini's rare Prokofiev 3rd Concerto and Abbado's only Gershwin, in the BONUS section...

Maurice Ravel
5 Mélodies populaires grècques
Claude Debussy
Fêtes galantes Livre I; 3 Chansons de Bilitis

Francis Poulenc

Metamorphoses; 2 Poèmes de L. Aragon; 3 Poèmes de L. Lalanne

Arthur Honegger

Saluste du Bartas

and Songs by Gabriel Fauré and Emile Vuillermoz

Karina Gauvin, Soprano

Marc-André Hamelin, Piano

ATMA ACD2 2642 (1999)

5/03/2015

Earthly Beauty: Schumann Essentials

A variety of the great Saxon master's most beloved works - in fact, all of his quintessential masterpieces are offered here, with the exception of some String Quartets and the Szenen aus Goethes Faust.

We will fill these gaps eventually, meanwhile, let us enjoy some of the most sublime moments of Schumann's art and of all Romanticism, including my beloved Symphonic Etudes (with the dreamlike IV and V Posthumous Variations above all) or the heartwarming Romanze No. 2 in F-Sharp for Piano - without a doubt some of the highest music ever conceived...

Robert Schumann
Symphonische Etüden Op.13
Johannes Brahms
Paganini-Variationen Op. 35

Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Piano
Decca 444 338-2 (1994)

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

12/08/2014

In the Name of Music: Great Austro-German Oratorios and Art Songs

Franz Schmidt's reputation is still debated due to his clear association with the Nazi regime at the time of the annexation of Austria (Anschluss) in 1938. The grand oratorio here presented (The Book with Seven Seals), based on the Book of Revelation, and only recently making a timid reappearance in our common repertoire, is a powerful work of art, whose style seems to encompass a wide lapse of some two centuries of German choral music history.

Next to it, one of the greatest examples in that repertoire, by a man whose Jewish origins brought about the most ignorant and ruthless erasure by the Nazi cultural environment: "Mendelssohn was presented as a dangerous accident of music history, who played a decisive role in rendering German music in the 19th century degenerate. (Wiki)
Surely, time has mended this outright injustice, and Mendelssohn has now finally total pride of place amongst the greatest voice of the Romantic character: Elijah, and even more the sublime 2nd Symphony ("Lobgesang") brought to you here in two awesome recordings, are there to prove it.

An absolute must-have, Schoeck's choral masterpieces, are a true discovery. This recording by the Swiss conductor Mario Venzago of his fellow-country composer - contemporary of Schmidt - is not to be missed for the variety of styles and a few gems like the delicate children song "Einkehr", harmonically reminiscent of an early Schoenberg.

The finest hour comes at the end of this post, with Hugo Wolf's exquisite sets on Heyse's poems...

Franz Schmidt
Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln
(The Book with Seven Seals)

Stig Andersen, Tenor; René Pape, Bass;
Christiane Oelze, Soprano; Cornelia Kallisch, Contralto
Chor und Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Franz Welser-Möst

EMI 56660 2 (1997)

3/15/2013

"Lasting Encounter" with Sergej Rachmaninov # 1

The last true voice of Romanticism, Rachmaninov has a special place in our hearts.
His art has always been popular, and over the last decades has finally earned the consideration it deserves amongst musicologists and historians as well.
We are going to present a handful of classic and rare recordings of his main repertoire in two posts, starting with his symphonic masterpieces and later concentrating on his renowned 4 Piano Concertos.
So, let's start by diving into the sweeping themes of Symphony No. 2, the haunting melodies of the amazing Symphonic Dances, the dense and exhilarating harmonies of his cantata The Bells, the amazing writing of his ravishing Sonata No. 2, encompassing all of the technical skills we can find in Rachmaninov's celebrated piano literature - sometimes fiendishly virtuosic, but always deeply human and genuinely touching.

Sergej Rachmaninov
Symphony No. 2 Op. 27 in E Minor
La Mer et les Mouettes (Etude-Tableau Op. 39 No. 2 Orch. Respighi)
Vocalise Op. 34 No. 14

Oregon Symphony
James DePreist
Delos 3071 - 1987

READ MORE...

11/25/2012

Mad about the Bad Boy (of Russian Music) - Prokofiev Vol. 1

Introducing an extensive discography of Prokofiev's music on MIMIC. It is always a pleasure to switch from his glorious orchestral music and his renowned chamber masterpieces, and here we have a chance to offer a number of outstanding recordings from the last three decades.
The art of Prokofiev is that of an exceptionally talented composer and innovator, whose early works' daring modernity clashed with the rigid schemes of Soviet Russia mainstream aesthetics. Later in his glorious career, the "Bad Boy of Russian Music" abandoned his typical sarcasm and roughness to become an extremely sensitive post romantic creator - one who still stands in our hearts today for his sublime and distinctive wide ranging melodic scope and his virtuosic instrumental technique (he was a stunning pianist himself, and a skilled conductor).
The deeply humane Adagio from his noted war Symphony (No. 5, composed in the summer of 1944), bringing its unforgettably sorrowful theme into a wrenching climax and finally to its consolatory, cosmic, ending, has been a personal panacea of mine all my life.

Sergej Prokofiev
"Romeo and Juliet" Op. 64 (Excerpts)

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Myung-Whun Chung

DGG 439 870-2 - 1994

READ MORE...