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Every Schubert Song, Ranked: Listening to 40 hours of Lieder

van-magazine.com

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Re: Every Schubert Song, Ranked: Listening to 40 hours of Lieder

#11

Post by jb_s »

akdor1154 wrote: post #3

(completely off-topic, but commenters on this thread likely to know) Anyone know a good recommendation system for classical, or even better, cross-genre recommendations? E.g. a project/product that is hosted and ready to use / subscribe to. Where I could put in "I like pieces composed by Ravel and Holst, and I also like things performed by Remy le Beouf", and it would actually give me sensible recs.. Spotify seems to…

The youtube algorithm can do alright here. The key is a recommendation system that actually segments you into the right sort of place, spotify doesn't really work properly for me in this way.

Other than that I have no idea. I find stuff through some of the more obscure music subreddits (often by literally asking people what else is similar to XYZ). There are undoubtedly blogs around but nobody really uses the internet like that any more...

Side note Spotify and other streaming platforms are awful for even searching for classical music.

Re: Every Schubert Song, Ranked: Listening to 40 hours of Lieder

#13

Post by jancsika »

felix318 wrote: post #9
blacksqr wrote: post #7

I wish someone would do some Schubert arrangements in a more modern vein, like Cole Porter-style jazz ensemble, to make his songs more listenable to modern ears. Classical composer Howard Goodall called Schubert the last really gifted melodicist before the Beatles showed up, it's a pity his work isn't more accessible.

There is a lot of pop music that take melodies from classical pieces, they sound just like any other pop song. There is more to Schubert, or the Beatles for that matter, than a talent for melody. By the way, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Johann Strauss, and a few others born after Schubert were at least just as good melodists as Lennon and McCartney.

Plus Rossini, Dvorak, Bizet, Saint-Saens, Puccini... even Wagner's wedding march from Lohengrin is probably second only to Happy Birthday in terms of ubiquitous melodies.

And of course there's Schumann's Träumerei from Kinderszenen, a long lyrical melody which hulks out from the very beginning to break free from barline jail. Guess what Horowitz chose for his final encore when he returned to Russia after 50 years for a concert in Moscow in 1986? It wasn't "Back in the USSR." (Hee hee.)

Re: Every Schubert Song, Ranked: Listening to 40 hours of Lieder

#14

Post by bryanlarsen »

akdor1154 wrote: post #3

(completely off-topic, but commenters on this thread likely to know) Anyone know a good recommendation system for classical, or even better, cross-genre recommendations? E.g. a project/product that is hosted and ready to use / subscribe to. Where I could put in "I like pieces composed by Ravel and Holst, and I also like things performed by Remy le Beouf", and it would actually give me sensible recs.. Spotify seems to…

The trick for Spotify is to start from something obscure that you like. Anything popular will have the problem you describe Don't know how it would work for classical, but it works great for jazz.

Re: Every Schubert Song, Ranked: Listening to 40 hours of Lieder

#15

Post by acjohnson55 »

felix318 wrote: post #9
blacksqr wrote: post #7

I wish someone would do some Schubert arrangements in a more modern vein, like Cole Porter-style jazz ensemble, to make his songs more listenable to modern ears. Classical composer Howard Goodall called Schubert the last really gifted melodicist before the Beatles showed up, it's a pity his work isn't more accessible.

There is a lot of pop music that take melodies from classical pieces, they sound just like any other pop song. There is more to Schubert, or the Beatles for that matter, than a talent for melody. By the way, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Johann Strauss, and a few others born after Schubert were at least just as good melodists as Lennon and McCartney.

Chopin, especially, in my opinion. His Nocturnes are sublime. He was an absolute master of melody.

Re: Every Schubert Song, Ranked: Listening to 40 hours of Lieder

#16

Post by JasonFruit »

blacksqr wrote: post #7

I wish someone would do some Schubert arrangements in a more modern vein, like Cole Porter-style jazz ensemble, to make his songs more listenable to modern ears. Classical composer Howard Goodall called Schubert the last really gifted melodicist before the Beatles showed up, it's a pity his work isn't more accessible.

What makes his works inaccessible? I'm curious, because his song repertoire is really very approachable by any measure I understand. It's straightforward in harmony, tuneful, but expressive in a way that sits smack in the middle of the western tradition. I can't think of a more accessible entry point to classical song unless you count Stephen Foster.

Re: Every Schubert Song, Ranked: Listening to 40 hours of Lieder

#17

Post by voldacar »

acjohnson55 wrote: post #15
felix318 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a lot of pop music that take melodies from classical pieces, they sound just like any other pop song. There is more to Schubert, or the Beatles for that matter, than a talent for melody. By the way, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Johann Strauss, and a few others born after Schubert were at least just as good melodists as Lennon and McCartney.

Chopin, especially, in my opinion. His Nocturnes are sublime. He was an absolute master of melody.

His opus 28 preludes are also particularly excellent imo

Re: Every Schubert Song, Ranked: Listening to 40 hours of Lieder

#18

Post by acjohnson55 »

DavidWoof wrote: post #12

POV: Skip the list and immediately search for Erlkönig... Found it under Transcendent, Erlkönig: Never loses its power, no matter how many times you hear it. OK, I endorse this list.

I just read this piece, linked to from the list: https://van-magazine.com/mag/strange-dissonance/

Just...wow.

Re: Every Schubert Song, Ranked: Listening to 40 hours of Lieder

#19

Post by acjohnson55 »

voldacar wrote: post #17
acjohnson55 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chopin, especially, in my opinion. His Nocturnes are sublime. He was an absolute master of melody.

His opus 28 preludes are also particularly excellent imo

Yes, so good. I often listen to both the nocturnes and the preludes as a sequence.

I like a bunch of his other stuff, too, but if he only wrote the nocturnes and preludes, that would be enough for me.

Re: Every Schubert Song, Ranked: Listening to 40 hours of Lieder

#20

Post by AlbertCory »

I was taking voice lessons, and I didn't yet know any of the standard Musical Theater Audition Songs (now I have A Wandering Minstrel, I or at least I had it at one point).

So I went to audition for Iolanthe with Das Wandern ist des Müllers Lust. The director said "Are you really going to sing lied?"

I always kick myself for not answering, "Well, I'm not going to sing backup!"

I'll show myself out now.

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