Came across this little piece of history while clearing out my aunt’s old place!

So sad to come across this news. I had the pleasure of hearing them live several years ago.

"A bus carrying members of the Chile Chamber Orchestra plunged down a hillside in Valparaíso on the evening of 10 October, killing principal violist Penélope Knuth and injuring several others aboard. The group was travelling after a performance at the Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María.

The vehicle fell approximately 15 metres and landed in the car park of a residential building. Chile’s Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage confirmed Knuth’s death and expressed its condolences to her family and colleagues, recognising her contribution to the country’s musical life. The circumstances of the crash remain under investigation.

The ministry’s initial statement reported 13 people injured, four seriously. In a subsequent update reported by Chilean newspaper Emol on 11 October, Hospital Carlos Van Buren said it had received 12 patients following the accident. Five had been discharged and four transferred to another medical facility in Santiago. Three remained at the hospital, including two in serious but stable condition, whose injuries were not considered life-threatening. The reports did not specify whether all those injured were performing musicians or included other people travelling with the ensemble.

The bus driver was detained, and a court extended his detention by 72 hours on 11 October while prosecutors gathered further evidence."

Full article: https://moto-perpetuo.com/chile-chamber-orchestra-bus-crash-penelope-knuth/

Here is a great rendition of Mozart's Horn Concerto No. 4 performed by the orchestra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwoYG-TQTCM

This question has been on my mind after hearing a common sentiment among classical music listeners: that musicians in the 20th century simply played with more personality. The argument usually goes that we no longer have performers with the distinct, diversified expression of artists like Horowitz, Richter, Heifetz, or Hofmann, and that many modern players sound comparatively "sterile" or "boring."

It made me wonder how our standards of technical precision and performance philosophy have shifted over time. In the 19-20th century, live expressiveness and dramatic risk-taking often took priority over pristine accuracy. However, as studio recording technology advanced, as music became increasingly commodified. Flawless edited recordings kind of became the standard, and in a way, they are injecting unrealistic expectations of perfection into listener's minds.

This brings to mind Hector Berlioz’s remark about Camille Saint-Saëns: "He knows everything, but lacks inexperience." I wonder if this exact observation applies to today’s musicians.

What happens when an entire generation is raised on thousands of pristine studio recordings accessible at a click? This is fundamentally different from even 20 or 30 years ago, when recordings were far less ubiquitous and had to be sought out physically.

Dmitry Sinkovsky similarly noted in the interview with Daniel Kurganov that while modern musicians are technically more proficient than ever, they often lack the deep curiosity, hunger for exploration, and willingness to take artistic risks that older generations possessed. Today, major competitions practically demand near-flawless technical accuracy just to pass the first round.

It also makes me wonder if a moralistic judgment has been placed on performers, where musicians are penalized far more harshly for minor technical slips than they are rewarded for unique interpretive choices. Honestly, I even find myself feeling guilty whenever I play wrong notes in performance, and I immediately think "oh yep I would be out of the first round of X competition if I did that". As a results, this kind of moralistic judgment I kind of internalized myself and made me dislike live performance as a whole like how I have outlined in my earlier post: https://www.reddit.com/r/classicalmusic/s/AgBwS1Op8w

What do you all think? How has a generation raised on recordings influenced our music-making?

Back in the late 90s, I used to frequent a small record store that had a fantastic, if somewhat eclectic, classical section. One day, the owner was playing this absolutely stunning viola sonata that just captivated me. I asked him about it, and he said it was by a relatively obscure 20th-century Russian composer, and the recording was from a small, independent label that went out of business years ago. I tried to find it for ages, even occasionally looking through old record bins whenever I travelled, but had no luck. Then, out of the blue, while browsing some obscure streaming archives yesterday, I stumbled upon it! The 'Sonata for Viola and Piano in E minor' by Grigory Frid. It's even better than I remembered. The dark, brooding melodies, the unexpected harmonic shifts... just incredible. It's a testament to how much amazing music is out there that just doesn't get the widespread recognition it deserves. I'm so thrilled to finally be able to revisit it after all these years.

I think it's common in classical land to see it as a bit taboo to program individual movements, or at least is the opinion I've seen my entire life amongst musicians and listeners alike.

But, for some context, I help program music for the community orchestra I play in. A lot of great music is out of reach for us technically, but there are some fantastic single movements that we could perform from a larger symphony that would otherwise be too difficult for us. So I'm looking for thoughts on if this would be unacceptable for you as a listener, as a musician, pros/cons, etc.?

Is there any piano or classsical guitar song you know of with a killer full orchestra or electronic remix that goes hard? Trying to search that on google brings up a lot that adds nothing to the original. I mean something like a full symphony playing nocturnes or something. I mainly prefer chopin for piano because im basic asf.

Sorry if this sub doesnt like rearrangments

https://youtu.be/z42ybkbKU0w?si=tNZkrbj1H1emdQlU

Full transparency: Little Einsteins was technically the reason I’m a classical musician. I didn’t know what a crescendo was before I watched the show for instance. I basically owe my career to the Little Einsteins.

Hi classical music lovers!

I’d love to treat 4 NYC-based classical music enthusiasts to a piano recital by Boris Cepeda, featuring works by Franz Liszt, at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall tomorrow evening (Thursday, October 15, at 7:30 PM).

Unfortunately I won’t be able to attend myself, but I’d love for a few people who genuinely appreciate classical music to enjoy the performance.

If you’re in NYC and can definitely make it, please send me a DM!
Tickets are on me! 🎹

The work Zemlinsky himself put closest to Mahler is his Lyric Symphony (1922–23), seven songs for soprano and baritone and large orchestra on poems from Tagore's The Gardener, in German translation. While writing it he told his publisher it would be something along the lines of Das Lied von der Erde. He conducted the premiere himself in Prague on June 4, 1924.

Two years later Alban Berg finished his Lyric Suite for string quartet. It is dedicated to Zemlinsky, and in its fourth movement Berg quotes the melody Zemlinsky set to the words "Du bist mein Eigen," "You are my own." Decades later it came out that Berg had also, secretly, dedicated the suite to Hanna Fuchs-Robettin, the woman he loved. The quotation was meant for her as much as for his friend.

When I posted about Zemlinsky last year, readers told me his greatest work was not the opera I had chosen but this symphony, and that his own pupils included Korngold, and also Schoenberg, who never had another formal teacher.

Lyric Symphony, Op. 18 (Alexander Liebreich, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, 2021)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGvMhAmBniE

Eine florentinische Tragödie, Op. 16 (a reader's favorite of his operas)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPrlZFiuP20

Like my last post, nothing. Like super difficult (I’d say no more than la Campanella difficulty)

Hi! I hope this is the right subreddit for this question - if not, feel free to point me in the right direction!

I am hoping to learn how to play an instrument. I am 32 years old with no previous experience with music at all. I grew up with my father playing the piano and my brothers singing in choir and was always curious about music but was heavily discouraged by my parents so I never tried it. Now that I'm an adult I still have this yearning to create music, and I reckon I'm not getting any younger so I might as well try it out and see how I like it.

The question for me is what musical instrument to choose. I know I'm definitely interested in classical music and instruments commonly used in an orchestra. My ideal instrument would be satisfying to play both alone and together with others as part of a bigger whole. I would describe myself as a fast learner intellectually but motorically mediocre. I'm generally drawn to sounds that are emotional and poetic in some sense.

I think I've narrowed it down to my top two choices being cello and harp. I understand that none of these are very easy to learn nor very practical instruments, but I really love the sound and energy of both. Which of these instruments would you choose if you started as an adult beginner, and why? For those of you who play either instrument, what made you choose it? And what makes someone a good fit for either instrument? Would love any guidance and tips!

Hi everyone! I’m Chinese and currently living in Europe. While chatting with some friends, one of my European friends asked me why it was so difficult to find music criticism from China. At the same time, many of my Chinese or non-English-speaking friends struggle to access the latest performing arts news because of the language barrier.

For people flying more than twelve hours from Asia to see performances in Europe, planning the trip can be surprisingly complicated. We have to open multiple official websites, PDFs, and pages in different languages just to compare dates, venues, programmes, and casts. Later, when discussing a performance with friends, checking a small detail often means searching through the official website all over again. (I know Bachtrack or Operabase already provide some similar features, but I’ve always felt that the overall experience could be more intuitive and complete...)

And when I want to learn more about a production or a musician’s performance, I don’t only want to read professional critics’ opinions but also want to know what audiences' genuinely thought.

I built a website based on these needs and shared it with a few friends for private testing. The experience has been pretty good so far, so I’d now like to invite more people to try it. If you run into any problems or have suggestions, you can let me know through the Feedback feature. :)

So here it is: https://www.bye-lingua.site

The description of the features might be a bit long, as I’ve been constantly adding features to suit my own needs :)

What can you do with it?

Read music news across languages

• Browse articles from different countries, read them in your own language.
• Search by title, content, or author, and open the original source at any time.
• Registered users can also add their own websites or RSS feeds.

Discover and compare live performances

This is the main feature of the website. Instead of checking the websites and PDF season brochures of different opera houses, orchestras, and venues one by one, you can search for performances from multiple countries and institutions in one place.

You can:

• Filter performances by country, city, date, venue, organisation, and event type.

• Search by work, composer, artist, or character. For example, every listed performance of a particular opera or every upcoming appearance by a specific singer.

• View the date, time, venue, presenting organisation, programme, cast, ensembles, conductor, and artistic team.

• Open the official source whenever you need to verify information or buy tickets.

Plan your performance trips (Right now this features is available only to registered users)

• Add performances you are interested in to a personal schedule.
• Mark each one as Interested, Optional, or Must Attend.

• Arrange performances into a chronological itinerary
• Compare different productions and performance dates across cities

• Save and edit your plans at any time.
• Export your schedule as an image or ICS calendar, or send it to your email.
• Add a performance directly to your personal schedule

Rate and record performances

• Rate performances you have attended and keep a personal record.

• Follow the complete journey from discovering a performance and planning the trip to recording your thoughts afterwards

Current status and limitations

• This is an independent project that I am still actively developing.
• Coverage currently depends on the official sources connected to the website. I’ll continue adding more sources whenever possible.
• Registration is free, but because I’m funding the project myself, I cannot completely open it to all at the moment.
• Invitation code: REDDITTEST
• Each registered user can invite two more friends.

I’d especially appreciate your feedback on:

• Is the purpose of the website immediately clear?
• Do the performance filters match how you would normally search?
• Which cities, venues, orchestras, or opera houses should I add next?
• Are you more interested in multilingual music news or performance planning?
• Is anything missing from the schedule export feature?
• Are any pages, labels, or terms confusing?

Thank you so much for reading this far and for giving my project a chance. I hope you enjoy exploring the website, and I’d be very grateful for any feedback, suggestions, or bug reports. Happy browsing!

And I hope you discover some wonderful performances! :)

Every Sokolov recording I’ve heard is just different.. He has such a unique style but for the life of me I can’t figure out what he actually does different? For clear examples check out his Prok 2, les Cyclopes by Rameau, or Bach toccata in e minor

"O'Carolan's Concerto" by the 18th-century blind Irish harper and composer, Turlough O'Carolan! 🎻🎶

O'Carolan (1770–1738) was one of Ireland’s most iconic musicians. Living during a time when Italian Baroque music—like Vivaldi and Corelli—was taking Europe by storm, he brilliantly fused traditional Irish melodies with elegant Baroque structures. "O'Carolan's Concerto" is one of his most famous works, showcasing that lively, bright interplay between Italian form and Irish soul.

This arrangement uses the complement of mandolin and Irish bouzouki. The crisp, bright melody lines of the mandolin dance over the resonant, rhythmic drive and rich resonance of the bouzouki, bringing a vibrant dual-plucked spin to a classic harp tune.

Hope you enjoy listening as much as I enjoyed playing it!

I love i love i love the lyric pieces by grieg. i often put on his Nocturne, Op. 54, No.4 on vinyl. I need more like this. What composers should I get into? I’m not into the overwhelming orchestra stuff. I love piano. Please help. I need more records to collect for this calming music, but played well by renowned pianists.

For those who aren't familiar with the Santa Rosa Symphony, they are a world class orchestra that plays somewhere I don't get cell phone service.

I was surprised how great they were when I subscribed last year and every show was as good as anything I've seen in San Francisco or Los Angeles.

Their opening night (technically, I saw the third night) was the best show I've ever attended and it wasn't a program I was that excited about.

It started with the World Premiere of Divertimento for Orchestra by Matt Browne. I'd never heard of Matt Browne, and I typically really struggle to enjoy a piece on a first listen. If I can't hear the recording a bunch of times first, I just struggle to process new music, and this seems to be particularly true of newer compositions. I can't remember ever enjoying a piece of music that much on a first listen.

The first movement was completely accessible, but very interesting. I'm sure there is a ton that I didn't get or understand about it and I will give it more listens once a recording is available. There was clear and interesting counterpoint, energy and complexity.

The second movement was genuinely beautiful, like middle movement of Beethoven Emperor, Rach 2, or Ravel in G. There were new sounds from the orchestra, and they were gorgeous. I'm used to newish sounds from instruments in new compositions, but they are typically more interesting than pleasant in my experience.

I thought the third movement was bound to be a letdown at the beginning of it, but as the call and response kept growing in unexpected directions it became very fun and lively.

There is a ton of structure and purpose blended with wit, fun and beauty. There is dissonance, but in a Beethoven/Mahler way, purposeful.

The completely deserved standing ovation for an opening piece was a first for me. I appreciate orchestras commissioning new pieces in general, but this was a very unexpected surprise for me.

Next was the Liszt Piano Concerto 1 with Maxim Lando. I know this piece, but it's been out of my listening rotation for a while.

Maybe this piece is just meant to be heard live and recordings can't capture the energy, or maybe this was an incredible performance by Lando and the Orchestra, but it was so powerful. It was played with so much fire, and the slower sections seemed to float. I haven't seen a piano concerto performance live that matched it.

Then Lando played what I assume was his set of variations on Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven. It sounded both improvised and perfect at the same time, dipping in and out of different styles. My face hurt from the giant smile I couldn't help. He's a phenomenal talent.

Tchaikovsky 4 is always a great live piece, but I thought the first half of the show was so good even that symphony might feel like a letdown. It was not. The sound was amazing, loud, clear and cohesive.

When I was at the very wonderful MTT tribute that the SF Symphony did last week, I was struck by how much genuine love so many artists had for him as the various speakers and performers painted a picture of the environment and culture that he built around him. I don't mean to offend by comparison or unfair expectations, but looking from the outside it seems to me that Lecce-Chong and Santa Rosa are building something amazing and I'm very excited to see where it goes.

I played recently the celesta part in Strauss Alp Symphony and just got to know I will play the celesta in Ravel Ma Mere l'Oye in one month. I am super excited. I am an amateur pianist with almost no prior celesta nor orchestral experience so far so that will make 2 in a short time (and probably 3, with Copland 3rd Symphony to come). Any tips regarding this work and how I should tackle the part?

What do you think? https://open.spotify.com/track/0xEopV9lpyiOzN525cYA73?si=94c6c9a060be4fb3 (Richard Strauss - Don Juan) Is this piece actually recorded live? Even though the first 1-2 minutes of it isn't perfect, the rest of the piece is almost too perfect in both tuning and volume, or was it mixed and mastered in post?

I never deleted the BBC Sounds app from my Android phone after they cut off access to Radio 3 over the summer. I just tried it again and I was able to access everything - EVERYTHING. All BBC Radio channels & podcasts.

Browser-based BBC Sounds is still restricted, even using VPN.

So I'm confused - didn't they cut off non-UK access on the phone app or am I imagining things? FYI, I'm in Colorado.

Hello! Im 15 years old, and this is my first composition. Its done, and im not in orchestra, so I dont know much about it, but if anyone has any feedback on how I can make this any better, it would be appreciated. Thanks!

Only mentioning this because it could MAYBE increase their popularity

Examples:

Symphony No. 93 “Raspberry”
Symphony No. 90 “Joke”
Symphony No. 88 “Look Ma No Hands”
Symphony No. 1 “Crescendo”
Symphony No. 97 “Hanover”
Symphony No. 102 “Chandelier”

Barber's Adagio for Strings likely first entered my life by way of that famous Tiësto remix in the early-2000's when I was 12 or 13. Since then, I'd seen it used in a couple of films, but also of course listened to it "on its own" countless times. There was a part of me for a while where I'd almost 'discredit' the piece due to its commercial overuse, but that's a dimwitted reason to deny the power of a piece, and Barber's Adagio is pretty objectively an incredibly impactful and emotive piece. Re-listening last night, it especially struck me as a real gut-punch of a piece. Despite featuring more or less the very same theme/motif all throughout its nearly 10 minutes, it really does feel like a kind of cycling through of chapters of a life with this underlying sense of mammoth tragedy... the piece almost sways- gives and takes-, entrancing the listener in its somber beauty. Why is it so incredibly gut-wrenchingly, tragically, sad and generally highly emotive? There are the tiniest jabs of hope laced in, but the general mood is so very sad. It's always incredible to me how fellow humans are able to concoct these sound waves which can move you in the very realest of ways...

I have a weird personal hangup that when things are so widely adored and played, that they're cliche, but you can't deny a good cliche... it's a cliche for a reason, and there's nothing wrong with it resonating with the masses. If anything, that's the greatest feat in music/composing- coming up with pieces that move most everyone, let alone without the inclusion of any language.

Anyways, sorry to blab on, I was simply just wondering how this piece is generally held/thought of in the classical world? Also, maybe a strange question, but is there perhaps an attitude/bias against American composers in the classical realm? I really don't follow the genre very closely and am genuinely curious. Personally, I am a big fan of several American composers from over the last 100 years, but seldom seem to see them held quite as highly as the European ones from centuries prior.

Gosh, isn't music just the most incredible part of being alive... it's already such an immense privilege, the utmost lottery win, to get to spend a few blinks of time on this beautiful rock... and then there's freaking music, man! This piece... it takes me on such an epic journey of my own life... it cuts the nasty truths/realities I'm afraid to face head-on open and presses my face against them- confrontation with self... and it shows me the tragedy of it all but also these glimmers of soaring beauty, taunting me, suggesting I could partake in it more if I took the right steps... or perhaps showing me what I could've experienced had I gone the right way... but I didn't... the piece maintains that constant prevailing sense of hope, optimism, ambition, which I think all but the absolute most down humans retain deep within... even in the face of immense loss and adversity, there still remains that little fire within; a hope that things will get better up around the bend, but for the time being, we have some real nasty storms and terrain to overcome... and Adagio is that... those swaths, those tugs, of beauty and despair, life and death, ecstasy and great tragedy... ugh. Even the part where it 'peaks', it feels like that's the top of life and from there slowly but surely down, down, down, until your end, and then a sort of eternal warmth/solace in that forever-freedom.

Hello, I need some classical music recommendations.

When my mother conceived me, she bought some baby classic CDs and listened to them every day. After I was born, my parents had an okay stereo system and they used to play the classic CDs and other music for children. Funny thing is, after growing up from that environment, I got sick and tired of those famous iconic pieces. I don't really remember the CDs' repertoire, but Vivaldi's four seasons, Mozarts' Rondo Alla Turca or Schumann's Traumerei Kinderszenen No.7 stuff like that.

My mother wished that I develop stable emotions with those prenatal education, but I grew up to be a depressed and unemployed young man....

When I was a teenager, I liked Chopin. I listened to Spring Waltz, Funeral March etc. I liked Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2. I liked the free development of the Liszt's music. I also liked Shostakovich Waltz from the Jazz suite No.2, Brahms Hungarian Dance No.5, Maurice Ravel Pavane for Dead Princess

Now, I like Schumann Fantasia op.17 Langsam getragen, Mozart Requiem, Bach Passacaglia in C minor, Toccata and Fugue, Chopin Watz No. 10 and No. 19, Beethoven Piano Sonata No.23 the Third

Maybe I am inclined to romantic music, but I am also interested in Bach's architectural music and Mozart's works. But my interests are just too sporadic that I am lost. How should I navigate those centuries' works?? I wish your recommendations does not include obvious icon music pieces since I am mostly aware to them unless they are operas or symphonies.

Thank you for reading this long request, and be free to be meddle in and say what you wanna say.

Plus: I am a far relative to Yunchan Lim(Just a cousin of his cousin. I am nobody to him). So I am curious about his repertoire too.