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Uplifting Thoughts for the Isolated and Depressed in Times of Plague

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With Kazakhstan sadly and troublingly in the news, here's Borodin's more romantic vision of the people of the Great Steppe
Polovstian slavegirls dance and sing sadly of their homeland, but in praise of their captor, the Khan -
they don't have much option really, he's offering his honoured guest/ prisoner Prince Igor his choice of them:
plenty of vigorous uplifting and whip-waving by the males -
subtitles in Roman transcript Russian and English (of a sort) in this performance:


I think this performance is better - it ought ot be, it's the Bolshoi -
the orchestra, singing, dancing, and even the subtitles are less clumsy,
but they're in French:

 
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elephas said:
J.S. Bach - Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major BWV 1048

Netherlands Bach Society, Shunske Sato, violin and direction, 2016.

Münchener Bach Orchester, Karl Richter, harpsichord and directon.
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A fascinating comparison! Splendid energy in the old Karl Richter recording, certainly uplifting, though the lower pitch and baroque instrumentation seems to find more depth and complexity - and there's always more to be discovered in Bach!
 
Eulalia said:
A fascinating comparison! Splendid energy in the old Karl Richter recording, certainly uplifting, though the lower pitch and baroque instrumentation seems to find more depth and complexity - and there's always more to be discovered in Bach!
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Excellent comment, Eulalia, made with a deep understanding of the music! Please note that both orchestras follow the baroque tradition, with the leading musician playing the role of conductor. This concerto is also interesting for its wonderful modulations, that is, transitions from tonality to tonality, from major to minor and vice versa. Also, the Adagio, the second movement, lasts only about 20 seconds as a short break between the fast movements, which is quite unusual.
I hope our dear Praefectus Praetorio would have enjoyed this post. So let's not forget this thread he started, even when the times of plague are over.
 
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Hayley Westenra !!! Wow!


I remarked her for the first time on international stage when this performance was broadcast also on German TV and I loved this version of "Scarborough Fair" more than many, many others:


By the way, I always thought it to be a kind of justice in human history that of all the times when the greatest human music was composed or sung ... the names of the most powerful men of those same times, all the kings' or emperors' names of those times are almost all forgotten ... but songs like "Scarborough Fair" from before 1670 or names like Bach, Beethoven or Mozart will live in eternity because by their talents, they really "uplifted" human abilities and humanity!

 
Isn't it strange, heart moving, incredible and also very uplifting what an effect one simple nice song can have when sung by different human beings in different languages in different places and making one little beautiful girl famous worldwide and immortal for all times by uniting all audiences on this planet in their feelings? :




 
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From the national anthem of Ukraine:

Ще не вмерла України і слава, і воля,
Ще нам, браття молодії, усміхнеться доля.
Згинуть наші воріженьки, як роса на сонці.
Запануєм і ми, браття, у своїй сторонці.

Душу й тіло ми положим за нашу свободу,
І покажем, що ми, браття, козацького роду.

The glory and freedom of Ukraine has not yet perished,
Fate will still smile on us, young brothers.
Our enemies will die, as the dew does in the sunshine,
And we, too, brothers, we'll live happily in our land.

We will lay down our souls and bodies for our freedom,
And we will show that we, brothers, are of the Cossack nation.
 
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elephas said:
From the national anthem of Ukraine:

Ще не вмерла України і слава, і воля,
Ще нам, браття молодії, усміхнеться доля.
Згинуть наші воріженьки, як роса на сонці.
Запануєм і ми, браття, у своїй сторонці.

The glory and freedom of Ukraine has not yet perished,
Fate will still smile on us, young brothers.
Our enemies will die, as the dew does in the sunshine,
And we, too, brothers, we'll live happily in our land.
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May morning was livestreamed from Magdalen College tower in Oxford this morning, for the first time ever (pre-recorded in 2020 and 21 because of Covid) - but this video from 2018 gives the best sense of what it's like:

 
Last year I have posted Bach's sonata for violin and harpsichord BWV 1017 performed by Menuhin and Gould.

I think all 6 sonatas from this series are wonderful and suitable for this thread.

J.S. Bach - 6 Sonatas for Violin & Harpsichord BWV 1014-1019 - Jaime Laredo, Glenn Gould, 1975-1976

J.S. Bach - Violin Sonata No. 3 in E major BWV 1016 - Shunske Sato and Menno van Delft, Netherlands Bach Society, 2015

J.S. Bach - Violin Sonata No. 5 in F minor BWV 1018 - Shunske Sato and Diego Ares, Netherlands Bach Society, 2020
 
elephas said:
Last year I have posted Bach's sonata for violin and harpsichord BWV 1017 performed by Menuhin and Gould.

I think all 6 sonatas from this series are wonderful and suitable for this thread.

J.S. Bach - 6 Sonatas for Violin & Harpsichord BWV 1014-1019 - Jaime Laredo, Glenn Gould, 1975-1976

J.S. Bach - Violin Sonata No. 3 in E major BWV 1016 - Shunske Sato and Menno van Delft, Netherlands Bach Society, 2015

J.S. Bach - Violin Sonata No. 5 in F minor BWV 1018 - Shunske Sato and Diego Ares, Netherlands Bach Society, 2020
Click to expand...
Bach before bedtime - perfect!
 
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