I've heard of it, but it's no big deal. Now, if I lived in Mexico and heard of it, you'd have reason to be impressed.Originally posted by Knight Errant:
<STRONG>I want to see HMS Pinafor (sp) really badly, but being a stereo typical poor teenager in a small town I rarely see any good drama. (If anyone has HEARD of Saskatoon Saskatchewan I'll be impressed)
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A few other works to look for:
Stabat Mater by Szymanowski. The Stabat Mater is a standard form of Marian worship within the RCC, but Szymanowski was no standard Catholic. He was a student of the mid-East at the turn of the 20th century, and his Stabat Mater is eerily beautiful. Very atypical religious music.
Respighi's Ancient and Airs and Dances, Suites #1-3. Great stuff. Respighi was composing long before Renaissance music was rediscovered, so he went through old Italian manuscripts, reorchestrating wonderful Italian airs and dances for modern performance. The results are just great fun to listen to.
Gliere's Symphony #3 (subtitled "Ilya Murometz"). Gliere was a big believer in Russian nationalism in music, long after the styles changed. But during his prime, he wrote this huge, epic of a symphony, depicting the stories in the so-called Kiev Cycle (a group of pagan folk legends that survived beyond the forced acquisition of Christianity in Russia). There are battles with monsters, huge mountains to travel across, forests as large as a country, magic and gorgeous women. The work is filled with Russian color and folk melody. If you like that sort of thing (and I do), go for it.
Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto #2 is another extremely Russian work, but much more melancholy. It's a grand, theatrical work of vast, romantic gestures, and has always been a great favorite with classical audiences. As much can be said for the same composer's Symphony #2--highly recommended. And his seldom-heard Vespers (for the evening service of the Eastern Orthodox Church; though they can't actually be sung in Church, since women aren't allowed to sing there, and Rachmaninoff refused to change this requirement) is a huge, sad, beautiful work that can be enjoyed simply for its mood, and without regard to its religious text (which is in Russian, anyway).
