Music & Vision's monthly column -
GORDON RUMSON writes:

Standard Fare ...

Classical music and I go way back. Sometime in the 1960s I snuck out my parents' Arthur Fielder conducts Liszt record and listened enraptured to Les Preludes, the Second Hungarian Rhapsody and Mazeppa. I'm still trying to play that last one well.

Since then I've listened to lots of music and have, through mere time and repetition, tired of the standard fare. Though I think it fantastic music, I don't feel a strong urge to hear the Symphonies of Beethoven again.

But there are many more people for whom the Beethoven Symphonies are everything they need, thank you very much. There are others for whom the 1812 Overture is a new experience and some for whom Schoenberg is too newfangled.

And fair enough! They are perfectly entitled to their tastes and certainly their experiences. Good heavens, I do still remember when I first heard the 1812 Overture. What a blast (!) I thought it was, and still do, even if I now prefer the much more rarely performed Manfred Symphony by Tchaikovsky.

All of this is as introduction to this month's MV3. It seemed to me that we'd been on the byways, the dark paths and the obscure ways for much of the time recently. And while I think (and hope listeners and readers think) we found some gems, the standard repertoire is standard for a very good reason: it's really good music.

So where can someone go to find those works, the immortal masterpieces, as they are sometimes called? Come along and let's look and listen.. vision and music at Music & Vision ...

Beethoven

There is no composer more firmly established as important than Beethoven. When the Berlin Wall fell everyone was roused by his Ninth Symphony. Here's a fine performance by a smaller ensemble that deserves a hearing. The web site, entitled Beethoven Spotlight II is at the ever faithful mp3.com. Lots of other great music including: Symphony No 9, 'Moonlight' Sonata, Symphony No 3 'Eroica' and the 'Archduke' Piano Trio Op 97 performed by an interesting array of musicians.

artists.mp3s.com/artists/67/compcompz.html

Robin Alciatore

For those who love piano music, how about trying this admirable pianist in a large number of the favourite masterpieces. Very fine piano playing, well worth a visit.

artists.mp3s.com/artists/98/robin_alciatore.html

Adelaide Symphony, with Jose Serebrier, conductor

A veritable hit-list of favourites well played with music such as: the Oboe Concerto by Marcello, Ritual Fire Dance, Bolero by Maurice Ravel, the Toreador Song and Suite from the opera Carmen by Bizet, the 1812 Overture and The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky, pieces by Offenbach, plus selections from Coppelia by Delibes.

artists.mp3s.com/artists/20/adelaide_symphonyjose_serebrier_cond.html

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