Second-greatest invention of all time? The Symphony Orchestra!

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661-Pete
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Re: Second-greatest invention of all time?

Post by 661-Pete »

rjb wrote:No it must be Handle after all he invented the bar. :lol:
or disraeli the inventor of gears. - Who!
or Tubular bells but last i heard he had a visit from the fairy. :roll:

For that, I suggest you leave the bike at home and take Debussy...
Suppose that this room is a lift. The support breaks and down we go with ever-increasing velocity.
Let us pass the time by performing physical experiments...
--- Arthur Eddington (creator of the Eddington Number).
rjb
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Re: Second-greatest invention of all time?

Post by rjb »

661-Pete wrote:
rjb wrote:No it must be Handle after all he invented the bar. :lol:
or disraeli the inventor of gears. - Who!
or Tubular bells but last i heard he had a visit from the fairy. :roll:

For that, I suggest you leave the bike at home and take Debussy...


I only take the Debussy to collect the Chopin after the puncture fairy caused a flat from a sharp. :lol:
At the last count:- Peugeot 531 pro, Dawes Discovery Tandem, Dawes Kingpin X3, Raleigh 20 stowaway, 1965 Moulton deluxe, Falcon K2 MTB dropped bar tourer, Rudge Bi frame folder, Longstaff trike conversion on a Giant XTC 840 :D
Cyril Haearn
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Re: Second-greatest invention of all time? The Symphony Orchestra!

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Beethoven is celebrating his 250th birthday this year, all his symphonies were performed in Bonn in one day :?

Looked for the masters works in a concert programme, found nothing, then I realised he was under 'v', van Beethoven
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mercalia
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Re: Second-greatest invention of all time? The Symphony Orchestra!

Post by mercalia »

Cyril Haearn wrote:Beethoven is celebrating his 250th birthday this year, all his symphonies were performed in Bonn in one day :?

Looked for the masters works in a concert programme, found nothing, then I realised he was under 'v', van Beethoven


you can tell he was deaf as all his music is tonally grey, lacks sparkle
Oldjohnw
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Re: Second-greatest invention of all time? The Symphony Orchestra!

Post by Oldjohnw »

We can probably argue about anything on these pages, including music preferences.

I won't argue, though. I am a fan of Beethoven. Music preferences are subjective.

I love this from the King's Singers:

https://youtu.be/JXhAz0DOpMU
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mercalia
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Re: Second-greatest invention of all time? The Symphony Orchestra!

Post by mercalia »

the Symphony Orchestra pales into insigificance against something like a (block buster ) film. I was just looking at the credits for Avatar. Hundreds on hundreds of people playing their part. Its a shock to see the almost unending list.This was incidental as I had been watching the 2002 version of The Time Machine and the ethnic anthem/theme sounded similar to the later 2009 Avatar and I wanted to see if the same composer did both. seems like not, plagiarism?
richardfm
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Re: Second-greatest invention of all time? The Symphony Orchestra!

Post by richardfm »

Cyril Haearn wrote:The Symphony Orchestra!

100 or more* people play different instruments for an hour or more to an exact plan, how complicated is that? But it is made of lots of simple actions that combine to make the whole greater than the sum of the parts, +101

Elgar, Sibelius, Beethoven, Bach, Haendel, Mozart, Britten, Schubert, Schumann, Wagner..
Could there be any reason why most of them seem to be German? :?

* went to a Symphonic Mob concert, 400 musicians, they played 'we hate Nottingham Forest' by Sir Edward Elgar

(and Leeds)
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merseymouth
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Re: Second-greatest invention of all time? The Symphony Orchestra!

Post by merseymouth »

Hi All, I might agree to the Orchestra being the second best invention of all times, but it could never be first!
For me the Mighty Wurlitzer or Compton Theatre Organ steals top spot!
So versatile, such a rich mixture of sound & tone, with the right person manning/personning the console they run the entire gamut of music, even get the horrible bag-pipes!
I can still hear "The Organist Entertains" running in my head :D . MM
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Re: Second-greatest invention of all time? The Symphony Orchestra!

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Hey MM
my implied message is: the bicycle is the best invention, I though you might claim the trike was second best, but which was invented first? :wink:
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661-Pete
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Re: Second-greatest invention of all time? The Symphony Orchestra!

Post by 661-Pete »

As it happens, in the past few weeks I've gradually been 'playing myself back' into tinkling at the ivories* again, after a gap of some years. Not that I'll ever achieve anything others would want to listen to - but it's good therapy.

Rummaging through my substantial pile of scores the other day, I came across this. It's from a very difficult piano concerto - certainly not Mozart or Beethoven! I rather like this passage, because (a) it's the only part of the concerto that I can play (at least, the first two lines of it), and (b) the strangely ambiguous harmonies, neither major nor minor - I find them haunting. Others may not take to them though.

Can anyone who's got a piano or keyboard, (a) play it, and (b) tell me who it's by?
Start of impromptu.jpg


*No longer faced with ivory, luckily. I think piano keys are faced with some sort of plastic. Is that any better, I wonder?
Suppose that this room is a lift. The support breaks and down we go with ever-increasing velocity.
Let us pass the time by performing physical experiments...
--- Arthur Eddington (creator of the Eddington Number).
mercalia
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Re: Second-greatest invention of all time? The Symphony Orchestra!

Post by mercalia »

merseymouth wrote:Hi All, I might agree to the Orchestra being the second best invention of all times, but it could never be first!
For me the Mighty Wurlitzer or Compton Theatre Organ steals top spot!
So versatile, such a rich mixture of sound & tone, with the right person manning/personning the console they run the entire gamut of music, even get the horrible bag-pipes!
I can still hear "The Organist Entertains" running in my head :D . MM


I used to listen to that and visited one or two too see first hand.
colin54
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Re: Second-greatest invention of all time? The Symphony Orchestra!

Post by colin54 »

[quote="merseymouth"]
For me the Mighty Wurlitzer or Compton Theatre Organ steals top spot!
So versatile, such a rich mixture of sound & tone, with the right person manning/personning the console /quote]
If you ever get to Leeds on a monday they have free recitals on the town hall organ at lunchtime, worth the trip,it's a monster.

https://www.leedsconcertseason.co.uk/me ... a5-8pp.pdf
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merseymouth
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Re: Second-greatest invention of all time? The Symphony Orchestra!

Post by merseymouth »

Hi all, The bicycle as we know it now came after the tricycle, although the high wheeler or Ordinary came before that. The trike with large wheels was a safety version of the falling over large wheelers!
With regadrs to Leeds town Hall organ, glad it is still in working order in these cash strapped times. But a trip to Liverpool to hear the Willis Organ in St George's Hall is also well worth it's puff. TTFN MM
PDQ Mobile
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Re: Second-greatest invention of all time? The Symphony Orchestra!

Post by PDQ Mobile »

661-Pete wrote:
Can anyone who's got a piano or keyboard, (a) play it, and (b) tell me who it's by?

B. Britten?
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661-Pete
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Re: Second-greatest invention of all time? The Symphony Orchestra!

Post by 661-Pete »

PDQ Mobile wrote:
661-Pete wrote:
Can anyone who's got a piano or keyboard, (a) play it, and (b) tell me who it's by?

B. Britten?
Yes. Third movement of his piano concerto. Probably not a mainstream favourite, and not the easiest of listening. I remember a performance of it at the Proms a few years ago, by young virtuoso Benjamin Grosvenor - very impressive!
Suppose that this room is a lift. The support breaks and down we go with ever-increasing velocity.
Let us pass the time by performing physical experiments...
--- Arthur Eddington (creator of the Eddington Number).
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