Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Valentina Lisitsa performs The Warsaw Concerto.

Valentina Lisitsa was a guest on BBC Radio 3's In Tune programme two hours ago. She had interesting things to say about the path her career has taken, and had good advice for anyone thinking of following in her footsteps . Of course, she was also promoting her new Liszt CD, as well as playing Schubert/Liszt's Erlkönig and Ave Maria, and Chopin's Nocturne in C# minor, Op. posthumous on the studio Steinway. And she is due to play Rach 3 in Bournemouth......

BTW, the episode will be available to hear any time from tomorrow for a week via BBC iPlayer from www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/intune.

just because classical music is more intricately constructed it doesn't mean it's better than simpler pieces of music such as those from musicals, theatre, films, whatever. Just the pretentious old "our music is better than yours". People can scream their "educated opinions" about classical music being superior to all other genres all they want here, but something tells me those at pianist corner (non classical) will be happy to disagree.

Too good for film? Is film a lesser art form? Yeah, I suppose Mozart was "too good" for the opera too..

Earlier in the thread (page one) I had inquired what Poly's sources were. I have read a fair amount about Rachmaninov, yet cannot recall coming across any outright dismissal of film music. Perhaps it was not so much a matter of 'too good', rather a lack of understanding of how to go about composing for films. (Then again, maybe not enough money was offered.)

I went on to say (IMO, but honestly) that I felt Korngold's talent was the equal of Rachmaninov as a composer, and perhaps it is our loss that Korngold's forced emigration to the US (sort of like me, but for an entirely different reason) may have deprived us of some extremely great music if his muse had not been -for a while at least- harnessed to the requirements of Hollywood.

It is a fair question.

And let's not forget that Oz was written specifically as a film musical.


Of course, Hello Dolly was first produced as a broadway musical starring Carol Channing. I actually saw it on Broadway in 1970 (with Phyllis Diller, of all people playing the lead). That same year I also saw the film version - which at the time received very mixed reviews. Some critics felt that the production was completely overblown (I can't really argue with that) and complained that Streisand was woefully miscast. "Dolly" pretty much marked the end of the big film musicals.



Which, as I'm sure you know also started out as a Broadway musical in 1956 with Julie Andrews in the lead.

I’m with you fan on your Korngold bit.

To bring good cheer, I often delight in watching
“The Sea Hawk” with
Errol Flynn (bold privateer Geoffrey Thorpe)
Claude Rains (greasy/pompous Spanish Ambassador)
Henry Danielle (treacherous Lord Wolfingham)
Flora Robson (Queen Elizabeth I) ... also doughty roles by
Alan Hale, Una O'Connor, Gilbert Roland and William Lundigan

but what about the movie “Robin Hood”?
Korngold’s music sparkles amid all those zinging bows and arrows.

Regards, btb

Are you nuts?

I luv it!

The PianoWorld forum is going through a very interesting phase, where various non qualified members call others insane! Really...

Well, Korngold did leave us quite a bit of non-movie orchestral music to judge him by, including a symphony, a piano concerto and of course the violin concerto (for which he used themes from his movies....).

Personally, I still feel that his film music shows him at his best. As well as opera (Die tote Stadt), but we all know that opera is just film music in disguise, don't we?

Some people (like John Williams) are born to be film composers .

To digress for a moment ... a prize for the first chap who can list "The Magnificent Seven" and name the composer of the music ... what an opening ... Eli Wallach
and his band of 40 thieves ride into a Mexican town.

Rachmaninoff wrote the music for 'Brief encounter' haha

and for 'The 7-year itch'.

and 'Somewhere in Time'. (A perfectly dreadful movie.)

Monroe and Rachmaninov - a powerful combination !!

Except that Jane Seymore is in it.

I didn't call him insane. I asked, if he was! It does seem, however, that he very well may be in light of that most recent contribution.

The distinction you make is unimportant and you know it.

The distinction I made was, clearly, lost on you. He knows that I don't think he is nuts and that I'm having a bit of fun. Can it.

In the world of text, "having a bit of fun" can look like something totally different. You need to craft your posts more carefully to avoid confusion.