October 2012 Media Thread

RobertLumley

This is the monthly thread for posting media of various types that you've found that you enjoy. I find that exposure to LW ideas makes me less likely to enjoy some entertainment media that is otherwise quite popular, and finding media recommended by LWers is a good way to mitigate this. Post what you're reading, listening to, watching, and your opinion of it. Post recommendations to blogs. Post whatever media you feel like discussing! To see previous recommendations, check out the older threads.

Rules:

Please avoid downvoting recommendations just because you don't personally like the recommended material; remember that liking is a two-place word. If you can point out a specific flaw in a person's recommendation, consider posting a comment to that effect.
If you want to post something that (you know) has been recommended before, but have another recommendation to add, please link to the original, so that the reader has both recommendations.
Please use the comment trees for genres. There is a meta thread for comments about future threads.
If you have a thread to add, such as a video game thread or an Anime thread, please post it to the Other Media thread for now, and add a poll to the Meta thread asking if it should be a thread every month.

Rules:

Please avoid downvoting recommendations just because you don't personally like the recommended material; remember that liking is a two-place word. If you can point out a specific flaw in a person's recommendation, consider posting a comment to that effect.
If you want to post something that (you know) has been recommended before, but have another recommendation to add, please link to the original, so that the reader has both recommendations.
Please use the comment trees for genres. There is a meta thread for comments about future threads.
If you have a thread to add, such as a video game thread or an Anime thread, please post it to the Other Media thread for now, and add a poll to the Meta thread asking if it should be a thread every month.

Glad to see one of those links is Magnetic Rag. That's my favorite.

Most people I know who like Chopin also like Rachmaninoff (his Preludes are a good place to start; if you don't mind a cellist joining in, the Cello Sonata is amazing) and Brahms (Op. 118 is a favorite). I also recommend everyone listen to Schubert's Sonata D. 960 no matter what else they like.

Lately I haven't been playing much besides Scriabin's early works. I don't think he gets enough credit -- there's a lot there. The Op. 11 Preludes are a good starting point. (The Op. 8 Etudes, the first three sonatas, the Sonata-Fantasie, and Fantaisie in B Minor are the others I'm slowly working through. He's probably my favorite composer at this point.)

Are you interested in contemporary classical? Rzewski is fantastic. Try listening to Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues or The People United Will Never Be Defeated (8-video live performance, or a good recording in a single chunk ).

As far as stuff more like Joplin, you might like Art Tatum. I'm less knowledgeable in that arena (not that I really know that much about classical music).

Magnetic Rag is my favorite too :D

Thanks for the recommendations!