Please cut and paste new entries to the bottom of this page, creating a new monthly archive (by closing date) when necessary.

Use variants as appropriate, e.g. with a large set of files, all of which pass, '''Promoted all''' is fine, but if one of them didn't pass for some reason, make sure that's clear.

Johannes Brahms, String Quintet No. 1, Op. 88

Johannes Brahms - String Quintet No. 1, Op. 88 (1882)

Johannes Brahms String Quintet No. 1, Op. 88, was one of Brahms' least popular chamber works; however, he described it to his friend Clara Schumann as "one of my finest works", and told his publisher that "You have never before had such a beautiful work from me."

Performed by Roxana Pavel Goldstein, Elizabeth Choi, violins; Elias Goldstein, Sally Chisholm, violas; and Jocelyn Butler, cello in 2009.


A fine performance of an unusually modernist work. I can see why it wasn't popular at the time, but it does use discordances and other unusual harmonic structures to very interesting effect. I like it a lot. Our article on it is a bit of an embarassment, but, eh, the state of articles isn't part of Featured Sounds (though if anyone knows a Brahms expert, can you nudge them that way?) Adam Cuerden (talk) 18:49, 21 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]


Promoted all (3 Files) --Sven Manguard Wha? 21:37, 3 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]


Star Spangled Banner instrumental

The The Star-Spangled Banner is the national anthem of one of the largest countries in the world. This recording seems to be very high quality and is in the public domain.


They have and I may nominate a few others --Guerillero | My Talk 14:34, 2 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Star Spangled Banner instrumental.ogg Adam Cuerden (talk) 22:10, 3 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Orfeo

Sadly, it looks like we're going to end up delisting Trisdee's other work, however when I went to her page, I stumbled upon this piece. It seems to be of a high performance standard, and I can't find any flaws with it. It's used on the featured article L'Orfeo, and it has a well built and informative information page.


Promoted File:Orfeo - Toccata.ogg

Over the Northern Mountains

A beautiful fanfare for the GPL game Battle for Wesnoth. This piece is representative of modern orchestral style (is blog mentions this), as well a blend of fantasy-style music like Lord of the Rings. (This last assertion is only mine, although he does discuss a little bit about this at the Wesnoth forums [1]). I know, unorthodox sources, words directly from the composer's keyboard is good enough, yes?

I'd be very wary of using this as an example of modern orchestral style, unless there is a source stating this which is stronger than the blog of the composer (or a web-forum). If this was from a notable game, then I suppose it would be useful and notable to illustrate that - how notable is this game? The Wiki page doesn't seem to indicate how popular / downloaded / installed / etc it is, and the reviews on the page don't seem to indicate a widly positive set of reviews. The piece sounds good, albeit as performed by electronic synth orchestra rather than the real thing. I'm undecided about it at the moment. Major Bloodnok (talk) 14:37, 18 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I believe the game is fairly notable for a freeware game. Maybe about the level of Iji or (before it got a commercial release) Cave Story. If you don't know those, that probably means that, unlike me, you aren't a geek. =P That said, it's not aanywhere near the levels of notability found in a commercial release. The description is maybe a little hyperbolic, though; I don't think anything can be "highly representative" of such a diverse field. Adam Cuerden (talk) 15:12, 18 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Well, "highly representative" among free music. That could be changed, though. --haha169 (talk) 01:48, 19 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
In response to Major, I will have to say that Battle for Wesnoth, the article, is a complete mess. This is mostly because, in its nature, open source is community oriented so WP:V compliant references are hard to come by. But it is generally seen as the best open-source game out there, on par with some of the earlier 2000s-decade games. --haha169 (talk) 01:55, 19 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Northern mountains.ogg Adam Cuerden (talk) 22:04, 3 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Delist: Buxtehude BuxWV 104 – Was frag ich nach der Welt

Choked start: Sven cropped it 0.25 s further in yesterday, which does make it slightly more acceptable. My 1.8 s crop might have saved the opening harpsichord note, but diving into the middle of a continuous movement wouldn't pass FSC nowadays. Pity; it's a good performance otherwise. Description page inadequate.

Run that past me again, why a fatal flaw needs an email sent? In featured pics, if someone uncovered an overexposed pic (thus irreparable), would you have to send private emails out to make the delisting legitimate? Tony (talk) 13:27, 22 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
There's a difference in my view, in that there seems to be an indication that this was part of a larger whole. If that is the case, and Trisdee is willing to give us a better file with a bit more on the front, we could save the FS. If I am completely wrong in this, well I'm sorry. I just don't want to give up FSes without a fight. Sven Manguard Wha? 23:10, 22 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Demoted BuxWV 104 - Was frag ich nach der Welt.ogg Sadly, it must be done. The community has spoken. -- Sven Manguard Wha? 21:25, 4 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]


Octet (Schubert)

A fine performance of Schubert's Octet, D. 803, on period instruments. I can't find much to complain about here, except for minor tuning issues, which are to be expected in live recordings involving early 19th-century wind instruments. The whole work is naturally presented in the article Octet (Schubert), and the first movement is used as an example in the chamber music article. My personal favourite movement is the third one ... it sounds like so much fun!

Promoted full set of six files --Sven Manguard Wha? 21:08, 5 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Piano Sonata No. 7 (Beethoven), First Movement

A superb recording of a gorgeous piece. This has had some very mild noise reduction; a previous nomination failed due to a low-volume hiss.

Promoted Piano Sonata No. 7 (Beethoven), First Movement 2.ogg --Guerillero | My Talk 14:09, 8 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

La Campanella

An excellent and beautiful performance, and we lack any Liszt compositions, despite having a few excellent recordings.

Bartok - Sonatina

Appears in Sonatina (Bartók) and Béla Bartók. I pondered separating the track into three, one for each movement, but it's a rather short piece, anyways. :)

Facepalm
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
Facepalm Facepalm
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.


Promoted File:Bartok - Sonatina.ogg Adam Cuerden (talk) 21:12, 12 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Stars and Stripes Forever

Pretty noteworthy composition, especially in the United States. (Boy, I'm on a patriotic roll here...). I'm aware of the other Edison Records recording, but we have here a modern recording as opposed to a historical recording. Also, a problematic issue here is that I cannot find the date of the recording. Do we go instead with the date of that the piece was composed?

By the way, this does mean we want to keep on top of the military stuff; once it's gone, it's going to be very hard to get. A Adam Cuerden (talk) 19:16, 4 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Indeed. I'm trying to get my hands on the Marine Band's performance of Pines of Rome...can't find it anywhere. These things cycle, and once they're gone...they're gone. --haha169 (talk) 02:27, 5 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]


Promote Sfan00 IMG (talk) 23:15, 12 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Taps - U.S. Army Band

A well recognized and well performed version of Taps, performed by the Army band similar to its performance of Reveille.


Promote Sfan00 IMG (talk) 23:13, 12 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Ravel's String Quartet, Mvt. 2

Good musicianship. Recording has a couple extraneous sounds towards the end, but overall a high quality recording.

Support Superb. Adam Cuerden (talk) 21:44, 8 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Ravel - String Quartet, mvt 2 - US Army Band.ogg --Sven Manguard Wha? 03:07, 13 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

James Scott - Frog Legs Rag

Reboot: The original submission has been withdrawn and is about to be replaced with a new version (sometime in the next few days.) Since the new version is the culmination of the discussion from this nomination, I'm just going to suppress it and let the new nomination use the same space, for historical/record-keeping/laziness reasons. Sven Manguard Wha? 21:08, 4 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.


Appears in Frog Legs Rag and James Scott (musician). I'm VERY pleased at how the collaboration with Juju came out. Because of the nature of this, it's tweakable if anyone spots something (and we agree, of course), though try not to rethink everything we've done =) Adam Cuerden (talk) 07:39, 23 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

  • Nominate and support. Adam Cuerden (talk) 07:32, 23 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support as co-nominator. Jujutacular talk 13:13, 23 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  • Fundamental query—was this performed live, or were the notes placed in position electronically? My problem is that the performance is completely robotic. There appears to be not a single deviation from a prefabricated tempo, pulse, and rhythm. As such, it is devoid of musical interpretation. Sterile. Even a piano roll of the period (binary code, too) would contain the results of musical interpretation. Tony (talk) 09:30, 23 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
    • Is that a question or a statement? ;-) Yes the notes were placed digitally, but the fact that you're asking tells me you know that what you're saying is a little off: there are variations in tempo and pulse. If you'd like to propose changes, we're listening. This is ragtime however, which generally is performed quite mechanically. Jujutacular talk 13:13, 23 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
      • There are also hundreds of subtle changes to rhythm and phrasing. There's a big difference between legato, staccato, and everything in between, all of which can be (and is) used to add an interpretation. Adam Cuerden (talk) 23:11, 23 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  • Question Why are we using the synthetic piano instead of feeding the MIDI into Juju's piano like your last collaboration. This isn't me saying that the decision is good or bad, only that it's different from how you did your other ragrime collaboration. Sven Manguard Wha? 04:57, 24 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  • Strong oppose. Removing my oppose because I don't want to appear to be obstructive, and anyway there's enough support here to gain promotion. I would be pleased to see discussion / careful thought before any more of this genre are nominated. Tony (talk) 13:30, 4 March 2011 (UTC)Plain unmusical unless it's significantly worked on. Tony (talk) 12:21, 28 February 2011 (UTC) I want a live performance or a MIDI construction that sounds like it. "hundreds of subtle changes to rhythm and phrasing"—Could have fooled me. "This is ragtime however, which generally is performed quite mechanically."—Not that mechanically. You really notice it at the cadences; e.g., 0:19, 0:37, and 0:57. 1:31 is disappointing. There's a bit of tweaking at 1:12, yes. Tony (talk) 10:23, 24 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
    • Which is, of course, why you only opposed after asking if it was based on a live performance. Because you were so easily able to tell. Adam Cuerden (talk) 18:24, 24 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
      • No, I opposed because it's unmusical—it wouldn't have mattered whether it was a live recording or a MIDI construction. I quite like the timbre of the synthesiser, and I have no issue whatsoever with the concept of carefully arranging each not in a MIDI file: on the contrary, I'd love to do this myself. But I find the arrangement of the notes not nearly nuanced enough, even for a motor perpetuum genre like a rag (the thing is, the mechanical nature of the accompanimental motif demands some give and take at the structural joins, or it becomes unrelenting. To me, it sounds as though it's a Finale performance from the notation alone—that is, with utterly no variation from the notation. Listen hard, as I did after your comment, and you can only just make out a bit of fiddling. Not nearly enough, though. Tony (talk) 07:54, 25 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  • I sought expert opinion of a piano specialist, Mr David Kinney, who is employed by a conservatoire. He says it is totally unsatisfactory on a musical level. Ragtime is not "robotic", he says. He turned it off after three phrases. Tony (talk) 09:23, 25 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Wow, so a few seconds of the actrual file in question are all he needs to agree with you when you ask him to agree with you.
I'm also impressed that, while complaining about how rigid the beat is, and how you can tell in the first few seconds, neither of you noticed that it starts with a gradual accellerando over the first four seconds. I thought I'd give you a little time to notice. And yet, while complaining about how the notation, you didn't notice.
There's lots of fiddling, every bar has four or five changes in note length. Adam Cuerden (talk) 11:57, 25 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
After reading the comments you attribute to this expert, I'm quite sure he's a quack. No remotely competent expert in any field would render judgment on something after only viewing a fraction of it, period. You've indicated that he's done so twice. I'm sorry to be so blunt, but if this Mr. Kinney really did what you said he did, I wouldn't trust him to even tell me what instrument he's hearing, because it's clear that he lacks the will to put in even a basic amount of effort in assessments and lacks the expertise to know that musical pieces change over the length of their performances. Also, to the video, I have never known a competition musician to use "cheap" instruments. Also, if someone's going to offer their opinions, the need to have their own account and they need to say those opinions themselves. Opinion by proxy is not as credible as matching opinion to a single account. Sven Manguard Wha? 21:28, 26 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Quack or not, these kind of comments are also inappropriate because they invite Essjay-style review. Announcing that you have this expert friend is unnecessary, and sets bad precedence. Wikipedia is at risk to this type of problem, and in my opinion Featured Sounds is especially so. If you want to discuss nominations with friends and discuss your findings here, that's fine with me, but they should be given the same treatment as any other user's opinion. I respect your opinion and your friend's, and I actually agree that this file could use a bit more humanization, but announcing a level of expertise has no place here. Jujutacular talk 23:11, 26 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oh look, how dare you insult my friend of more than 25 years. You have a hide, both of you. He is a fine musician and an excellent judge. Your problem is that you can tell exactly what the problem is from listening to no more than a few phrases. It's plain boring and unmusical. You should be ashamed of yourselves. And Sven, you don't even have the guts to use your real name on WP; yet you want to take his real name and insult him? (He was fine with my using his real name, but I guess he didn't count on this kind of nastiness.) Tony (talk) 12:19, 28 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
    • I can't speak for Sven, but what do I have to be ashamed of? I told you I respect yours and his opinion, but that announcing a level of expertise has no place here. I could tell you about mine and my friend's musical backgrounds, but you would have to take all that with a grain of salt. If we can't learn from an experience like Essjay, what would it take? I cringe at the thought. Jujutacular talk 13:18, 28 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
      • My not using my real name is irrelevant, as is your friend's using of his. What's reliant is that his method of assessment is totally wrong, the equivalent of looking at the top corner of the Mona Lisa and saying "oh yes, there's some yellows and greens and such but I really don't see the point here" without ever looking at the piece as a whole. If Roger Ebert or any other music critic wrote "the first 7 minutes of the movie were not up to snuff so I walked out of the theater, I give it zero stars" no one would listen to his advice. It's bad practice and everyone knows it's bad practice. Sven Manguard Wha? 21:31, 28 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support on one suggestion - could the right hand accents be just a hair softer? I like how you're highlighting the bass in spots - don't change that. But the right hand accents (you know, on the syncopated chords) get a tad repetitive after a while. Otherwise, lovely rag - better than late-night coffee. Or...early morning coffee. Gosh, I need better study habits... — La Pianista  10:51, 28 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  • Ah, I hadn't thought of suggesting changes to it. In that case, may I suggest that a few tweaks could overcome the unrelenting robotic feel. Here are some suggestions for "marking" the periodic structural points, allowing it to "breathe" a little; I wonder how hard it is to implement them in the file (i.e., can you make one note/chord sound a little later and have all of the subsequent events move later to make it work?).
  1. 11 s—Just a tiny bit more time before the RH melody comes in after the LH tonic? Either that or a tiny tiny delay in the sounding of the tonic? Or both? I'd like to be able to feel it perceptibly. Same at 29.9 s etc. That phrase is repeated so many times.
  2. 18.5 s—the trilly motif in the RH: can you do something with it? Again, what happens if it comes in a teensy bit later. Same at 38 s. I'd be inclined to make those descending octave-doubled notes a bit slower. They are the entree into the next structural unit. Maybe not at 46.5 again, though, since that's ongoing within the structure. But yes at 54.5, please, since that is a major periodic join; but not at 1:06, as before.
  3. 26 s—that highest note in the RH ... it is in tune, isn't it?
  4. 1:13 s—The isolated RH chord sounds trivial, but it's a nice little idea. It is flicked over without a thought.
  5. The transition around 1:37 is so elaborate note-wise that it comes off well metronomically, as you have played it.
  6. 2:13 s—Desperately needs pulling back in tempo, momentarily, just enough to mark the change.
  7. 2:31 s—Mark it.
  8. Then last three chords: choked off, falls off a cliff. Some kind of greater emphasis (a slight rall.) is essential.

A boring performance can be turned into something with life if just a few adjustments are made. Otherwise, I still cannot support this nomination. Tony (talk) 12:13, 28 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Initial changes File:Frog Legs Rag 3.mid - please provide any and all critique. Adam Cuerden (talk) 13:16, 28 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment As is, it needs more reverb, and could definitely use more staccato throughout on the up beats. The common ragtime eighth-note pattern is usually long-short, and I think that's what this piece is going for.
    I also noticed a lot of notes that were taken too far off-beat to where they sounded almost like mistakes--but that could just be my MIDI player. If these two things are cleaned up, then my vote would be to Support. — trlkly 21:26, 28 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
    • Staccato on the upbeats sounds off in a lot of sections, as it de-emphasizes the syncopation. However, about a third to half of the notes are already modified in some respect, either stacatto, legato, or detache. Also, can you point to the time of one (or more) of the notes taken too far off-beat? I'll have a look and see what's going on at that point. Adam Cuerden (talk) 05:04, 1 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  • Half that reverb would be nice (halfway between it and the previous version). I agree that there wasn't enough.
  • Where I suggested making notes come in a bit later, you've adjusted the placement of only a single note. Thus, the RH melodic phrase begins as though with a 16th note jammed up against the next note. It produces an unintended extreme syncopated effect. What I was suggesting was that the whole texture slow up commensurately—in other words, that every subsequent note in both hands be just that much later to accommodate the slight delay in the entry of the RH melody. This was my initial concern: that having programmed the MIDI file, it might be a huge job to push every single note that much later. Change the temporal location of one note alone won't work. I did suggest this above, when I said "can you make one note/chord sound a little later and have all of the subsequent events move later to make it work?" Later on, the same phenomenon has appeared to produce an actual jarring of notes together. Perhaps my fears are confirmed, that it is not easy to introduce rubato, and what is referred to here as "interpretation" involves only accent, staccato, and volume (none of which have the "domino" effect required when the whole texture is bent slightly slower, as it were, for just an instant.

    Concerning comments above about sampling part of a performance and commenting on the file, my view is diametrically opposed. The first sip of wine tells me it has been watered down. The first page of a novel can tell me the writing is generally substandard. Finding an editing glitch or two in the first 30 s of a film tells me there are likely to be problems throughout. Examining a tiny corner of the Mona Lisa under a microscope might tell me that it's a fake. You have publicly defamed this man, using his real name. It is shameful. Tony (talk) 12:08, 1 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It's fairy easy to introduce as much slowing on a note or rest as you want - have a listen, for example, to 1:11 (bar 35), where you get exactly the effect you seem to think is impossible to do with MIDI, in a very pronounced way. Since you seem unable to hear tempo changes of which there are about 60 (that's a bit out of date, but gives some idea), I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do. One can't extend rubato indefinitely and still have the piece sound like a ragtime one. At the moment, to give an idea of what's happening, the first six bars start at 106, drop to 104, accellerando to 108, and then ralletando to 106. At bar 12, we go from 106 at the start to 110. then ralletando back to 106. At bar 18 - the join between the first theme and the second - the first note is held a bit longer (90 crotchets per minute), then we speed back up. I don't see how one can do much more than that sort of moderate, but fairly constant tempo tweaks without ending up with something like the delisted Entertainer FS, where too much rubato made it have to be delisted as not being played with the relative metrical regularity of a ragtime piece. And I can't very well put the righthand permanently out of joint with the left hand.
You're asking for a lot of things, but when I do them, you seem unable to hear them, and I can only presume that either you want something that I would find hugely excessive, you're listening to the wrong file, or I'm completely misunderstanding you.
I'm sorry, Tony, but I need to ask you to be a lot more clear about what you want, because I'm, in the situation where I do what you ask, then you seem to act as if nothing's changed. I am doing rather a lot of work to try and keep this sounding like a coherent whole - Ragtime simply cannot stop dead for more than a split second, while fulfilling your requests for pronounced tempo and phrasing changes at the joins. Adam Cuerden (talk) 14:15, 1 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
ETA: Apparently, he was listening to the wrong version. Making some final changes. I'll throw this into "suspended" for the moment. Adam Cuerden (talk) 14:47, 2 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]


Well, I think this has had VAST improvements since last time. Let's see what everyone thinks. =)


Promoted. Killiondude (talk) 17:52, 14 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Faure - Fantasie

A gorgeous piece, professionally recorded and released commercially, but now available to everyone for free.


Promoted. Killiondude (talk) 17:53, 14 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Ancient Airs Suite No. 1

Suite No. 1 from Ottorino Respighi's Ancient Airs and Dances. It is based on Renaissance lute pieces by Simone Molinaro, Vincenzo Galilei, and other anonymous composers.

I'm not sure how notable Ancient Airs is, but I like this piece and was glad to find that the Marine band played the entire first suite.


Promoted. Killiondude (talk) 17:53, 14 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Zoltan Kodaly

This is an excellent recording of a notable composer. It's not really my preferred type of music - it's a difficult and unsettling modernist composition - but I can appreciate it as being very well performed. The recording greatly adds to the article on Zoltán Kodály, and so, I think that it's quite worthy of Featured Sound status. Would prefer a less abrupt opening, but I can accept it as interpretation.



Promoted. Killiondude (talk) 17:54, 14 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Johann Joachim Quantz - Sonata Concertate in D.ogg

Fascinating piece, not something we have a lot of. IMO, excellent performance using period pieces and methods.


Not Promoted Adam Cuerden (talk) 23:19, 14 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Caprice No. 24

Kyoko Yonemoto playing Niccolò Paganini's Caprice No. 24 in A minor (publ. 1819) at the Michael Hill International Violin Competition 2009. Widely considered one of the most difficult pieces ever written for the solo violin, it requires many highly advanced techniques such as parallel octaves and rapid shifting covering many intervals, extremely fast scales and arpeggios including minor scales in thirds and tenths, left hand pizzicato, high positions, and quick string crossing.

Being able to see how the difficult techniques are performed makes this a particularly useful sound to have video with. It's Paganini - the demon of the violin - one of the most eccentric and difficult composers to play, and it sounds fantastic. It's amazing how many undiscovered treasures we have on Wikipedia.

"I'm not worried about the imperfections"—well that is a real problem. This process will be a lost cause if we're aiming so low. Tony (talk) 12:04, 23 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
We're not aiming "so low." We're aiming for what normal human beings, not Jascha Heifetz or Artur Rubinstein, can do. Let me know when Joshua Bell or Murray Perahia start releasing PD recordings. —La Pianista  15:39, 23 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Maybe Tony doesn't like the way I phrased it, but I chose to ignore the problems in the performance because on balance I thought it was a performance of "high artistic standard". Was it perfect? No. Did errors in the performance distract from the musicianship shown throughout the performance as a whole? No. I did bring this up on the talk page and there is an obvious disagreement about exactly what we are trying to achieve with musical performances and the FS process. If you are after perfection in the first instance, then I think we have a problem because wikipedia should cater to both the uninformed audience, and to the specialist. Going for perfection at the moment given the state of play with the FS would be a mistake, and has been said elsewhere we can raise the bar in due course when the number of nominees, and the quality increases. We have to draw the line somewhere (I'm not going to upload any of my piano performances thanks) and until there is a consensus about the whereabouts of the line which can be clearly written in the FS criteria, there will be disagreement about it. I will worry about imperfections in the performance when they distract notably from the performance itself. I didn't feel it did here too much, but you obviously did. Fine. Don't start picking on others if they disagree with you. We'd be losing an awful lot of existing FS and possible nominations if we went with your interpretations of the criteria; I don't believe it is the consensus view. Until it is and until nominations become of such high quality that they are note-perfect with a very close reading of the score feeding into their interpretation, I will disregard errors as I see fit.
Some errors in a performance of Bach's 1st Prelude in C Major from the 48 Preludes and Fugues, no matter how well-phrased and interpreted, would not get to Featured status in my view, because it is a relatively simple piece to play. The same number of errors in, say a Chopin or Debussy suite would not necessarily detract from the performance given the relative complexity of the music, and could become a FS in my view, all else equal. It's my view of the guidelines and the way we gauge a FS. Please clarify the criteria if you are unhappy about them. Major Bloodnok (talk) 16:22, 23 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
It is sub-professional. I suppose we'll have to go through the same process we did at FAC in raising standards. People griped for more than a year, resentfully, about reviewers who insisted on professional-standard prose, referencing, etc. We won in the end, and now no one even blinks. When someone here says: "Did errors in the performance distract from the musicianship shown throughout the performance as a whole? No.", I quiver. There is no hard-and-fast distinction between artistry and technique. Tony (talk) 10:27, 24 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Um, I did actually mention (and I did think it was the core of my message above) that if standards were to improve at some point in the future then obviously we would gauge the pieces by those improved criteria. I am currently operating on the basis of the criteria as they stand now, not upon some standard of my own making independent of that. All the criteria says in relation to this is "Musical performances are of a high artistic standard". This obviously is in the ear of the beholder, and really an inadequate method of assessing pieces of music. By all means lets have a debate about professional technique, how this can be assessed by professional musicians, musos and non-musicians, and how this fits into the ethos of Wikipedia. Let's work out how to move forward and improve the standard of work here, but we also have to bear in mind exactly where the FS is, and how it stands now. Also, if you do quote me and complain about anything I have written, at least do me the courtesy of attributing the quotation. I really do appreciate the knowledge about the pieces you describe and this gives a value to your judgement about the performance. However, if knowledge of how the piece of music should be played, based on exhaustive knowledge of the score, is key to assessing whether or not a muscial recording should be an FS then I think there will be significant problems getting enough knowledgeable souls to assess the pieces, at least until FS becomes more established and well-known. Perhaps that is the goal, but until the assessment criteria discuss this more clearly then I'll continue as I have been thanks.Major Bloodnok (talk) 14:24, 24 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Not if it's going on the main page. I don't require utter perfection, but I've pointed out a few very obvious problems. Some of the performance is just unpleasant to listent to (the tuning in particular). Ten minutes of hell? For the performer, yeah, not for the listeners, thanks. I'm getting a separate, outside opinion on this. Tony (talk) 08:03, 25 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Additional general statement. We should be excited that main page exposure will soon be upon us. But it is all the more reason to get serious about standards, particularly when nominating "found" material that is already available on the net or elsewhere. After so many decades of commercial recordings, standards are now very very high; we risk looking mediocre if we promote items that are not first-rate, unless they have special interest, such as for many historical recordings. I would be embarrassed to have this exposed on the main page, especially since it's a vid, and for that reason will attract huge numbers of hits. And let's not be lulled into the notion that standards will rise over time, and we can easily delete substandard items then. Tony (talk) 07:50, 13 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]


Promoted MHVC-KyokoYonemoto-PaganiniCaprice24.ogv The votes are over the margin by only 4%Why was I thinking 3.4 and not 2/3 12%. I suspect that this will come up for reassessment more then once. --Guerillero | My Talk 02:07, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

JS Bach - Brandenburg Concerto No 6

Fabulous pieces of music by Bach. They come from the Al Goldstein collection in the Pandora music repository at ibiblio.org. They are recordings by the Advent Chamber orchestra in a live concert for the small record label that has released its work to the public. They are well played with spirit and would make a fine set of FS. They illustrate the Brandenburg Concerto page well. Separated from a nomination with three of the 6 Brandenburgs.

Add your reasons for nominating it here, and say what article(s) it appears in.

Not promoted -- Adam Cuerden (talk) 02:22, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

JS Bach - Brandenburg Concerto No 5


Separated this from a large nomination to make 3 smaller nominations with a Brandenburg Concerto in each. A superb piece of music by JS Bach, and this recording illustrates the Brandenburg Concertos page very well. They come from the Al Goldstein collection in the Pandora music repository at ibiblio.org. They are recordings by the Advent Chamber orchestra in a live concert for the small record label that has released its work to the public. They are well played with spirit and would make a fine set of FS. Originally uploaded by Graham87.


Not promoted -- Adam Cuerden (talk) 02:22, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 4, Mvt. 4

Wow, this is a phenomenally difficult piece to play (especially for the woodwinds in the beginning :P). But it was well performed.

Promoted Finale Tchaikovsky Symphony No 4.ogg --Guerillero | My Talk 02:30, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]


Debussy - Toccata from Pour le Piano

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


Closing statement:

I was asked to bring an utterly impartial close to this, by Sven Manguard (talk · contribs). I've done my best.

Tough call. The tempo concern in particular is, if anything, even more subjective than some of the complex debates over at FPC.

In evaluating the debate, I do not consider any 'supermajority'. This absolutely is not a vote. And thus, Tony1 made excellent specific, erudite comments to explain his oppose rationale, which have considerable weight.

However... as a Featured Article is not expected to be 'perfect', similarly, a Featured Sound should not be. It has to be amazingly good, but it can of course be improved. With this whole new ball-game of FS, currently our criteria are evolving. I believe that this sound file is "considered to be [one of] the best articlessounds in Wikipedia" (to borrow from the FA page). I see no specific reasons to reject it in Wikipedia:Featured sound criteria. In summary: it ain't perfect, but it is fucking good - and the consensus seems to support that. (Consensus can change; relist and re-evaluation is always an option.)  Chzz  ►  02:20, 17 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

---

Appears in Pour le piano - although I'm concerned with mic levels (again), and the volume of the last two chords still makes me pissy to this day, the rest of the piece isn't quite disastrous. :)

Comments Oppose:

I hadn't heard this wonderful and extremely difficult movement for years. The book by Roy Howat, the Scottish pianist, makes good reading about how to interpret Debussy, especially from a performance-practice point of view.

But the piano is not my instrument and I know little about "reverse engineering" this performance style; so my comments, which mainly concern dynamics and articulation, are off the cuff. I do know that it's generally accepted D. was fussy about his dynamic indications. At 0:13, you remembered you were in the middle of a longish crescendo, and because you hadn't gathered sufficient volume thus far, suddenly whacked it on half way through one bar. In that same passage, the LH has alternate accents and staccato marks, strong to weak: probably each accented eighth-note needs to be almost joined up to the staccato note that follows (I can't think of how else it could be done); I hear little difference in your treatment of the subsequent two bars, where all of the LH chords are marked staccato. I think the problem is over-pedalling, which obscures his articulation markings—blurs them. Four bars later, at about 0:18, he changes suddenly from forte to piano, yet there is no sudden reduction in volume (it is important, I think ... almost a dramatic "echo").

At 0:21, the LH quarter-notes should be almost lugubriously legato, but are not. Along with the RH 16th-notes, they are grouped by the phrase-marks into two-bar segments: I suspect this flags not only an articulative breath, but how the music should breathe in terms of push and pull. Unsure, but note the conservative periodicity of the whole work: four- and eight-bar phrases (see the hiccough extra (5th) bar just before the first pp?). The changes in articulation and dynamics reinforce this conservative periodicity, but you don't obey them. Funnily enough, the whorls of impressionist notes do have to be finely etched into these periods, often with sudden and precise changes.

As Graham points out, at 0:49 a wrong note intrudes: a few bars later you lose confidence as a result, and it becomes nervously skittish and rushed. There's a minor wrong note at 1:03, and another around 1:44. At 1:35, it's a little too blurred for me. 1:55, the critical octave C-naturals are lost. At 1:59, you anticipate the pp—first in the LH, then in the RH; the pp, in the subsequent bar, is marked "subito" (suddenly). It's now anything but sudden. 2:33, the RH needs to be softer to bring out the LH motif.

Some lovely accumulations of power in the 3:20s.

The very high notes: that piano does not take them well—shrillness; it's meant to be beautiful.

The very last chord is marked fff (it was already triple forte, but just to make sure, he shoved the marking in again). You back off it an play it suddenly mezzo piano.

I'm not opposing, although I should; there are a few good things about it ... good tempo. But if this becomes a featured sound, I'd like to hear you re-record it and re-submit it before long, taking seriously the indications in the score. Much slow, repeated rehearsal of short segments is required before this becomes too public. Again, it is very very difficult music, but "music performance is a blood sport", as a conservatoire dean once told me: it's true. Tony (talk) 11:27, 22 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I don't disagree with you, Tony - in hindsight, most of your points about tempo and dynamics are valid, and, in fact, all of your concerns about dynamics have already been addressed, in my last few practice sessions.
I would like to point out, however, that I have played this piece for some of the most esteemed pianists and educators in the country, and none have given me a review as long and detailed this.
I'm not offended by your comments - please don't take it the wrong way. I'm only concerned about your standards for FS, and whether they are reachable by mundane Wikipedians like myself. I understand your desire for perfection (yes, not just on the note level, but on the musical level as well). But is now the right time, while FS is just starting to grow? — La Pianista  16:52, 23 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Moonlight Sonata 2–3

Delist nomination

These were nominated with a live performance of the first movement. I think they got rather minimal review because of that. I don't think they'd have passed on their own, and, hil completeness is good, I don't think these are the way to get that completeness.

Withholding judgement on the human-performed part for now.

I'm inclined to leave the genuine human performance, for now. If we don't get the full Musopen set, then we'll need to put these head-to-head. Adam Cuerden (talk) 14:46, 2 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I've managed to find a third party hosting the third movement of Paul Pitman's performance on Musopen. I'll see if I can find the second movement, then upload them. --haha169 (talk) 06:13, 4 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Done, amazing what a few hours of searching can do. I'm not exactly sure what to do with them right now...so: . --haha169 (talk) 06:50, 4 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Hmm. Not as good as the first movement (there's some obvious mistakes), but far better than what we have. An interesting conundrum! =) Adam Cuerden (talk) 09:27, 4 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]



Per proposal on moving forwards, all current Moonlight Sonata FSes are delisted, and current discussions closed, without prejudice to future nominations. Adam Cuerden (talk) 15:36, 17 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Moonlight Sonata

Wonderfully beautiful and masterful playthrough of Beethoven's Sonata. Recording is flawless, no background noise.

Sound File What it is Status
File:Moonlight.ogg 7:53 long Adagio Sostenuto (First movement?) played by User:Jfarjona Featured
File:Beethoven Moonlight 1st movement.ogg 6:00 First Movement created in MIDI and played on a digital piano. Not Featured
File:Beethoven Moonlight 2nd movement.ogg 2:05 Second Movement created in MIDI and played on a digital piano. Featured
File:Beethoven Moonlight 3rd movement.ogg 6:55 Third Movement (Presto agitato) created in MIDI and played on a digital piano. Featured
File:Ludwig van Beethoven - sonata no. 14 in c sharp minor 'moonlight', op. 27 no. 2 - i. adagio sostenuto.ogg 6:03 recording. First movement? Currently nominated

What should we do? Is the first of the three pieces in the set not as good as the currently featured first piece of the set? Does breaking up the set damage it? Is the current nomination better than the other two first movements? Sven Manguard Wha? 17:04, 17 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

For my money, the currently nominated version of the first movement is by far the best. I don't like the MIDI version because, well, it's a MIDI version. As carefully crafted as it is, it doesn't sound fresh - there is a noticable delay at the start of every bar in the first mvt which sounds inauthentic to me. The slow recording by Jfarjona is generally played well, but the piano is not terribly good with some very shrill notes in the treble. I notice the MIDI versions were nominated in 2008; maybe it is time to reassess? I couldn't find out when the other version was nominated though. Major Bloodnok (talk) 17:44, 17 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]


Musopen features all three movements, I believe, so if someone has an account on that website and is willing to upload it for us, it would be highly appreciated. I'm just surprised that they are charging money to download high-quality public domain music...bandwidth costs probably. --haha169 (talk) 01:49, 18 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
That set was always a little funny. If we can get a decent full recording by one person, that'd be better. Perhaps we should open at least some of the old set to delisting? Adam Cuerden (talk) 02:43, 18 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
On the main subject, I suggest we Delist our current set, and Suspend this nomination, to see if we can get the whole Musopen set. Adam Cuerden (talk) 22:52, 21 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Agreed, the current MIDI set shows evidence of a crude cut-and-paste job in the 1st Movement. Major Bloodnok (talk) 08:16, 22 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Is there one more vote for moving forwards with the delist/suspend? Adam Cuerden (talk) 09:43, 22 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Yeah sure, seems sensible enough. Sven Manguard Wha? 02:01, 23 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]


Per proposal on moving forwards, all current Moonlight Sonata FSes are delisted, and current discussions closed, without prejudice to future nominations. Adam Cuerden (talk) 15:36, 17 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

To The Colors and Retreat

I know these two calls from colors at boy scout camp. I grouped them together because in my experience To the Color is used for morning colors, raising the flag, and Retreat is used for evening colors, lowering the flag. They balance each other out.

From what I have read sunset has a few differences from Retreat.--Guerillero | My Talk 04:20, 8 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Okay, I was just asking because there is an article on Sunset, but I couldn't find one on Retreat. Anyway, Support, sounds good. --haha169 (talk) 02:15, 13 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Would you like me to renominate these individually?--Guerillero | My Talk 04:20, 8 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]


Promote all Sfan00 IMG (talk) 22:43, 12 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Pavane pour une infante défunte

A fine example of the excellent work from Ravel's early period.

This work is from before 1923, so it's out of copyright in the US. It's only his after-1922 works which run into US copyright problems, which is lucky, as the vast majority of his works are before 1923. We can't have his famous Bolero, but this, Miroirs, Gaspard de la nuit, and dozens of other important works are available to En-wiki, though not Commons. Adam Cuerden (talk) 16:21, 2 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
[2] and [3]. Tony (talk) 09:32, 3 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Commons requires works to be out of coyright in their home country. Ravel is NOT out of copyright in France. En-wiki only requires the work be out of copyright in the U.S., which his pre-1923 works are. This is why we have ((notforcommons)) (and why this needs to be locally uploaded).
It should probably be noted that Featured Pictures works under the above rule as well, and works of similar copyright status (free in America, not free outside of America, and thus uploaded to en-Wiki) do somewhat regularly appear on the main page already, though it must be said, in fairness, that U.S. copyright is one of the most restrictive in the world, so the cases where it works out in our favour are very rare, and only make up a tiny percentage of possible works. I'd suspect FS could easily end up with more works of this type than FP, due to a few highly notable, long-lived early-20th-century musicians (Bartok, Ravel, etc) with a lot of important relatively early works. Adam Cuerden (talk) 09:39, 3 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
"En-wiki only requires the work be out of copyright in the U.S., which his pre-1923 works are." - aren't all his works out of copyright in the US, as he died more than 70 years ago? Jujutacular talk 13:08, 3 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
No, U.S. Copyright is crazy complicated. Disney didn't want to lose control of Mickey, and someother people with valuable copyrights worked to extend them, so.... Adam Cuerden (talk) 18:44, 3 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
To make it even more complicated, there is an entirely seperate set of rules just for recordings, which somehow involves New York and 1976, I think... I really need to read up on that, it's embarrassing that I know so little about the area. Either way that doesn't come into play in this case because the performer explicitly released her work. Sven Manguard Wha? 01:20, 4 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Aye. That's why I'm rather conservative with what I grab early-recording-wise. Pre-1923 should be safe, after that, you have to actually deal with that absolute mess of copyright law. Adam Cuerden (talk) 14:01, 4 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
It was recently brought to my attention that this was never officially closed. Umm... it's closed. I promoted it a while back and forgot to mention it here.... so... ummm... Promoted - Pavane pour une infante défunte --Sven Manguard Wha? 04:32, 20 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Now everyone back away slowly and pretend nothing weird happened. Sven Manguard Wha? 04:32, 20 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]


Syrinx

An excellent performance, and, well, we're kind of light on early 20th century composers, so I'm focusing on that this week.


Promote File:Debussy - Syrinx.ogg Sfan00 IMG (talk) 22:58, 12 March 2011 (UTC) Not yet Eligible - Adam Cuerden (talk) 00:12, 13 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]


Promoted Debussy - Syrinx.ogg I see no reason why this could be in dispute right now --Guerillero | My Talk 23:08, 17 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Burleske

Still feeling a bit ill, which meant I wasn't feeling up to the intense, concentrated, and extended effort of coding, but I made a breakthrough on something I've been wanting to nominate: There were insufficient details about this excellent performance, which meant I didn't feel it was suitable for FS. After 4 hours picking at research, I've filled in the gaps.

Promoted Richard Strauss - Neal O'Doan - Burleske.ogg None of you could find any major faults with this and neither can I --Guerillero | My Talk 06:09, 20 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Delist: Handel - messiah - 44 hallelujah.ogg

Pretty much panned by everyone during the roll call. Let's make it official and put it out of its misery. I believe X! says it best with "quality of the sound is crap".


Demoted Handel - messiah - 44 hallelujah.ogg --Guerillero | My Talk 06:50, 20 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Andante Pastoral and Scherzettino


Promoted Taffanel - Pastoral and Scherzettino.ogg -- Chzz  ►  11:42, 20 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Delist: Toccata et Fugue BWV565.ogg

Also heavily criticized in the roll call. Apparently not up to standards, and as such an iconic piece, it will be judged harshly as it is.


Delisted File:Toccata et Fugue BWV565.ogg --Jujutacular talk 01:32, 22 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis

Gorgeous piece, well played. A tiny bit of background noise at the start, but nothing too bad. Adam Cuerden (talk) 16:36, 15 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted U.S. Army Band - Ralph Vaughan Williams - Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis.ogg --MacMedtalkstalk 00:11, 23 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Poecile Atricapilla

The song of the Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus). It appears in the article on said bird.

I'll try. Adam Cuerden (talk) 22:52, 22 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]


Promoted Adam Cuerden (talk) 01:37, 23 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Garryowen

HAve to have a bit of Irishness on St. Patrick's Day!

Withdrawn Adam Cuerden (talk) 18:49, 26 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

John Brown's a-Hanging on a Sour Apple Tree

A high quality version of American folk music on a traditional instrument. Found on the LOC website with no know copyright restrictions. The last few seconds were cut off via Audacity because it was an interview between the musician and the ethnographer.

This was certainly higher quality then most of the recordings that the WPA did during the height of the depression. I will go back to looking through the Library of Congress's database --In actu (talk) 18:55, 28 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I think this is a good example of how folk music was played in practice, and thus valid for consideration on ethnographic grounds. There are two problems, however. 1. This doesn't actually appear in Appalachian Folk Music, or any other article, making it ineligible. 2. It's cut off far too abruptly at the end. Make it a bit longer, and use a quick fadeout if you must end sooner than ideal. Adam Cuerden (talk) 23:11, 28 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Alt 1

This is the full uncut version

John Brown's a-Hanging on a Sour Apple Tree

This should show why I cut it so close. --Guerillero | My Talk 02:48, 29 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]


Dave Niehaus call

Fascinating and interesting piece of sports history featuring a Hall of Fame inductee. Very descriptive play-by-play. Great job by uploader to obtain this file. Let me say this is my first nomination for featured sound.