Jump to content

Classical Music


redrum

Recommended Posts

Carl Orff's Carmina Burana rocks hard too. :)

Actually I agree with you about Mozart to a certain extent, which is why I excepted his chamber music which does sound mathematically precise but emotion-free to me--oddly, his operas have the opposite effect.

Oh, and though it's not classical in the usual sense, I do love early English music too (sackbuts and crumhorns and such). But I still think Beethoven is the father of rock and roll. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is cool. I've never heard this played on a violin before!

The pop music aspects are a little off-putting though.

Edit:

Actually I just read about her. I take back what I said. That was kind of neat, but she's apparently been mixing pop music and classics...so I wouldn't really call what she's playing there anything to do with the original Baroque piece.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guys, I have a confession to make. I find music of the classical period boring compared to everything after. I don't know what it is, but I suspect it has to do with the strict adherence to form. I just find the wild explorations of Romantics, Impressionists, and everyone after to be so much more emotional. They contain the ability for me to relate to them as a human being much easier. It's not that the music of the classical period is bad, but it doesn't conjure up images and strong emotion like Beethoven and everything after him does. Mozart's music is "perfect" in the sense that everything is perfectly balanced with not a single note out of place, but it just seems like it doesn't make me feel the same as, say the opening of Mahler's 9th Symphony, or Erik Satie's Gymnopedie No. 1.

:goodpost:

I agree with you. I guess that's why I never liked Mozart that much: because I don't connect with it emotionally.

The classical music I really enjoy comes mostly from the Romantic and Modern eras:

anything from Tchaikovsky, anything from Johann Strauss, Holst's The Planets, Ravel's Bolero, some Beethoven, Saint-Saens' Danse Macabre & Carnival of the Animals, Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice, and last but not least -- anything from Gershwin (one of my favorite composers of all time :D )

Also, I really enjoy film soundtracks from John Williams (ET, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Harry Potter, etc.) and Bernard Herrmann (Psycho, North by Northwest, Vertigo, etc.).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:goodpost:

I agree with you. I guess that's why I never liked Mozart that much: because I don't connect with it emotionally.

The classical music I really enjoy comes mostly from the Romantic and Modern eras:

anything from Tchaikovsky, anything from Johann Strauss, Holst's The Planets, Ravel's Bolero, some Beethoven, Saint-Saens' Danse Macabre & Carnival of the Animals, Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice, and last but not least -- anything from Gershwin (one of my favorite composers of all time :D )

Also, I really enjoy film soundtracks from John Williams (ET, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Harry Potter, etc.) and Bernard Herrmann (Psycho, North by Northwest, Vertigo, etc.).

You listed most of my favorite composers! I tend to be drawn to that era as well, though I do love Handel, Bach, Mozart (having played so much of his music), as well as some of the Russian composers like Prokofiev. I like that dark sound. But having grown up on classical music, there's not too much I don't like and I'm a huge fan of the ultra modernists like Philip Glass.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You listed most of my favorite composers! I tend to be drawn to that era as well, though I do love Handel, Bach, Mozart (having played so much of his music), as well as some of the Russian composers like Prokofiev. I like that dark sound. But having grown up on classical music, there's not too much I don't like and I'm a huge fan of the ultra modernists like Philip Glass.

Awesome! Great minds think alike. ;)

Of course, Prokofiev -- Peter and the Wolf! How could I forget that one? I love Peter and the Wolf! :) I also forgot to mention Wagner and Chopin.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awesome! Great minds think alike. ;)

Of course, Prokofiev -- Peter and the Wolf! How could I forget that one? I love Peter and the Wolf! :) I also forgot to mention Wagner and Chopin.

Peter and the Wolf is a classic! I've got a version with Sean Connery narrating that's wonderful.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:goodpost:

I agree with you. I guess that's why I never liked Mozart that much: because I don't connect with it emotionally.

The classical music I really enjoy comes mostly from the Romantic and Modern eras:

anything from Tchaikovsky, anything from Johann Strauss, Holst's The Planets, Ravel's Bolero, some Beethoven, Saint-Saens' Danse Macabre & Carnival of the Animals, Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice, and last but not least -- anything from Gershwin (one of my favorite composers of all time :D )

Maurice Ravel in particular is a phenomenal composer. I also like Saens, and Danse Macabre rocks.

Did you ever notice the inspiration movie composers took from Saens? The theme to Nightmare Before Christmas is similar somewhat to Danse Macabre, and the Harry Potter theme (at least the one in Sorcerer's Stone) by John Williams obviously takes inspiration from parts of his Carnival compositions; particularly the Aquarium piece.

Here is the first movement of a brilliant Trio that Ravel composed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrI9GfbUvSs&fmt=18

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maurice Ravel in particular is a phenomenal composer. I also like Saens, and Danse Macabre rocks.

Did you ever notice the inspiration movie composers took from Saens? The theme to Nightmare Before Christmas is similar somewhat to Danse Macabre, and the Harry Potter theme (at least the one in Sorcerer's Stone) by John Williams obviously takes inspiration from parts of his Carnival compositions; particularly the Aquarium piece.

Here is the first movement of a brilliant Trio that Ravel composed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrI9GfbUvSs&fmt=18

Thanks for the link! Yeah, I did notice that Harry Potter and the Aquarium piece are similar. The Aquarium piece and the finale are my favorites from The Carnival of the Animals. :)

Okay, I posted in another thread that I was going to sign off and I haven't done it yet!! This forum is really addictive! :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I generally like power, conviction and expression in all music - bold music. That also means there should be space for subtleties and really meaningful quieter passages or works.

One of the things I love the most in classical music is the organ compositions of the three very different greats in that whole department, Bach, César Franck and Max Reger. The organ really is like an entire orchestra in a single instrument, and the immense beauty and power of a piece like, say, Reger's B-A-C-H theme, or of Bach's own Toccata and Fugue in D-minor is just something you can't experience with anything else in music, there's a special quality to it.

Other than that, I generally tend to like "romantic" music. In terms of orchestral music Beethoven's symphonies (no. 7 especially is a favorite, can't begin to describe the beauty of the second movement), Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique and Harold en Italie for me are just an incredible listening experience.

And then there are all these wonderful 20th century composers as well, Stravinsky's ballet pieces, Petruschka, Firebird and the Rite of Spring, Shostakovich's 5th, 7th, and 15th symphonies, Respighi's amazing Pini di Roma, Feste Romane and Fontane di Roma (some of that music is really, really astonishing), Richard Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra and The Alpine Symphony, Mahler's 7th, etc.

On a smaller scale the solo and chamber music of Leos Janacek for me is always both baffling and beautiful, because he often manages to express simultaneously quite antithetical emotions. There is a good deal of truth in that, I think.

Beethoven's piano sonatas are also unbelievable, the Sonata quasi una fantasia, Mondschein, Appassionata, etc. where I favor the interpretations of older classic players like Sviatoslav Richter and Emil Gilels (I couldn't bear listening to Barenboim!).

All of the above is music that demands a lot of attention. I like that. I don't like "background music" because that's turning music into noise, as Milan Kundera once put it so well. But then I do also like some classical music that is not quite as immense and overwhelming. For quiet moments Chopin's Préludes are wonderful - or indeed Erik Satie's very lyrical piano pieces.

Right now I'm listening to a guitar version of Mendelssohn's 'Songs Without Words' and the player on the forum used a lot of reverb which to me gives it a haunting quality that I love. It's one of the most beautiful short pieces for guitar and Segovia also does a great version of it. I still can't find the sheet music for it. :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also it reminds me of an ex from that time in my life: my 1st love who played bass in the orchestra, whom I never really got over (he's why I don't listen to Joni Mitchell & a couple other folks as well).

I know the feeling. With me it's country songs from the late 80's and early 90's. I was so in love with her back then and now I can't bear to hear any of those songs. :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...