Fun Stuff > BAND
Classical
Dimmukane:
Not being nitpicky, but most people probably think of classical music as being pre-1930, which was before a lot of the radical experimentation that gave us other genres.
Uber Ritter:
Bach's Matthew Passion is pretty amazing. It's also pretty long and, by Baroque standards, rather grand in terms of the ensemble--two choirs, an orchestra, an organ or two. It's around 3 hours long, but it incorporates a pretty varied array of song styles, from the grandeur of the opening "Chorus" to the chromatic oddness of "Ach Golgotha." Get one of the recordings that's on period instruments, though, since Bach is pretty specific about what's playing what and several of the most important instruments in the passion (the two types of oboes he uses and the Viola de Gamba, particularly) have fallen out of use. Also, though you said you preferred larger-scale works, Bach's organ music is totally metal.
Stravinksy is pretty awesome, his Symphony of Psalms and Mass are less dissonant and percussive than his earlier, more famous compositions mentioned above, but they are really, really good and pretty musically interesting.
Dvorak has to be one of the most accessible classical composers ever. You probably know at least one movement of From the New World aka Symphony no 9 already. The rest is also good. Also in this category: Beethoven. The ninth symphony is a hell of a lot more than the "Ode to Joy." Driving back from Wild and Wonderful West Viriginia with my girlfriend listening to it has to be one of the better moments of my life.
Wagner's Tristan and Isolde is great if you don't mind music that feels like a bunch of really dissonant chords refusing to do what chords are supposed to do. If you prefer a melody, though, it's probably not what you're looking for. I can't decide if I love it or hate it, probably both.
Mozart's Requiem is really, really good, though not strictly speaking all Mozart.
I'm also really into Renaisance music, but that's not everyone bag since it's frequently so consonant as to strike many modern ears as boring.
ampersandwitch:
--- Quote from: Uber Ritter on 29 Feb 2008, 14:38 ---Wagner's Tristan and Isolde
--- End quote ---
Lol, my clarinet teacher used to get drunk to the Liebestod (lovedeath) movement with her Juilliard friends. That's always what I think of when people mention that.
Uber Ritter:
--- Quote from: ampersandwitch on 29 Feb 2008, 18:02 ---
Lol, my clarinet teacher used to get drunk to the Liebestod (lovedeath) movement with her Juilliard friends. That's always what I think of when people mention that.
--- End quote ---
That's one way to spend an evening. Somehwere on Youtube there is a video of a bunch of folks that went to my college (St John's College Annapolis) getting drunk and listening to the Requieum. One of them, Cameron Healy (the dude that played Sunn O))) and Pig Destroyer before the film society's movies) can be heard exclaiming as to how metal it is.
Speaking of using Wagner as a soundtrack to debauchery. I know that it's technically about such things, but Tristan is one of the last things I'd ever want to listen to while having sex. Perhaps it is the lack of slap base or, your know, chordal resolution--some of us don't like 4 hours of foreplay. At least most of the time.
Beastmouth:
Properly, what you're talking about is referred to as 'Concert Music', or it was when people cared to make a differentiation and when John Cage et alia were making music that was neither pop nor jazz, but looking forward from the (relatively) traditional European sound.
Alvin Lucier is a genius, one of my favorite pieces of all music is I Am Sitting in a Room. Up there with 'Marquee Moon', even!
Also, La Monte Young and his cohorts (incl. future ex-VU John Cale) made some great loud shit in the sixties and have, on occasion, continued to do so.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version