This threads been one of the more interesting ones for a while.:)
Just wanted to add that my own introduction to 'orchestral music' was through film soundtracks as a child. I was totally obsessed with the Star Wars movies as a child of the 70's, so, I did what alot of sci-fi geeks did, and bought the accompanying soundtrack.
This led on to other films and obviously other film composers whom had their own style, Morricone,Goblin, etc.
School &tv adverts played a part (I always remember an ad playing 'In the hall of the mountain king' that had a big effect on my psyche).
This interest in orchestral stuff then infiltrated into 'popular' music that I liked in my teens: in the early 80s Siouxsie & The Banshees & Marc Almond started using string sections to enhance their sound (in a time that favoured synths/mtv rock - this naturally led me to discover 60's 'Big pop' - Dusty/The Spector 'Wall of sound' and The Walker Bros/|Scott Walker, etc.
This then led me to try out Smetana, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mahler and composers that my film composers (John Williams in particular) had 'copied' stylistically.
Im actually a huge fan of the film composer Zbigniew Preisner, especially all the works he made for the Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski, even some of his music (Bolero from Three Colours Red ) has been used for BA (:eek::mad:).
In recent years, composers like John Williams who mainly work for the screen have been taken more seriously. Orchestras perform his work quite regularly, alongside Morricone, Michael Nyman and others.
The score for the original Star Wars is a brilliant composition. I read somewhere that George Lucas originally wanted electronic music, but was persuaded that John Williams was the right man for the job. The classical score is one of the things that doesn't date Star Wars.
On the film score front, not a great fan of John Williams. He pinched some of his musical ideas for Star Wars from Gustav Holst's Planet Suite, notably 'Mars'. I'm sick to death of hearing the Star Wars theme.now. His theme for Raiders Of The Lost Ark was too similar in style to Star Wars, Then there was that very slushy, sentimental theme to Schindlers List which I never liked, so I kind of lost interest in John Williams after that.
But John Barry's compositions are always excellent, stirring and original. Hans Zimmer is pretty good too from what I've heard by him so far
Soundtracks are a great way into classical music.
One of my favourites is the soundtrack to Terence Malik's 'Badlands'. The main track used is Carl Orff's 'Gassenhauer' which is one piece from a series Orff put together in the 1920s to introduce children to music called 'Schulwerk'. It has been used in many tv adverts since. And is a useful introduction for anyone to classical musicw.
Carl Orff is also well known for his Carmina Burana music which is also used in many movies and adverts.
Carl Orff is also well known for his Carmina Burana music which is also used in many movies and adverts.
Carmina Burana is a cycle of pieces. I've been fortunate enough to see it performed live - anyone who likes dramatic, stirring and really quite strange in parts music should go and see it.
In recent years, composers like John Williams who mainly work for the screen have been taken more seriously. Orchestras perform his work quite regularly, alongside Morricone, Michael Nyman and others.
I love the stuff he did for the Harry Potter movies.
If it's film sountracks you like then the music of John Barry is great place to start then move on to his non film albums and the step into classical music is easy.
Mmmm I'm partial to a bit of Edvard Grieg, Chopin, Mozart,Bach, often used to go to Nottingham Classics, one thing for sure is classics are still very popular there's never an empty seat in the house and it's not only for posh people
He's nothing to do with classical music. He's a minimalist pop pianist, lacking any imagination, whose tunes you could play with one finger or one hand, He just copied Michael Nyman's The Piano, and just about every piece played sounds the same, and played the same way A complete musical con artist.
This argument is really very feeble.
You are arguing that if you can play someone's compositions on the fingers of one hand then they must be rubbish - by extension then you condemn the likes of Erik Satie to the same kind of derision as you condemn Einaudi.
Are you seriously saying that Erik Satie is talentless also???
Search for Gnossiennes no 1 on google and wake up sir to the folly of your comments
Long before 'symphonic metal' we had progressive rock which had pretensions of being 'classical music' and was quite elitist, at least amongst its fans. I remember Emerson, Lake and Palmer having an album of Mussorgky's 'Pictures at an Exhibition' and an album and single versions of Copeland's 'Fanfare for the Common Man'.
(I bought that single, still have it.) Those versions were quite accessible and we briefly studied ELP at school.
There are quite a few classical pieces which are used in pop songs. 'A Whiter Shade of Pale' by Procol Harum, 'Joybringer' by Mannfred Mann's Earth Band, 'Could it be Magic' by Barry Manilow, 'Adagio for Strings' arranged by William Orbit spring to mind but there are many more.
The worst thing that ever happened to Progressive music was labeling it "Progressive "Rock, because it encompasses far more than just rock music.
Progressive musicians in the 1970s, like their Symphonic Metal counterparts today often drew their influences from classical music rather than the rock music of their time. ELP being one example of this.
I don't think that it is. Once upon a time, yes.
But now it's as accessible as any other form of music and easier than ever before to get hold of.
You may get snobs who may try to claim it as their own, but it doesn't stop you downloading and listening to it.
I have to admit that I share your feelings about your second point though.
Not all modern classical music is "weird" and experimental. Try listening to Avner Dorman (dramatic, Eastern-influenced) or John Taverner (contemplative and extremely traditional).
In recent years, composers like John Williams who mainly work for the screen have been taken more seriously. Orchestras perform his work quite regularly, alongside Morricone, Michael Nyman and others.
The score for the original Star Wars is a brilliant composition. I read somewhere that George Lucas originally wanted electronic music, but was persuaded that John Williams was the right man for the job. The classical score is one of the things that doesn't date Star Wars.
Who can also forget the iconic music for Jurassic Park? I still get shivers when they make the Island approach or the beginning when the title appears. Williams has done some of the most iconic scores. Jaws still gets to me too.
I grew up appreciating Classical music because each morning at Primary school 89-95) we used to gather in the hall for assembly. While we were being lead in and sitting down, our head master used to play all manner of classical music. I used to love a bit of Water Music by Handel. I don't listen to classical all the time but I do have a playlist on my iphone for when the mood takes me. Some music is really relaxing and soothing. I like to play it loud too. It always brings back memories for me
You are arguing that if you can play someone's compositions on the fingers of one hand then they must be rubbish - by extension then you condemn the likes of Erik Satie to the same kind of derision as you condemn Einaudi.
Are you seriously saying that Erik Satie is talentless also???
Search for Gnossiennes no 1 on google and wake up sir to the folly of your comments
No, I'm not knocking minimalism. I lke Eric Satie. He's far more intelligent musically than Einaudi. Satie is deceptively simple, and there lies the difference . As I said before Einaudi is a pop pianist who writes 3 chord pieces nearly all in the same key, and nicked his style largely from Michael Nyman's The Piano. And that was a boring piece anyway..
I think I'm fairly atypical in that I like a range of all sorts of music from 80s synth pop, punk, a wide range of Metal and Rock, and also a wide range of Classical genres ranging from Tudor/Elizabethan, through Baroque and Romantic to Modern Minimalist.
I think classical music is portrayed as elitist and stuffy and formal. From what I've seen of classical concerts on TV there's no "atmosphere" and it seems to be like being in a morgue. People have to dress up and it all seems very formal compared to a pop or rock concert where everyone is singing along and dancing around and having fun.
People don't all dress up - some do, some definitely don't - it's not important. But certainly I would be horrified if people were singing along - I've paid to hear the musicians, not the tuneless warbler next to me. That doesn't mean there is no atmosphere though. In the silence of the auditorium each audience member is able to enjoy their own response to the music. The hush before the applause at the end of a piece often speaks volumes for how much the audience has been enraptured.
Classical music in general requires greater powers of concentration. It is more complex. There's also an element of appreciating the sound for its own qualities which doesn't seem to happen in pop music.
Film music and computer game music are major openings which the "non-classical" listener should explore. There's some really wonderful classical music in these genres which will perhaps stand the test of time better than the more experimental 20th/21st century classical compositions.
Multiple recordings? For the simple reason that different performances of the same piece can vary enormously and what suits one listener may not suit another. There are some performers who I will never buy, regardless of how much I love what they play, and vice versa. It again boils down to classical music being more complex.
Music teaching these days covers all genres of music from the classical tradition to rock, pop, jazz, world musics. From what I saw of my daughter's syllabus I'd say only about one quarter was classical.
Oh - and Mozart is perfection - the embodiment of the Classical era. Anyone who dismisses Mozart loses credibility in my opinion
Classical music is largely structural and adheres to strict form. As another poster mentioned, music on this level does require lots of concentration. Romantic and modern music, on the other hand...
People who are new to classical music do tend to favour the later periods. The works of Liszt, Chopin, Rachmaninov and Debussy are easily accessible - No doubt due to the simple melodies and lush harmonies.
Comments
Just wanted to add that my own introduction to 'orchestral music' was through film soundtracks as a child. I was totally obsessed with the Star Wars movies as a child of the 70's, so, I did what alot of sci-fi geeks did, and bought the accompanying soundtrack.
This led on to other films and obviously other film composers whom had their own style, Morricone,Goblin, etc.
School &tv adverts played a part (I always remember an ad playing 'In the hall of the mountain king' that had a big effect on my psyche).
This interest in orchestral stuff then infiltrated into 'popular' music that I liked in my teens: in the early 80s Siouxsie & The Banshees & Marc Almond started using string sections to enhance their sound (in a time that favoured synths/mtv rock - this naturally led me to discover 60's 'Big pop' - Dusty/The Spector 'Wall of sound' and The Walker Bros/|Scott Walker, etc.
This then led me to try out Smetana, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mahler and composers that my film composers (John Williams in particular) had 'copied' stylistically.
Im actually a huge fan of the film composer Zbigniew Preisner, especially all the works he made for the Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski, even some of his music (Bolero from Three Colours Red ) has been used for BA (:eek::mad:).
ou dont have to be 'posh'. Just inquisitive
In recent years, composers like John Williams who mainly work for the screen have been taken more seriously. Orchestras perform his work quite regularly, alongside Morricone, Michael Nyman and others.
The score for the original Star Wars is a brilliant composition. I read somewhere that George Lucas originally wanted electronic music, but was persuaded that John Williams was the right man for the job. The classical score is one of the things that doesn't date Star Wars.
But John Barry's compositions are always excellent, stirring and original. Hans Zimmer is pretty good too from what I've heard by him so far
John Barry's Oscar winning Out Of Africa Theme
One of my favourites is the soundtrack to Terence Malik's 'Badlands'. The main track used is Carl Orff's 'Gassenhauer' which is one piece from a series Orff put together in the 1920s to introduce children to music called 'Schulwerk'. It has been used in many tv adverts since. And is a useful introduction for anyone to classical musicw.
Carl Orff is also well known for his Carmina Burana music which is also used in many movies and adverts.
Carmina Burana is a cycle of pieces. I've been fortunate enough to see it performed live - anyone who likes dramatic, stirring and really quite strange in parts music should go and see it.
I love the stuff he did for the Harry Potter movies.
This argument is really very feeble.
You are arguing that if you can play someone's compositions on the fingers of one hand then they must be rubbish - by extension then you condemn the likes of Erik Satie to the same kind of derision as you condemn Einaudi.
Are you seriously saying that Erik Satie is talentless also???
Search for Gnossiennes no 1 on google and wake up sir to the folly of your comments
The worst thing that ever happened to Progressive music was labeling it "Progressive "Rock, because it encompasses far more than just rock music.
Progressive musicians in the 1970s, like their Symphonic Metal counterparts today often drew their influences from classical music rather than the rock music of their time. ELP being one example of this.
I don't think that it is. Once upon a time, yes.
But now it's as accessible as any other form of music and easier than ever before to get hold of.
You may get snobs who may try to claim it as their own, but it doesn't stop you downloading and listening to it.
I have to admit that I share your feelings about your second point though.
Not all modern classical music is "weird" and experimental. Try listening to Avner Dorman (dramatic, Eastern-influenced) or John Taverner (contemplative and extremely traditional).
Who can also forget the iconic music for Jurassic Park? I still get shivers when they make the Island approach or the beginning when the title appears. Williams has done some of the most iconic scores. Jaws still gets to me too.
I grew up appreciating Classical music because each morning at Primary school 89-95) we used to gather in the hall for assembly. While we were being lead in and sitting down, our head master used to play all manner of classical music. I used to love a bit of Water Music by Handel. I don't listen to classical all the time but I do have a playlist on my iphone for when the mood takes me. Some music is really relaxing and soothing. I like to play it loud too. It always brings back memories for me
I'm never short of things to listen to
People don't all dress up - some do, some definitely don't - it's not important. But certainly I would be horrified if people were singing along - I've paid to hear the musicians, not the tuneless warbler next to me. That doesn't mean there is no atmosphere though. In the silence of the auditorium each audience member is able to enjoy their own response to the music. The hush before the applause at the end of a piece often speaks volumes for how much the audience has been enraptured.
Classical music in general requires greater powers of concentration. It is more complex. There's also an element of appreciating the sound for its own qualities which doesn't seem to happen in pop music.
Film music and computer game music are major openings which the "non-classical" listener should explore. There's some really wonderful classical music in these genres which will perhaps stand the test of time better than the more experimental 20th/21st century classical compositions.
Multiple recordings? For the simple reason that different performances of the same piece can vary enormously and what suits one listener may not suit another. There are some performers who I will never buy, regardless of how much I love what they play, and vice versa. It again boils down to classical music being more complex.
Music teaching these days covers all genres of music from the classical tradition to rock, pop, jazz, world musics. From what I saw of my daughter's syllabus I'd say only about one quarter was classical.
Oh - and Mozart is perfection - the embodiment of the Classical era. Anyone who dismisses Mozart loses credibility in my opinion
People who are new to classical music do tend to favour the later periods. The works of Liszt, Chopin, Rachmaninov and Debussy are easily accessible - No doubt due to the simple melodies and lush harmonies.
I've played that on Spotify. Love it.