Gord -B Posted May 12, 2004 Share Posted May 12, 2004 Hey, I've not really started many topics and as my main interest on this forum is as a music listening resource i've decided I might as well ask directly. I am not particularly interested in listening to baroque or classical era music. The main areas I would like to look at are late romantic > modern. (i also have been developing an interest in chant music i.e Hildegard who i thought was a bloke , Perotin etc also some modern chant type music via Steve Sklars (SSS guy) website but I think i've got that covered) The type of composers I have come across and like are Debussy (my favourite), Wagner (to a limited extent), All the popular ones i.e Barbers Adagio, Albinonis Adagio in G minor (although I believe he didn't write it) Gorecki - Symphony No. 3 (some deep bass in that ) Some Piano Stuff: Liszt- Best Of Satie Gymnopedies (although a bit repetative), Chopin Fantasie-Impromptu for piano in C sharp minor (like to see someone play that on bass ) This is hopefully to give an idea of the vein of music i would like to explore. I don't feel the passion in the more functional pieces. The reason I started this thread was seeing Ben Loys reccomendation of Mahler symphony no.1 on the 'what i'm listening to thread' and i had never heard of him before, but after looking him up, he looks right up my street. (so i bought cd's of symphony no. 1 and 3. off amazon) Also I have not listened to any Stravinsky, i hear 'rite of spring' is a good place to start? P.S Forgive my non-use of accents and slightly muddled format. [EDIT - Also I like Elgar , I've got 'Enigma Variations and other great works' also planning to listen to some Frank Zappa stuff, who could not like something called Dog Breath Variations ] Derek Smalls: It's like fire and ice, basically. I feel my role in the band is to be somewhere in the middle of that, kind of like lukewarm water. http://www.myspace.com/gordonbache Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfmonkey Posted May 12, 2004 Share Posted May 12, 2004 I assume since your English, you are efamiliar with Vaughan Williams & Holst? You would probably like Dvorak. Maybe Holberg? As far as Rite of Spring, I love that piece. But, it is definitely not Romantic music in any sense. So, be warned. I have no homepage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy c Posted May 12, 2004 Share Posted May 12, 2004 Well, if you like Debussy, you must listen to Ravel. Bolero is his most famous piece, but not his best one. And one of my favorites is Messiaen. Try the Turangalila Symphony for something really amazing or the Quartet for the End of Time for something really moving. Rite of Spring is as good a place to start as any for Stravinsky. You might like Histoire du Soldat by Stravinsky as well. Who knows, maybe you could even handle Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire. If you want to get more modern try something by Ligeti or Pendercki. Happy listening. Free download of my cd!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenLoy Posted May 12, 2004 Share Posted May 12, 2004 Get the Six String Quartets by Bela Bartok. The version recorded by the Julliard String Quartet is excellent. There's a bit near the end of Quartet No.5, Part V where he thumbs his proverbial nose at traditional classical composition. I'll leave you to find it...it's hiliarious! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gord -B Posted May 12, 2004 Author Share Posted May 12, 2004 Originally posted by surfmonkey: I assume since your English, you are efamiliar with Vaughan Williams & Holst? You would probably like Dvorak. Maybe Holberg? As far as Rite of Spring, I love that piece. But, it is definitely not Romantic music in any sense. So, be warned.Yeh I have Fantasia and The Planets. I'm not just after romantic music, i'm quite a modern minded guy I love experimental stuff (as long as it has passion and isn't just crap for the sake of being crap) Derek Smalls: It's like fire and ice, basically. I feel my role in the band is to be somewhere in the middle of that, kind of like lukewarm water. http://www.myspace.com/gordonbache Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Brown Posted May 12, 2004 Share Posted May 12, 2004 You seem to have an impressionistic bent. You've mentioned some great work. Don't discount too quickly the music of Mozart, Bach, Handel...some incredible skill and amazing bass. Your introduction to the Baroque and Classical could really begin with the Beethoven Fifth Symphony...yep...you've heard the theme...but listen to it all. It is perhaps the most perfect symphony ever written. Listen to his piano sonatas as well. Along with your impressionistic and neo-classical collection, be sure to add the Berlioz "Symphonie Fantastique." It looks ahead orchestrally to the music of Stravinsky...it is also very impressionistic for a work written in in the early 19th century. It is basically, however a Romantic work. Make sure you read Berlioz program notes before you listen. I would also recommend Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition (orchestrated by Ravel...don't start with the piano version.)" It is late Romantic music...and you'll get a charge out of it. You could also get other selections. "Capriccio Espagnol" by Rimsky Korsakov would be good. Try "Polovtsian Dances" by Borodin. (Seem to be pushing the Russian composers right now!) Dvorak's Cello Concerto would be in there. American composers like Charles Ives and Aaron Copland (I'm playing "Billy the Kid" and conducting "Hoedown" from Rodeo right now) would be good. And try (for something completely different) Hindemith "Symphonic Metamorphosis," Hovaness "Mysterious Mountain" and "And God Created Great Whales (complete with recorded whale song.) Don't forget the music of Bartok..."Concerto for Orchestra" has always been a favorite of mine. Among British Composers, Benjamin Britten is superb...the "Simple Symphony" is a great introduction. Vaughan Williams has incredible writing as well. Penderecki is an incredible experimental composer. His "Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima" is one of my "must listen" works...written for 52 string instruments, but none are played in traditional ways. You hear the planes come in, drop the atom bomb, the horror of the citizens and ultimate desolation of the city. Anyway, there's a ton of stuff...and what you don't like at first will be more appealing after you learn how to listen to it. Yep. I'm the other voice in the head of davebrownbass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gord -B Posted May 12, 2004 Author Share Posted May 12, 2004 I knew it was a good idea to ask, keep em comin Derek Smalls: It's like fire and ice, basically. I feel my role in the band is to be somewhere in the middle of that, kind of like lukewarm water. http://www.myspace.com/gordonbache Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gord -B Posted May 12, 2004 Author Share Posted May 12, 2004 Anyway, there's a ton of stuff...and what you don't like at first will be more appealing after you learn how to listen to it.Don't worry about that i'm a music obsessive i refuse to dismiss ANYTHING before getting my head round it. And yes i do have a slightly impressionistic bent, it was nurtured in Music A-level when studying Prelude to the afternoon of a faun (can't be bothered with french). I also did Tristan and Isolde mmmmmmm.. leitmotifs . Derek Smalls: It's like fire and ice, basically. I feel my role in the band is to be somewhere in the middle of that, kind of like lukewarm water. http://www.myspace.com/gordonbache Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gord -B Posted May 12, 2004 Author Share Posted May 12, 2004 Along with your impressionistic and neo-classical collection, be sure to add the Berlioz "Symphonie Fantastique." It looks ahead orchestrally to the music of Stravinsky...it is also very impressionistic for a work written in in the early 19th century. It is basically, however a Romantic work. Make sure you read Berlioz program notes before you listen. I listened to some Berlioz at A level. I understand the difference between Debussy and Berlioz is the 'programme music aspect'. Berlioz is literally telling the story through the orechestra (if you get what i mean) whereas Debussy was making an impression of the story through colouristic (uk spelling) harmony. I prefer the latter Derek Smalls: It's like fire and ice, basically. I feel my role in the band is to be somewhere in the middle of that, kind of like lukewarm water. http://www.myspace.com/gordonbache Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gord -B Posted May 12, 2004 Author Share Posted May 12, 2004 Sorry for so many posts but i thought i'd share this It looks like quite a good list to work through on the side there Derek Smalls: It's like fire and ice, basically. I feel my role in the band is to be somewhere in the middle of that, kind of like lukewarm water. http://www.myspace.com/gordonbache Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy c Posted May 12, 2004 Share Posted May 12, 2004 Looking at that list, it's time for a joke! Only fans of both classical music and Gershwin need read further. . . . . . You say Carmina, I say Burana, let's call the whole thing Orff. Free download of my cd!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tnb Posted May 12, 2004 Share Posted May 12, 2004 Jeremy said: You say Carmina, I say Burana, let's call the whole thing Orff. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ! ! ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Brown Posted May 12, 2004 Share Posted May 12, 2004 Jeremy took careful aim, and got me. Right 'twixt the ears. That's a pretty good list, Gord B. Several things I mentioned, several things I've played (like the Haydn 104 and the Ives "Unanswered Question {which uses a string group onstage and a brass group offstage...in a different key...radical for the 1800's}). There are several things there that are so overplayed they've become trite...kinda "pop" classical. Classical music, if it lasts, does so because it has some emotional depth. To understand it, you have to have "ears to hear." You are developing those ears right now. Yep. I'm the other voice in the head of davebrownbass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenLoy Posted May 12, 2004 Share Posted May 12, 2004 Bartok's "Concerto for Orchestra" is great as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badgerbass Posted May 12, 2004 Share Posted May 12, 2004 No one has mentioned my personal favorite, the Finnish composer, Jean Sibelius. He is definitely "Late Romantic." If you want a full symphony, I would start with the 2nd. The finale will blow you away. His 7th, which is a unique symphony in one movement, is also exceptional. His tones poems are great too. I would recommend Pohjolo's Daughter, and the Swan of Tuonela. I second Holst's The Planets. Mars, the God of War is a dissonant masterpiece. Have fun. and go to a concert, classical music is so much better live. Guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawnmower8 Posted May 12, 2004 Share Posted May 12, 2004 G. Holst - The Planets L. Beethoven - The Symphonies F. Lizst - Les Preludes J.S. Bach - organ works W.A. Mozart - Requiem A. Copeland - Appalachian I. Stravinsky - Rites of Spring "Tea & Cake, or Death!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saxofunk Posted May 12, 2004 Share Posted May 12, 2004 You did say modern? Olivier Messiaen: La nativité du Seigneur That is, if you like pipe organ, and if you like something that steps on Bach's toes. Or, his Quartet for The End of Time, if chamber ensembles are more your style. - Matt W. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassopotamus Posted May 13, 2004 Share Posted May 13, 2004 I would recommend Godspeed you black emperor! I know this is totally left field, but as a person who loves classical music(perhaps not as well informed as you guys) I really dig that band. You were looking for composers along the vein of people you listed, so I dont know how valid godpseed is in the context of the thread... anyhow, I like them a lot and I recommend their music. Cheers! James Fitzgerald Platinum Member, Human Race "I dont buy toys. I buy tools." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gord -B Posted May 13, 2004 Author Share Posted May 13, 2004 Well it looks like i've got enough suggestions now and i'm glad i asked. Reminds me why I keep comin back here Derek Smalls: It's like fire and ice, basically. I feel my role in the band is to be somewhere in the middle of that, kind of like lukewarm water. http://www.myspace.com/gordonbache Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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