Okay, I have been listening to these works while at work (and in agony I might add because of my freaking back): Symphony #6, "Pathetique" - Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture - Tchaikovsky All kinds of piano music by Debussy including Clair de Lune and the Children's Corner Several things by Sibelius including Finlandia, The Swan of Tuonela, and the Karelia Suite Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in E minor - Mendelssohn Symphony #4 in A Major, "Italian" - Mendelssohn The Hebrides Overture aka Fingal's Cave - Mendelssohn
Manny, A few things: First, is that really how you classify music? Solely by dates? Seems a bit rigid. That discounts things such as overlap. Not only that, but often such "endings" and "beginnings" can be fairly arbitrary. Beethoven = Goya. Or Manet. "Eroica" (#3) represents a huge shift in style for Beethoven and is often single-handedly given credit for ushering in Romanticism. Again, he was trained in Classicism and it is probably due to such training that he was able to compose so well despite his later hearing loss, but his approach, style, mood, etc. was pretty Romantic and developed even stronger as he got older. Read his own writings. As to your last two sentences...they do not sway me. I can be snotty and respond with, "only twenty years and one class in college," right? It is all meaningless. Ultimately, we are talking about the subjective. You say I am being too technical and I say you are being too technical. Just from my background I thought it was obvious and more accepted. Not the first time I was wrong, though.
Well dates do make it easier to keep up with things; however, I did concede to you that Beethoven was more of a transition composer to the Romantic era than strictly a Classical composer. Another perfect example is Debussy. Where do you classify him? Is he a Romantic or is he a Modern composer or something else? I know that most people classify him as an "Impressionist" but I think you will agree with me that he was a huge influence on the Modern composers yet he did some of his composing during the Romantic era. I said Ludwig van was a classic composer (quick - what famous movie character called Beethoven that in Ludwig van?) because that is what I always had read him to be but he was definitely different from Haydn and Mozart. It was just no one else was really doing the same stuff he was doing, but that is what made him so great, IMO. I agree completely. His first 2 symphonies were very similar to Haydn (I believe it was Haydn) and obviously showed his classical influence. Then it all changed when he did the symphony that was originally dedicated to Napoleon (but he changed it of course after he heard that Napoleon had crowned himself emperor calling instead "Heroic" composed to celebrate the memory of a great man). That work singlehandedly changed his style and he definitely was doing things that no one else was doing at that time. So, yes he was really not a "Classical" composer, but the problem was that no one else was doing what he was doing, at least not until near the end of his life and of course, after his death where guys like Schumann and Brahms felt an enormous debt to him. Well, we are both right because the more I think about it, the more I understood where you are coming from, I just didn't like your initial tone (but I should realize that is just the way you are ). For the longest time, the only CDs I used to buy were classical ones, so I guess I am a little protective about it. Also, I guess I get tired of people thinking that all I talk about is popular music and "what is your favorite so and so" things. I like to fancy myself as someone cultured, but I will never be at your level. You are the Beethoven of this BBS when it comes to cultured things, while I am nothing more than a Samuel Barber.
That is why I put in that I was joking, because I didn't think you would handle it correctly. That, by the way, is a very hard thing for me to do. In any event, it was useless, obviously...so I apologize. Please don't post anything like that again. Debussy, I dislike him. He is Impressionist and Modern, in my book. To me they are the same thing (or, at least, the former is a compnent of the latter). Certainly not Romantic!
It's wonderful to see people on here appreciating classical music and the performing arts. I never thought that I would see a topic like this here on the forums! Anyways, is anyone on here familiar with the marching band and drum corps activities? If so, please reply! If you are, you should know what my screen names stands for "SCV". Also, if you're interested...visit my website MarchingBandDrumCorps Plaza
Here are some of my favorites---- All-time favorite: "Adagio for Strings" (Samuel Barber) (in no order) "Concerto for Orchestra" (Bela Bartok) "October" (Eric Whitacre) "The Planets" (Gustav Holst) "Salvation Is Created" (Pavel Tschenokoff) "Jeremiah Symphony" (Leonard Bernstein) "Shenandoah" (Frank Ticheli) "Pines of Rome" (Ottorino Respighi) "Vesuvius" (Frank Ticheli) "Russian Christmas Music" (Alfred Reed) "Festive Overture" (Dmitri Shostakovich) "Danse Bacchanale" (Camille Saint-Saens) "Harmonium" (John Adams) "Harrison's Dream" (Peter Graham) "Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celeste." (Bela Bartok) "Symphony for Brass and Percussion" (Alfred Reed) "An American Elegy" (Frank Ticheli) "Metropolis Symphony" (Michael Daugherty) "The Canyon" (Philip Glass) "Medea" (Samuel Barber) "Symphonic Metamorphosis" (Paul Hindemith) ...and much much more As you can tell, I love BOTH the old and modern music.
Good call on that one; I am going to listen to that after I get done hearing Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto. One artist that I want to get some stuff by (and I am surprised that I haven't gotten anything from him before considering how big of a Kubrick fan I am) is Gyorgy Ligeti - primarily his "Lux Aertna (sp?)" and "Atmospheres". Anyone here have anything by Ligeti? Any recommendations?
Good call on that one plus it was used quite well in both The Elepant Man and Platoon. Manny, Thanks for the Tchaikovsky suggestion im going check out some of his works. Also does anyone have any suggestions of Yo-Yo Ma. I have been listening to some of his Bach stuff recently that i have downloaded and have been really impressed. Anyone have any suggestions for full albums?
FWIW, a friend of mine plays the organ ( no juvenile jokes pls ). He has a keyboard hooked up to a computer and performance speakers. The software he uses has an ever-growing database of sampled organs from around the world, some dating back to the 1500's (it sounds awesome...each note requires about 2 MB of RAM!). So, for instance, he can essentially play a Bach piece on the same organ that Bach composed it on. Pretty cool.
Sampling and software synthesis have come a very long way. I have a virtual recording studio on my computer, and emulations or samples of instruments that I could never afford to buy or don't have the ability to play (like trumpet, or something). I can write a melody and then hear what it would sound like with, for example, a 1976 Arp Odyssey synthesizer. Or a tuba. Tubas rule.
Hey scv, Good call on "Pines of Rome", I saw the Fantasia 2000 and that was in it - definitely need to get that on CD. I see that you like a lot of 20th Century, almost avant-garde types (I say almost because some of those are ones that I have never heard of, so I am assuming that they are 20th Century). How good is Bernstein's "Jeremiah Symphony"? Do you have his "Candide Overture"? Do you or anyone else here have "Grand Canyon Suite" by Ferde Grofe or "Violin Concerto #1" by Max Bruch (that is jumping gears, isn't it?)? I ask about these 2 because they seem to be famous works like "The Planets" by Holst or "Carmina Burana" by Orff but the composers are not all that famous compared to others. I also noticed that you mentioned Bartok's "Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celeste." That was used by Kubrick in "The Shining" (I think specifically the 3rd movement). Is that whole piece pretty creepy? I think you may like (which you may already have) Ligeti and Penderecki. Kubrick used the last guy a lot in "The Shining". If you got anything by either one, what would you recommend?
