ambient Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 With regard to expression, beauty and emotion ? I find that I'm listening to more and more classical music recently. Except for stuff that I do for uni, I don't listen to anything with a rhythm section at all. I just heard Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings on classic FM, what a beautiful piece of music. Earlier they played the theme to Schindlers list by John Williams. I can't think of a contemporary piece of music that's so hauntingly beautiful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 I'm very much liking USO at the moment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBUJlOGWibA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lojo Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 [quote name='ambient' timestamp='1427162895' post='2726681'] I can't think of a contemporary piece of music that's so hauntingly beautiful. [/quote] I can but it's all subjective , I've never got or understood classical music , not sure if that's just me or due to upbringing , lack of education etc. Either way it's nice to see you finding real joy in it , maybe I will also one day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 Interesting that the two tunes you mention are both featured in films as I think the best comparison in contemporary music is film music. A lot of classical music was written under commission by the church or state and it could be argued that the modern equivalent is the multi million pound movie industry. Who else can afford to commission orchestras etc. There are also parallels with conttemporary Jazz in that the music is art as much as it is entertainment. Try Maria Schneider for instance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 I love a good bit of orchestral music! The main difference for me between good classical music, and all other forms of more modern music, is the repetition. You don't get so much repetition in classical music, and when it's there, it's done with great effect. There is a lot of experimental jazz and prog-rock and the like without so much repetition, so for me, this would be the most comparable contemporary music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowieBass Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 I'm listening to Jon Hopkins a fair bit at the moment - pretty chilled out music. This is his first album... http://youtu.be/yEMQeJ9FwY8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scalpy Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 (edited) Musicals can have the budget for big productions as well as movies. Whether or not it rivals the intellectual weight for want of a better term is debatable. Movie music is well known for its direct lineage to Wagner and Korngold but the former certainly tried to express more philosophical (however dubious) than the average here is the hero doing something heroic ideas of current Hollywood scores. Micheal Tilson Thomas says that contempory, African American based music is fantastic for dancing, reflecting joy and heartbreak etc, but it can only express one thing at time. Western art music can express many things at once. Edited March 24, 2015 by scalpy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 There are plenty of world/folk musics that can do that, scalpy. A lot of world music carries dual meanings such as the Brazilian saudade which means is a sort of melancholy happiness. The blues is the same; 'we sing happy things because it helps us cope with being sad' kind of thing (I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings). Flamenco does it. Argentine Tango does it too, and reggae - I think it is more common than these perspectives indicate. I also suspect that Tilson Thomas may have a bias Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scalpy Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 Totally appreciate that MTT might have a bias! And I understand where you're coming front with the world music, I had Indian raga at the back of my mind as I typed. I still think a Sibelius symphonic movement might cover more ground than the examples given over the course of one piece. Over the course of an evening they might be neck and neck. The question remains if anybody in contemporary music is being as successful at expressing such depth of ideas, and I can't think of a genre or movement outside of very small intellectual circles that is. Off now to listen to some of the Brazilian examples you gave! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambient Posted March 24, 2015 Author Share Posted March 24, 2015 [quote name='lojo' timestamp='1427176934' post='2726696'] I can but it's all subjective , I've never got or understood classical music , not sure if that's just me or due to upbringing , lack of education etc. Either way it's nice to see you finding real joy in it , maybe I will also one day [/quote] It's not lack of education or upbringing. My dad hates it, and my brother is openly hostile against it, and makes fun of me listening to it. I was never introduced to it as a child, it's a recent thing, maybe the last 3 or 4 years. I think it's just a case of listening to it, maybe finding a composer that you like to start with and then let that grow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skol303 Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 Big budget films and - increasingly - [i]video games[/i] are where you'll find a lot of new classical composers earning their crust these days. Video games being a huge market that now rivals Hollywood in terms of revenue. Check out people like Jesper Kyd and Kow Otani. Plenty of "[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]expression, beauty and emotion" in their work [/font][/color] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoombung Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 I was a big Stravinsky, Debussy, Bartok, Penderecki, Messiaen, Varese fan in my twenties and thirties but now I find myself very critical of classical music...( by that I mean [i]music featuring orchestras or large ensembles[/i] ) which is what 'classical' music really means. I haven't been to a Prom in decades. Most orchestral film soundtracks appall me these days: they are stuffed full of dreadful cliches and re-hashed, recycled themes and dull chord progressions. I know this sounds grumpy but I don't think it's any better than any other type of music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 Try Holst's 'Planet Suite' and Rimsky-Korsakov's 'Scheherezade'. Both stunning pieces of music that I have adored for decades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambient Posted March 24, 2015 Author Share Posted March 24, 2015 I'm into the 'darker' stuff, Penderecki, Messiaen, I like Dvorak and Elgar's cello works, and the more contemporary stuff like Glass and Reich. Also newer composer like like Nico Murhly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigd1 Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 [quote name='ambient' timestamp='1427162895' post='2726681'] With regard to expression, beauty and emotion ? I find that I'm listening to more and more classical music recently. Except for stuff that I do for uni, I don't listen to anything with a rhythm section at all. I just heard Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings on classic FM, what a beautiful piece of music. Earlier they played the theme to Schindlers list by John Williams. I can't think of a contemporary piece of music that's so hauntingly beautiful. [/quote] All music is made up of rhythm, bit of a strange comment. Are you a music student, I would have thought that was in lesson 1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahpook Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 [quote name='ambient' timestamp='1427162895' post='2726681'] I just heard Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings on classic FM, what a beautiful piece of music. [/quote] Shouldn't allowed to be played during the day IMHO. I have Radio 3 on in the house during the day and it's crept up on me occasionally. Before I know it, it's mournful gazing out of the window and deep sighs. Beautiful, but very moving. I have visions of housewives throwing themselves on their rolling pins all over the country. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowdown Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 [quote name='bigd1' timestamp='1427393580' post='2729911'] All music is made up of rhythm[/quote] Yep, True. But in fairness to Ambient, he did say Rhythm section. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigd1 Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 [quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1427396302' post='2729958'] Yep, True. But in fairness to Ambient, he did say Rhythm section. [/quote] ok then, I'll get mi coat.............................................. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowdown Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 (edited) Slightly off topic. For anyone using an iPad, a nice little free App 'The Orchestra'. A few scores including video, audio and score scrolling etc. Plus some Orchestral Instrument info. http://orchestra.touchpress.com/?tpnav=1 Edited March 26, 2015 by lowdown Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambient Posted March 26, 2015 Author Share Posted March 26, 2015 [quote name='bigd1' timestamp='1427393580' post='2729911'] All music is made up of rhythm, bit of a strange comment. Are you a music student, I would have thought that was in lesson 1. [/quote] Rhythm section as in drums and bass 😊not something you see in an average orchestra. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambient Posted March 26, 2015 Author Share Posted March 26, 2015 [quote name='ahpook' timestamp='1427394452' post='2729926'] Shouldn't allowed to be played during the day IMHO. I have Radio 3 on in the house during the day and it's crept up on me occasionally. Before I know it, it's mournful gazing out of the window and deep sighs. Beautiful, but very moving. I have visions of housewives throwing themselves on their rolling pins all over the country. [/quote] It was on quite late 😉 maybe 3 o'clock in the morning - I'm nocturnal 😊 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahpook Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 [quote name='ambient' timestamp='1427400434' post='2730020'] It was on quite late maybe 3 o'clock in the morning - I'm nocturnal [/quote] Is that better ? 3AM.....midnight of the soul ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbass4k Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 There's a lot of bands in the increasingly meaningless "post-rock" categorization that have a huge influence from classical music and carry it a lot of it over in terms of structure and expression, if not necessarily obvious sonic aesthetics. Yndi Halda are one of my favourite bands, and to my ears, they make classical music, just with drums and guitars. And a violin: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBUEjrOI6kA[/youtube] There's also bands like "A Winged Victory For The Sullen" doing it a bit more obviously: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NySFyRdnqB8[/youtube] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oggiesnr Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 Have a listen to Kronos Quartet. A wide range of music from the traditional "classical" repertoire to modern works both within and without that tradition (and a lot of world and jazz based music as well). Classical is really a non-term, like "rock". Whose classical and whose rock. As far as I'm concerned Schindlers List is a film score written in the classical manner but I wouldn't call it classical, any more than a blues purist would say that Clapton was a blues guitarist (he isn't, he plays electric). Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambient Posted March 26, 2015 Author Share Posted March 26, 2015 [quote name='oggiesnr' timestamp='1427407657' post='2730152'] Have a listen to Kronos Quartet. A wide range of music from the traditional "classical" repertoire to modern works both within and without that tradition (and a lot of world and jazz based music as well). Classical is really a non-term, like "rock". Whose classical and whose rock. As far as I'm concerned Schindlers List is a film score written in the classical manner but I wouldn't call it classical, any more than a blues purist would say that Clapton was a blues guitarist (he isn't, he plays electric). Steve [/quote] I have a lot of stuff by the Kronos Quartet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.