Do You Like Classical Music?

Charlie McDonald · Post by **Charlie McDonald** » 14 Jul 2008 10:41 am

Earnest Bovine wrote:"Classical" is ambiguous.

I agree.
I guess we're talking about 'longhair.'

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 14 Jul 2008 11:03 am

Chip, all those pieces you mentioned are from the Baroque Period. It is considered the most homogeneous period in terms of style, rhythm, and harmony. I think even experienced classical musicians would have a hard time distinguishing composers in a blindfold test of little known baroque works.

Charlie McDonald · Post by **Charlie McDonald** » 14 Jul 2008 11:17 am

... blindfold test of little known baroque works.
No, but it would make an excellent torture regimen.

Jim Peters · Post by **Jim Peters** » 14 Jul 2008 1:32 pm

Almost all! I'm partial to Debussy and Impressionism, but on guitar I particularly favor Tarrega. I recently recorded La Grime, Vals en Re and the first half of Capriche Arabe. No musician I know will ever hear the recording!! My appreciation for classical players has always been immense( Mike S!), but even more so after working on classical guitar. JP

Carl Morris · Post by **Carl Morris** » 14 Jul 2008 1:50 pm

My first love is rock music, but I've been able to get into other things when I've heard them in the right context. I suspect that lots of people who don't like this or that kind of music are in the same boat, and are missing the context.

I know it's a cliche, but I only "got" Adagio for Strings when I saw it in Platoon, in a theatre, when I was fresh out of basic training. The Holst 1st and 2nd suite stuff embedded itself in my brain later in military bands, playing with people who were really into that sort of thing. Same with "1812 Overture", "Irish Tune From County Derry" (concert band arrangement of Danny Boy), Russian Christmas Music, and a few others.

Regarding other styles, growing up in the sticks I only knew jazz as something I played in high school jazz band with other students who also didn't know anything about it. It made a lot more sense in smoky NCO clubs and Nashville jazz clubs. I still can't get into rap/hip-hop much, but after seeing "Do The Right Thing" in 1988(?) in a theatre full of enlisted soldiers as one of a minority of white guys in there, Public Enemy's "Fight the Power" was very powerful at the end of the movie.

So like I said, for me it's all about context, and I feel sorry for people who never get the opportunity to hear something in a context that helps it all make sense.

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 14 Jul 2008 2:25 pm

I belong to a Classical CD club that sends me a disk by a different composer every 3 weeks or so. They divide the music into the following 5 categories:

Baroque
Classical
Early Romantic
Late Romantic
Modern

This sorts by era and, as a happy byproduct for my iTunes playlists, also happens to be in alphabetical order.

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 14 Jul 2008 3:25 pm

Just roughly off the top of my head (corrections appreciated) the flavors are:

Baroque: Bach, Vivaldi, Scarlatti, Telemann, Pachebel (the strict guys)
Classical: Haydn, Mozart (the prissy guys)
Early Romantic: Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Wagner (the stormy guys)
Late Romantic: Rachmaninoff, Debussy, Ravel, Puccini (the sentimental guys)
Modern: Stravinsky and everything after that (the wild guys)

Brint Hannay · Post by **Brint Hannay** » 14 Jul 2008 3:28 pm

Carl-- I've never been in the military, but I love Holst's Suites nos. 1 & 2! Nice to connect, however tenuously, with others who know the same relatively obscure music! Is "Irish Tune From County Derry" (the arrangement of "Danny Boy") you refer to Holst or Grainger? Percy Grainger's harmonization of that is amazingly great!

Jody Sanders · Post by **Jody Sanders** » 14 Jul 2008 6:25 pm

Yes. Jody.

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 14 Jul 2008 6:47 pm

David Doggett wrote:Just roughly off the top of my head (corrections appreciated) the flavors are:

Baroque: Bach, Vivaldi, Scarlatti, Telemann, Pachebel (the strict guys)
Classical: Haydn, Mozart (the prissy guys)
Early Romantic: Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Wagner (the stormy guys)
Late Romantic: Rachmaninoff, Debussy, Ravel, Puccini (the sentimental guys)
Modern: Stravinsky and everything after that (the wild guys)

Pretty close. The series is called "The Classic Composers". Of the disks I have so far, here's how they're divided up:

Baroque: Vivaldi, Bach, Handel
Classical: Mozart, Haydn
Early Romantic: Beethoven, Chopin, Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn
Late Romantic: Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Bizet, Greig, Brahms, J. Strauss II, Wagner, Verdi
Modern: Debussy, Puccini, Stravinsky, Sibilius, Prokokiev, R. Strauss, Gershwin

The club is intended to be educational. Each CD includes stories of the life and times of the composer, and there are cards that talk about musical styles, instruments and terminology. The cards go into a little binder, which some day will be a complete book. It's geared towards teenagers, I guess, but I've really been enjoying it.

The recordings are like "greatest hits" collections - each composer's most famous themes - mostly played by Eastern European orchestras and soloists. One thing I like is that, unlike many classical CDs, these are mastered up to consistent levels so that you don't have to ride the volume control if your player is on "shuffle".

Charlie McDonald · Post by **Charlie McDonald** » 15 Jul 2008 4:05 am

This brings back wonderful memories.
My father (educator turned textbook salesman) brought home a series of Silver Burdett (now Time/Life) records for classrom use.
Each record did not portray an era but a sampling of different eras--e.g., Beethoven's 1st, Cavaleria Rusticana, The Rite of Spring, Classical Symphony, El Salon Mexico.
It seems the intent was for each young person to develop their own idea of the music--what does Romantic sound like? What sounds modern to you?

That the subjective divisions vary is therefore not surprising:

1) Late Romantic: Rachmaninoff, Debussy, Ravel, Puccini (the sentimental guys)
Modern: Stravinsky and everything after that (the wild guys)

2) Late Romantic: Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Bizet, Greig, Brahms, J. Strauss II, Wagner, Verdi
Modern: Debussy, Puccini, Stravinsky, Sibilius, Prokokiev, R. Strauss, Gershwin

Why are Debussy and Ravel modern to me and not romantic? These are not objective categories.

'Classical' music got me started in a world of long phrases as opposed to 4 bar/8 bar phrases. It led to jazz, like Rodrigo leads to Miles.
It's a great background to have.

Rick Schmidt · Post by **Rick Schmidt** » 15 Jul 2008 6:33 am

Even though I really like alot of the more obscure and modern composers, it's still the masters that I prefer at the end of the day.

Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Ravel....etc.

Charlie McDonald · Post by **Charlie McDonald** » 15 Jul 2008 8:10 am

... Mingus....

Carl Morris · Post by **Carl Morris** » 15 Jul 2008 8:18 am

Brint Hannay wrote:Is "Irish Tune From County Derry" (the arrangement of "Danny Boy") you refer to Holst or Grainger? Percy Grainger's harmonization of that is amazingly great!

It's Grainger.

But yeah, when I first got onto this board, and heard people doing Danny Boy on steel, the classical arrangement was the first thing I thought of. If I were ever to try to do anything on steel, I'd start from that.

Just found an orchestra recording of it that I threw out here:

http://music.cdmorris.com/Irish_Tune.wma

in case anybody is wondering what we're talking about. I wish it were mp3 but I don't have anything handy to convert it with and the CD is at home so I can't re-rip it.

chas smith R.I.P. · Post by **chas smith R.I.P.** » 15 Jul 2008 9:19 am

I tend to prefer the pre-1750 stuff. I can appreciate the 12-tone, set techniques, music, but I don't enjoy listening to it. I liked the minimalists when I first heard them and I still like them. I also had the good fortune to have spent time with some of the "big guys" of 20th century music even if I didn't always enjoy listening to what they were doing. Keeping in mind that 20th century music isn't necessarily about the pleasure of melody and harmony.

Ron Whitfield · Post by **Ron Whitfield** » 15 Jul 2008 11:08 am

I voted no, as there in next to none that I can stand.
But, as Donny said, it's up to the player to interpret it, and to me that means to do so with soul.
I find Wagner and one Russian dude who conducts some real moody/dark stuff, to be interesting, but really enjoy stringed instruments in general and find solo chello to be a pleasing tone, but again, it has to be done with superior feeling.

Chip Fossa · Post by **Chip Fossa** » 15 Jul 2008 11:27 am

Carl, "Adagio For Strings" - is that the very melodious piece you hear right off the git-go in Platoon; and continues like as the theme thru-out the movie?

I like that a lot; don't know if it's Adagio, but I like it.

Funny how things come to you, huh? Where you actually here things, say, for the 1st time; and they really stick with you.

I even got to like the first Lunesta commercial because of the background melody. It's really melodic and spacial. (It's the commercial where the butterfly zeros in on a peaceful seaside cabin; not unlike places on Cape Cod). It looks like they've discontinued running that one.

Carl Morris · Post by **Carl Morris** » 15 Jul 2008 12:59 pm

CHIP FOSSA wrote:Carl, "Adagio For Strings" - is that the very melodious piece you hear right off the git-go in Platoon; and continues like as the theme thru-out the movie?

I like that a lot; don't know if it's Adagio, but I like it.

I can't remember the very beginning of the movie well enough to say 100% for sure, but yes, it's throughout the movie. A bit of trivia about the piece, I recall seeing a quote by Sting saying that it was so good he couldn't believe an American (Samuel Barber) had written it

.

In my case I ended up with it beaten into my brain because for a while there Army bands played a concert band version of it a lot. Unlike most things, I never got tired of it, though.

Chip Fossa · Post by **Chip Fossa** » 15 Jul 2008 1:26 pm

Thanks Carl.

That melody added a real eeriness to the movie; I thought. Like it didn't seem to fit in one way, but it did in another.

Whoever chose that song for the movie, sure had an idea about it.

Bill Terry · Post by **Bill Terry** » 15 Jul 2008 1:30 pm

I don't go looking for classical music, but for some reason, I usually try to find a radio station with classical music (by whatever definition you guys agree on) when I'm on one of the many long drives home after a bar gig somewhere.

I think it's the lack of a 'dance beat' or something... My ears seem to appreciate something other than a kick and snare drum hammering away.

Mike Perlowin RIP · Post by **Mike Perlowin RIP** » 15 Jul 2008 2:09 pm

Question: If so many of us like classical music, why do so few of us transcribe it for steel and play it?

Besides B.J. Cole, Doug "Earnest Bovine" Livingston, The Boddy Emmons recording of the Taco Bell Cannon, Marshall Hall, and me, is anybody else doing this?

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 15 Jul 2008 8:36 pm

I'm working on some Chopin and Mozart. It'll be awhile.

Steinar Gregertsen · Post by **Steinar Gregertsen** » 15 Jul 2008 8:55 pm

Quiz; Who's this cheerful guy?

A) Edward Van Halen
B) Edward Grieg
C) Edward Kennedy

Michael Johnstone · Post by **Michael Johnstone** » 16 Jul 2008 2:51 pm

The first music I remember hearing and really absorbing around age 2 was the 1941 recording of Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf with Basil Rathbone narrating and explaining the different instruments representing the various characters,etc. That one got a lot of play around my house for years and
I've been a Prokofiev freak ever since. He's my favorite Russian composer. I keep a recording of Montagues and Capulets from Suite #2 of Romeo and Juliet in my car at at all times for when I'm feeling bellicose on the freeway.
As for playing classical stuff on steel - hell no - I've tried - it's too difficult. I was working on a Schumann thing for a while - Träumerei from Scenes From Childhood - (Earnest I think I played it for you once over at my studio). It laid well on my universal but I could never get through it with any authority no matter how much I practiced it. I was gonna record it but it would have been a punchfest and with something like that,I think you should be able to play the damn thing or fuggetaboutit. I do dabble with things like that on mandolin from time to time because it seems more achievable.

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 16 Jul 2008 3:47 pm

I had the same Peter and the Wolf recordings. It was several 78 rpms that came in sleeves bound into a hard-back album (which is where the term came from). It was played until the grooves wore out.