Classical Music

[ark]

Shostakovich and Schnittke are both excellent. In particular, I think that Shostakovich's symphonies and quartets are as good as those of Beethoven (though harder to listen to if you're used to Beethoven).

Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra is, in my opinion, one of the best orchestral works ever written, as is Stravinsky's Sacre du Printemps.

The interesting question is what is being written today that is as great as the works by the composers I mentioned. I don't think we'll know the answer to that until a few decades hence.

[gjm]

I found that a very accessible way to learn about melodies was to study the simple Etudes/Studies of classical guitar. All the heavyweights of yesteryear have them. They present you with simplicity yet soundness.

[fingerprince]

For film composers
or just as a composer in general
Bernard Herrmann would take a lot of beating

[hangar17]

P.S. does anyone know any modern people that are like Beethoven or Vivaldi or the the like? (you know, that hardcore classical shit that Kings listen to while they are having a sex orgy and killing people. thx.)

not sure you heard this piece before but i reckon you might want to try piano sonata no.14 (aka moonlight sonata) by beethoven (abit overused in films/animation eg elephant, neon genesis evangelion etc but it gets the whole atmos nailed. DM did a cover of it a some time ago too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2cFEHM9yMw beethoven
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJH1hyVTDDI DM's cover

[liveISlife]

Shits so wild brahz http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr_yU7x0QN0 Make sure to put it in HQ

[Martyn]

Arvo Part

Contempory classical, some good clips on you tube including one of the man himself (subtitled) explaining one of his pieces.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtFPdBUl7XQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boGPdQ08 ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e9DXFrI ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pDjT1UN ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c08i_9gu ... re=related

[hangar17]

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_t ... apes&uni=1

library tapes

[Big V]

I have been listening to Beethoven and Vivaldi the past few days. It really seems like culture in general has gone downhill since then. Thoughts?


P.S. does anyone know any modern people that are like Beethoven or Vivaldi or the the like? (you know, that hardcore classical shit that Kings listen to while they are having a sex orgy and killing people. thx.)

That's a tough question to answer and one possibly could write whole books about it!
I don't think that culture has gone downhill, because how can you measure/judge if culture around a specific epoch is good or bad?

My favourite classical pieces are Brahms' 4th symphony, Debussy's symphonic suite La Mer, Dvorak's 9th symphony, Stabat Mater, the Slavonic Dances and the Moldau by Smetana.
I just love the sound of a symphonic orchestra!

There's a young guy from Lithuania called Vykintas Baltakas. He does some good stuff by combining classical musicians and electronics..

A few other names:

Schoenberg
Boulez
Xenakis
Ligeti
Webern
Zender
Penderecki
Rihm
...

[Android Bishop]

For modern composers, check out:

Steve Reich (music for 18 musicians is a brilliant work of minimalism)
Dustin O'Halloran (piano)
Clint Mansell - The Fountain Soundtrack

[Android Bishop]

That's a tough question to answer and one possibly could write whole books about it!
I don't think that culture has gone downhill, because how can you measure/judge if culture around a specific epoch is good or bad?

I judge it on the quality and quantity of quality works coming out at the time. I look at stuff coming out of that time period, from music to paintings to furniture to architecture to philosophy to science and EVERYTHING coming out around the classical period simply blows away damn near everything since. Dont get me wrong, we have our own brilliant works here and there, but nothing compares to the sheer number of mind-blowing works of the time. Not only are they created with far more skill and professionalism, but they convey such deeply refined (yet subtle) creativity and aestheticism. There must have been something in the air at the time, either that or a few hundred years of the Dark Ages fueled the greatest explosion of creative thought ever witnessed by man.

[slatepipe]

For modern composers, check out:

Steve Reich (music for 18 musicians is a brilliant work of minimalism)
Dustin O'Halloran (piano)
Clint Mansell - The Fountain Soundtrack

i like the stuff clint mansell did for pi (i think it was him) and requiem for a dream, i cant believe it was him i used to watch in pop will eat itself singing stuff like grebo guru and beaver patrol

[ethios4]

Arvo Part

+1. Excellent.

I love Charles Ives (early 20th C.). Central Park in the Dark - great use of simulatenously playing multiple songs at once (check out ~4:20). Symphony 4 - large scale example of the same (2 simultaneous orchestras + percussionist playing in different tempos/time signatures), also with microtonal tunings.

Steve Reich is great

Terry Riley (Check out In C. (I'd love to hear a laptop version of this piece, with many performers!) Here's a performance of In C, and also check out the score to fully understand what's going on here.

Krzysztof Penderecki - DISSONANCE! For some reason they love to play this kind of thing between 7-9am on the classical station I have my alarm clock set to. Sadistic! Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima

Milton Babbitt - early electronic control freak micro-composed music. Weird, and very fun to sample! Philomel is a great early tape piece.

John CageAs much of a music philospher as a musician, his book Silence changed my life and the way I fundamentally hear everything. He made the first prepared piano works (Sonata V), which are excellent btw, as well as stuff like using pine needles as the needle on a turntable and rubbing it across corn cobs. Also famous for 4'33" and many many other pieces and ideas.

And for crazy, here's Stockhausen's Helicopter String Quartet

Conlon Nancarrow wrote crazy inhuman pieces for player piano, sometimes in multiple tempos and time signatures Study for Player Piano no. 5

[terragong]

http://www.classicalmidiconnection.com/cmc/twenty.html

enjoy...

[DangerousDave]

I dont want to hijack this post, but I did come across an interesting site today, free classical music downloads/radio.

http://www.musopen.com/

BTW, I have taken a few classes on the classics and that era of music always overwhelms me. As for today's geniuses, Philip Glass takes the cake in my book.

Want to have your mind blown, watch his movie called Kooyanisqatsi (SP?!?!?!)