Classical music thread for TCO

[Boris Godunov]

Ask away.

[KrazyHorse]

What relationship is there between the diatonic scale and the seventeen regular tilings of the plane?

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
What relationship is there between the diatonic scale and the seventeen regular tilings of the plane?

Second cousins.

[KrazyHorse]

Can they get married?

All right, won't ruin your thread. Which of the Brandenburg concertos is your favourite?

[TCO]

For someone who is very classical music stupid, what CD should I buy? how should I most efficiently gather enjoyment and appreciation of the art form?

[KrazyHorse]

Next question: Spohr or Shostakovich?

[Boris Godunov]

Brandenburg: Probably 6. They get better and better as they go along.

Can't go wrong with any, of course.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
Next question: Spohr or Shostakovich?

Shostakovich, if just for the String Quartet #8 in C minor.

EDIT: That's not to dis his symphonies, which are fantastic, even with the Soviet interference.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by TCO
For someone who is very classical music stupid, what CD should I buy? how should I most efficiently gather enjoyment and appreciation of the art form?

I avoid compilation CDs, but they are good for getting feet wet.

Do you know enough about stylistic periods to state a preference? Baroque vs. Classical vs. Romantic vs. Early Modern, etc.?

And do you prefer quieter, prettier classical, or louder, meatier classical?

[TCO]

I like some guy, I can't remember. I think he is a minor composer. A little older than norm. Sort of quirky. and his name starts with S.

Oh...and hooked on classics and John Williams.

[TCO]

What's a good compliation CD? Or how to select one? I really like idea of a CD with multiple composers actually. Not even gtrolling, but greatest hist of classical would be cool.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by TCO
I like some guy, I can't remember. I think he is a minor composer. A little older than norm. Sort of quirky. and his name starts with S.

Salieri?

Oh...and hooked on classics and John Williams.

Not familiar with HoC, but if you like John Williams, you'd probably appreciate:

Mahler (one of my favorites)
Holst (The Planets)
Prokofiev
Wagner (mostly operatic, but can get instrumental CDs)

Might like Nielsen, too.

[TCO]

I have Mahler. I was teasing on Williams and HoC.

Not Salieri. Was actually not being cute. It is a different composer. One that Bill Buckley liked too. I think more like Bach era.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by TCO
What's a good compliation CD? Or how to select one? I really like idea of a CD with multiple composers actually. Not even gtrolling, but greatest hist of classical would be cool.

Most of the compilation CDs I have are of a single operatic vocalist singing a variety of arias from different composers.

But I have given as a gift several times:

The Most Relaxing Classical Album in the World.

I think there's a sequel, but I just have the first one. It's a 2-disc set and chock full of the loveliest bits from Classical Music. Nothing heavy or really loud and gutsy, though.

Time/Life's 4 "Classical Thunder" CDs have a good sampling of the heavy-hitter warhorses (and even a few obscure selections), but the performances on the CDs are pretty sketchy. I wasn't impressed with the quality, but I was familiar with most of the pieces beforehand.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by TCO
I have Mahler. I was teasing on Williams and HoC.

Which Mahler?

Nothing wrong with Williams, either. Not an all-time great, but it's hard to argue with the best of his movie scores.

Not Salieri. Was actually not being cute. It is a different composer. One that Bill Buckley liked too. I think more like Bach era.

Any idea on a nationality, even? It's a bit vague.

Scarlatti is the first name coming to mind.

[TCO]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov



Scarlatti is the first name coming to mind.

You da man.

[Boris Godunov]

Scarlatti is nice because of the Spanish undertones often found in his work, which wasn't common in music at the time. I wouldn't call him "minor," more "in the middle." He definitely had some influence on later composers such as Mozart and Beethoven.

[TCO]

I run out of things to say.

[Boris Godunov]

S'ok, come back when sober.

[Traianvs]

I would like to find some music of Buxtehude. I discovered his lovely organ play way back in music class in secondary school, but these damned pirates nowaydas don't seem to fancy this oldskool artist

Seems like I'll have to pay in order to hear any of the stuff

[Traianvs]

ps: why has classical music begun to suck more and more after baroque music?

[Asher]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov


I avoid compilation CDs, but they are good for getting feet wet.

Do you know enough about stylistic periods to state a preference? Baroque vs. Classical vs. Romantic vs. Early Modern, etc.?

And do you prefer quieter, prettier classical, or louder, meatier classical?

Could you describe the stylistic periods?

And I prefer louder, meatier. Quieter puts me to sleep.

[Saras]

Scarlatti

[Saras]

Britten's War Requiem

But it's a ***** to perform, I sang it in a boys choir.

[Asher]

Bump so Boris can seeeeeee

[Dis]

I still have yet to buy a classical cd. I'm a cheap bastard, and prefer to get everything off the radio.

http://www.classical897.org/

A very good radio station. I like almost everything they play except the piano centric type music. I hate piano pieces for the most part. boring. violins relax me, and those are what I enjoy. violas and cellos kick ass as well. flutes, etc are all right. classical guitar kicks ass as well. What I really enjoy is atmospheric music. There's a show on sundays called hearts of space. I think it's a nationally syndicated type show. worth checking out.

http://www.hos.com/

on and pipe dreams also on sunday night. Problem is I'm usually indoors and not in my car and miss that all the time now. I don't have good reception indoors. Organs kick ass almost as much as violins.

We also have sunday baroque on that channel. I'm a fan of that. I still don't know that much about the different styles, but I think I like that more than the others. I still don't know all the differences between a concierto, symphonia etc.

Yes I'm a classical/atmospheric music fanatic now. I still like metal. I was just listening to some cradle of filth and manowar just the other day (though that was the first time in months I listened to metal). But I feel I don't have the anger I used to, and just want to listen to music that relaxes me. I'd probably make fun of myself if I was my teenage self. I pussied out I suppose. but life is too short to be full of hate. Down with negative hate music.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Traianvs
I would like to find some music of Buxtehude. I discovered his lovely organ play way back in music class in secondary school, but these damned pirates nowaydas don't seem to fancy this oldskool artist

Seems like I'll have to pay in order to hear any of the stuff

If you hang around some old school Lutheran churches that employ good organists, you'll probably hear plenty of Buxtehude. Otherwise, his works are easily available on CD. Come on, support the artists and buy one.

why has classical music begun to suck more and more after baroque music?

Invalid query.

[Asher]

I demand answers.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Asher

Could you describe the stylistic periods?

And I prefer louder, meatier. Quieter puts me to sleep.

In terms of European non-liturgical music, you basically have:

Renaissance
Baroque
Classical
Romantic
20th century/modern
Contemporary (debatable what to call current music)

There's certainly medieval music that isn't church music, but it's basically troubador stuff and folks songs rather than "art music."

Renaissance: 1350-1600 (all dates approximate, of course)

Motets in Italy and Chansons in France are the biggest forms of secular music. It's still predominantly vocal (the Catholic Church forbade musical instruments for a long time in sacred music, and a lot of secular music also followed that trend). Instrumental music would be pretty simple: woodwinds such as recorder, simple string instruments, percussion instruments such as a drum or tambourine. However, such bands grew into more elaborate ensembles as time went on. In the later part of this period, the precursors to opera developed, as musical songs accompanying staged plays began to become a part of the drama itself.

Major Composers: Ockeghem, Des Prez, Palestrina

Baroque: 1600 - 1750

The advent of Baroque music coincides rather neatly with the first true operas (1597). Musical ensembles grew to incorporate far more instruments, including regular use of brass instruments. Baroque music used much more complex counterpoint (like fugues) and a high degree of ornamentation. Keyboard instruments came to more prominence, with the harpsichord early on and the pipe organs, and later the piano. Other common orchestral forms were concertos (Vivaldi's Four Seasons are 4 violin concertos), early sonata form works, either for solo instruments or ensembles (which would later form the basis for symphonies) and more free-form orchestral suites.

Oratorios became very popular (Handel's Messiah, Bach's St. Matthew Passion), as they were sort of like Sacred Operas but without costumes/staging. Full-on musical masses were also big timers, the most famous being Bach's epic B Minor Mass.

Major composers: Monteverdi (opera), Vivaldi, Bach, Handel

Classical: 1750 - 1830

Here there is less an emphasis on ornamentation and counterpoint as there is on producing clean, ear-catching music that was in some ways simpler, but was also using more and more complex harmonies and forms. Overall, the music tends to be rather cool and intellectual rather than overtly emotional. Hadyn is credited with composing the first true symphonies (he rolled out 104, actually). The piano became the main keyboard instrument, as the harpsichord was seen as old-fashioned. Chamber music (small instrument ensembles, works in sonata form) became hugely popular. Largely thanks to Hadyn and Mozart, opera moved away from being about serious mythological subjects (opera seria) and comedies came into fashion. A bit later, we see composers who specialize in opera and don't write much else, which wasn't so common earlier on. The period is seen to end with Beethoven, who bridges the classical-romantic era gap. He mastered the symphony, expanding its size to 100+ musicians.

Major composers: Hadyn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert
Opera composers: Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini

Romantic era: 1820 - 1910

Adhering to strict musical forms and emotional detachment get chucked out the window in favor of more freedom of composition and overt passion. Programmatic music becomes more popular, which is intrumental music written to tell a particular story rather than just music for its own sake. Opera gets bigger too, with tragedies and melodramas surging in popularity. Wagner pretty much rewrites the book on it, creating music dramas that are vast and free-flowing. Emphasis on beauty and expressive power trumps notions of form and "proper" harmonies and such. Still, conservatives like Brahms continue to adhere to non-programmatic works and adhere to old formats, while using new harmonies and daring rhythms and such. Over in France, you have Debussy writing "impressionist" music, which tends to have a dreamy quality to it and is less "heavy" than the Germanic stuff. Mahler's symphonies close out this era, and they are the epitome of epic-scale orchestral works.

Major composers: Berlioz, Chopin, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Mahler, Debussy, Rachmaninoff
Opera composers: Verdi, Gounod, Wagner, Puccini

20th Century/modern: 1910-1970?

Things are harder to classify here, but you have schools such as Atonalism and Neo-Classicism and the like. Pushing the limits of harmony is the big trend, and even the more lyrical composers tend to incorporate a good deal more dissonance than usual. Opera waned in popularity in favor of orchestral music. Tone poems were popular for a time, which were free-form symphonic programmatic works, often about literary subjects. You also see the influence of popular music, such as jazz. Film scores also become one of the chief sources of orchestral composition. On the other end, you also get the weirdest forms of experimentation in music, such as the works of John Cage (4:33, anyone?)

Major composers: Prokofiev, Stravinsky, R. Strauss, Shostakovich, Holst, Bartok, Ives, Sibelius, Copland, Britten, Gershwin, Bernstein

Contemporary

There's been a retreat from avant-garde experimental music since 1970 or so. Contemporary composers tend to rely on more traditional harmony and structure rather than pushing the limits into areas that make most audiences decidedly uncomfortable. There are way too many styles to list, but examples include Neo-Romanticism and Minimalism (esp. works of Philip Glass). There has even been a bit of a resurgence of opera composition, but it's rare that a new work catches on with the public.

Major Composers: Adams, Glass, Crumb, Penderecki, Gorecki, Stockhausen

[CrONoS]

... lol

If you have Civilization 4, you have a VERY GOOD compilation of classical music.

From Pre-Baroque to Contemporary (John Adams)

Except: There is no opera, religious work.

The files are in: Asset / Sountrack / folder.

All files are in MP3 are a classed by musical era:
Medieval/Baroque/romantism etc...

Edit: OOps I remember there is one religious composition: Miserere Me from Allegri is included.