Opera

[Agathon]

You yearn for release... what's so weird?

[monolith94]

Phillip Glass! He's alot of fun.

Prokofiev is probably the best modern composer though, with Bartok coming in second.

[Agathon]

Prokofiev is probably the best modern composer though, with Bartok coming in second.

Heathen!!!

Stravinsky?

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by Agathon
Real men like Wagner.

The other stuff is for women and homosexuals.

I think Die Gotterdamerung would make lovely music for a funeral.

OTOH it seems to me that the last time a big group of Wagner lovers appeared we were compelled to bomb their country flat. I'm not sure I'd call Adolph a real man. He was prone to picking on people smaller than him (the Jews), adopted weird fetishes, and was afraid of women.

[Dr Strangelove]

Neither Prokofiev or Stravinsky are contemporary composers as they arer both long dead and haven't composed anything for a long time. They're more like decomposers now.

[Agathon]

He was prone to picking on people smaller than him (the Jews), adopted weird fetishes, and was afraid of women.

Truly an Englishman in a German's body.

[Saras]

I performed Britten's War requiem as a member of a boys choir, and I can tell you it's one difficult piece and composer, both to listen, and especially to perform. Don't kow about his operas tho, but I suspect they're similar in this aspect.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

I've got loads of stuff by the Kronos Quartet.

Is the 1961 Decca recording of "Lucia Di Lammermoor" with Joan Sutherland recknoed to be good? I bought it today.

[monolith94]

Shostakovich is quite good, too.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by nostromo
I don't know about Webern, but what Schoenberg and Berg were doing wasn't rubbish. I would even say that Berg's Violin Concerto, for example, is a beautiful piece of music. When and why did Schoenberg proclaim that atonalism was dead?

I was referring specifically to the described system Webern worked out as rubbish. And as I said, I enjoy Berg's operas as dramatic works, but it's pretty hard to walk away whistling the tunes.

Schoenberg proclaimed atonalism a musical dead end around the 1950s, IIRC. His argument was that it was a static art wherein there was no movement. Indeed, it's virtually impossible to give a sense of "movement" in atonalism, or of direction. Hence there could be no growth of the music.

When it comes to contemporary composers, I am admittedly ignorant of the vast majority, mostly because contemporary music, by and large, does not agree with me. Phillip Glass is a notable exception, as I have many of his works. John Cage is too esoteric for me. Some of the neoromantics are good, but I can't say I've found their music too exciting or memorable.

As Doc S. mentions, much of the music being produced that is symphonically appealing is being done in film scores. John Williams is certainly a brilliant composer, and his unabashed reliance on Wagner, Prokofiev and Stravinsky are excusable in that he still produces great stuff. Danny Elfman is a one-trick pony, though the trick was good for a while. He's certainly talented. James Horner is a horrible hack, however, and his scores are unredeemably, garishly awful.

Actually, Phillip Glass has dones considerably good work in film, especially his recent soundtrack for "Fog of War." It's exquisite, and "Kundun" is pretty good, too.

[Nostromo]

Schoenberg proclaimed atonalism a musical dead end around the 1950s, IIRC. His argument was that it was a static art wherein there was no movement. Indeed, it's virtually impossible to give a sense of "movement" in atonalism, or of direction. Hence there could be no growth of the music.

Interesting point.

Danny Elfman is a one-trick pony, though the trick was good for a while.

He reminds me of Frank Zappa somehow.

Phillip Glass has dones considerably good work in film, especially his recent soundtrack for "Fog of War."

[St Leo]

Originally posted by nostromo
Everyone knows that someone who listens to classical music is evil, and someone who listens to opera is even worse...
Hollywood has used that cliché one too many times, don't you think?

Wasn't Lara listening to Opera at Croft Manor in the last Tomb Raider flick?

[Boris Godunov]

Yeah, movies often have characters listen to classical music when they want to give them an instant vaneer of class and sophistication.

It often comes across as phony, however. I recently saw a scene on TV from one of the Star Trek next generation films where Picard is in his quarters, gazing out oh so ponderously on the heavens as he listens to heart-rending opera. The XO comes in and says, "Bizet?" and Picard shakes his head oh so knowingly: "Berlioz!"

A completely unneccessary and pompous moment.

[Nostromo]

Well, Tomb Raider doesn't count: it's an art house movie.

[St Leo]

To be honest, the musical selection was crap in Tomb Raider. Along with everything else. Aside from Angelina Jolie. She'd be awesome with a good script, a good cinematographer, and a good director.