Classical
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You are currently reading a thread in /mu/ - Music
You are currently reading a thread in /mu/ - Music
How the fuck is someone supposed to get into classical? You pick a composer you like and then listen to random orchestras play the shit that they wrote? Isn't that basically liking cover songs?
How realistic would it have been for someone like Beethoven or Mozart to record themselves playing every instrument of their composition separately, and then editing them together into one song? Obviously there was no pro-tools but any shitty ass excuse for a program could accomplish a task
tl;dr: how do I get into classical if I actually want to hear the composers themselves play music?
>>65177488
They're composers you autist, not dewey cox during his midlife crisis.
You can do this with some composers. Pic related is a 22 disc set you can buy for $30 on Amazon right now. Every recording conducted by Stravinsky himself
>>65177488
probably a shitposting but w/e
the distinction between "art music" and "popular music" is that "art music" is transmitted in a written form, whereas "popular music" is transmitted through recordings.
Is there any good non-meme, not-shit microtonal classical music?
why is it important that the composers themselves perform their works?
Is this bait
If not, then listen to piano works written by 20th century composers.
If it is then do so anyway
>>65177914
It's not bait, it's just if I want to check out someone like Mozart, how do I find the recordings that best represent his work since every orchestra and their cat recorded his compositions?
>>65178830
You listen to different recordings and find which one you like most. That's all there is to it.
However, there are historically informed performances in which the conductor tries his best to recreate whatever-century sound with period instruments, etc. I believe Norrington with the Academy of Ancient Music is good for that
Who was the cunt that thought it was a good idea to let every composer make a goddamn piano concerto? Seriously. I went to make a nice little list of lesser known piano concertos, and suddenly I'm just fucking drowning in them. Sure you have the great ones like Rachmaninoff, and Beethoven, yeah, and Mozart over here just REEEAAALLY pushing the limit on how many concertos someone can actually shit out. But then you have the more obscure good concertos, like Medtner, and Scharwenka, and Kalkbrenner, and Camille Saint-Saens. But then it just gets ridiculous after that!
Moscheles, Pabst, Weber, Rubenstein, Benett, Raff, Reinecke, Ries.
Ries. Fucking Ries over here with 8 piano concertos I missed out on. apparently.
WHO EVEN IS RIES?!
And the list goes on. Bortkiewicz, Wieniawski, Dussek, Herold, Cramer, Doberzynski, Kuhlau, Skold, Moszkowski, Puccini; NO. NO.
FUCK. THIS. THERE ARE TOO MANY GODDAMN COMPOSERS COMPOSING CONCERTOS. I have had enough of this! And you know there's more out there! I haven't even begun to list probably even a half of what's there.
Look. We need fewer less piano concertos. I'm not saying we need to do anything drastic, I'm just saying I think maybe we need to go back in time and kill a few composers off. Not even that many. Just the unimportant ones. Like Ries.
>>65179349
>saint-saens
>obscure
hahahahahah no
>>65179471
it's straight from reddit. i honestly don't know which board is worse though /mu/ or /r/classicalmusic
>>65179471
The only one of his people care about is his 2nd
>>65179349
Where did you get this copypasta? Also, Violin Concertos are even worse
>>65179349
So anyway anyone have a list of good "obscure" piano concertos?
>>65179562
front page of /r/classicalmusic
>>65179611
vaughan-williams has a very nice piano concerto that has never really entered the standard repertoire.
>>65177488
Many composers of the Baroque, Classical and Romantic eras died long before recording technology was ever invented.
Instead we refer to "specialists", or performers who excel in the performance of that particular composer's music due to historical accuracy or they just simply rock it.
Every era of western classical music has its own distinct characteristics that correspond directly with the zeitgeist of the times. I'll start with Baroque, but know that Medieval and Renaissance era music has value but for the sake of my time and yours, I'll exclude them.
Baroque - Influenced by the excess off the aristocracy in Europe. Composers made their living as court musicians (or church musicians in Bach's case) and the music reflects this. Lots of "excess" notes; usually in the form of fast 16th notes. These represent emotion. This is also the era of text painting - easily seen in Handel's vocal music. Look up Emma Kirkby singing "But who made abide" from Messiah. In the quicker second section, on the text "refiner's fire", she sings multiple notes - almost showing like the flicker of a fire. Great music for early morning and getting the roasters revved up. Check out: JS Bach's Cantata No. 4, Vivaldi's Four Seasons, and Handel's Giulio Cesare (great beginner opera!!) to dip your toes in further.
Classical - Inspired by the Enlightenment and sought to rid music of the excess of Baroque. If the every day person could learn any subject, then they could also play music and not shy away from all the notes on the page. Music in this era is usually much "simpler"; slower harmonic movement and generally smaller orchestration. This is where we get Haydn and the great Mozart. Check out Haydn's String Quartets and Mozart...well essentially ANYTHING. The man had a supernatural gift for earworm melodies. I recommend Don Giovanni and the Magic Flute for some of his best stuff.
I'll finish in another post!
>>65180039
Early Romantic - Strongly influenced by the Industrial Revolution. This led to the creation of many brass instruments as well as the piano! Beethoven is the figurehead in this era. Check out his Symphony No. 5, Kreutzer Sonata and the Waldstein Sonata. Waldstein was the first major piece composed for the piano and you can tell cause Beethoven instructs the player to bang the ever-living shit out of it. Another name that CANNOT be left out is Schubert. Wrote what is the foundation of classical art song literature. All before the age of 30. Chopin's music is also incredible for pensive meditation and late night sessions - Listen to his Etudes and then his Nocturnes. This is also a huge time for opera - as we have the three greats: Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini. Instead of their operas, listen to Joan Sutherland, Marilyn Horne and Luciano Pavarotti sing highlights from them. Some of the most glorious melodies ever written are there.
Late Romantic - This is where we see music composed that is based off of other works of art. Philosophy, books, paintings...you name it. Big names in this era are Schumann, Liszt, Wagner, Brahms, and Verdi. Schumann's Dichterliebe is an essential listening for any lover of vocal music. Liszt's repertoire is so expansive and highly virtuosic so I recommend his Transcendental Etudes. Wagner is a polarizing figure. Yes, he was Hitler's favorite composer, used at many Nazi rallies and was a known anti-Semite, but 1) there has to be a separation between the man and the music. Mozart was incredibly vulgar and childish as a person and yet made some very profound statements in his music. Wagner's music is grandiose to a scale unlike any had seen before. Don't recommend jumping into Wagner's operas until you've seen some other operas first, but listen to Siegfried's Idyll. Brahms is Brahms. Can't go wrong. Not much I can say that the music can't say better. Listen to his Symphony No. 4. Giuseppe Verdi...just awesome. WATCH LA TRAVIATA
>>65180039
>>65180397
go take your music history degree and shove it up your butthole.
>>65180450
fuck off
>>65180397
Modern - The era of modernism (Present > past). Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, Mahler's Symphony No. 2, Berg's Wozzeck, Schoenberg's Verklarte Nacht, Debussy's Preludes, and Ravel's Chloe et Daphnis are all ESSENTIAL.
Contemporary - This shit is a free-for-all which makes it a nightmare but also extremely exciting. You get composers from every corner or the world and every piece is up in the air as to what it can be. I recommend starting with Terry Riley's In C, Xenakis' Metastaseis, Carter's Concerto for Orchestra, Louis Andriessen's Workers Union, and George Crumb's Ancient Voices of Children.
My last word to you is to not let it overwhelm you and yes you WILL dislike some "great" works and "great" composer....(I personally can't stand Debussy, but yet love his contemporary Ravel). Also this music isn't greater or lesser than popular music, each has its value and its place. Enjoy both!
>>65180459
the worst classes I ever took were music history classes. Especially the gregorian chant shit. maybe I hate classical because I am tired of it. Stravinsky is pretty BASED though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBVg2BfR-ug
>>65177488
You can't do that with older composers but you can with modern composers. Just look up the composition and the premiere recording.
>>65180632
I'm sorry to hear that. It's a difficult subject to teach and even more difficult to learn. The most difficult class in my undergraduate experience was the first half of my music history course, which focused on music from Greek Antiquity to the Renaissance.
>>65180620
>>65180397
>>65180039
grade A posts, friend
>>65180692
I was more into music theory in college. 12 tone serialism was a cool thing to study. It sounds like shit though.
>>65180748
Actually this is a pasta that he changed in a few places with non obvious lies.
>>65180809
>>65180748
friend status revoked.
>>65180832
my fingers say otherwise...this is not pasta!
Also I forgot Puccini and Rachmaninoff!!
>>65180787
No it doesn't.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZelEcPZU8A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8RTPYaWXj8
>>65181105
not actually 12 tone but atonal
idk then, somebody needs to post a good 12 tone piece
>>65177853
>what is musique concrete
>>65181126
Schoenberg's 3rd String Quartet
What did you think of it /classical/? It's actually seemed to have a cultural impact of some sort. Lots of orchestras playing it, fucking TSwift hearing it, weird shit's going on lads.
>>65181709
Not art music that's for sure
>>65182438
>denial of musical progression
I bet if you lived in the early 1800s you would have hated Beethoven's Grosse Fuge
>>65182438
Wow.
>>65182438
Then what is it?
>>65177576
Aren't those really fucking old, shitty recordings? Like, 1920s?
>>65183140
Not saying it's bad, just that calling it classical music doesn't make sense to me personally
>Chatting about Puccini operas with singing friends
>Agree that Nessun Dorma is a beautiful aria but the Alfano completion which uses it as the melody for the final chorus makes absolutely no sense musically or narratively, and that the Berio completion makes much more sense
>Get told by all assembled that they love that garish finale (unironically)
>Somebody else pipes in saying that 'E lucevan le stelle' is their favourite tenor aria from Puccini
>Agree that it's gorgeous and say that one of my all-time favourite renditions is the magical Corelli performance at Parma
>Get told that they would take a performance by '[Jonas] Kaufmann any day of the week' over that one by Corelli
I'll never understand some people.
Why did we let Equal Temperament ruin music?
>>65183776
meh
at least the people you talk to can cogently discuss the recordings and completions you're mentioning
I'm lucky to have the one or two people who listen to Bruckner and avantgarde music
>>65183817
obvious reasons
>>65183584
Old recordings are the best ones.
>>65179349
>Rachmaninoff
>Great
>>65177576
He didn't actually prepare the orchestras most of the time you know
Composers aren't actually the best conductors of their music either
>>65184937
Except for Boulez.
>>65184954
Cause no one else wants to conduct that shit lol
>>65185324
I chuckled
>>65177524
Underrated
>>65177488
Listen to modern classical or classical crossover then
