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inhumanist
Metal freak

Joined: Fri Jan 14, 2011 5:09 pm
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PostPosted: Wed May 29, 2013 4:43 pm 
 

A certain affinity for classical music seems to be inherent to the metal spirit. Some of metal's most influential musicians have outed themselves as fans of classical composers, a considerable catalogue of classical covers done by metal bands exists and the relation of classical and metal is a topic of hot controversy. Classical music appreciation among devoted metalheads seems to be a far more widespread phenomenon than one would expect from followers of a genre that's infamous for disregarding the established aesthetical boundaries of western music. What better place then to discuss classical than one of the most active metal forums on the web?

One reason for me to start this topic is to expand my own tastes. The works that I listen to are largely standard repertoire and I feel like I'm only getting a small glimpse of worlds that need to be explored. I'm hoping for this to become something similar to a rec thread; on the other hand there needs to be quite a bit of free discussion to make things interesting.

To get this going I suggest the standard procedure: Tell us about your favourite pieces, composers, periods, performers, performances etc.. As usual: Don't post uncommented lists. Including youtube samples with your posts is greatly appreciated.


-~<o>~-

My favorite period of classical music is romanticism, and the small collection of classical records that I call my own consists mostly of romanticist pieces. Works that I enjoy from this period include:

Franz Liszt - Hungarian Rhapsodies
Spoiler: show


Jean Sibelius - Symphony No. 1
Spoiler: show


Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy - Symphony No. 3
Spoiler: show


Some of the few composers of other periods that I appreciate:

Dmitry Dmitry Shostakovich - Symphony No. 5
Spoiler: show


Georg Friedrich Händel - Flute Sonata in A minor
Spoiler: show


Goatcraft - All For Naught
The newest of the bunch. Improvisational piano music with an underground metal outlook. What's not to love?
Spoiler: show
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Last edited by inhumanist on Thu Nov 28, 2013 6:11 am, edited 11 times in total.
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Grave_Wyrm
Metal Sloth

Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2012 5:55 pm
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PostPosted: Wed May 29, 2013 5:01 pm 
 

Sweet. I've been wanting more classical music in my life.
Love the idea, hate the title. :thumbsdown:

Chopin's Nocturnes. It's obviously a well-known collection, and isn't without its saccharine side, but my dad told me a while ago that it saved his life. Whether that means he was considering suicide and Chopin gave him catharsis, or if he was just in the depths of depression and this raised him out, I never asked. Either way, it holds a special "if it weren't for this, who knows" place in the family portrait section on the mantle of my heart. So .. this is for you, dad.

Nocturnes, Complete
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inhumanist
Metal freak

Joined: Fri Jan 14, 2011 5:09 pm
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PostPosted: Wed May 29, 2013 5:03 pm 
 

Grave_Wyrm wrote:
Love the idea, hate the title. :thumbsdown:

:boo: Knew it was dumb. Let's go with a boring one instead.
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jute
Metal newbie

Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2009 12:30 am
Posts: 150
PostPosted: Wed May 29, 2013 9:18 pm 
 

Some things I've been listening to lately:

Iannis Xenakis - St/4: Work for string quartet, part of a series of works using "probability formulas that generate the tone, timbre, and timing of each musical event". Xenakis has no real precursors or successors.

Spoiler: show


Charles Wourinen - Lepton: Curiously scored for piano, harp, and celesta. Serial music for the composer's cat. Wuorinen's book Simple Composition is a wonderful, lucid handbook on serial writing.

Spoiler: show


Pierre Boulez - Sur Incises: An expansion of an earlier solo piano piece. Here the timbre of the piano is "exploded" into an ensemble of pianos, harps, and chromatic percussion. Later Boulez (like this) loses a lot of the aggressiveness of his early work and, given his mid-to-high compositional "tessitura", has a crystalline beauty.

Spoiler: show


Ernest John Moeran - String Trio: Moeran's small body of work (he had an unfortunate life and died relatively young) is unified and invariably very lovely in that melancholy British way.

Spoiler: show

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~Guest 171512
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Joined: Thu Oct 09, 2008 9:18 am
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PostPosted: Wed May 29, 2013 10:09 pm 
 

You posted some great stuff, inhumanist! I really must get Handel's Flute Sonata in A Minor. Shostakovich is definitely smashing.

Some stuff I like:

Johannes Brahms - Double Concerto
Spoiler: show


Brahms really knew how to convey drama.

Jean Sibelius - The Swan of Tuonela
Spoiler: show


A very elegiac and beautiful melody. Very haunting.

Vaughan Williams - The Lark Ascending
Spoiler: show


Simply a transcendent melody. Lifts the spirit to fly like the lark.

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Erosion of Humanity
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PostPosted: Wed May 29, 2013 10:15 pm 
 

I'm not really a big fan of classical, it's all my dad listens to and it's just left a bad taste in my mouth since I was a little kid but I really do love Carl Orff's Carmina Burana O Fortuna. This is it being done by Andre Rieu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD3VsesSBsw It's just do fucking epic that I can't help but love it. The song really kicks in right around the 2:45 mark and holy shit words can't describe how much I love that part, it sounds like something right out of a symphonic metal album, maybe that's why I like it so much. :roll:
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qTp
Metal newbie

Joined: Thu Mar 03, 2011 12:32 pm
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Location: Dolomites
PostPosted: Thu May 30, 2013 12:11 pm 
 

Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001)
avant-garde classical, electronic/computer music, he used mathematical models in music (such as stochastic process).
"Analogique A + B" (1959) is a great example of classical music combined with electronic sounds.

Spoiler: show


Image




Giacinto Scelsi (1905-1988)
almost unknown when he was alive, he composed great pieces of microtonal music.
"Quattro Pezzi per orchestra" (1959) (a.k.a. "Quattro Pezzi su una nota sola" - "Four Pieces on a single note"): each piece is limited to one pitch with micro-mutations of sound, such as vibrato, tremolo, etc.
"Uaxuctum" (1966): complex, obscure, tormented, it's the musical narration of the end of mayan civilization; perfect use of choir and percussion!

Spoiler: show




Image
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qTp
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PostPosted: Fri May 31, 2013 7:56 am 
 

Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
"Also Sprach Zarathustra" (1896): the famous symphonic poem inspired by Nietzsche's philosophical novel; EPIC!
"Eine Alpensinfonie" (1915): another masterpiece by Strauss, a symphonic poem about a day spent climbing an Alpine mountain; dreamy.





Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)
"Symphonie fantastique" (1830): the famous symphony about various experiences in the life of an artist (opium, hopeless love, etc.); intense.

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inhumanist
Metal freak

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PostPosted: Fri May 31, 2013 6:47 pm 
 

I know it's ridiculously popular and everyone has heard it at some point, but I can't get over how amazing Chopin's Marche Funèbre is. Gets me every time.

I'm listening to this lovely version right now (unfortunately the video contains only part of it):
Spoiler: show


On a different note, I have a hard time getting into the more... unconventional forms of modern classical. I'm talking about twelve-tone and other extremely atonal forms of music (I couldn't name any others though). I know atonality is a hurdle to accessibility, but I listen to a lot of atonal death metal where it usually doesn't bother me (au contraire). But even there it's rarely as extreme as in twelve-tone music (and repetition creates a sense of order). It's just... why would you even constrain yourself in such a way? Maybe as an experiment, but a whole artistic movement? Theodor W. Adorno, composer and philosopher (who said some very true and insightful things about music in general), said that tonality had become "reactionary"; but is that enough reason to completely negate a fundamental aesthetical standard, because of its current socio-cultural/political context?
Honestly speaking, much of it sounds just more or less random to me, even though I don't doubt that there is plenty of thought involved in creating this kind of music. But can a form of art still be described as realistically revolutionary (as in: opposite of reactionary) if it fails to reach an audience transcending avantgardists, intellectuals and, in today's age, nerds? If reaching a state of mind where it becomes fully enjoyable requires serious effort? Or in other words: Where you figuratively need a degree to "get it"? I hope I'm not being too terribly ignorant here. Maybe someone who's actually into it can tell me what they see (/hear) in it? I'm a bit at loss.

Spoiler: show
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jute
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Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2009 12:30 am
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PostPosted: Fri May 31, 2013 9:26 pm 
 

I don't think it's very useful to evaluate music (especially huge swathes of music like 'all tonal music' or 'all non-tonal music') based on whether or not it is 'reactionary' or 'avant garde' or whatever.  The best thing you can do when hearing new music in whatever style is to attempt to listen openly: assume the composer is sincere and judge each work on its individual merits, not whatever categories it happens to fall into.  There is plenty of unpleasant tonal music and plenty of beautiful serial music, and both can be great.

Takemitsu's Spirit Garden is serial and gorgeous.

Spoiler: show


"The work as a whole is dominated by a twelve-tone series consisting in its basic form of the pitches A, B flat, E, E flat, D, A flat, G, F sharp, C, B, C sharp and F. This tone row is constituted so as to consist of three augmented triads plus one extra pitch by taking every third note beginning with the first to the third (i.e. (1) A, E flat, G and B: augmented triad consisting of E flat, G and B plus A; (2) B flat, D, F sharp, C sharp: augmented triad consisting of B flat, D, F sharp plus C sharp; (3) E, A flat, C, F: augmented triad consisting of E, A flat and C plus F). The three resulting chords constitute the three main formative elements of the music.

The main feature of the basic tone row is the predominance of adjacent intervals of a second and intervals of augmented and diminished fifths. Takemitsu also employs a twelve-tone series featuring pairs of descending minor third intervals, each pair being followed by the same interval a whole tone lower, the two sets of six alternate pitches thus constituting two whole tone scales (i.e. D, B, C, A, B flat, G, A flat; F, F sharp, E flat, E, C sharp). The eight pitches at the beginning of the work are taken systematically from this tone row."


Allan Petterson's music is tonal but relentlessly brutal (and very good!)

Spoiler: show

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inhumanist
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 01, 2013 5:52 am 
 

But we do intuitively prefer tonality, generally speaking, don't we? I know I do. I wonder if that's a preference we're born with (because the system is oriented towards what naturally sounds "right") or if it's learned (because the music we get to hear as children is usually tonal).
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jute
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 01, 2013 10:31 am 
 

Different people respond to different things. Some they respond to immediately, others they acquire a taste for. There are plenty of cultures where the indigenous and/or popular music is very different from common practice Western harmony. The indigenous music of Krk, Yugoslavia is based around minor-second tone clusters: http://www.folkways.si.edu/music-from-t ... mithsonian

When I was younger I much preferred noisy nontonal stuff like Xenakis, Varese, and early Penderecki to the Romantic stuff you posted. Later I grew to love Sibelius, Brahms, Mahler, etc. too. I've always liked Baroque (and earlier) music, and still find a lot of Classical-era music uninteresting. Everyone is different. Listen to what you like, and always keep an open mind when hearing new music so you can find new things to like. Don't worry about whatever labels people place on things.

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Ribos
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 10:33 pm 
 

Tonality is definitely relative to culture. Elsewise, good luck explaining the microtonal "quarter steps" (not really a quarter, but eh) in Indian music or how in Indonesian gamelan music the instruments in each ensemble are tuned to each other (and not to other ensembles), but each is put slightly off so as to create a "shimmering" beat effect.

Anyways, poking my head in here because I may have just had a moment of weakness in which I purchased seven discs of Gyorgy Ligeti recordings. You don't know Ligeti? Actually, you probably do, if you've seen 2001: A Space Odyssey. His Atmospheres shows up in its completion in the film, but to me, the most notable piece has to be Lux Aeterna. Don't think all of his material sounds (even remotely) like that, though. He also wrote some more rhythmically-engaging pieces like this one, in addition to a few weirdo experimentations. Like his Musica Ricercata, a series of pieces in which he starts with just one scale step and slowly adds more in one by one. If you couldn't tell, the guy can be pretty lighthearted about his composing. But that's part of why I love him so much.
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Stoned Wizard
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 4:53 pm 
 

Mars- the Bringer of War by Gustav Holst. It's badass, man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jmk5frp6-3Q

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germandeather
Metal newbie

Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2009 12:05 pm
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Location: Germany
PostPosted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 8:08 pm 
 

My favorite classical composers are the already mentioned Liszt and Sibelius plus

Antonin Dvorak
Spoiler: show


Johannes Brahms
Spoiler: show


Both were able to compose beautiful melodies without overemphasizing them so they sound cheesy.

I also recommend the Slavonic Dances both wrote.
Spoiler: show


Domenico Scarlatti
Extremely hard to play and extremely beautiful
Spoiler: show


of course Antonio Vivaldi
Of all classical Music "Winter" is probably the most Metal one.
Spoiler: show


Pjotr Tchaikovsky
I feel like this one is the most melancholic classic piece.
Spoiler: show


Gustav Mahler
A composer of the late-romanticism. One word. Stunning.
Spoiler: show

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TheMizwaOfMuzzyTah
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 8:09 am 
 

Alexander Scriabin is my favorite composer. He started off in the mold of Chopin (my second favorite composer), but quickly came into his own as one of the most brilliant and forward-thinking composers the world has ever known. Both his keyboard music and his symphonic music are among the most sonorous, colorful and unique you'll ever hear. He's probably most famous for his 'Black Mass' sonata, which is of course brilliant, but his etudes, tone poems and concerti are my favorites.

Also enjoy: Kryzstof Penderecki, John Ireland, Pytor Tchaikovsky, Bela Bartok, Sergei Prokofiev, etc.

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ClaymanOnFire
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 3:58 am 
 

I've been getting into classical music more and more lately, but the sheer amount of it is daunting. You have myriads of composers who have a lifetime's worth of music with many, many different individual performances. So far I've stuck mostly to the basics, like Bach's fugues or Mozart piano sonatas (both of which I love). I'm making my way through what people have already mentioned, but if someone could point me towards something extremely dark, that would be wonderful. As of yet, I haven't found anything close to Anaal Nathrakh or The Angelic Process but it must be out there somewhere...

One composer I like who's very under appreciated and generally unknown is Ian Krouse. Especially his piece, "Tientos." I can't find it on Youtube but it's only like a dollar on Amazon and it's over twenty minutes long. Normally I don't like microtonal music but this guy makes quarter steps work beautifully. He blends Flamenco and world music into this glorious, heartrending masterpiece of music unlike anything I've ever heard before. In other words, it's quite good.
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TheMizwaOfMuzzyTah
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 8:56 am 
 

ClaymanOnFire, if you want to try a composer of extremely dark tendencies, try Kryzstof Penderecki. 90% of this man's compositions are downright terrifying. My favorites of his include the St. Luke Passion (the grimmest, most sinister sounding account of the execution of Christ ever composed), Ujturna, his first symphony, etc. His music is extremely frightening. I'm actually playing his stuff in the haunted house I am designing this year. He makes the darkest of metal look mighty goofy.

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inhumanist
Metal freak

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PostPosted: Tue Jul 02, 2013 4:00 pm 
 

Speaking of composers with dark tendencies, I'm just listening to "Mourned By The Wind" by Giya Kancheli and find it absolutely breathtaking. Some of you may have heard some of his work even though you don't know him because Urfaust's ex-member Dolen stole three of his pieces and put them on "Verräterischer, Nichtswürdiger Geist", which I listened to for the first time today and which made me crave more of this amazing music.

Mourned By The Wind

These are two of the three pieces Urfaust ripped off (I couldn't identify the third):

Spoiler: show




Also thanks to anyone who posted so far.
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Marag
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Joined: Fri Feb 27, 2009 8:55 pm
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 02, 2013 5:16 pm 
 

Good find inhumanist. If I didn't heard before that Dolen stole it, and for the professional sound of these orchestras, I would never have guessed it wasn't Urfaust's own composition because these pieces are grim as fuck.

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Conservationism
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Joined: Mon Jul 12, 2010 3:48 pm
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 02, 2013 8:26 pm 
 

Erosion Of Humanity wrote:
I'm not really a big fan of classical, it's all my dad listens to and it's just left a bad taste in my mouth since I was a little kid but I really do love Carl Orff's Carmina Burana


Hell yeah. This is a killer piece that doesn't get enough attention from "hardcore" (yes, they call them that now) classical music fans.

Also, opera rules, and I don't care if you call me a *** for that!
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~Guest 171512
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 02, 2013 9:51 pm 
 

@TheMizwaofMuzzyTah: That was some harrowing stuff. I might have to add some of this man's works to my collection. It would make for intense mood music! Thanks for showing me this. :)

@inhumanist: Wow! I'm listening to 'Mourned by the Wind' now myself, and this is fantastic. Tense, heartwrenching... wow. Thank you so much! I definitely need to get some stuff by Giya Kancheli now. Rock on man! \m/

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inhumanist
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 03, 2013 3:58 am 
 

Conservationism wrote:
Also, opera rules, and I don't care if you call me a *** for that!

Hey, there's nothing wrong with opera. Some of Mozart's best work for example is undeniably opera. Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute are both absolutely worth checking out. :nods:

Spoiler: show
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Opus
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 06, 2013 9:25 am 
 

I'd like to recommend the series "Leaving Home" on 20th century music.
Very informative and full of "dark" sounds.

There are seven episodes in all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ1wKzdWo4g
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jute
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Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2009 12:30 am
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 06, 2013 9:37 pm 
 

Varese's Ecuatorial is a favorite of mine with a very wide timbral and registral palette:

Spoiler: show


Brahm's Clarinet Quintet is a very late work, composed after his "retirement" from composing, that gets played a lot around my house. The late clarinet works are sort of the apex of Brahmsian melancholy understatement:

Spoiler: show


I'm fond of Babbitt's Occasional Variations for many reasons, but one of them is certainly the sound of the RCA Mark II (which is also used to great effect in Wuorinen's Time's Encomium):

Spoiler: show


Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915 is one of the few vocal pieces (along with the Varese above, if that counts) that I really love:

Spoiler: show

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DeathfareDevil
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 07, 2013 12:45 am 
 

As a quick metal-related aside, the main theme of Brahms' Hungarian Dance No. 1--
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ47Tc4jDi0
--was used by Belphegor as the chorus for "In Blood - Devour This Sanctity"--
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5cN2gzK ... age#t=123s

I'd never been too fond of organ music until I found my way to Cesar Franck's works for said instrument. Holy cow, it's like everything else had been in a foreign language then suddenly I hear a voice that makes sense to me. This is ironic because Franck was the composer who alerted me to the power of classical: when I was about 13 or 14 I heard his tone poem "The Accursed Huntsman" while lying in bed one night, and my doors of perception were blown quite open -- similar to my first exposure to extreme metal, actually.

Anyway, this is my favorite of Franck's organ pieces, his Fantasy in A. It sounds like something Mortiis or even Summoning would come up with. In fact it should do a fine job of transporting you to that mist enshrouded happy place depicted by the black metal album cover of your choosing. (Just put the tab in the background or something, as the visual aspect of this video is anything but evocative.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rPZPoNnsH4

On Penderecki: I remember reading in a Gorguts interview that Luc Lemay is a huge fan of the composer, and at some point met him and gave him some transcriptions he'd made of his music. Strangely I've yet to hear Penderecki. I probably should get on that.

Shostakovich's string quartets are among my favorite things in the world, his Eighth being the most popular. Definitely dark and heavy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m5ohobcKb8

I can't listen to it often, but the Winterreise song cycle by Schubert, my favorite composer, is one of the more harrowing and hallucinatory things you'll ever hear. I recommend setting time aside to listen to the whole thing, following along with the lyrics. This is the ghostly final song in the cycle. (If you've seen the fantastic movie In Bruges, you'll recognize it.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA1AQxuRtOI

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Conservationism
Metalhead

Joined: Mon Jul 12, 2010 3:48 pm
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 08, 2013 9:22 am 
 

Post-modern classical is too gimmicky for me.

However:

Quote:
I can't listen to it often, but the Winterreise song cycle by Schubert, my favorite composer, is one of the more harrowing and hallucinatory things you'll ever hear. I recommend setting time aside to listen to the whole thing, following along with the lyrics. This is the ghostly final song in the cycle. (If you've seen the fantastic movie In Bruges, you'll recognize it.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA1AQxuRtOI


I'll second this. Franz Schubert is perhaps the most metal of the romantic composers. Live fast, die young, leave behind a vast body of genius and many troubling questions.
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DeathfareDevil
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 4:13 am 
 

On Schubert: honestly I was a little disappointed after reading a couple of his biographies not to find the tortured, tumultuous figure his music -- and his era -- presupposed. His life, brief though it was, seemed pretty banal: hanging out with his buds in the coffee shops, working for the Esterhaz clan (like seemingly every other German and Austrian composer of the time), getting nods of recognition just enough to keep him neither glamorized nor abandoned to obscurity. Maybe if he'd lived longer he would've had the opportunity to hurl some chairs through hotel windows and develop some opiate addictions. His music is dark enough at times that something certainly was going on, but nothing chaotic seems to have made it to the surface in his observable life. I'd be curious about the "troubling questions." Admittedly it's been about a decade since I read those bios.

And on Ligeti, this was my introduction to his odd works, via the Kubrick movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DExkPNbo7I
I have a couple discs of his stuff, but I don't find myself playing them much. Definitely an acquired taste.

To the person who begat this thread: one easy way to expand your classical exposure is to search Amazon for anything on the Naxos label (then either resort to youtube or order their cheap discs blindly). The label, as you may very well know, made a name for itself by bringing out lesser known composers for public discovery.

Charles-Valentin Alkan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPDSNU-fEFY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4q9sCMBqRv4

Arnold Bax:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bElJbf1P2YI

Arthur Bliss:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFONHHBCVtA

Zdenek Fibich:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70IhchFZKSA

...et al et al. The kind of stuff NPR plays at 3 in the morning and you're like "who are these people?"

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Opus
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 6:35 am 
 

DeathfareDevil wrote:

:thumbsup:
I just recently discovered Bax. Easily in my top 5 symphonic composers. The others would be Shostakovich, Pettersson, Sibelius and Beethoven.
Great blend of British romanticism and impressionism. Quite unique.
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666Emperor666
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Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2009 8:44 am
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 03, 2013 1:12 pm 
 

My favourite composer is definitely Antonin Dvorak! His music was the first classical I ever checked out and he's been my favourite ever since!

Slavonic Dances: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN4z8HjSCI8

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Subrick
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Joined: Sun Sep 12, 2010 7:27 pm
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Location: United States
PostPosted: Sat Aug 03, 2013 2:10 pm 
 

Whenever classical music is brought up, my immediate answer to "What's your favorite piece(s)?" is Leopold Stokowski's arrangement of Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.



To me it's the greatest piece of music ever written, and this particular performance of it is the best I've seen of it yet.

As for other pieces I enjoy, I've always been fond of the arrangement of The Rite of Spring from Fantasia. I really like how the bassoon melody from the beginning is done again at the very end, bookending the whole piece. Really all the pieces from Fantasia are great, but this, Toccata and Fugue, and the combination of Night on Bald Mountain and Ave Maria are the best.



(I can't find a combination video of the Stokowski arrangement of Bald Mountain and Ave Maria, so just go watch the movie yourself)
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inhumanist
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 03, 2013 2:41 pm 
 

Bach's organ works are about as metal as classical can get. Personally I think they sound best on Organ, but like the Cirith Ungol version this is a cool spin on the Toccata. E-guitar and orchestra are more or less able to do justice to an organ piece I guess.

Opus wrote:
I'd like to recommend the series "Leaving Home" on 20th century music.
Very informative and full of "dark" sounds.

There are seven episodes in all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ1wKzdWo4g

Finally got around to watching this and I must say this was very enlightening! Most importantly it made me listen to Transfigured Night which I am very glad about. Other Schönberg pieces which I listened to in the past didn't resonate with me at all, but this one is fantastic.
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Subrick
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 03, 2013 3:03 pm 
 

What I really want to hear is Toccata played on organ but using the more bombastic feel of Stokowski's arrangement. In Bach's original arrangement, some of the chords in the two toccata sections go by much quicker than in the Stokowski version, making it feel much less grand and epic in my opinion.
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DanFuckingLucas
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 8:44 am 
 

I'm not going to read all of the thread (I'm supposed to be working), but I do love classical. I don't really have a particular favourite period or style, I'll consume any of it.

One of my all time favourites has to be Vaughan-Williams's The Lark Ascending, which I noticed somebody already posted. Sometimes, I hear pieces that are new to me, and I think This sounds like Ralph Vaughan-Williams and it invariably is - he just had a style that was unique, and incredible British. Not that he was the only British-sounding composer, but his sound seems to me to be most British, invoking images of the rolling British countryside, and birds frolicking overhead, and a gentle breeze blowing through the fields.

Slightly less British, and in fact very Spanish, I love Joaquin Rodrigo's Concerto de Aranjuez. Absolutely breathtaking, I once made my friends listen to the Adiago on LSD. Good times.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9RS4biqyAc

Of course, I also play a bit of the guitar, so I listen to a fair bit of guitar and lute. Joan Ambrosio Dalza was an excellent lutenist from Venice in the early period, I particularly love this peice:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mva5GplGZ28

Sylvius Leopold Weiss was also excellent. He jammed a lot in court, him on lute, J.S. Bach on the harpsichord, trying to one-up each other. That would have been amazing to see.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22E_OqBYPl8

Of course, who can fail to mention Isaac Albéniz's Suite española? Originally written on piano, it wasn't until after his death that the legendary Francisco Tarrega transcribed it for guitar, and it includes what is now likely one of the most widely recognised pieces of Spanish guitar music: Asturias (Leyenda).
Here is John Williams playing it, from The Seville Concert - well worth the money to invest in a copy of that album.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQWM8ku2 ... 09&index=3

And before I go off and list everything I love, I'll just go with one more for now. An utterly breathtaking piece from a master from Peru, if you've never listened to Augustín Barrios Mangoré, then you are in for a treat. The Bach-influenced La Catedral is my personal favourite of his, but it's close, so much of his work is just mesmerising. The first and second movements (Preludio (Saudaude) and Andante religioso) are wonderful, and the Allegro solemne is utterly jaw-dropping. It is another of his works inspired by religion. This is a version played by Ana Vidovic, and crikey can this girl play. If ever you have the opportunity to see her in concert, I strongly recommend you take the opportunity.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCE5aPnB5aI
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Unorthodox
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 4:54 pm 
 

I was pretty high speed in marching band when I was in high school, and even still appreciate the fuck out of the DCI bands. This is one of the videos of Madison Scouts from 1988. I'm always blown away by the sheer power of the sound these guys were able to develop. Bands will now use amplification to get the same result, but that's what makes this band so goddam awesome; everything you hear is coming straight from the horns of the players.

Spoiler: show
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inhumanist
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Joined: Fri Jan 14, 2011 5:09 pm
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 05, 2013 7:12 pm 
 

The two other people who care probably already know, but Goatcraft is going to release another album next year :hyper:

Preview track sounds great! Although the lack of fast arpeggios is unexpected.
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lost_wanderer
Metal newbie

Joined: Sun May 22, 2005 4:59 pm
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Location: Canada
PostPosted: Thu Sep 05, 2013 11:05 pm 
 

For those who love violin, Paganini is great
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSyvG5-mv44

One classic piece is Mussorgsky - Night On Bald Mountain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCEDfZgDPS8

I think no one has mention Wagner yet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AlEvy0fJto

another well known piece: In the Hall of the Mountain King (Peer Gynt) by Edvard Grieg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRpzxKsSEZg

Borodin - In the Steppes of Central Asia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W2aQf8Lb5M

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ClaymanOnFire
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 20, 2013 10:37 pm 
 

If you guys haven't heard The Silk Road Ensemble's latest album, A Playlist Without Borders, check it out now. The ensemble was put together by Yo-Yo Ma, and it's just incredible. It combines classical and world music flawlessly. Seriously, I'd never think tabla and cello would blend all too well, but it's like they were made for each other. Unfortunately there's nothing beyond 'Making of' videos on youtube, but it's on Spotify at least.
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Syntek
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Joined: Mon Sep 13, 2010 1:14 pm
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Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Tue Oct 22, 2013 12:18 pm 
 

I'm not particularly into classical in it's traditional sense (ie. encompassing most if not all Renaissance all the way up to early 20th century), aside some isolated songs/movements like Barber's Adagio For Strings and the tailend of Mahler's 9th Symphony, which are incredible. Not to say I haven't tried time and time again to enjoy it - alas, it just doesn't seem to click for me, for whatever reason.

However, I absolutely love contempory minimalism, modern classical, ambient/classical fusions, etc, and it has to be, by far, my favourite genre. Maybe you guys will appreciate some of this too:

Ólafur Arnalds
Spoiler: show



Nils Frahm
Spoiler: show


A Winged Victory For the Sullen
(a collab between Dustin O'Halloran + Adam Wiltzie from Stars of the Lid)
Spoiler: show



Arvo Pärt
Spoiler: show
Perhaps the most meditative, quiet piece I've heard in my life.



Check out what you can - there's some stellar stuff in there.

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inhumanist
Metal freak

Joined: Fri Jan 14, 2011 5:09 pm
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 23, 2013 12:26 pm 
 

Today I learned about the English composer Benjamin Britten (whose 100th birthday would have been yesterday).
Spoiler: show


Since I watched Rattle's "Leaving Home" my interest in 20th century classical has grown a lot. Such an explosion of new perspectives, the departure from constraining conventions, the uncompromising innovativeness and confidence but also fear, doubt, darkness, emptyness. In other words: Modernity reflected in art. Totally intriguing but also quite difficult to develop an understanding and appreciation of what one is confronted with. Here's music that is often the total opposite of gentleness or reassurance. That leaves you disturbed and full of unresolved questions.
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Last edited by inhumanist on Sat Nov 23, 2013 1:26 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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