Classical Music for People Who Hate Classical Music

[clpetersen]

Originally Posted by audiot servant

Great post Tim

+3

[Beet Farmer]

Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue, American In Paris
Kronos Quartet: Pieces Of Africa (Classical playing World)
Turtle Island String Quartet: Who Do We Think We Are (Classical playing Jazz)
Turtle Island String Quartet: Spider Dreams
Copland: Appalachian Spring, Rodeo
Schubert: Death and the Maiden

I would suggest in that order. Three of the first five have Jazz leanings..
To me the real connection between not Classical and Classical is the quartet.
The quartet is seen in Jazz, in Rock, and in Classical. So to me, it is were I would try to expose anyone to Classical music. The quartet can be exciting, not to 'busy' not too pompous either.
Copland's works, and Schubert Death and the Maiden are particularly exciting, as great first pieces of real Classical. If that cannot raise some interest, I doubt anything else will.
The Turtle Island is using classical quartet to play Jazz. I find it very interesting and a good use of a Classical Quartet.

I personally think Jazz lovers could find more in Classical than Rock only folks. Jazz had made me acutely aware of Classical performers who are incapable of 'swing'. Yes most great Classical musicians do have swing. the not so great 'students' of Classical, who play the notes as written, have none.
Metronomes I call them.
The love of counterpoint takes understanding.. (as an aside, I never understood what Jazz performers were doing, until I watched Ken Burns Jazz, Then suddenly I 'got ' it.) Same can be said for the Classical roots of counterpoint. Just sounds stupid, until you realized the underlying beauty of it. To me, with no enjoyment of counterpoint, there really can be no care for Classical music,

[tima]

Originally Posted by Beet Farmer

Jazz had made me acutely aware of Classical performers who are incapable of 'swing'. Yes most great Classical musicians do have swing. the not so great 'students' of Classical, who play the notes as written, have none. Metronomes I call them.

The majority of classical music performances are based on a score written by a composer. A group of classical musicians is typically directed to play the score by a conductor or leader. The score dictates how many beats there are in a measure and the conductor determines how many beats there are in a minute. The score indicates the notes (tone, pitch) to play along with direction about the note's character in terms of dynamics and speed. Occasionally a score will provide metronome settings.

If a classical musician performing a composition based on a score opts to extemporize or play outside the directions of the score and the conductor, they might get one warning. It is not about an ability to swing or not, it is about performing a piece of music already written. Interpretation is largely left to the conductor. The whole becomes greater than the sum of the parts.

In some cases a piece of classical music will allow one or more cadenzas. These are usually solo passages where the primary artist has the opportunity to add his own flourish or improvise for a certain amount of time. For example, there are two(?) cadenzas for the pianist in Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto; Beethoven wrote music for these portions, but accomplished soloists could substitute their own. When Glenn Gould performed this piece under conductor Leonard Bernstein, Gould was so incredibly talented he could go his own way with the music. Acknowledging Beethoven's genius, Gould played the cadenzas exactly as written.

[bart]

Tim, good points.

That being said, Glenn Gould did a lot of sung improvisations during his solo piano recordings...

[parsifalcor]

Anything performed by the stunning Maryam Raya is worth listening to. Was just at a house concert in SoHo last week where she played a mind-blowing rendition of Liszt's Dante Sonata - it was unbelievable.

[parsifalcor]

She's also not hard on the eyes, either!