Classical Music Thread

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Is there any one who can point me to resources about how to talk about classical music better? I've been listening to it all my life and yet i have no idea how to talk about it.
 
JJLiautaud said:
Is there any one who can point me to resources about how to talk about classical music better? I've been listening to it all my life and yet i have no idea how to talk about it.
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be as pretentious as possible. Imagine hanging out with wine snobs, but even more pointless
 
JJLiautaud said:
Is there any one who can point me to resources about how to talk about classical music better? I've been listening to it all my life and yet i have no idea how to talk about it.
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Do you play an instrument? That will give you a lot of insight as to how everything works.

Tax:
 
JJLiautaud said:
Too bad his sonatas suck
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To be fair these are youthful works; one of them is literally Wagner's Opus 1. Those works sounds to me like overblown Schumann. Even Wagner's earliest opera were unimpressive because he was looking up to Rossini and Meyerbeer for a model, instead of striking his own path.

JJLiautaud said:
Is there any one who can point me to resources about how to talk about classical music better? I've been listening to it all my life and yet i have no idea how to talk about it.
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Read how professional reviewers do. Not to copy their flowery language, but to learn what aspects of the music and the recording they pay attention to.
 
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Billy Bob Dick said:
be as pretentious as possible. Imagine hanging out with wine snobs, but even more pointless
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Sailor Troon said:
Do you play an instrument? That will give you a lot of insight as to how everything works.
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Positron said:
Read how professional reviewers do. Not to copy their flowery language, but to learn what aspects of the music and the recording they pay attention to.
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I guess honestly the better way to phrase my question is there any good music theory stuff for nonmuscians.
 
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JJLiautaud said:
I guess honestly the better way to phrase my question is there any good music theory stuff for nonmuscians.
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not really. Music theory is mostly indecipherable without at least basic keyboard skills. There's a reason unis make all music undergrads take two years of class piano, or test out with demonstrated keyboard proficiency.

EDIT - I guess the answer is take a few piano lessons
 
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Billy Bob Dick said:
not really. Music theory is mostly indecipherable without at least basic keyboard skills. There's a reason unis make all music undergrads take two years of class piano, or test out with demonstrated keyboard proficiency.

EDIT - I guess the answer is take a few piano lessons
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I don't play piano, and I was able to learn music theory no problem. Most music theory books have a section on the keyboard and use it as frame a reference, but you don't need to know how to play the piano to learn music theory. Theory is childishly easy to learn -- Mark Sarnecki's Complete Rudiments book is a good resource if you're interested.
 
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JJLiautaud said:
Is there any one who can point me to resources about how to talk about classical music better? I've been listening to it all my life and yet i have no idea how to talk about it.
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I think reading biography's about your favorite composers can help you understand their music more then studying music theory explicitly. About 25% of music is the text on the page, do try and understand whats going on. But don't get too bogged down.

If you just want to enjoy this music more deeply, knowing the exact mechanism will not do much good. Use your ear more then you thought possible and notice what effects certain movements in music has on you. Try and make personal vignettes to along to the music. Classical music is deeply narrative driven, its like a novel that you experience through your ears.

If there's a piece you like, do some research, find a few essays and see what you can learn. You'll pick up music theory very naturally with this method as-well. If you do want to study, start by learning about classical forms -- just reading a little bit about sonata form, theme and variation, and fugues will help you navigate classical music better.

This talk is pretty useful, there's a series called Master Musicians that I've enjoyed, and there's good oxford essays on historical pieces. Read Liszt's Eulogy for Chopin

Tax
 
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themanwhowalks said:
Specifically performers, specifically pianists. Sokolov is head and shoulder's over every single pianist I've ever heard. No one can play like him

Haven't heard of this though, I'll check it out
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Lang Lang? XD
 
JJLiautaud said:
Lang Lang? XD
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Listen man, Slimyandsticky.png
 
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Does anyone have any recommended recordings of Bach's musical offering in piano?
 
JJLiautaud said:
Does anyone have any recommended recordings of Bach's musical offering in piano?
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You'll be hard pressed to find any complete recordings using a piano. It's in the layer of Bach where the only musicians that would want to record it are going to be super autistic about using the correct instrument. My favorites for Bach on piano are Sokolov, Kempff, and Marcelle Meyer, and none of them have touched it. Yunchan is good though, he's legitimately one of the few young pianists to be excited about

 
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Beethoven was tasked with providing the music for the two short plays that were written for the opening of the new Deutsches Theater Pest. One of which is The Ruins of Athens. The play is vapidity itself. The patron Goddess of Athens, Athena (called by her Roman name Minerva in the play) is sentenced to a 2000-year slumber for her failure to prevent the execution-suicide of Socrates. When she wakes up, her city is unrecognizable. The Acropolis is in ruins; Muslims overrun the city, and the native Greeks have become their slaves. The allegorical figures of Art and Science have deserted the city, to be found in -- guess where -- Hungary. Athena retrieves them and crowns a bust of the emperor of Austria, with whose money the theater was built.

Obviously an occasion piece which should rightfully be forgotten once the occasion is passed, but people won't let a good tune go to the waste. The "Turkish March" has a curious afterlife.

Anton Rubinstein arranged it for the piano.

In a twist of fate that rivals Athena's sojourn to Hungary, the music becomes the theme to a Mexican TV show El Chavo del Ocho, and thus find its way into the "Chavosuite", an arrangement of the show's music by Ricardo Gallardo for the Kronos Quartet.
 
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