Intense/Aggressive/Dark classical music suggestions?
Are you familiar with this piece by Sibelius? I would describe it as perhaps intense, definitely dark, and maybe aggressive in places(only one of two videos): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYFEq80Aw... Here's a piece by Tchaikovsky that is very intense, dark in places and undoubtedly very aggressive(performed by a "Youth" orchestra, but they're pretty good). And I don't know how familiar you are with You Tube, but the three videos which comprise the performance are set on "automatic play" - so when the first one completes, the second will automatically click on - and then the third): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rwBUuZgm... I'm throwing you something of a "curve" here; because this piece does have some very uplifting, magnificent moments, and has a very slow, soft start; so you may want to turn up the volume: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7kZpoZ3z... Alberich
What albums are included in the RCA Victor Basic 100 classical collection?
I have tried asking record shops, my local public radio, & have scoured the INTERNET, but to no avail. I have even tried writing to RCA Victor's headquarters themselves. This was a collection (mostly out of print now) of a basic/beginner top 100 of classical albums/recordings. Kind of a "get your feet wet" with classical music. Even if i can't find the exact recordings/CDs that were in this collection (due to them being out of print), I'd like to at least assemble OTHER recordings of these, to I can use them myself. I really like the selection they had made in the CDs i _do_ own, and this is why I would like to try to remake this collection itself, if possible. Thanks in advance!
Any suggestions for slow, dark, classical music?
One of my favorite darker pieces of classical music is by Gorecki- his Symphony No. 3 (the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs); especially the second movement. He's a fantastic composer, and though this Symphony is not for piano I think you'll love it anyway.
What are some of the best examples of American "classical" music, and what makes them sound American?
This is an interesting question. Two composers immediately come to mind in the American classical tradition: Aaron Copland and Charles Ives. Both of them wrote on particularly American topics - the American pioneer life, the rodeo, the West, small-town New England. Both of them had a very unique and recognizable sound that we now think of as American.Appalachian Spring is arguably the most well-assimilated into American culture. Fanfare for the Common Man is another popular work of Copland's. People have come to think of his open, slow-changing harmonies as evoking the vast American landscape. However, I tend to think that his harmonies are just a characteristic of Copland's music; the listeners are the ones who have imposed the label of "American" on the sound of his music, likely because Copland was American and his pieces have come to have a prominent place in the American canon.Ives is a more interesting case. Ives was heavily influenced by American pop music and by American church music, and he may have truly created an American "sound." I would recommend Symphony No. 3, New England Holidays, and Three Places in New England as good examples of his particularly American works. Though he's not half as well known as Copland by your average American, his work is fascinating, complicated, and entirely original.There are other pieces that I would include in the canon of great American works: Samuel Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story, and anything written by Gershwin - take your pick! And this doesn't even include men like Elliot Carter or Milton Babbitt, who are not very well known at all outside of the classical music world but who have had a great deal of influence on the American music scene of the last century (in the case of Carter, quite literally a century, as he's well over 100 years old at this point and still composing). John Adams, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass are a huge presence in the minimalist movement. The thing that ought to strike you in this list is the huge amount of variety in the styles of these composers. I don't know if there is a quintessentially "American" sound in classical music, because American composers have drawn from so many different sources and topics while writing their music. Like America itself, the American classical music tradition is a melting pot of sorts.
How can I get into contemporary classical music?
Contemporary classical music is a very diverse thing . There are a wide variety of composers who use different compositional techniques and have different aesthetic notions and principles . . For example , the so-called “minimalist “ music of composers such as Steve Reich Philip Glass , the highly complex and cerebral music of Charles Wuorinen , Brian Ferneyhough and the recently deceased Pierre Boulez , Elliott Carter , Milton Babbitt , and the asian influenced styles of such Asian composers as Tan Dun of China and others , and the more conservative tonal composers such as Ned Rorem, Carlisle Floyd .With composers who write highly complex and cerebral music such as Carter, Babbitt and others , its virtually impossible to grasp their music at first hearing . This is why recordings are so important ; unlike a live concert where you hear a work once, recordings enable you to get familiar with the music by repeated hearings . What sounds baffling to you at first will often begin to make more sense once you become familiar with it . This has been true for me in so many cases .Youtube, which has classical music of every imaginable kind going back from centuries ago to the present day, is a really good way to experience contemporary music .
In the Poem, I Hear American Singing, by Walt Whitman...?
What are the parallel structures repeated in this poem? I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear, Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong, The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam, The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work, The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck, The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands, The wood-cutter’s song, the plowboy’s on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown, The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing, Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else, The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly, Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.
What should I listen to if I want to introduce myself to classical music?
That’s a hard question to approach since “classical” music as most people use the term is a very wide ranging collection of music types (solo piano vs string quartets vs orchestra music) and time periods-and not everyone agrees on the exact dates of these periods.For example, one could say Claude DeBussy was ushering in the 20th Century (we need a better name for that period-The Seeking perhaps?) in 1890, but one could also argue that Igor Stravinsky’s Firebird (1910) was the last gasp of the Romantic period.As an introduction, perhaps some light Mozart (Eine Kline Nachtmusik), Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun (DeBussy), some Chopin piano pieces is a good start?