Classical music, what contemporary music compares to it ?

[Mykesbass]

Really in the eye (or ear) of the beholder, but for aching beauty I'd venture John Martyn Solid Air album or Jeff Buckley Hallelujah, the latter to my ear being so tender and broken, I can't believe it was so badly abused by X Factor!

On the classical side, oddly, for an ardent atheist, I adore Mozart's Grand Mass.

[lojo]

I can lose myself with bands like Clannad, I know classical buffs say I'm easily pleased, but isn't that the secret to a happy life

[Bobthedog]

I am not sure I follow the intent of the OP, the "classical" music of today was the "pop" music of the time. It is really just a timing reference. There so many sub categories that can fall within the classical definition, from quartet to orchestra from solo to mass choir etc etc.

On a random basis, a few people to look for would be Ennio Morricone; Dead Can Dance, Philip Glass and even some Muse perhaps (!)

BTW, Barber's Adagio for Strings was, at one point, one of the most popular Ibiza club scene hits. Check out the version by William Orbit

One last point a specific piece that, imho, captures the OP's opening sentence is Handel's Eternal Source of Light Divine. The recording for the opening 2012 Paralympic ceremony is those three words encapsulated.

Edited March 27, 2015 by Bobthedog

[Lord Sausage]

[quote name='Spoombung' timestamp='1427212692' post='2727287']
I was a big Stravinsky, Debussy, Bartok, Penderecki, Messiaen, Varese fan in my twenties and thirties but now I find myself very critical of classical music...( by that I mean [i]music featuring orchestras or large ensembles[/i] ) which is what 'classical' music really means. I haven't been to a Prom in decades. Most orchestral film soundtracks appall me these days: they are stuffed full of dreadful cliches and re-hashed, recycled themes and dull chord progressions. I know this sounds grumpy but I don't think it's any better than any other type of music.
[/quote]

I think you are bang on in terms of orchestral film music. It's like they have just heard Holst Planet suite and Stravinsky's Rite of Sping and lifted bits for their own works. Ocassionally Danny Elfman might do something a bit different, he isn't afraid of modal stuff.

However, Classical music (which is the wrong term as that's the mozart, beethoven period, I say Art music) still gets written. Whilst at Uni in the early noughties i was into and studied Contemporary Art music. I was very much into Minimalism. Obviously they has been a lot of bollocks written but Phillip Glass and John Adams have wrote some interesting pieces. John Tavener too.

Edited March 27, 2015 by Lord Sausage

[Lord Sausage]

[quote name='Bobthedog' timestamp='1427462901' post='2730681']
I am not sure I follow the intent of the OP, the "classical" music of today was the "pop" music of the time. It is really just a timing reference. There so many sub categories that can fall within the classical definition, from quartet to orchestra from solo to mass choir etc etc.

On a random basis, a few people to look for would be Ennio Morricone; Dead Can Dance, Philip Glass and even some Muse perhaps (!)

BTW, Barber's Adagio for Strings was, at one point, one of the most popular Ibiza club scene hits. Check out the version by William Orbit

One last point a specific piece that, imho, captures the OP's opening sentence is Handel's Eternal Source of Light Divine. The recording for the opening 2012 Paralympic ceremony is those three words encapsulated.
[/quote]
It wasn't really the pop music of the day, maybe for rich people it was who could afford to go to the opera etc. But peasants and the lower classes would have just had trad folk songs, passd on thru generations and communities etc.

[GrammeFriday]

The title of this thread led me to think this was going to be a Haydn vs. Boulez dust-up. Ah well.

[ambient]

[quote name='Lord Sausage' timestamp='1427464065' post='2730708']


I think you are bang on in terms of orchestral film music. It's like they have just heard Holst Planet suite and Stravinsky's Rite of Sping and lifted bits for their own works. Ocassionally Danny Elfman might do something a bit different, he isn't afraid of modal stuff.

However, Classical music (which is the wrong term as that's the mozart, beethoven period, I say Art music) still gets written. Whilst at Uni in the early noughties i was into and studied Contemporary Art music. I was very much into Minimalism. Obviously they has been a lot of bollocks written but Phillip Glass and John Adams have wrote some interesting pieces. John Tavener too.
[/quote]

I agree totally, I prefer orchestral music.

My dissertation was on minimalism.

You're right in your following post too, classical music was definitely for the wealthy, I can't imagine many of the poor of the time being allowed into the concert halls, or being able to afford to.

[ambient]

Slightly off topic, but Adagio is funnily enough in my favourite key - Bb minor.

[Lord Sausage]

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1427465745' post='2730750']
Slightly off topic, but Adagio is funnily enough in my favourite key - Bb minor.
[/quote]
I don't know, i'm kind of with Nigel Tufnell and like D minor.

https://youtu.be/DX3ssZIMF9E

[Bobthedog]

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1427465532' post='2730746']

You're right in your following post too, classical music was definitely for the wealthy, I can't imagine many of the poor of the time being allowed into the concert halls, or being able to afford to.
[/quote]

I was not aware being wealthy was a preclusion to music not being popular. :-)

[Lord Sausage]

[quote name='Bobthedog' timestamp='1427482695' post='2731066']
I was not aware being wealthy was a preclusion to music not being popular. :-)
[/quote]
It's not,being wealthy has no bearing on music being popular. The amount of people who listen to it on a regular basis is what makes it popular. As the masses were poor and had little to no access to it is what would preclude it from being popular. I'm sure it would have been popular in wealthy circles though. It wouldn't have been heard in the same ratio to people as popular music is now!

[AttitudeCastle]

[quote name='GrammeFriday' timestamp='1427465334' post='2730734']
The title of this thread led me to think this was going to be a Haydn vs. Boulez dust-up. Ah well.
[/quote]

Funnily enough, I'm doing a paper on Haydn and Boulez comparisions haha!

Later romantic stuff (like much of the American stuff, Barber, Moore etc) is my favourite, so effortlessly beautiful. Barber had a way with melody.

Bartok is a love hate relationship. Fascinating music, and dissecting it for harmony classes makes me hate it, but love it even more.

Bach for me though is the life blood of music. Spent much of my mid teens learning, and playing a new Bach piece a day. Should really get back into that habit actually!

I'm hoping to 'major' in composition in Uni after next year, but I have distinct lack of natural talent, but hoping my composition classes next year give me the kick up the arse I need!

Discovered Messiaen at university, the quartet for the end of time is hauntingly beautiful.

As a Bass trombone player, I have great love for Tchaikovsky! Ralph Vaugh Williams and Felix Mendelssohn have been my "go to" composers for relaxing recently. (The Sea Symphony and Paulus (St. Paul) specifically!).

[Lord Sausage]

[quote name='AttitudeCastle' timestamp='1427507120' post='2731359']
Funnily enough, I'm doing a paper on Haydn and Boulez comparisions haha!

Later romantic stuff (like much of the American stuff, Barber, Moore etc) is my favourite, so effortlessly beautiful. Barber had a way with melody.

Bartok is a love hate relationship. Fascinating music, and dissecting it for harmony classes makes me hate it, but love it even more.

Bach for me though is the life blood of music. Spent much of my mid teens learning, and playing a new Bach piece a day. Should really get back into that habit actually!

I'm hoping to 'major' in composition in Uni after next year, but I have distinct lack of natural talent, but hoping my composition classes next year give me the kick up the arse I need!

Discovered Messiaen at university, the quartet for the end of time is hauntingly beautiful.

As a Bass trombone player, I have great love for Tchaikovsky! Ralph Vaugh Williams and Felix Mendelssohn have been my "go to" composers for relaxing recently. (The Sea Symphony and Paulus (St. Paul) specifically!).
[/quote]
Didn't Boulez record an album of zappa music.
I did a bit of messiaen at Uni. Bird song where he transcribed what birds sang then made a piece out of it.

I found that composition studies that i did at college (jazz) and Uni (contemporary "classical/art") really helped. I thought i lacked talent at it. Turns out i just didn't have the tools. Not to say i have loads of talent but its loads easier know to write.

[Japhet]

I'm quite partial to a bit of Ludovico Einaudi on a Sunday morning.

[Mr Arkadin]

At least a few more names are popping up now. Here's a few pieces that are 'moving' in quite different ways.

Philip Glass - Satyagraha:
[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHKUt5fDbH0"]https://www.youtube....h?v=CHKUt5fDbH0[/url]

Gavin Bryars - The Sinking of the Titanic:
[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oVMRADOq5s"]https://www.youtube....h?v=2oVMRADOq5s[/url]

Arvo Pärt - Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten:
[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp2oxWdRMuk"]https://www.youtube....h?v=sp2oxWdRMuk[/url]

Rhys Chatham - A Crimson Grail:
[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0WaNVgJqCU"]https://www.youtube....h?v=f0WaNVgJqCU[/url]

Glenn Branca - Symphony No.3:
[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjf60RxXghU"]https://www.youtube....h?v=Mjf60RxXghU[/url]

[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][size=4]György Ligeti - Lux Aeterna:[/size][/font]
[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iVYu5lyX5M"]https://www.youtube....h?v=-iVYu5lyX5M[/url]

Howard Skempton - Lento:
[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG7JcwWm5WU"]https://www.youtube....h?v=fG7JcwWm5WU[/url]

Barry Guy - After The Rain:
[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09KY0PXZx6A"]https://www.youtube....h?v=09KY0PXZx6A[/url]

John Adams - On the Transmigration of Souls:
[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jCdOjOaJsU"]https://www.youtube....h?v=1jCdOjOaJsU[/url]

Krzysztof Pendercki - Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima:
[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp3BlFZWJNA"]https://www.youtube....h?v=Dp3BlFZWJNA[/url]

Edited March 29, 2015 by Mr Arkadin

[ambient]

[quote name='AttitudeCastle' timestamp='1427507120' post='2731359']
Funnily enough, I'm doing a paper on Haydn and Boulez comparisions haha!

Later romantic stuff (like much of the American stuff, Barber, Moore etc) is my favourite, so effortlessly beautiful. Barber had a way with melody.

Bartok is a love hate relationship. Fascinating music, and dissecting it for harmony classes makes me hate it, but love it even more.

Bach for me though is the life blood of music. Spent much of my mid teens learning, and playing a new Bach piece a day. Should really get back into that habit actually!

I'm hoping to 'major' in composition in Uni after next year, but I have distinct lack of natural talent, but hoping my composition classes next year give me the kick up the arse I need!

Discovered Messiaen at university, the quartet for the end of time is hauntingly beautiful.

As a Bass trombone player, I have great love for Tchaikovsky! Ralph Vaugh Williams and Felix Mendelssohn have been my "go to" composers for relaxing recently. (The Sea Symphony and Paulus (St. Paul) specifically!).
[/quote]

I've liked some classical music for ages, but really got introduced to a lot of the less well known composers by one of my tutors at uni.

Messiaen is amazing.

I'm doing a masters starting in September in composition too, though more experimental stuff, well hopefully anyway, gotta graduate from my bachelors first

[ambient]

[quote name='Mr Arkadin' timestamp='1427567390' post='2731841']
At least a few more names are popping up now. Here's a few pieces that are 'moving' in quite different ways.

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHKUt5fDbH0"]https://www.youtube....h?v=CHKUt5fDbH0[/url]

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oVMRADOq5s"]https://www.youtube....h?v=2oVMRADOq5s[/url]

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp2oxWdRMuk"]https://www.youtube....h?v=sp2oxWdRMuk[/url]

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0WaNVgJqCU"]https://www.youtube....h?v=f0WaNVgJqCU[/url]

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjf60RxXghU"]https://www.youtube....h?v=Mjf60RxXghU[/url]

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iVYu5lyX5M"]https://www.youtube....h?v=-iVYu5lyX5M[/url]

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG7JcwWm5WU"]https://www.youtube....h?v=fG7JcwWm5WU[/url]

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09KY0PXZx6A"]https://www.youtube....h?v=09KY0PXZx6A[/url]

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jCdOjOaJsU"]https://www.youtube....h?v=1jCdOjOaJsU[/url]

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp3BlFZWJNA"]https://www.youtube....h?v=Dp3BlFZWJNA[/url]
[/quote]

Some great suggestions there, thanks.

Just had a look at the first two, and will listen to the others later. I love Glass's music, and have a few albums by gavin Bryars. Have you listened to the a change of light album by Bryars ? It features one of my tutors on cello, a really beautiful album.

[White Cloud]

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1427188628' post='2726789']
There is a lot of experimental jazz and prog-rock and the like without so much repetition, so for me, this would be the most comparable contemporary music.
[/quote]
This + 1

[Norris]

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1427209728' post='2727213']
Big budget films and - increasingly - [i]video games[/i] are where you'll find a lot of new classical composers earning their crust these days. Video games being a huge market that now rivals Hollywood in terms of revenue.

Check out people like Jesper Kyd and Kow Otani. Plenty of "[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]expression, beauty and emotion" in their work [/font][/color]
[/quote]

My 13 year old son listens to classic fm on his radio (the rest of the family don't often) and recognises a lot of pieces from the music on Civilisation V (a video game for you fuddy-duddies )

[lonestar]

Michael Nyman
Philip Glass?

[GrammeFriday]

Ambient, you might also like Laurence Crane. Here's cellist Oliver Coates playing his best-known piece, ’Raimondas Rumsas':

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuZwzoj85C0[/media]

His piano pieces are also really good - think Satie but with 500% extra wryness (Crane is often described as 'droll', and with good reason):

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7_3_Cl5Pcs"][media]http://www.youtube....h?v=c7_3_Cl5Pcs[/media][/url]

It's typical of Crane that he got Michael Finnissy to play these piano pieces - Finnissy's own work is ... well ... a bit busier, I guess you could say:

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sMVrmnufPo"][media]http://www.youtube....h?v=0sMVrmnufPo[/media][/url]

Edited March 28, 2015 by GrammeFriday

[GrammeFriday]

PS Any composer who names a piece after a Lithuanian racing cyclist who got banned for doping has got to be worth a listen!

[Mr Arkadin]

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1427569022' post='2731872']Messiaen is amazing.[/quote]

Yup.


[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1427569022' post='2731872']
I'm doing a masters starting in September in composition too, though more experimental stuff, well hopefully anyway, gotta graduate from my bachelors first [/quote]

Wish I'd done something like that in my life.


[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1427569410' post='2731877']I love Glass's music, and have a few albums by gavin Bryars. Have you listened to the a change of light album by Bryars ? It features one of my tutors on cello, a really beautiful album.[/quote]

I have a ton of Glass (possibly literally - I do have a hundred-odd CDs just of his stuff I think) and lots of Bryars. Hadn't heard of this album you mentioned though, which is odd as I like David Lang too who is on there, plus it's done by some Icebreaker guys who are a great modern ensemble (along with Bang On A Can from the USA, featuring Lang). Not easily come by even on Amazon, but a quick Google revealed a site where you can buy direct from them, which is what I've just done. Cheers

Edited March 29, 2015 by Mr Arkadin

[ambient]

[quote name='Mr Arkadin' timestamp='1427605751' post='2732202']
Yup.




Wish I'd done something like that in my life.




I have a ton of Glass (possibly literally - I do have a hundred-odd CDs just of his stuff I think) and lots of Bryars. Hadn't heard of this album you mentioned though, which is odd as I like David Lang too who is on there, plus it's done by some Icebreaker guys who are a great modern ensemble (along with Bang On A Can from the USA, featuring Lang). Not easily come by even on Amazon, but a quick Google revealed a site where you can buy direct from them, which is what I've just done. Cheers
[/quote]

Have you listened to anything by Nico Muhly, he's very Glass like ? Drones is probably my favourite album his, but Mother tongues is pretty good. He was a programmer and I think keyboardist for Glass, hence the influence.

[Mr Arkadin]

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1427631523' post='2732433']Have you listened to anything by Nico Muhly, he's very Glass like ? Drones is probably my favourite album his, but Mother tongues is pretty good. He was a programmer and I think keyboardist for Glass, hence the influence.
[/quote]

I've seen him live quite a few times as he curated a season at the Barbican which included Glass, LDavid Lang, Julia Wolfe (who dedicated here piece to the late Steve Martland who I didn't knopw had died a couple of days before), Tristan Perich, The Villagers and even Jarvis Cocker.

He would open wih these Indian-type drones which I liked (sounds like that album might be similar), but I didn't really like this big choral piece he performed. I'll have to hear more before I'm convinced but I think Drones sounds like it's up my alley (I love drone music).

Edited March 29, 2015 by Mr Arkadin