Sonic Youth Gossip - View Single Post - The New and Improved Classical Music Thread

noumenal · 02.19.2007, 08:05 PM

The Offertorium (Violin Concerto) is pretty cool, but I tend to like everything, I'm just like that. I haven't listened to the other Gubaidulina yet.

Radulescu is one of those composers that exists for me, so far, as a name and concept, but I haven't heard any recordings. Not in a long time any way. Do you have any suggestions? In general, I haven't gotten into electro-acoustic music that much, and French stuff scares me, especially anything associated with IRCAM..... But I really like the composers that inspired Spectralism - Messiaen, Scelsi, Boulez, or whatever Wikipedia says..... Saariaho, I want to get some recordings. Suggestions? I'll probably just get whatever eMusic has and then move on from there. I really don't get to listen to a lot of new music these days. This summer I'm going to dive into some.

As far as "theoretical knowledge" goes, the big thing that helps is an understanding of form, particularly classical form and the way it has shaped music since the mid 18th century. This is why a lot of people gravitate towards the baroque and the avant-garde: music from around 1730 to WWII demands certain knowledge of the listener in terms of expectations and so on. Both formally and harmonically-contrapuntally. Baroque music comes at you in a constant stream with a steady rhythm - there are strict rules but they don't really matter because all they do is make sure everything sounds right. Little prior knowledge is needed to follow the musical logic and process. "Avant-garde" music is similar - it's all about texture, timbre, rhythm - like rock music.

I'm really interested in the way classical form and rhetoric were reinvented in the 20th century - how traditional forms and materials (like triads, scales) are re-worked and re-tooled. Anyway, as far as theory goes, I think it can aid in making every aspect of listening, performing, composing more enjoyable and better. But something like Shostakovich is perfectly enjoyable without even thinking of that stuff. However, I was listening to Schoenberg's 4th SQ the other day, and I would have been lost without constantly thinking about the form and concentrating on the row forms and all that. Yeah. Not that I can hear when the row is inverted or retrograded and transposed and all that - just certain intervals that stick out.

02.19.2007, 08:05 PM	#57
noumenal expwy. to yr skull Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 1,855	The Offertorium (Violin Concerto) is pretty cool, but I tend to like everything, I'm just like that. I haven't listened to the other Gubaidulina yet. Radulescu is one of those composers that exists for me, so far, as a name and concept, but I haven't heard any recordings. Not in a long time any way. Do you have any suggestions? In general, I haven't gotten into electro-acoustic music that much, and French stuff scares me, especially anything associated with IRCAM..... But I really like the composers that inspired Spectralism - Messiaen, Scelsi, Boulez, or whatever Wikipedia says..... Saariaho, I want to get some recordings. Suggestions? I'll probably just get whatever eMusic has and then move on from there. I really don't get to listen to a lot of new music these days. This summer I'm going to dive into some. As far as "theoretical knowledge" goes, the big thing that helps is an understanding of form, particularly classical form and the way it has shaped music since the mid 18th century. This is why a lot of people gravitate towards the baroque and the avant-garde: music from around 1730 to WWII demands certain knowledge of the listener in terms of expectations and so on. Both formally and harmonically-contrapuntally. Baroque music comes at you in a constant stream with a steady rhythm - there are strict rules but they don't really matter because all they do is make sure everything sounds right. Little prior knowledge is needed to follow the musical logic and process. "Avant-garde" music is similar - it's all about texture, timbre, rhythm - like rock music. I'm really interested in the way classical form and rhetoric were reinvented in the 20th century - how traditional forms and materials (like triads, scales) are re-worked and re-tooled. Anyway, as far as theory goes, I think it can aid in making every aspect of listening, performing, composing more enjoyable and better. But something like Shostakovich is perfectly enjoyable without even thinking of that stuff. However, I was listening to Schoenberg's 4th SQ the other day, and I would have been lost without constantly thinking about the form and concentrating on the row forms and all that. Yeah. Not that I can hear when the row is inverted or retrograded and transposed and all that - just certain intervals that stick out.
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