Essential Classics

seraph · Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2003 12:55 pm Post subject: Essential Classics

http://www.essentialsofmusic.com/
Whether you're a casual listener or a serious music student, here's the site for basic information about classical music. Created in cooperation with W.W. Norton & Company, it's built around Essential Classics, the series specially designed to introduce you to the best music of every period. All through the site you'll find almost 200 excerpts from Essential Classics. You'll also find:

Eras: Overviews of the six main periods in music history -- Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Twentieth Century.

Brief biographies of nearly 70 composers, which will bring to life the artists and their works.

Glossary: 200 definitions with numerous musical examples.

seraph · Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2003 1:03 pm Post subject: Twelve-tone technique

Twelve-tone technique:

Twelve-tone technique is a system of musical composition devised by Arnold Schoenberg. Music using the technique is called twelve-tone music (or dodecaphonic).

Schoenberg himself described the system as a "method of composing with 12 notes which are related only to one another"

P.S.
The late Bill Evans, one of the greatest jazz piano players, once wrote a tune called "T.T.T." (twelve tone tune). The melody was indeed a 12 tone series but was tonally harmonized. That started my interest for this technique.

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-tone_technique

elektro80 · Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2003 1:04 pm Post subject:

Great site. I often send people over there. The list is quite OK. Recommended.

elektro80 · Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2003 1:21 pm Post subject:

the list of "20th century" composers is as follows:
Scott Joplin (1868-1917)

Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951)

Charles Ives (1874-1954)

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)

Béla Bartók (1881-1945)

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)

Anton Webern (1883-1945)

Alban Berg (1885-1935)

Serge Prokofiev (1891-1953)

Lillian Hardin (1898-1971)

Duke Ellington (1899-1974)

Aaron Copland (1900-1990)

Richard Rodgers (1902-1979)

Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992)

Witold Lutoslawski (1913-1994)

Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)

György Ligeti (1923- )

Pierre Boulez (1925- )

George Crumb (1929- )

Steve Reich (1936- )

Chinary Ung (1942- )

Paul Lansky (1944- )

Libby Larsen (1950- )

A decent list .. but there is a lot very interesting serious composers which are all missing.

When it comes to prokofiev, i guess most electronic musicians which havent really ever heard music by this composer.. should go for Andrei Nevsky first . This is one excellent piece of film music and the orchestral suite version ( get the Telarc recording ) is one excellent piece of great modern music. Sections of Andrei Nevsky are actually in the ambient genre.. .-) like "the battle on the ice" sequence. And forget his classical symphony. instead.. after "nevsky" ..go for something like the Romeo and Juliet music.

And.. Stravinsky.. if you know nothing.. you might as well turn off all the lights.. lock the doors and turn on Die Geschichte Vom Soldaten - max volume.. there are many great recordings.. there is one very cool one on Deutsche Grammofon.

elektro80 · Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2003 1:29 pm Post subject:

I never quite got the hots for 12 tone music as such, but it is a great way to get ideas and to think about rules and systems when creating music.

One often says music is a language which it clearly is not. But it is possibly to create systems of logic which actually, at least from my point of view, creates what makes music recognizable as music. Music is partly about relational groups of events .. audio events that are structured.. hmm.. interesting.. Idea

I like music Cool

seraph · Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2003 3:08 pm Post subject:

elektro80 · Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 1:32 am Post subject:

Hehe... yes.. it reads like a William S. Burroughs version of Ulysses ( James Joyce ). But.. it rocks big time. An excellent piece.

seraph

http://music.theory.home.att.net/vartech.htm

elektro80 · Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 2:51 am Post subject:

That list is awesome and pretty complete. Isomelus is a nice method that can be used in a weird ways using synths and sequencers.

egw · Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 4:58 am Post subject:

wow, that's a great list.
very useful for people that think they've run out of ideas!

seraph · Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 9:56 am Post subject: The music of Arvo Pärt

The music of Arvo Pärt

http://www.arvopart.org/

Because his music appears to be both simple and familiar yet so astonishingly new, many have attempted to pinpoint its origins. “One senses its roots and its spirit, but the structure of the music is harder to grasp. A curious union of historical master-craftsmanship and modern ‘gestus’, it is music that could have been written 250 years ago and yet could only be composed today.”

elektro80 · Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 11:29 am Post subject:

True, Pärt is something else. BTW: I guess I will have a larger pad soon .. with a guest room or two.. I guess I will invite you and Howard over for some intensive Pärt sessions.

seraph · Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 1:50 pm Post subject:

elektro80 · Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 1:57 pm Post subject:

hmm.. interesting question.

Or we could just fill the living room with some instruments and jam? part -time ? partytime?

seraph · Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2003 1:37 pm Post subject:

http://www.schoenberg.at/default_e.htm

The web site of the Arnold Schönberg Center located in Vienna, Austria
Posted Image, might have been reduced in size. Click Image to view fullscreen.

Posted Image, might have been reduced in size. Click Image to view fullscreen.

mosc · Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2003 7:22 am Post subject:

Arnold Schönberg wrote a great opera called Moses und Aaron which I have listened to on CD many times and was lucky enough to see performed live at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The subject of the opera is a debate between Moses, who sees God as being beyond our ability to conceptualize or describe, and Aaron who argues that nobody will understand such a great non-verbal concept, and in order to sell the people on God they have to at least come up with a name. The twelve tone system is used to great affect in covering this material.

I recommend anyone interested in music to check this out if you haven't already done so.