[Onearmedbandit]

Actually the viola is a really nice instrument I wish I actually knew more about it so I could write for it more effectively.

I can't seem to get a good balance... it's either too hard or too easy/boring.

I don't know much Wagner but I <3 what I've heard Mainly The Ring pieces and the Lohengrin one.

[Becca]

(Original post by Onearmedbandit)
Actually the viola is a really nice instrument I wish I actually knew more about it so I could write for it more effectively.

I can't seem to get a good balance... it's either too hard or too easy/boring.

I don't know much Wagner but I <3 what I've heard Mainly The Ring pieces and the Lohengrin one.

*nods* it's all about the Ring Cycle.
The problem with the viola is it has such a middling range, it's hard for its part to stand out a lot of the time. You don't notice it's there but you'd miss it if it wasn't, if you get me.

[Catty]

We're doing a Wagner overture at orchestra at the moment. Can't remember which one, but i'm not a big fan..i'll find that one out.

[Becca]

(Original post by Catty)
We're doing a Wagner overture at orchestra at the moment. Can't remember which one, but i'm not a big fan..i'll find that one out.

Yeah not everyone likes him, he's a bit loud and over-dramatic for some. He likes brass

[Manatee]

(Original post by Rebecca/Becca)
I can imagine Chopin is excellent for ballet music.

I'd never considered whether you could dance to it before, but it really did work!

[Onearmedbandit]

(Original post by Rebecca/Becca)
*nods* it's all about the Ring Cycle.
The problem with the viola is it has such a middling range, it's hard for its part to stand out a lot of the time. You don't notice it's there but you'd miss it if it wasn't, if you get me.

Yeah, just like the bass guitar most of the time

[inequality]

I'm in.

Wagner is the best. Most people associate Wagner just with stuff like 'Ride of the Valkyries', but his most powerful music is much more subtle. Act 1 of 'Die Walkure' is amazing. Also, Tristan and Isolde is unbelievable.

I love Mozart, Beethoven (especially late quartets) and Bach is a legend with his cool fugues.

I'm suprised that someone here mentioned Sibelius. He is also in my top five composers.

I'm so glad that some people on TSR actually like this sort of music. Where I'm from, most people think the classical music is boring stuff that posh people listen to!

The stereotypical opinion that most annoys me is 'classical music is so relaxing.'
I'd like to see them relax in front of the Ring Cycle!

[inequality]

(Original post by silverjonny)
He only wrote one Catty :P

Favourite composers: Sibelius, Brahms, Bach, Tchaikovsky (symphonies not his ballet music)

Least favourite composers: Mozart, Berlioz

The opening to Sibelius 1 almost makes me cry! A pure clarinet solo over a soft timpani roll... how can it be so powerful and gorgeous when there's so little to it?

Count me in!

Yes, Sibelius 1 is beautiful. Have you heard any of the other Siblelius symphonies? No 7 is his best in my opinion. He also wrote a symphonic poem, Tapiola, (the last piece he wrote), which is very dark and complicated.

Why do you dislike Mozart?!

[Jonathan]

I've played 1 and 2 and will have an opportunity to play 3 and 5 in the next year. 7 is quite moving (I'm going to put it on now!) but 5 is my favourite by a long way: the way the final brass tune erupts from the string mist and grows and grows and grows and comes to a great big climax....holds you just on the edge for a second.....bang! etc

The first time I heard Sibelius 5 I don't think I breathed for the second half of the last movement! I have a feeling I know what those final couple of minutes is trying to portray. dirty guy...

For sheer orchestral might, the first movement of Tchaikovsky 4 features high on my list. Apparently this was when he was in a total mess after trying to cover up his homosexuality by marrying a woman, who he split up with after two weeks

To me, Mozart is unimaginative dross, I'm afraid. I do concede that some is very well-written, particularly those pieces that get bashed out every ten seconds in adverts (the first movement of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik comes to mind). But for someone who was born six years after Bach died, he was far from innovative with his harmony. To me all his music sounds exactly the same.

[inequality]

(Original post by silverjonny)
I've played 1 and 2 and will have an opportunity to play 3 and 5 in the next year. 7 is quite moving (I'm going to put it on now!) but 5 is my favourite by a long way: the way the final brass tune erupts from the string mist and grows and grows and grows and comes to a great big climax....holds you just on the edge for a second.....bang! etc

The first time I heard Sibelius 5 I don't think I breathed for the second half of the last movement! I have a feeling I know what those final couple of minutes is trying to portray. dirty guy...

For sheer orchestral might, the first movement of Tchaikovsky 4 features high on my list. Apparently this was when he was in a total mess after trying to cover up his homosexuality by marrying a woman, who he split up with after two weeks

To me, Mozart is unimaginative dross, I'm afraid. I do concede that some is very well-written, particularly those pieces that get bashed out every ten seconds in adverts (the first movement of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik comes to mind). But for someone who was born six years after Bach died, he was far from innovative with his harmony. To me all his music sounds exactly the same.

Mozart wasn't groundbreaking like Beethoven. But his music represented the best of its type. From a mathematical point of view it is amazing, the brilliance of his contrapuntal writing for example. His style may not be very varied, but it is so good you can't get enough of it.

I'm glad you like Sibelius - you really should get Tapiola, or some of his other symphonic poems.

[Onearmedbandit]

Actually Mozart was quite innovative for his time... which is one of the reasons many people (with the exception of a few places e.g. Prague) didn't fully appreciate his music at the time.

And Mozart's music sounding the same? The Linz Symphony doesn't sound very much like his Requiem Mass to me (although the requiem was mostly competed by his student, but the first few movements were mostly Mozart I think... certainly the first, anyway).

Just my uneducated opinion

[Tempest]

(Original post by Onearmedbandit)
Actually the viola is a really nice instrument I wish I actually knew more about it so I could write for it more effectively.

I can't seem to get a good balance... it's either too hard or too easy/boring.

I don't know much Wagner but I <3 what I've heard Mainly The Ring pieces and the Lohengrin one.

if I remember the viola uses alto cleff, and basically switches to Treble really though there's nothing too hard. If it's too hard a violinist wouldn't even be able to play it, you have to realize that a lot of violas are not so successful violins.

[Tempest]

(Original post by silverjonny)
I've played 1 and 2 and will have an opportunity to play 3 and 5 in the next year. 7 is quite moving (I'm going to put it on now!) but 5 is my favourite by a long way: the way the final brass tune erupts from the string mist and grows and grows and grows and comes to a great big climax....holds you just on the edge for a second.....bang! etc

The first time I heard Sibelius 5 I don't think I breathed for the second half of the last movement! I have a feeling I know what those final couple of minutes is trying to portray. dirty guy...

For sheer orchestral might, the first movement of Tchaikovsky 4 features high on my list. Apparently this was when he was in a total mess after trying to cover up his homosexuality by marrying a woman, who he split up with after two weeks

To me, Mozart is unimaginative dross, I'm afraid. I do concede that some is very well-written, particularly those pieces that get bashed out every ten seconds in adverts (the first movement of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik comes to mind). But for someone who was born six years after Bach died, he was far from innovative with his harmony. To me all his music sounds exactly the same.

I'm hurt, one of the reasons I like Mozart is the temperament of his music, but it's also his Violin Concerto's they're pretty interesting. Creative? He uses interesting chord progressions and he doesn't sound the same, he has a certain quality like every other great composer. If you ever took an in depth survey class you'd have to be able to recognize composer's own little quirks in their music, for example Bach's pickety third (if I remember correctly, ending a minor piece on a major fifth), or how Bach always used his name in the last chord of his pieces. H was once a note, I think it was G sharp?? I don't remember. Mozart also wrote the original Twinkle Twinkle Little Star mind you and that piece is a bitch to play. Lots of great stuff, Beethoven you have to realize was a very different composer. He developed his pieces, Beethoven was a developer, Mozart played with melodies and chords more. The most redundant and perfect example of Beethoven's development talent is his 5th Symphony, which came from the Masonry Guild's special knock etc. . .


Rebecca-I actually had to play Carmina Burana Senior year of HS, fun piece, exciting, but the actual words are really dirty, it's all about drinking and having sex, which is ironic considering that only monks sung during htat time.

[Becca]

(Original post by Onearmedbandit)
Actually Mozart was quite innovative for his time... which is one of the reasons many people (with the exception of a few places e.g. Prague) didn't fully appreciate his music at the time.

And Mozart's music sounding the same? The Linz Symphony doesn't sound very much like his Requiem Mass to me (although the requiem was mostly competed by his student, but the first few movements were mostly Mozart I think... certainly the first, anyway).

Just my uneducated opinion

I agree with you on this one Mike. Mozart was a genius, he was pushing the boundaries of the norm at the time, for example he uses some really interesting harmonies in his rondo alla turque, things which had never been heard before.
Legend.

[Manatee]

(Original post by Tempest)
for example Bach's pickety third (if I remember correctly, ending a minor piece on a major fifth)

Did you mean Picardy third, i.e ending a piece in a minor key with a major third, or did you mean something different? Just wondering.

(Original post by Tempest)
H was once a note, I think it was G sharp??

H is the same as our B. The Czech system still uses H instead of B, while the Czech B is the English B flat. I'm not sure whether the German system uses the same system.

[sexysax]

I agree....Mozart ...oh I just love him!!

[Tempest]

(Original post by Manatee)
Did you mean Picardy third, i.e ending a piece in a minor key with a major third, or did you mean something different? Just wondering.



H is the same as our B. The Czech system still uses H instead of B, while the Czech B is the English B flat. I'm not sure whether the German system uses the same system.

I did mean the Picardy third, I just didn't remember what it was exactly.

huh, I totally remember H being the same note as B or B flat, I dunno, i'd have to check with my friend. I totally don't remember.

[Onearmedbandit]

Some nice fella just reviewed one of my compositions:

"You've showm some amazing skills at orchestration with this "serious" piece, even if it sounds anything but serious. The sudden changes in instrumentation throughout the faster sections are very effective and makes the piece indeed sound like film-scoring.

If there were one tiny complaint, it would be to make sure you indicate clearly when you want the strings to return to "arco" since after a certain point the violins simply remain pizzicato and I'm not sure this was intended!

Amazing work.

Matt.

[Manatee]

(Original post by Onearmedbandit)
Some nice fella just reviewed one of my compositions:

"You've showm some amazing skills at orchestration with this "serious" piece, even if it sounds anything but serious. The sudden changes in instrumentation throughout the faster sections are very effective and makes the piece indeed sound like film-scoring.

If there were one tiny complaint, it would be to make sure you indicate clearly when you want the strings to return to "arco" since after a certain point the violins simply remain pizzicato and I'm not sure this was intended!

Amazing work.

Matt.

Wow, that's very impressive!

[Onearmedbandit]

I got another!

Starts Mozart, ends Lloyd-Weber!

This piece has some really beautiful moments after about bar 61, and finishes admirably out of style! - still, I think this is an excellenly well-rounded piece and is well worth a performance.