Recent content by j.alex

Music for me. Satisfies my longing for abstractness. I find something attractive about the total lack of any visual element, makes it seem really ethereal.

I love number 2. Wonderful ensemble of solo instruments. Blergh. I don't understand why everyone loves this. I don't really like Tchaikovsky a great deal, but the Marche Slave is the most obvious piece to compare the 1812 with and I think that it's much better, even if it does at times feel...

I am a bit suspicious of anyone who considers Bach's music basic. And have you ever listened to Beethoven's Grosse Fuge (which, incidentally, Stravinsky said was his favourite piece of music of all time, and that it would 'sound contemporary forever')? Or the Hammerklavier Sonata, especially the...

No, I dislike that writing style as well. As they identified though, it's more the way he employs those techniques. It all sounds rather robotic and factory-produced. I don't hear any real feeling or true artistry in it. He uses cliches relentlessly though, far more than I could forgive in a...

I suppose some of his later stuff (Tristan, Der Ring from Sigfreid Act 3 on etc) isn't to everyone's taste, but works like Tannhauser, Lohengrin and The Flying Dutchman are pretty accessible (despite sometimes dragging a little). The shame is that the later stuff is his best, so people who don't...

Exhibit B: The ballades are arguably the best things he ever wrote, and this is the best of them. Exquisite music indeed.

About time he was mentioned. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGmUHepwVE8 is one of my favourite overtures ever, along with http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOEAgrBgWvo.

Inventive is the very last word I would use to describe him. I read an interesting thread on another forum a while back on him, here it is http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=834560, which might be worth looking through if you have time. If not, the most important points were made...

How about this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PakU0Tyot5M&feature=related? Sure, it has its passionate moments, but the opening is beautiful and could hardly be less agressive.

Yes, one thing I particularly admire about Messiaen is his ability to compose extremely technical modern pieces which are still also very musical. Unlike certain modern composers, especially of the 'New Complexity' movement (Ferneyhough being an especially prominent example) who seem to...

This is mostly because of the extremely small market for contemporary classical music. How many average people would listen to this voluntarily: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG4g2BTB8Nk? (That was a particularly inaccessible example, but in general the public want music which is pleasing to...

Certainly not 'today' (it's about fifty yeas old now), but how about this for good orchestral music composed in a more modern idiom: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=170VZGFoTKg? Maybe look out for Brian's Gothic Symphony being given an extremely rare performance at the Proms this year too.

This is because there is an extra dimension in classical music almost entirely absent from pop - composition and performance are generally entirely separate activities. There are many composers still writing new music today. Just have a look through the programme for this year's Proms and...

Wut. That is a ridiculous statement.

Writes some of the most uninspired, dreary, cliched music it has ever been my misfortune to listen to. His fame is a crime when there are so many other great contemporary composers out there. And he studied under Berio; such a waste.