[ExI] for classical music lovers only

William Flynn Wallace foozler83 at gmail.com
Fri Oct 30 21:09:56 UTC 2020


I don't think anyone would say that anything by Tschaikovsky was not
classical.  One of the few works that is truly popular with people who
would never attend a symphony concert.  Which is sad - I would love to play
some music for those doubters that I guarantee they would like.  Most
people don't know that tunesmiths like Rachmaninoff and Chopin wrote music
that was used in many movies from the 30s and 40 mainly.   bill w

On Fri, Oct 30, 2020 at 2:32 PM Adrian Tymes via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> Does Nutcracker count as a classical opera?  That's my go-to example of a
> stage play where there are no lyrics one must understand to understand
> what's happening: the plot is presented through costumes, or sometimes
> through programs explicitly handed out to the audience so they can follow
> along.
>
> On Fri, Oct 30, 2020 at 12:17 PM Adrian Tymes <atymes at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> As I noted, you originally limited it to the past 20 years.  I take it as
>> obvious that "classical" is mutually contradictory with such a recent time
>> frame, so I thought you were seeking to step out of strictly classical
>> stuff.
>>
>> Ironic that you note your experience with opera.  I have much the same
>> problem - but in my case, I perceive that one is meant to understand and
>> enjoy the words as the primary thing, with the tonal presentation merely
>> being an enhancement.  If I can not understand the words, then I can not
>> understand what people are doing on stage - and they're usually not
>> dancing, or otherwise visually presenting in a way that would go along with
>> audio where voice is more of a musical instrument than a conveyor of
>> meaning.  For this reason, I tend to shun classical opera, as I can not
>> enjoy it.  (Where the voice is just an instrument, I can enjoy that.  Where
>> the words are clear, I can enjoy that.  But not where there are words that
>> are supposed to be understood - and where this is more important than the
>> music, if any - but the vocals are incomprehensible.  This does not seem to
>> be due to any identifiable hearing deficit, which leaves me wondering if
>> people who claim to enjoy classical opera are able to understand the lyrics
>> as sung - or perhaps if they have cheats, such as printouts or prior
>> knowledge of the lyrics, which they forget to mention because "any true fan
>> should already know these things", which is a type of barrier to entry that
>> I have seen in multiple other fandoms.)
>>
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tAbhrDUrqM is an example of "has voice
>> but only as an instrument, not words" that I listen to sometimes.  (Partly
>> since I have a minor personal connection to the game this is part of the
>> soundtrack of.)
>>
>> I sometimes listen to classical purely instrumental music, but only for
>> "good + purely instrumental", not caring about "classical".
>>
>> On Fri, Oct 30, 2020 at 11:13 AM William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat <
>> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Adrian -I listened. Classical??  You listen to this sort of thing on a
>>> daily basis?  Have you ever been in therapy? This is music that is
>>> primarily about the words.  The music was probably made up when the band
>>> got together to put words to music, much like commercials and Nashville
>>> country music.  My hearing deficit does not permit me, usually, to even
>>> understand the words, regardless of volume.  So it's like opera music sung
>>> in Italian:  I really don't care what is being said.  It's mostly soap
>>> opera anyway.  The joy is in the sound of the voice and accompanying music
>>> -using the voice as just another instrument which could even be singing
>>> lalalalala.  bill w
>>>
>>> On Fri, Oct 30, 2020 at 11:56 AM Adrian Tymes via extropy-chat <
>>> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog was a notable production within that
>>>> timespan, that conveyed a lot but not all of its plot through its songs.
>>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp_hlaXcniY&list=PL78B0B3p_qZQPO8VVNTRf6wSDP9ebIoTQ
>>>> has the playlist (plus two non-song entries, which you can ignore for this
>>>> exercise).
>>>>
>>>> The second LEGO Movie might be interesting to do this exercise with
>>>> too.  Soundtrack at
>>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUEbWo1uIrg&list=PL5uTL9oHnU9gbfDveKd1kVKcXwydBb-1i
>>>> .
>>>>
>>>> Granted, neither of these is particularly "old", but you limited it to
>>>> the past 20 years.
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, Oct 30, 2020 at 9:42 AM William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat <
>>>> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> You  know, I have had this thought:  what if we heard the movie music
>>>>> before we saw the movie?  After seeing the movie, we will have visual
>>>>> images to go with most of the music, memory allowing.  ("I go to the
>>>>> hills....."  Julie Andrews in an Alpine meadow)  The questions are:  can
>>>>> the music stand alone?  Will your like or dislike of the scenes the music
>>>>> accompanies influence your liking or disliking of the music?  I suppose a
>>>>> test could be listening to old movie music whose movie you have not seen.
>>>>> Or maybe someone in the group can tell me a movie they liked, and I can
>>>>> listen to the score - or part of it, at least, should be on Youtube - an
>>>>> invaluable resource.
>>>>>
>>>>> I have seen practically nothing in the last 20 years or so, so
>>>>> please recommend a score.  (thanks Stuart)
>>>>>
>>>>> bill w
>>>>>
>>>>> On Thu, Oct 29, 2020 at 7:56 PM Stuart LaForge via extropy-chat <
>>>>> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Bill Wallace wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Thu, Oct 29, 2020 at 3:36 PM William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat
>>>>>> <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>>>>>> > I am at the point where I think I know just about every piece up
>>>>>> until
>>>>>> > about 1900 or maybe 1930 that I like.  So after that I am looking
>>>>>> for
>>>>>> > new music to buy.  I get the American Record Guide and buy CDs
>>>>>> > based on reviews and have a success rate of maybe 10%.  The
>>>>>> > others I give away.
>>>>>> >
>>>>>> > So, I am interested in finding out from other classical music lovers
>>>>>> > who, since 1900, has become a favorite whose music I might like.  If
>>>>>> > a composer is famous I very likely know all I need to know about
>>>>>> > him or her.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I would get the musical scores from the Star Wars movies performed
>>>>>> by
>>>>>> the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In so far as classical music can be
>>>>>> considered a genre instead of a musical period ending in the 1800s,
>>>>>> then John Williams is one of the best modern classical music
>>>>>> composers. He is why the Star Wars movies are "space opera" instead
>>>>>> of
>>>>>> "space theater" or "space story".
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Stuart LaForge
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
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