[sgrossklass]

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Music is like language.

Actually even more so than one might think - apparently there is some overlap in brain areas for speech processing and music perception. Pretty fascinating stuff.

 

[Fido2]

 

[Cianyx]

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Music is like language. You need to be exposed to it and strive to understand it to be fluent. Its no wonder classical music is like Chinese to you. The construction of heavy metal music is very similar to nursery rhymes. Classical music has much more complex structure. It won't work to listen to all music like you listen to heavy metal. When you make the effort to understand other types of music, the world opens up and you're presented with more richness and passion than you ever imagined. Until you know, you just don't know.

Of course I don't listen to Classical the same way I listen to Metal as that would be very silly (though I resent the comparison of Metal to nursery rhymes). However, I believe you took what I said the wrong way. The reason why I said that good and great between Classical and Ambient is hard to define is because of it's inherent nature of it. Both genres put a heavy emphasis on atmosphere, more so than any other type of music. When this occurs, a lot of works will be inclined to produce a general feel in their works requiring minute subtleties to differentiate between masterpieces (that's where the difficulty kicks in).
 
I also understand the importance of having a wide taste (the only way in which music can stay fresh and original besides external factors) but one shouldn't force themselves to "understand" other types of music. I could try to get into Tibetan Throat Music but what possible good can come out of it? It may be made for Buddhist monks, but it was definitely not made for me.

 

[bigshot]

The only reason you think of classical music as atmospheric is because you don't understand what you're hearing... Structure is very important, and the scale of a symphony is on a totally different order than the simple repetition of a few power chords. You can't understand without doing a bit of research and study first. It's well worth the effort if you do though. Once you've made the effort, the difference between a great work and a lesser one won't be subtle at all to you. There's a great deal to learn from the various tonalities and rhythms of ethnic music too. Learning about Tibetan music just might teach you something about the music of your own culture. I'm really not being insulting. I'm offering a clue. I was there once. P.S. Go back and analyze the piano piece you linked. Structurally, it isn't that different from Row Row Row Your Boat or Three Blind Mice. It's the same phrase repeated over and over. It's very pompous and melodramatic, but it's all on one level. (and a bit of the decoration is cribbed from Liszt, a classical composer who was the 19th century equivalent of heavy metal).

 

[Deep Funk]

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OP,  the song you mentioned by Usher is by far one of the worst songs I have heard on the radio in a long time.   Worst lyrics of all time?  Who is behind this?  That dude from the Black Eyed Peas, Wil.i.Am, Purveyor of  crappy lyrics, silly dance moves and auto tune software.   The fact that he is tight with Obama makes me wonder if he is sent by Bin Laden to take down the U.S.  from the cultural epicenter=entertainment.   The airwaves are poisoned, people.  Look away or be sucked into the void.  You have been warned.   

Will.I.Am or however you spell his name went commercial. Check out the two very first albums by the Black Eyed Peas, the difference is huge. He is not the best M.C. but he is not bad either. I will drop a name, K-os.
 
Regarding Classical music, I find it harder to listen to Classical music than to listen to anything else. Still, I want to be able to understand the music better so I purchased a nice Decca compilation (Baroque music) anyway. Sometimes listening to Classical music feel like reading a book while at the same time listening to the music which means I really have to take my time for it. Up to now one album, 'A Rush Of Blood To The Head' by Coldplay gave me the same sensation during the first listens. Some other albums too. 'A Rush Of Blood To The Head' is one of my favourite albums non the less. 

 

 

[Cianyx]

Don't worry, I wasn't insulted. I understand why you need to correct me in regards to my perception of Classical. Haha, it's quite similar to when I tell others that Metal isn't about how Riff A is better than Riff B but rather it should be looked at as a whole. In terms of Classical, I admit that I do indeed lack understanding on it in terms of research. So how would you recommend I go about this? If this is of any help to you, my interests always has been skewed towards Romantic music. Or would you say I should start with Baroque and work my way up chronologically?
 
It may utilise ostinato (as do the vast majority of popular music) heavily, I'd still rank to be a lot more complex in terms of the other elements of music than your average nursery rhyme. 

 

[bigshot]

The way I stick my toe into new music is to pick an achievable slice of music that interests me. I started with the Russians (Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Rimsky Korsakov). I looked at the Penguin Guide and figured out five major pieces to start with. I used the guide to find good solid performances on one of the major label's budget line. No need to pay full price in classical music. There's tons of great performances in great sound in the back catalog. When I got the CDs, I chose one and sat down and read the liner notes, and listened carefully, following along with the track list so I knew where I was in the music. I had a few basic classical books, but the Internet would be better now. As I read up on the pieces and the composers, I'd read references to other pieces and composers. I kept a list and went back to the Penguin Guide and picked a few more, branching out from where I started. Once I felt like I had a little grasp of that area, I chose another and did the same thing... Impressionistic French composers like Debussy and Ravel, bombastic Romantics like Wagner and Bruckner, early Modernism like Stravinsky, etc... I followed the breadcrumbs and traced the branches as my interest carried me. If something didn't immediately hit me, I set it aside and usually, later on I would have more of a frame of reference for it. (I did that with Mahler. The structure was so broad I didn't hear it at first.) I use the same approach to learning about other kinds of music too, and have found incredible treasures... Hawaiian slack key guitar, western swing, Harlem jazz, pop vocalists, Cuban mambo, Kentucky folk, post Bop, Honky Tonk, bluegrass, Balinese gamelan, etc.

if you'd like to choose a starting point, I'd be happy to suggest five great CDs for you. That's the other way to learn... Find old record collectors and pick their brain. I hang out with musicians and musicologists all the time and I have more great leads to check out than I can ever follow up on. I've found that whenever vie gotten into a slump where music sounds boring, it isn't the music's fault... I'm boring. Hope this helps.

 

[Cianyx]

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 if you'd like to choose a starting point, I'd be happy to suggest five great CDs for you.

Yes please, that would help heaps. I might start hanging around talkclassical or other forums more to learn more on it.
 

 

[bigshot]

Here's a list I put together some time ago. It may be a bit out of date. If any of the links are broken, let me know what you'd like to explore and I'll dig up new links for you.... http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/132136/ten-cds-to-introduce-new-listeners-to-classical-music

 

[Skylab]

 
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Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition, A Night on Bald Mountain, and Other Russian Showpieces [Hybrid SACD] [Hybrid SACD - DSD]

 
I especially recommend this, and "A Night On Bald Mountain" in particular, as a good entree to Classical for fans of Metal.

 

[bigshot]

Conductors and orchestras are just as important as the pieces performed. I can't tell you how many times I have heard a new piece that didn't excite me, and later heard it played by a truly great conductor and totally changed my mind. SACD totally doesn't matter. There have been fabulous sounding classical recordings since the introduction of stereo in the early 50s. The best sounding recording I have ever heard was made in 1952. Engineering and miking makes the difference, not whether it is high bit rate digital or not.

 

[Skylab]

Sure - but that one on your list I quoted was Reiner conducting the Chicago - that's pretty darned good IMHO.

 

[bigshot]

I linked to an SACD? Whoops! Here is a link to the cd version... http://www.amazon.com/Mussorgsky-Pictures-Exhibition-Alexander-Borodin/dp/B000003FMY

 

[robm321]

I second this. Also anything by Vivaldi's (the four seasons has some late 80s sounding metal, albeit, unplugged)

 

[robm321]

Quote:

 
 
I especially recommend this, and "A Night On Bald Mountain" in particular, as a good entree to Classical for fans of Metal.

I second this - also, Vivaldi's the four season has some late 80's metal sounding stuff, unplugged of course.