[tru blu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregorio /img/forum/go_quote.gif C20th music was more influenced by experimentation of sound and the breaking of the concept that music had to be beautiful to be good.

Hmm…I don't know if it's intentional, but that's the second comment that kinda deals with 20th Century music reductively, as if its objectives preclude an easily recognizable form of engagement with listeners. I tend to think a bit differently, that breaking with the constraints of the distant past and introducing new sonorities was a way of expanding the palette for beauty, which has much to do with taking into consideration that many, many beautiful things happened in music post-classicism. And it's also proof of classical music's continued vitality; it can still have much to say to say to us if we care to listen. Just a thought…

 

[lwd]

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Originally Posted by kwitel /img/forum/go_quote.gif All, I am having a hard time with many of these suggestions. Not sure if its my untrained ear or, just not what I am looking for. For some reason, I cannot find classical music that I find as emotionally stirring or beautiful as many of the film scores i own. (I can just imagine all the classical lovers with their jaws on the ground right about now...) How would you classify the type of classical found in scores by Glass, Nyman, Serra, Riley etc? Ive tried Parts Tabula Rasa and Shosty's 5th. The former is nice but its a little sparse-if that makes any sense. The latter is good but I need a lot more time with it. I also tried Rileys "In C"-which is interesting but lacks the emotion I am looking for. It is simply too minimal/repetitive. I am listening to "loreley" on the Nowhere in Africa soundtrack from Nike Reiser and its just a beautiful piece of music (albeit quite short). Its this type of music, although longer compositions, that I am looking for. What kind of classical is this? (Other faves are Glass's "The Hours" and Nyman's "Gattaca" and Mansell's "The Fountain".)

Film music and '20th century classical' are really two different things, though of course there is some overlap.

Don't forget Film Music is designed to be appreciated fully on the first hearing. Most 20th century classical stuff isn't necessarily designed that way and can take some time to get to know and appreciate.

 

[kwitel]

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Originally Posted by gregorio /img/forum/go_quote.gif Movie music varies in style considerably. Beauty in music was mainly a "classical period" concept, which to a large extent carried over into the romantic period. C20th music was more influenced by experimentation of sound and the breaking of the concept that music had to be beautiful to be good. For many of the big orchestral film scores (Williams, Shore, Horner, Goldsmith, Zimmer, etc.) the style could probably best be described as post-romantic with influences from impressionism. These scores are similar in style to Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mahler, Bruckner, Wagner, Rachmaninov, R Strauss, Vaughan-Williams and even Beethoven and Brahms, amongst many others. As mentioned before, Glass and Riley are generally classified as minimalists along with the composer generally regarded as the inventor of minimalism; Steve Reich, you could also try another minimalist John Adams. G

Ok-so I guess im looking for post-romantic/impressionism.
based on lwd's state below of being fully appreciated on the first listen, could you give me some good starter points for the composers that you mention above?

Quote:

Originally Posted by lwd /img/forum/go_quote.gif Film music and '20th century classical' are really two different things, though of course there is some overlap. Don't forget Film Music is designed to be appreciated fully on the first hearing. Most 20th century classical stuff isn't necessarily designed that way and can take some time to get to know and appreciate.