Classical -=- Ambient -=- Noise

[Angantyr]

Most of the time I have been listening to Metal but lately I have developed an interest in Classical and a bit of Noise/Ambient. How many people here are interested in it? For classical composers I am interested in Richard Wagner, Antonio Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky, Mozarts Piano stuff and J.S Bach... I am interested in discussing if anybody here has a knowledge and open to suggestions. As for Noise I haven't heard much but I like Lord Wind and Perunwit, don't really know for ambient yet but yeah. If anybody here could post a description on various forms with examples that would be good as well. Thanks

[fire exit man]

Aha, oddly i quite like some of the classical pieces myself. Mozart Piano Sonata in C minor 'Moonlight' is one of my particular favourites. Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture is also a fantastic piece, as well as 'The Dance Of The Hours' who composer i can't remember. Have a listen and i can assure you'll thorougly enjoy these pieces, and i wouldn't mind hearing what you think of them!

[postalblowfish7]

i LIVE for ambient music - and classical for that matter. if you're a metal head check out mozart's requiem, and mozart's symphony no. 25, K. 183; 1st movement - that one being my all time favorite piece of classical music. also rossini's "the thieving magpie" is incredibly climactic and clamorous at the end. lest us forget the most hardcore piece of classical music ever written, carmina burana: oh fortuna!!!! never wavering in its timeless epic explosiveness, it's one of the best.

i'm also a HUUUGE fan of the works of richard strauss - who's "also sprach zarathustra" was famously juxtaposed with the aligning planets at the beginning of 2001: a space odyssey. but there's a lesser known work of his i caught on the local classical station one day that completely took my breath away. the festival prelude for organ and orchestra (Op.61) is one of the most incredibly romantic, heartshatteringly powerful pieces of music to ever grace the planet earth. of course johann strauss is amazing too - the blue danube is another remarkable piece of romantic music made famous by 2001: a space odyssey (man did that kubrick have amazing taste in music or what?)

as far as ambient music goes - of course there's always the ambient works of brian eno (as he really pioneered modern ambient music). i'd recommend his album ambient 1: music for airports. yes, it is the greatest title ever and the music lives up to it, soft pianos, rising and falling synth waves, even a glockenspiel or two. definitely check it out.

but even brian eno pales in comparison to my personal favorite ambient composer, steve roach. the essential steve roach album is his 1984 breakthrough, structures from silence. if you get it, i suggest you get the original recording, as he has remastered and updated it several times - the original, i find, is superior to these other versions. my favorite steve roach album, however, is his 2-disc masterpiece - quiet music. it was the first real ambient album i ever purchased, and it turned me into an enormous fan of the genre.

finally i'd suggest the japanese artist, susumu yokota. his album, sakura, is another breathtakingly beautiful ambient masterpiece. very diverse sound, from the suspended steve roach-esque drone to hypnotic rhythmic ambiance. and it all has that japanese flavor - like it's the soundtrack to the most beautiful video game you could possibly imagine.

as far as noise is concerned i'm not as well versed. merzbow is of course amazingly destructive and probably one of the more well known noise bands. my personal favorite is definitely lightningbolt. for only being a distorted bass guitar and crashing drums they're amazingly relentless and full sounding. i suggest their album beautiful rainbow (i know, perfect name for a noise rock record) - especially the song "crown of storms". as you might gather from the title it's epic, humungous, and terrifying all at the same time - and it's one of the most impressive arrangements i've ever heard in a noise rock song.

hope you find these recommendations helpful!

[Gorath Sodom]

I happen to own almost all of the J.S. Bach Collection (copies of course, not the originals), my favorite pieces being Air in String G, Sleeper's Awake, Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, and so forth.

I'm also quite a fan of Johann Pachelbel's Cannon in D Minor.

As far as modern day neo classical goes, I am quite fond of the Xenosaga I and II OSTs, done by Yasunori Mitsuda and Yuki Haijura respectively.

[postalblowfish7]

Originally Posted by ultima_trev

Air in String G

oh my god yes - another one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written. when they use it in evangelion towards the end of the series... omg . they also used the prelude to bach's cello suite in eva, another miraculous piece of music.

also something with a similar taste but more tragic overtone is samuel barber's adagio for strings. with its slow moving heartbreaking melody and suspended dissonant 5th chords, it acts as an endless hail of falling tears.

[Gorath Sodom]

^ You must be referring to Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth, which I own also. The opening of the movie had the prelude to the Cello Suite (though this was also in episode 15) while the credits of Evangelion: Death had Cannon in D. The massive fight scene in The End of Evangelion where Asuka fights the MP Series has Air in string G.

[postalblowfish7]

Originally Posted by ultima_trev

^ You must be referring to Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth, which I own also. The opening of the movie had the prelude to the Cello Suite (though this was also in episode 15) while the credits of Evangelion: Death had Cannon in D. The massive fight scene in The End of Evangelion where Asuka fights the MP Series has Air in string G.

i've actually never seen that movie - was reffering to when shinji is fighting kaworu nagisa (the 17th angel) in nerv headquarters. i'm pretty sure they play air there too...

[Autumn]

I used to listen to Classical music quite a lot about a year ago but then I stopped listening to it so much and now I don't listen to music very often. However, my favourite piece of work would be J.S. Bach's Art of Fugue. I have the recording my the Emerson String Quartet. The music has such a ring of clarity to it, despite the mixture of instruments starting the piece at different times and the notes seem so structured and ordered and invoke a sense of grandeur.

[Gorath Sodom]

I thought they played Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 during the battle with Kowaru? It's been a while since I've seen the series, so I could be wrong.

[Angantyr]

Thanks for the recommendations, I am downloading them right now. Some of my favourite peices at the moment are Vivaldi - Winter II. Largo which I am pretty sure everybody has heard. Richard Wagners Ride Of The Valkyries which was apparently a huge influence on Nobuo, he was also the 1 who wrote "Here Comes The Bride". And I have the Rose Collections Vol 1 - 3 box set which has quite a few good peices from Mozart, Pynt, Tchaivosky, Bach and a few others.

[Angantyr]

Sorry for double posting, but I hoped I could keep this topic on going as I see a few people here quite like Classical.

I listened to the Carmina Burana as was amazed, its a great peice and it is often being played. I haven't listened to the Brian Eno recordings yet as my old mp3 player couldn't play them, but now I have started using WinAMP for that a long with a few other things.

Right now I am quite enjoying a Chopins piano stuff, I have an album entitled Piano favourites, if anybody wants it I may be able to share it. Also I my mum ordered this Mail order classical set. It comes with a folder and pages discussing it as well as a CD, so far I have Beethoven, J.S Bach, Mozart and Handel.

After listening to a bit I guess I could say I enjoy the Piano works as well as Wagnerian sounding peices.

[Wrath]

COLOSSAL props to postalblowfish7 for having such mint taste

most classicals that I ever had the chance to have a copy is the works of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven. Still, I'm looking for somemore for Renaissance and classical music inspires me to write. And I can work better if I'm listening to some classical-themed BGMs and OSTs of vgames and animes.