...is a 98-minute hot mess. It does not "jam" - on the box or otherwise.

Question...Are you listening to the symphonic version? If so, yes it's a bit outside the box. I was never crazy about his symphonic covers. His music covered by piano quartets is pretty amazing..I enjoy his music more that way..very dynamic and almost "heavy metal" in a weird sense.

SPYZFAN1 said:

Question...Are you listening to the symphonic version? If so, yes it's a bit outside the box. I was never crazy about his symphonic covers. His music covered by piano quartets is pretty amazing..I enjoy his music more that way..very dynamic and almost "heavy metal" in a weird sense.

Well, yeah - it's a symphony, so that's how I'm listening to it.

I mean...I love No. 5. That adagio... No. 9 is pretty good, too.

But 3 is just waaaaayyyyyy out there. Six movements?! With those strident vocals and bells in the fifth movement? It's just...odd.

lol..I think many of the composers back then wanted to out do each other. The more crazier, the better.

Genesia said:

...is a 98-minute hot mess. It does not "jam" - on the box or otherwise.

I bought that record just because of Prince.

Went home.

Put the vinyl on the record player....turned up the volume....couldn´t get into it.

Haven´t listened to it since.

It definitely did not "jam" on my box ....at all.

Maybe I should give it another listen, it´s been almost three decades.

Genesia said:

...is a 98-minute hot mess. It does not "jam" - on the box or otherwise.

I agree. 5 is good, though.

[Edited 6/13/16 19:29pm]

SPYZFAN1 said:

Genesia said:

SPYZFAN1 said:

Question...Are you listening to the symphonic version? If so, yes it's a bit outside the box. I was never crazy about his symphonic covers. His music covered by piano quartets is pretty amazing..I enjoy his music more that way..very dynamic and almost "heavy metal" in a weird sense.

Well, yeah - it's a symphony, so that's how I'm listening to it.

I mean...I love No. 5. That adagio... No. 9 is pretty good, too.

But 3 is just waaaaayyyyyy out there. Six movements?! With those strident vocals and bells in the fifth movement? It's just...odd.

I'm not the biggest fan of the 3rd either, it's SO LONG. But I love the vocal parts, I also love Mahler's lieder though. When I was still doing the opera thing, I performed the Ruckert Lieder in my junior recital and the Kindertotenlieder in my senior recital.

But man that 5th Adagietto!!!!!! One of my favorite pieces of all time. I love a composer/conductor though

Bernstein loved him some Mahler and I love them both.

You know that was Prince's favorite composer?

NikkiH said:

I also love Mahler's lieder though. When I was still doing the opera thing, I performed the Ruckert Lieder in my junior recital and the Kindertotenlieder in my senior recital.

I agree, I think the Lieder are very interesting.

I haven't really sat down to purposefully listen to Mahler's work to have an intelligent
opinion on his compositional skills, but I am so happy to see a classical music thread!

Mozart...sigh...so beautiful. I have Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata and am learning
to play the second movement. I think its main theme is the loveliest I've ever heard.

2freaky4church1 said:

You know that was Prince's favorite composer?

He loved Debussy too. And so do I. I feel like everyone likes impressionism though...it's sort of the "safe" classical for modern musicians I think. As odd as that sounds.

NikkiH said:

2freaky4church1 said:

You know that was Prince's favorite composer?

He loved Debussy too. And so do I. I feel like everyone likes impressionism though...it's sort of the "safe" classical for modern musicians I think. As odd as that sounds.

It's not odd at all. 21st century ears are more accustomed to the chromaticism of Debussy,
Ravel, Dukas, et. al., than they are with Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, et. al. who weren't so
concerned with atonality.

The former starts with Wagner's "Tristan chord" yet Debussy did not consider himself to be an
impressionist.

Debussy has a Prince like hum.

duccichucka said:

NikkiH said:

He loved Debussy too. And so do I. I feel like everyone likes impressionism though...it's sort of the "safe" classical for modern musicians I think. As odd as that sounds.

It's not odd at all. 21st century ears are more accustomed to the chromaticism of Debussy,
Ravel, Dukas, et. al., than they are with Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, et. al. who weren't so
concerned with atonality.

The former starts with Wagner's "Tristan chord" yet Debussy did not consider himself to be an
impressionist.

Yeah, Ravel didn't consider himself one either but it's way easier to say "impressionist" than "late Romantic/Early 20th century composers from France that used global influences in their own distinct Western Art Music sound." I'll never be a Wagner woman, but of course I have to appreciate him for pushing art music forward so that the composers that came after weren't too afraid to push the envelope. I'll never be a fan of Schoenberg/2nd Viennese school either (sprechstimme is so grating)but I will always respect their art. Someone else I feel is left out of the "tonality" convo too often is Ives. He was pushing boundaries way earlier than most. I love Ives.

[Edited 6/16/16 11:20am]

It was Prince's mention in the song "Good Love" of that symphony that brought my attention to Mahler the composer. I'll have to listen to this again soon--my first impression hearing was that it seemed quite dynamic but I never really revisited it much to gain any deeper impressions from the music.

LOL on the OP's take and I can sympathize--sometimes it takes more than a few listens to understand what's happening with a sound beyond some technical aspect, but there is likely a story at hand!

I never learned of the kind of classical music Prince had gotten into, that not really being his focus in performance, but inspiration can strike from many a direction and I'm sure there were some classical works that caught his attention, being such a musical one.

NikkiH said:

Someone else I feel is left out of the "tonality" convo too often is Ives. He was pushing boundaries way earlier than most. I love Ives.

HEYO!

Me too! American composers are pretty damn good.