Classical Music

[MaverickZer0]

Wow, I do believe this is my first topic...also, on Classical Music. Believe me, I never saw this coming.
Anyways. I've recently gotten into Classical (though not off the Japanese yet) and I remembered that in a few Voyager episodes, Seven was playing the piano. So, does anyone know the song and composer she was playing in that episode with the holographic Chakotay? It's been haunting me. I have no idea what it's called.
Also, if anyone has any recommendations for songs, that'd be nice too.

(There was also another song, but I don't know whether it was on Voyager at any point or not. I don't remember where I heard it either. Actually, two others. One sort of started soft and deep and got stronger and a bit higher, and the other sounded a little light at the beginning and got deeper...I can't describe them any better than that. And no, neither one is Moonlight Sonata...I have that one already...)

[Burt]

This is utterly, utterly freaky. I just decided (Yesterday) to start listening to some classical music. I've been downloading it today and yesterday. I know very little about it too. Except they have very long names. And lots of the music is in either
A- Cartoons
B- TV Adverts, i.e. that 'Hovis' advert
C- Movies, i.e 'The Omen' song

Funny that.
One song I found that's good is 'Canon and Gigue for 3 Violins and Basso Continuo in D major' (Sorry, I'm guessing thats it's name) by Johann Pachelbel.
You'll know it when you hear it. Nice song.
But I would like to hear any recommendations anyone has for songs too.
There is one song I REALLY wanna hear, but since it has no words, and I have no idea of it's title or who it was by, I'm kinda screwed. It was on 'Topgear' ( One where they drove up a mountain in a 4x4) if any watches that....? My mother thinks it's some song they sing at schools, or that it's got the words England the Great/Green in it. I think might be some sort of patriotic 'Englandy' type song.
Ideas?

[e of pi]

Well, first off, I sugest the composer George Gershwin. He was an interesting sort who wrote, among other things, pieces combining jazz and classical and a fill-in-the-blanks love song.

[mark726]

You're thinking Canon in D, though you were very close Burt. And I personally LOVE that piece.

Check out the obvious ones like Mozart and Beethoven. I'll need to delve into my collections (I haven't listened to them in a while, but I have a decent amount), but I know I like Mozart's horn concertos and another personal favorite is the 1812 Overture.

[mudshark]

Originally Posted by Burt

There is one song I REALLY wanna hear, but since it has no words, and I have no idea of it's title or who it was by, I'm kinda screwed. It was on 'Topgear' ( One where they drove up a mountain in a 4x4) if any watches that....? My mother thinks it's some song they sing at schools, or that it's got the words England the Great/Green in it. I think might be some sort of patriotic 'Englandy' type song.
Ideas?

I don't know about "Top Gear", but I think you might mean the song "Jerusalem":

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the Holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?
And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Amongst these dark satanic mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold
Bring me my arrows of desire
Bring me my spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my Chariot of Fire.
I will not cease from mental fight
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land.

Words: William Blake
Music: Hubert Parry

Python fans will recognize this; it's also been done by Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Billy Bragg, among others -- it even turned up in a DS9 episode, "Explorers", sung by a completely-sloshed Bashir and O'Brien. :mrgreen:

[Burt]

Originally Posted by mudshark

I don't know about "Top Gear", but I think you might mean the song "Jerusale"

It isn't I'm afraid. I did find this song (Jerusalem) the other night looking for the other one.
It is very like the song I want, the main tune, except...it sort of goes up higher in pitch instead of down.
'Tis most annoying! It's like searching for a person in the world, but not knowing what they look like, their name, or anything about them at all!

[Burt]

Originally Posted by Burt

It isn't I'm afraid. I did find this song (Jerusalem) the other night looking for the other one.
It is very like the song I want, the main tune, except...it sort of goes up higher in pitch instead of down.
'Tis most annoying! It's like searching for a person in the world, but not knowing what they look like, their name, or anything about them at all!

I'm so stupid. I do know the song. I found it. It's called 'I Vow to Thee, My Country', but it might be better known as 'The Planets' by Gustav Holst - it's a section of the Jupiter song. I'm stupid because, I own the CD.
The whole thing is really great, I'd suggest listening to it. But the Jupiter/'I Vow to Thee, My Country' part is really rather special.

[Sa'ar Chasm]

I'm quite partial to Mars, Bringer of War, but that's mostly to do with the fact that it features the trombone section quite prominently.

My friend, the trumpet player, was rather irked that we always played Mars and not Jupiter in band class. The director was a euphonium player.

I also like the Bach fugues we played - D and G Minors. JSB was clearly of the "more is better" school of thought when it came to notes.

[Chancellor Valium]

Baroque composers = t3h l33tness.

(The Baroque being the period between circa 1600 up until, at least officially, 1750. One of the greatest composers of the period, George Friederich Handel, who composed, incidentally, the coronation anthem still used by the UK known as "Zadok the Priest", Messiah, the oratorio from which the Hallelujah Chorus comes, and many other wonderful bits of music, died in 1759, having just completed his last, presumably Baroque, oratorio...)

[MaverickZer0]

Ooh, Canon. By the way, I found the one from Voyager I heard...Beethoven's Fur Elise. (I would use the proper characters for that, but I don't know these ones.)

[PointyHairedJedi]

Originally Posted by Sa'ar Chasm

I'm quite partial to Mars, Bringer of War, but that's mostly to do with the fact that it features the trombone section quite prominently.

Ahh, so you're a... trombophonist?

I think the whole Planet Suite is great, but Mercury and Uranus are by far my favourite pieces of the whole lot.



(Now I just want to sit and sing "Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring, trombophone!" over and over. Arg.)

[mudshark]

Serves you right.

[mark726]

I love the Planets, though I'm with Sa'ar in that Mars is my personal favorite. Jupiter does have its moments though. I also kind of like the DS9 theme. It's very symphonic, and I have a longer, 4 minute version that I enjoy very much.

[Saxamaphone]

Originally Posted by PointyHairedJedi

Ahh, so you're a... trombophonist?

Not quite as good as a saxamaphonist.



There's a number of things I could recommend:

Haydn's wonderful - check out any of the string quartets - and the "Surprise Symphony"

Mozart - anything.

Bach's Air on the G String is a very famous work I'm sure you've heard in televison. The fugues and cantats are all classics.

Beethoven - the piano concertos, and of course the symphonies. 5 and 9 especially.

Mahler - Symphonies 1 and 2

Orff - Carmina Burana

Copeland - Appalacian Spring, Rodeo, and Fanfare for the Common Man

Dvorak - Symphony 9 (my personal favorite)

Also, check out: Vivaldi (Four Seasons, any concerto), Handel, Berlioz (Symphony Fantastique), Chopin, Debussy, Wagner, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Schumann, Saint-Saens, Tchaikovsky, Schostakovich, Stravinski.

And it looks like there's lots of Holst fans here. Jupiter's my favorite.

[Sa'ar Chasm]

Well howdy, stranger. Long time no see.

Bach's Air on the G String is a very famous work I'm sure you've heard in televison. The fugues and cantats are all classics.

I concur. D Minor and G Minor are my favourites by virtue of the fact they're the only two I've played.

Wagner's got some good stuff in Tannhauser - there's the passage that everyone knows as Kill Da Wabbit (actually Ride of the Valkyries), and a slower bit in 3/4 time that's done by the French horns but could be covered by the trombones (I have no idea what it's called, but it's part of the overture - I have a two-disc CD set of various overtures).

And of course, there's also the Radetzy March.

[mudshark]

Hey, Sax!

Originally Posted by Saxamaphone

Haydn's wonderful - check out any of the string quartets - and the "Surprise Symphony"

Any of the late symphonies, as well.

Beethoven - the piano concertos, and of course the symphonies. 5 and 9 especially.

And 3, 6, 7 and 8. Especially.

Mahler - Symphonies 1 and 2

And 5. And 9. And Das Lied von der Erde.

Dvorak - Symphony 9 (my personal favorite)

Nice.

Also, check out: Vivaldi (Four Seasons, any concerto), Handel, Berlioz (Symphony Fantastique), Chopin, Debussy, Wagner, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Schumann, Saint-Saens, Tchaikovsky, Schostakovich, Stravinski.

Other things by Holst besides The Planets (like the two Suites for Military Band, for example), Vaughan-Williams, Stamitz (both of them), Bachs J.C and C.P.E., Carl Maria von Weber, Ravel (!), Schoenberg, Bartok, Prokofiev, Charles Ives, Edgard Varese, Karlheinz Stockhausen, u.s.w.

Originally Posted by Sa'ar Chasm

Wagner's got some good stuff in Tannhauser - there's the passage that everyone knows as Kill Da Wabbit (actually Ride of the Valkyries) ...

That would be Die Walküre, rather than Tannhäuser.

... and a slower bit in 3/4 time that's done by the French horns but could be covered by the trombones (I have no idea what it's called, but it's part of the overture - I have a two-disc CD set of various overtures).

I'm not positive, but I think that you're referring here to Wotan's theme which recurs throughout the Ring cycle, sometimes called in Act III of this opera (sorry, "music drama") "Wotan's Magic Fire Music" -- one of my favorite leitmotifs from the whole sixteen-plus hours of music.

Back to Tannhäuser, though, the Grand Chorus near the end is pretty neat, too.

[Sa'ar Chasm]

I'm not positive, but I think that you're referring here to Wotan's theme which recurs throughout the Ring cycle, sometimes called in Act III of this opera

You can hear it in the Kill Da Wabbit short (which is why I thought they were from the same opera) where Bugs is wearing the blonde wig and pointy breastplate, trying to woo Fudd from atop the pudgiest horse I've ever seen.

Other things by Holst besides The Planets (like the two Suites for Military Band, for example)

The first suite (which I played in City Band) got recycled into something called the Hebrides Suite (which I played in high school), by some composer whose name escapes me. The first and fourth movements of the latter were definitely inspired by the Holst piece (you can hear samples here: http://www.ssyo.org/ssyo.org/PERFORMANCE_SAMPLES.htm).

[mudshark]

Originally Posted by Sa'ar Chasm

You can hear it in the Kill Da Wabbit short (which is why I thought they were from the same opera) where Bugs is wearing the blonde wig and pointy breastplate, trying to woo Fudd from atop the pudgiest horse I've ever seen.

Now I really am going to have to watch that one again -- it's been too many years since the last time.

The first suite (which I played in City Band) got recycled into something called the Hebrides Suite (which I played in high school), by some composer whose name escapes me. The first and fourth movements of the latter were definitely inspired by the Holst piece (you can hear samples here: http://www.ssyo.org/ssyo.org/PERFORMANCE_SAMPLES.htm).

By Clare Grundman, looks like. He's been writing stuff for school bands since long before I started playing in them -- I'd be surprised if you hadn't played at least one piece by him, at some time or other.


EDIT:

I was checking to see if I could find out whether Grundman was still alive. Didn't find anything conclusive, but it turns out he's also a name in crossword-puzzle circles, as evidenced by this book. Heh.

[Celeste]

OMG Sax! Long time no see. ::jumps up and down and waves like crazy::

[mudshark]

Originally Posted by mudshark

EDIT:

I was checking to see if I could find out whether Grundman was still alive.

Hm, seems not.