When most people talk about classical music in respect to metal, they’re usually talking about neo-classical metal which borrows a lot from Baroque and Classical-era music.
But I hear a lot of commonalities between metal and classical music from the 20th century. Especially when you get into the more extreme/experimental bands. I’m surprised this connection hasn’t been look into more.
I remember when I first heard Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring…the first thought that popped into my head was “Damn, this is HEAVY!” And since then I’ve been on the lookout for other composers with dark aggressive music.
One of my favorites is Shostakovich, who seemed to have the perfect balance of romantic melody and dissonance. Another one is Bartok, whose string quartets have quite a bit of (as one of my composition teachers put it) testicular fortitude.
I intend to dedicate a full post to each of these composers along with a few others. For now, I leave you with a little Bartok.
Here’s a video of Hilary Hahn playing Schubert’s Der Erlkönig as arranged by Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst:
I wasn’t familiar with this arrangement, and was blown away by it, and the performance as well.
For those who might not now, Der Erlkönig is one of Schubert’s best known songs, a setting of Goethe’s poem of the same name. Here is Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau singing it. Compare, contrast, etc…
I found out about this George Lynch CD in which he plays some orchestral pieces. It supposedly came out in June, but there’s very little information about it. I can’t even find anything on his own website.
I’m hardly a Lynch fan, though I was fairly into Dokken’s Back in the Attack in my younger days. Still, I’m curious to hear what he’s doing on this CD. All I’ve found is the page on Amazon, but 30-second clips just don’t cut it.
You’d think in this day and age there’d be at least one full-preview somewhere?
While we’re on the subject of fugues, I was recently reminded of Yngwie Malmsteem’s Guitar Concerto.
I haven’t really heard the whole thing, but when I noticed one of the movements was titled “Fugue” I was intrigued. Unfortunately the “fugue” isn’t it a fugue at all.
I know that in the grand scheme of things this isn’t that important, but if you’re highly known as a neo-classical guitarist and you compose a concerto for electric guitar and orchestra, I expect something that’s called a fugue to actualle be a fugue!
So what makes a fugue a fugue?
Well there are many places that will give all the theory, but in a nutshell, a fugue is sort of like a canon on steroids
A typical one will start with a voice playing a theme. Then a second voice will come in playing the theme in another key while the first voice plays in counterpoint (sometimes with a secondary theme). This is followed by a third and/or a fourth voice (somteimes more). The theme is then played in various keys, with accompanying counterpoint, until it’s finally played one last time in the original key.
Yngwie’s on the other hand follows a pretty normal song structure, with the main theme being the verse, and the floaty part with the choir being the chorus. And there’s clearly a main melody throughout. In a fugue all voices have equal importance.
Not that the song itself is bad or anything, I’m just a bit miffed by the faulty advertising…
I’ve been listening to a lot of Jeff Beck lately. I’m constantly amazed by his vocal-like phrasing and complete control of the guitar.
The track that really stands out to me on his latest album is Nessun Dorma, from Puccini’s Turandot:
I generally have an issue with combining rock instruments with orchestras. Modern rock production just doesn’t tend to go well with natural acoustics of the orchestra. But on this album it’s handled phenomenally.
Here’s a video of Pavarotti performing the original:
