Music Discussion thread

[Froge]

Although this kind of made me want to go and learn this piece just so I can feel better about my skills and more justified in criticizing hers. So thanks for that, I guess.

Despite the rumours surrounding this piece, it's not too difficult. I learned how to play it a couple years ago, but I could never play it well. The piece requires a lot of stamina (the right hand almost never rests) and you have to be very skilled at elucidating accented notes. Despite the flowing nature of this piece, it is better that you play it crisp and clear than to make the notes sound garbled.

Sorry guys, I saw music and I couldn't resist posting D: here, have another song Piano Concerto in E Minor Op. 11 No. 1

This is probably my favourite piece of music from Chopin.

And yet I really do respect Gould and his performance of Moonlight movement 1 is maybe the best there is. I dislike the agonizingly slow and pathetic manner the piece is normally played in. Not only because it is the exact opposite of what Beethoven intended I just feel the piece loses all of its momentum and ends up being a little boring. Compare every version you've ever heard of it to:

Glenn Gould is a bit of an odd pianist (I have done a bit of research on him before, as the conservatory of music here in Canada actually has a special school named after Gould). I'm not a fan of Gould, since as you know I much prefer listening to romantic era music than the baroque era, and Gould is mainly a Bach pianist. I've listened to his interpretations of Bach's prelude and fugues before and I think he does play very fast.

The wikipedia entry for Glenn Gould notes that he rejected all romantic era music after he graduated with the performer's diploma.

I don't like Gould's interpretation of the moonlight sonata. It feels like he's not even trying to understand the music as Beethoven intended it and is instead playing the sonata as if it was written in the Baroque era. The notes are very clear but, as you said, they carry very little weight. That said, the faster tempo is indeed refreshing compared to the normally slow playing of the sonata, but to be honest, I prefer that a piece makes me feel something rather than that it is played at exactly the intended tempo and with the intended dynamics.

As Schiff explains in his lecture, by using the pedal so extensively the harmony becomes so blurred as to blend together somewhat, and the end result is a really haunting kind of sadness, rather than the pathetic Romanticized sadness that seems to be emphasized by most pianists.

I wouldn't call the romanticized sadness "pathetic," but the 'haunting' sadness is indeed very much preferable.

[Bridge]

I wouldn't call the romanticized sadness "pathetic," but the 'haunting' sadness is indeed very much preferable.

I think you misunderstood. This is what I meant by pathetic:

Arousing pity, esp. through vulnerability or sadness.

A lot of pianists use an unreasonable amount of rubato when playing the piece, especially when first approaching the melody and they tend to play the eighth note/sixteenth note motif as two eight notes which lends itself to a Chopin-esque lateness, which I feel is entirely inappropriate in Beethoven (not that I feel people should not be allowed to do it, but I personally do not welcome it). In my opinion, the end result of all this Romantic influence is music that is neither Romantic nor Classical, and it just ends up sounding flimsy and weak.

[Froge]

It might be because people are interpreting this sonata as if it was a nocturne, given that the piece's nickname is "moonlight" sonata.

[Bridge]

It might be because people are interpreting this sonata as if it was a nocturne, given that the piece's nickname is "moonlight" sonata.

Perhaps. Incidentally, the title of "Moonlight" was not given to the piece by Beethoven himself but rather some random poet whom I believe Beethoven did not know. It's apparently the subject of debate and I myself am not a huge fan of it but I don't think one should refrain from using it because if you say "Moonlight sonata" everybody instantly knows what you're talking about.

[MyRedNeptune]

Anyways, also: anyone want to confirm that it's normal to not delve into the history of the artists/composers of a piece (or even know their names sometimes) despite enjoying their music (or is that just me)? Personally, I always freeze up whenever someone starts talking about their favourite band member or "celebrity" gossip because I don't really pay attention to it myself.

I do the same thing and I wonder that myself.

[failedALIAS]

HIMYM is awesome.

No.

[Kman]

HIMYM is actually laughably unfunny but the characters and plot are enjoyable so whateva

i doubt i'll enjoy it through the end tho

[wubwub]

music is good

[Kman]

Oh yeah regarding that other topic

Punk has never been about how many notes you can hit, or how technical you are, or how much musicality your stuff has, nah. Punks all about the emotions and energy and always has been, even if you look back to the bands who helped popularize it like the clash and the sex pistols (note popularize, punk didn't start with the British wave of punk bands and if you think that you need to sit down) their entire mindset behind making music was to make something raw and dirty going against the government. It wasn't cause they wanted to make a musical masterpiece or be some incredibly technical progressive band, no, it was cause they were pissed off at the government and wanted to express it through music.

That's what I love about it I guess, the fact that it's based off something like that that's so raw and real. With that said, that sort of mindset like you said can lead to some very chaotic and noisey music, but like I said it's never been about sounding pretty or organized. That characteristic of it has always contributed to the emotion of it and energy imo, which is why I love it so much.

I get how that chaotic and messy approach to things can be a turn off to a lot of people, but if anything it's just let me connect with it even stronger on an emotional level, more than any other genre or art form ever has for me.

[Prelauncher]

Oh yeah regarding that other topic

Punk has never been about how many notes you can hit, or how technical you are, or how much musicality your stuff has, nah. Punks all about the emotions and energy and always has been, even if you look back to the bands who helped popularize it like the clash and the sex pistols (note popularize, punk didn't start with the British wave of punk bands and if you think that you need to sit down) their entire mindset behind making music was to make something raw and dirty going against the government. It wasn't cause they wanted to make a musical masterpiece or be some incredibly technical progressive band, no, it was cause they were pissed off at the government and wanted to express it through music.

That's what I love about it I guess, the fact that it's based off something like that that's so raw and real. With that said, that sort of mindset like you said can lead to some very chaotic and noisey music, but like I said it's never been about sounding pretty or organized. That characteristic of it has always contributed to the emotion of it and energy imo, which is why I love it so much.

I get how that chaotic and messy approach to things can be a turn off to a lot of people, but if anything it's just let me connect with it even stronger on an emotional level, more than any other genre or art form ever has for me.

Yeah I know what you mean. Like punk most rock and metal is also about expressing feelings of oppresion and discontet with life and government. This is because they developed from "working class music" blues which also started the same way. That's why I like it, I don't really like listening to songs about love and friendship all day (which is why what used to be my favourite band Aerosmith now bores me), I want my music to have more of a meaning, a message; if not a clear one then at least something which allows my mind to drift away so to speak.
But these feelings are really what these genres are about. And something that has been bothering me to the extreme is that many times when I've said that I like rock or metal without specifying which subgenre most of the people not familiar with the genres has said that it's bad music; just some guy screaming at you while someone tortures a guitar in the background. And I've tried to explain that there's so much more to the music but they keep calling it bad music that just makes you angry. Then I watched Metal: A Headbangers Journey and I can't understand why I hadn't thought of it before but I realised that yes, it is angry music, and do you know what? I really am pissed! I guess it's because I've always tried to look beyond the music and never really taken it for what it is: people singing about the struggles in life for us ordinary people.