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Disco Stu

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    What Is The Last Score You Listened To? (older scores)

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    The Swarm - Jerry Goldsmith (LLL)

     

    I hadn't revisited this since it first came out a couple years ago.  Man, what a great, fun score!  Personally I like all the "quiet" music of the expansion, the themes and orchestration are so lovely and they add a nice contrast to the joyfully chaotic action music.  I think this is a must own even for moderate Jerry fans (as in, between casual and hardcore).  I'll definitely be humming that main B-E-E action motif the rest of the day!

    The Official Pop and Rock Music thread

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    What is it about the music of Donovan that I find so irresistible?  His songs are really very silly and simplistic, but there's just something about them and his whole vibe that is so much fun to listen to.

     

    I'm really only familiar with the Greatest Hits compilation (the CD reissue that added Barabajagal and few others).  Does anyone have recommendations for the best of his album tracks that didn't make the compilation?

     

    Donovan-Donovan's Greatest Hits.jpg

    The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings of Power (2022 TV Series)

    in Tolkien Central

    Posted

    2 hours ago, Chen G. said:

    I have a rule I've set for myself regarding adaptations: I will not critique an adaptation except by such critiques that I would have made even had I not known a thing about the source material. And so the fact that all these names do stem from Tolkien's appendices means very little to me. I just care that its cutesy, and I don't think these stories benefit from cutesiness except maybe  a modicum of it early on.

     

    This doesn't make any sense.  Your expectation that these stories shouldn't be cutesy is itself because of your familiarity with the source material, so this seems circular to me.

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    The Aaron Copland (1900 - 1990) appreciation thread

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    In the way that most people would accept that John Williams' "golden period" is something like the late 70s to the late 80s, it would be generally accepted by Copland enthusiasts that his own golden age is roughly 1935 to the late 40s.  1935 is when he began in earnest experimenting with writing in a more accessible style to reach a wider audience, beyond the niche audience for "new" music, and beyond the traditional classical audience, to reach the "layperson," developing his trademark Americana sound along the way.  He wrote accessible, idiomatic music before and after that period, but the mid-30s to late 40s is when the sound was born and reached its full flower.

     

    I find it very interesting that Copland's initial forays into reaching for a new audience were writing music specifically for young people and amateurs.  Between 1935 and 1938, he wrote three pieces for young performers that were really the beginnings of the Americana/populist sound.

     

    First, there is a very short piano piece written for students titled The Young Pioneers

     

    Then in 1936-37, there was the very underrated operetta, The Second Hurricane, intended for performance by high school students.  It has sadly only been recorded once, with Leonard Bernstein conducting and narrating.  There's a real vivacity and charming naivete to the whole show.  It never met with much success, but I love it.

     

    Notably, Copland ran through the whole opera on piano for Benjamin Britten in 1938 and Britten almost immediately decided to write his own opera for teen performers, Paul Bunyan.

     

     

    Finally, in 1938 there is the much more widely known and performed An Outdoor Overture, written for high school orchestras.  This piece is squarely in his popular Americana style, evoking wide open landscapes and American folk music.  Classic Copland.

     

     

    1938 also saw the American premiere of El Salon Mexico and the premiere of his Billy the Kid ballet, both immediately were smashing successes, vindicating his decision to change his sound and approach, and laying the foundation for his status as America's most famous "classical" composer.

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