Wash. Post Classical Critic: "I used to think the ‘Star Wars’ score was beneath me. I was wrong."

[Fabulin 3,512]

.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

3 minutes ago, The Illustrious Jerry said:

Giacchino's Star Trek is more Giacchino than it is Star Trek.

 

Its not very Star Trek

[Oomoog the Ecstatic 314]

So, people are saying (a) Beethoven as a composer/inventor was one of the greatest, or are some saying (b) his actual music is some of the best to listen to nowadays? Because I'm acknowledging the clear difference. I'm convinced of option A, not B personally.

 

I'm rather familiar with Beethoven's obvious talent, but because newer composers with less talent had access to way more external influences for sound, I find myself not immensely attracted to classical music, as much as I am attracted to thousands of composers 100 years later who wrote vastly more interesting and evocative pieces. If someone greatly loves "Beethoven music," they must greatly love the more minimalistic or traditional artform of classical music. I would put Beethoven as a whole at about a 4/10 for the type of sound and composition ideas I like to hear. 

 

20 hours ago, JoeinAR said:

I dont understand the comparison between film music and classical  music. I have only had the smallest interst in classical music. I am much more interested in John Williams than in classical or even films scores as a whole. 

 

 

I truly relate to this comment. There is a lot of great film music, but it's older. I wish John Williams would've done a lot more original pieces and symphonies--gotten his inspiration from plays, movies and operas.

 

I think most people on here are interested in (a) the film - scorer relationship, rather than just the music, as well as interested in (b) what's new in the music industry. So a lot of these imo bogus film composers nowadays get all the attention, where as the cornucopia of 20th century masterpieces, more akin to Williams, so many of them, go long forgotten.

[Score 770]

11 hours ago, Borodin said:

So, people are saying (a) Beethoven as a composer/inventor was one of the greatest, or are some saying (b) his actual music is some of the best to listen to nowadays? Because I'm acknowledging the clear difference. I'm convinced of option A, not B personally.

 

Personally, I am convinced of both (a) and (b). Beethoven was doubtlessly one of the very greatest composers, and his music is among the best to listen to. At least 4 of his symphonies (5th, 6th, 7th and 9th) surely belong to my top 10 of all symphonies ever written. No other piece of music gives me more satisfaction than the 9th, no other piece makes me feel joyful as the first and last movements of the 7th, no other piece represents a hero's struggle (and victory) better than the 5th. Besides these, he wrote the most important string quartets up to his time (including my all-time favourite, the C# minor one), some of the most important piano sonatas, and a large amount of important chamber music (e.g., the cello sonatas). Not a small feat for a single person.

 

Of course, music had a historical evolution, the human feelings represented in art went under some changes because times changed, so when one wants to get something else than what Beethoven put into his music, there is plenty of choice (fortunately). But this does not diminish what he did. 

 

 

11 hours ago, Borodin said:

If someone greatly loves "Beethoven music," they must greatly love the more minimalistic or traditional artform of classical music. 

 

Unless you want to pick some very exceptional and limited examples (like the development section of the first movement of the 6th symphony, and even that is a bit of a stretch), I really don't see how you can link Beethoven with anything "minimalistic". Are you meaning that Beethoven's music is conceived in a simple way? Well, no, it isn't. His greatness is in part related to the fact that he could do exceptionally complex things using relatively simple building blocks, compared to what appeared later (new instruments, new harmonic language, etcetera). 

 

 

[Steve 593]

Didn't find a better topic for this and since it is the same newspaper:

 

I came across this very old article while doing some research on Williams' concert at the White House in July 1985. The writer doesn't seem to be impressed by Williams.

 

"(..)Williams did use the occasion to promote his own music, but he did not make the mistake that had been made July 4 in an all-Bernstein concert conducted by Leonard Bernstein. At no point did the audience have to wonder what was going on or why. Williams' music is not really better than Bernstein's, but it is more appropriate for an audience that is picnicking on the grass.

 

Williams is a technically competent but not very imaginative composer, at his best when his invention is stimulated by the images he must accompany in a movie sound track. His music is not out of place on Pops programs, but yesterday he played rather a lot for a concert that lasted only an hour.

 

Among the Williams pieces performed, the "Olympic Fanfare and Theme" and the "Cowboys" Overture sounded a bit like watered-down Copland, but they are pleasant, undemanding music and were well applauded (...)"

 

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1985/07/15/the-patriotic-pops/169290e9-d94b-4245-8cd9-6b53a1529faa/

 

Here is a photo from that event:

 

https://www.upi.com/News_Photos/view/upi/b1f7539155315a7c0402ca6877b63088/Nancy-Reagan-Thanks-Boston-Pops-for-Performance/

[Tom Guernsey 2,284]

On 22/01/2023 at 4:32 PM, Steve said:

Didn't find a better topic for this and since it is the same newspaper:

 

I came across this very old article while doing some research on Williams' concert at the White House in July 1985. The writer doesn't seem to be impressed by Williams.

 

"(..)Williams did use the occasion to promote his own music, but he did not make the mistake that had been made July 4 in an all-Bernstein concert conducted by Leonard Bernstein. At no point did the audience have to wonder what was going on or why. Williams' music is not really better than Bernstein's, but it is more appropriate for an audience that is picnicking on the grass.

 

Williams is a technically competent but not very imaginative composer, at his best when his invention is stimulated by the images he must accompany in a movie sound track. His music is not out of place on Pops programs, but yesterday he played rather a lot for a concert that lasted only an hour.

 

Among the Williams pieces performed, the "Olympic Fanfare and Theme" and the "Cowboys" Overture sounded a bit like watered-down Copland, but they are pleasant, undemanding music and were well applauded (...)"

 

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1985/07/15/the-patriotic-pops/169290e9-d94b-4245-8cd9-6b53a1529faa/

 

Here is a photo from that event:

 

https://www.upi.com/News_Photos/view/upi/b1f7539155315a7c0402ca6877b63088/Nancy-Reagan-Thanks-Boston-Pops-for-Performance/

The reviewer is technically competent, but not very imaginative.