The Music Thread.

[Tawmis]

Classical composer takes a look at Prelude to Madness and Hall of the Mountain King by Savatage.

Pretty cool to hear his take. Rath, you might enjoy this and see if you agree/disagree or even like it.

[Rath Darkblade]

Ah, yes ... Prelude to Madness definitely uses the beginnings of Holst's "Mars" movement. It segues into some of Grieg's "Hall of the Mountain King" business ... which is interesting. Shorter but faster than Grieg's. Criss Oliva translates it into electric guitar very nicely. I like the other riffs too.

I can't understand everything that Jon Oliva sings, because "Daily Doug" interrupts it from time to time. Oh well.

Doug sounds confused why Savatage used the "Mars" movement to start this. I think I can guess why: Mars (the god of war) was traditionally associated with bloodlust and indiscriminate killing. If he was around in Viking times, he'd have been the god of berserkergang, the state of fury experienced by berserkers before battle. So it fits with the "madness" theme quite well. I'm not sure if that's what Savatage had in mind, but it makes sense, right?

I can't tell how wide Jon's range is, but he obviously knows what he's doing with it, and does a nice portrayal of the 'madness' theme. I like it.

[Tawmis]

Ah, yes ... Prelude to Madness definitely uses the beginnings of Holst's "Mars" movement. It segues into some of Grieg's "Hall of the Mountain King" business ... which is interesting. Shorter but faster than Grieg's. Criss Oliva translates it into electric guitar very nicely. I like the other riffs too.

I can't understand everything that Jon Oliva sings, because "Daily Doug" interrupts it from time to time. Oh well.

Doug sounds confused why Savatage used the "Mars" movement to start this. I think I can guess why: Mars (the god of war) was traditionally associated with bloodlust and indiscriminate killing. If he was around in Viking times, he'd have been the god of berserkergang, the state of fury experienced by berserkers before battle. So it fits with the "madness" theme quite well. I'm not sure if that's what Savatage had in mind, but it makes sense, right?

I can't tell how wide Jon's range is, but he obviously knows what he's doing with it, and does a nice portrayal of the 'madness' theme. I like it.

Thanks for checking it out and the feedback! <3

This (the actual classical piece "Hall of the Mountain King") is pretty amazing... because they come in with vocals. (Saw it here - https://www.classicfm.com/composers/gri ... tain-king/) which has the lyrics for the classical piece:

Slagt ham! Kristenmands søn har dåret
Dovregubbens veneste mø!
Slagt ham!
Slagt ham!
Må jeg skjære ham i fingeren?
Må jeg rive ham i håret?
Hu, hej, lad mig bide ham i låret!
Skal han lages til sod og sø?
Skal han steges på spid eller brunes i gryde?
Isvand i blodet!


Slay him! The Christian man’s son has seduced
the fairest maid of the Mountain King!
Slay him! Slay him!
May I hack him on the fingers?
May I tug him by the hair?
Hu, hey, let me bite him in the haunches!
Shall he be boiled into broth and bree to me
Shall he roast on a spit or be browned in a stewpan?
Ice to your blood, friends!





As for the Savatage lyrics -

Far away
In a land caught between
Time and space
Where the books of life lay

We fear
This castle of stone
The mountain king roams
All alone in here
But he's not the only one

Lost inside
Forever hidden from the sun

Madness reigns
In the Hall of the Mountain King

Oh yeah
His deep
Dark eyes
Keep watch on his kingdom
And the mysteries that sleeps safe inside

His hall
His towers of stone
Shall not be overthrown

For eternity
It is guarded by the king
Insanity and the power that it brings

Madness reigns
In the Hall of the Mountain King
Oh yeah
In the Hall of the Mountain King
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Come with me
Stay close by my side
As the darkness of night closes in

Don't fear
In the thunder, it roars
When the Mountain King calls all his children home
To where I hid him we must run

Refuge here but I was forever on the run
Madness reigns
(My friends)
In the Hall of the Mountain King
Oh yeah
In the Hall of the Mountain King
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

[BBP]

I got to know that as Ruffneck Rules The Artcore Scene (which dates me horribly). Shortly after I found the original - but without any words - on a classical music sampler at home. To be honest I prefer it without words.

My favourite Grieg has since become this famous tidbit of the Lyrical suite:
https://youtu.be/zZ6LBvOHX0c

[Rath Darkblade]

Yup, Scandinavian lyrics are the best.

March of the Dwarves is always fun. Pletnev does it superbly.

If you'd like some scary choral stuff ... how about Woe to Him! (from Mendelssohn's Elijah). Or Verdi's Dies Irae - very reminiscent of the end of the world.

Mozart's Dies Irae is also lots of fun. Great music for the End Times. Leonard Bernstein does it well. It should be fast, loud, aggressive, and wrathful.

[Collector]

Fixed the embed

[Tawmis]

[Tawmis]

Yup - works!

Now the YOUTUBE code previously no long works, as expected.

[BBP]

Yay!

[Rath Darkblade]

I was, to begin with, baffled. I could see why Hitler would hate and ban music like this, and call it "ugly". He is, as usual, utterly wrong. There is beauty not only in the music but also in the silences in-between the music.

It also seems to be a very ... "concentrated", if I can use that word, experience of aestheticism. Whereas Beethoven and others wrote movements of grand lengths, this piece is music that portrays ideas in small amounts of time - music under a magnifying glass - in just 9, 13 and 10 bars. Like many other composers, the other movements are relatively slow and extremely soft (ranging between pp and ppp), while the second movement is loud and fast. But that is where similarities end.

I'm not sure if I caught the essence of music this fleeting. Maybe I need to listen to it again and again. But one thing that I perceived right away is how the piano and cello seem to complete each other’s musical thoughts. When one goes up, the other goes down in response, creating a kind of symmetry in their dialogue. It is deeply melancholy, but also beautiful.

One last thought: I am struck by the utter difference between this piece and Webern's earlier piece (below), which smacks of 19th-century romanticism.

[BBP]

Webern, like the other composers of the Second Viennese School (the others are Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg) were all operating at a time when our world was changing dramatically. They all have been credited with their own musical inventions - Schoenberg with serial music, Berg is associated with twelve-tone music. Webern was the inventor of the Klangfarbenmelodie - a piece of music where the melody is not just composed of sounds in a certain key, but also with the tone of the instrument playing it.

Here it is in action - listen carefully because it's gone before you know it:




Both Webern and Berg studied music with Arnold Schoenberg - who was Jewish - so I'm afraid you can sense what happened to the three souls. Webern was banned from making music and was eventually shot dead by an American army cook. He had gone outside in the evening to smoke, drunk soldier saw the cigar light and shot it.

I found it highly amusing that all three composers of the Second Viennese School were mentioned in the Book Of Lists in regards to their cause of death - Berg and Webern from dying in an usual way and Schoenberg from predicting his death exactly.

[MusicallyInspired]

Twitter thread of videos of my band's gig on Wed Mar 15. Had a blast.

[Rath Darkblade]

Um ... MI, I can't see this? *shrug* My browser tells me:

Cannot connect to Twitter. Disable any adblocker and tracking prevention then try again.

This is odd; normally I can see Twitter just fine.

Can you please post a link?

[Tawmis]

Um ... MI, I can't see this? *shrug* My browser tells me:

Cannot connect to Twitter. Disable any adblocker and tracking prevention then try again.

This is odd; normally I can see Twitter just fine.

Can you please post a link?

His band jamming out on Twitter.

Side note - if ye QUOTE his post ye can see the URL.

[Rath Darkblade]

Whoops! *blush* Thanks, Tawm.

And nicely done, MI. Great job!

Yes, you do look down a lot, and have that serious energy. But there's nothing wrong with that. No-one ever said that everyone in a band had to act crazy all the time. I much prefer someone who plays an instrument well to someone who jumps around all the time and acts silly.

Just wondering: are there any bands, at all, where the bassist (or any guitarist) jumps around a lot? (Yes, I've seen some guitarists do a little jump at the end of a song, but I mean something like jumping all the time). Wouldn't doing that wreck your playing? I hope that's not a stupid question, I'm just curious.