First posted on November 1, 2007
Here is one that has been out several years: Elvis Costello Il Sogno (The Dream) (DGG). Elvis Costello writing orchestral music? Who knew? Guess what, though, it's pretty darned good. It has some "popular" aspects, especially from drummer Peter Erskine—and with Michael Tilson Thomas and the London Symphony Orchestra, the performance is great. It has plenty of memorable moments and the orchestration is surprisingly good. A worthy listen.
Does anybody old enough to remember still have the Deep Purple LP that was recorded around 1968—a Rock symphony, again I believe with the London Symphony? That was also pretty good if I remember rightly. There were other rock-symphony amalgams to follow but I believe that LP was the first.
Showing posts with label classical. Show all posts
Showing posts with label classical. Show all posts
Thursday, October 22, 2009
A Little Halloween Music
Originally posted on October 31, 2007
Happy Halloween. I don’t know about you, but once you aren’t a kid or don’t have some young ones around to liven things up, it just doesn’t have that zip anymore. Still, there is music to be had. I tend to think goth, naturally, when I think of the day. So the classic Evanescence album Fallen (2003) will be playing.
I tend to get a backlog of listening items because I insist everything should be played five times before I file it where it should go. Why five times? It seems like just enough to decide what you really think of a piece of music, at least for me. Some of the best music takes that long to get into. So, for example, I could mention Zombina and the Skeletones (great name) or Inkubus Sukkubus as possible suitable Halloween listens, but I have not heard them enough to decide yet.
Of course, there are the classic Classics—Saint-Saens “Danse Macabre,” “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” by Dukas, and Mussorgsky’s “Night On Bald Mountain.” I have a particular fondness for “Danse Macabre” thanks to my elementary music teacher, the late Mrs. Dabzynski, who not only described the story and played the music every year, she also had us act out the parts—the regretful dead, the rattling skeletons, the blowing leaves, Death the violinist. Now that I think of it Halloween does fit my rather black mood of late. And the music can really bring the time nearer to your experience of life.
Happy Halloween. I don’t know about you, but once you aren’t a kid or don’t have some young ones around to liven things up, it just doesn’t have that zip anymore. Still, there is music to be had. I tend to think goth, naturally, when I think of the day. So the classic Evanescence album Fallen (2003) will be playing.
I tend to get a backlog of listening items because I insist everything should be played five times before I file it where it should go. Why five times? It seems like just enough to decide what you really think of a piece of music, at least for me. Some of the best music takes that long to get into. So, for example, I could mention Zombina and the Skeletones (great name) or Inkubus Sukkubus as possible suitable Halloween listens, but I have not heard them enough to decide yet.
Of course, there are the classic Classics—Saint-Saens “Danse Macabre,” “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” by Dukas, and Mussorgsky’s “Night On Bald Mountain.” I have a particular fondness for “Danse Macabre” thanks to my elementary music teacher, the late Mrs. Dabzynski, who not only described the story and played the music every year, she also had us act out the parts—the regretful dead, the rattling skeletons, the blowing leaves, Death the violinist. Now that I think of it Halloween does fit my rather black mood of late. And the music can really bring the time nearer to your experience of life.
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