Here is a short trip through my....um, Western Art Music book. (Known to the layperson as "Classical" music....and if I sound pretentious to you keep in mind that I eat macaroni and cheese just as much as anyone else.)

 

I have some Medieval recordings....no need to mention names...but i do prefer the Spanish stuff. I like that Moorish influence.

 

I have Medieaval Baebes....but they're not exactly Medieval music per se.

 

Some Gregorian Chants....of course.

 

Ah if it ain't Baroque. Bach to basics....followed by Vivaldi.

 

Now I know the Four Seasons is totally played out....BUT....this recording I have here is superb, the best one ever. Pick it up if you can: Trevor Pinnock and the English Consort. All period intruments and very aggressive sounding...ruthless attack, lots of sweeping accents and dancing bows. Perhaps exactly as Vivaldi intended, or completely different. But if you're a fan of this work, do check this recording out.

 

I do own Handel...but....eh. Honestly, I know someone will want to throw tomatoes at me. (I don't like Handel. Boring.) Hey Mozart thought he was boring too! I guess I just can't Handel his music. I prefer to just lay Bach and enjoy the better Baroque music available.

 

In the Classical period....there is Mozart. Mozart. Mozart. I just like saying his name. I could write a three page essay on this little genius from Salzburg, but I'll spare you the details. I'll just say that I prefer his piano works over all else, and his operas are in my opinion the most enjoyable of all ever written, save for the Italians and maybe Carmen. Best recordings of Mozart's music in my opinion....anything by Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin In-The-Fields. A Vladimir Horowitz recording of piano sonatas is also among my prized possessions.

 

There was this guy Haydn. I'm not sure why he was called that because I had no problem finding him. I own some of his symphonies and I find them to be nice to listen to, though perhaps a bit dry. Mozart respected him highly and he respected Mozart. Mutual admiration among musicians only happened in countries outside of Italy; Italian musicians were motivated by intense jealousy. Hey, they kept Mozart down as hard as they could. It can be said that in the courts of Europe during this period, the Italians were The Man as far as music went; they kept others down and never let a brotha get a break.

 

 

Salieri....ok, well they played his music in Amadeus and I truly liked it. Bought some. Liked it. Good stuff.

 

Moving on in time we get to Beethoven. (Pronounced Beeth-Oven) Revolutionary from Bonn. I like his music a lot. Where Mozart simply composed to show his greatness and died penniless, Beeth Oven stormed the gates of the castles and made himself very popular. Went deaf. Must have been all that storming.

 

Would I rather die penniless or deaf? Such is the question between being Beeth Oven or Mozart. Though I will say that i think Mozart's music is much nicer to listen to. Maybe that's why Beeth Oven went deaf after all?

 

This guy Rossini came along in Italy around this time. And after all this time spent in Germany, I need a break. I mean 15 is my limit on schnitzengruben. Rossini made a lot of very catchy melodies....serious shit. Way ahead of his time....rudiments of the symphonic poem....though being called an "Overture" back then. Great operas by this guy. They go well with pasta and wine. Fat men with handkerchiefs. The Barber of Seville!!

 

Opera really comes into its own during this period, and eventually grows to be one of the highest of all art forms. But what so many people forget, is that originally opera was farce and comedy; opera buffa was what the fat Italian men called that. There was also serious opera, and even opera that was in the middle. I prefer those kinds of operas....and I have a preference to Italian, except in the case of Mozart's operas. In fact, I would take Mozart opera over all other operas. Oh, and I am not going to list all of my favorites here except I will say something to the effect of....I identify personally with Papageno.

 

Then this dude came along in the early 19th century. They called him Choppin'. I think it was because he chopped down his own trees to make his piano. This was the guy that would really put the piano on the map. Hey, he still owes Mozart for that, but for some reason this is the guy whose ass everyone licks. I like him just fine. I have a few of his CD's. Not a lot, but enough to impress the piano chicks.

 

I think Franz gets on the Liszt here...sort of continuing Choppin's work as well as furthering the Symphonic Poem to great heights. Probably the highest heights it will reach before people think they're funny and take to doing Impressions. So on this Liszt, I include several discs, most of which I listen to on a regular basis.

 

Impressionism began somewhere in France in the mid to late 19th century. Around this same time, Nationalism began sweeping over Europe. Sometimes these genres would cross paths, other times they would fight. But they always yielded something worth a shit for us to listen to, and that's all that really matters.

 

Bizet....Grieg....I like those guys. I own Rimsky-Korsakov but I can't get into him. I'm trying, believe me.

 

Saint-Saens....ah the Danse Macabre! Dufas....er i mean Dukas.....yeah I like that Sorcerer's Apprentice guy. I know a girl who matches the main theme of that piece so well. She's a mischevious little sprite bent on getting into trouble late at night when everyone is asleep. Don't let her play around with your DVD collection.

 

Debussy....i'm working on liking him. But I prefer Ravel. That is some strong stuff. Playful and elegant and at times straight powerful, he is a great example of the pisces vascilating mood swings. Check out Bolero of course (fifteen minutes of orchestration to the same simple melody....great drum line) But also Alborado del Gracioso, La Valse, and his best violin work, Tzigane. Great for unraveling after a long day.

 

I Love Tchaikovsky. I mean it....second to Mozart he is my main man. My boy, my nigga. No one before or since has displayed such a wonderous sense of melody, thematics, and especially orchestration. I think some composers today need to listen to their Tchaikovsky records a few more times to learn what it means to orchestrate. That guy has no equal. SACD ALERT: The new Telarc SACD release of the 1812 Overture is pretty fun, for the surround sound cannons. BUT, the recording was made from composites. They recorded the orchestra, the two choruses, the bells, and the cannons all in seperate places. The quality suffers. Buy to blow up your neighborhood and get a good rush, but demand a better recording be made by someone else. I would say that the best recording I have owned thus far has been the one with Claudio Abbado and the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra. 20 Bit Digital, powerful, spirited performance. Worth an SACD release, but no word yet on whether that will happen.

 

Harkening back to Spain we have the immortal Manuel de Falla. I just love to say that name in my best Ricardo Montelban accent, "Falla!" Falla is some serious shit, filled with images of magicians and three cornered hats. Excellent Spanish music, filled with the spirit of the people. Joaquin Rodrigo would continue this fine tradition, and along with Andres Segovia, secure a place for the classical guitar in a world of respect all its own. Check out Rodrigo's Concerto de Aranjuez if you want some serious shit. Best recording is with Pepe Romero on guitar. Pop it in, and pretend your riding through the Spanish countryside. Yes, you too can be Ricardo Montelban. Feel dee wind and dee Falla in your face!

 

Also worth mentioning in the world of Spanish music is Pablo de Sarasate. He composed the most amazing piece for violin, Carmen Fantasy. I have a recording of this by the lovely young violinist Leila Josefowicz. The CD is called Bohemian Rhapsodies. This girl can fucking play. I mean it. Aggressive, accurate, rolling, but not without grace and poise..her recordings always make me feel connected with the music more than many others. Combines technical skill with a musicality and a personal touch. Great recording of some great music.

 

So the 20th century dawns and with it music goes into utter chaos. I say that like it's a bad thing? Well to be honest, 20th century music has been a love hate relationship for me. As with modern visual arts, there are pieces that speak to me through either because of, or in spite of their disharmony, but there are other pieces that are plain crap; an obvious attempt to make a statement or point which is useless and solely to have an excuse not to put any effort into composition.

 

Two examples here. One, a painting called Polar Bear In Snowstorm. Another, a musical composition by John Cage called 4:22. Polar bear is a blank canvas. 4:22 is a silence lasting that time. Same concept, different genre. To my sense of irony, humor and simple lunacy I love these ideas, both of them.

 

But then there are those pieces that are simply disharmonious random noises, or in art, a canvass covered in splotches or boring lines, meant to be "felt" and not understood. Now sometimes this is a generalization, i mean Kandinsky's art is quite emotional and quite filled with feeling. But I find that a blue line in the center of a canv-ass is just that. A blue line in the center of the canvas. The artists' real intention is simple: to make idiots with too much time on their hands delve into it like it has some deep symbolic meaning about the seperation between man and woman. Or the divisions that exist between religions. Or the seperation of the body from the soul at death. Whatever. Someone will buy the piece for $10,000 and the artist will laugh at him as he cashes the check.

 

Stravinsky? Yeah sometimes. But have you heard the melody in The Firebird? Pure rebirth. Or what of the Rite of Spring? There is a depth of meaning here....a pagan, primitive yearning in man's soul. Stravinsky's music has tapped into one of the underlying truths that man is faced with in the 20th century....namely that of realizing he is still an animal. That underneath that facade of wool suits, electronic gadgets, country clubs and higher education, man is still an ancient animal, filled with conflict both within and without himself. He is still a hunter, a killer, a tribal warlord. This is a music filled with this fear, and adrenaline. It is a music of a hunter/gatherer now faced with a dilemma he can not afford to ignore; that of his own denial of himself.

 

You thought astrology was dead? You were wrong. Enter Gustav Holst. The Planets. Amazing. Haven't found a recording I liked the best quite yet, I'll keep you posted....waiting on the SACD release.

 

American music finally reaches the map through the efforts of Aaron Copeland. I like this guy...not as much as some people do, but I have some and I listen sometimes. The 20th century dawns with a Fanfare for the Common Man. Such promise for us all! (Too bad it's going to close with The Imperial March)

 

I like Rachmaninoff. I like Gershwin. Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue by far my favorite piece. Jazz goes to the symphony. I wish I could have seen that premier!

 

Well I have nothing more after that except for John Williams' movie scores. I feel classical has gone too avant garde for my tastes, composers worrying about how they are going to include geometry into their orchestrations and astrophysics into their rhythms than simply making music that communicates emotions and feelings.

 

As far as modern art music goes, I have found myself more interested in what soloists are up to.

 

I love classical guitar...my favorite being a little known English girl named Nicola Hall. Her transcriptions tend to be adventurous and her playing is quite spirited. Holds technical skill in a high position, but never at the expense of expression in her playing. Her recording of Rachmaninov's Prelude in G Minor is astounding. The album is simply called Nicola Hall Virtuoso Guitar Transcriptions.

 

For incredible Flamenco music, I highly suggest anything by Paco De Lucia. Paco also has some great jazzish stuff.

 

The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet is another high recommendation I will make here. These guys are the fucking goods, no joke. Interesting and highly entertaining transcriptions of older music, as well as fresh new sounds. African pieces, some reggae, even some klezmer music. If you love to hear Baroque music on guitar, you will love their rendition of older Bach pieces. But the most fun thing these guys have done is Pachelbel's Loose Cannon. From the original, to some funky, to some bluegrass, to jazzy, and then to just downright humorous, the whole time keeping with the Cannon. A must hear for the music fan with both a sense of humor and a high regard for all forms of music.

 

Violin. I mentioned Leila Josefowicz but I will also say that I love Itzhak Perlman. Some of his more adventurous recordings...In The Fiddler's House and his jazz collaberations with Andre Previn.

 

Other favorite violinist is Jascha Heifetz. Too bad the recordings are all so old.

 

Yo-Yo Ma is a man that commands my respect. If you want something truly unique check out Japanese Melodies. If you're feeling very, very cello, as I often do...just love that mournful tone....check out Solo. He has also just released a recording with his Silk Road Ensemble worth a look.

 

Other cellists worth note are Jaqcuilin Dupree, Ofra Harnoy and Steven Isserlis.

 

As far as the future goes, I will keep watch on Kronos Quartet. Favorite CD of theirs is Pieces of Africa. Rhythmic fun meets some serious melodic beauty. Probably the most listenable recording of theirs so far. Also take note of Early Music, Night Prayers, and Caravan.

 

Then there are some crossover efforts. Eh....do I really wanna hear Billy Joel go classical? No. Paul McCartney? Even less. Don't use your name to sell me your second rate classical compositions.

 

Andreas Vollenweider? Hey this guy actually is a musical genius. But sometimes he gets into the elevator. It makes me sad really that he does, because when he isn't in the elevator, his music is some of the greatest ever made. His recordings really can't easily be categorized, though he is considered general new age. But he has done some great orchestral work. Check out Book Of Roses.