The "Stump My Music Collection" Challenge
Chris and I are always interested in broadening our CD collection, so I've come up with this game to help us think of what we may have missed. Wanna play?
Post a music style, that you know and like, and we'll see if we have it. If we don't, I'll ask for suggestions, so have your favorites ready.A funny story about music genres ( Read more... )
Post a music style, that you know and like, and we'll see if we have it. If we don't, I'll ask for suggestions, so have your favorites ready.A funny story about music genres ( Read more... )
The ten-song cycle Hermit Songs is a result of his love for Irish poetry and literature coupled with his affinity for vocal music. In the early 1950s, he stumbled upon several collections of texts written by Irish monks and scholars in the eighth through the fourteenth centuries. Often these men simply scribbled a thought or a fragment of poetry in the margins of manuscripts they were copying...
With the Hermit Songs, Barber displays his skill for solo song setting. Modal melodies and open harmonies evoke the simplicity of medieval monastic life, yet rhythmic complexity and metric fluidity bring to life the nuances of the varying themes and moods in the texts.
What about late romantic Italian opera? I didn't see an answer for that one.
"Into the Woods" definitely qualifies as musical theatre with classical style singing. I don’t think I would count it as a “pop opera”, though.
My recommendation in that area is Les Miz. It’s simply classic. The music is unforgettable, and the story is one of the most beautiful tales of redemption ever written, IMNSHO. I read the unabridged Les Miserables when I was a teenager, and I loved it. I've seen four different adaptations: an animated film, a live action film made in the 70s, a live action film made in the 90s (Liam Neeson, Uma Thurman, Claire Danes), and the stage musical. As odd as it may seem, I must insist that the musical is the best and most true to the spirit of the source material of all these adaptations. It’s a bit pricey, but if this interests you at all, I highly recommend The Complete Symphonic Recording. It is the only recording with the entire score (other recordings are just “highlights”), it was recorded in the studio (rather than from stage performances), so it’s a bit better quality, and it features an international cast-actors who had performed the roles everywhere from Los Angeles to Sydney and London to Tokyo. The producers really tried to hand pick the best of the best.
They all have some band members that profess Christianity, but won't label their bands as being Christian, themselves. Was I misinformed? I'd like them either way, of course: great music!
The “Christian music” label is indeed a tricky one. As for me, I won’t get into semantics too much. I’ll just say that I let the radio stations define it for me: if the Christian radio stations play their music, then I call them a Christian band. As such, Sixpence and Jars I would call Christian bands, and Evanescence and U2 I wouldn’t. (I haven’t heard of The Echoing Green).
Ah, this is a genre I could go on about all day. I used to hate “Christian music” because all I’d ever heard then was really cheesy, but then in college I met some people who introduced me to bands like Caedmon’s Call and Burlap to Cashmere, and since then I’ve really become an aficionado. Some great Christian bands have broken through into secular popularity, but I think a lot don’t get so much attention because of the Christian label, which is, no doubt, part of the reason some bands refuse to claim that label. It’s too bad, because, as you said, it’s great music (regardless of whether or not, or to what extent, you agree with the ideology of the bands).
Anyway, of the bands we’ve discussed, I would most recommend Burlap to Cashmere. They have a unique sound-kinda folk rock like James Taylor, but there also seems to be a sort of Latin influence on some of their songs. It’s…difficult to describe. The subject matter of their songs runs the gamut-romantic love, love gone wrong, social issues, penitence and religious devotion.
If you’re looking for a good Jars album, I recommend either their self-titled album or Furthermore.
Thanks for asking this! It’s been too long that I’ve been away from my own performing and composing, and it does my heart good to talk about music.
Joie
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Barber sounds good. We will definitely check that out.
What about late romantic Italian opera? I didn't see an answer for that one.
Sorry, forgot. Got Verdi. (Sounds like an art music ad: Got Verdi?)
My recommendation in that area is Les Miz.
I read Le Mis' a long time ago, and saw the play, and sang the song in chorus in high school, but I don't have the soundtrack - mean to, though. Have anything out of the ordinary you can turn me on to?
I won’t get into semantics too much. I’ll just say that I let the radio stations define it for me
I have heard all those bands (including U2, which I have but forgot to include) on Christian radio at some time or another. I think there was a really big stink about Evanescence a while back when everybody thought they were a Christian band, then got all mad when they found out they weren't. A lot of stations pulled their songs from the playlist then.
Maybe the best word for bands like these is "Christian consistent".
Echoing Green is great. Check out their album "Supernova". The title song is a great Harry/Ginny song, too. It was Jars of Clay's self-titled I was thinking of. I'm going to listen to some Burlap to Cashmere.
Thanks for asking this! It’s been too long that I’ve been away from my own performing and composing, and it does my heart good to talk about music.
Feel free to gack this for your own journal. I'd like to play, too.
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