Composition today

This is a little off topic, but it's about Andrew Lloyd Weber.

My composition teacher has a friend from college would knows Andrew Lloyd Weber. And every once in a while, he gets a memo that says "please orchestrate this:" with what is essentially a melody. Sometimes it's just a snippit, and he has to not only orchestrate it, but develop it, and actually make it music. According to him, there's a LOT of people who do this for Andrew LLoyd Weber.

That, in combination with the fact that every musical of his besides Phantom sucks nardballs, makes it impossible for me like/respect Andrew Lloyd Weber.

Oh, and the fact that one of the songs in Evita starts out with the lyrics "The lady's got poten-ti-al" with the accent on the "al."

Dude, everyone knows ALW blows

Phantom is the best he's ever done, and it technically isn't even very good. I disagree with you though on his writing, he does write a majority of his "decent" material anyway. I mean, I've seen videos of the POTO preview shows, he was playing piano (pretty well too) of stuff he'd written. So yeah, ALW's got talent in there, you just have to dig through a lot of crap to get to it. The man knows how to write a melody though.

I have one question however since you bring up a good point. Who do you think wrote that last chord sequence at the end of Music Of The Night (you know what I'm talking about).

Dude, everyone knows ALW blows

Phantom is the best he's ever done, and it technically isn't even very good. I disagree with you though on his writing, he does write a majority of his "decent" material anyway. I mean, I've seen videos of the POTO preview shows, he was playing piano (pretty well too) of stuff he'd written. So yeah, ALW's got talent in there, you just have to dig through a lot of crap to get to it. The man knows how to write a melody though.

I have one question however since you bring up a good point. Who do you think wrote that last chord sequence at the end of Music Of The Night (you know what I'm talking about).

The hell with that last chord sequence... his main theme (that descending chromatic motif) is ripped note-for-note directly from the opening of Phantom of the Paradise, music by Paul Williams.

Come to think of it, more than half his "hit" tunes are stolen from Mendelsohn, Puccini, Brahms, etc...

Im not going to bother trying to read through every single post to see if someone has mentioned this...so forgive me if the subject has already come up.

Sex Sells. You realise that a large majority of 'composers' and 'artists' that are around today, are incredibly beautiful/handsome? People take one look at them and go 'mm mm Yummy'...sometimes without even realising how much they really suck.

I dont know ANYONE (personally) who has said "Mm mm, Beethoven was a babe" or "I'd tap Rachmaninoff".

In everyday conversation, I hear (seriously) "Mm Mm, Justin Timberlake is soooo hot" and "Jennifer Lopez's butt makes me hor..." (i wont finish that).

Also, look at these lyrics:

[Will.I.Am]

It's funny how a man only thinks about the...

You got a real big heart, but I'm looking at your...

You got real big brains, but I'm looking at your...

Girl, there ain't no pain in me looking at your...

[PCD]

I don't give a...

Keep looking at my...

'Cause it don't mean a thing if you're looking at my...

I'm a do my thang while you're playing with your...

Ha, ha-ha, ha-ha, ha-ha

(cat Cat Dolls, 2007 Interscope Records)

-and-

I'm busy throwing hints that he keeps missing

Don't have to think about it

I wanna kiss and

Everything around it but he's too distant

I wanna feel his body

I can't resist it...

After waiting patiently for him to come and get it

He came on through and asked me if i wanted to get with him

I knew i had my mind made up from the very beginning

Won't miss this opportunity so you and me could feel it

(Sugarbabes, 2007 Universal Records)

See how sexual these songs are. Sure, i did choose the most promiscuous songs they have ever written, but you get my point? People hear these words (well, sometimes they dont even realise it) and they love it. The video clips gets people off as well.

If i were to put Art Music on MTV for a day, i can GUARANTEE that their viewer count would drop dramatically (and would spike for the now cliched Moonlight Sonata and Fur Ellise (sorry for all those fans and beethoven fenatics))

Anyway. Does anyone else agree with me that sex is the reason why pop music is so poooopular.

Elvis was sexual too *thrust thrust*.

- Another reason pop music may be so popular as well could be because of the constant excitement built up in them, with strong rock beats and cliched I IV V VI chords. I appreciate the rock composers that incorporate traditional writing with rock stuff...Nightingale something something do it...i cant remember their band name.

Come to think of it, more than half his "hit" tunes are stolen from Mendelsohn, Puccini, Brahms, etc...

You know, I thought parts of La Boheme sounded very modern when we did it here....

who else thinks that alarm will sound kicks donkey, especially with the renditions of aphex twin music? 'cock ver10' and 'meltphace6' being my favourite

who else thinks that alarm will sound kicks donkey, especially with the renditions of aphex twin music? 'cock ver10' and 'meltphace6' being my favourite

I do! Although nothing beats the originals.

i think meltphace6 sounds very very fresh and good in their rendition. it could be said about cock ver 10 (or simply call it a dick :D ). the first impression i had hearing AWS playing aphex twin, was - it couldn't have been such a free compositions - what i mean - electronically the sound is much more connected, very tight, while on acoustic version it's very sparse. but - somehow - it works, it gives sense of spring to it, sense of 'to paradise with chaos'. though drums on st michels mountain could've been much stronger.

I think its really impressive the way they can emulate the electronic versions so well, especially with all the weird noises and such that Aphex puts in his music. But I wonder if the guy who had to shout out the sample in 'Cock ver 10' felt a bit awkward afterwards. :D

:D espiacialy when it's not acid afterwards... anyway should work very well shouting that to a usual audience front row :D i assume there's lots of elderly ladies there :D

Yes, in general the avant-garde of yesterday is dead. No one is interested in advances to the musical language. Audiences want a piece of music that they enjoy listening to no matter what style of music they listen to. A composer should always begin by writing the music s/he enjoys writing and then try to find a way to get other people to enjoy it. What classical music needs is an audience interested in new composers' works. But they won't be interested if there is nothing in it to enjoy. Penderecki is dead if only metaphorically.

So music that seeks to explore something new and music "in which there is something to enjoy" are mutually exclusive?

P.S. One thing gives me quite some malicious joy every time though: All of Penderecki's later work is generally ignored. Apparently his modernist works actually are a lot more impressive to the general public than his later "neo-romantic" works :) So you've got a once very modernist composer writing a lot more traditional pieces, but the "audience" sticks with the modernist ones. Kind of goes against what you said, hm? Kind of funny how he's (in your words) dead now, that he's no longer the avant-garde composer he used to be. But I personally like his earlier work much better too! :P

Actually last week I heard Penderevski's 8th Symphony which was largely... boring in the most general sense of the word... So I will agree with Gardener pretty much!

Pardon me for saying, and I KNOW it's grounds for a flame war, but, maybe Penderecki's "uninteresting" neo-romantic later works are of less interest because he's just not that great a composer?

If he were, he should be capable of producing music that is interesting regardless of what harmonic language he is using. No?

I heard it too, in a concert with Brahms' 4th. I thought it was pretty good (but then, I haven't listened to much Penderecki). But I agree, his early stuff is much more well known.

HA!

A few weeks ago, in Barbican, right?

With the BBC choir? Right?

Ρε συ! Στην ίδια συναυλία ήμασταν ρε γαμώτο!

i'd go with lutoslawski over penderecki - having in mind they both being most famous polish avantgardists.

though i think gorecki is the most famous (popular) polish composer after chopin.

like his string quartets.

to continue wiht the polish - how about kilar?

Pardon me for saying, and I KNOW it's grounds for a flame war, but, maybe Penderecki's "uninteresting" neo-romantic later works are of less interest because he's just not that great a composer?

If he were, he should be capable of producing music that is interesting regardless of what harmonic language he is using. No?

All I can say is that I like lots of his early (and even some of his later) work. I don't really mind whether he's a "great" composer (that's a different topic), I care about the individual pieces. I'd definitely wouldn't dismiss a piece I appreciate because of other pieces of the same composer that I don't appreciate, regardless of the conclusions I may draw about the composer.

And if I want to judge a composer by one of his pieces, I'd personally rather pick the one I find best, than the worst. I don't think Beethoven and all the others would be very famous if we judged them by their weakest pieces...

I don't think Beethoven and all the others would be very famous if we judged them by their weakest pieces...

On average, Beethoven would be in the middle as while his good pieces are extraordinary, it bad pieces (and there are many), are quite poor. In terms of composers that are pretty even throughout Mozart, Bach, and R.Strauss would adequately fit. Of course bad composers can be pretty even also, but I am not counting them.

Oxi reeeeeee! Ti les tora :D Nai, ekei to eida... po... :P Otan katevaineis Barbican, lege mou giati meno akrivos dipla :P Ki an einai kamia alli megali synavlia na kanonisoume na pame mazi :D haha, kaloi eimaste..

Translation: We're idiots! We were in the same concert. I live next to Barabican so let me know next time so we can go together...

My reply:

Yes I am a huge idiot. I get out once a month, if so and don't notify people I want to see. What a jerk I am... :(

Gardener: I don't judge a composer really (cause it's kinda like a personal attack in forums), but can judge individual works of art. Now, if I can find out a lot about a composer and have 99% of his works being ugly for me, then I'm human enough to make a judgement... It's human nature I suppose... :)

Other than that... composition today is great! Because We are alive and we can make it better!!!!!!!!!!111