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Who do you believe made the most profound innovations to classical music or music in general? I vote for Liszt. He started the precedent of performing on the piano from memory, performed to general audiences as musicians do today (prior to Liszt, performers of his caliber would play basically for important people), he broke away from the traditional structurings of symphonic music which influenced many future composers (such as Wagner), he introduced the transformation of themes, he paid more attention to emotions in both composing and conducting orchestral music, and lastly, he invented the piano recital.

John Williams. I swear to god, that man can breathe life into ANY instument. He's combined electric guitar with classical for the 'Chase through Coruscant' for example. He's combined choral and symphonic in ways that just send electricity down my spine.

The man can write power, love, fear, hate, ANYTHING into his music.

IRG CommandoJoe wrote:Who do you believe made the most profound innovations to classical music or music in general? I vote for Liszt. He started the precedent of performing on the piano from memory, performed to general audiences as musicians do today (prior to Liszt, performers of his caliber would play basically for important people), he broke away from the traditional structurings of symphonic music which influenced many future composers (such as Wagner), he introduced the transformation of themes, he paid more attention to emotions in both composing and conducting orchestral music, and lastly, he invented the piano recital.

Hoping I spell his name right: Johann Sebastian Bach (although that's likely earlier a time period than that for which you sought opinion).

Yeah, you got the spelling right.

I second jegs. Bach is the man, even if you're atheist/agnostic. Bach Bach Bach Bach Bach.

jegs2: No, that's a very good composer as well. Bach was as much of a genius as Liszt was, and without him, Liszt wouldn't have been able to do anything. Piano music wouldn't have advanced at all without Bach's brilliant works and methods.

IG-88: From what I read, Liszt also made good use of odd, unconventional instruments, such as the triangle in his Piano Concerto #1, the harp in his Dante Symphony, and the bass drum in his Héroïde Funèbre. I have yet to listen to these pieces, but I very much intend to do so. lol

I second jegs. Bach is the man, even if you're atheist/agnostic. Bach Bach Bach Bach Bach.

IRG CommandoJoe wrote: IG-88: From what I read, Liszt also made good use of odd, unconventional instruments, such as the triangle in his Piano Concerto #1, the harp in his Dante Symphony, and the bass drum in his Héroïde Funèbre. I have yet to listen to these pieces, but I very much intend to do so. lol

I've listened to Dante, and it just doesn't do it for me (to manhandle a phrase). It lacks the enrapturing power JW's music has. It's good, but not of the same level.

Listen to Les Preludes. Now that's power music.

Oh yeah. Make sure it's at a slow tempo, or the good parts won't sound...uhh...good.

Yoko Kanno.

Not familiar with his works. Could you explain why?

Does Yoko Kanno happen to have written pieces for some anime?

IRG CommandoJoe wrote:Not familiar with his works. Could you explain why?

Because she's a total genius.

She's done the following:

Cowboy Bebop
Turn-A Gundam
Macross Plus
Escaflowne
Brain Powerd

She seems to be able to do virtually any genre; be it jazz or orchistration.

I really can't describe how she is. She's just that good.

She did Cowboy Bebop? Sweeeeeeet.

Ah, anime....(starts laying bricks for wall of ignorance) LOL j/k I did a Google search and listened to some of her music. It's really interesting stuff. I'll have to listen to some more of it when I'm not in a Entry of the Guests mood.

Make sure you listen to some of her stuff from Escaflowne, and the track "Moon" from Turn-A Gundam.

She also did a song called "Atomic Bird" (not from an anime), but I don't know how easy that is to find.

By any chance are those orchestrated?

Virtually all of Escaflowne's music is orchestrated.

"Moon" is also, and sounds like a sombre march.

"Atomic Bird" is a song done in that "vocal instrumentation" style.

My favorite song of her's is from Macross Plus, called "Voices", and sung by Akino Arai. Be sure to listen to the Acoustic version, not the series version. The only istrument in that version is a piano.

PS: Keep in mind that Kanno sometimes sings in some of her songs, under the name Gabriela Robin. She can be heard in "Green Bird" from Cowboy Bebop, and in "Moon", among others.

Yay. lol

profound innovation in music? beethoven. what he did to symphonies, and string quartets.... i don't think anyone comes close. bach was a genius, definitely, but there wasn't much passion (generally) in his music (all the stuff i had to play, anyway, was written as a teaching device for piano technique, not for the sake of the music itself). beethoven, however--i can't even explain it in words. the music throbs with beauty and pain, especially the stuff he wrote after he went completely deaf. i think he was one of the first, if not THE first, to put himself so completely into his music.

another who deserves mentioning is clara schumann, simply because she was one of the first chicks to get her music out there. sucks that most of it was published under her husband's name, but it got out there all the same, and now we know that she was at least as talented and possibly more so than hubby robert. rah! girl power!

Zaia wrote:profound innovation in music? beethoven. what he did to symphonies, and string quartets.... i don't think anyone comes close. bach was a genius, definitely, but there wasn't much passion (generally) in his music (all the stuff i had to play, anyway, was written as a teaching device for piano technique, not for the sake of the music itself). beethoven, however--i can't even explain it in words. the music throbs with beauty and pain, especially the stuff he wrote after he went completely deaf. i think he was one of the first, if not THE first, to put himself so completely into his music.

another who deserves mentioning is clara schumann, simply because she was one of the first chicks to get her music out there. sucks that most of it was published under her husband's name, but it got out there all the same, and now we know that she was at least as talented and possibly more so than hubby robert. rah! girl power!

I agree with you about Beethoven. I don't think any classical composer can match the pieces he wrote. The Moonlight Sonata comes to mind, especially the first and third movements.

Another composer that I think deserves mention is Mendelssohn. Has anyone ever heard his Violin Concerto in E minor? The last movement sounds like an orgasm put to music. I'm serious!

Rimsky-Korsakov was a great composer as well. His Russian Easter Festival Overature is very powerful.

Make sure you listen to some of her stuff from Escaflowne, and the track "Moon" from Turn-A Gundam.

She also did a song called "Atomic Bird" (not from an anime), but I don't know how easy that is to find.

Only if you listen to Entry of the Guests...lol. It's by Wagner and is a part of his Tannhauser opera.

Zaia wrote:profound innovation in music? beethoven. what he did to symphonies, and string quartets.... i don't think anyone comes close. bach was a genius, definitely, but there wasn't much passion (generally) in his music (all the stuff i had to play, anyway, was written as a teaching device for piano technique, not for the sake of the music itself). beethoven, however--i can't even explain it in words. the music throbs with beauty and pain, especially the stuff he wrote after he went completely deaf. i think he was one of the first, if not THE first, to put himself so completely into his music.

I have to agree the ninth is generally my favorite piece of music. And he was innovative for his time. But Liszt, IMO, was more innovative. He really changed the way music was composed and performed. He broke away from Beethoven's structure and made an entirely new one which is the basis for virtually all orchestrations today.

Commander LeoRo wrote:Another composer that I think deserves mention is Mendelssohn. Has anyone ever heard his Violin Concerto in E minor? The last movement sounds like an orgasm put to music. I'm serious!

O.........k..........
I always envisioned it as joyous......non-sexually related......music.....lol.