The Cultured Music Thread

[acliff]

Despite my extremely varied musical taste, ranging from universally approved to universally derided and the inexplicable guilty pleasures, I always find time for cultured music. And by cultured music I mean soul, jazz and classical. Theres pretty much nothing that relaxes me more than kicking back, sinking into my chair and listening to Miles Davis on my expensive headphones with my eyes closed.

So this is a thread for you who enjoy the feeling of not wanting to harm yourself, kill somebody, or sink into depression after listening to your iPods. (With obvious exceptions likes 'Ride of the Valkyries' )Keep this thread strictly dark smoky cafe or concert hall. Emo/self hating/cutting/skater/pop need not apply.

Arguments for and against cultured status for bands accepted. Go.

[ryan]

any of the piano collections pieces by the brillant nobuo uematsu.
aerith's theme and to zanarkand are among my favorites.

[acliff]

Originally Posted by ryan

any of the piano collections pieces by the brillant nobuo uematsu.
aerith's theme and to zanarkand are among my favorites.

Fan of the games as much as the music?

[hasselbrad]

Claire De Lune...Claude Debussy has a very calming effect.
Often, I'll put on the cable system's music channel. Classical. Light Classical (which in all honesty, seems to be more in line with my taste). Jazz. Big Band. Whatever. I'm not an aficianado, by any stretch of the imagination.
Ray Charles in the soul/jazz category, but then, his genius cuts across all genres.
The Danube Incident by Lalo Schifrin and pretty much anything by Henry Mancini for that orchestral, this would sound good in a movie, cause that's what it was written for, mood.
This always seems to get my writing juices flowing.
WWII era big band swing has always been high on my list, even as a child. (And, no...not because I was born in the 1940s)
I'm sure there are other things I'm forgetting.

[ryan]

Originally Posted by acliff

Fan of the games as much as the music?

perhaps moreso.
if they remake ff7 on the ps3, i'll buy a ps3 just for that game.


and debussy's claire de lune is one of my most favorite pieces ever. it also appears in one of my favorite movies of all time...great scene at the end of ocean's 11.

[Hazzle]

Does Acid Jazz qualify? I love it. Mother Earth are especially good.

I'm also with Brad when it comes to wartime early swing music.

[MrPink]

dunno if anyone would have heard of her but kathy ashwell has some quality stuff. it's just easy, smooth quality stuff

[acliff]

Originally Posted by ryan

perhaps moreso.
if they remake ff7 on the ps3, i'll buy a ps3 just for that game.


and debussy's claire de lune is one of my most favorite pieces ever. it also appears in one of my favorite movies of all time...great scene at the end of ocean's 11.

I'm tempted to get a nintendo DS lite because of the remake of ff3.

Aeris' theme is stunning work, I think I prefer Jenova and One Winged Angel. But that may be because my enjoyment of the songs is linked to the events ingame.

I'm a fan of Baroque and Classical Era piano pieces, despite being pretty much forced to sit at the piano and play them constantly when I was young. That Mozart could compose a memorable tune.

One of my favourites has to be Chopin's Fantasie-Impromptu in C# minor.
When I was younger, I don't think I had a wide enough finger span to play it, and now I have a keyboard and it wouldn't do the piece justice.

Edit: To those who have never heard it, listen to this midi, which is a crappy way to listen to music, but here it is anyway:
http://www-atdp.berkeley.edu/9931/htsai/fantimp.mid

[duckula]

Ah the good stuff. Big jazz fan. Bebop, Modal, Free. The classics basically. But jazz works best live, so I try to go to jazz clubs when I can.

On the classical front I'm still in a bit of an elgar phase.

[Fancyman]

Does Eric Johnson count? He's mostly instrumental guitar, when he does sing, its far from main stream. He is amazing. Cliffs of Dover . . . holy shit. . .

[runangl]

if you mention eric johnson you can't help but mentioning steve vai. tho... steve vai is a bit more on the... uncultured? side

personally, i love the old school jazz... not so much the crap "smooth" jazz (aka kenny g.) and when it comes to jazz, pretty much anything with vibes makes me go nuts from 3 man to big band


edit:// this is a bit off topic, but it's about the music we kkw'ers make - not just play: any of you musicians out there every mess around with jazz? trade 8s every once in a while? any closet classical performers?

[Greg21]

To name a few, I like Beethoven's Adagio Sostenuto and Fur Elise, also Pachelbel's Canon. Just recently started getting into classical music.

I have some Sinatra too. He ain't bad.

[Hazzle]

Sinatra's a God. I love listening to him. All the Rat Pack stuff, in fact, is excellent.

[acliff]

Originally Posted by runangl

edit:// this is a bit off topic, but it's about the music we kkw'ers make - not just play: any of you musicians out there every mess around with jazz? trade 8s every once in a while? any closet classical performers?

Do you mean performers or composers?

When I was younger I was in the orchestra with violin, and performed violin, piano, flute solos to audiences, but having not touched a musical instrument since I went to university, I'm more than a little rusty.

[GoPre]

Originally Posted by Greg21

To name a few, I like Beethoven's Adagio Sostenuto and Fur Elise, also Pachelbel's Canon. Just recently started getting into classical music.

I have some Sinatra too. He ain't bad.

Cannon in D has my vote for the best classical song ever.

[ryan]

Originally Posted by GoPre

Cannon in D has my vote for the best classical song ever.

its very overplayed at weddings.
that being said, it'll certainly be played at some point in my wedding (a long time from now), but i'm going to get real people in to play it live (and well).

moonlight sonata is one of the best pieces and certainly one of the most well known. i also can never get enough of claire de lune.

[acliff]

Originally Posted by ryan

its very overplayed at weddings.
that being said, it'll certainly be played at some point in my wedding (a long time from now), but i'm going to get real people in to play it live (and well).

moonlight sonata is one of the best pieces and certainly one of the most well known. i also can never get enough of claire de lune.

That Lohengren by Wagner is totally overplayed at weddings too