classical music: more metal than metal

[Junkenstein]

I would be quite surprised if Japan has not already done this.

[rong]

I've found Pandora to be very helpful for discovering new music to listen to.  Maybe this would be a good resource for you?

[EK WAFFLR]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAo_fTiZ2hY

[El Sjaako]

I know you said you weren't really into baroque, but this piece (and to be honest, up to now only this performance of it) just blew me away when I first heard it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LwWRe4rv04

[East Coast Hustle]

I'm on vacation and can't be arsed to read this whole thread to see if anyone's already mentioned it but seriously, Rachmaninov (sp?) or GTFO.

[LMNO]

Cain called out RAWKmoninov on the previous page, but it's always good to reiterate.

[Dildo Argentino]

I like the idea of opera, but it doesn't work out so well in practice. It's just that they keep belting out their wobbley tones (...)

I asked an opera singer about those wobbly tones recently (because I don't see the point, either) - the explanation she offered is that the smooth, legato tone referred to as bel canto is pretty much a given: a singer has it or he/she doesn't. The other type of singing (the wobbley tones) can be developed a great deal by training.

I don't know how accurate that explanation is, but I liked it.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

I like the idea of opera, but it doesn't work out so well in practice. It's just that they keep belting out their wobbley tones (...)

I asked an opera singer about those wobbly tones recently (because I don't see the point, either) - the explanation she offered is that the smooth, legato tone referred to as bel canto is pretty much a given: a singer has it or he/she doesn't. The other type of singing (the wobbley tones) can be developed a great deal by training.

I don't know how accurate that explanation is, but I liked it.

So they do it because they have to learn how? What? Why? Just because it's hard? You're not supposed to make music because it is hard to do, you're supposed to do it because it sounds good.

[GrannySmith]

I like the idea of opera, but it doesn't work out so well in practice. It's just that they keep belting out their wobbley tones (...)

I asked an opera singer about those wobbly tones recently (because I don't see the point, either) - the explanation she offered is that the smooth, legato tone referred to as bel canto is pretty much a given: a singer has it or he/she doesn't. The other type of singing (the wobbley tones) can be developed a great deal by training.

I don't know how accurate that explanation is, but I liked it.

So they do it because they have to learn how? What? Why? Just because it's hard? You're not supposed to make music because it is hard to do, you're supposed to do it because it sounds good.

this!

[EK WAFFLR]

I like the idea of opera, but it doesn't work out so well in practice. It's just that they keep belting out their wobbley tones (...)

I asked an opera singer about those wobbly tones recently (because I don't see the point, either) - the explanation she offered is that the smooth, legato tone referred to as bel canto is pretty much a given: a singer has it or he/she doesn't. The other type of singing (the wobbley tones) can be developed a great deal by training.

I don't know how accurate that explanation is, but I liked it.

So they do it because they have to learn how? What? Why? Just because it's hard? You're not supposed to make music because it is hard to do, you're supposed to do it because it sounds good.

Tell that to Joe Satriani.

[EK WAFFLR]

Or any of the guys in Dream Theater.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

To be fair, very often music that sounds good is also very hard to perform. The world can handle only so many Nirvana albums, after all. But it is kind of ridiculous to say music is good just because it is hard to perform or arduous to learn. Anyone who believes that is both unimaginative and a closet masochist, and would benefit humanity more pretending to lose basketball games in North Korea.

[Ben Shapiro]

Or any of the guys in Dream Theater.

Remember when the drummer left to join a Rock N Roll band? The fanbois came out of the wood-works for that butt hurt.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

De gustibus non est disputandum.

Also, not to be that guy but I think that "classical" is being used loosely here. Also, by wobbley vocals in opera, am I to take that as vibrato? (I also hate gratuitous vibrato in vocals. It's a spice, not a main ingredient).

That said, you said Mozart was ok. I suppose you have to narrow down what you want to hear. What about Mozart just makes him just ok or Beethoven only can take so much? Pleasing to the ear is relative. What is pleasing to your ear?

I have trouble listening to Mozart myself, since his stuff sounds, generally, not heavy enough. Beethoven sounds heavier.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

De gustibus non est disputandum.

Also, not to be that guy but I think that "classical" is being used loosely here. Also, by wobbley vocals in opera, am I to take that as vibrato? (I also hate gratuitous vibrato in vocals. It's a spice, not a main ingredient).

That said, you said Mozart was ok. I suppose you have to narrow down what you want to hear. What about Mozart just makes him just ok or Beethoven only can take so much? Pleasing to the ear is relative. What is pleasing to your ear?

I have trouble listening to Mozart myself, since his stuff sounds, generally, not heavy enough. Beethoven sounds heavier.

What I don't like about Mozart is, as you said, it's very "light." It's the musical embodiment of the word "dainty." It's pretty, but it has no gravitas. Beyond that, Mozart's harmonies are too predictable and there's no awesome counterpoint going on.

Beethoven is heavier, more substantive. But his music relies a little too much on scales and arpeggios to bridge between ideas - which makes it listenable but after a while it gets sort of monotonous. Also Beethoven's arrangements are predictable (intro/buildup -> hook -> noodling -> repeat twice -> hook 2 -> noodling -> next movement).

To put concisely what I'm looking for I guess it would be a classical music Frankenstein stitched together from the melodic and harmonic ability of Beethoven, the dynamic range of Brahms, and the get-to-the-fucking-hook-alreadyness of Metallica.