Of course Francesca wasn’t joking. There are heaps of jokes, both gross and subtle, in many classical works.
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It makes me laugh too, but that’s just because the opening theme sounds like “I Want To Be an Airborne Ranger”. Otherwise it’s not that funny.
However, Beethoven’s symphonies are full of small chuckles. The opening of the Ninth, to pick an easy example, is an imitation of the orchestra tuning up. The insertion of a Janissary march smack dab in the middle of the last movement was a real knee-slapper by Beethoven’s standards. And of course “Scherzo” means “joke”. I won’t even get into some of Mozart’s little japes. And we haven’t even touched on comic opera.
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Maybe. I like the piece, but I don’t find it that funny. Chacun a son gout, and all that.
It’s a question of pigeonholing - finding easy categories for things, mostly for marketing purposes.
A colleague of mine can discourse for hours on the (to my mind theological) distinctions between “ambient trance” and “ambient techno-funk”. But anything remotely classical or orchestral - my entire CD collection, from Hildegarde of Bingen to Einojuhani Rautavaara - gets lumped, in his mind, into the category “classical”. Which, to him, contains slow “relaxing” stuff and fast “rousing” stuff.
All very well for him, and I hope he’s happy … but when an ostensibly classical music station takes much the same attitude … something is wrong, there.
Keep in mind that among some of his other works you’ll find: Prélude flasque pour un chien (Flaccid prelude for a dog) Embryons déséchés (Dried-up embryos)
… and many more.
Note that both of these pieces are otherwise lovely and might even be to some, yes, relaxing.
That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Couple that with an idiot prepared to mutilate astounding works of art just to make them more insipid and less noticeable, and it’s enough to make me want to start posting fish to people. Heck, it’s comparable to painting over the Mona Lisa’s mouth with a grin to make her look happier.
As far as humour goes, Debussy’s Golliwog’s Cakewalk always makes me smile, but then AIUI pretty much all of his Children’s Corner is gently poking fun at the composing styles of others…
Personally, having been a music education major and a musician for many years, it’s sometimes difficult for me to listen to - let alone relax to - classical music, as I’m always deconstructing and analyzing it while I’m listening to it. “Ooo, there’s the French horn line… and a nice leit motif there… say, nice countermelody!”
My favorite to put on during a nice cocktail party is Berg’s Wozzeck, of course. But if I’m looking for a nice relaxing evening, I turn the lights down low, run a bubble bath, and soak while enjoying the strains of Corigliano’s Symphony No. 1.
Occasionally, I’ll play Cage’s 4’33" on repeat until I fall asleep.
Albinoni’s Adagio makes me want to jump off a bridge in despair, but this overplayed, sour confection is included in many “relaxing” music collections. Pah!
I like the Adagio in itself, but one should remember that Albinoni’s contribution to the work consists of the bass line and six bars of melody; the rest was reconstructed as a stylistic mishmash by Italian musicologist Remo Giazotto in 1945, leading to this rather amusing clerihew:
But speaking of soporific pieces, Philip Glass’s 1000 Airplanes on the Roof sends me right off – which is odd, considering I’ve made it through Einstein on the Beach and Terry Riley’s In C without any difficulty.
And then there’s Krysztof Penderecki’s Threnody – always a crowd-pleaser… :dubious:
Regardless of whether that’s a serious question or not, I’ve often thought that the music from Shostakovich’s ballet The Bolt would be ideal for an ice skating routine. And [gratuitous plug] you can buy it cheap on Naxos, along with the Jazz Suites and his “Tea for Two” arrangement [/gratuitous plug].
I played Gymnopedie No 1 late last night (an arrangement for guitar).
I found it a lot of things – beautiful, strange, perplexing, witty, other-worldly, much more technical than its apparent simplicity, but not relaxing.
As jr8 said, chacun a son gout, which according to my dictionary translates as YMMV, but think about it, Satie wasn’t going to spend his time composing music for you to sleep by, was he?
Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly understand the temptation to hear those swaying major 7th chords as some sort of lullaby, but that’s not what is intended, every phrase asks questions that are meant to astound. At every turn dischords and suspensions are introduced that hang for an age – even its ultimate “resolution” into the minor key of the tonic makes the whole piece one big unanswerable question – What happens next?
So please, please, if you find yourself “relaxing” listening to this, or that, piece of music try a quick slap to the face, and ask yourself “What am I missing?”
PS: For those like me who said “Who?” here’s a short but entertaining (some might say relaxing) biography of P.D.Q. Bach
Yep. Quite recently a “date” (for want of a better word) came back to my apartment. There we were, sitting around, doing all the usual first-time-in-the-date’s-home stuff (you know, talking, having a drink, checking out the books and CDs, etc.) and she notices that the majority of the hundreds of visible CDs on the shelves are classical, and she says something like “oh, that’s so nice – put something classical on – it’s so romantic and relaxing!”
So I put something by Gyorgy Ligeti. I forget what. It might have been Atmospheres. That showed her.
Great Unwashed, if you do not know the glory that is P.D.Q. Bach, RUN, do not walk, and buy many, if not all of his recordings. They are worth every hysterical penny.
(My favorite is “Echo Sonata for Two Unfriendly Groups of Instruments.” )
Thanks for the recommendation, I feel abashed, I knew of more than one Bach, of course, and at first thought PDQ was a typo, or netspeak (Pretty Damned Quick Bach), or something.
Of course, if I hate it I reserve the right to come back and flame you. And it definitely better not be relaxing.
(If I was the sort of person who used smileys I’d put one here.)
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