The Horn - All Comments

re: Anton Bruckner - The Forrest Gump Of Classical Music

the horn — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:44:42 GMT

DGortner, it's too bad you don't like the louder passages in Bruckner, but I couldn't disagree more with you.

I fail to see how any one could call Bruckner's music "banal" in any way. In fact, it's some of the most SUBLIME music ever written.

Calling Bruckner banal is like calling Walter Cronkite an ignorant lout.

What you call sudden loudness is actually an integral part of his music, as his orchestration is based on his organ playing, with sudden contrasts of dynamics.

And in his unfinished 9th symphony, Bruckner experimented with radical chromatic harmonies which anticipate 20th century music. Brahms would have been horrified by these if he had lived long enough. My advice is to keep listening to Bruckner and maybe you'll change your mind.

re: Anton Bruckner - The Forrest Gump Of Classical Music

dgortner77 — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 15:50:56 GMT

Sorry but Bruckner's loud passages are impossibly banal. I admire and leven love his pastoral passages but when he becomes loud (all of a sudden with no build up like Beethoven or Brahms etc) he is excruciatingly painful - primitive tonic and and dominant chords and sliding chromatics that are simply NOT creative - take all this bombastic nonsense out of his music and you actually have something worthwhile - but Bruckner simply does not know how to do "loud".

re: What Is Meant By "Having A Good Ear " ?

willburns1 — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:30:43 GMT

That is really interesting and I don't think that I have a good ear for music however I think that I might have some abilities because I can listen to someones voice and imitate it, and that takes some kind of ability to be able to replicate the sounds and pitch of someone's voice.

re: Can An Orchestra Play Without A Conductor ?

willburns1 — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:15:15 GMT

yeah I always wondered why there was a conductor and with he was really necessary. I assumed it had something to do with keeping tempo and making use that the orchestra stayed altogether. Thanks for the post I learned a lot.

re: Do I Have A Favorite Composer ?

josh m — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:29:31 GMT

The top 4 violinists of the 20th century are Heifetz, Milstein, Menuhin, Elman. I'm not specifying an order, but I don't think there are any other fiddle players you could replace any of those with in the top 4 slots. After that, there are many choices. As far as Perlman is concerned, you'd go through many others on the list before you got to him. As truly amazing as Perlman is, I don't think he possesses the individuality to be considered a great violinist in the overall scheme of things. Kremer is a great and mature talent. Mutter is kind of a lightweight. I don't think she has anything that today's youngest generation of players doesn't have.

re: Does Formal Wear By Musicians At Concerts Make Them Stuffy?

mike — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 20:52:43 GMT

I think kids would probably see an orchestra as more approachable if they dressed more informally. At the same time, I think it would just seem out of place and awkward to see a musician playing a beautiful classical piece in shorts and a t-shirt. Something about that just doesn't sit right with me.

re: Do I Have A Favorite Composer ?

willburns1 — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 20:17:33 GMT

I think that the more that you know about a particular musical genre the more you appreciate different elements of different artists. So its hard to tell who is your favorite artist or composer because it depends on what category your referring to.

re: Do I Have A Favorite Composer ?

Altair — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:50:17 GMT

Darn I was actually wondering which composer is your favorite. I have listened to some of the music you recommended and liked it all. I guess that's what happens when there is just too much good music to choose between.

re: A Few More Cl;assical Music Jokes

Altair — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:47:43 GMT

Lol I got the Oppornockity Tunes one right away. I hope that doesn't mean I'm dyslexic.

I wonder if you could actually teach a parrot to sing Mozart. Some parrots are extremely intelligent and many have a good musical ear.

re: A Few More Cl;assical Music Jokes

willburns1 — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:31:06 GMT

oh I see haha

re: A Few More Cl;assical Music Jokes

the horn — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:33:08 GMT

The piano tuner joke is a pun on the old saying "Opportunity knocks - but once."

re: A Few More Cl;assical Music Jokes

willburns1 — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:21:11 GMT

lol I think that I like that last one the best. I am not sure that I got the middle one. I think that I should post some computer jokes and see if anyone gets them.

re: Cleveland Music Critic Donald Rosenberg And The Muzzling Of Free Speech

willburns1 — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:52:10 GMT

If you wanted to express letters in other languages you can add the code to the html on your post. When you are making a post and you want a specific letter all you have to do is hit the "HTML" button on the tool bar and then insert the ASCII code for the character you want. like this.

<p>He has been generally unfavorable in his reviews of the Cleveland orchestra's current music director , Austrian Franz Welser- Möst. </p>

this is a ASCII code table where you can find some more german letters

Display Friendly Code Numerical Code Description

Ä Ä Ä Capital A-umlaut

ä ä ä Lowercase a-umlaut

É É É Capital E-acute

é é é Lowercase E-acute

Ö Ö Ö Capital O-umlaut

ö ö ö Lowercase o-umlaut

Ü Ü Ü Capital U-umlaut

ü ü ü Lowercase u-umlaut

ß ß ß SZ ligature

« « « Left angle quotes

» » » Right angle quotes

„  Left lower quotes

“  Left quotes

”  Right quotes

° ° Degree sign (Grad)

€ €  Euro

£ £ £ Pound Sterling

re: Classical Music Forums Can Be Great Fun - And Educational

mike — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 20:46:34 GMT

Actually, your blog inspired me to set up a Classical Music forum right here on Blogiversity. You can access it at www.blogiversity.org/.../282.aspx.

The forums allow for much more dynamic discussions and community building. You can post open questions and discussions to see what the rest of our community has to say. You might even be able to build up a solid Classical Music community on our forums.

re: Does Formal Wear By Musicians At Concerts Make Them Stuffy?

willburns1 — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 14:17:26 GMT

I don't think that the dress of the musicians have anything to do with the fanfare. I think that they should continue dressing the way that the music is presented. If the orchestra is very traditional and plays very traditional music then they should stay very traditional in dress. I think though that if the orchestra was very untraditional that it would be okay to wear less formal clothing. I think this is pretty much how it works anyways. I just don't think that it matters. I think that its nice that they dress up. I think it shows that they have respect for their craft.