"The Art of Fugue > Beethoven"
teach me how to counterpoint plz
my friend worships bach and i'm just like halp me plz i only lyk romantic (((

Album Rating: 4.5

I listen to quite a bit of the baroque and classical eras, but I really do prefer the Romantic era at

the end of the day. Absolutely beautiful stuff most of the time

i torrented the complete piano sonatas played by alfred brendel a couple weeks ago but damn that shit 11 hours long ain't nobody got time for that

yeah me too, romantic stuff is the best on a visceral level imo. i just want to be able to fully appreciate bach's genius considering some people call his stuff (e.g. mass in b minor) the greatest music ever created, and i listen to it and just think "yeah pre. good." my friend insists bach's music is abstract though and just as much of its greatness is intellectual as it is visceral so maybe i need a different mindset to appreciate it.

i should start learning bits of the wtc myself, actually. that friend's a cellist and i have a feeling being able to contextualize the music by playing it helps you understand it (somewhat)

@tree don't listen to all the sonatas consecutively? lol

i'm pretty sure the only two i know sorta kinda well are moonlight and appassionata and those almost don't count considering how popular they are

HAMMERKLAVIER doe

hmm
will check out

Album Rating: 4.5

I like Bach a lot, but he's my least favorite out of the Three B's (Bach, Beethoven, Brahams). In my

opinion, Beethoven and other Classical Era composers were the next step in compositional evolution

from Bach. Bach was amazing for his time, but these days, his modulations and contrapuntal melodies do

get pretty predictable compared to modern, more experimental composers like Bela Bartok or Arnold

Schoenberg. I enjoy Bach for what he was able to accomplish during his time period though, and one of

my personal favorite pieces by him is St. Matthew's Passion; really beautiful stuff. His music was a

great "template" for future composers to expand upon.

Romantic/20th Century > Baroque/Classical

imposing such an order on the whole body of classical music is pretty damn gay

Album Rating: 4.5

Are you talking to me or Rev?

rev

i wouldn't say classical era composers were the next step in compositional evolution from baroque though. bach wasn't even popular at the time and iirc it wasn't until the romantic period that composers were getting inspired by bach (beethoven called him the greatest ever iirc), so it doesn't even make sense to say mozart (or whoever) is an evolution of bach. it's like any trend, the modern trend is both a reflection of society and a response to the previous trends, but it's not necessarily an improvement on the previous trend

actually total non sequitur, just b/c bach wasn't popular with the masses doesn't mean he wasn't respected by or influential on composers lol.

Album Rating: 4.5

I mainly meant what I said from a more retrospective point of view. What you said in your comment is definitely valid too, considering that one of the primary reasons that Classical Era music was created was because of the societal changes in the 18th century. However, when Beethoven was first establishing his composing career, he did play Bach pieces, primarily in terms of fugues and preludes. Even though that probably didn't make huge waves in terms of Bach's influence, I think more famous composers knew (or knew about) him than the general public back then.

Album Rating: 5.0

When i think about all those composers over the centuries that have become well known and popular today i wonder if there were maybe 100s of long forgotten better ones who never got a patron, were too poor to publish or just never got the breaks

Album Rating: 4.5

I wonder about that stuff too. Must be really sad for those people who are really gifted but never get their chance. :/

Album Rating: 5.0

even sadder that we never get to hear it

oh okay, i can see what you're saying, i don't necessarily agree though since i think as a generalization classical era music is my least favorite musical period. but yeah, i mean i can see how counterpoint could get a little stale to listen to, but i'd still like to be able to enjoy it on its own terms before i make these valuations

@menawati i bet they were, when you consider only half the population has been utilized historically to make music (males). i remember reading somewhere mozart's sister was a genius too but as a woman she wasn't allowed to publish music. so i wouldn't doubt there were a lot of geniuses whose music (or potential music) will never be heard by us, though i wouldn't go so far as to call them "better"

yikes hammerklavier is fucking long