I want a thread where people talk about more difficult music. Classical, Jazz, Classical, the mars volta, classical, Chopin Etudes, Classical, dragon force, classical. No offense, but I don't want a thread where people say they listen to difficult music and then list things like techno or rap. I would also not like it to be about older groups like drum circles, bone flutists or willie nelson. But talk about Stephano Bollani's self titled album or how mozart, chopin and bach(thanks great great great.... grandad) made almost every musician since then feel like absolute doodoo.

Debussy's Clair De Lune is one of my favourite pieces of music ever written. I loved it when I first heard it, embarassingly, on the Chanel No. 5 advert, then I heard it being played live once upon a time by a local orchestra and have loved it ever since.

Also, Thomas Newmans' soundtrack to American Beauty still brings tears to my eyes on occasion, especially Any Other Name. It's just so peaceful. I could sleep to music like that any day of the week, and have done a good many time.

At work or on the bus to work, I generally try to listen to classical-esque. Anything too heavy really doesn't put me in the right frame of mind for work, so I try to listen to things that will relax far more than hype up.

My go-to music for work is defiinitely Einaudi. Most of the tracks on the various albums can be often melancholy piano (sometimes accompanied by strings or harp). The piano would probably fit very well into a Final Fantasy game, it's that style of slightly sad, partly reflective, although IMHO far more complex and interesting than anything the FF universe has covered.

Lately pre-work I've been listening to Bellowhead, both the Burlesque and the Mattachin albums. They're an 11 piece ensemble putting traditional English folk lyrics and poems to new arrangements resembling big band jazz. Very strange at first, but interesting and quite catchy nonetheless. In terms of lyrics it's also quite fun hearing songs about prostitutes in London, cholera epidemics, shipwrecks, tradesmen and medieval fair wenching.

Just for clarification, why did you list Dragonforce in the classical topic or are we talking cross purposes? I've also got the Ultra Beatdown and Inhuman Rampage albums but they're in a completely different section to my classicals and the like.

Viewtiful_Joe said:

Any Other Name is very cool.

Personally I haven't really found a film composer to beat the best John Williams. Across the Stars (Star Wars Attack of the Clones), A Window to the Past (Harry Potter 3) and Duel of the Fates (Star Wars Phantom Menace) are all absolutely fantastic and a little less well known than Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park or the Imperial March.

In terms of pure classical, I really like Saint-Seans for both Carnival of the Animals and Danse Macabre; also Prokofiev for both Peter and the Wolf and Lieutenant Kije. I also really like Holst for The Planets and quite a bit of Elgar.

Listening to Tony Williams play with Miles Davis pretty much inspired me to get into drumming. Also, I had the great joy of getting to play The Planets in my high school marching band, which happened to also introduce me to one of my favorite composers, Shostakovich.

also, if you want to talk cross-purpose, I think that belongs to Apocolyptica

lol, actually this was meant more of a joke thread than anything else.The dragon force thing was just to tie into the "difficulty" part, as I cannot beat their song on guitar hero, thusly, very difficult. But I am glad people are taking it seriously. I did list Stephano bollani's album in there for a reason though. Its a mix of classical and jazz that I haven't been able to find anywhere else. And from what I understand, a few of the songs are completely improvised.

Other than that, I listen to jazz. A lot of jazz. Favorite artists including Herbie Hancock (Future 2 Future and Head Hunters being my favorites), Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, Thelonious Monk (very crazy stuff), Chick Corea (I think thats how you spell his name), John Coltrane and of course, the obligitory miles davis.

Makingsenseofus said:

Ah, that makes sense. In which case, I also find "dragon force" very difficult as well!

Might have a looksee at some of the jazz you mentioned.