Neoclassical Repertoire

[defuego]

There is very little neoclassical music being written anymore, unless for TV/radio jingles, and it's never played in concerts nor recitals. This may be because of the quality of the neoclassical pieces being written if any.

It's not easy to write a very good classical sounding piano piece and people now days prefer the sound of an improvised jazz piece than that of a classical sounding improvised piano piece. Perhaps as an overall comparison jazz is a lot easier to play, write and improvise than that of a neoclassically structured piece.

The thing that I find most challenging tho, is to take a classical piece and arrange it with a jazz flavor. It takes time and practice to get it right but once you got it your well on your way to doing it over and over again on different pieces including your own neoclassical compositions.

I once read that Neoclassical is out because nobody listens to it, but maybe nobody listens to it because there is just none around. I think there is little to none around because it is too difficult for many people to write in a classical/romantic style a La Chopin or Schumann Beethoven etc.

What do others here think about Neoclassical (modern or recently written classical sounding) music and has anyone written any? Thanks. :-)

[pytheamateur]

There is very little neoclassical music being written anymore, unless for TV/radio jingles, and it's never played in concerts nor recitals. This may be because of the quality of the neoclassical pieces being written if any.

It's not easy to write a very good classical sounding piano piece and people now days prefer the sound of an improvised jazz piece than that of a classical sounding improvised piano piece. Perhaps as an overall comparison jazz is a lot easier to play, write and improvise than that of a neoclassically structured piece.

The thing that I find most challenging tho, is to take a classical piece and arrange it with a jazz flavor. It takes time and practice to get it right but once you got it your well on your way to doing it over and over again on different pieces including your own neoclassical compositions.

I once read that Neoclassical is out because nobody listens to it, but maybe nobody listens to it because there is just none around. I think there is little to none around because it is too difficult for many people to write in a classical/romantic style a La Chopin or Schumann Beethoven etc.

What do others here think about Neoclassical (modern or recently written classical sounding) music and has anyone written any? Thanks. :-)

Do you think some of the film music (e.g. that of Enrico Morricone) can be considered neoclassical?

[defuego]

Do you think some of the film music (e.g. that of Enrico Morricone) can be considered neoclassical?

Yes and it would be great if it were transcribed for solo piano so it could be played. I like the clock theme music from Good, bad and Ugly. But what I am mainly referring to here is a style of classical solo/piano pieces such as a Schubert or a Beethoven piano sonata. I suppose one could be written and parts of it could be used in a movie. :-)

[thorn]

From my own experience specialising in composition for my degree...

Writing in a classical style is frowned upon, so composers fear it. In my final year, I wrote an orchestral piece in a Ravel/Debussy style and even that was counted as "dated" and gave the professors the impression that I had no awareness of contemporary music.

The only composers at my university that got noticed were the ones who wrote the "clever for the sake of being clever with no real music involved" pieces, for example another orchestral piece a student wrote for the same assignment involved tapping the keys on wind/brass instruments and using a bow on percussion instruments. Another involved playing the strings on the piano with sex toys.

It was strange that the professors accepted jazz styles, which in the context of western classical music appeared in the same period they called "dated" when in relation to Ravel...

The general impression I am left with having graduated is that to be "out of the box" is the new "in the box". Back in Beethoven's day, anyone writing the kind of pieces I described above would be laughed off stage.. I fear in the modern world it is turning into vice versa.

I also think there is an element of the progression of music through history. Take Piano Sonatas. Sonatas a la Haydn/Mozart went as far as they could go, so to have any success in the form, Beethoven had to do something different, same goes for Liszt, Scriabin, Cage etc. In a way I blame the "it's gone as far as it can go" attitude. Who says a modern composer can't top the Beethoven Sonatas? On what grounds? I think such attitudes have lost us a lot of potential new repertoire.