Something I've Never Felt Before
This all started when I picked up a copy of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No.5 at the Cheap Thrills record store here in Montreal for a dollar. The cover caught my eye and I knew Tchaikovsky as that one major (and 'Depressed') composer who was Russian instead of from Western Europe so I picked it up. The record was first put out in 1961 and my copy is from 1974 (my record is 48 years old at the time of writing). It was performed by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Yevgeny Mravinsky.
Now coolness of an old recording in analog form aside, I was not into classical music at all before this record. I listened to it once in the background while doing other things. To me it was just calming background music.
But then, one day, I put the record on at the last song: Finale: Andante maestoso - Allegro vivace. Whatever the hell that means (in Italian?). I was instantly blown away by the melody. It felt grand, majestic, powerful, triumphant, dark, and for the first time I felt something. For the first time classical music made me feel something.
Up until this point I held the opinion that it was impossible for me to 'get' classical music: to derive any emotion from it. I think I thought it expressed only a very narrow subset of emotions. That is was mostly for weddings, ballets, or dancing in fancy 18th century ballrooms.
In my opinion all music is about capturing and expressing emotion. And now I realize that classical music does that. But maybe these emotions are more complex than the ones encompassed by other genres most of the time. Perhaps classical music captures mixes of different emotions at times, and different emotions at different moments in the song because of it's progressive and "cinematic" nature.
When I listen to Symphony No.5 I imagine a little boat fighting against a raging storm in the ocean at night. There are peaks in the music like mighty crashing waves threatening to topple the boat. And there are also moments of uneasy calm. The record starts extremely quiet and minimal; Strings play the piece's theme (main melody) slow and sluggish. A slightly higher second melody appears and then in comes the brass. Eventually the sound keeps getting wider and louder. Then all the instruments come together and play the melody but ear-splittingly loud. I always have to get up and turn down my speakers.
Apparently the symphony was about fate and one's acceptance of fate. So how I see it is that in the first part you (for lack of a better pronoun) are downtrodden and fighting with the concept of fate/providence. Then in the last part you have finally accepted fate and you see it's not your enemy but an ally. You see it's majesty and understand it as part of the natural universe. I didn't know this at the time (I read it somewhere) but the theme present in the first three songs is the same in the last song. But, he turns it from being Minor to being Major which completely changes it's mood.
The last song starts with the strings playing the now major theme. Immediately the change is apparent and jarring. The same melody that was once ominous and depressing is now majestic and optimistic. Dare I say the theme acts as a metaphor for the conception of fate, the transformation from it being Minor to Major represents the protagonist's changing perception of it. After the strings, a brass section continues on to repeat the theme quiet and smug. There are parts where where the strings and horns alternate parts to play the melody growing with intensity up to a point where the brass is only really playing the melody and the strings are going wild in the spaces in between. They compliment each other so well. Other melodies appear every now and then throughout the piece but the theme appears periodically to remind the listener where they are.
I really like the above performance of the fourth movement (song) of the symphony. I like my vinyl recording more with it's uniquely piercing strings, and mix. This performance is great though. Slightly comedic too. It's clear the conductor is feeling the music. He scowls through the performance and waves his stick around wildly (convince me conducting isn't a form of dancing). At one point he salutes, and towards the end I think he throws it on the ground.
Connection To Metal Music
Strangely enough. I actually feel like classical music aligns with my taste in music quite a lot, despite me having zero interest in it up to this point. Though I like a lot of different genres of music I mostly listen to Metal music. Now I feel like classical music has quite a few characteristics that make it unique. It uses melody liberally and often heavily layered, and is very progressive. I feel like my favorite metal bands also exhibit these same characteristics (and I'm not talking about 'Neoclassical Metal' or 'Progressive Metal').The above track is the first track off my favorite band In Flames' first album: Moonshield. Yes there are distorted vocals (growls), and guitars; and there is very clearly influence from other genres of music that didn't influence classical musicians. At the same time But it is very melodic and progressive. It doesn't rely on the vocals to provide the melody. The major difference to classical music is that of the instruments used. This band may be just four people, but they're known to later a ridiculous amount of guitar tracks on top of each other.
This is another song of the same genre. Beyond The Dark Sun by Wintersun. The classical inspiration is clear in the main riff. Side note: this same band put out an album - The Forest Seasons inspired by Vivaldi's Four Seasons where each track represents a season like in Vivaldi's.
The Grand Conjuration by Opeth. I'll just leave the top comment on this video here...
"My dad, who plays classical, left my family when I was in 5th grade. I discovered Opeth when I was a freshman, this song being the first I heard of them, and it forever changed my perspective of music. Being a nu-"metal" head prior to freshman year, I'd play slipknot when my dad would visit to bother him. I played this song on his next visit prepared for negative remarks...Today he's a HUGE fan of Opeth and other associated artists like I am and it helped us reconnect greatly."