Classical rock

[Whitefang]

Here's that thread OP I mentioned;

I don’t mean “Classic” rock, which is just a nice way of saying “oldies”.   I’m referring to “classical” rock----rock music that uses what we might consider “classical” instrumentations and arrangements, or borrow themes and passages of actual classical works.

 

This all started thus;

 

I’ve long been in the habit of buying old vinyl LPs of classical music, since I can’t sit and listen 24/7 to the classical music station, which we haven’t had here in Detroit since the late 1990’s, and even now, we only have a station that plays classical music for 12 hours a day, the other 12 taken up with jazz.

 

Anyway, I’d buy these albums of music by composers whose other works I was familiar with was favorable to me, and others out of curiosity of their compositions.  And, if I liked them, I’d hunt down a newer recording on CD, or a CD reissue of the album I bought.

 

So, one night, I’m listening to an album I bought that afternoon at a thrift shop, and I heard a familiar “riff”.  Thinking hard, it hit me!   I was listening to a work by Janacek  called, “Sinfionetta”, which, it turned out, was used by KEITH EMERSON of ELP for a song called “Knife-Edge”.      Now, on the old VINYL LP of mine, it said nothing about adapting it from Janacek’s work, but it gives the acknowledgement on the CD reissue.  And also gives credit to adapting the lead-off song, “The Barbarian” from Bela Bartok’s “Allegro Barbaro”.

We all know ELP has done a lot of this sort of thing….Aaron Copeland’s “Hoedown”, and “Fanfare For The Common Man”, and on BRAIN SALAD SURGERY, Emerson adapted the fourth movement of GINESTERA’S 1^st piano concerto into a piece called “TOCCATA” (I’ve YET to find a “straight” recording of that concerto ANYwhere!)

 

We also know ELO has used classical elements heavily for their LP EDORADO.   And ELP went a step further by once adapting nearly ALL of  Modest   Mussorgsky’s  “Pictures At An Exhibition” .   Plus a piece of  Tchaikovsky’s    “Nutcracker”   for the short but rollicking, “Nut Rocker”.

 

Are there any others I might have missed?      

Whitefang    

[Sgt. Pepper]

17 minutes ago, Whitefang said:

Here's that thread OP I mentioned;

I don’t mean “Classic” rock, which is just a nice way of saying “oldies”.   I’m referring to “classical” rock----rock music that uses what we might consider “classical” instrumentations and arrangements, or borrow themes and passages of actual classical works.

 

This all started thus;

 

I’ve long been in the habit of buying old vinyl LPs of classical music, since I can’t sit and listen 24/7 to the classical music station, which we haven’t had here in Detroit since the late 1990’s, and even now, we only have a station that plays classical music for 12 hours a day, the other 12 taken up with jazz.

 

Anyway, I’d buy these albums of music by composers whose other works I was familiar with was favorable to me, and others out of curiosity of their compositions.  And, if I liked them, I’d hunt down a newer recording on CD, or a CD reissue of the album I bought.

 

So, one night, I’m listening to an album I bought that afternoon at a thrift shop, and I heard a familiar “riff”.  Thinking hard, it hit me!   I was listening to a work by Janacek  called, “Sinfionetta”, which, it turned out, was used by KEITH EMERSON of ELP for a song called “Knife-Edge”.      Now, on the old VINYL LP of mine, it said nothing about adapting it from Janacek’s work, but it gives the acknowledgement on the CD reissue.  And also gives credit to adapting the lead-off song, “The Barbarian” from Bela Bartok’s “Allegro Barbaro”.

We all know ELP has done a lot of this sort of thing….Aaron Copeland’s “Hoedown”, and “Fanfare For The Common Man”, and on BRAIN SALAD SURGERY, Emerson adapted the fourth movement of GINESTERA’S 1^st piano concerto into a piece called “TOCCATA” (I’ve YET to find a “straight” recording of that concerto ANYwhere!)

 

We also know ELO has used classical elements heavily for their LP EDORADO.   And ELP went a step further by once adapting nearly ALL of  Modest   Mussorgsky’s  “Pictures At An Exhibition” .   Plus a piece of  Tchaikovsky’s    “Nutcracker”   for the short but rollicking, “Nut Rocker”.

 

Are there any others I might have missed?      

Whitefang    

Jethro Tull - Bouree was written by Bach, I think.

The Nice did Brandenburger.

Zappa did Stravinsky and Ravel live back in the day when he toured. 

Edited February 14, 2022 by Sgt. Pepper

[saturn]

I believe Randy Roads used some Cuban classical guitarist piece for Diary Of A Madman. 

[kidblast]

Blackmore did some work with the final movement of Beethoven's 9th symphony's which later became "Joyful" which is hymn where the words were taken a Van Dyke poem "The Hymn of Joy"

 

[rct]

3 hours ago, Whitefang said:

...Are there any others I might have missed?      

Yes.

Yes.

rct

[Sgt. Pepper]

6 minutes ago, rct said:

Yes.

Yes.

rct

Damn for got about them. I need to listen to CTTE. Haven't heard it in while, or should I do Relayer?

[rct]

Close To The Edge, once a month whether you need to or not.

rct

[Sgt. Pepper]

12 minutes ago, rct said:

Close To The Edge, once a month whether you need to or not.

rct

Oh I always need it. That is one of my top 5 fav albums of all time. I know it note for not. It sounds amazing in 5.1 surround sound. I think I own 7 or 8 different copies of it. 

[jdgm]

Dave Edmunds is the guitarist on this Khachaturian piece which was a UK hit in 1968.  The unedited version is 11 minutes long but the edited one (here) is better.

It's hard to convey how completely amazing this sounded to 14-year old me in '68.  I can still remember DJ John Peel playing it twice on his radio show - I was listening  in my bedroom.   Another one of the tracks that made me (and many, many others) want to play guitar - "I wish I could do that!!" 

 

Edited February 14, 2022 by jdgm

[Rabs]

 

[Rabs]

 

[mihcmac]

I think this arrangement would be considered a classical style..

 

[Rabs]

Then there was always this... Not quite the same thing but an interesting experiment I guess..

 

[mihcmac]

I think Smooth would qualify because it's based on a Phrygian scale with a #3rd like Malaguena

 

[sparquelito]

Eric Carmen's 1975 hit All By Myself, which borrowed heavily from the second movement (Adagio sostenuto) of Sergei Rachmaninoff's circa 1900–1901 Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Opus 18. 

The tasty guitar solo was performed by studio guitarist Hugh McCracken.

The song was later covered by Celine Dion. 
Without the tasty guitar solo. 
🙂

 

 

[rct]

 

rct

[Rabs]