classical

Vibrationbaby wrote: Back to the main topic. Focus were the masters of neo-classical rock along with Gentle Giant (see my review on Hamburger Concerto). Nothing against Emerson. I'm a big fan of the Nice & ELP but classical musicians tend to see his re-workings of the classics as butcher jobs. I'm sure Mussorsky was doing backflips in his grave when Pictures came out.

A common mis-conception I believe.

Keith Emerson has received much criticism for his arrangements of the classics.However it has not always been dead composers that he has 'targeted'.You might be interested in the reaction that he got from 2 very much alive composers at the time.

Firstly ELP - Toccata (based on a peice of music by Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera) .Emerson asked for permission from Ginastera for ELP to use his music.Ginastera said ok but I want to hear it first and invited Emerson to dinner.The inviting was done through Ginastera's wife as he couldn't speak English(she could).Anyway they had dinner and afterwards it got to the point of listening to the tape that Emo had brought with him.After it finished there was a bit of a silence then Ginastera shouted ''Terrible,terrible''.Emerson was naturally a little preturbed and then looked at Ginastera's wife who said something like '' It's ok, my husband loves it!''. Hence the glowing endorsement on Brain Salad Surgery from Ginastera ''Keith Emerson Has Beautifully Caught The Mood Of My Peice''.

The second concerns Fanfare For The Common Man.ELP originally recorded this with an extended studio jam that appeared on Works Vol One.The first 2 minutes is faithfull to Copeland's music and was a surprise UK hit (No2 in 1977) when it was released.When ELP sought Copeland's permission to use it they only sent the first 2 minutes fearing that the other 7 minutes might cause a problem.On hearing the 2 minutes Copeland denied permsission as he felt that ELP's arrangement was too close to his original score.So they tried sending him the whole track.Then Copeland was happy and gave them permission to use it.

These 2 examples seem to suggest that classical composers are much less protective of their 'babies' than we would naturally assume.They like the fact that other musicians are inspired by their music and don't expect extreme reverance towards protecting every little hair of it.

dude wrote: LUCAS:YOU MENTIONED THAT THE NICE HAD A PROG VERSION OF THE BRANDENBERG CONCERTO CAN YOU TELL ME WHICH ALBUM IT IS ON?? I AM INTERESTED!!

Actually, I don't remember. I heard this version on a radio broadcast. But I'll see if I can any link to this song.