Steven Wilson, Prog heritage and legacy

 

Very nice analysis of the whole thing, and there is one other bit that would help this some ... btw ... and it is on that thread from that guy that did the description of CTTE in classical and romantic (my word!) terms ... and one of his comments was, that YES might have struggled with the idea of continuing with such a classical format, as CTTE generally shows their ability was at the time, or would it become more of a rock band.

 

The answer was in the next two albums ... they took the "classical" context and composition to its furthers with TFTO and then, they knew tha the "classic period" was over ... and they had to revert to a rock band design and concept and "Relayer" is massive in the "aggression", which is not always found in an orchestral piece.

 

Following the 1972 blueprint, was, in many ways, more of a compositional idea and design, than it was anything else. I still think, and Ian Anderson gave us a photograph of it, that the idea was ... this is the new "classical music" ... yes, it is electric, and yes, it is in the concert halls ... but your old standard is dead ... the ballerina! And it has died even more since!

 

However, by the time we take a large piece from Dream Theater, it does not have a whole lot of "classical", composition aspects in it, and its transitions are almost exclusive via a rock format ... instead of a chorus ... here is the next part ... instead of a bridge ... here is the next part ... and then bring it all back together much later!

 

Rock music, however, has a lot of people that can compose, and do so even better, than many classically minded folks. And the fact that they also have a bit of an edge because they could not do this with an orchestra or in class with their teacher ... sends us all back to rock music!

 

Steven is not one of those bad guys, but I do think that he needs to stop feeling hurt and complaint like someone took away his life and living ... he's been a part of a system that has stolen more souls and spirits ... than the devil himself!  On top of it, he is a minority ... since less than 5% will ever be able to make a meal off their work ... like he does ... ! He'll learn ... sooner or later!

I (inevitably and predictably) disagree.

 

As you may be aware, this is one of my major objections to "raising" the Pop music of Progressive Rock to the loftier heights of Classical Music - CTTE is not classical music in structure or composition. The title track is not a sonata, concerto or symphony - it is three pop songs segued together and concluded by a medley of those same three tunes to form a (semi)coherrent musical piece that is still pop music, albeit with slight classical inspiration and a few classically sounding leitmotifs. TFTO is four self-contained extended Rock pieces (a composed studio jam if you will) contained in a single package with no musical relationship between them, with that it cannot be compared to a 4-movement classical piece in terms of structure where rules apply even when they are "broken". In analyisis it is no different to how DT rearrange the individual parts of verse, chorus, bridge/middle eight to produce Pop (as Rock) music that does not fit a the format of a Pop Standard, it is a different beast but still of the same family, and evolution not a creation. To see this in action listen to Wakeman's arrangement for Cat Stevens' version of Morning Has Broken -  a standard Pop song (in this case in the form of a 20th century hymn) given a classical leitmotif workover and an extended bridge played in a classical style on the piano to produce a variant that remains a Pop song - Prog music is that on a grander scale.

 

This does not make it classical nor does it make it ersatzklassischen or a pastiche of classical music - it is a different beast but it is still Pop (as Rock) music