Schoenberg loves riffing- Page 3

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 10/4/05 at 11:47pm

Please, I don't think everything else is crap. *points to avatar* I love Avenue Q, Rent, etc., but in no way is either show in the same league musically as any Sondheim show.

~Steven

[jasonf]

Posted: 10/4/05 at 11:51pm

All right, that's certainly reasonable. I would NEVER say that other stuff is crap - I have HUNDREDS of cast recordings, and certainly not all of them, or even close, are Sondheim (though I do have a hell of a lot of those also).

Seriously, though GreekMusicalFan - give Sondheim another chance. Try Into the Woods or A Funny Thing Happened... -- those are probably the most accessible just on disc. Try watching Sweeney Todd. It's so worth the effort.

[Greekmusicalfan]

Posted: 10/5/05 at 4:30am

I definetely will give Sondheim another chance. I know that I am probaly missing a lot and I'd love to give it a try. I hope his music grows on me, because he is beloved by many people I have respect of their opinions for !

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 10/5/05 at 5:39am

QUOTE:

If you look at Sondheim as a composer throughout the ages, I firmly believe that he'd belong up there among Mozart and Beethoven and all the other "classical" composers. ALW or Schoenberg surely would not. There's more to music than being catchy and "hummable" and having pretty (read = pointlessly overused) melodies. What about theory? Structure? Compared to Sondheim, ALW or Schoenberg's music is on a very basic level musically. Sure, it's really fun to listen to, but it doesn't have the musical brilliance of Sondheim's work.



Lend me some caviar while you're at it

[Sumofallthings]

Posted: 10/5/05 at 7:21am

"Not a Day Goes By"
"Not While I'm Around"
"Our Time"
"Johanna"
"A Little Priest"
"By the Sea"
"Sunday"
"Move On"
"Finishing the Hat"
"We Do Not Belong Together"
"Children Will Listen"
"Agony"
"Agony Reprise"
"Last Midnight"
"Giants in the Sky"
"It Takes Two"
"Into the Woods"
"There Won't Be Trumpets"
"Simple"
"Anyone Can Whistle"
"Send in the Clowns"
"A Weekend in the Country"
"Bounce"
"Company"
"Beautiful Girls"
"Losing My Mind"
"I'm Still Here"
"Sorry-Grateful"
"Another Hundred People"
"Being Alive"
"The Ladies Who Lunch"
"Chrysanthemum Tea"
"Someone In A Tree"
"The Frogs"
"A Bowler Hat"
"Comedy Tonight"
"Everybody Ought to Have a Maid"
"That Dirty Old Man"
"Everybody's Got the Right"
"Something Just Broke"
"The Ballad of Guiteau"
"The Gun Song"
"Unworthy of Your Love"
"Gold!"
"Invocation and Instructions to the Audience"
"Ariadne"
"Fear No More"
"I Love to Travel"



...Just off the top of my head in the five minutes I have to type this...and those are just the songs that get stuck in my head on a daily basis!

[Phantom05]

Posted: 10/5/05 at 3:07pm

Lol, I love....

- Shoenberg
- SONDHEIM
- Lloyd Webber

....HOLY CRAP, to love all three as much as the other....IS POSSIBLE. They are all EXTREMELY different, have their own styles, and personal preference aside, can be enjoyed by all, lol.

HeyMrMusical - To say that Sondheim could be catagorized with Mozart etc., is a little over the top don't you think? I even think that calling him our "contemporary" is laughable as well. The only that title would be useable is if he were actually a popular composer. To me he is fabulous, to most of the theatregoers, not so much.

...ALSO to say that ALW and Shoenbergs works are not difficult or brilliant, is a bit pathetic! When you have stood onstage at the Majestic and had to sing Think of Me, Prima Donna, Music of the Night, or any other number of songs in the show, THEN come talk to me and try to tell me that they aren't difficult. Sondehiem writes for the story....Lloyd Webber writes for grand/subtle emotion, to which his music lends itself so well....They are all so different, lol. STOP COMPARING THEM WHEN THEY AREN'T STYLISTICALLY COMPARABLE!

Anyhoo, I would just like to say that I think that they are all brilliant composers in their own right, and I will definitely be in the theater when anyone of them, or others not mentioned, have a show opening!

Later People!

Phantom05

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 10/5/05 at 5:02pm

I never said it's easy to sing. ALW's music is just more simplistic musically compared to Sondheim's. Complexity-wise. There's just more substance in Sondheim's music.

And no, I don't think my statement was over-the-top. A composer doesn't have to be popular to be brilliant. Many brilliant composers (as well as painters, writers, etc.) gained popularity and respect after they died. Popularity doesn't equal brilliance. And is it really too much to think of Sondheim as a modern-day Mozart? I don't think so. I don't see anyone else coming too close right now.

I do listen to Phantom and Les Miz occasionally. Can I compare them to Sondheim? Of course not, because Sondheim's on a very different level. A higher, more intelligent level. Doesn't make other composers less fun to listen to. Please, by all means, enjoy whom you like.

~Steven


Updated On: 10/5/05 at 05:02 PM

[LostLeander]

Posted: 10/5/05 at 9:03pm

I totally agree with HeyMrMusic.
Sondheim's music is CONSTRUCTED. Piece by piece, putting it together. (Sorry, couldn't help myself). Webber's and Schoenberg's music is written to sound pretty, and pleasing to the ear. But read a book on how Sondheim writes what he does, why he puts this chord here, how this passage is a variation on a theme presented earlier in Act I, but almost unrecognizable. Read how this chord is a reference to this composers motif in his masterpiece ______. There is a reason things sound the way they do, notes are here, the interval jump is there.

Sondheim is a master craftsman, which I can't necessarily say about Webber or Schoenberg, which I reiterate, doesn't make them less fun to listen to, or make you bad person for listening to them, because I like to listen to them too!

PLUS, his lyrics are brilliant, and a treasure chest for any actor to be able to sing, and act.

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 10/5/05 at 10:51pm

Sondy's shows have great lyrics and a depth that most shows can only hope of having; however the music itself (I think) is not the greatest, and can often be forgettable.

[smartpenguin78]

Posted: 10/5/05 at 11:11pm

The music is complexly structured and intricate, the music seperate from the lyrics is some of the most well-regarded in Opera houses, concert halls and theatres throughout the world. It may not be the most accessible or popular music, but Sondheim's reputation is not limited to this board, and this board does not have an "overblown" interest in Sondheim.

No one has to like Sondheim's music, and I believe much like Stavinsky and other modern composers, there is music he has written he does not intend for the audience to "like." The case remains though that it is a seperate arguement when you are talking about the quality of his work.

Updated On: 10/5/05 at 11:11 PM

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 10/5/05 at 11:20pm

Nicely put, Lost and penguin.

I enjoy penguins.
That was random.

~Steven

[Phantom05]

Posted: 10/6/05 at 12:44am

"there is music he has written he does not intend for the audience to "like." The case remains though that it is a seperate arguement when you are talking about the quality of his work."

.....smartpenguin78.....Now this I agree with, thank you!

Later!

Phantom05

[DickonDefysGravity]

Posted: 10/6/05 at 12:57am

Sondheim is briiliant and by far one of the most incredible composers/lyricists Broadway has EVER seen.

I do enjoy a good riff.

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 10/6/05 at 2:07am

Sondheim is amazing, I think. I just hate when people brag about him as being some kind of God

or 'Mozart' and whatnot

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 10/6/05 at 2:16am

Ohk, rock, hate away. It is my opinion and how I expressed it is how I feel. And I've not had caviar, is it good?

~Steven

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 10/6/05 at 2:50am

meh. Fish-eggs