Music = Color

[Anne]

I enjoy listening to Shostakovich Sym 7 first movement (Bernstein/Chicago) where he has started the march of approaching army.  He adds various instruments, one by one, and each adds a new color to the listening experience and invites comparison to instruments already sounding in the march and the new ones being currently added.  That is such a wonderful and interesting listening experience for me ever since I first tried it.  There's just tons of neat things going on in section of the first movement.

I cannot fathom why some people downplay this sym.  I could listen to it endlessly, each time coming up with a new idea for listening.

I also have great listening enjoyment with Verdi's "Otello" with the musical description of the bonfire he has provided in the opening scene.  The flames lick and curl and lash out; they rise up and go down, expand sideways, etc.

Listen to it paying attention to the basses one time, the cellos the next time, just the violins, or just any other instrument you might desire.  It is a wonderful way to see how the instruments in the orchestra have a certain job to do per the creator.  This little exercise enriches the listening experience immeasurably.  Once one has finished the multiple repeats explained above, the listener is now ready to receive his reward - he simply settles back and listens to the music no longer looking for one instrument, but just lets the music flow over him and notice the richness of the experience now compared to the first listen.  It is tremendous!  Try it sometime!  The reward is immediate.

[vandermolen]

Vaughan Williams's 9th Symphony:

The symphony has a craggy, monolithic quality to it, which has always reminded me of Rothko's great paintings in the London Tate Gallery.

I find both the Symphony and the paintings to be wonderfully moving, visionary works.

[karlhenning]

Good morning, Anne! Delightful post, thank you.

I enjoy listening to Shostakovich Sym 7 first movement (Bernstein/Chicago) where he has started the march of approaching army.  He adds various instruments, one by one, and each adds a new color to the listening experience and invites comparison to instruments already sounding in the march and the new ones being currently added.  That is such a wonderful and interesting listening experience for me ever since I first tried it.  There's just tons of neat things going on in section of the first movement.

I cannot fathom why some people downplay this sym.  I could listen to it endlessly, each time coming up with a new idea for listening.

I also have great listening enjoyment with Verdi's "Otello" with the musical description of the bonfire he has provided in the opening scene.  The flames lick and curl and lash out; they rise up and go down, expand sideways, etc.

Listen to it paying attention to the basses one time, the cellos the next time, just the violins, or just any other instrument you might desire.  It is a wonderful way to see how the instruments in the orchestra have a certain job to do per the creator.  This little exercise enriches the listening experience immeasurably.  Once one has finished the multiple repeats explained above, the listener is now ready to receive his reward - he simply settles back and listens to the music no longer looking for one instrument, but just lets the music flow over him and notice the richness of the experience now compared to the first listen.  It is tremendous!  Try it sometime!  The reward is immediate.

[Josquin des Prez]

I find both the Symphony and the paintings to be wonderfully moving, visionary works.

And what is the vision the painting is trying to convey?

[DavidRoss]

And what is the vision the painting is trying to convey?

Neither the painting nor the artist are "trying to convey a vision."  In order to learn, you need to start at the beginning.  First you need to empty your mind of all the garbage that you think you know.  You're not stupid, but all that crap seriously interferes with your ability to learn. 

[jochanaan]

If Scriabin was a synesthete, he wouldn't need a colour organ.

Yes he would--to convey his experience to us non-synesthetes.

[Dana]

I thought you wanted to discuss the relationship some "see" between music and visual color.  But now I see you actually want to discuss timbre.

      People talk about certain sounds/instruments having added emotional punch - depending on the setting, a piccolo can be either hopeful, or neurotic, etc, and key signatures tend to have similar proporties. F-major is pastoral, F-minor is tragic, E-flat major is triumphant, D-major is contented etc. The same can be said about color - most people will generally agree that red is more related to anger than to any other emotion, that a bright yellow is happy, that a deep blue has calming properties to it. This line of reasoning is what started this thread. There's a pretty close relationship between color and timbre as well.

[vandermolen]

And what is the vision the painting is trying to convey?

Well, this is a subjective reaction and I would never presume to make some kind of definitive statement about 'meaning' in a work of art - as I could not possibly know. But, to me these are great philosophical/spiritual works, which make me think and wonder about what is behind them.  Shortly before he died Vaughan Williams said that 'the arts being the means by which we can look through the magic casements and see what lies beyond'. I would go along with this.  VW's 9th or Rothko's paintings express things (I believe) which cannot really be put into words - which is where their greatness lies. Don't think I've expressed this very well - but best I can do for now.

[eyeresist]

And what is the vision the painting is trying to convey?

LOL - I seem to be the only one to realise Josquin is making a joke here.

[DavidRoss]

LOL - I seem to be the only one to realise Josquin is making a joke here.

No, the wordplay is obvious.  So is the dig at Rothko, at least to those familiar with his opinions re. "modern" art.

[vandermolen]

Obviously I need a sense of humour transplant. I'll arrange one next week.

[schweitzeralan]

Nothing strange about that at all! There are probably a variety of factors that influence the perceived "colour" of music, beyond its harmony and instrumentation.

When I think of color in music I tend to think of harmony, instrumention, and elements of nuance and sensuousness, a topic which informed an earlier thread.  this is not to discount synesthetic attributes documented in this thread.  For me there were many composers at the end of the 19th century and first half of the 20th who created harmonies, chords and intervals which were rich in coloristic effects.  Several of these composers who come to mind include, among others

Rachmaninoff
Scriabin
Medtner
Debussy
Ravel
Florent Schmitt
Joseph Marx
Sibelius
Madetoja
Klami (Symphonie enfantine)
Bax
Howells
Delius
John Ireland
Paul Creston
(early) Roslavets
Alexander Krein
Gliere
Szymonowski (sp)
Suk
Bloch
Novak
Mompou
Khatchaturian
Alexandrov
movie composers John Williams; Jerry Goldsmith; Danny Elfman
Boulanger
VW
Just a few mentioned.  The "color" effect would probabably be addressed and explained by music theorists and professionals.  The ones mentioned above are just a few of my very favorites.

[Superhorn]

 There'sa very interesting work by the English composer Sir Arthur Bliss (1891-1975) called "A Colour Symphony"(English spelling). Each of the four movements
represents a different color,red,green etc.
  Actually, the colors represent heraldic ones. But I recommend it. If you like the music of William Walton, you should like this. I have the Naxos recording with Paul Daniel and the English Northern Philharmonia,and there's another one on Chandos which I haven't heard.
  If some enterprising conductor would program this piece at concerts, I'm convinvced that audiences would really enjoy it.
  Many of the recordings made by Columbia/CBS back in the 60s and 70s have a kind of dry,"greyish" sound. But many by Decca and DG sound more prismatic and atmospheric. When Lorin Maazel started to make recordings with the Cleveland orchestra for Decca in the 70s after he succeeded Szell , I could scarcely recognize the sound of the orchestra;it was just much more"colorful".
It also helped that the recordings were made in a more resonant place than the orchestra's home at Severance hall.

[vandermolen]

There'sa very interesting work by the English composer Sir Arthur Bliss (1891-1975) called "A Colour Symphony"(English spelling). Each of the four movements
represents a different color,red,green etc.
  Actually, the colors represent heraldic ones. But I recommend it. If you like the music of William Walton, you should like this. I have the Naxos recording with Paul Daniel and the English Northern Philharmonia,and there's another one on Chandos which I haven't heard.
  If some enterprising conductor would program this piece at concerts, I'm convinvced that audiences would really enjoy it.
  Many of the recordings made by Columbia/CBS back in the 60s and 70s have a kind of dry,"greyish" sound. But many by Decca and DG sound more prismatic and atmospheric. When Lorin Maazel started to make recordings with the Cleveland orchestra for Decca in the 70s after he succeeded Szell , I could scarcely recognize the sound of the orchestra;it was just much more"colorful".
It also helped that the recordings were made in a more resonant place than the orchestra's home at Severance hall.

Yes, the Colour Symphony by Bliss is a very enjoyable work - my favourite performance is on an EMI CD with Sir Charles Groves conducting.

[jochanaan]

Michael Torke
Colours

It's a veritable prism full of colours.   

I had thought that Torke's "Color Music" was a single multimovement composition, but a little Googling shows that they were actually separate pieces written in a several-year period for many instrumental combinations.  Apparently Torke is also a synesthete.