Who the better Classical Composer, Yanni or Enya?

[Sungam]

Some people feel Enya shouldn't be in the same category as Yanni, but I disagree.  Her music is lyric and very harmonic, unlike all the distortion and bleeps and bloops of popular music.

[Harry]

I am sorry, but I am not familiar with either Yanni & Enya.
Are they a Austrain Jodel couple?

[Don]

I wouldn't classify either as being classical composers.  If I had to listen to one of them, I'd go with Enya. 

[Cato]

Until they crank out something like a sonata or a symphony, the question is invalid.  

Enya never gets beyond the first chapters of a basic harmony and composition textbook.    
But that has been enough to allow her to live in an Irish castle!    

Yanni: I have never heard his stuff except perhaps inadvertently on TV commercials.

It seems their fans ought to pass the hat so the two can buy last names:  Enya O'Flaherty, Yanni Petalas (which would indicate for Yanni a background of honest labor!).

[Harry]

So they are pop musicians?
Ach that explains why I did not know!

[springrite]

A better question, or, a question with at least equal validity -- which country is more likely to win the most gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics -- Maldives or Cape Verde?

[Sungam]

Until they crank out something like a sonata or a symphony, the question is invalid. 

Enya never gets beyond the first chapters of a basic harmony and composition textbook.   
But that has been enough to allow her to live in an Irish castle!   

Yanni: I have never heard his stuff except perhaps inadvertently on TV commercials.

It seems their fans ought to pass the hat so the two can buy last names:  Enya O'Flaherty, Yanni Petalas (which would indicate for Yanni a background of honest labor!).

So writing a sonata or a symphony, in other words established form, makes someone a classical composer?  Or rather, making only music that doesn't fit an established classical form excludes it from being classical?

I'll come out right now admit that I made this thread as a joke because one of my friends had gotten angry that people kept knocking Enya, and suggested that if it happened again he might do something rather unplesent with his feces.  Considering the normal listening audience of Enya and Yanni, I found that very funny, and wondered how you guy's would respond to such a question.

I honestly like both of their music.  So maybe my real question is, why should we make a distinction between classical music and plain ol' good music?

[BachQ]

So maybe my real question is, why should we make a distinction between classical music and plain ol' good music?

We shouldn't.

It just so happens that the vast majority of "good" music is "classical" music . . . . . .

[71 dB]

So they are pop musicians?
Ach that explains why I did not know!

They make "commercial new age". I listen to new age but I can't stand the crap these "artists" make.

Harry, even if you listen to only classical music it would not harm to look around. 

[Cato]

So writing a sonata or a symphony, in other words established form, makes someone a classical composer?  Or rather, making only music that doesn't fit an established classical form excludes it from being classical?

I'll come out right now admit that I made this thread as a joke because one of my friends had gotten angry that people kept knocking Enya, and suggested that if it happened again he might do something rather unplesent with his feces.  Considering the normal listening audience of Enya and Yanni, I found that very funny, and wondered how you guy's would respond to such a question.

I honestly like both of their music.  So maybe my real question is, why should we make a distinction between classical music and plain ol' good music?

My emphasis above: Answers to Questions #1 and #2: No and No.  Because it was obvious the topic is for fun: (see above.)

Classical is however distinguished by forms longer than the 3 to 5-minute pop tune: so, yes, you can make a distinction.  You can also make a general distinction between good and bad music (Enya vs. Crap Rap) in popular music and in classical (Beethoven vs. Ferde Grofe).

[Harry]

They make "commercial new age". I listen to new age but I can't stand the crap these "artists" make.

Harry, even if you listen to only classical music it would not harm to look around. 

My dear friend, you will understand that time is the limiting factor, and that I have my hands full with classical cd's, all screaming at me that I play them!

[Que]

Harry, even if you listen to only classical music it would not harm to look around. 

My dear friend, you will understand that time is the limiting factor, and that I have my hands full with classical cd's, all screaming at me that I play them!

Yes 71 dB - a bit of Mahler now and then, and some Sibelius of course...
"Food for the masses", you know? Yummy!

Q

[71 dB]

My dear friend, you will understand that time is the limiting factor, and that I have my hands full with classical cd's, all screaming at me that I play them!

Well, you should definitely keep away from Enya & Yanni. I mean these popular artists are everywhere in the media and one needs to keep eyes & ears closed to avoid them...

[Josquin des Prez]

I honestly like both of their music. 

And? Some people happen to like the Beatles, while others may prefer Miles Davis, that doesn't make those artists classical composers, does it?

[mahlertitan]

why is this even in the "Composer Discussion" neither are "Classical" composers, this thread should be moved to the diner.

[Sungam]

And? Some people happen to like the Beatles, while others may prefer Miles Davis, that doesn't make those artists classical composers, does it?

As I wrote in the post you just quoted, the question was a joke designed to see how people on this forum would reply to the question "Which classical composer is better: Enya or Yanni?".

But in responce to the suggestion that the music of the Beatles or Miles Davis can be enjoyable; why, on this forum, do we limit our main discussion to music that is produced by those who's compositions usually fit classical forms?

My emphasis above: Answers to Questions #1 and #2: No and No.  Because it was obvious the topic is for fun: (see above.)

Classical is however distinguished by forms longer than the 3 to 5-minute pop tune: so, yes, you can make a distinction.  You can also make a general distinction between good and bad music (Enya vs. Crap Rap) in popular music and in classical (Beethoven vs. Ferde Grofe).

I just bought a disk full of short compositions by Chopin, ones that I believe he composed to play in bars.  Is it not classical?

You pose four catagores:

Good Classical
Bad Classical
Good Pop
Bad Pop

Why do we only discuss how to experience "good classical" and how to avoid "bad classical" rather than how to experience "good music" and how to avoid "bad music"?

We shouldn't.

It just so happens that the vast majority of "good" music is "classical" music . . . . . .

Of course that is an opinioin, one that is prevalent on this forum.  I'm being facetious by asking these questions on a Classical Music forum, but my reasons for doing so are serious.  Why is the music of Beethoven, Chopin, and a thousand others strictly cut off culturally from all other music?

[Siedler]

Is this a joke?

[Don]

Why do we only discuss how to experience "good classical" and how to avoid "bad classical" rather than how to experience "good music" and how to avoid "bad music"?

Of course that is an opinioin, one that is prevalent on this forum.  I'm being facetious by asking these questions on a Classical Music forum, but my reasons for doing so are serious.  Why is the music of Beethoven, Chopin, and a thousand others strictly cut off culturally from all other music?

I feel you're just playing games here.  This is a classical music site (except for the Diner), and I have no interest in defining the differences between a Beethoven and a Yanni or Enya.  I think the latter two suck, and it's a shame that either of them have made a penny out of their so-called music making.

[cx]

I feel you're just playing games here.  This is a classical music site (except for the Diner), and I have no interest in defining the differences between a Beethoven and a Yanni or Enya.  I think the latter two suck, and it's a shame that either of them have made a penny out of their so-called music making.

^ What Don said

I'll just add that people make these kinds of general distinctions because they are useful. To say a piece is "classical" or "new age" does not tell anyone much, but they surely get a sense of what is to be expected. The semantical pedantry of it all, is it really important?

[Sungam]

I feel you're just playing games here.  This is a classical music site (except for the Diner), and I have no interest in defining the differences between a Beethoven and a Yanni or Enya.  I think the latter two suck, and it's a shame that either of them have made a penny out of their so-called music making.

. . . I just wrote that I'm being facetious by posting this on a classical forum.  The point is philosophical: Why  should their be such rigid cultural distinctions between Classical/Pop/Jazz?  Such lines are crossed all the time in popular genres such as Punk/Metal/Rock/Rap even Folk/Punk/Anarchist.  If I asked such a question on a Metal forum, they would point to hundreds of threads that dealt with musicians that made various genre crossovers.  Gym Class Heroes is a pop group, not a hit of rock 'n roll, yet their music is also purely acoustic.

^ What Don said

I'll just add that people make these kinds of general distinctions because they are useful. To say a piece is "classical" or "new age" does not tell anyone much, but they surely get a sense of what is to be expected. The semantical pedantry of it all, is it really important?

Consider the state of classical music.  The only living classical composer which I like is Philip Glass, a man who set out into other cultures to learn a different kind of music because he was so frustrated with the instruction he received at Juilliard.  Where is all the great classical music?  I'm not the only one with this opinion, look at classicalarchives.com/articles/ and read the articles dealing with "the death of classical music".

Look at all the discussions on this forum.  How many of the composers mentioned are still alive?  Our generation should be be burying out the past with great new music that we, or people we know, are involved in making.  And in a way, that is what is happening. While most indie music is keeping itself confined to the 3-5 minute length limit, with the notable exception of Post-Rock, much of it is inventive and catchy; something that should be familiar to lovers of Mozart and Beethoven.

Our composers who post their own music hear isn't bad, but consider.  How is this music involving anyone beyond the composer who posts it?  Where is the community orchestras getting together to preform the best new music in the area?  I really expected the reaction I got at the beginning of the thread, but I was hoping that there would be some self-critical analysis of our own listening habits, not to mention the related fields of music production and creation.

MIMES WITH BATONS

As I discussed in previous rants, popular music has degenerated to the Lowest Common Denominator, consisting of nothing but pinched and nasal whining with dumb kids strumming random chords on loud guitars. Pop music does, however, put on a good show. There is elaborate lighting and nymphets dancing in their underwear and fireworks ignited on stage occasionally set fire to the building. It's all very exciting.

But what of classical music concerts? I would fain admit that I no longer attend many classical concerts, and the reason can be summed up in two words: bore ring.

When you registered with the Classical Archives, you probably didn't bother to read the full text of the terms you agreed to, and you are thus unaware of the fact that we are monitoring your activities whenever you access this site. For instance, we have seen on our screens that most older people who have read the previous paragraph become enraged, even apoplectic. Their reaction typically runs, This crude fellow has the temerity to state at the Classical Archives that classical music is boring?

I believe that the music itself is great, but the manner in which it is presented is dull, and I am not alone in this opinion. In his 1960 book, Crowds and Power Elias Canetti gives this description of classical music concerts.

All outward reactions are prohibited. People sit there motionless, as though they managed to hear nothing. It is obvious that a long and artificial training in stagnation has been necessary here.

This, from a cultured European who was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work, and he is quite correct—classical music has grown stagnant. A classical concert is an experience similar to attending worship in a Presbyterian church—perhaps spiritually enlightening, but hardly a thrill.