I was musing about what instruments I particularly associate with certain composers. My answers to myself were....
Bach – Oboe. I am constantly aware of the instrument in his music.
Mahler – Harp. It never seems to be far away in his orchestration and I love the way that it can underline certain passages even with his huge orchestration and yet be very effective.
Brahms – Horn. This instrument is not always ever present but he did write some lovely music for it; perhaps being something of a mellow fellow he instinctively liked the sound of it himself?
Anybody else like to share their thoughts on this subject?
Bach - Organ
Henning - Clarinet
Villa-Lobos - Guitar
Kodály - Cello
Stravinsky - Bassoon
Quote from: North Star on November 28, 2015, 08:28:40 AM
Bach - Organ
Henning - Clarinet
Villa-Lobos - Guitar
Kodály - Cello
Stravinsky - Bassoon
8)
Quote from: North Star on November 28, 2015, 08:28:40 AM
Bach - Organ
Henning - Clarinet
Villa-Lobos - Guitar
Kodály - Cello
Stravinsky - Bassoon
I am interested in that association. Excuse my ignorance but what is the basis for your association there please?
I associate the snare drum with Shostakovich. In fact, with a lot of Soviet composers.
Quote from: Maestro267 on November 28, 2015, 10:25:23 AM
I associate the snare drum with Shostakovich. In fact, with a lot of Soviet composers.
The military association I assume?
Quote from: aligreto on November 28, 2015, 10:22:32 AM
I am interested in that association. Excuse my ignorance but what is the basis for your association there please?
Well, Stravinsky/Bassoon may be because of the beginning of Rite of Spring. :)
Quote from: Brian on November 28, 2015, 11:00:43 AM
Well, Stravinsky/Bassoon may be because of the beginning of Rite of Spring. :)
Thank you for that; I was just wondering if Karlo's association went deeper than just one work.
Quote from: aligreto on November 28, 2015, 11:22:54 AM
Thank you for that; I was just wondering if Karlo's association went deeper than just one work.
No, but I think what
Stravinsky did there is plenty. :)
Quote from: North Star on November 28, 2015, 11:34:43 AM
No, but I think what Stravinsky did there is plenty. :)
OK. Cheers Karlo.
Many of the great composers wrote great music for all instruments in a nearly equal basis. However, there are a few standouts:
Mozart: Basset horn. He was almost the only composer I know of to include basset horn in many major compositions, notably the Gran Serenade, the Masonic Funeral Music and the Requiem.
Berlioz: English horn/cor anglais. Hector included English horn in many of his major compositions, and many times gave it lovely solo lines.
Mahler: Bass drum and muted trumpet. There's the bass drum solo in Symphony #3, plus many subliminally soft drum rolls throughout his music. And it's almost a feature of Mahler, especially early Mahler, to have his trumpets muted and screaming. 8)
R. Strauss: Horn. It's well-known that Strauss' father was a horn player and that he wrote much beautiful music for horns, not just the two horn concertos but throughout his orchestral works.
Sibelius: Strings, especially violins. Because Sibelius had started as a violinist, he seems to have great understanding of how much orchestral strings can do.
Varese: Percussion. Obviously. ;D
Shostakovich: Piccolo. One of the few composers really to give the piccolo its due prominence in the orchestra. :)
Messiaen: Ondes Martenot. 8)
With Sibelius I always think flutes and clarinets with long held chords in strings underneath....strings are always apparent but I keep thinking of flutes and clarinets!
Ravel: Harp. Never have I heard it so wonderfully employed in the orchestra
Brett Dean: Viola, and you all must hear his music!
Ligeti: either piano or slide whistle, can't decide!
Britten: violin, or indeed, any string instrument, he seemed to write for strings with such authority, like he knew exactly what would be best for it!
Quote from: jochanaan on November 28, 2015, 06:46:25 PM
Many of the great composers wrote great music for all instruments in a nearly equal basis. However, there are a few standouts:
Mozart: Basset horn. He was almost the only composer I know of to include basset horn in many major compositions, notably the Gran Serenade, the Masonic Funeral Music and the Requiem.
Berlioz: English horn/cor anglais. Hector included English horn in many of his major compositions, and many times gave it lovely solo lines.
Mahler: Bass drum and muted trumpet. There's the bass drum solo in Symphony #3, plus many subliminally soft drum rolls throughout his music. And it's almost a feature of Mahler, especially early Mahler, to have his trumpets muted and screaming. 8)
R. Strauss: Horn. It's well-known that Strauss' father was a horn player and that he wrote much beautiful music for horns, not just the two horn concertos but throughout his orchestral works.
Sibelius: Strings, especially violins. Because Sibelius had started as a violinist, he seems to have great understanding of how much orchestral strings can do.
Varese: Percussion. Obviously. ;D
Shostakovich: Piccolo. One of the few composers really to give the piccolo its due prominence in the orchestra. :)
Messiaen: Ondes Martenot. 8)
Some very good examples there; thank you for those. I spent a lot of yesterday listeng to the music of Berlioz so your example above rings true for me.
Quote from: ComposerOfAvantGarde on November 28, 2015, 11:29:02 PM
With Sibelius I always think flutes and clarinets with long held chords in strings underneath....strings are always apparent but I keep thinking of flutes and clarinets!
Ravel: Harp. Never have I heard it so wonderfully employed in the orchestra
Brett Dean: Viola, and you all must hear his music!
Ligeti: either piano or slide whistle, can't decide!
Britten: violin, or indeed, any string instrument, he seemed to write for strings with such authority, like he knew exactly what would be best for it!
Thank you for those. The Ravel example is one that I understand as is the Sibelius reference.
I am not very familiar with Britten's music but unfortunately, know nothing of Dean or Ligeti :-[
Ligeti: ocarina
Quote from: North Star on November 29, 2015, 02:05:55 AM
Ligeti: ocarina
Ligeti again; must improve my awareness of Ligeti ::)
Quote from: aligreto on November 29, 2015, 02:08:08 AM
Ligeti again; must improve my awareness of Ligeti ::)
Mission accomplished ;)
For quite a number of composers, the answer is obviously the piano so, by way of variation:
Scriabin: muted trumpet
Quote from: North Star on November 29, 2015, 02:05:55 AM
Ligeti: ocarina
No; Metronome!
Shostakovich: viola - beacuse og the wonderful writing for the instrument in many of his Quartets.
Francaix: bassoon - been listening to lots of his chamber works with winds recently, and the bassoon has a typical French joie de vivre in those works.
Harry Partch: that thing with that something holding those things
Quote from: Brian on November 28, 2015, 11:00:43 AM
Well, Stravinsky/Bassoon may be because of the beginning of Rite of Spring. :)
There is also a terrific bassoon passage at the beginning of the final movement of Stravinsky's Symphony in C.
And wonderful and poignant bassoon lines in L'histoire du soldat.
The bassoon part in the Stravinsky octet is memorable.
All good offerings guys, thank you :)
Quote from: North Star on November 28, 2015, 11:34:43 AM
No, but I think what Stravinsky did there is plenty. :)
Well, thinking about this, there really are lots of important bassoon parts, e.g. in
Symphony of Psalms (in the opening, with oboes) in addition to those mentioned by others.
We're going to eventually get to a place. So I hope y'all don't feel like jumping all over me for jumping to that place too soon.
But yeah, intruments are associated with composers, it's true. They use them, all of them. Perhaps one or two stand out from time to time, but really. Stravinsky used all sorts of instruments and used them all very well.
It's a thing that composers do, on the whole.
But to redeem myself by playing the game according to the rules (which I can totally do, I mean it):
Cage, piano (prepared or not)
Varese, tape recorder
eRikm, turntable
Yoshihide, turntable
Tone, CD player
Meirino, any audio equipment that's broken
Bolleter, any piano that's ruined
Messiaen, Ondes Martenot
Berlioz, ophicleide