Royal Philharmonic plays Prog

I think it depends. When you hear Caravan and the New Sinfonia, you realize that the rock instruments CAN mix with an orchestra and work very well. The main problem with rock music, or jazz music, is that too much of it is centered about one instrument, or star, and all of a sudden the rest of the work is not as important ... and I think that hurts the music in the end, although I think that eventually, the star part will disappear and the music be considered one piece.

 

Some things work ... a couple of the pieces Michael Kamen did with a few rock bands were actually alright and made Queensryche sound and look better than they really were (check out the other triple threat thread on PA!!!) ... but it did showcase a very nice piece of work, which I think was more about Nyman here than the band itself.

 

This is a concern, but then, if you tracked the 50's and 60 and 70's, it was all about the "CONDUCTOR" and their differences were quite interesting and far out in its own way. Try listening to the Rite of Spring done by Karajhan and then the one by Bernstein ... it's almost a different experience altogether, and this will happen to rock music, regardless!

 

Yeah, all those damn rock and jazz stars demanding the spotlight, like Arthur Rubinstein, Jascha Heifetz, Pablo Casals, Segovia and Maria Callas.

I'm with you there Andy in general. In this case it's not too bad but it's not something I'd listen to more than once or twice. No vocals for a start!

It's actually quite rare, though the choice of music tends to be predictable.

Therion did a Prog Metal version of Carl Orff's O Fortuna. (yup - that predictable)

Savatage and The Trans Siberian Orchestra (TSO) plunder Mozart, Bach and Beethoven quite a bit though as I recall they don't play entire pieces. Savatage's The Hall Of The Mountain King album uses Grieg's music from Peer Gynt in the opening track Prelude to Madness, which also pinches a note or two from Holst's Mars. 

O Fortuna also crops up on a TSO album (Night Castle) retitled Carmina Burana (presumably for America audiences ) ... an album that also features The Flower Duet from Delibes' opera Lakmé but retitled as Child Of The Night and with completely different lyrics (which is a shameful crime in my book).

I once heard an album by a metal band that did a number of classical covers but unfortunately have been unable to remember who they were or what the album was called - It had a version of Holst's Mars on it at a time when Imogen Holst still owned the copyright so perhaps it was pulled.

 

          Oddly, though my favourite music is orchestral, I don't really get that enthusiastic about this kind of thing with progressive rock and an orchestra, it doesn't really move me. Just personal taste, I guess.

                 I prefer when a prog band transcribes classical orchestral music and plays it with rock band instruments, like ELP and Triumvirat do sometimes, or lesser knowns like Pell Mell or The Pink Mice.

I don't even think Voltaire could devise a parody that would encompass the clueless irony of that phrase.

moshkito wrote: Dean wrote: ... Or maybe perhaps, just possibly, you might be thinking of Michael Kamen - the geezer who worked with Pink Floyd, Metallica, Sting, Coldplay, Kate Bush and erm... Queensrÿche?   Fixed ... accidental mistake.   Perhaps you could be more educated and nice and sent me an email suggesting it be fixed instead of grandstanding your holiness!

But then it wouldn't have been as funny or as entertaining. 

Life lesson #2367: make a misteak and I'll jump on it like a rabid hyaena.