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(JSOnline)   "No one has really managed to explain why the music written over the 200-or-so year history of Russian classical music sounds so absolutely Russian." Subby thinks it's because it's from Russia, but then he doesn't review opera for a living   ( jsonline.com) divider line
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    More: Fail, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Russians, Russian classical music, History of the Russian language, Russia, concertos, operas, Solzhenitsyn  
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843 clicks; posted to Entertainment » on 13 Feb 2013 at 1:45 PM (5 years ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook   more»



32 Comments     (+0 »)
 
View Voting Results: Smartest and Funniest
 
Solid State Vittles
2013-02-13 01:34:40 PM  
This might be one of the weirder things I've ever seen greenlit.

That said, I do love my Shostakovich and Prokofiev.
 
Rhypskallion
2013-02-13 01:54:47 PM  
DNRTFA

Having seen musicals written with English lyrics performed in Russian, I'm going to guess "their language has a tonal structure that impacts Russian composers perceptions, tastes, and choices'.
 
ukexpat
2013-02-13 01:56:05 PM  
Influence of Russian folk music?
 
Musikslayer
2013-02-13 02:07:31 PM  
Modality, chordal structure, harmonies. Centralized music scene (Moscow) with a conservatory system that insisted the top students studied with a handful of teachers. Largely Nationalistic approach. Lush strings, often in divisi by 6ths and octaves. Usage of winds as colors and thickening of textures. Long names for composers, like Rimsky-Korsakov and Turnyurhednkof.
 
macadamnut [TotalFark]
2013-02-13 02:12:38 PM  
I took two semesters of Russian & the prof once said that Italian and Russian are the only operatic languages that non-speakers can understand because of, yes, the "emotive tonal structure" or something. Never mind that opera singers are also acting out whatever they're singing about on stage, or that you, Madame Wlodkowska, are in fact A RUSSIAN PERSON.

I suspect she knew some Italian too.
 
YouMeUs
2013-02-13 02:19:06 PM  
Not sure if the woman who wrote this article reviews opera for a living either, but I know it's not an opera she's reviewing here.
 
Lyapunov
2013-02-13 02:29:21 PM  
Musikslayer hit most of the nails on the head - Mighty Fives, conservatory systems absorbing western classical music, later Mussorgsky influence and rampant nationalism, 20th century oppression (pro-govt and anti-govt, depending on your sense of irony - see Prokofiev and Shostakovich).

And don't forget influence of eastern orthodox liturgical music with male choirs (and awesome basses) singing stuff like "It was winter, the potato crop failed, everybody died, we ran out of vodka, the bells tolled, the storm blew across the steppes, it was minus 100, everybody died again, heard some more bells, then we were oppressed, there was no summer, war war war, another vodka shortage..."

 .
 
Gosling
2013-02-13 02:37:38 PM  
The way you tell if music is Russian is that you can never quite tell if the musician is about to hug you or launch the missiles.
 
Saiga410
2013-02-13 02:42:25 PM  

Lyapunov: "It was winter, the potato crop failed, everybody died, we ran out of vodka, the bells tolled, the storm blew across the steppes, it was minus 100, everybody died again, heard some more bells, then we were oppressed, there was no summer, war war war, another vodka shortage..."


That sounds pretty upbeat for russian... well outside of running out of vodak twice.
 
Gosling
2013-02-13 02:45:22 PM  

Saiga410: That sounds pretty upbeat for russian... well outside of running out of vodak twice.


Joke:
Man is hungry. He steal bread to feed family. Get home, find all family have sent Siberia! "More bread for me," man think. But bread have worm.
 
gshepnyc
2013-02-13 02:57:51 PM  
I didn't see an opera review, subby. I guess your headline is correct inasmuch as it's predicated on how little you know about the subject.
 
Fano
2013-02-13 03:07:37 PM  

Gosling: Saiga410: That sounds pretty upbeat for russian... well outside of running out of vodak twice.

Joke:
Man is hungry. He steal bread to feed family. Get home, find all family have sent Siberia! "More bread for me," man think. But bread have worm.


Is good joke.
 
markie_farkie [TotalFark]
2013-02-13 03:48:41 PM  
 
Nofun
2013-02-13 03:55:48 PM  
"Have a nice day."
 
Cyno01
2013-02-13 04:02:23 PM  
Put anything in the right minor key and it sounds russian.
 
Cyno01
2013-02-13 04:04:42 PM  
 
maverickzy
2013-02-13 04:26:45 PM  

Cyno01: And vice versa.


I really, REALLY, hate it when someone calls it the "Tetris theme".
 
Bob Down
2013-02-13 05:04:26 PM  

gshepnyc: I didn't see an opera review, subby. I guess your headline is correct inasmuch as it's predicated on how little you know about the subject.


Isn't that the point of the headline?
 
FunkOut
2013-02-13 06:37:25 PM  
When I was taking piano lessons, the only pieces I really enjoyed playing were from Russian composers over the last couple centuries.
 
Superjew
2013-02-13 08:17:11 PM  
Uh, pretty much any classical music from a country has a distinctively unique "sound", once you've got your classical ears tuned up.  Good scholars can differentiate German from Italian, Czech from Polish, Chinese from Korean, etc.  Even American classical (-style) music has it's own sound.  The only country that doesn't is Canada.  Their classical music just sounds like cheese and apologies.
 
darthaegis [TotalFark] [BareFark]
2013-02-13 09:50:56 PM  
Good one subby, had to read that headline to my wife. 
She laffeded.

/we are so easily amused.
 
kevinatilusa
2013-02-13 10:16:56 PM  

markie_farkie: Quintessentially Russian as it gets..


Well, except that that's an Australian's orchestration.
 
xelnia
2013-02-14 12:14:08 AM  
Orchestration is key.
 
tlchwi02
2013-02-14 01:16:42 AM  

Cyno01: And vice versa.


since tetris is a russian video game, isn't that even more appropriate?
 
Kittypie070 [TotalFark]
2013-02-14 02:46:59 AM  
:D
 
LewDux
2013-02-14 08:55:08 AM  

maverickzy: Cyno01: And vice versa.

I really, REALLY, hate it when someone calls it the "Tetris theme".


What Tetris Theme may sound like
 
Oreamnos
2013-02-14 01:50:33 PM  
The only way to really test this hypothesis would be to raise a few kids in total cultural isolation, never having heard any music whatsoever. Give them education in world history, geography, maybe philosophy, religion, and the visual arts. Then play various representative compositions from different nations, and see if these persons can place the musical work in the correct country of origin.

Otherwise it's all an association game. We've heard some "Russian Music" in concert, on stage, at the movies/TV, etc. We hear some new piece (or old, but unfamiliar piece) that uses some of the same harmonies, instrument combinations, etc., and we recognize the similarities and say "oh, it's Russian".

No contest that the body of Russian music has some coherent qualities that can be recognized upon hearing (i.e., this piece sounds like that piece; that piece is Russian, therefore this piece is Russian too), but if a blank slate heard it with no previous associations to attach to it, would they spontaneously place that sound with non-musical Russian culture?
 
cnocnanrionnag
2013-02-14 03:42:34 PM  

Superjew: Uh, pretty much any classical music from a country has a distinctively unique "sound", once you've got your classical ears tuned up.  Good scholars can differentiate German from Italian, Czech from Polish, Chinese from Korean, etc.  Even American classical (-style) music has it's own sound.  The only country that doesn't is Canada.  Their classical music just sounds like cheese and apologies.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEGQUDstJy0

Some cheese!   No apologies!
 
hobnail [TotalFark] [BareFark]
2013-02-14 04:41:13 PM  

Musikslayer: Modality, chordal structure, harmonies. Centralized music scene (Moscow)St. Petersburg with a conservatory system that insisted the top students studied with a handful of teachers. Largely Nationalistic approach. Lush strings, often in divisi by 6ths and octaves. Usage of winds as colors and thickening of textures. Long names for composers, like Rimsky-Korsakov and Turnyurhednkof.


minor fixit, but yeah...
 
Musikslayer
2013-02-14 06:17:36 PM  

hobnail: Musikslayer: Modality, chordal structure, harmonies. Centralized music scene (Moscow)St. Petersburg with a conservatory system that insisted the top students studied with a handful of teachers. Largely Nationalistic approach. Lush strings, often in divisi by 6ths and octaves. Usage of winds as colors and thickening of textures. Long names for composers, like Rimsky-Korsakov and Turnyurhednkof.

minor fixit, but yeah...


You missed the good part- read the names of the two composers I listed, slowly.........
 
LewDux
2013-02-15 01:31:29 AM  
 
KipperM
2013-02-15 03:18:43 AM  
 
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