yurshta

As the owner and creator of Neo-Classical Jazz a website that contains over five hours of MP3s by yours truly, I'd like to post my thoughts on modern popular styles and their perceived connection or non-connection with the older Classical music (used broadly for all western art music from the Baroque period to the Modernist).

I myself was raised on country and gospel music. Frankly, I cannot stand gospel music or any style of music chained or beholden to some ideology. The purest form of music is instrumental as words tend to fix a song in a period of time. Instrumental music, such as Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor live forever. Yet, the most beautiful instrument is the human voice, and the best violinists know this and try to imitate the better singers when performing. A good example is Yehuddi Menuhin who imitates a Jewish cantor while playing concerts. Franz Liszt, towards the end of his life visited a Jewish synogogue and was simply awestruck by the quality of vocal music he heard. Traditional Jewish cantors are always male singers and have a very remarkable style. As a Jew myself, I am quite familiar with what can be heard at some of the synogogues in the larger cities of the USA and Europe. I myself am a keyboardist and have a cantabile style similar to Mendelssohn.

Still, while classically trained, I listen for the most part to modern popular music. I find that Heavy Metal reminds me of the old classical virtuosity better than the other music styles that have African rhythms. That does not mean that music that has ties to Black music is inferior. I frankly love the R+B and Soul music of the late Ray Charles whose harmonic keyboard style is beyond imitation and many of my students because of my strong emphasis on modern theory have oddly enough switched over to Jazz despite my emphasis of the piano music of Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Mendelssohn and Liszt.

The classical virtuoso like Franz Liszt or Paganini or Vivaldi awed their contemporary audiences with bravura passages, blisteringly fast runs and intricate technique. Much classical music like Liszt's L'Orage {the storm} reminds me of the rock guitar runs you hear in some Metal songs which to me are the modern inheritor of the classical Cadenza.

Despite the fact that Metal is often considered rude and crude and rather angry music at times, some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard is in this genre. I am an especially big fan of Ozzy, and due to my martial arts background, when I lived in California {I'm in the Southeast now} I had the honor of doing some security backup for an Ozzfest there.

The Metal virtuoso, much like Liszt or Paganini, shocks and awes his audience, especially the guitarists with their riffs and blisteringly fast and intricate runs, some of which I've "borrowed" into my own keyboard style.

My music is Classically based, but like Liszt's L'Orage and modern Metal is often loud, angry, and in-your-face, while conversely switching to rather sad and melancholic or introspective.

The other modern styles are often styles created and promoted more by music promoters and recording studios and are ephemeral at best. They come, they go, but have no lasting appeal or musical depth. Into this most of the dance genres belong. This music is often nothing but a strong rhythm with a weak and pathetic melody line attached and rather bleak harmonies. The lyrics are for the most part forgetable and the bands that play this crap come and go and despite the fact that some make millions, soon vanish into oblivion forever.

Music with depth or eternal appeal does appear in modern popular music. The music of Elivis or Johnny Cash or Roy Orbison {whose music I adore) will probably live as long as the human race exists. That unfortunately cannot be said of the bulk of the transient ephemeral meaningless pathetic crap that is churned out almost daily nowadays. Still, a few gems can be found, a few diamonds, a nugget of gold found in a pile of refuse.

As for my own music, will it stand the test of time? I cannot say as a composer is the least suited for judging his or her own compositions or lating appeal. The last word belongs to the people. As the Roman saying goes: Vox Populi, Vox Dei {The voice of the People is the voice of God}.