I like Classical Music. I like Rock Music. I like Reggae. I
like music – All kinds of the stuff. I’m a huge music fan – You may be surprised to know that I am
not a fan of any artiste, just their music (well some anyway), although I do admire their abilities.
These days I find myself listening to Classical Music
arranged and adapted to rock… well, mostly Rock. I have compiled a list of what
I am into for anyone who might be also interested.
Mason Williams –
Classical Gas. Maybe not a real classical piece, but that acoustic version
from 1970 is fantastic.
David Garett is a
German pop and crossover violinist. His band is a full on pop band with drums,
keyboards, guitar, bass and of course he plays violin. David holds the Guiness
world record for the fastest violinist (to earn that record he played flight of
the bumble bee). He covers rock (zeppelin, Nirvana etc) and of course does
classical pieces. Two of my favourite pieces are - AIR
in G-Major (bach) and Palladio
(jenkins)
Emerson Lake and Palmer – Fanfare for the common Man
(Copeland) - known as a progressive Rock Supergroup of the 1970’s ELP’s
version is long but not too bad. It peaked at Number 2 in the British music
charts in 1977. What trips me is that Greg Lake
plays an 8 String Alembic Bass.
The Electric Light
Orchestra – In the Hall of the Mountain King (Grieg). ELO holds the record
for having the most amount of top 40 hits, without having a number one single.
A well loved band, but maybe not that well loved. They also recorded a cover of
the chuck berry song “Roll over
Beethoven” and infused Beethoven’s music into it.
Daniel Tidwell
- Heavy Metal. Daniel has an album which
he sells on his website. It is called “Echoes of the Elders”. It has four
tracks. He stays true to the songs yet they are Heavy Metal. Pretty Good – Fur Elise (Beethoven), Palladio
Rock (Jenkins), Rondo Alla Turca (Mozart), and Tidwell’s Canon (Pachelbel).
He also has two Christmas Albums and a whole bunch of covers of Video Game
music. He also does Queen of the Night
from the Magic Flute by (Mozart)
Vanessa Mae –
Vanessa describes her music as “Violin Techno acoustic fusion.” And her body of
work is quite varied. She is a classical Violinist and has albums of classical
violin music with full orchestra. She was commissioned to write a song for Hong
Kong when China
took repossession. It is called “Happy
Valley (the 1997 re-unification
overture)”. But she has some Pop albums that are pretty Good : “The Violin
Player” and “Kids Classics” are two that Stand out to me. In relation to Songs
I would recommend her versions of Tocata
en Fugue in D Minor (JS Bach). Also Flight
of the Bumble Bee (Rimsky Korsakov). And lastly an all out pop dance song
which she calls “(i) can can (you)”
which is really her adaptation of the Infernal Gallop from Orpheus in the
underworld (Offenbach).
Sir Malcolm Henry
Arnold CBE – composer of Symphony #6 Op 95, Which was played by the Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra on the 1969 Deep
Purple Album “Concerto For Group and Orchestra” – Well it’s more orchestra
than Rock, but what the Hey!
Les Fradkin – Canon
in D (Pachelbel) and Classical Gas
(Williams). He uses this weird guitar and keyboard hybrid called a Starr
Labs Ztar. Not a bad song.
Aria Asia – Canon in D (Pachelbel) – Well this is a
Japanese Violinist. But make no mistake, this is Rock - A great version
Dieter Falk and sons
- Badinerie (bach ochestral suite 2). Falk is a German pianist, Keyboardist, Christian (protestant) composer, arranger and record producer. The Music is Jazz, but it is fantastic. It comes off of his 2011 Album "Celebrate Bach".
Therion - O Fortuna
(Carl Orff) – Therion describes themselves as Symphonic Metal. Key to their
music is the fact that they have multiple vocalists who sing in the style of
opera. Yet as far as I know this is their only classical piece. They do covers
too. I personally like their cover of Abba’s “Summer night city”.
Jigsaw - Jesu Joy Of
Man`s Desiring (bach). Released in 1971 by Britains Jigsaw the version of
this classical piece is described as pop, but if you didn’t know you might
think you were listening to the Doors.
Seree Lee - Seree is guitarist from Thailand. In 2002 he released a
Rock album of Classical Music called “Classical Axe”. The album is available on
his website. I love it. His arrangements are fantastic. Here are my favourite
songs off the album : Minuet in G
(bach), Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (Mozart) and Hungarian dance no 5 (brahms)
Katona Twins –
This is Acoustic Music. These identical twin brothers from Hungary are
described as the best known duo in classical music. Their repertoire includes
Classical, Tango and Spanish guitar. Their album “Guitar freaks” are acoustic
covers of classic rock songs. However they have several albums of classical
music. One song stands out for me - Toreador
(bizet) It is really the Overture from Carmen which slides into the
Toreador song from Carmen, but that’s ok, whatever it is called, I still love
it.
Wolf Hoffman is
the guitarist for the German Heavy Metal band Accept. In 1997 he released a
solo album called “Classical” in which he adapted several classical pieces of
music to rock. This is not a heavy metal album, but it sure rocks. Here are a few of my favourites off the album:
Habanera (bizet), Blues For Elise (beethovan)
and Pomp & Circumstance (elgar)
Lukie Carelsen – Lukie
has two albums of great interest to me. “Rockin’ Classics – Classical Electric
Rock” and “Rockin’ Gospel – Classical Electric Rock”. Lukie formed Maranatha
Records in 1984 in South
Africa as a studio dedicated to Christian
artists and their music. I like Lukies music. Here are a few tracks that stand
out for me. Aida (verdi), Jesu Joy of
Man's Desiring (bach), Symphony No 5 (beethoven), Symphony Nr 9 (ode to joy)
(beethoven), Trumpet Voluntary in D major (purcell) and The William Tell
Overture (rossini)
Ulytau – Wikipedia
describes Ulytau as literally meaning "the great mountain" Ulytau is a Turkic instrumental folk metal trio from Kazakhstan. Their music combines the sound of the violin and electric guitar with the Dombra (a traditional two stringed instrument from their country) It a project of one album. There are a few classical pieces on the album and I love them all. Turkish
March (mozart sonata 11 a), Winter (Vivaldi's Four Seasons) and Tocata en Fugue (JS Bach). Oh the name
of the album is “Jumyr-Kylysh” (2006). It was released in Germany in 2009 as “Two Warriors”
Tarja Turunen – Ave
Maria (Shubert)- This former vocalist from the Finnish Metal band Nightwish
has long been fan of classical music. I
don’t think I have ever heard a bad recording of either version of the Ave
Maria (Shubert or Gonoud), and this one is no exception.
Me first and the
Gimme Gimme’s – O Sole Mio (translates as “my sunshine”). Well, this 1898
song has been done by so many classical vocalists and some not-classical-at-all
vocalists. Even Elvis Presley had a version with the song “it’s now or never”
where he used the melody but changed the words. “The Gimme gimme’s” is a punk band, so don’t have high
expectations. I think it’s a hoot though. I play it all the time.
Romance Anònimo
(guitar) – this anonymous piece of beautiful music has been performed by so many people. Almost every version sounds so
beautiful.
Trans Siberian
Orchestra – Jon Oliva formed the Metal Band Savatage – which later changed
their sound to Progressive Rock. They had several Concept albums which could be
described as rock opera’s including “Wake of Megellan” and “Dead Winter
Dead”.The side project of Savatage was “The Trans Siberian Orchestra”, also Jon
Oliva. This side project released five albums, all dealing with Christmas. The
songs were Traditional, classical and
other. I particularly like Beethovens 5th Symphony, Sarajevo Midnight December 24th and Beethoven’s
9th Symphony. Be advised this is Metal.
Yngwie Malmsteen is a swedish Metal Guitarist
known for his classical style of playing music. He has a few Classical works
which I find interesting - 40th Symphony (mozart), 5th Symphony (beethoven),
Canon in D (pachelbel), Paganini's 5th Caprice, and Rondo Alla Turca (mozart sonata 11 a).
Epica is a Dutch
Symphonic Metal Band. Their version of Hall
of the Mountain King (Grieg) is not the best I’ve Heard. Neither is their version of The Imperial March (Williams) I mean,
why do we have to use double kick bass drums in this track. Metal fans may
enjoy it though.
Metallica – The
Imperial March (also known as Darth Vadars Theme) (John Williams). What
more can be said?
