shoegaze

This thread is waaaaaaaaay overdue on this forum. I have always been a passionate fan of both the classics and the Gaze, with the latter being the first initial point of call between the two. Both genres, to my mind, are linked in as much as they are both capable of evoking a variety of blissed out emotions in the listener.

Chuffed to hear Gorecki's Third being big upped, or to give it its sub-title the 'Symphony of Sorrowful Songs'. Its in my disc player in the car, in my disc player at home, on my I-Pod - very moving mood music. On the current played classics front in my house its only competition at the moment is Faure's 'Requiem' and Holst's 'Planet' suite. All good stuff.

I burned out a bit during all the years of classical organ training, but I keep a warm place in my heart for Bach (Toccota in D Minor on a pipe organ is just too much fun to pass up) and Grieg's "Hall of the Mountain King".

If you guys like Holst, and Vaughn-Williams' "The Lark Ascending" then you MUST get the latter's "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis" (sometimes just called the "Tallis Fantasia"). Not only is it one of the most supremely beautiful pieces in the entire classical music repertoire, it also throws up a wall of orchestral sound that could bring on a bliss-induced coma in hard-core shoegazers. I'm serious, if you like classical and you haven't heard this piece, get it. Absolutely. If you don't get goosebumps when the double string orchestra suddenly rises to fortissimo and slides into the main theme after the hushed, mysterious opening you're already dead. An analogy would be the way the entry of the bass, and then Rachel Goswell's voice, hits you in "Souvlaki Space Station." "The Lark Ascending" is beautiful, but "The Tallis Fantasia" and Symphony #5 are Vaughn-Williams' masterpieces. A strong case could be made that the 5th is THE greatest orchestral work of the twentieth century (for classical music fans, the twentieth century starts in 1914). Both pieces are so beautiful it's actually somewhat difficult to listen to them.

I love shoegaze and Mozart's requiem mass is probably the most beautiful thing I've ever heard...


also stars of the lid is pretty sublime stuff.

Chopin forever.
BUT Schubert's Piano Trio in E flat (Opus 100) gets stuck in my head for not days or weeks, but MONTHS at a time.
And Shostakovich - good to see him mentioned. He often gets lost in the throng of Bach/Beethoven/Brahms enthusiasts.
Gustav Mahler - yes! So dark and brooding. Makes Beethoven sound like a skipping shepherd.
Anyone else enjoy Walter/Wendy Carlos' classical interpretations for the Moog?

To bring this onto a modern tip, has anyone checked out any of this guys stuff??

Johann Johannsson

His Fordlandia album is stunning, classical in a 4/4 stylee

also is a nice mix of modern influence and sweeping strings...