(Imagens Portal SESCSP, Flickr)

Recent worldwide hits come frompop, rock, hip-hop, electronic anything, it seems, but classical. What stereotypes does classical music hold? Is it beautiful, euphonious, relaxing? Or is it boring, soporific, a genre reserved for older folks or very musically intellectual people? In fact, classical music can be quite unorthodox, funny, eye-opening. And yes, in some cases, these pieces can be composed by the very same people who work with the more conventional, familiar form of classical music.

Lets take a look at some of classical musics weirdest offerings.

Mauricio Kagel, a well-known German Argentine composer, composed a rather hilarious piece back in 1992. His style involves introducing theatrical elements in the piece,ranging from detailed descriptions of what emotions musicians should convey on their faces to a step-by-step account of how someone in the orchestra should move. In Concert for Timpani and Orchestra, the timpani player uses a variety of unusual instruments, such as a bullhorn, and at one point is instructed to slap the timpani with bare hands. The funniest part, however, is the ending:

(bellybutton-diary.com)

As Kagel notes, the timpani player stretches to full height before diving headfirst into the timpani.

In fact, Kagels instructions state that one timpani must be covered in paper instead of the usual cowhide and must be reserved for the final dive. The final note (the sound of the human body crashing into the timpani) is as loud as possible (fortissimo fortissimo). The musician must therefore exert this action with all of theirenergy.

Perfect.

Finale was composed for a concert celebrating Kagels 50 years of life and was written for an indoor ensemble. A 20 minute piece, Finale starts off in truly classical form, but the theatrics creep in five minutes before the piece ends. Composer Kagels notes on the music sheet for Finale state very clearly:

The conductor suddenly stiffens, as though he/she is experiencing convulsions. The right arm goes up, the shoulder rises. The left hand loosens the necktie and lightly massages the chest. The conductor grabs the music stand, then falls, the head falling towards the floor behind the conductor. As a result, the music stand should fall as well.

The violin player steps in as a substitute conductor for the rest of the piece while the conductor lies prone on the floor.

John Cage, another avant-garde composer, wrote 433, a famous piece that is often accompanied by classical instruments, such as a piano or a string orchestra.

There is no time limit, minimum or maximum, to this piece. The title only happened to be 433 because the first performance of the song lasted four minutes and 33 seconds. There are three movements in this song, but no notes or sound. The whole song is completelysilent.

The thought behind this piece is not so much for it to be empty ordevoid of notes, but to fosteran appreciation of sound, such as the noiseof people moving around in their seats or the sound of nature outside the concert hall. During 433, these noises are not just ambient but are actually an integral part of the piece.

It does look odd, however. The performer (or performers) sits down, stays silent, then exits the stage when the piece is over.

Perhaps Cage sought tochallenge our perception of music, modern or classical. We often think of music as a piece the composer deliberately planned out, in note form, or in a format that requires intentionally created sound. However, 433 integrates inadvertently created noise and merges them as modern music.

Contact Maimi Higuchi at maimih at stanford.edu.

Originally posted here:

Who said classical music was boring? - The Stanford Daily