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So,

I was drawn to this video by someone in Facebook: http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/k-pop...-first-ever-classical-music-video-157093

I found that it's an interesting enough idea, and one that has crossed my mind many times: To do a "proper" video clip for classical music.

In this instance, I'm quite annoyed by the 5 girls dancing, like it's a strip club (or getting rather old) but I do find the whole premise, if anything, quite interesting.

Comments?

I agree on both counts. The concept is interesting, but in this case the mundane 'come hither' choreography wasn't.

I think the video was spectacular for its intended purpose; to entirely distract the type of person who would consider classical music boring. They could have achieved much the same with video of, say, open heart surgery; um...certainly, pieces like Schubert's Ave Maria have entered the public consciousness through, I believe it is, the Hitman games/film. I'm not exactly sure this *is* the first classical music video but, hey, if they're going to insist it is then I won't argue (though it isn't ). Um...the idea's fine though, of course, runs the risk of devaluing the work done by potential composers (just as truly great hip-hop music *is* possible {in theory }, but who can be bothered when good enough earns just as much? Very few "artists" *are* artists, bear in mind)...but aside from that it'll do no damage (except for, of course, potentially adding a *new* type of pressure to young and aspiring classical musicians; a genre of music typically flocked to by those disenchanted by vulgarity. That's not to say *all* videos would be so base in nature, um, *some* music videos nowadays *are* fine and family friendly, but there's no doubt that it's the nigh-on pornographic ones that gross the highest interest...Vanessa Mae! She did a music video of part of the Devil's Trill sonata...and she's not alone...anyway, where was I...were this form of classical music campaign to take off, more and more attention and, arguably, funding would head that way, of course. With the bent on vapid luridity I ascribed to earlier, um, it'd potentially become a case of "they play well, but..." and at that point...well, the integrity within Classical music which I'm still naive enough to believe in would be shattered Maybe that'd never happen though...um...it's certainly not happened in every other sector of entertainment after all) and could potentially draw new talents that wouldn't otherwise be ensnared. It's just a 21st century ballet; with the right directors I'm sure the effect of some pieces could even be improved upon. I mean, um, music is beautiful, but it's not the entirety of experience. I don't know...I approve over all, but videos such as that one would likely become the norm in a heavily distributed market...which disappoints me...*sigh*...I'm not sure Dvorak would have felt about this...
Xxx

That was the stupidest thing I've ever seen.

Hate the video, and being honest the project which gave rise to it sounds condescending; like people are incapable of enjoying classical music if it isn't packaged in a bright and shiny way.

That said, there are some really cool video projects out there! I really like this Steve Reich one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYca8EJlz0g

And while Fantasia isn't really a music video exactly, it's a similar kind of idea with some really genuinely fantastic moments. For me, the following Shostakovich being one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFanayBhyeA#t=66

And video operas are also in the same vein, no?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4SjjJ-hm1g

I second this opinion.

That was hot.

This didn't really seem to fit the Dvorak. It looked more like they were dancing to some pop music and later edited to a new soundtrack. The basic idea of a music video doesn't offend me, though. Classical music isn't very sexy.

I third it...

I have no problem with this concept at all- i.e. co-opting the style of music videos normally associated with pop and hip-hop- particularly if the dancing young women in question are this bunch. However the execution was somewhat flat and uninspired. They seem to do what is known as "mickey mousing" the music- i.e. simple emphasis of loud beats.

As far this sort of dancing to music goes, the ubiquitous "Gangam Style" K-pop video has this one beat by a mile in creativity. Heck, the dancing in the Dvorak video seems very derivative of that in the video that first introduced twerking-style dance to the broader universe- Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Baby Got Back" (from way back in 1990ish), and the former has far more all around delight and, importantly, humor.

Compare the dancing styles in the two videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHFNiDyYeUo

(Now, uh, that the "replay" button is that little arrow loop, right?)

I couldn't stand more than 20 seconds of it.

"B-Classic presents The Classical Comeback: a new music video format that gives classical music the same recognition as pop and rock music by combining the timeless emotion of classical music with the visual talent of a contemporary director."

Giving classical music the same recognition, by adding a video of 5 chicks twerking to the music?

This reminds me of Lang Lang - the famous chinese "virtuoso" pianist, who's purpose is to popularize classical music amongst young people.

He tries to do that, by looking like he's having a seizure behind the piano. He adds visual stimuli, to keep those people from getting bored while listening. And just listening to him butcher Rach's op. 23 no. 5 prelude was enough reason for me to never listen to him again.

But i think a classical music video is a good idea, if done properly. Here's a good example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGdFHJXciAQ

Wasn't some company in Europe pushing their classical music videos more than a decade ago? Don't know when it was, exactly, but know the idea has been around for a long time - this is hardly "the very first", although it's the very first in which I've seen an attempt to juxtapose a current pop dance idiom to classical music. It is so insulting to my intelligence (not to mention libido) on so many levels that it's hard to know what to even say.

A music teacher once told me about a real porn flick he had seen that was done to classical music (Brahms, IIRC), way back in the 1960s. So this soft-core porn dance video (which is what it is, IMO) is way behind that cutting edge stuff from a half-century ago.

Someone else brought up "Fantasia". It wasn't a video, but it certainly had the basic idea down, a good while ago. And I think it was successful in its odd way, but much of that was due to a unique confluence things very much tied to the time and place in which it was made.

All of this seems to be about turning classical music that wasn't intended to be incidental music into incidental music. That's kind of pathetic, but hey, you know, like, whatever...if it sells, it must be good, right?

The video is quite entertaining, and certainly a lot more so than the few clips of various pop videos I've had the misfortune of seeing on TV in recent years. The latter were mostly of gratuitously digitally-enhanced so-called 'artistes' and actors pouting suggestively at the camera, where all the skill was in the CGI effects and make-up. This video, at least, has real dancers who could actually dance.

Classical music has an image problem, and not just among the young. Many, many middle-aged and older people, if they've ever heard any of it, either think it's 'dead white men's music' or associate it with something they've seen in a movie or TV commercial. (Actually, the vast majority of the great unwashed only hear 'classical music' through John Williams, Hans Zimmer etc).

In the UK, for a while, Dvorák's 'New World' Symphony's slow movement (with its plaintive cor anglais tune) was well-known as.......background music for a sliced bread TV commercial. I doubt anyone who was looking for that music to buy from a record shop would have asked for it by name (the internet and downloads didn't exist then), and in any case, 'Dvorák' is unpronounceable - they'd have asked for 'the Hovis bread music' . (Come to think about it, isn't that the precursor to music videos?)

I recently returned from a sailing holiday with a small group of people from all over the world (USA, Russia, NZ, Australia, Canada, Germany, UK) - all highly educated, all aged under 35. And everyone was playing the current pop hits from their MP3 players through the boat's music system.....until one evening, I asked if anybody liked classical music. They all looked at me as if I was odd - then I said I had videos of myself playing the piano on my iPod. At this they looked astonished, and wanted to see them. Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and Brahms didn't strike a chord with them, but the Russian girl asked to hear my Rachmaninov Op.23/5 and Schumann/Liszt Widmung. She told me later that she'd heard those pieces before, back in Russia.

Would they have wanted to listen to me playing 'boring' classical music on my iPod if there was no video? No, apart from the fact that I didn't look like their idea of a classical pianist (and it could be someone else playing)......and the fact that music videos and visuals are what attracts them to pop singers too.

I found it amusing for the first minute or so. After that I couldn't watch more. I think the best video that a piece of classical music can have is one that has the sheet music in it.

The Allegro non troppo videos are also very good. For some reason they don't seem to be on Youtube anymore.

The best visuals occur, when the eyes are shut.

Wow, I am SO not the intended audience for that video. I don't need any help liking classical music, and even if I were in need of some special help there, that would not be the way to do it.

If you don't find anything inherently...interesting in the ladies', uh, caboosal characteristics, and the way they use it to "artistic" effect (I believe the technical term is "badonk-a-donk" but I don't often find much call to use that term) what you're left with is pretty much the same darn move, over and over and over again, in a repeating cycle of a few outfits and a few scenes. Again, and again, and again. Doing the same move in what looks like a parking garage. And then here on a field. Now in an aquarium. And now here in front of a building. Hey, back to the aquarium. Field. Building. Care to see it on a field? How about in an aquarium? No? Can I interest you in a parking garage?

Arrrgh. Instead of making three otherwise long minutes pass quickly, it managed to make three short minutes seem interminable. God, does this thing really take THAT long to resolve? We've had, like, twelve seizure-inducing scene changes and the music is still stuck in mid-cadence.

It might be interesting if someone could make a video where abstract visual shapes, colors and movements could represent elements in the music, like motives, themes and repetitions, or even rhythmic or sonic elements, or moods. That might be more like what a person perceives listening to music with their eyes closed. It might work for existing pieces, or maybe with new works composed and choreographed to suit.

You can see an abstract display like this with visualisations in audio players, but it's all just oscillographic and ultimately boring, with no real relation to the musical meaning.

Do they really think this is going to make people love classical music? You can't force love, or interest, or whatever it is. When I was 12, my school's music class played short selections of various composers. I think this went on for about a week, after which we tested on it. I was enthralled. This is where I discovered, for the very first time, a real interest in this music. I seriously doubt that my other classmates felt the same way. I don't think a single one of them walked away from that class with the new kind of perspective that I had.

This isn't something that can be forced down the throats of the public. Classical music is dense, artistic, passionate. Don't try to make it pop music. That's not its niche. You don't see jazzers doing this.

That was never the goal. You're misinterpreting the idea.


So is plenty of other music.


It sounds like you're angry because your unjustified elitism is being threatened.

Belgium's B-Classic music festival, whose mission is to "give classical music the same recognition as pop and rock music," (...)


Obviously.


I'm just going to acknowledge the irony here and move on.