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Originally Posted by Pitchwife
Well, reception of 'classical' music doesn't necessarily have to be sedate - I remember singing along full-throatedly with the themes of Mahler or Bruckner symphonies, or even dancing to Stravinsky's Sacre du Printemps at a party ages ago; but you're right, that's unlikely to happen in a concert hall.
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I quite agree with you. I've found my bigname local orchestra and opera companies very boring, but there are two smaller companies who specialise in baroque music, dance, and opera that are renown for their sprightly performances, entertaining interpretations, and enthusiastic productions that dare to challenge the audience to laugh, clap, enjoy. It can be done.
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Originally Posted by Pitchwife
What makes rock music different for me is that the experience (especially in a live concert) is much more immediate and ecstatic, and also much more shared - at a good gig, there's a genuine bond between the band and the audience, if only for two hours or so.
Another point: with rock (also folk, and crossovers), you don't have the separation between written score and performance as with 'classical' music. Most rock bands perform their own material, both music and lyrics. In a way, this is the closest thing to the old bards and minstrels since the end of the Middle Ages. In that respect, rock isn't that far from Tolkien at all, I think.
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Yes, much better said I. I think of the medieval morality plays which presented epic stories wagon by wagon at each corner. The themes might have differred (although death is a constant in rock), but the experience was personal and direct.
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Originally Posted by Pitchwife
As for 'sex and drugs and rock'n'roll' - well, Tolkien's Elves were pretty much ideal catholics in their sex life
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I can't help but think of a certain Mony Python scene which ascribed that 'ideal' to the Anglicans.
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Originally Posted by Pitchwife
but I can't help wondering about possible mind-altering properties of miruvor and limpë. And the Hobbits with their love for weed and mushrooms...  |
The dwarves must have had similar recreations but I can't recall reading of it. Maybe just ale, stout, and porter?