# Non-classical fusions with classical music



## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Here's a thread for people to post some examples of fusion between classical and non-classical. It can fusion in terms of just a classical kind of sound, or non classical works that "quote" classical tunes.

Here are a few that I like:

I love this take on that famous Paganini _Caprice_, "Paganini Rocks" by Robortom & Au Revoir Simone:






Kanye West's song "Ham" which combines rap with a bit of choral/operatic stuff towards the end. I wonder what the diehard rap fans are making of this? I'm not hugely impressed with this, I don't think it's one of his best.






& this is an ancient one from the '70's, "Land of the make believe" by Chuck Mangione. It's basically a fusion of jazz and classical styles. Look out for Mangione's awesome trumpet solo:






& also ancient, Miles Davis' truly classic rendition of Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez:


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## LordBlackudder (Nov 13, 2010)

One Winged Angel






''metal gear solid'' main theme (metal gear solid 3 vers)






Blinded by Light






Beyond the Bounds






Fighting ~ Bombing Mission medley


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## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

I am rather fond of jass compoer Uri Caine's 're-writings' of composer such as Bach, Beethoven, Mahler and Mozart. Here are some excerpts from his 'take ' on Beethoven's Diabelli Variations.

You need to scroll to 1:15 to get past the introductory nonsense.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

zappa - dog breath variations/uncle meat





alec wilder


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## toucan (Sep 27, 2010)

Don Cherry & Krzysztof Penderecki, *Actions* for Free Jazz Orchestra:


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

A perfect opportunity to champion one of my favorite piano concertos:






The full piece has some beautiful moments. In fairness I believe he had some help with the orchestration, unlike Jon Lord who composed his Concerto for Group and Orchestra entirely on his own.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

LordBlackudder said:


> Fighting ~ Bombing Mission medley


This is flippin' awesome!


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## Igneous01 (Jan 27, 2011)

i actually love the interpretation done here, really sounds like metal and classical in a well knit knot.






And apparently this was taken from a score for a german cop show or something. But I for the life of me cant figure out where the original score came from. Its just beautiful and id love to hear the original.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Lots of fun stuff here.

Probably everyone already knows this, but here's Piazzolla and Kronos Quartet:

Ok, sorry, I can't figure out how to imbed it, so here's the link:


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

Haven't really had time to look through the videos but I'm not much of a fan of Kanye West but I do like Au Revoir Simone in general.

Another version of the Paganini theme.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

I enjoyed the Andrew/Julian Lloyd Webber video, starry thanks for posting it (it's probably the only piece of his that I can listen to without some mild form of discomfort)  ...


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I have Philip Glass's 'Low' & 'Heroes' symphonies (in collaboration/consultation with both Bowie and Eno) but I'll be buggered if I can discern any connective tissue with the originals.

Mark-Anthony Turnage has written some works specifically for the involvement of jazzers John Scofield and Peter Erskine - I don't know whether these works can be categorised as classical/jazz 'crossover', 'hybrid' or whatever but the ones I've heard sound quite interesting.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I wish I could find a YouTube clip of this, but Frank Zappa did a rock version of Ionisation and titled it In Memoriam, Edgard Varese.


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## ada123 (Feb 23, 2011)

Hey buddy.. on you tube there are number of videos related to this,, I have watched some of them.. they all are truly awesome..


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## wingracer (Mar 7, 2011)

Muse has a few songs with bits of classical thrown in. Here's one with some Chopin just after 3:40


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## LordBlackudder (Nov 13, 2010)




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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Mentioned these on the lady Gaga fugue thread, but here it goes.

Nina Simone with a Bachian cadenza of sorts in 'Love me or leave me' -





Claude Bolling's 'Bach to swing' (there are several versions on youtube, but couldn't find his own one) -





Jacques Loussier's done a lot of Bach over the decades, fusing it with jazz -





& Dave Brubeck's famous 'Blue Rondo a la Turk' -


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Ellington and Mahalia Jackson - Come sunday

i think this one could be considered like an american lieder


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## Mesa (Mar 2, 2012)

Something i started working on but got bored of. Indirect theft of content.

http://www65.zippyshare.com/v/90446048/file.html

I'm sorry, Antonio, i'm so sorry.


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## Ondine (Aug 24, 2012)

What about 'The Gemini Suite'?


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Weston said:


> This is flippin' awesome!


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)




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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

*Bach in Brazil*


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## Jay (Jul 21, 2014)

Gentle Giant's fugal "On Reflection":


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

I can't believe it took until late on the 2nd page for someone to mention something (Gentle Giant) in the progressive music genre.

Prog, and most of it's subgenres, has quite a bit of classical influences, and a fusion of classical. Classical compositional methods are used (multi part form), with theme development, lots of dynamic movement, complex chord and time changes, etc. And, in many cases, musicianship quite close to the level of classical musicianship.

YES, ELP, King Crimson, PFM, Banco, Zappa, Anglagard, Thinking Plague, Henry Cow, Aranis, Univers Zero, Art Zoyd, and so many other bands, have tons of classical fused with rock, avant-garde, and jazz.

The first, and one of the most obvious that comes to mind, is the Italian prog band, Banco del Mutuo Sorccorso, and their album, "Di Terra". This, IMO, is by far, the best example of a 'rock' band playing with an orchestra, ever recorded.






But I think, the prog subgenre, avant-prog (sometimes known as Rock in Opposition, or RIO) is the most consistently, and maybe the most obvious, fusion of non-classical and classical. These bands take their classical influence from classical music of the mid to late 20th century composers.

A couple examples:

Aranis from Belgium -






Art Zoyd from France -






There many, many more examples in various subgenres of progressive music, though.


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## Jay (Jul 21, 2014)

Simon Moon said:


> I can't believe it took until late on the 2nd page for someone to mention something (Gentle Giant) in the progressive music genre.
> 
> YES, ELP, King Crimson, PFM, Banco, Zappa, Anglagard, Thinking Plague, Henry Cow, Aranis, Univers Zero, Art Zoyd, and so many other bands, have tons of classical fused with rock, avant-garde, and jazz.


...and for early music, Gryphon and Amazing Blondel.


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## tortkis (Jul 13, 2013)

Mal Waldron: Variations on Brahms 3, Mvt. 3





Also there is an album called Mal Waldron Plays Classical Music or Maturity 1, on which Waldron plays Brahms, Chopin, Grieg and Bartók in his style.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)




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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)




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## tortkis (Jul 13, 2013)

Philip Corner - Through Two More Than Mysterious Barricades
(improvisation after François Couperin)
Paulette Sears (vocals), Philip Corner (piano)









__
https://soundcloud.com/roaratoriorecs%2Fphilip-corner-through-the-mysterious-barricade-with-paulette-excerpt


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

1973 Virgin Records

One of those famous albums from the 70s that I've never bothered to listen to until today. I don't find it to be all that interesting. Sounds kind of proto-New Age with an English pastoral feel. A bit of Genesis influence but without the song craft. And quite repetitive.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

One of my obscure favourites in the genre:






Suite en La Gavotte et Six Doubles by Andrew Roussak (2021)


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

_With the Tijuana Brass mostly on hold at the time, Herb Alpert commissioned what was immediately touted as a landmark project from French musical polymath Michel Colombier -- a pop symphony with the positively Mahlerian ambition to encompass the entire world in about 37 minutes. _(Allmusic)










I remember my friend Bob sending me a tape of this and raving about it. We had played in bands together in college in Shreveport and then much later in NYC. When this came out, 1971, he was in London to studying music at the Royal Academy.

I was blown away back then and it still holds up.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

I saw this great band play live at BajaProg in 2004.

All their recordings have a chamber-prog feel, but Concerto for Piano and Electric Ensemble is the most obvious.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

Simon Moon said:


> I saw this great band play live at BajaProg in 2004. All their recordings have a chamber-prog feel, but Concerto for Piano and Electric Ensemble is the most obvious.


See post #29.............


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

starthrower said:


> One of those famous albums from the 70s that I've never bothered to listen to until today. I don't find it to be all that interesting.


Mike Oldfield is a universe unto himself. Yes, "Tubular Bells" can be a bit repetitive (or "Tubercular Balls" as his friend Lol Coxhill liked to put it) but it was his first foray into the long-form instrumental genre and he got better as he refined his craft over the next several albums.

He did an album in 1990 called "Amarok" which is VERY advanced for its time, and must be heard on a state-of-the-art stereo to be fully appreciated. Cloth-eared nincompoops will not be amused.


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## Doublestring (Sep 3, 2014)

Some examples of classical quotes in pop music:


*Charles W. Harrison - I'm Always Chasing Rainbows:* showtune by Harry Carroll, based on the middle section of Chopin's _Fantaisie-Impromptu_.
*En Vogue - Love U Crazy:* based on the theme of the Sugar Plum Fairy in Tchaikovsky's _The Nutcracker_.
*Miles Davis - Concierto d'Aranjuez (Adagio):* improvisation on a jazz arrangement of Rodrigo's guitar concerto.
*Renaissance - Island:* quotes Beethoven's _Piano Sonata No. 8 "Pathétique"_.
*Serge Gainsbourg - Initials B. B.:* quotes the main theme of Dvorak's Ninth Symphony "From the New World".
*Sting - Russians:* instrumental quote from Prokofiev's _Lieutenant Kije Suite_.
*The Mindbenders - A Groovy Kind of Love:* slowed down theme from Muzio Clementi's _Rondo_ from his _Sonatina, Opus 36/5_. Covered Phil Collins.
*Wallace Collection - Daydream:* quotes Tchaikovsky's _Swan Lake_.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)




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## tortkis (Jul 13, 2013)

^ Fred Hersch's Gymnopedie is beautiful. Here is an organ jazz version by Pete Levin.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

NoCoPilot said:


> See post #29.............


Yeah, I thought I posted as a reply to your post.

Not sure what I was thinking...


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