# Cinematic or Classical: Anna Clyne's Masquerade?



## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

The debate about whether film music can ever be considered 'classical' appears to be as polemical as ever and I wondered if it might help to look at the issue from a different angle - are there classical pieces that sound like film music?

Anna Clyne's 'Masquerade' was commissioned by the BBC and first performed at the Last Night of the Proms in 2013. Ivan Hewett, writing in The Telegraph said: _"...Anna Clyne's opening piece Masquerade, had a cinematic brio which to my ears was more redolent of piracy on the high seas than Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens (which apparently was what it was meant to evoke)."_

According to her publisher (Boosey and Hawkes), the piece is to be performed 7 times in 2023.

Do please vote in the poll and feel free to post your own thread in similar vein if you think a particular piece might qualify.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

Review by 'Limelight':
_"British composer Anna Clyne’s Masquerade could be used as a soundtrack to a scene from a fast-action fantasy movie in which winged creatures pursue witches and wizards on broomsticks."_


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

Another thread about whether film music can be classical music, but wrapped in a different disguise? I'm getting really tired of these types of threads.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

Neo Romanza said:


> Another thread about whether film music can be classical music, but wrapped in a different disguise? I'm getting really tired of these types of threads.


Okay, but does it not raise a serious question - if this had been written expressly for a film, would it then have then been welcomed by conductors into the concert hall? I assume it would have had a much tougher time.


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

janxharris said:


> Okay, but does it not raise a serious question - if this had been written expressly for a film, would it then have then been welcomed by conductors into the concert hall? I assume it would have had a much tougher time.


It doesn't raise any serious questions for me as I'm not particularly interested in discussing whether this work could or could not be seen as film music.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

Neo Romanza said:


> It doesn't raise any serious questions for me as I'm not particularly interested in discussing whether this work could or could not be seen as film music.


Ok.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

5against4 review:
_'What she delivered was five minutes that effectively mashed up ballroom styles and soundtrack clichés with a mild dose of sonic amphetamine to give it some extra pep.'_


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