# Yanni



## Souhayl (Jan 17, 2012)

I just posted this to know what do you guys think of this composer Yanni.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

My ears are going to commit suicide.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

I won't comment, I don't know his work that well, but be prepared for a barrage of highbrow comments!...


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## Kevin Pearson (Aug 14, 2009)

I'd say that if you want to discuss Yanni it should be in the "Non-Classical" area of the board not here. As for me personally I have always referred to him as Yawnee because he bores me to tears. That said though I know there are people who love him. He's just not for me.

Kevin


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

I read in a review of one of his CDs:



> [Yanni's music] would ooze out of the walls of the elevators descending into hell


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## Souhayl (Jan 17, 2012)

I personally dislike him as hell and I don't know why, I just hate his music and the way he acts on stage. So I posted this to see some objective point of views !


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

I hate Yanni. Close this thread.​


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

^^Don't you mean you hate highbrows? :lol: 

I know I do, much more than I hate any musician. Although hatred is not good, it does more harm to the hater than the hated, or often can...


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Sid James said:


> ^^Don't you mean you hate highbrows? :lol:
> 
> I know I do, much more than I hate any musician. Although hatred is not good, it does more harm to the hater than the hated, or often can...


Not in this case.


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## Souhayl (Jan 17, 2012)

Let's share some hatred


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Yanni's ok. I only have the "Live at the Acropolis" album, and I haven't heard it in years.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

science said:


> Yanni's ok. I only have the "Live at the Acropolis" album, and I haven't heard it in years.


Destroy that CD!


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

No, in fact, I think I'll listen to it this afternoon. And I'll enjoy it.

Does it hurt you to know that? Somewhere in the world, a person who enjoys Xenakis and Stockhausen and Crumb and Nono and Boulez and after the spanking the oral sex and Andriessen and Ligeti and Berio and Yun and all that stuff is listening without irony and with unfeigned pleasure to *New Age music*!

When I finish Yanni, I'm going to listen to Axiom of Choice and then, after the soft jazz, Rachmaninoff.


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## brianwalker (Dec 9, 2011)

It was decent. 
I mean, it exceeded my expectations. 
Of course this thread made those expectations very low. 

Good for him, drawing in huge crowds like that.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

science said:


> ...
> When I finish Yanni, I'm going to listen to Axiom of Choice and then, after the soft jazz, Rachmaninoff.


What about "sailing away" with Enya? (the rubbish advertisement that comes up on youtube before this music, that is what my hatred is reserved for, not Enya's song - so skip the ad and enjoy the music!)...


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

I love having him as a scape goat for bad music, he's a gift to my sense of humor.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

A combination of factors causes me to enjoy this video every once in a while


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

^^Not bad. Vivaldi's _Four Seasons _can and has been done in any genre/style. I have Frenchman Raymond Fol's version for jazz band, done in the 1960's, featuring legendary saxophonist Johnny Griffin among others.

The pop/rock beats, minimalist repetitive/mechanical feel works with it well in that Yanni arrangment, and that may be part of your "combination of factors," clavichorder? It may well be too flashy and style over substance, but this is light or new age music, the purpose is to give people a good time, that's it, pure and simple.

The trumpet solo reminded me of Chuck Mangione's fusion stuff done in the 1970's...


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

I quite like good new age stuff (George Winston, Moya Brennan, Tingstadt and Rumbel, and so on). Even in New Age though Yanni sucks big time.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Art Rock said:


> ...Even in New Age though Yanni sucks big time.


Is Yanni really "new age" though? Can he be classified as that? I don't know his music apart from what clavichorder posted above, I just listened to that. I'm not for labels which can be vague, but with your appreciation of this type of music, would you categorise Yanni as "new age" or closer to something else?...


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

Zamfir is the master of the pan flute!


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Souhayl said:


> I just posted this to know what do you guys think of this composer Yanni.


Who's Yanni? I had to look this person up and I still don't recognise Yanni.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

HarpsichordConcerto said:


> Who's Yanni? I had to look this person up and I still don't recognise Yanni.


I'll give you some advice, don't ever listen to anything by Yanni. It'll make you want to rip your ears off.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Sid James said:


> Is Yanni really "new age" though? Can he be classified as that? I don't know his music apart from what clavichorder posted above, I just listened to that. I'm not for labels which can be vague, but with your appreciation of this type of music, would you categorise Yanni as "new age" or closer to something else?...


No, I think he really doesn't count as New Age, and I don't know a better label. I looked on wikipedia, and it tells me he prefers the term "contemporary instrumental," which sounds fair.

I'm not sure what to say about Yanni, being serious for a moment. His music is unquestionably very competent. He's good with rhythm, melody, and timbre, but there's almost nothing in the way of development, and other than instrumentation nothing that would surprise anyone from the 1930s. Edit: Also, the moods in his music are generally sentimental.

Whether that constitutes "sucking" is not for me to judge. Of course you probably know my feeling about snotty nonsense like that.


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## kanonathena (Jun 25, 2010)

If you want new age check out Mozart.


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

clavichorder said:


> a combination of factors causes me to enjoy this video every once in a while


i just want to know why vladimir putin is playing the violin

arrrrarygagfaffffffffffffff

edit: hey, i hit caps lock for a reason!


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## Bagnew (Jan 22, 2012)

Putin on Violin, and Andrew Lloyd Webber with long hair playing harp?
Truly bizzare...


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

science said:


> No, I think he really doesn't count as New Age, and I don't know a better label. I looked on wikipedia, and it tells me he prefers the term "contemporary instrumental," which sounds fair.
> 
> ...


Well I was asking about the "new age" label regarding Yanni as Vanessa Mae also plays that Vivaldi piece (The Storm) & I haven't heard anybody refer to her as being "new age."

Maybe shows how kind of useless these labels are. It's up to the listener simply to listen and make their own labels, so to speak, if any are really needed.

In terms of your criticisms of Yanni, they make sense to me. Of course, with light music in general, one has to look at how it is different from "serious" classical music, it's different purposes, stuff like that. Of course, sometimes the "serious" and "light" distinction is useless and appears as a false dichotomy when talking about composers or musicians who do both and much much more. Not everyone can be put in a neat box, and that is the beauty of music for me...


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Sid James said:


> Well I was asking about the "new age" label regarding Yanni as Vanessa Mae also plays that Vivaldi piece (The Storm) & I haven't heard anybody refer to her as being "new age."
> 
> Maybe shows how kind of useless these labels are. It's up to the listener simply to listen and make their own labels, so to speak, if any are really needed.
> 
> In terms of your criticisms of Yanni, they make sense to me. Of course, with light music in general, one has to look at how it is different from "serious" classical music, it's different purposes, stuff like that. Of course, sometimes the "serious" and "light" distinction is useless and appears as a false dichotomy when talking about composers or musicians who do both and much much more. Not everyone can be put in a neat box, and that is the beauty of music for me...


And now ladies and gentlemen, I would like to go back and sort of reminisce just a little bit.

Way back in high school, when my musical mind was almost as narrow as my parents' were, and only a little wider than my friends', Yanni was a step for me. At that point, so was the soundtrack from _The Last of the Mohicans_.

The next step, naturally, was George Crumb and Wojciech Kilar, and at that point all things had been accomplished.


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## jalex (Aug 21, 2011)

His music is not good by the standards of any label you apply to it, whether 'light music' or 'New Age' or 'contemporary instrumental' or indeed if you refuse to call it anything. If being highbrow means I want my entertainment to be at least reasonably well-crafted, interesting and tasteful then I'm happy to be called that.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

The "combination of factors" was mostly mindless amusement at their funny gestures and at how bad it is.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I've never heard a note of his music. Is it as good as John Tesh's stuff?


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## Philip (Mar 22, 2011)

Souhayl said:


> I just posted this to know what do you guys think of this composer Yanni.





Souhayl said:


> I personally dislike him as hell and I don't know why, I just hate his music and the way he acts on stage. So I posted this to see some objective point of views !


hmm why would you start a thread about something you hate?... sounds like you secretly love his music but lack the self-confidence to admit it.

Dr Philip


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

science said:


> No, in fact, I think I'll listen to it this afternoon. And I'll enjoy it.
> 
> Does it hurt you to know that? Somewhere in the world, a person who enjoys Xenakis and Stockhausen and Crumb and Nono and Boulez and after the spanking the oral sex and Andriessen and Ligeti and Berio and Yun and all that stuff is listening without irony and with unfeigned pleasure to *New Age music*!
> 
> When I finish Yanni, I'm going to listen to Axiom of Choice and then, after the soft jazz, Rachmaninoff.


 Never heard of this Yanni person. I have a few feet of New Age CDs from the 60s and 70s, mostly from Windham Hill. Very relaxing, soothes the mind. Can't handle Boulez though.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Windham Hill had some excellent acoustic guitar music. Michael Hedges, Alex DeGrassi. I'm not too fond of the new age orchestra stuff that came along later on.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

I have some DeGrassi. No ensembles bigger than sextet, I'm pretty sure. The 'light of memory' is pretty dim back there, but seems like WH had a subscription service.


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## Manok (Aug 29, 2011)

One word: Ew.


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## Souhayl (Jan 17, 2012)

Philip said:


> hmm why would you start a thread about something you hate?... sounds like you secretly love his music but lack the self-confidence to admit it.
> 
> Dr Philip


Not at all, in my environment masses like it and worship it while I just couldn't like any of his works. I thought that many people could be like me in here so I was asking about some reasonable arguments for why do people hate him


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Philip said:


> hmm why would you start a thread about something you hate?... sounds like you secretly love his music but lack the self-confidence to admit it.
> 
> Dr Philip


Phillip, the Provocateur.


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

Not to my liking, I'm afraid - it reminds me of Vangelis in dreamcatcher hell.


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