# Ludovico Einaudi - currently the world's most popular classical composer



## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

According to The Times newspaper (Monday 8th April 2019) - Einaudi is, _'...the most popular classical artist in the world.'_ - and with a million streams daily it's hard to argue otherwise. Last month he released _Seven Days Walking - Day One_ - the first of seven albums due for release this year.

'Gravity' from 'Seven Days Walking - Day One':


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## LezLee (Feb 21, 2014)

Oh dear. Trump, Brexit and now this.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Sounds pleasant enough but I don't think I'll be adding to his million streams. He would not have been out of place in the new age music thread. Its funny: some people think it must be easy to compose 12 tone music but I always think this sort of thing must be easy. Perhaps I just don't understand.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

I've never heard of him until now, it doesn't sound like classical music to me. More like instrumental pop music.


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## Jim35 (Feb 3, 2018)

He's much admired on the UK's "Classic FM", and has been for ages. Thankfully so far the BBC's "Radio 3" hasn't sunk that low, although from the way things have been going since they re-vamped their morning schedules a year or so ago it probably won't be long now.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

janxharris said:


> According to The Times newspaper (Monday 8th April 2019) - Einaudi is, _'...the most popular classical artist in the world.'_....


If that is the exact quote, the title of the thread is not right. He may well be the most popular classical artist (ahead of competition like Andrea Bocelli and Andre Rieu), which is already disheartening, but that does not make him the most popular composer.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

It's ironic that many here on talkclassical despair of the current state of classical music and yet wont embrace it's most popular composer. In general, I find it hard to embrace too; I find myself thinking that it's rather bland.

I quite like this - I Giorni (meaning - The Days):


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

According to the article his spotify following rivals Mozart and he is a regular at the concert hall - Moscow, Bejing, Rome and New York. Five days of shows at the Barbican this summer sold out almost immediately.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

Art Rock said:


> If that is the exact quote, the title of the thread is not right. He may well be the most popular classical artist (ahead of competition like Andrea Bocelli and Andre Rieu), which is already disheartening, but that does not make him the most popular composer.


The strapline has 'Einaudi is the world's most popular classical composer'...but in the article's text it's qualified with, '...by some measure the most popular...'


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

janxharris said:


> According to the article his spotify following rivals Mozart and he is a regular at the concert hall - Moscow, Bejing, Rome and New York. Five days of shows at the Barbican this summer sold out almost immediately.


They play a lot of different things in concert halls today, film music, Radiohead etc.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

The I Giorni sounds familiar because it has the same bass line as U2's 'With or without you', which is also mirrored in many other popular songs.


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## LezLee (Feb 21, 2014)

Jim35 said:


> He's much admired on the UK's "Classic FM", and has been for ages. Thankfully so far the BBC's "Radio 3" hasn't sunk that low, although from the way things have been going since they re-vamped their morning schedules a year or so ago it probably won't be long now.


Sorry to disillusion you, but Sarah Walker, of all people, played one of his on 'Sunday Morning' a few weeks ago.


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

Yanni better watch out! Classical? Huh?


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

I think I've said this before but to me his music fails to engage at any level. It fails as "classical", melodic solo piano music because it is very bland and it fails as ambient/background/new age/whatever piano music because it is too annoying to be pleasantly atmospheric and soothing. Coming from someone who loves ambient music including Brian Eno's ambient piano albums (Plateaux of Mirror and The Pearl). It's bad in any category of music.


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## Dorsetmike (Sep 26, 2018)

Einaudi = switch off or change channels, I've heard better in an elevator!


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## Haydn70 (Jan 8, 2017)

janxharris said:


> According to The Times newspaper (Monday 8th April 2019) - Einaudi is, _'...the most popular classical artist in the world.'_ - and with a million streams daily it's hard to argue otherwise. Last month he released _Seven Days Walking - Day One_ - the first of seven albums due for release this year.
> 
> 'Gravity' from 'Seven Days Walking - Day One':


Just one problem...he doesn't compose classical music.


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## Highwayman (Jul 16, 2018)

I had to attend one of his concerts a few years back then. He was attended by a band of some kind and himself was "playing" the piano. After the first 5 minutes it was clear that whatever music he was making it was not Classical. It sure was pointless and I was indifferent towards it at this point but he continued to make the same pointless things over and over again for 2 hours` time, he pressed the same 10 or so keys over and over again doing some random, senseless crescendi/decrescendi every now and then. There were gigantic bass speakers spread out everywhere making it as loud as a Death Metal concert so it wasn`t tranquil either!

I`ve been to many concerts from many different genres and some of them were very bad. However, this one was the worst by far! I was really grateful when it was over and eager to leave the hall at once but the peculiar thing is that the applause at the end was everlasting and deafening! Everyone else in the audience seemed as if they enjoyed the concert a great deal. The most intriguing part is that the audience was very diverse, including both the _crème de la crème_ types and the _philistine_ types.

My theory is that this Ludovico guy is a bewitcher of some kind whose spell knows no boundaries and makes people believe that he is a great musician. Apparently, only a small minority of Classical Music aficionados seems to have an immunity against his powerful sorcery...

Any other explanations?


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## Haydn70 (Jan 8, 2017)

Highwayman said:


> *I had to attend one of his concerts a few years back then.* He was attended by a band of some kind and himself was "playing" the piano. After the first 5 minutes it was clear that whatever music he was making it was not Classical. It sure was pointless and I was indifferent towards it at this point but he continued to make the same pointless things over and over again for 2 hours` time, he pressed the same 10 or so keys over and over again doing some random, senseless crescendi/decrescendi every now and then. There were gigantic bass speakers spread out everywhere making it as loud as a Death Metal concert so it wasn`t tranquil either!
> 
> I`ve been to many concerts from many different genres and some of them were very bad. However, this one was the worst by far! I was really grateful when it was over and eager to leave the hall at once but the peculiar thing is that the applause at the end was everlasting and deafening! Everyone else in the audience seemed as if they enjoyed the concert a great deal. The most intriguing part is that the audience was very diverse, including both the _crème de la crème_ types and the _philistine_ types.
> 
> ...


Were you being punished for some transgression?


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## Highwayman (Jul 16, 2018)

Haydn70 said:


> Were you being punished for some transgression?


I`m not sure about transgression part but it was indeed a punishment. :lol:


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## CDs (May 2, 2016)

I own a few of his albums and did buy his newest album *Seven Days Walking Day One* but I could not get through it. It was slow, quiet and rather, as another poster put it bland. And based how boring Day One was I will not be buying Days Two - Seven.

However I do enjoy some of his other releases but would in no way would say he is a classical composer. That would be a great disservice to the truly great composers such as Beethoven, Mozart and Bach.


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## Kiki (Aug 15, 2018)

Many years ago, someone asked me if I'd heard of Ludovico Einaudi.

"Heard of Ludovico Einaudi?"
"Who?"
"He writes piano music."
"Jazz?" (Jazz aficionados please pardon my ignorance as I know nothing about Jazz beyond Jarrett and Coltrane)
"No no, He writes classy piano music."

Come to think about it, I might have misheard "classic" as "classy". :lol: 

BTW when people start using a word like "classic/classics" to refer to classical music, I think the conversation will be better off moving on to another topic anyway.

Anyway, "classy" I thought I'd heard and so I explored. (The internet is great!) Neither did I find it "classy" or "classic". It's closer to the impression that those chill out CDs gave me.

Since then I've even read on the web of Einaudi being referred to as a "neo-classical" composer..... Thought that was funny, even though I'm sure it wasn't meant to be.

If I may divert from the subject of the most popular classical composer - Who is currently the greatest classical pianist in the world, Ludovico Einaudi or Richard Clayderman? :lol: Just as mind-deteriorating, btw.

Alright, seriously, today's "new-style" music could become tomorrow's classical music, you know... It's just, unfathomable.

OK, really seriously, in a world where even elevator music has its market, Einaudi certainly has a place, but not as a classical music composer.


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## Granate (Jun 25, 2016)

I've listened to many of his albums, maybe just before digging really deep into serious Orchestral repertoire. I am looking at those because I never filed them in any library of my hard drive. It would have fit in my "Modern Classical" folder (which I used to describe what I now Know as ambient-minimal classical). I have only 1992's _Stanze_ and 2013 _In a Time Lapse_ with good marks, while the rest were just standard or dull. Also listened to the Royal Albert Hall compilation.

The fact is that I don't remember today any of his music and I think I wouldn't listen to it again considering how I explored composers like Bruckner, Mahler, Sibelius or Beethoven. But I'm for his music being called "classical" in any way if that makes (very few) people introduce themselves to the actual orchestral or chamber world from the Western tradition he inspires from. People choose whether to settle with contemporary artists or explore the classics and the pinnacles of each style. I've chosen to stay with the contemporary artists in many music genres and avoid many classics from the 20th century that inspire them. I'm just not interested. And that is for me just as rewarding as exploring each symphony composer one by one.

Also, why not blaming the big music label and tour company when you can blame the artist with no proof that he has actually described himself as "classical composer"?

Would I ever be here if it weren't for the computerized cellos used in the making of ATOMOS by A Winged Victory For The Sullen?

I may give a go to those who condemn artists and interpreters who mix classical styles and show a stereotyped musical universe, but not composers and creators. That's a lesson I learned a year ago. No composer is bad enough to be laughed at and be compared with their references.


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## LudwigVanBodewes (Jan 3, 2019)

It's typical easy ''classical'' or like someone aptly named it, instrumental pop music, like Comptine d'un autre été from Yann Tiersen. It's easy on the ears which a lot of people expect music to be. I used to like it when I was younger but I can't listen to it anymore. 

It's boring, bland and repetitive to me now. 

Some people I know listen too it, I don't think there is anything particularly wrong with it but I still cringe when some state they ''love classical music''.


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

janxharris said:


>


Einaudi's music is very closely related to Minimalism. If you don't like Minimalism you probably won't like his music, just like you probably won't like Philip Glass. If Minimalism is associated with classical music, and it sometimes us, then Einaudi's music is related to classical music just like Glass's, and Einaudi is being played in the concert halls just like Glass is. They're similar as composers. Einaudi was conservatory trained, started out as a classical composer and then added other genres.


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## Eva Yojimbo (Jan 30, 2016)

^ I was thinking of Glass while listening to the OP's piece. The Einaudi just strikes me as a prettier, less rigorous, more accessible version of minimalism that's likely well suited to moody film and TV. Kind of like to Minimalism what Thomas Kinkade is to Impressionism.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

It would seem that lovers of Einaudi aren't common round here. His music is pretty enough but I'm not hearing anything of profound depth. Perhaps this explains the bias.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

I just feel my life is too short for this musician.

I might even prefer Bacardi to Einuadi.


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## chill782002 (Jan 12, 2017)

Certainly not my thing but, if other people like it, then who am I to judge? I'm sure Einaudi couldn't care less what my view of his music is.


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## Guest (Apr 10, 2019)

LezLee said:


> Oh dear. Trump, Brexit and now this.


Hah! But really, this music is a soothing sort of balm for the horror of Trump and Brexit.
This composer was never on my radar but now I've heard an example of his work I can take my finger off the missile launch button.


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## Guest (Apr 10, 2019)

Larkenfield said:


> *Einaudi's music is very closely related to Minimalism. If you don't like Minimalism you probably won't like his music*, just like you probably won't like Philip Glass. If Minimalism is associated with classical music, and it sometimes us, then Einaudi's music is related to classical music just like Glass's, and Einaudi is being played in the concert halls just like Glass is. They're similar as composers. Einaudi was conservatory trained, started out as a classical composer and then added other genres.


I _*do*_ like Minimalism (Reich, Adams, Pärt, Riley...) but Einaudi is just not in the same league, I would say.


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## Guest (Apr 10, 2019)

Eva Yojimbo said:


> ^ I was thinking of Glass while listening to the OP's piece. *The Einaudi just strikes me as a prettier, less rigorous, more accessible version of minimalism that's likely well suited to moody film and TV*. Kind of like to Minimalism what Thomas Kinkade is to Impressionism.


Yes, that's how the extract given strikes me as well. I thought immediately of Michael Nyman. I think Nyman does it better.


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## Guest (Apr 10, 2019)

janxharris said:


> It would seem that lovers of Einaudi aren't common round here. *His music is pretty enough but I'm not hearing anything of profound depth. Perhaps this explains the bias.*


Bingo! Give that man a cigar.


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## LezLee (Feb 21, 2014)

We’re getting to that old problem - how to classify classical. 
And why do I love Glass and hate Einaudi and have no problem telling them apart? Although as I never willingly listen to Einaudi, perhaps I haven’t been tested very often.


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## zelenka (Feb 8, 2018)

literally who...


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

That piece would sound great in the background of a Hallmark movie, opening with a 40ish woman walking along the seashore, blond hair lightly blowing in the wind. She’s been single for several years and is very lonely with a history of several failures on Match and Harmony. Little does she know that she’s about to fall in love with the 25 year old carpenter who is making repairs to her beachside home. A torrid affair follows, carefully followed in the movie, but inevitably at the end of the movie she is dumped for a 23 year old stripper the carpenter meets in the local bar. The movie ends with 40ish woman, yet again, walking along the seashore with the opening music swelling in the background.


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## Guest (Apr 10, 2019)

DaveM said:


> That piece would sound great in the background of a Hallmark movie, opening with a 40ish woman walking along the seashore, blond hair lightly blowing in the wind. She's been single for several years and is very lonely with a history of several failures on Match and Harmony. Little does she know that she's about to fall in love with the 25 year old carpenter who is making repairs to her beachside home. A torrid affair follows, carefully followed in the movie, but inevitably at the end of the movie she is dumped for a 23 year old stripper the carpenter meets in the local bar. The movie ends with 40ish woman, yet again, walking along the seashore with the opening music swelling in the background.


I didn't know what a "Hallmarl movie" was but a quick Google search has enlightened me.
Well, DaveM, your own proposed film treatment is very much in keeping, though I did pick up on that "minimalist" sleight-of-ear, haha!!
I think you need a more post-modernist approach to set your film apart from it's Hallmark nature, maybe more along the lines of Tarantino?
Let's try to re-work your proposition: cue the Einaudi piece in question, cue the 40ish blond, weary-of-love-and-life woman walking along the seashore. Cut to flash-back scene of an ageing, lonely Italian commercial composer tired of churning out the usual crap-but-lucrative music who ...

Over to you DaveM to continue our post-modernist story line....


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## Guest (Apr 10, 2019)

Actually, come to think of it, this could be an idea for a new thread: new and original post-modernist film plots from TalkClassical members and the music that could be used to accompany them.


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## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

More popular than Arvo Part or Michael Nyman?


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

Total crap, obviously. But I kind of like it.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

janxharris said:


> According to The Times newspaper (Monday 8th April 2019) - Einaudi is, _'...the most popular classical artist in the world.'_ - and with a million streams daily it's hard to argue otherwise. Last month he released _Seven Days Walking - Day One_ - the first of seven albums due for release this year...


Good for him. I agree with others that he does fit into that continuum which includes Glass and goes back to Satie. Even John Cage, at least for music like In a Landscape. I like the piano music of Glass and that one piece by Cage, although I'm not so much into Satie apart from the ubiquitous Gymnopedies and cabaret songs. I also like Benny Andersson's recent piano album, which is along similar lines.

There's nothing wrong with armchair music, as Satie called it. While he played piano in dingy cabarets, Einaudi tours the world and does it in concert halls. So what? Isn't this more or less a difference of context? They share a similar aesthetic anyway.

Incidentally, I'm attracted to this idea of mindfulness in music, of nothing. Reading about Cage years ago was one of the things which triggered this off. As I get older I feel less of a need to marinate my mind in the profoundest depths, particularly when coming home after a hard day. Many times now I enjoy silence - or what amounts to it - in these periods of winding down.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

Sid James said:


> Good for him. I agree with others that he does fit into that continuum which includes Glass and goes back to Satie. Even John Cage, at least for music like In a Landscape. I like the piano music of Glass and that one piece by Cage, although I'm not so much into Satie apart from the ubiquitous Gymnopedies and cabaret songs. I also like Benny Andersson's recent piano album, which is along similar lines.
> 
> There's nothing wrong with armchair music, as Satie called it. While he played piano in dingy cabarets, Einaudi tours the world and does it in concert halls. So what? Isn't this more or less a difference of context? They share a similar aesthetic anyway.
> 
> Incidentally, I'm attracted to this idea of mindfulness in music, of nothing. Reading about Cage years ago was one of the things which triggered this off. As I get older I feel less of a need to marinate my mind in the profoundest depths, particularly when coming home after a hard day. Many times now I enjoy silence - or what amounts to it - in these periods of winding down.


That's a surprise - John Cage's _In a Landscape_.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Concerning the comparison of Einaudi with Satie, there is, after all, more provocative elements found in Satie's work - also sought-after provocation, though IMO he can often be felt involuntarily boring and less iconoclastic nowadays.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

janxharris said:


> That's a surprise - John Cage's _In a Landscape_...


It was a pleasant surprise indeed when I first heard it, on Francesco Tristano's BachCage album. It also includes The Seasons, but that is different, its one of his dance scores.



joen_cph said:


> Concerning the comparison of Einaudi with Satie, there is, after all, more provocative elements found in Satie's work - also sought-after provocation, though IMO he can often be felt involuntarily boring and less iconoclastic nowadays.


Provocative, eccentric, even radical. His influence on music since can't be overestimated.

Satie's music goes from the cafes-cabarets to what are now seen as prototypes of performance art (e.g. Vexations, Parade, Relache).

He was also a man of his time, taking interest in modal music at the same time as organists and academics in Paris (including the institution where he later studied, the Schola Cantorum).

I think that it's interesting how his legacy is so varied. Cage did various ambient pieces, some for specific spaces like lobbies (one called HPSCHD was originally performed in this context). I've heard Gymnopedies piped out at a supermarket. So it makes me think of how this type of aesthetic transcends the divide between low and high art. I agree that it's no longer iconoclastic, so Einaudi fits into it quite well.


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