# Metal arrangements of classical pieces



## Glaliraha (May 2, 2010)

What are people's opinions of metal arrangements of classical pieces. I think they can be somewhat hit and miss. I find that it depends on the nature of the original piece and the treatment of the material by the musicians.

Here's an example of a metal arrangement of Mussorgsky's *A Night On Bald Mountain* which I love: 




Here's Khachaturian's _*Sabre Dance*_ by the same band, but I feel that this one misses the point: 




Then there's this one, Orff's _*O Fortuna*_, but many of the original orchestral/choral elements have been retained, which kind of defeats the purpose.

I speak as a musician interested in the best of both worlds, as I am planning to make recordings of metal arrangements of Debussy's _*Jumbo's Lullaby*_ and Ravel's *Bolero* at some point in the near future.


----------



## danslenoir (Nov 24, 2010)

The Miskolc Opera festival normally showcases one symphonic metal band (e.g. Therion, Epica) to play with full orchestra and choir and they normally do some metal versions of classical numbers.

Therion doing "Vedi! Le Fosche Notturne Spotigle" from Verdi's Il Trovatore (at the Miskolc Opera festival)





Therion doing Carl Orff's O Fortuna





Uli Jon Roth doing Vivaldi's Spring from the Four Seasons





Alexi "Wildchild" Laiho and Roope Latvala from Children of Bodom doing Vivaldi's Summer from the Four Seasons





Manowar doing Nessun Dorma





I think metal arrangements of classical pieces are generally pretty poor really, and I say that as a metal fan.


----------



## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

The only thing these atrocious 'arrangements' say to me is "We're too lazy or too untalented to think-up our own music, so we're going to murder this piece instead. Luckily, we know there are people out there stupid enough to listen and pay money for it. We're laughing all the way to the bank!"

Enough said?


----------



## danslenoir (Nov 24, 2010)

Delicious Manager said:


> The only thing these atrocious 'arrangements' say to me is "We're too lazy or too untalented to think-up our own music, so we're going to murder this piece instead. Luckily, we know there are people out there stupid enough to listen and pay money for it. We're laughing all the way to the bank!"
> 
> Enough said?


I think it is grossly unfair to call them "lazy"

All of these artists do write the vast majority of the music they record and play live; don't most professional classical musicians play almost exclusively works written by other composers? I'm not having a dig at classical musicians there, by the way, just pointing out that most metal bands' bread and butter is the music they write themselves.

Sure, the arrangements in these "covers" may not be anywhere near as good as the "original," but if it gets someone who wouldn't normally listen to classical music curious about it, how can that be anything other than a good thing?


----------



## Jean Christophe Paré (Nov 21, 2010)

It may be lazy, but then a lot of classical masters are also lazy for arranging the music of others.


----------



## Glaliraha (May 2, 2010)

Well, certainly not every classical piece is suited to a metal arrangement of it.

With Bolero, I want to show the metalheads just how metal the original orchestral version really is. That piece has to be one of the loudest and heaviest orchestral pieces ever written. The constant 3/4 beat and the 1--1231--1231--1--1--1231--123123123 rhythm repeating also gives off a metal vibe. I'll have the bass guitar come in for the oboe d'amore section, the distortion in the guitars will enter at the same time as the violins begin playing the main melody, etc, etc. This is not going to be a lazy, balls-out heavy Bolero from start to end. I want to faithfully replicate each individual bit from the original orchestration in its metal equivalent.


----------

