# Classical music played by non-classical musicians



## verandai (Dec 10, 2021)

Recently I discovered this video below - I find the performance quite refreshing, despite of the poor sound quality!

I know they both also played classical music - but mainly when they were children. Also they obviously don't have the experience in performing classical music compared to classical musicians. But considering that, it's pretty good in my opinion!

I think this was a nice experiment! What do you think? Do you know other similar examples? Hopefully with a better sound quality 

Please ignore the painful typos of the person who uploaded the video:


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

Please don't post Al DiMeola playing Bach on classical guitar.


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## John Zito (Sep 11, 2021)

I thought this was very good:






For comparison:


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Keith Jarrett has recorded quite a lot of classical music, including excellent sets of both Handel's and Bach's recorder sonatas with the great Michala Petri.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Sting singing Dowland


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Of course, I'm here to raise the standards, and set new highs. So ....






I _do_ wonder about the candelabra. Perhaps Liberace should try to perform this to moonlight, not candle light.


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## KevinJS (Sep 24, 2021)

Here's a decent selection:

Steinway To Heaven (Hope this works. It should be a playlist with a dozen entries)


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## RICK RIEKERT (Oct 9, 2017)

John Lewis, American jazz pianist and musical director of the Modern Jazz Quartet, loved his Bach. English critic Max Harrison said that Lewis had "succeeded where all others have failed in grafting a number of classical devices into the technique of jazz without doing violence to the spirit of the music."


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## John Zito (Sep 11, 2021)

Here's a neat little database of musical quotes featured in Charlie Parker's solos. Includes Chopin, Stravinsky, Rossini, Bizet, etc.

http://www.chasinthebird.com/quotes_e.html


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

Jarrett recorded successfully such an amount of classical pieces (both on harpsichord and piano, Bach, Handel, Mozart, Shostakovich...) that I hesitate to count him as "non-classical".
The album from the 1980s with Corea and Gulda playing the Mozart double concerto (cond. Harnoncourt!) and pieces of their own is also quite good. I have not heard the other Corea disc with Mozart (the stuff with Bobby McFerrin is a bit silly, funny once but hardly for repeated listening, I think).

I've been rather disappointed by all the efforts of non-classical singers I have heard. Sting's Dowland is bearable. 
I disliked Streisand (Schubert, Bach, whatever), Baez (Bachiana and some more) and Wader (a German songwriter who made a Schubert album in the 1970s or 80s) sufficiently to never want to hear their classical recordings again. There are so many failures at Weill's songs from all directions that it seems unfair to single out only the ones from the non-classical department...


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Benny Goodman attempting the Nielsen Clarinet Concerto....Al Hirt trying the Haydn Trumpet Concerto....no thanx....


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

I cherish the CBS/Sony Goodman album with Bartok, Stravinsky, Copland, Gould and Bernstein for historical and other reasons but I think the pieces closest to jazz (Gould and Bernstein) are clearly the best on that anthology. I never heard his Nielsen; the pre-war Mozart clarinet quintet is o.k. but nothing special.


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## John Zito (Sep 11, 2021)

Art Tatum playing Dvořák:


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

Uri Caine has made some very interesting arrangements of Classical music for a Jazz ensemble. He's done the Golddberg Vaitations and another record of collection of variations, e.g. Diabelli.

The Goldberg Variations










Classical Variations










IIRC he's also recorded some Mahler transcriptions.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Florence Foster Jenkins


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## Shaughnessy (Dec 31, 2020)

Emerson, Lake, and Palmer - From Copland's "Rodeo - "***-Down"

How strange... I can't write the first word of the title which is spelled "H" -"O" - "E" - without those asterisks appearing. "H" "O", i totally get - They probably don't want us to write about our bitches and ho's - but how are we supposed to write about gardening if we can't use the word "***"?

Again... How strange... You can actually write "bitches and ho's" without being censored and yet, if you add an "E" to "HO" - out come the asterisks.... That is just so ******* stupid...

Strange but true - "Keith Emerson was born on 2 November 1944 in Todmorden, West Yorkshire. The family had been evacuated from southern England during World War II, after which they returned south *and settled in Goring-by-Sea, West Sussex.*"

If it wasn't for the Americans, they would have "settled in Hermann Göring-by-Sea, West Sussex."

:lol:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Emerson


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Les Dawson with John Williams


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Kreisler jr said:


> I cherish the CBS/Sony Goodman album with Bartok, Stravinsky, Copland, Gould and Bernstein for historical and other reasons but I think the pieces closest to jazz (Gould and Bernstein) are clearly the best on that anthology. I never heard his Nielsen; the pre-war Mozart clarinet quintet is o.k. but nothing special.


Yes, the jazzy pieces are ok -good...
the Nielsen is awful, unlistenable, he just cant play it...never understood why they recorded it or released it.


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## KevinJS (Sep 24, 2021)

Shaughnessy said:


> 15 posts and no prog rock? - For shame... for shame...
> 
> Emerson, Lake, and Palmer - From Copland's "Rodeo - "***-Down"
> 
> ...


It's all good. The word shows up in your video. Funny thing is that the censorship drew attention to the word when I'd never have noticed.

Incidentally, my post includes piano from the keyboardists (now THAT'S a word that should be censored) from Dream Theater, Yes, ELP and Transatlantic, amongst others. I was hoping to find the album complete, but had to settle for the playlist, so only Emerson's performance shows up in the post, but the rest are there.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Shaughnessy said:


> 15 posts and no prog rock? - For shame... for shame...
> 
> Emerson, Lake, and Palmer - From Copland's "Rodeo - "***-Down"
> 
> ...


I ended up with a similar issue in the *Beginner's Guide* thread. I was trying to post the Copland original version, and when discussing it, had this little problem. Weird. The word "h oe" is censored for our protection, even when it's part of the word "h oe-down" (as Copland spelled it), a genre of dance, specifically, a squaredance.


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## Shaughnessy (Dec 31, 2020)

KevinJS said:


> It's all good. The word shows up in your video. Funny thing is that the censorship drew attention to the word when I'd never have noticed.
> 
> Incidentally, my post includes piano from the keyboardists (now THAT'S a word that should be censored) from Dream Theater, Yes, ELP and Transatlantic, amongst others. I was hoping to find the album complete, but had to settle for the playlist, so only Emerson's performance shows up in the post, but the rest are there.


I edited my post accordingly - kudos to KevinJS - :tiphat: - for bringing in Prog rock in # 7.

All I saw was "Dance Creole" on the clip and it just didn't register - I was using my phone - Once I saw the clip on a monitor, I saw the names within the title page. Mea culpa...


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## Shaughnessy (Dec 31, 2020)

pianozach said:


> I ended up with a similar issue in the *Beginner's Guide* thread. I was trying to post the Copland original version, and when discussing it, had this little problem. Weird. The word "h oe" is censored for our protection, even when it's part of the word "h oe-down" (as Copland spelled it), a genre of dance, specifically, a squaredance.


First-class work, by the way, my compliments - You're a genuine credit to the forum - :tiphat:


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## tortkis (Jul 13, 2013)

Branford Marsalis plays French music: Satie, Debussy, Ravel, Milhaud, Fauré, Ibert. I especially enjoyed Ibert's Concertino Da Camera with a nice cadenza.


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

This is wild and outrageous:

_Pilgrim's Chorus_ from _Tannhauser_ by Richard Wagner played by the Stan Kenton Orchestra:


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## KevinJS (Sep 24, 2021)

Coach G said:


> This is wild and outrageous:
> 
> _Pilgrim's Chorus_ from _Tannhauser_ by Richard Wagner played by the Stan Kenton Orchestra:


Interesting, but a bit busy. That reminds me of another piece that uses Tannhäuser:

Annie Haslam/Royal Philharmonic Orchestra - Chains And Threads






Thinking about it, the entire album (Still Life) consists of reworking of classical pieces (Warning: Playlist):


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## fbjim (Mar 8, 2021)

This is debatable, as I think he's classically trained, or at least became classically trained, but Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead likes performing Steve Reich


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## 4chamberedklavier (12 mo ago)

Somewhat off-topic, so I apologize, but wouldn't it be interesting to to see more original classical pieces made for more 'nonclassical' instruments? For example, a long instrumental composition in sonata form made for an electric guitar, electric bass, & a drum set. I'm aware this sort of thing is already being done in prog rock & metal circles, but instrumental music doesn't seem to be widely made in those genres.

For something more topical, you can find many electric guitar covers of the more well-known works. Here are two that I liked:


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## KevinJS (Sep 24, 2021)

4chamberedklavier said:


> Somewhat off-topic, so I apologize, but wouldn't it be interesting to to see more original classical pieces made for more 'nonclassical' instruments? For example, a long instrumental composition in sonata form made for an electric guitar, electric bass, & a drum set. I'm aware this sort of thing is already being done in prog rock & metal circles, but instrumental music doesn't seem to be widely made in those genres.
> 
> For something more topical, you can find many electric guitar covers of the more well-known works. Here are two that I liked:


Sounds like what you are asking for is something like Yngwie J Malmsteen's Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra in E flat minor, opus 1


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Here's Aretha Franklin singing Nessun Dorma. I'm pretty much indifferent to opera, so I have no critical discernment regarding good operatic singing, but just as a listener, her interpretation to me sounds like a bad lounge singer.

[video=dailymotion;x3ixbic]https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3ixbic[/video]


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Black Widow Hands: Mozart K.466/i




Mozart Requiem Dies Irae Guitar Cover


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Heck148 said:


> Benny Goodman attempting the Nielsen Clarinet Concerto....Al Hirt trying the Haydn Trumpet Concerto....no thanx....


Bear in mind that Goodman commissioned a lot of classical music, including Contrasts for Violin, Clarinet, and Piano by Bela Bartok; Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra by Aaron Copland; Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra by Paul Hindemith; Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra by Darius Milhaud; and Derivations for Clarinet and Band by Morton Gould.

My first version of the Mozart concerto and quintet featured Goodman (with the BSO and the Budapest SQ). Can't really remember it, except that I immediately became enamored of the two works.


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

Like Paul Wittgenstein the person a piece was composed for, inspired or commissioned by is not necessarily the best player for that piece, although Goodman fares probably better than Wittgenstein...


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

jegreenwood said:


> Bear in mind that Goodman commissioned a lot of classical music, including Contrasts for Violin, Clarinet, and Piano by Bela Bartok; Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra by Aaron Copland; Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra by Paul Hindemith; Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra by Darius Milhaud; and Derivations for Clarinet and Band by Morton Gould.


Yes, I know, esp the Bartok and Copland....it's just that the Nielsen is beyond his capabilities....


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Boston based avant-prog band, Birdsongs Of The Mesozoic, did a shortened version of "The Right of Spring" on their 1984 album, "Magnetic Flip".


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

The opening song on the self titled ELP debut album, "The Barbarian", is "Allegro Barbaro" by Bartok.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

British prog band, Renaissance did this version of Remo Giazotto's "Adagio in G minor" (which they mistakenly give credit to Tomaso Albinoni on the album).

Either way, it has Annie Haslam's amazing 5 octave voice.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

King Crimson's, "The Devil's Triangle" is pretty much Holst's "Mars, the Bringer of War".


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

I often hoped Frank Sinatra would try a suitably transposed Britten Serenade (maybe with Nelson Riddle and a sax) but never did. Thought it would have been a real hoot! -)


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

Aretha Franklin stepped in at the last minute for an ailing Pavarotti at a Grammys to sing "Nessun Dorma" - exceedingly well.


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

We bassoon players have Daniel Smith recording all of the Vivaldi Bassoon Concertos.

Heck148, I thought these performances were very uneven. What do you think?


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Simon Moon said:


> The opening song on the self titled ELP debut album, "The Barbarian", is "Allegro Barbaro" by Bartok.


*ELP*'s self-titled 1970 debut also included, as the 3rd track something they called *Knife-Edge*, but it was based on the first movement of *Leoš Janáček*'s 1926 orchestral piece *Sinfonietta*, AND an instrumental middle section that includes an extended quotation from the _*Allemande*_ of *Johann Sebastian Bach*'s first *French Suite No. 1 in D minor, BWV 812*, but played on an organ rather than a clavichord or piano.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

arpeggio said:


> We bassoon players have Daniel Smith recording all of the Vivaldi Bassoon Concertos.
> 
> Heck148, I thought these performances were very uneven. What do you think?


Oh boy...Danny Smith....pretty rough going, to say the least...somehow he conned Denon to let him record the complete set....and the competition is ferocious - John Miller, Klaus Thunemann, Tomas Benkocz (Naxos, almost complete, tmk), Maurice Allard!! (never made it to cd, damn!!)


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

Heck148 said:


> Oh boy...Danny Smith....pretty rough going, to say the least...somehow he conned Denon to let him record the complete set....and the competition is ferocious - John Miller, Klaus Thunemann, Tomas Benkocz (Naxos, almost complete, tmk), Maurice Allard!! (never made it to cd, damn!!)


Sadly, for some of the concertos the only recordings available are the Smith.

I am always hopeful the Benkocz will complete the Vivaldi.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

arpeggio said:


> Sadly, for some of the concertos the only recordings available are the Smith.


I can't listen to them...the shortcomiings are just too distracting...


> I am always hopeful the Benkocz will complete the Vivaldi.


I think one more disc would do it...he's almost there...he sounds good...


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

pianozach said:


> *ELP*'s self-titled 1970 debut also included, as the 3rd track something they called *Knife-Edge*, but it was based on the first movement of *Leoš Janáček*'s 1926 orchestral piece *Sinfonietta*, AND an instrumental middle section that includes an extended quotation from the _*Allemande*_ of *Johann Sebastian Bach*'s first *French Suite No. 1 in D minor, BWV 812*, but played on an organ rather than a clavichord or piano.


Of course.

Not sure why I forgot that.


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