# The odd and bizzare of classical music? (but still good)



## Manok (Aug 29, 2011)

I'd like to know of the weird and bizarre things you've come across from all time periods, most of the bizarre things I've come across is from the modern era, and I'd like to open it up to all eras, it can be, but not limited to unusual combinations of instruments, (There is a Beethoven Octet I am thinking of in particular with this) Or something that is unusual but still sounds really cool (Schnittke's "St. Florian" Symphony is my example here.) So, what have you come across that you like that's just plain weird?


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

You may have just started a 20+ page thread on the definitions of "odd" and "bizarre."

For the Baroque, my favorite example is the "chaos" movement that opens Rebel's _Les élémens_.

I think a lot of modern people would find the glass harmonica "odd," so they might include all those compositions even by people like Mozart.

I'd say that from the early 20th century until now, it doesn't make sense to talk about "odd" or "bizarre," except from a very personal POV. Anything has gone for a long time. And thank goodness for it!


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

Albrechtsberger wrote some concerti for jaw harp and strings.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

Berio's Visage is odd and a bit disturbing. And I mean that in a good way.


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## Guest (Jan 4, 2015)

I recently discovered Alvin Lucier's _I Am Sitting In Room_ after mentions by someguy. I played it as my _nachtmusik_, thinking the speech patterns might just put me at ease (and to sleep) like Feldman can. However, I became obsessed with "damn, what's the NEXT part gonna sound like" and didn't go to sleep as quickly as I had hoped.

The next day, I was hanging out with my friend in Dallas, and he's my artsy fartsy friend so we listened to it. We were supposed to be doing other stuff but we ended up just staring at each other and at the ipod and grinning stupidly. Totally sober. For real.

So I guess that one was pretty cool.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

arcaneholocaust said:


> I recently discovered Alvin Lucier's _I Am Sitting In Room_ after mentions by someguy. I played it as my _nachtmusik_, thinking the speech patterns might just put me at ease (and to sleep) like Feldman can. However, I became obsessed with "damn, what's the NEXT part gonna sound like" and didn't go to sleep as quickly as I had hoped.
> 
> The next day, I was hanging out with my friend in Dallas, and he's my artsy fartsy friend so we listened to it. We were supposed to be doing other stuff but we ended up just staring at each other and at the ipod and grinning stupidly. Totally sober. For real.
> 
> So I guess that one was pretty cool.


Just as it is for me with any other piece I consider 'good,' Lucier's _I am sitting in a room_ (full-length version) held my attention fast, all the way through.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

GreenMamba said:


> Berio's Visage is odd and a bit disturbing. And I mean that in a good way.


Brilliant and great piece. Somewhere on TC, there is also a brilliant technical analysis of its form by Jeremy Marchant. (Sorry, sir, if that spelling is incorrect.) The analysis can be a surprising "in your face" for those who criticize modern contemporary music as formless  
Highly recommend both the piece and a read through that analysis


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## Guest (Jan 4, 2015)

PetrB said:


> Just as it is for me with any other piece I consider 'good,' Lucier's _I am sitting in a room_ (full-length version) held my attention fast, all the way through.


Well I wasn't particularly hoping for it to _bore_ me, but, for instance, Morton Feldman's Triadic Memories can have a mesmerizing effect for me that is quite conducive to rest and sleep. Sometimes I end up counting the subtle variations in Feldman's music and I realize they're my counting sheep 

I suppose I suspected rest from Lucier because such a variety of spoken word recalls to me my childhood of falling asleep to old books on tape read by old British geezers.

But then he had to bring me into his vortex of resonant frequencies. I'll never get those 30 extra minutes of sleep back.


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

Haydn's 98th symphony has a piano solo bit in the middle of the finale. That's pretty weird, right?


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## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

Well, this has an amplified teapot in it, which is definitely not usual.




That's not to say it's not a lovely piece though.


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## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

arcaneholocaust said:


> I recently discovered Alvin Lucier's _I Am Sitting In Room_ after mentions by someguy. I played it as my _nachtmusik_, thinking the speech patterns might just put me at ease (and to sleep) like Feldman can. However, I became obsessed with "damn, what's the NEXT part gonna sound like" and didn't go to sleep as quickly as I had hoped.
> 
> The next day, I was hanging out with my friend in Dallas, and he's my artsy fartsy friend so we listened to it. We were supposed to be doing other stuff but we ended up just staring at each other and at the ipod and grinning stupidly. Totally sober. For real.
> 
> So I guess that one was pretty cool.


I'm listening to that. It's jolly exciting.


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## PeterPowerPop (Mar 27, 2014)

arcaneholocaust said:


> I recently discovered Alvin Lucier's _I Am Sitting In Room_ after mentions by someguy. I played it as my _nachtmusik_, thinking the speech patterns might just put me at ease (and to sleep) like Feldman can. However, I became obsessed with "damn, what's the NEXT part gonna sound like" and didn't go to sleep as quickly as I had hoped.
> 
> The next day, I was hanging out with my friend in Dallas, and he's my artsy fartsy friend so we listened to it. We were supposed to be doing other stuff but we ended up just staring at each other and at the ipod and grinning stupidly. Totally sober. For real.
> 
> So I guess that one was pretty cool.





PetrB said:


> Just as it is for me with any other piece I consider 'good,' Lucier's _I am sitting in a room_ (full-length version) held my attention fast, all the way through.


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

GreenMamba said:


> Berio's Visage is odd and a bit disturbing. And I mean that in a good way.


This piece is a thing of wonder. I own several Berio recordings, but despite having been on my radar for awhile, I've yet to give him due attention. A Berio binge is forthcoming.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

A madrigal composer by the name of Gesualdo.


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

SONNET CLV said:


> A madrigal composer by the name of Gesualdo.


Talking of madrigals:


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## trazom (Apr 13, 2009)

John Cage's "Suite for Toy Piano" seemed like a bizarre concept to me, but I still liked it and even found myself laughing out loud at some parts:






Special thanks to science for playing it in our first chatroom session.

I should mention, I do find the adagio and rondo for glass harmonica by Mozart very unusual. It's a great piece of music even if it's difficult to perform(and sometimes listen to) the instrument it's composed for. This seems like one of the few--but also one of the best-- recordings of this beautiful, touching piece:


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## Hmmbug (Jun 16, 2014)

I feel slightly unsafe posting this canon by Mozart; I will leave it up to the listener to search for the translation. But it certainly counts as "weird", no?






There are also the Purcell catches, which are often much bawdier than one would expect in classical music. See for instance:


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

Critics are divided as to whether Bona nox or the earlier Leck mich im arsch is Mozart's minimum opus.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

John Cage, something here to do with a bird's feather and a cactus plant.


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

^
^

I remember a Cornelius Cardew piece where a bloke was having a shave near a microphone. I think Scott Walker must like this kind of thing as one of his more recent albums included the sound of someone punching a hanging pig's carcass. The sound could have easily have been replicated by the fist going into the palm of the other hand, but where would we be without novelty, eh?


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

trazom said:


> John Cage's "Suite for Toy Piano" seemed like a bizarre concept to me, but I still liked it and even found myself laughing out loud at some parts:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It surprised me too. A very special little work.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

elgars ghost said:


> but where would we be without novelty, eh?


That's right! Because the answer is the Stone Age.


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## Guest (Jan 4, 2015)

Alkan's Homage to a Dead Parrot sounds like something Monty Python would do 120 years later!

Marcia funebre, sulla morte d'un Pappagallo for three oboes, bassoon and voices, 1858 or 1859.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Alkan was unaware that the parrot was merely stunned.


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

Just listened to the Nonsense Madrigals
Great fun


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

Not especially bizarre and certainly not outrageous, but I find the instrumentation of Prokofiev's "Lietenant Kije" odd by virtue of the fact that the orchestra has no timpani.


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## Guest (Jan 4, 2015)

Penderecki; Fluorescences for orchestra.

I say "orchestra" but one should perhaps also mention the alarm siren and typewriter.


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## Badinerie (May 3, 2008)

Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges still strikes me as odd having Singers dressed as furniture . Love it to bits, but a bit odd? yep!


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

techniquest said:


> Not especially bizarre and certainly not outrageous, but I find the instrumentation of Prokofiev's "Lietenant Kije" odd by virtue of the fact that the orchestra has no timpani.


Neither does Messiaen's Turangalila Symphony, despite using just about every other percussion instrument he knew.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

Hmmbug said:


> I feel slightly unsafe posting this canon by Mozart; I will leave it up to the listener to search for the translation. But it certainly counts as "weird", no?


Hot ****! Who was the lucky Valentine to receive this offering? Lotte...?


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Steve Reich's _Four Organs:_


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## spradlig (Jul 25, 2012)

"It's probably pining for the fjords!"
ut:


KenOC said:


> Alkan was unaware that the parrot was merely stunned.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

This is a weird piece by Marcel Duchamp. He drops numbered balls in bins, and how they land determines what is played. The piece starts at 7:00.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

arcaneholocaust said:


> I recently discovered Alvin Lucier's _I Am Sitting In Room_ after mentions by someguy. I played it as my _nachtmusik_, thinking the speech patterns might just put me at ease (and to sleep) like Feldman can. However, I became obsessed with "damn, what's the NEXT part gonna sound like" and didn't go to sleep as quickly as I had hoped.


You might be interested in Kirkegaard's 4 Rooms, using the same concept but with white noise. Here's a link to one of the rooms:


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## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

Manxfeeder said:


> You might be interested in Kirkegaard's 4 Rooms, using the same concept but with white noise. Here's a link to one of the rooms:


I think I prefer the Lucier, because one can actually hear the transformation, and the text utself is quite interesting. That said, the Kirkegaard is interesting too.


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## SilverSurfer (Sep 13, 2014)

My favourite, and I think Kirkegaard's most original work is this one:

http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/catalogue/tone_35_jacob_kirkegaard_labyr.html


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

techniquest said:


> Not especially bizarre and certainly not outrageous, but I find the instrumentation of Prokofiev's "Lieutenant Kije" odd by virtue of the fact that the orchestra has no timpani.


Well, the original concert version (it was first incidental music for a play) with a baritone singing the _Romance_ and the _Troika_, and of that last with the sleigh bells, more than make up for the absence of timpani.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Love Rameau and digging the bizzarre chicken dance routine for ballet here:


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)




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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)




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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

MoonlightSonata said:


> I think I prefer the Lucier, because one can actually hear the transformation, and the text utself is quite interesting. That said, the Kirkegaard is interesting too.


You might find Robert Ashley's music to your liking.


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## Piwikiwi (Apr 1, 2011)

albertfallickwang said:


> Love Rameau and digging the bizzarre chicken dance routine for ballet here:


I own this DVD but I haven't watched it in its entirety yet.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Piwikiwi said:


> I own this DVD but I haven't watched it in its entirety yet.


Nice... someone was great enough to upload the whole DVD onto YouTube in fact ... dang it no English subtitles however.


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## Manok (Aug 29, 2011)

Manxfeeder said:


> This is a weird piece by Marcel Duchamp. He drops numbered balls in bins, and how they land determines what is played. The piece starts at 7:00.


I'm amazed the title got published in 1913... Essentially: the bride gets stripped by her men.


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## bharbeke (Mar 4, 2013)

PDQ Bach's material is a little on the odd side.


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