A small assignment request

[methylatedghosts]

Hello, fellow RFers!
Some of you may know I'm now studying music at the New Zealand School of Music.
One of the assignments I need to do for a musicology paper, coming up due in a few weeks, involves listener's reactions to a recorded piece, so I was hoping some of you might be able to help me out in this. All I need, is for you to listen to Edward Elgar's Sea Pictures, and react to it in some way, whether it's in the songs' meaning, or your impression of the music, whether you liked or disliked it, what you thought of this recording... anything at all, really. It shouldn't take much more than 30mins if you're actively listening to it, less if you're doing something else while listening - it is a 22min track, after all

Thanks in advance

 

[bobhikes]

Hello, fellow RFers!
Some of you may know I'm now studying music at the New Zealand School of Music.
One of the assignments I need to do for a musicology paper, coming up due in a few weeks, involves listener's reactions to a recorded piece, so I was hoping some of you might be able to help me out in this. All I need, is for you to listen to Edward Elgar's Sea Pictures, and react to it in some way, whether it's in the songs' meaning, or your impression of the music, whether you liked or disliked it, what you thought of this recording... anything at all, really. It shouldn't take much more than 30mins if you're actively listening to it, less if you're doing something else while listening - it is a 22min track, after all

Thanks in advance

Was bored so I figured why not.

I enjoyed the music but the words and picture did not fit the images I got from the music. It was like the music was telling me a different story from the words and picture. If I blocked out the words it was more enjoyable. If I concentrated on the words less enjoyable. It got annoying half way through. Would have like to separate the 2. This is just wrong a punishment for helping. A beautiful musical score and a beautiful singer but both preforming different songs at the same time. Ahhhhh!

 

[methylatedghosts]

Haha, great response, bobhikes! ^_^

Thanks

 

[Curious George]

I enjoyed this piece. The five songs were strung well together, which is on account of the composer because they were all different. Honestly, it makes me think of death. Perhaps that is personal bias reflecting on my listening experience. Some of the lyrics were cheesy, but what lyrics aren't when you take the time to sit and think about them. I would say that the lyrics were well placed in each of the respective songs nonetheless.

I liked the climaxes in the sea sabbath and also the swimmer. But definitely liked it. The first bit definitely comes off as lullaby-esque. The second a love song. And for this wife and child, (if my sense with the rest of the songs is correct) we should feel an impending sadness because their loved one is not coming home.

 

[methylatedghosts]

Thanks, Curious George
Yeah, cheesy lyrics can be expected - it was composed in 1899, and performed for Queen Victoria

 

[Sunstone]

My ability to appreciate classical music has much to be desired, Luke. I'm more visually oriented than auditorially oriented. That said, the piece wasn't one of the relatively few classic works that I'm able to enjoy. It seemed to me lacking in any hooks that might get me interested in it. I found it undistinguished.

Normally, I wouldn't criticize classical music because I know so little about it, but this work impressed me about as much as elevator music. It seemed flat to me. If it's about the sea, then it must have been inspired by one of those dead calm seas they sometimes have in equatorial regions, and which the sailors remark are as flat as mirrors. There were momentary exceptions to that, but overall, that's how it struck me.

I hope this is helpful with your class!

 

[methylatedghosts]

Perfect, Phil ^_^

Thanks

 

[YmirGF]

At the 1:28 min mark.... uninspiring musical score... unnecessary odd wording. I couldn't imagine standing by the ocean and feeling like singing like this LOL.
2:50 Stifling a yawn and confirming my feelings that Elgar was never one of the truly great composers.
Part 1 finished ... finally....
Part 2 opening has me wishing that a flock of seagulls will buzz the singer in the next few minutes... that would liven things up.
6:46 found me so bored that I opened up my MP3 collection to see how many Elgar tracks I have. 6 tracks. Nope not one of my fave dudes. The music is certainly suitable for watching paint peel and the singing is little better.
9:00 minutes of torture finally complete... might be handy to up the tempo and make this turkey a 5 min song.
12:19 OMG the orchestra just woke up... and then the piece ended. *sigh*
13:00 - 16:25 I like the orchestration on this part, but wish the woman would just stop her caterwauling. It just ruins a lovely piece of music.
16:30 The torture continues. Now at 20:10 good grief does this women ever quit? This music in this part is also somewhat insipid melodramatic over-reach. Hopefully Victoria was not too ticked off at having to endure the endless sonic piffle.
22:31 ---- thank the gods, it's finally over.

No, I don't think I ever want to hear that monstrosity again. Overall, the piece struck me as awkward, at best, written by a composer trying to go above his competency level and failing miserably. How they rehearsed the thing and thought the vocalist was appropriate is beyond me. Hope this helps.

This piece falls under the banner heading of "Things you hear when you don't have a shotgun handy".
Hope this helps

In contrast, a sample of my other Dirs in the Classical section

Elgar - 6 tracks
Banchieri, Adriano - 21 tracks
Bartók, Béla - 9 tracks
Beethoven, Ludwig van - 123 tracks
Dvorak, Antonín - 39 tracks
Mozart - 203 tracks
Prokofiev, Sergei - 13 tracks
Rachmaninov, Sergei Vasilievich - 43 tracks

All in all I have 88 composers in my collection of 965 tracks occupying 11.5 GB of space. So, I'm not a newbie to the genre.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Hello, fellow RFers!

The music did not seem to reflect the image.

 

[methylatedghosts]

Fabulous, guys!
Thanks a bunch ^_^

 

[VioletVortex]

I don't like opera or vocal/choral music of any kind, but I think that this had a decent atmosphere. It definitely makes me think of seafaring, and the sections where the music abruptly intensifies slightly are quite cool, sounding like the weather has gotten more aggressive.