[Smt-talk] The Prog-rock Symphony?

[Mark Chilla]

Dmitri,

Sufjan Stevens' newest album, *The BQE* (The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway),
might be along the lines of what you're looking for. It's not exactly
"prog-rock" — his music is more light indie pop — but this album is
completely instrumental, with classical instrumentation, and separated into
movements (as well as a prelude, interludes, and a postlude). It is at times
a little more "classical" than pop-rock. The fourth movement, "Traffic
Shock," also throws in a heavy dose of electronica into the mix. To
complicate matters, it was written to accompany an original film that
Stevens shot, so it's not entirely "absolute" music. However, it's a fun
album nonetheless. Enjoy!

Best,
Mark Chilla
PhD Student in Music Theory
Indiana University




On Wed, Nov 18, 2009 at 6:09 PM, Dmitri Tymoczko <dmitri at princeton.edu>wrote:

> Hi Everyone,
>
> I'm wondering if anyone can help me come up with examples of what I think
> of as the "Prog-rock Symphony" -- album-length, through-composed
> instrumental pieces suggesting some sort of classical influence, however
> vague.
>
> For example, Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells," Zappa's "Grand Wazoo," or
> Jean-Michel Jarre's "Oxygene."
>
> There are lots of examples with vocals; I'm happy to hear everyone's
> favorite instances, but I'm particularly interested in instrumental albums.
>
> Thanks,
> DT
>
> Dmitri Tymoczko
> Associate Professor of Music
> 310 Woolworth Center
> Princeton, NJ 08544-1007
> (609) 258-4255 (ph), (609) 258-6793 (fax)
> http://music.princeton.edu/~dmitri <http://music.princeton.edu/%7Edmitri>
>
>
>
>
>
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