Remixed Classical-ish Music

June 6, 2024 7:46 AM

I’ve been enjoying Max Richter’s Recomposed Vivaldi and Lara Downes’ Rhapsody in Blue Reimagined. Both of these recordings take music that I have listened to my whole life and present it in new and surprising ways, and I am looking for more like this. Your recommendations are much appreciated!
posted by gauche to Media & Arts (28 answers total)

Anna Meredith's Anno is a reworking of Vivaldi's Four Seasons.

The Naked Carmen by David Hess & John Corigliano is a trippy synthy take on Bizet's Carmen. It's up on youtube.
posted by moonmilk at 7:58 AM on June 6

...also available for download as a single mp3 here
posted by Rash at 8:06 AM on June 6

Peter Gregson - Bach Cello Suites Recomposed
Three of the tracks on Vikingur Olafsson’s Philip Glass Piano Works disc are recompositions.
posted by matildaben at 8:08 AM on June 6 [1 favorite]

Classical music was reimagined electronically in the 1970s with synthesizers. You're probably familiar with the work of Wendy Carlos (so much Bach!) but here's some lesser-knowns:

• Hans Wurman made an LP, The Moog Strikes Bach which has Chopin's "Turkish March" (as well as the the most frenetic Kleine Nachtmusik you'll ever experience)
• Similarly harsh to modern ears, Everything You Ever Wanted to Hear on the Moog (But You Were Afraid to Ask For) has a "Bolero" as well as Carmen's "Prelude to Act 1" with the Toreadors.

I'll leave it to others to dig up links to the disco-beats of Hooked On Classics from a few years later.
posted by Rash at 8:24 AM on June 6

William Orbit did a whole album of reimagined classical music called Pieces in a Modern Style. The most famous remix of a track from this album, by some distance, is the Ferry Corsten remix of Barber's Adagio For Strings, which is an absolute banger of a track.

On the subject of disco I assume you're familiar with A Fifth of Beethoven but if not, omg enjoy.
posted by underclocked at 8:35 AM on June 6

There's Deodato's take on Also Sprach Zarathustra. .
posted by knile at 8:44 AM on June 6 [4 favorites]

The album Blues on Bach by the Modern Jazz Quartet has some great tracks where my brain is like, wait, is that Bach? Yes, yes it is!
posted by Arctostaphylos at 9:29 AM on June 6 [1 favorite]

From my Alternate Classical playlist, FWIW:
David Garrett:
- Toccata
- Peer Gynt
- The 5th
- Vivaldi vs. Vertigo
- Mission Impossible
- I'll Stand By You (Violin)
California Guitar Trio Rocks the West
- Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, 1st Movement
posted by forthright at 10:13 AM on June 6

Reich Remixed from 1999.
posted by mkb at 12:07 PM on June 6

Flautist Hubert Laws' 1971 album Rite of Spring contains jazz interpretations of classics, including Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, Faure's Pavane, Debussy's Syrinx, and Bach's 3rd Brandenburg concerto. Other musicians include Ron Carter on bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums. I see it's on Youtube.

Ron Carter's 1993 album Friends (apparently released in 1992 as With Celli) with Hubert Laws and others contains their interpretations of more classics, as well as songs from other genres.
posted by JonJacky at 1:16 PM on June 6

Uri Caine has a bunch of jazz-tinged versions of Mahler, Wagner, Mozart, Bach, and others, including:
* Urlicht / Primal Light (Mahler)
* Wagner e Venezia
* The Goldberg Variations
* Love Fugue: Robert Schumann
I also enjoy Duke Ellington's take on The Nutcracker Suite.
posted by Jasper Fnorde at 2:20 PM on June 6 [1 favorite]

This is maybe a bit left-field, but Sorabji's "3 Pastiches" for Piano are sort of remixes avant la lettre of canonical works, back when the only way you could "remix" was to write down a score.
posted by dis_integration at 2:23 PM on June 6

John Adams' Absolute Jest is based on fragments of Beethoven's string quartets
posted by riddley at 3:37 PM on June 6 [1 favorite]

serpentwithfeet — Four Ethers is a sort of remix/sampling of Berlioz's "March to the Gallows"
posted by Johnny Assay at 7:01 PM on June 6

Symbol by Susuma Yokota samples various well-known French classical pieces.
posted by matildaben at 8:11 PM on June 6

This thread is a perfect example of why I love this community. There is so much here to deepen and expand my appreciation for nuanced and profoundly beautiful art.
posted by nandaro at 8:14 PM on June 6 [1 favorite]

There’s also this stunning version by folksinger Tift Merritt of Purcell’s aria When I Am Laid In Earth.
posted by matildaben at 8:14 PM on June 6

And more Glass remixes by indie and electronica artists.
posted by matildaben at 8:17 PM on June 6

Sorrow - a reimagining of Gorecki's 3rd Symphony by Colin Stetson is wonderful.
posted by SageLeVoid at 2:46 AM on June 7

Brian Eno's variations on Pachelbel's Canon from D (Discreet Music album) and John Williams' 80s band Sky notably their version of Bach's Toccata.
posted by amestoy at 4:05 AM on June 7 [1 favorite]

Ooh, here's another one: Steven Stucky's Funeral Music for Queen Mary (after Purcell)
posted by Johnny Assay at 4:48 AM on June 7

Vanessa-Mae recorded both classical and classical-pop albums. The Violin Player has a couple of remixed classical tracks, including Bach's Toccata and Fugue. Storm has a few as well, e.g. Vivaldi's summer and Bach's Preludio from the E major Partita (Bach Street Prelude).

Vikingur Olafsson (already mentioned, love to see it) did two albums of Bach Reworks 1, 2 Honestly, just listen to everything he's done. And watch his YouTube videos. Love him.

Brad Mehldau also has two albums "After Bach" 1, 2

The Glenn Gould Foundation invited artists to sample Glenn Gould's recordings (lots of negative feedback on Youtube lol), 2020 album; 2021 album

Nigel Kennedy, whose Vivaldi Four Seasons is one of the best selling classical albums, remixed it. Album link.

Carsten Dahl remixed the Goldberg Variations on prepared piano.

Youtubers:

Andre Antunes plays a lot of classical on electric guitar.

Charles Berthoud plays some classical on electric bass as well.

Lionel Yu also has a lot of classical remixes.

The Goldberg Variations upside down?!

If you search "classical music remixes" on YouTube, you'll get a bunch of hits. Enjoy!
posted by foxjacket at 7:39 AM on June 7

Maybe not at all what you're looking for, but back in the day I was obsessed with Malcolm McLaren's take on Madame Butterfly
posted by Bron at 7:56 AM on June 7 [1 favorite]

Steven Stucky's Funeral Music for Queen Mary (after Purcell)

It's nice, however I mentioned Wendy Carlos and this music is 'really' her theme from Kubrick's 1972 A Clockwork Orange. Steven Stucky's is so tame, in comparison; I prefer driving around with Carlos' version at maximum volume but somebody's taken my desires in a different direction with this ten-hour remix.
posted by Rash at 8:16 AM on June 7

Also, there is a whole category of novelty or comical performances of "serious" music . Spike Jones and his band did many of these in the 1940s and 50s. More recently, there was the Portsmouth Sinfonia. The Sinfonia was generally open to anyone and ended up drawing players who were either people without musical training or, if they were musicians, ones that chose to play an instrument that was entirely new to them." Brian Eno played in the Symphonia and produced two of their albums.
posted by JonJacky at 1:02 PM on June 7

When I was in middle school, my music class did a unit on Modest Mussorgsky's suite Pictures at an Exhibition. One of the four albums of the suite we listened to was the progressive rock version by Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 6:33 PM on June 7 [1 favorite]

It's worth finding transcriptions of pieces of music for other instruments; for example classical pieces reworked for brass. Grimethorpe Colliery Band's playing of Fauré's Pavane is wonderfully sensitive, for example: https://youtu.be/zMVXq9jalao
posted by vincebowdren at 7:37 AM on June 8

Response by poster: So many good and interesting recommendations. I'm not sure I can mark a best answer for a question like this but thank you all so much!
posted by gauche at 3:24 AM on June 11