Compositions I like

by Forrest Sheng Bao http://fsbao.net

Chinese origin in 2006-12-27

There are two major reasons I study German. One is the advanced technology of Germany. The other is the music, both pop and classic, in Germany and Austria.

I like music. Generally, I am a choosy pop music fan, also a choosy classic music fan- that I need musics to make me excited.

I don't like most pop songs that young people like. Most pop song nowadays are garbage, meaningless, art-free, and lacking of humor sense. BTW, I hate many pussy pop musics from China mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong, or even Korean and Japan, about love between boys and girls, some stuff like that.

If you wanna make me love one pop song, either the lyric is fun, or the rhythmic is fun. I prefer many German bands. I can work fast when hearing the heavy mental melody, just as soldiers are brave when hearing the marches. The two ones I like the most are Amerika (America) by Rammstein and Deustchland (Germany) by Die Prinzen (The Prince). For example, Amerika is quite humorous. It wanna represent the fact that we all live in America coz the entire world is now effected by the United States. So one scene is that band members are surrounding a box, maybe a piano, on which there is a poster of Star Trek, a famous US Sci-Fi TV shows.

PS: Funny, the titles of these two songs are the name of the two countries speaking the only two languages that I can understand beyond my native language, Chinese.

Since there are not enough pop music that I like to listen, in most of the time, I listen to classic musics. Mozart, Beethoven and Dvořák are composers I like the most. The Eine Kleine nachtmusik of Mozart ("A little night music", Serenade for strings in G major), The 5 Symphony of Beethoven(famous for the four-note "short-short-short-long" motif twice, lkisten) and "From the New World" of Dvořák (Symphony No. 9, in E Minor, named because Dvořák composed in United States, the new world to Europe), are three symphonies most frequently played on my computer. I like these compositions for their melody make me full of energy, so that I am not tired any more.

There are another two composers, not that "classic" I don't know how to classify their works. One is the Greece composer Yanni. The other is the "March King" John Sousa.

I knew Yanni from the MP3 player of a friend, Lavi Chen, in Pennsylvania State University. I heard the Santorini (listen) , one of Yanni's most famous work, from his MP3 player. Then I asked him, "Who made it"? Lavi said, Yanni. So I googled on the Internet and listened samples of his music. The "Mozart effect" in his works attracted me as Mozart's composition. So I ordered a CD collection covering many parts of his famous concert "Yanni at Acropolis". I also like the "dreaming" titles of his compositions, such as "Nice to meet you", "You only live once", "One Man's Dream", "Keys to imagination".

John Sousa's works are so famous and widely played that I knew who composed them many years after I heard the "Star And Stripes Forever", his most famous march. As the effect of other marches, his works make me vigorous and durable, like "Gladiator March", "Hands Across The Sea", etc.

Oh, yeah, I almost forget the operas. Actually I just like a part of a opera rather than the entire work. For example, the overture of "William Tell" by Rossini, based on the play of Schiller, the overture of "Le nozze di Figaro" (The Marriage of Figaro) by Mozart, the "Brindisi" (The Drinking Song?) of "La Traviata"(The Woman Who Strayed/The Fallen One) by Verdi, "Nessun Dorma(No one sleeps)" in "Turandot" by Puccini.

Musical play is a new form of music but very similar to opera. There is one composer I like. Well, he is too famous, Webber. Maybe you will ask who he is. Well, I think you definitely heard the song, "Don't cry for Me Argentina" of "Madonna". This song is from one of Webber's famous musical play, "Evita". I really don't like "Cats", coz I can't understand the plot. Fool is as fool does. But I like "Evita" and "The Phantom of the Opera" very much. What a pity, I only watched movies written based on them, not the real musical play.

Well, what's next? I am too tired, so allow me to finish in "Con te partirò"(Time to Say Goodbye). I like the version sung by Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli. Here is one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_0FsKiS8rg