Classical Chillout - Pachelbel,Mozart,Beethoven,Debussy,Janacek,Bach,Handel

Definitively the Best Classical Covers of Pop Songs

By Daniel Ross, ClassicFM London

One of the great things about classical musicians is that they’re always up for a cover version. Here are the best classical covers of pop songs on the internet, from Taylor Swift to Michael Jackson.

image: http://assets5.classicfm.com/2016/41/classical-covers-of-pop-songs-1476272346-article-0.jpg

Taylor Swift - Blank Space (Brooklyn Duo)

The cloying eagerness to settle down balanced by the whimsy of living your youth with abandon… Argh, it just feels so real! And even without the lyrics, Brooklyn Duo get it across beautifully.

Mark Ronson - Uptown Funk (Electric Colour Orchestra)

A monster hit that requires its performers to convey as much charisma as Bruno Mars. Do these guys manage it? (YES.)

Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody (Nicholas Hersh)

One of the all-time greats in the pop rep, Bohemian Rhapsody has been reimagined in countless different and inventive ways. But here, turning it into a kind of viola concerto, it sounds like it’s never sounded before.

Adele - Skyfall (Ji Liu)

Classy, solemn, exciting - and that’s just the Adele version. When pianist Ji Liu gets hold of it, though, Skyfall becomes that little bit more heightened.

Play

Ji Liu plays Skyfall

When James Bond meets Rachmaninov

04:03

image: http://cf.c.ooyala.com/N2M29udzoV_6c7V-T_WDNNLiIJkjne2N/rQqFhpGihXXoLKSn4xMDoxOjA4MTsiGN

Nicki Minaj - Anaconda (Lara St. John)

One of the most bonkers pop songs in recent years is given a performance art twist in this invigorating chamber performance.

Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal (2CELLOS)

The King of Pop is ripe for classical reinterpretation, and many have tried - especially with Smooth Criminal. But the boys from 2CELLOS had it nailed when they stripped the whole song back and let the intensity come to the fore.

Let It Go - Idina Menzel (The Piano Guys)

This list wouldn’t be complete without the Piano Guys, who arguably kickstarted this whole movement for classical covers of pop songs in the YouTube generation. Their delicate mash-ups (on this occasion they’ve paired the Disney classic with some Vivaldi) are as ingenious as they are infectious, and this might just be their best one.

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Discover Music

Schindler's List - John Williams (Violin & Piano)

Csárdás - Vittorio Monti (Violin & Piano)

Relaxation Piano Music - Chopin /Relaxierende Klaviermusik - Chopin

 great

Do you wish to relax with wonderful classical music by the great composer Frederic Chopin?



Moechten Sie ein wenig mit wunderbarer klassische Musik eines grossartigen Komponisten wie Frederic Chopin relaxen?

Music for Brain Power / Musik fuer Gedaechtnistraining

Music for Brain Power / Musik fuer Gedaechtnistraining

Jazz Melodies in Piano - Jazz Standards Piano Versions

Jazz Melodies, Jazzmeldodien, Standards, Klavierversionen. Enjoy listening. Viel Spass beim Zuhoeren.

A Haydn Minuet and Trio Sounds Exactly the Same Played Back- and Forwards

Did you know: This Haydn minuet and trio sounds exactly the same played backwards as it does forwards

By Elizabeth Davis, Classic FM London

An enterprising YouTuber has shown that the minuet and trio movements from Haydn's Symphony No.47 sound the same backwards and forwards… and it’s pretty awesome

image: http://assets9.classicfm.com/2016/37/haydn-palindrome-symphony-asset-1473773299-article-0.jpg

However great a piece of music is, it usually sounds pretty pants when it’s played backwards.

But not Haydn’s Minuet and Trio from his Symphony No.47 – nicknamed ‘The Palindrome’ – because Haydn used a neat bit of musical trickery to create a piece that's perfectly symmetrical.

Haydn wrote a ridiculous number of symphonies – 104 in fact. And we made one member of the team listen to them all.

Here’s why it’s called ‘The Palindrome’

The second part of the Minuet is the same music as the first part – but in reverse. And the same thing happens in the Trio .

Here’s the score of the melody from the minuet to demonstrate:

image: http://assets.classicfm.com/2016/37/haydn-palindrome-symphony-1473771572.jpg

Here's what the movement sounds like performed live:

And just in case you're in any doubt that the piece *is* actually a palindrome, one muso geek on YouTube has actually reversed the audio, just to prove the whole Minuet and Trio is really and truly the same backwards as it is forwards.

First you'll hear the whole Minuet and Trio movement played in reverse, before the real version.

Music geek of YouTube, we salute you.

Haydn is known as a bit of a musical trickster – he also wrote the ‘Surprise’ Symphony designed to wake up audience members who chose to doze through his musical creations.

He also wrote the ‘Joke’ string quartet which has a couple of “fake” endings to trick unsuspecting audience members into applauding too early. The cheeky chappy.

Quiz: How good is your taste in music?

By Daniel Ross, ClassicFM London

Answer these questions, and we'll tell you how much of a discerning consumer you are.

Good taste, bad taste, it's all part of life's rich tapestry, right? WRONG. Getting good taste in music is one of the most important developmental stages in any human being's life, and so we thought we'd make sure you were on the right track.

Just answer these simple questions, and we'll tell you if you've got great taste, good taste, OK taste or truly awful taste. Let us know how you get on in the comments below, if you feel you can admit your result.

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Music Quizzes

The Oldest Melody in Existence ...

– and it’s utterly enchanting

By Elizabeth Davis, ClassicFM London

The Hurrian Hymn was discovered in the 1950s on a clay tablet inscribed with Cuneiform text. It’s the oldest surviving melody and is over 3400 years old.

image: http://assets9.classicfm.com/2016/35/oldest-song-melody-1472638078-article-1.jpg

The hymn was discovered on a clay tablet in Ugarit, now part of modern-day Syria, and is dedicated the Hurrians’ goddess of the orchards Nikkal.

The clay tablet text, which was discovered alongside around 30 other tablet fragments, specifies 9 lyre strings and the intervals between those strings – kind of like an ancient guitar tab.

But this is the only hymn that could be reconstructed – although the name of the composer is now lost.

Here it is:

image: http://assets.classicfm.com/2016/35/musical-score-from-ugarit-clay-tablet-from-ugarit-with-the-hurrian-hymn-13th-cent-bc-1472635579.jpg

Picture: Getty

Doesn’t look much like music does it…?

The system of music notation we use now wasn’t invented until 1000 AD. This is something altogether different.

The notation here is essentially a set of instructions for intervals and tuning based around a heptatonic diatonic scale. There’s much more detail about the precise language and instructions here .

The lyrics are very difficult to translate, but one academic has come up with this rendering of them:

‘Once I have endeared the deity, she will love me in her heart,
the offer I bring may wholly cover my sin, 
bringing sesame oil may work on my behalf in awe may I'

Here's the whole haunting melody

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Playing Music From the Masters

Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto Played on a Chinese Erhu

...sounds devastatingly lyrical

By Daniel Ross, Classic FM London

Tchaikovsky’s gorgeous violin concerto has long been one of the instrument’s greatest melodies. But it also works for other instruments…

image: http://assets6.classicfm.com/2016/33/tchaikovsky-violin-concerto-erhu-1471427558-article-0.jpg

The Erhu is more commonly used for traditional Chinese music and only occasionally ventures into Western music - but this exception is utterly beautiful.

For some reason, the lyrical themes of Tchaikovsky’s classic violin concerto in D lend themselves perfectly to the wispy tones of the Erhu, as this excellent rendition proves:

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