Post by Dave on Jan 26, 2006 23:19:16 GMT
You may have noticed in the new US crossover chart I just posted (Latest Chart News) that the East Village Opera Company have gone up to no. 4 in the chart, two places above Odyssey. So I thought I'd find out more about them and their music!
What I learned is that they are not at all what I expected - I thought they'd be a cross between Il Divo and a group of real opera singers i.e more classical than Il Divo. They are not!
I think I'd describe their album as Il Divo meets Bond, Amici Forever and... Electric Light Orchestra (from the 1970s!). They sound to me like a PROGRESSIVE ROCK band but with an exclusively classical repertoire - and a sound closer to rock than classical.
The problem I have with this is that the 1970s etc. prog. rock bands (that I heard) usually played original compositions so there was no question of them being described as classical or anything like it. The question is... should what seems to be a rock band playing classical compositions - with primarily rock band instruments - be classed as classical crossover? Is it a step too far - even for crossover? I wish I knew the answer!
Perhaps it's time to redefine the genre into two halves: Classical Crossover and Pop Crossover? East Village Opera Company are, to my ears, the latter. Or simply... Progressive Rock (which I absolutely LOVED back then) reinvented?
Samples and videos are available at iClassics
If anyone who doesn't know is interested in finding out about the Progressive Rock boom starting around 1970, theres a brilliant essay about it (listing all the groups) over at All Music.com but you may have to sign up first to read it (free) and/or do an All Music or Google search for "Progressive Rock Richie Unterberger"
Cheers, Dave
What I learned is that they are not at all what I expected - I thought they'd be a cross between Il Divo and a group of real opera singers i.e more classical than Il Divo. They are not!
I think I'd describe their album as Il Divo meets Bond, Amici Forever and... Electric Light Orchestra (from the 1970s!). They sound to me like a PROGRESSIVE ROCK band but with an exclusively classical repertoire - and a sound closer to rock than classical.The problem I have with this is that the 1970s etc. prog. rock bands (that I heard) usually played original compositions so there was no question of them being described as classical or anything like it. The question is... should what seems to be a rock band playing classical compositions - with primarily rock band instruments - be classed as classical crossover? Is it a step too far - even for crossover? I wish I knew the answer!
Perhaps it's time to redefine the genre into two halves: Classical Crossover and Pop Crossover? East Village Opera Company are, to my ears, the latter. Or simply... Progressive Rock (which I absolutely LOVED back then) reinvented?
Samples and videos are available at iClassics
If anyone who doesn't know is interested in finding out about the Progressive Rock boom starting around 1970, theres a brilliant essay about it (listing all the groups) over at All Music.com but you may have to sign up first to read it (free) and/or do an All Music or Google search for "Progressive Rock Richie Unterberger"
Cheers, Dave
