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malvarosa wrote

I like this question! I’m into Camille Saint-Saëns’ pieces. If you like piano: Florence Price and Amy Beach are legends. The Coppelia and Swan Lake suites are dope. Everything from William Grant Still is fun and dramatic. I am an amateur ballerina so I have opinions about this music.

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celebratedrecluse wrote

what are your opinions?

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malvarosa wrote

To summarize: too many white dudes.

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celebratedrecluse wrote

To elongate!!

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malvarosa wrote (edited )

Haha welllll, first of all I will credit Garrett McQueen, a “so-called classical” musician and activist, with putting words to these thoughts. His podcast is called Trilloquy and it’s great.

I am mostly referring to music made in the 18th century by the whites:

A good number of the most well-known classical musicians were awful people and, historical context considered, I don’t believe it’s ethical to continue to grant them or their music with a cult-like sacred status. Yet this is exactly how gatekeepers in the so-called classical music scene come to the defense of any pointed critiques of the perpetuation of white supremacy in classical music, classical music programming, and arts programming more broadly.

Just as you would suspect, the naming and interrogation of white supremacy in any institution—classical music especially it seems—is met with ferocious opposition and suppression. In ballet, choreographers, and composers, often receive the same uncritically sacred status.

The institution of Ballet is deeply rooted in white supremacy, and mostly does maintain it through its own mechanisms as well as being complacent with institutional white supremacy of classical music.

Unless arts programmers make conscious and discerning decisions against the perpetuation of racism and those decisions are made by/with BIPOC, ballet and classical music uphold racism both separately and together.

And while I don’t have any real strong opinions on the eradication of so-called classical music from problematic composers, I know that plenty of contemporary musicians and activists are calling for just that. What I’m most concerned about is adding a critical analysis to arts education and programming more generally so that these institutions can do their part to abolish whiteness.

Luckily, there seems to be a growing number of BIPOC and white traitor artists and activists who are working towards these goals and naming white supremacy for what it is. So that’s cool.

Really can’t stress enough how late this type of interrogation into the ubiquity of white supremacy is, considering the evolution of public displays of white power currently. D:<

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malvarosa wrote

Whoops these are not obscure. I cannot comprehend all the things.

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zddy wrote

Berlioz symphonie fantastique.

Not obscure obscure but not exactly mainstream.

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_caspar_ wrote

I too would like to know stranger fringe classical.

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Bezotcovschina wrote (edited )

I don't know if it obscure enough, probably not, but, taking into account my poor knowledge of a classic music, I always enjoyed The Seasons by Tchaikovsky - I remember, when I was a kid, I laid on a sofa for hours listening it on a repeat.

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kin wrote

Carlo Gesualdo

Moondog

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anoki wrote

Are you open to modern classical? I have really enjoyed Max Richter, Nils Frahm, Ólafur Arnalds, Arvo Pärt, Zoë Keating, Hildur Guðnadóttir, and others.

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