Neoclassical metal

For the historical original neoclassical music see Neoclassical music

Neo-classical metal
Stylistic origins	Heavy metal Power metal
Cultural origins	1970s - 1980s, Great Britain, Sweden, United States
Typical instruments	Electric guitar, Bass guitar, Drums, Keyboards and occasionally voice
Other topics
Timeline of heavy metal

Neo-classical metal is a subgenre of the heavy metal music heavily influenced by classical music in its style of playing and composing. It implies a very technical performance and the use of elements borrowed from classical music and/or by famous classical music composers.

Definition

Neo-classical metal is a concept distinct from neoclassicism in music. Real neoclassical music refers to the movement in musical modernism in which composers drew inspiration from the Classical period, popular during the years in between the two World Wars. This type of music can be seen as a direct reaction towards the prevailing trend of 19th Century Romanticism, and of the music of Richard Wagner in particular. Composers such as Igor Stravinsky and Paul Hindemith fused elements from the music of Classical composers, such as a return to "common practice" harmony and strict adherence to form, with their own unique "advanced" harmonic vocabularies and (perhaps most importantly) rhythmic variety.

On the other hand, Neoclassical Metal music does not restrict itself to a return to classical aesthetic ideals, such as equilibrium and formalism. Actually, it has more influences borrowed from the Baroque and Romantic periods than from the Classical period in music, which roughly spans from 1750 to 1810 and has among its notable proponents Mozart, Haydn, and the early Beethoven aswell as Paganini and Bach. Therefore, it is not a form of Neoclassicism by its traditional definition, which may cause confusion and span discussions. Neoclassical Metal treats the suffix "Classical" as roughly what most people understand as classical music- the repertoire from the Baroque to the Romantism and early Modernists-, and not as a revival of the ideals from the classical period, as it is accepted in Classical Music. Due to this confusion, many see the label "neoclassical" as improper, misleading and even pretentious. For further discussion, see the Controversy section in the end of the article.

History of the genre and influences

Although Yngwie J. Malmsteen is probably the form's best-known proponent, and the '80s decade which saw the ascension and consolidation of the genre, classical elements used in Heavy metal and Hard rock date back to Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple, Uli Jon Roth and Randy Rhoads' innovations in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and Progressive Rock musicians have, since the origin of the genre in the late '60s, incorporated classical elements in their music. Many are classically trained, such as Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman and guitarist Steve Howe. The popularization and growth of Neoclassical Metal is closely related to the ascension of the Guitar Shredding movement, as many Neoclassical Metal guitarists took inspiration from the impressive violin solos of Niccolò Paganini.

The classically-trained Randy Rhoads displayed classical influences in his playing and was one of the first notable players to actually incorporate Classical playing techniques to innovate his guitar playing and overall technique. For the introduction to 1981's "Diary of a Madman", Rhoads borrowed heavily from Cuban classical guitar composer Leo Brouwer's "Etude #7". Like many other metal guitarists in the 1980s, Rhoads quite earnestly took up the study of musical theory and helped to solidify the minor industry of guitar pedagogy magazines (including Guitar for the Practicing Musician) that grew during the decade. The shredding movement was made popular by guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen, who would transcribe and adapt classical music for the electric guitar. As a result, Neoclassical Metal developed as a standalone metal sub-genre.

Queen has also been cited as a major influence on the genre by Yngwie Malmsteen.

General characteristics of the playing

First neoclassical metal saves many of the distinctive traits of traditional metal including the use of

• Power chords
• Modal chord progressions
• Pedal point (repetition of a note or group, with a scalar, melodic line played alternately),
• Ostinato (strict repetition of a single phrase or idea),
• Scale sequence (a stylized way of ascending or descending through a scale or mode, where a set pattern is observed),
• Fast Arpeggios
• The frequent use of Tritone (musical interval that spans three whole tones or six semitones). This is common in many types of Heavy Metal and Progressive Rock music due to its dissonant sound, seen as of "evil nature" in past ages.
• Fast solo cadences.
• Emphasis on ornamentation, such as strong and frequent vibrato.

Then these basic features are associated with more typical elements of the style such as

• The use of instruments and timbres that resemble classical music, such as piano, harpsichord, violin and orchestra sounds, emulated or not by synthesizers.
• Adaptation of traditionally classical instruments techniques, specifically the violin for the electric guitar (notably their vibrato).
• The frequent transcription and/or adaptation or emulation of Classical pieces - mostly violin ones - to formations involving the electric guitar as the soloist.
• The frequent borrowing of harmony, motifs and themes from specially well-known classical pieces.
• The two previously mentioned features are usually coupled with the use of the reference to iconic pieces, such as the Requiem and Turkish March by Mozart, the Adagio by Albinoni, Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata and 5th Symphony, Pachelbel's Canon in D, and Chopin's Nocturne no.2.
• The central role of guitar shredding playing techniques, many of them inspired by Paganini's style of playing.
• Harmonic minor scale (Aeolian mode with a raised 7th scale degree),
• Melodic minor scale (Aeolian mode with a raised 6th and 7th scale degree),
• Diminished arpeggios (a series of minor 3rd intervals stacked one on top of the next),
• Cycle of fifths (a chord progression where the tonic of each chord becomes the dominant of the next e.g.: Am, Dm, G, C, F, Bdim, E, Am),
• suspensions (cadences or "chord progression endings" where the true harmony chord is pushed out or "suspended" by another, non-harmony note and then reasserts itself. Examples: 4th replaces 3rd; 6th replaces 5th; 9th replace 8th or octave).

The chord progressions, arpeggios, and fast scale runs of Neoclassical Metal are inspired for the most part from Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, Niccolò Paganini, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven, particularly the first three.

Controversy

Since its early foundations, Neo-classical metal has attracted a great number of very loyal listeners and admirers - especially among guitar players - but, nevertheless, faces extensive criticism from both popular and classical musicians, listeners and scholars. Some of the most common controversies:

Naming controversy

The use of the term "Neoclassical" to describe this genre of metal continues to generate debate. Western classical music, historically defined as erudite music and contrasted with popular and folk music , spans from the Low Middle Ages to the present. Within classical music, Neoclassicism (music) refers to the style which developed in the early 20th century that employed some of the aesthetic ideals and formal structures of the Classical period. Composers who worked within this well-defined framework found it suited to modern objectives including explorations of 'new' harmony and rhythm. Its best-known proponent was Igor Stravinsky. In a similar fashion, Neoclassical artists and architects work with perceived former ideals of proportions and equilibrium, especially those associated with ancient Greece. Neoclassical metal, however, uses the word "Neoclassical" differently: here the "-classical" refers to the whole Western classical music. This is also the subject of controversy as it implies a view that classical music is something long gone.

Iconic references

Neo-classical metal usually makes use of popularly iconic references from classical music. Widely known names such as Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Paganini and Vivaldi are extensively mentioned and have their motifs, harmony and other elements from famous pieces copied. This extensive focus on the most popular classical figures exclusively might be regarded a commonplace especially with many musicians and bands using exhaustively the same elements. As generally people who are familiar only with the most popular names of the genres, are often the ones who are not familiar with the deep richness and the variety of classical, this might be viewed as a sign that the genre's proponents have little actual knowledge of and experience with classical music.

Depth of the classical music influence

Popular music has always been borrowing elements from erudite music since the Middle Ages, and the contrary is also true. Famous and important composers have been using elements from folk and popular extensively, and popular musicians have always transposed rich ideas from classical music.

Despite the fact that many metal musicians have cited classical composers as inspiration, neo classical metal is not the modern descendant of classical music. As many critics and analysts have observed, heavy metal musicians (including Necoclassical metal ones) focus on and borrow only superficial aspects of classical music, such as motifs, melodies, and scales. Heavy metal bands, including progressive and neoclassical metal bands, generally do not try to observe the basic compositional and aesthetical exigencies of classical music. Classical music is erudite music, whereas heavy metal (including neoclassical metal) is popular music. Players who cite Bach as an influence, for example, seldom make use of the complex counterpoint that is central to the composer's work. Moreover, the extensive use of power chords in neoclassical metal, implying countless consecutive fifths and octaves, violates rules of harmony at the heart of the classical aesthetic.

For real classical musicians, "neoclassical" is a too pretentious name for a genre that, according to them, only has pale resemblances with classical music. The undiscriminated fusion between works from different periods and the use of the same composers as references is one evidence that neoclassical metal proponents are generally unfamiliar with the stylistic concerns of real classical music.

Clash with different genres of metal and popular music

Popular musicians who are detractors of the neo-classical metal genre frequently argue against neo-classical metal using the points which are usually directed against guitar shredders. Some of this criticisms, however, are the same used by the proponents of punk rock against the supposed excesses of progressive rock in the late seventies. Among these criticisms, the most frequently mentioned ones are that "Neo-classical metal is pure technique and fast-playing and therefore sounds dull", that "Neo-classical music is nonsense as it is hard to assimilate". Neo-classical metal fans and musicians defend the genre arguing that it sounds dull for many - just like classical music - as it is harder to be appreciated and understood, since it supposedly needs a more developed musical perception, and therefore appeals less to the general public, which is usually used to less complex, easy-to-assimilate music. Others have argued altogether that neo-classical metal comes nowhere near the complexity and assimilation difficulties provided by actual classical music and have also accused the genre of using only the most easy-to-assimilate classical practices in its compositions.

Examples of Neoclassical metal

Bands of the genre

• At Vance
• Cacophony
• Concerto Moon
• Warmen
• Yngwie Malmsteen
• Galneryus
• Time Requiem

Most prominent soloists in the genre

• Jason Becker
• Marty Friedman
• Randy Rhoads
• Michael Angelo Batio
• Tony MacAlpine
• Uli Jon Roth
• Yngwie J. Malmsteen

List of classical pieces of which notable elements are used

• Paganini's Caprice No. 24 and Caprice No. 5
• Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 and Symphony No. 9
• Mozart's Symphony No. 25 and Requiem
• Vivaldi's Four Seasons, particularly "Winter" and the "presto" of "Summer"
• Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor

See also

Related musical genres

• Classical music
• Power metal
• Symphonic metal
• Progressive metal

Composers commonly used as reference and/or source of inspiration within the genre

Baroque

• Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni
• Johann Sebastian Bach
• Johann Pachelbel
• Antonio Lucio Vivaldi
• Paganini

Classical

• Joseph Haydn
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Ludwig van Beethoven

Romantic

• Frederic Chopin
• Ludwig van Beethoven
• Niccolò Paganini