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#11

Recordings & Broadcasts / Re: Feux et Tonnerres ! - Homm...

Last post by Martin Eastick - Yesterday at 12:49

This is indeed an excellent CD! The only problem from a marketing perspective is that, at first glance, it gives little idea as to the contents - I nearly passed it by, but thankfully a closer inspection revealed some very interesting repertoire! I would highlight Heller's Caprice Symphonique in particular - a real virtuoso showpiece that one would not normally associate with this composer, better known for his didactic studies and shorter morceaux. The is plenty more to enjoy here though, and I have no hesitation in thoroughly recommending it to anyone interested in lesser-known 19th century piano music.

#12

Composers & Music / Re: Did AI just kill classical...

Last post by der79sebas - Yesterday at 11:31

The synthesizer "Sonnenflammen" were done during Corona and this production was some sort of protest against cultural lockdown. Well, it was worth the try, but of course this never should have been published as DVD...

#13

Recordings & Broadcasts / Re: Feux et Tonnerres ! - Homm...

Last post by Jonathan - Yesterday at 10:52

This sounds exactly like my sort of thing!

#14

Composers & Music / Re: Did AI just kill classical...

Last post by tpaloj - Yesterday at 10:31

But I think we're getting close to submitting any printed notation to such software and having it produce a reliable, decent quality audio rendition without too much user input at all.

If you are saying generating reality-quality other than midi-quality performance, then there won't be miserable circumstances like Ulrich Leykam "conducting" literally his own "Bayreuth Digital Orchestra" to accompany Naxos-Marco Polo's S. Wagner Sonnenflammen production.

Ooff. I listened to some samples. It sounds like it would have been way more straightforward to hire an actual orchestra given the technical work involved. But I don't know what circumstances led to them performing the work in this arrangement.

It should be added that while orchestral music can be made to sound somewhat realistic via technology with some effort these days, not even AI can seem to fake good vocals, never mind operaic singing voices to any believable level yet.

#15

Composers & Music / Re: Did AI just kill classical...

Last post by tuatara442442 - Yesterday at 10:12

But I think we're getting close to submitting any printed notation to such software and having it produce a reliable, decent quality audio rendition without too much user input at all.

If you are saying generating reality-quality other than midi-quality performance, then there won't be miserable circumstances like Ulrich Leykam "conducting" literally his own "Bayreuth Digital Orchestra" to accompany Naxos-Marco Polo's S. Wagner Sonnenflammen production.

#16

Recordings & Broadcasts / Feux et Tonnerres ! - Hommage ...

Last post by Wheesht - Yesterday at 09:38

This Forlane disc by Norwegian pianist Daniel Propper contains quite a few 19th century French piano rarities. For excerpts and download see  Presto.

#17

Composers & Music / Re: Did AI just kill classical...

Last post by Alan Howe - Yesterday at 08:17

Thanks. That's a useful update on current developments.

#18

Composers & Music / Re: Did AI just kill classical...

Last post by tpaloj - Yesterday at 07:24

I ask myself if AI will soon be able to create good recordings out of (possibly handwritten) scores. This would be a great possibility to listen to unsung music which would otherwise never be performed or recorded (e.g. the much too big operas of Wayditch).

I often ask the same and have been casually following improvements in OMR (optical music recognition) software. It appears to me that handwritten recognition is still far off, since these programs are still cping with some basic issues in recognizing printed music. But I think we're getting close to submitting any printed notation to such software and having it produce a reliable, decent quality audio rendition without too much user input at all.

I think mainstream pop/rock music makers are much more in danger of losing their jobs to AI tools than the classical scene, where the market is (at least still for the most part) rather more conscious of the performers' actually performing music to an historically rooted and informed standard.

#19

Composers & Music / Re: Did AI just kill classical...

Last post by tuatara442442 - Yesterday at 01:56

I remember there was some experimenting with computer composed classical-esque music in the early 90s. This really isn't a new thing.

Yeah, David Cope is a big name among them. Centaur published recordings of his computer-composed music, as well as 39 volumes of Consortium to Distribute Computer Music (CDCM) recordings with compositions produced by many people. That was many years ago

#20

Composers & Music / Re: Did AI just kill classical...

Last post by tuatara442442 - Yesterday at 01:43

It has no sense of form, theme and development, so it can't generate real counterpoint. I think the mechanism of large language model dictates it, that is predicting a likely next step using a given last step. While I think there is certainly the possiblility of it referencing some further past material that it processes, it doesn't know abstraction and "understand" what macroscopic pattern is. This, I think, is exemplified by its inability to correctly produce images of intricate decorative patterns.
The way to solve it, I think, is to let another AI trained with pattern abstractions edit the "source material". (Or human arrangers, which results in the rise of their importance).
There are two ways of AI composing, one is audio generation, the other is midi file generation. It is hard to edit the music itself with only an audio file and is defeating its own purpose transcribing it to sheet music. But an AI arranger of midi file could be trained. And I think an arranger AI could be trained on abstracted polyphonic inner workings, and it will rely on midi renditions of existing pieces as its training material. So it could be a good news for midi rendition makers.