The question is not why this is happening, but why it has taken so long: the fusion of classical music with heavy metal. This is what the Philharmonia Orchestra is doing in the concert “Forged in Sound: Heavy Metal Orchestrated”, part of the Multitudes festival at the Southbank Centre.
In fact, there is more that connects these two musical worlds than divides them. A love of extreme volume – from Black Sabbath to Stravinsky – is common. A adoration of virtuosity, speed, and extreme technique is evident in both Vivaldi and Van Halen.
A penchant for theatrical grandeur, exaggerated seriousness, and emotional pomposity is found in both Richard Wagner and Iron Maiden. And finally, a constant flirtation with spectacle, darkness, and the artist's own mythology is part of both worlds.
In the 19th century, the virtuosity of violinist Niccolò Paganini was so extraordinary that rumors circulated that he had made a pact with the devil. Later, in the 1980s in the US, the moral panic of the time saw “Satanism” in the metal music that teenagers listened to – even leading to “Parental Advisory” warning labels.
Indeed, much of the sound of modern metal is shaped precisely by the foundations of classical music. As Robert Walser’s study, Running with the Devil, shows, Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore built his solos on Vivaldi; Randy Rhoads was influenced by Pachelbel on Ozzy Osbourne’s “Blizzard of Ozz”; and Eddie Van Halen used ideas from Kreutzer in his revolutionary “Eruption” solo. That 101-second piece influenced the development of the electric guitar as much as classical virtuosos influenced their instruments centuries before.
Classical and metal also share an obsession with technique and breaking boundaries that previously seemed unattainable. Van Halen's extreme guitar techniques, or Liszt's piano prowess, show the same thirst: faster, louder, more intense, more spectacular. In this sense, where classical music has led, heavy metal has followed.
In the end, the question remains not why these two worlds are coming together, but why they haven't done so before. And perhaps the Philharmonia concert is just the beginning of a dialogue that has always been written into the very fabric of music. /GazetaExpress/
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