rsl12 ahh, re the word popular, that makes sense, and I agree, thatās the best word there.
Re the word neo-classical and the wiki article, I wonder how many people recognize that background to that word. I say this because for a while, Alexis Ffrench was calling his own music neo-classical, although more recently heās switched to calling himself āclassical soul.ā Anyway, I think we should just claim post-classical and run with it! š
The more I think about it, the more I think post-classical is a great term. I would happily apply it to Winston, Einaudi, Ffrench, Nevue, Lanz, Sakamoto, Hisaishi, and many, many others. Post-classical acknowledges the musical roots, and the technique aspects, that underlie the music by most of these composers. But it also accounts for other elements in their music that seem more inspired by contemporary music, including pop (popular) (which I hear in Einaudi and Nevue) or jazz traditions (which I hear in some of Ffrenchās music). I feel like Einaudi uses chords and chord progressions that are closer to either classical music or popular music, while Sakamoto and Ffrench are more likely to have chord voicings with some jazz sensibilities. And although some of these composers (notably, Nevue, Winston, McLaughlin) were not classically trained and some apparently donāt read music (which always floors me), itās just a myth that composers across the whole genre donāt read music.
I would say that in fact most, (notably, Sakamoto, Hisaishi, Ffrench) were classically trained and those three that I just mentioned all write orchestral scores and fully notate music for complete orchestra (which is why all three of them are sometimes described as film composers).
The other thing thatās nice about the term post-classical is that it doesnāt have the baggage of the term new age, which I always disliked. (By baggage Iām referring to the new age spiritualism movement, as well as the image of new age including whale sounds, waves or other sounds from nature, which I always thought was cheesy.) Many pianists whose music had been called new age actually reject that term anyway.
The only sort of tricky thing is that the term post-classical probably works better as an umbrella term, under which we would want to include Hisaishi, who in the U.S. especially is primarily associated with anime music. But in Japan, he has a stature more like John Williams, IOW someone who does contemporary film music in general (with lots of orchestral scores) and happens to have a big catalogue of anime music as well.
I think the problem is that, in terms of musical characteristics, technique, that kind of thing, thereās no logical distinction between post-classical (think Einaudi, Nevue, Ffrench, Sakamoto, Hisaishi) and anime/game music (think the Call of Silence composer, the music from Final Fantasy etc.). By logical distinction, I mean this in the same way that you could say thereās no logical distinction between Ravel and Debussy, in that youād put them in the same category. But thatās ok, people sort of see āanime/gameā music as a coherent genre, so it makes sense to give that its own title.
Oh by the way, this speaks to your comment about Hana Bi, it was not written for anime but it fits with that style. Which underscores the ārightnessā of saying, hereās this genre called āpost-classical,ā and under that genre, we also have āanime/game music.ā
Oh, last comment (maybe! š )ā¦ I think it definitely works to group anime and game music together, both stylistically and practically. Practically because some video games and anime share a source (e.g., when a popular manga has a video game and anime adaption, or when a popular anime then has a video game adaption).
So this was all a very long-winded way of saying, letās absolutely use the term post-classical, and under that, thereās a subcategory thatās anime/game music. š
I would love to become an ethnomusicologist and write a book called Post-classical Piano, focused on these different contemporary piano composers, and how their music has developed and howās itās used and encountered in contemporary spaces. (For example, the short era of Pandora and early Spotify when some of those composers became crazy rich just getting plays on internet radio. I need to go find that article about Nevue and McLaughlinā¦) If I were to write such a book, I would also include a section on the role of post-classical piano in the rise of adult piano beginners. š
rsl12 As someone who almost never plays this kind of music, I really appreciate your feedback
Itās kind of you to say that! š