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Classical music in Spectrum games

Alessandro GrussuAlessandro Grussu
edited May 2005 in Games
Following a point made by GOC, I would list the pieces of classical music featured in Spectrum games. As far as I can remember right now:

- Manic Miner (title screen): Blue Danube waltz by Johann Strauss jr.
- Manic Miner (in-game): Theme from Hall of the Mountain King, from Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt
- Phantom Club: Opening lines of J.S. Bach's Third Brandeburg Concerto (first movement)
- Jet Set Willy (title screen) Opening lines of L.v. Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata for piano solo (first movement)
- Sabre Wulf: Can't remember, but possibly an adagio from a Beethoven piano sonata
- Dynamite Dan: Opening lines from W.A. Mozart's Turkish March
- Technician Ted (in-game): Johann Strauss jr.'s Radetzkymarsch
- Super Mutt: Opening lines of the ouverture from Gioacchino Rossini's Guglielmo Tell
- Mermaid Madness: Dance of the F?e Drag?e, from P.I. Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker ballet suite

Anyone has other suggestions and(or recollections?
Post edited by Alessandro Grussu on
Spectrumpedia, the most comprehensive book ever written about the Spectrum - Zankle Soft - Corrections for games incompatible with the +2A/+3 - TAP files for DivIDE/DivMMC - SetoLOAD fast tape loading scheme
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Comments

  • Paul van der LaanPaul van der Laan
    edited February 2004
    Pete Cooke's games have some more:
    Brainstorm 128: Alla Turca by Mozart
    Earthlight 128: something by Antonio Vivaldi
  • biotoxinbiotoxin
    edited February 2004
    ...Alien Evolution...by Gremlin.

    oh.sorry....by Mozart.. ;)
  • Alessandro GrussuAlessandro Grussu
    edited February 2004
    On 2004-02-05 16:43, Paul van der Laan wrote:
    Earthlight 128: something by Antonio Vivaldi
    Right! That's the first movement of the concert L'Autunno (The Autumn), from Le quattro stagioni (The four seasons).
    Spectrumpedia, the most comprehensive book ever written about the Spectrum - Zankle Soft - Corrections for games incompatible with the +2A/+3 - TAP files for DivIDE/DivMMC - SetoLOAD fast tape loading scheme
  • MikalMikal
    edited February 2004
    Mikie has Hard Days Night. Thats a classic.
  • mel the bellmel the bell
    edited February 2004
    LMAO
    personally i like the farting noises on chuckie egg the best
    :)
    Professional Mel-the-Bell Simulator................"So realistic, I found myself reaching for the Kleenex King-Size!" - Richard Darling
  • Alessandro GrussuAlessandro Grussu
    edited February 2004
    On 2004-02-05 20:51, Mikal wrote:
    Mikie has Hard Days Night. Thats a classic.
    Er... I said "classical", not "classic"...
    Spectrumpedia, the most comprehensive book ever written about the Spectrum - Zankle Soft - Corrections for games incompatible with the +2A/+3 - TAP files for DivIDE/DivMMC - SetoLOAD fast tape loading scheme
  • John HJohn H
    edited February 2004
    I was listening to the Clockwork Orange soundtrack about the time the last AY Riders album was released, and thought it would be great if someone did the entire Beethoven 9th Symphony as an AY demo in a sort of Walter Carlos style (although I'd leave it up to whoever did it to decide whether to get a sex change afterwards). It might have to multiload between movements :)

    As far as classical music in games goes, there's a few that sound like they should be. Zarjas, Legend Of The Amazon Women. Also Harvey Headbanger on the Amstrad - why didn't the Speccy version have this tune. Don't know if they actually are though.

    And don't forget the version of Jerusalem (England's Green And Pleasant Land) that's in Where Time Stood Still but doesn't get used.

    Classical music on the Speccy = good
    Classical music as Nokia ringtones = very bad

  • Cornishdavey:))Cornishdavey:))
    edited February 2004
    Antics, had awesome music, i think it was Tocatta

    In the arcade, best classic music goes to Gyruss. True classic, alas i dont know the name :< doh :)
  • jiljil
    edited February 2004
    There are 9 in-game beepy tunes to choose from in Specventure (Mastertronic) - most of them classical. You can change the tune at any time during the game by pressing keys 1-9 (or 0 to shut it up).

    The tunes are listed in the in-game instructions - also reproduced on my map... ;)
    http://8bitorbust.info/speccyspoilers/gifs/specventure_map.png

    Jim :cool:
  • chaosmongerschaosmongers
    edited February 2004
    On 2004-02-05 22:15, Cornishdavey:)) wrote:

    In the arcade, best classic music goes to Gyruss. True classic, alas i dont know the name :< doh :)


    Yeah - that was a good 'un.. one of the first proper game soundtracks I remember in an arcade game.

    I would like to see someone do
    'Ive got a brand new combine harvester' by reknowned composers 'The Wurzels' in a game.
  • cyborgcyborg
    edited February 2004
    I would like to see someone do
    'Ive got a brand new combine harvester' by reknowned composers 'The Wurzels' in a game.

    Hmm... Advanced Westcountry Simulator?
  • Alessandro TommasiAlessandro Tommasi
    edited February 2004
    Isn't it the "toreador" thing from Bizet's Carmen you hear during some game? I'm pretty sure. I thought it was Technician Ted, but I always confuse it with another game that I can't remember, so Alessandro might be right.
  • MetalbrainMetalbrain
    edited February 2004
    Mad Mix Game's excellent music had 4 sections, and it was all classic. At least the first part is from Beethoven's 5th symphony (according to Crash, I'm not a classic music expert myself).
  • Alessandro GrussuAlessandro Grussu
    edited February 2004
    On 2004-02-05 22:15, Cornishdavey:)) wrote:
    Antics, had awesome music, i think it was Tocatta

    It is, in fact, a (dire) beepy rendition of J.S. Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor. There is another game featuring a better rendition of this theme, but I cannot remember which one right now.
    On 2004-02-06 00:11, jil wrote:
    There are 9 in-game beepy tunes to choose from in Specventure (Mastertronic) - most of them classical. You can change the tune at any time during the game by pressing keys 1-9 (or 0 to shut it up).

    The tunes are listed in the in-game instructions - also reproduced on my map... ;)
    http://8bitorbust.info/speccyspoilers/gifs/specventure_map.png

    Jim :cool:

    True, although John William's Star Wars theme and Yankee Doodle can hardly be defined as classical music...
    On 2004-02-06 13:09, Metalbrain wrote:
    Mad Mix Game's excellent music had 4 sections, and it was all classic. At least the first part is from Beethoven's 5th symphony (according to Crash, I'm not a classic music expert myself).

    The music you hear once the game has loaded features excerpts from (in the playing order):
    1) First movement of L.v. Beethoven's 5th symphony;
    2) Minuetto (3rd movement) from Luigi Boccherini's string quintet op.13 n.5;
    3) Air from Gioacchino Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia;
    4) Can't remember, but probably a cantata by J.S. Bach.
    These excerpts are played back at the beginning of the corresponding level.

    _________________
    Dr Jones will never believe this

    [ This Message was edited by: Alessandro Grussu on 2004-02-06 16:18 ]
    Spectrumpedia, the most comprehensive book ever written about the Spectrum - Zankle Soft - Corrections for games incompatible with the +2A/+3 - TAP files for DivIDE/DivMMC - SetoLOAD fast tape loading scheme
  • GOCGOC
    edited February 2004
    It is, in fact, a (dire) beepy rendition of J.S. Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor. There is another game featuring a better rendition of this theme, but I cannot remember which one right now.

    Riptoff's help program.
  • Dr BEEPDr BEEP
    edited February 2004
    On 2004-02-06 09:59, Alessandro Tommasi wrote:
    Isn't it the "toreador" thing from Bizet's Carmen you hear during some game? I'm pretty sure. I thought it was Technician Ted, but I always confuse it with another game that I can't remember, so Alessandro might be right.



    TURMOIL


  • John HJohn H
    edited February 2004
    Doesn't Tapper play the Can-Can from Carmen at some point?
  • ewgfewgf
    edited February 2004
    Technician Ted 48K plays The William Tell Overture in-game [Nope, just checked, it is Radetzkymarsch (though I couldn't have spelt it myself...), but I'm sure some platform game played the WT overture...]

    Lode Runner 128K playes Bach's Jesu: Joy of Man's Desiring (usually played at weddings).

    Didn't Sanxion play The Romeo and Juliet Suite?

    JSW played Beetoven's Moonlight Sonata on the title page, whilst Manic Miner played Strauss's The Blue Danube on the title page and Grieg's In the Halls of the Mountain King (which plays in game in some versions of JSW, instead of the non-classical (and copyrighted) If I Were a Rich Man, which originally played in JSW).

    Dynamite Dan plays Mozart's Rona Ala Turker on the title page. Wasn't Blacklamp 128k's tune a rewrite/remix (whatever the musical term is) of Greensleeves?

    They're all the ones that spring to mind at the moment.

    [ This Message was edited by: ewgf on 2004-02-06 21:21 ]
  • mel the bellmel the bell
    edited February 2004
    *feels out of his depth in this thread.....so goes to listen to some anal cunt instead*
    Professional Mel-the-Bell Simulator................"So realistic, I found myself reaching for the Kleenex King-Size!" - Richard Darling
  • Alessandro GrussuAlessandro Grussu
    edited February 2004
    On 2004-02-06 21:18, ewgf wrote:
    Technician Ted 48K plays The William Tell Overture in-game [Nope, just checked, it is Radetzkymarsch (though I couldn't have spelt it myself...), but I'm sure some platform game played the WT overture...]
    That game, as I wrote above, is Super Mutt.
    JSW played Beetoven's Moonlight Sonata on the title page, whilst Manic Miner played Strauss's The Blue Danube on the title page and Grieg's In the Halls of the Mountain King (which plays in game in some versions of JSW, instead of the non-classical (and copyrighted) If I Were a Rich Man, which originally played in JSW).

    Dynamite Dan plays Mozart's Rona Ala Turker on the title page.

    ...(yawns) I've already pointed all of that out in my very first post... Why don't you read previous posts? :p

    Anyway, thanx for the other suggestions... (What's "Green Sleeves" anyway? :confused:) Anyone would like to help more?

    _________________
    Dr Jones will never believe this

    [ This Message was edited by: Alessandro Grussu on 2004-02-06 22:41 ]
    Spectrumpedia, the most comprehensive book ever written about the Spectrum - Zankle Soft - Corrections for games incompatible with the +2A/+3 - TAP files for DivIDE/DivMMC - SetoLOAD fast tape loading scheme
  • Alessandro GrussuAlessandro Grussu
    edited February 2004
    On 2004-02-06 21:35, mel the bell wrote:
    *feels out of his depth in this thread.....so goes to listen to some anal cunt instead*

    You barbaric philistine! :lol:
    Spectrumpedia, the most comprehensive book ever written about the Spectrum - Zankle Soft - Corrections for games incompatible with the +2A/+3 - TAP files for DivIDE/DivMMC - SetoLOAD fast tape loading scheme
  • na_th_anna_th_an
    edited February 2004
    In Camelot Warriors, by Dinamic Software, you can hear Scarborough Fair, which is a middle ages nice tune (also covered by Simon & Garfunkel ;)).
  • Neil^PNeil^P
    edited February 2004
    The tune at the start of Sabre Wulf was a prelude from J.S. Bach's "The Well-Tempered Klavier", I loved that tune :) I 1st heard it on sabre wulf, and only found it in teh classical canon much later :)

    (BTW - The Clockwork Orange soundtrack is by Wendy Carlos, not Walter - altho the soundtrack was released under the name Walter Carlos - I don't know if that was a mis-print or a pen-name. She also did the wonderful soundtrack to the movie Tron.)
  • WhizzBangWhizzBang
    edited February 2004
    erm...as I said in the other post about Speccy music, the 3 Weeks In Paradise music is a Spectrum version of the Disney Fantasia main music which I believe is some kind of clasical piece or something. Never much cared for the stuff myself. How come no Spectrum games ever used the music from "Now I Wanna Be Your Dog"?
  • jiljil
    edited February 2004
    (BTW - The Clockwork Orange soundtrack is by Wendy Carlos, not Walter - altho the soundtrack was released under the name Walter Carlos - I don't know if that was a mis-print or a pen-name. She also did the wonderful soundtrack to the movie Tron.)
    Wendy Carlos IS Walter Carlos.
    In brief, Walter became Wendy in 1972 after sex realignment surgery, although she was still "Walter" on the records until she "came out" in a 1979 Playboy interview...
    This is why the original Clockwork Orange (1971) was credited to Walter and Tron (1981) was Wendy. Now all the old albums have been remastered and reissued by/as Wendy Carlos, with not a single reference to "Walter" to be found ANYwhere (not even in the historical studio photos of the Switched On Boxed Set's 200 page booklet).
    Carlos is a true genius and pioneer of electronic music - I highly recommend Sonic Seasonings (1972), a ground-breaking ambient masterpiece.

    Jim

  • Lee FogartyLee Fogarty
    edited February 2004
    On 2004-02-06 14:49, Alessandro Grussu wrote:

    It is, in fact, a (dire) beepy rendition of J.S. Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor. There is another game featuring a better rendition of this theme, but I cannot remember which one right now.

    Farenheit 3000 had a good version of Toccata. Is that the one?

    My test signature
  • Neil^PNeil^P
    edited February 2004
    Ah, that would explain the mystery of Walter Carlos.

    Personaly I wasn't that keen on the Clockwork Orange soundtrack (I prefer the original Beethoven's 9th symphony to an electronic version - but some of her electronic reworkings of Bach are great)
  • Cornishdavey:))Cornishdavey:))
    edited February 2004
    Hey how can we forget :-

    MONTY PYTHON THEME - Brian Bloodaxe YEAH

    If thats not a classic, then i give up ;)
  • John HJohn H
    edited February 2004
    On 2004-02-08 01:27, Neil^P wrote:
    Ah, that would explain the mystery of Walter Carlos.

    It confused me too, since I'd only ever seen him (still has X chromosomes and therefore male?) referred to as Walter until I went to buy the Clockwork Orange soundtrack and saw an alternative version by Wendy. A search on the internet (couple of years later) explained things.
    Personaly I wasn't that keen on the Clockwork Orange soundtrack (I prefer the original Beethoven's 9th symphony to an electronic version - but some of her electronic reworkings of Bach are great)

    Of course it's not better than Beethoven (I've been listening to classical music a lot longer than electronic music and he's my favourite composer - the piano concertos are great too), but I think it sounds great, and if there was to be an AY version, it would have to sound very synthesised since I've never heard realistic orchestral sounds from a Speccy.

    [ This Message was edited by: John H on 2004-02-08 08:48 ]
  • Neil^PNeil^P
    edited February 2004
    I love the Tron soundtrack, and I guess for me Bach lends itself better to an electronic version than Beethoven.
    The Beethoven reworkings on the clockworkd orange soundtrack are still fun to listen to though.
    I think the Tron soundtrack is superb, a very underratted composition.
    I had to order it on cd from america when I couldn't find it available here - I guess she's more popular over there.

    Pity there was never a really good Tron game on the speccy, that could have been interesting - both to see the game done well on the spec, and to hear the tron soundtrack done well on the speccy.

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