Bartok / Beatles

[ai4i]

I heard a Bela Bartok piece with a name like Romanian Dance something-or-other and it sounded incredably like the The Beatles, "All My Lovin'".
Any ideas? I think one of their (The Beatles) other works begins with part of a Beethoven piano piece (maybe, Moonlight Sonata).

[DavidS]

Don't be surprised.
Quite a common phenomenom, also with many other "pop" pieces.

[NateBrei]

Barry Manilow had a song "Could It Be Magic" that had a piano solo at the beginning that I believe came from some classical piece. But, I've never figured it out.

Nate

[ai4i]

As children, we are kept ignorant of the fact that our pop/rock heroes so often have classical music backgrounds. Moonlight Sonata played backwards on a piano by his wife Yoko served as John Lennon's inspiration to write, "Because".
My Source: Exploring Music with Bill McGlaghlin, heard nightly on Chicago's WFMT at 7PM CST and repeated three hours later on XM Classics.

<small>[ 02-07-2006, 09:02 PM: Message edited by: ai4i ]</small>

[piqaboo]

originally posted by ai4i:
As children, we are kept ignorant of the fact that our pop/rock heroes so often have classical music backgrounds.

Shsssssssssh! Dont let anyone know about the great conspiracy to maintain ignorance!

[ai4i]

Originally posted by NateBrei:
Barry Manilow had a song "Could It Be Magic" that had a piano solo at the beginning that I believe came from some classical piece. But, I've never figured it out.Nate

Could it be Magic, or could it be Sergei Rachmaninoff's second symphony?

[DavidS]

Another example:
"O Silver Moon" from Dvořák's "Rusalka" --->
"Somewhere over the Rainbow" from "The Wizard of Oz"

[Hexameron]

I know there's a Manilow song that uses the opening of Chopin's Prelude No. 20. Not sure if it's the "It could be magic" song.

But also, anyone remember that semi-old sitcom "Wings" on channel USA? Well, I recently realized that the sitcom's opening credit music is actually a remix of Schubert's Piano Sonata No. 20 in A major D.959 (Andantino second movement)!

It makes me wonder what other music we're hearing in pop culture that could be taken from obsure composers or pieces.

[Catmando]

One of the greatest and most innovative electric guitar players, Edward Van Halen, was a classically trained pianist growing up.

He was heavily influenced by many composers such as Beethoven, Bach, Mendelssohn, DeBussy.....just to name a few.

In one of Van Halen's best hits "Ain't talkiin' Bout Love", the main guitar riff has a similar pattern to Beethoven's 7th Symphony, 1st movement.

Ray