Polyphonic / Contrapuntal Wonders

[Buddhabreath]

I've always been a big fan of polyphony, fugues and counterpoint from Josquin des Prez to Bach to Gentle Giant respectively. I remember back in the day when I spent all my money on a great system anchored by the wonderful Allison One speakers, the first thing I blasted was Proclamation from The Power and the Glory. Gentle Giant is an obvious flag-bearer of contrapuntal mastery. What are your favorite prog rock examples?

[grego]

On Reflection, and His Last Voyage from Free Hand.

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

"The Rock" from Quadrophenia.

[Zappathustra]

Although I am not a musician, I believe I can recognize what you're referring to. So, out of the tip of my head, this:



If you're not familiar, listen from 1.23min onward. And become familiar.

[undergroundrailroad]

Lots in The Enid. Try Humouresque from Touch Me.

[olias]

Keith Emerson had a phase where he was really into contrapuntal music. His own "Fugue", Gulda's "Prelude and Fugue", and the organ intro to "Karn Evil 9 1st Impression Pt. 1" are some obvious examples. In fact, Karn Evil 9 was originally intended to be an exploration of counterpoint, but the rest of the band didn't quite get what he was up to, and basically responded "Hey, good intro, when does the 'regular' part of the song start?". So it was confined to the intro, and the rest is history...

[Progbear]

[yoyiceu]

[tommy_n_chucky]

(Starting at 1:45)



(Pretty much the whole song, but the best part starts at 3:20)

[progmatist]

There are quite a few fugal moments in quite a few Kansas songs.

[proggy_jazzer]

I'm not 100% if this is what you're after but there's a ton of contrapuntal and polyphonic material in the music of Ben Monder. It's particularly exposed in his solo guitar pieces (of which there's at least one on every album). Here's an example from his first recording as a leader, Flux:

[Rick L.]

At the risk of being labeled an evil self-promoter, I will suggest that some folks here might like a group I was in called Ra Quintet. We used lots of contrapuntal writing.

Here's a piece composed by me:

Intrinsic Nature (Going Far Means Returning)

And one composed by Brant Grieshaber:

Fresh Air

[Crystal Plumage]

There once was a very talented guy in the Prog world by the name of Kevin Gilbert:

Just listen to all vocal bits to hear his genius :

[Lebofsky]

Self-horn tooting time. Here's a tune I wrote for miRthkon steeped in heavy contrapuntal writing - the benefit of being in a band with 5 (largely) monophonic instruments is it forces you to compose this way.

https://mirthkon.bandcamp.com/track/osedax

Here's a score to follow along!

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/~mattl/Osedax1.0.pdf

Particularly proud of the "E" section - alto sax/clarinet/bass trio (over bass drum thumping) - pleasant but in an obfuscated key.

- Matt

[Mascodagama]

[Zeuhlmate]

[Zeuhlmate]

The Contrapuntal Secrets of Steve Morse

https://www.guitarplayer.com/techniq...of-steve-morse

[StarThrower]

Another interesting tune from Steve.

[mogrooves]

[unclemeat]

and of course the ending of "The Ikon".