Mozart Meets Metallica

Dream Theater starts a new movement in rock music

By Matt Peiken

Greensburg – If John Petrucci were a child of the 1880s instead of the 1980s, he would have thrived as a classical musician.

“We’re a rock band, but we’re obviously very influenced by classical music, and I wish there were more of a place for us in the classical world,” says the guitarist for Dream Theater, which performs Tuesday at the Palace Theatre in Greensburg. “I think we could offer something deep.”

Dream Theater, progressive rock’s torchbearing band, creates music that’s as close as contemporary rock gets to classical.

First, there’s the virtuosity. Petrucci, bassist John Myung, keyboardist Jordan Rudess and drummer Mike Portnoy are widely hailed among the most technically adept musicians on their respective instruments (Rudess attended the Juilliard School; the others met at Berklee College of Music).

Then there’s Dream Theater’s music – elaborate, layered compositions that often sweep the gamut of mood, melody, texture and tempo. The band modeled its 2002 double-disc, Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence, on the movements of a classical score, complete with an overture.

Like progressive rock itself – a style first brought to the fore during the 1970s by bands such as Yes, Genesis, King Crimson and Rush – Dream Theater’s audience is narrow but deep. The New York-based band sells out theaters around the world, particularly in Europe and Japan, home to prog-rock’s most ardent fans. Dream Theater’s current show, supporting its eighth studio disc, Train Of Thought, is rumored to run four hours (with intermission).

For all the band’s artistic accomplishments and ambitions, Petrucci carries mild frustration over Dream Theater’s distance from the classical world. The band has never been asked to compose music for film, he says, or to collaborate with orchestras or chamber groups on new music.

“It’s happened on a small level – some music teacher somewhere might arrange some of our songs for a high school band – but I just don’t think classical organizations look to our music as a source,” he says. “That’s unfortunate, because it’s something we’ve always wanted to do.”

Today’s classical composers are largely bred at conservatories, and orchestras rarely look outside that avenue for new music. The excuse: Few artists and songwriters in other realms possess the technical skill or trained ear to score for an orchestra of musical voices.

The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra last October premiered commissioned work from jazz bassist and pianist Chris Brubeck, who wrote a nonet for wind quintet and jazz quartet. The results allayed the initial doubts of Bruce Coppock, the orchestra’s president.

“It didn’t sound like a jazz piece with a bunch of classical musicians performing it or like classical music played by jazz musicians,” he says. “I felt it found a common ground and turned out to be a very effective piece of music.”

The commission came about through a consortium of orchestras interested in collaborating on new classical music with jazz artists, with the goal of broadening the classical repertoire and its audience. Petrucci believes similar successes can come through marriages of classical and rock.

“It really comes down to individuals and the determination to make something happen, and it could be lack of pursuit that’s kept it from happening,” he says. “It might come from our keyboard player, with his classical background, suggesting an orchestra to work with, or maybe it can happen from somebody in the classical world being a fan and getting in touch with us. But somebody has to take that step.”

Dream Theater won’t win such an invitation solely on the promise of its latest CD. Where Petrucci cites Hungarian composer Bela Bartok’s dark intensity as an inspiration behind Six Degrees, Dream Theater borrowed unabashedly, even reverently, from heavyweights such as Metallica, Tool and Pantera to craft Train Of Thought.

“We didn’t strive to be more or less rock but to be more immediate and exciting,” he says. “It’s not only in the audience’s reaction but also our personal feelings when we play a song live. Some have a level of intensity and passion, and others, ehh. We didn’t want to put any of those middle-ground songs on the record.”

If a classical group ever offers a commission?

“I would definitely be intimidated,” he says. “I have confidence in what we do, but there’s so much history with classical music. The challenge would be the genuine quality of the composition, writing something an orchestra would feel proud to perform.”