VAN DYKE PARKS and the serious introduction of classical virtuosity to pop music

Van Dyke Parks is not your typical pop orchestrator. Unlike the Beatles producer George Martin, Parks was not content with supplying perfect Schenkerian voice leading and Bach-ian harpsichord solos to the otherwise (how can be perfectly euphemistic here?) "intuitive" four members of the band. The introduction of "SMiLE" to the Rock'n'Roll repertoire did not seek to formalize the very untrained - yet, nevertheless enthralling - harmonic adventures Brian Wilson led the Beach Boys on. In fact, it can be said that SMiLE saw the richly intellectual Parks navigate around genre and formalities to create work that nevertheless achieved a certain classical conception of formalism.

It is interesting to note the fascinating career of this one musician, who - from his seminal work with Wilson to his recent groundbreaking orchestration on Joanna Newsom's record "Ys" - who has perhaps done more than any living musician to blur the boundaries between classical and rock aesthetics.