Classical Music

[partofme]

I was wondering if we have any classical music listeners here. I wouldn't say I'm very knowledgeable on the subject but I regularly listen to classical programming on our local public radio station. What composers do you like and why? Of course I like the obvious ones such as Bach and Mozart but I also tend to like the more well known Russian composers.

[andrewl]

I have long been a fan of Beethoven, although he does not strictly fall in the 'classical' category. He sits between classical and romance.

Anyway, i play the piano (for fun only) and Beethoven is certainly the most gratifying music i have ever played.

Andrew

[partofme]

I didn't mean for this thread to be about the classical period alone. Baroque, romantic, modern and other kinds are fine. I meant it to be about the more general term rather than strictly about the classical period. Yes Beethoven was amazing. I love his 7th and 9th symphonies the most. I also like Haydn and am amazed that he wrote so many great symphonies and string quartets that are consistently amazing.

[Michael]

I live for the 9th!

(but I loathe that silly 'choral' 4th movement and always skip it - typical that this 4th movement is what the music critics praise).

That's the entirety of my taste in classical music.

As general rule, I find classical music to be annoying the way it rises and falls in volume too much. It is either too low to hear it, or too loud for background music and thus I rarely ever listen to this stuff. I never listen to music for the sake of listening to music (its too noisy for relaxation). Music is always just background sound to me (and often only barely tolerable for that purpose).

To be honest, I could live without music entirely and probably wouldn't even notice it was missing.

Peer pressure accounts for 99% of music listening.

[partofme]

I live for the 9th!

(but I loathe that silly 'choral' 4th movement and always skip it - typical that this 4th movement is what the music critics praise).

That's the entirety of my taste in classical music.

As general rule, I find classical music to be annoying the way it rises and falls in volume too much. It is either too low to hear it, or too loud for background music and thus I rarely ever listen to this stuff. I never listen to music for the sake of listening to music (its too noisy for relaxation). Music is always just background sound to me (and often only barely tolerable for that purpose).

To be honest, I could live without music entirely and probably wouldn't even notice it was missing.

Peer pressure accounts for 99% of music listening.

That's interesting. The only part of the 9th I never really thought lived up to the rest is the third movement.

I do know what you mean about volume changes. When listening to classical music I adjust the volume constantly because of that.

You remind me of my wife when it comes to music. She really doesn't like music at all other than something to make care rides less boring. We are very different on that account. You oldest child loves music although mostly stuff he can dance to and my youngest is pretty descent at singing alone (although he isn't actually pronouncing the words well) and he just turned one. Probably because I have music playing around them all the time.

[Michael]

You remind me of my wife when it comes to music. She really doesn't like music at all other than something to make care rides less boring.
I never listen to music in the car unless I'm stuck in the car with someone who bores me. Then I use music to discourage them from talking (music is the lesser of two evils in many cases).

Otherwise, music just interrupts/interferes with quality thinking or talking time.

To quote a brilliant line from Pink Floyd: "what shall we use to fill the spaces where we used to talk?"

I suspect music is used for exactly this purpose.

[partofme]

I never listen to music in the car unless I'm stuck in the car with someone who bores me. Then I use music to discourage them from talking (music is the lesser of two evils in many cases).

Otherwise, music just interrupts/interferes with quality thinking or talking time.

To quote a brilliant line from Pink Floyd: "what shall we use to fill the spaces where we used to talk?"

I suspect music is used for exactly this purpose.

That isn't the case with me. I do go out of my way to listen to certain things.

[Michael]

That isn't the case with me. I do go out of my way to listen to certain things.
No doubt - as do a majority of people. I recognize that I'm the exception here.

[Sucre]

I was wondering if we have any classical music listeners here. I wouldn't say I'm very knowledgeable on the subject but I regularly listen to classical programming on our local public radio station. What composers do you like and why? Of course I like the obvious ones such as Bach and Mozart but I also tend to like the more well known Russian composers.
Who ? Mozart, Schubert, Chopin, Chopin, Chopin and Bach played by Glen Gould.

Reason ? Because I used to play the piano and these were my favourite.
(Of course, impossible for a layman to play like Glen Gould. This guy is a genious.)

[Dominick]

I've got stuff from Bach, Beethoven, Wagner (http://www.discussionworldforum.com/forum/images/smilies/hitler.gif ;)), Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Berlioz, Stravinsky, Vivaldi, Pachelbel, Orff,...
Favourites are the Carmina Burana (not just the widely known O Fortuna, but the lot), Mozart's Requiem, Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps, Tchaikosky's Konzert für Klavier und Orcherster Nr. 1, and a few opera's and/or extracts thereof (Aida ! Gloria al'Egitto !)

Such music is never meant to be background music. I don't listen to it that much but when I do it's with 100% exclusive attention. Oh, and very, very loud as this music really should always be played.

[partofme]

I've got stuff from Bach, Beethoven, Wagner (http://www.discussionworldforum.com/forum/images/smilies/hitler.gif ;)), Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Berlioz, Stravinsky, Vivaldi, Pachelbel, Orff,...
Favourites are the Carmina Burana (not just the widely known O Fortuna, but the lot), Mozart's Requiem, Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps, Tchaikosky's Konzert für Klavier und Orcherster Nr. 1, and a few opera's and/or extracts thereof (Aida ! Gloria al'Egitto !)

Such music is never meant to be background music. I don't listen to it that much but when I do it's with 100% exclusive attention. Oh, and very, very loud as this music really should always be played.

I don't actually own any classical music but I listen to a huge variety. Our local public radio station has some great programming in the morning plus Performance Today which is another great classical radio program is available online. I also have a subscription online to listen to everything in the Naxos label's catalog. It's only 20$ a year. I went ahead and did that because I knew that if I started buying everything I like it would quickly get out of hand. :D

[partofme]

Who ? Mozart, Schubert, Chopin, Chopin, Chopin and Bach played by Glen Gould.

Reason ? Because I used to play the piano and these were my favourite.
(Of course, impossible for a layman to play like Glen Gould. This guy is a genious.)

Chopin is probably the most respected composer that I don't really listen to. The compositions are amazing and they show off the talent of the pianist that plays them but for some reason most of his works don't move me. I listen to it when it's on but I never go out of my way to listen to it.

[Dominick]

I don't actually own any classical music but I listen to a huge variety. Our local public radio station has some great programming in the morning plus Performance Today which is another great classical radio program is available online. I also have a subscription online to listen to everything in the Naxos label's catalog. It's only 20$ a year. I went ahead and did that because I knew that if I started buying everything I like it would quickly get out of hand. :D
The problem around here with public classical radio stations is that they play mostly esoteric or very modern 'classical' music. Some of that is mindboggling, even for me :) I don't know the proper terms but it sounds like Cannibal Corpse playing techno on classical instruments.

CM is dirt cheap around here. All well known works can be bought for 1€/cd.

[partofme]

The problem around here with public classical radio stations is that they play mostly esoteric or very modern 'classical' music. Some of that is mindboggling, even for me :) I don't know the proper terms but it sounds like Cannibal Corpse playing techno on classical instruments.

CM is dirt cheap around here. All well known works can be bought for 1€/cd.

That sucks. The station I listen to as well as the other programming plays some modern composers but most shows feature some of the A-list names like Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, etc...

[Sucre]

Chopin is probably the most respected composer that I don't really listen to. The compositions are amazing and they show off the talent of the pianist that plays them but for some reason most of his works don't move me. I listen to it when it's on but I never go out of my way to listen to it.
There is something about Chopin that when you know the history of the man, his love affairs, his depressions etc. you listen to the music in a much other way. Each single note has an importance and the pieces are written in such a way that you can listen to each of them. There is this prelude "prélude en la", which he wrote on a raining day after a fight with George Sand, and this note always coming back and back again, like drops of rain.

[Sucre]

The problem around here with public classical radio stations is that they play mostly esoteric or very modern 'classical' music. Some of that is mindboggling, even for me :) I don't know the proper terms but it sounds like Cannibal Corpse playing techno on classical instruments..
I agree, LOL.

[Michael]

The problem around here with public classical radio stations is that they play mostly esoteric or very modern 'classical' music. Some of that is mindboggling, even for me :) I don't know the proper terms but it sounds like Cannibal Corpse playing techno on classical instruments.

CM is dirt cheap around here. All well known works can be bought for 1€/cd.
Can you get CBC Radio One on the net? If so, I know a few classical music fans who say that they'd die without CBC Radio One. Commercial free radio.

[partofme]

Can you get CBC Radio One on the net? If so, I know a few classical music fans who say that they'd die without CBC Radio One. Commercial free radio.

Performance Today is a great program the is commercial free. It's two hours long and comes on every weekday but you can listen online any time. It's focus is on live performances instead of studio recordings.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7gPm9Tyjoc

[Michael]

Can anyone point me at an orchestra or symphony that is not public-subsidized? One that actually survives on the private market?

Just curious.

I suspect that the reason there is a dearth of good classical music radio because there is a dearth of private market demand for the product. Seems that classical music needs public subsidies to exist (no different than opera and most professional sports).

[partofme]

Can anyone point me at an orchestra or symphony that is not public-subsidized? One that actually survives on the private market?

Just curious.

I suspect that the reason there is a dearth of good classical music radio because there is a dearth of private market demand for the product. Seems that classical music needs public subsidies to exist (no different than opera and most professional sports).

I'm not sure of this but I think that many major orchestras is bigger cities survive on their own. They play shows several nights a week and almost always sell out. Then you have chamber musicians that usually do not get subsidized such as string quartets and the like.

[SMadsen]

I've got stuff from Bach, Beethoven, Wagner (:nazi: ;)), Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Berlioz, Stravinsky, Vivaldi, Pachelbel, Orff,...
Favourites are the Carmina Burana (not just the widely known O Fortuna, but the lot), Mozart's Requiem, Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps, Tchaikosky's Konzert für Klavier und Orcherster Nr. 1, and a few opera's and/or extracts thereof (Aida ! Gloria al'Egitto !)

Such music is never meant to be background music. I don't listen to it that much but when I do it's with 100% exclusive attention. Oh, and very, very loud as this music really should always be played.
:thumpups:

Lots of classical CDs here but they're not always put on for 100% exclusive attention. Depends on mood. Often I choose certain pieces to make work flow a bit better (although not always classical music, - Aretha, Simply Red and Ricky Lee Jones always help bring on a good 'working mood').

[Abruptum]

I recognise classical music as being important in the history of society and music itself...but I'm not a fan whatsoever. I do like instruments used in classical music such as violins and cellos, but I'm much more of a rock/metal listener. Those aren't my only genres; however, I do also enjoy blues, jazz, industrial, electronic, and some hiphop.

Just goes to show how we're all different ;)

[Margot]

I'll try to stop resurrecting dead threads after this, I promise. This topic is just too much fun. Are we talking strictly classical, as in the classical period, or just a general "none of these have guitar or a lead singer, so we'll toss em all in" classical? If the latter:

Maurice Ravel. Love him. Bolero always gets too much press. Even in his own time it was always his best-known piece. It got on his nerves. If people know him at all their minds always fly off to Bolero, and they never remember his really amazing stuff. Daphnis & Chloé is beautiful, his arrangements of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition are fricking awesome. And his real masterpiece? His Sonatine is my favorite piece ever. Ever. All of his piano compositions are phenomenal, but his Sonatine...

In the same vein as Ravel is Debussy. You can look at an impressionist painting and listen to a piece by either of these men and understand why the movements share a name.

Rachmaninoff is also brilliant. The Russian "five" are all stellar, in my opinion, but listening to them too much is sort of like having Sylvia Plath whispering in your ear...Prokofiev came a little later and sort of took the edge off what came before him.

And for one more Frenchman there is Eric Satie. Simple and sweet. He's best known for his Gymnopédies but I love him for Gnossienne #1.

(Chopin is amazing in about a billion different ways, but he is also really well represented in this thread already...)

[partofme]

I'll try to stop resurrecting dead threads after this, I promise. This topic is just too much fun. Are we talking strictly classical, as in the classical period, or just a general "none of these have guitar or a lead singer, so we'll toss em all in" classical? If the latter:

Maurice Ravel. Love him. Bolero always gets too much press. Even in his own time it was always his best-known piece. It got on his nerves. If people know him at all their minds always fly off to Bolero, and they never remember his really amazing stuff. Daphnis & Chloé is beautiful, his arrangements of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition are fricking awesome. And his real masterpiece? His Sonatine is my favorite piece ever. Ever. All of his piano compositions are phenomenal, but his Sonatine...

In the same vein as Ravel is Debussy. You can look at an impressionist painting and listen to a piece by either of these men and understand why the movements share a name.

Rachmaninoff is also brilliant. The Russian "five" are all stellar, in my opinion, but listening to them too much is sort of like having Sylvia Plath whispering in your ear...Prokofiev came a little later and sort of took the edge off what came before him.

And for one more Frenchman there is Eric Satie. Simple and sweet. He's best known for his Gymnopédies but I love him for Gnossienne #1.

(Chopin is amazing in about a billion different ways, but he is also really well represented in this thread already...)

Generally it's easier to just call the baroque, classical, and romantic periods classical. But yeah the broader sense is what I meant.

[Dominick]

I'll try to stop resurrecting dead threads after this, I promise.
Don't worry about that. Necroposting is not only allowed, it's encouraged.

[dannydesiliva]

Just been listening to Vanessa Mae and Nigel Kennedy... How fantastic! They use modern technology to play their violins and are at the forefront of their genre in my opinion. There's lots of new bands using violins and orchestras now (Arcade Fire for one) Is classical music making a comeback?

[partofme]

Just been listening to Vanessa Mae and Nigel Kennedy... How fantastic! They use modern technology to play their violins and are at the forefront of their genre in my opinion. There's lots of new bands using violins and orchestras now (Arcade Fire for one) Is classical music making a comeback?

I think it's an attempt for indie rock acts to get away from the tired old guitar driven format. Personally I welcome anything that changes things up a bit.

[cassandrabandra]

Who ? Mozart, Schubert, Chopin, Chopin, Chopin and Bach played by Glen Gould.

Reason ? Because I used to play the piano and these were my favourite.
(Of course, impossible for a layman to play like Glen Gould. This guy is a genious.)

Hi Sucre! :)


of course - nobody plays Bach like Glen Gould. I love Bach anyway - but I was entrancd by Gould.

that said - I'm not really as knowledgeable about music as i would like to be, but I have an odd collection of favourites, and there are some pieces which seem to shift me to a different space.

But I find I like a lot of different music.

[Donkey]

I think there is also a major difference in appreciation between listening casually and playing.

[cassandrabandra]

I think there is also a major difference in appreciation between listening casually and playing.

yes. I only ever really played guitar, but when I had access to a piano I tried to play a few things - very basic - I figured out fur elise and a bach melody, along with a few other simple pieces, but I was never a musician. oh - and I play djembe - but som epeople say drummers are wannabe musicians ... so that doesn't count.

I was thinking about this today. for me, music has a whole lot of different levels.

There are pieces I can think of, and they evoke a memory - and for that reason alone I love that piece.

There are other pieces, and there is something in the music itself that resonates on some level. Sometimes I can identify what it is (might be a chord sequence reminds me of something), but usually I can't.

sometimes, some knowledge I have of that composerenables me to "reinterpret" a piece of music, and appreciate it in a new way. I find that with art as well - if I understand the context it can become easier to understand what the artist is saying - and it has new meaning for me.

[Michael]

yes. I only ever really played guitar, but when I had access to a piano I tried to play a few things - very basic - I figured out fur elise and a bach melody, along with a few other simple pieces, but I was never a musician. oh - and I play djembe - but som epeople say drummers are wannabe musicians ... so that doesn't count.

I was thinking about this today. for me, music has a whole lot of different levels.

There are pieces I can think of, and they evoke a memory - and for that reason alone I love that piece.

There are other pieces, and there is something in the music itself that resonates on some level. Sometimes I can identify what it is (might be a chord sequence reminds me of something), but usually I can't.

sometimes, some knowledge I have of that composerenables me to "reinterpret" a piece of music, and appreciate it in a new way. I find that with art as well - if I understand the context it can become easier to understand what the artist is saying - and it has new meaning for me.

Music does pretty much nothing for me. Its nice in the background sometimes, but not if I'm reading or thinking (in which case it disturbs me). More often than not, listening to music annoys me rather than gives pleasure (I find it hard to think/talk/concentrate about anything with music playing).

The best I can say is that certain pieces of music are very effective at reminding me of old friends or situations. I can easily do without it though.

I suppose it is relevant to mention the fact that I'm half-deaf in one ear so I don't actually hear in 'stereo' so that might have something to do with it. :shrug:

[Zarquon]

Music does pretty much nothing for me. Its nice in the background sometimes, but not if I'm reading or thinking (in which case it disturbs me). More often than not, listening to music annoys me rather than gives pleasure (I find it hard to think/talk/concentrate about anything with music playing).

The best I can say is that certain pieces of music are very effective at reminding me of old friends or situations. I can easily do without it though.

I suppose it is relevant to mention the fact that I'm half-deaf in one ear so I don't actually hear in 'stereo' so that might have something to do with it. :shrug:
that makes you a grumpy old man!:p
I was drawn to classical music when I found out that that's what they call the 'background music' in most of my favorite movies. Been a casual and intermittent listener ever since then.

[Dominick]

Classical music written in 2007 : The Durham Concerto by Jon Lord (yes, of Deep Purple renown).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpDEA7bVksc&feature=related

It ain't Beethoven or Bach but it's pretty damn good.