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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | Christopher <plattc@optonline.net> |
| Subject | Re: classical music recommendations? |
| Date | Mon, 8 Mar 2004 18:08:54 -0500 |
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Not to pick a nit (isn't that what we do around here?), but "Pastoral"
Symphony, i.e. Symphony #6, is Beethoven and not Mozart. And to my ears,
Beethoven and Mozart are a good ways apart.
Which leads to my real point, which is that the original request from Jeff
was a little too vague to respond to in any meaningful way. You say you
love to listen to the Brandenburg Concertos every couple years but otherwise
give no hint as to what you like in the classical realm. Obviously, since
you're coming at this from a self-professed state of relative naivete, I
wouldn't expect you'd know how to describe what you like even if you had any
notions of what that was.
Put another way, it's kind of like saying "I've heard some Elvis Presley,
but I'd really like to start learning more about rock and roll." Only
expand the repertoire and styles by several centuries.
I do NOT mean to sound snotty, so if I do, I apologize. I'm definitely game
to help out if I can in any way, but I'd like to know more about where
you're coming from. What is it you like about Bach? The near-mathematical
precision of his musical structures? The sound of the particular
instruments -- non-vibrato strings, plucky harpsichord, mellow and reedy
recorders?
And how would you envision listening to the music? More as aural wallpaper
or a more active kind of listening? I find that some composers really take
a lot more attention than others to appreciate well.
And to Kelly's point, are there any Looney Tunes or Tom and Jerry cartoons
you remember that had memorable classical moments? The Wagner-inspired
"What's Opera Doc?" ("Kill the waaaabbit, kill the waaaabbit!"), the Johann
Strauss-inspired "Blue Danube", etc. etc.
I guess I'm trying to figure out if you have a strong predisposition to
Baroque music (e.g. Bach, Handel -- 17th Century), or if you have any
inkling about other eras of music -- Renaissance (Palestrina, Monteverdi --
15th, 16th Centuries), Classical (Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn -- 18th to 19th
Centuries), Romantic (Brahms, Mahler, Debussy, Tchaikovsky -- late 19th to
early 20th), and the mish-mash that is 20th Century music (Britten, Ives,
Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Bartok, Cage, Reich, Adams). Each era has plenty to
offer, obviously, and each has its own particular joys and challenges for
modern ears.
Maybe a good starting place is some kind of broad-swath sampler to sort of
ground your ears in the basics and see what kind of stuff you like -- more
or less modern-sounding, bigger or smaller ensembles, vocal vs. instrumental
-- and narrow it down from there. I'd say avoid the "Most Relaxing
Classical Music Ever" series, since that really limits the selections
stylistically to "music to go to sleep by". A quick poke through Amazon led
me to "The Best Classical Album In The World... Ever" on EMI, which looks to
have a pretty decent and varied collection of stuff. Or better still is
"Best of the Millennium: Top 40 Classical Hits", on Polygram. Both have
the added benefit of providing exposure to an array of performing ensembles
and conductors, as well as a wide range of music.
Them's my several cents.
Christopher
-----Original Message-----
From: audities-owner@smoe.org [mailto:audities-owner@smoe.org] On Behalf Of
kcronin
Sent: Monday, March 08, 2004 4:27 PM
To: audities@smoe.org
Subject: Re: classical music recommendations?
As for Mozart, my brother is fond of "pastorale,"
which is I think the 6th symphony? Now I forget, but I
can get back to you if you're interested...it was the
music during the suicide scene in "soylent green," but
don't let that scare you off...it's really quite
beautiful.
--kelly
=====
arma non servant modum
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