ATTN: Classical Music Fanatics

[Sally]

I am facing a dilemma regarding classical music. Specifically: I hate it.

Not all of it. When I was really pissed off at one point in my life, blasting Beethoven's 9th at maximum volume made me feel loads better. Then there was the time I ran out and got a Liszt cd after watching Lisztomania (fantabulous movie, if anyone was wondering!). But it was the association more than the music that I liked. And there's this one Brahms tune that's been stuck in my head for my ENTIRE LIFE, but when I heard it in an actual arrangement, I despised it.

I've tried listening to modern composers, but the closest I get is soundtracks. I adore Ryuichi Sakamoto and Thomas Newman, and listening to the English Patient soundtrack while reading Seven Pillars of Wisdom is tantamount to suicide, the emotion is so overwhelming, but.... When I tried Part, Bax, Tavener (yes, thanks to that INTP essay) - they just sounded far too self-important to me.

I could go on....... But what I want isn't so much to dwell on what I dislike but to find out what other people *like* and, more importantly, why they like it.

So. Your mission, should you choose to accept it:

1) Rant to me. Go into the tiniest detail about everything you love about your favorite piece of classical music. And by classical I mean something involving a composer, a lot of intruments, no voices, and a vaguely 'classical' sound. I feel I've got my ambient/folk/chant bases covered. And please remember: I am a lay person. Take as much time, get as convoluted as you need to. I'll read every word.

I realise that personal taste and experience and emotion yada yada play a huge part in one's musical preferences. If I understand why others like, I feel I'd have a better idea of what to look for for myself. But I realise my knowledge is extremely scant, so option two:

2) Taking *my* tastes into account, please not only point me in the direction of something I would like but help me narrow it down and down until I find the damn thing.

I just *hate* missing out on this. I *know* that somewhere out there in the eternity of human creativity, there is a symphony that would sum up every core emotion of my being. But since it *is* emotional, a single movement that's too hopeful or too high-minded makes the whole thing fall to pieces and fills me with rage and despair.

Thank yous in advance.

~Sally

[Next week: Jazz.]

[cjs55]

Prokofiev. Prokofiev. Prokofiev. I just cannot explain how much I love him. I can't pick one piece by him, most are good, some are beyond good. I too don't particularly like most modern composers including Part. I really can't be more specific. I know I'm not exactly following the plan here, but I just don't know what I can say other than I love it, and if you are like me at all you may love it too.

Debussy is right up there as well but is entirely different at the same time. For the most part I don't like classical music because it lacks consistency and focus. Too much sonic masturbation for my tastes. But there are some composers that have a mission, like Prokofiev or Debussy, that I can really follow and appreciate on a mental level and absolutely fall in love with on an emotional one.


Oh, and to respond to next week's thread early: I hate jazz.

[Sally]

Ok. Funny story about Prokofiev.

Without getting into too many specifics... There was a day a few months ago when all, say, Five of my emotional hot points were detonated and I flipped out, left work early, and went tearing around town in my (father's) convertible. I grabbed a tape at random, glanced at it for a millisecond, shoved it into the tape deck, and experienced the most fulfilling sonic-emotional hour of my entire life. By the time the music had wound down I was calm enough to park, turn the music off, and finish the dime novel I'd been reading. Later, all I could recall was a sense of furious violins.

Weeks later, it occurs to me to find the tape I'd enjoyed so much. I dig and dig and dig, only vaguely recalling a Japanese name and the letter P. Finally, after ransacking the whole car, I find it: Prokofiev's Paintings at an Exhibition with a Japanese conducton. I pop it in the tape deck and......... utter disappointment. It sounds *nothing* like what I remember. Maybe one part of one movement sounds anything like the fury that had moved me so much. (Some segment about a poor and a rich Jew, I think.)

After listening to it several times, I finally decided that my brain had just hallucinated the whole thing. >_< That or, in my hightened state, I tossed the tape out onto the street once I was done with it. Either way.......

The incredible frustration of that incident had led me to my quest today.

[Shai Gar]

like or do not, there is not try

[Sally]

I'd like to try to try.

[L. Bartholomew]

listen to solo stuff. I know you said lots of instruments, but the intimacy(for lack of a better word) of solo instrumental music allows you to get more into the music. (Which, if i've correctly interpreted your questions, is what you are looking for-musical experience.)
Classical guitar is the way to go. I recommend Jorge Morel, a Brazilian composer who's work can be upbeat, but it's innovative and you can tell he puts a lot into it. Andrew York is an interesting modern composer for the instrument. He's got a song called Marley's Ghost that may be what you're looking for. You might try looking at some violin and guitar duets. Or chello/bass accompanying pretty much anything. (Just STAY AWAY form Bach on guitar. For your own sake and for the sake of any who may happen to overhear. Unless you want to fall asleep. Or you want them to fall asleep.)
But if you really want climactic, emotional symphonies, look for keywords such as "minor" and "Russian". You can't go wrong with Russian composers for furious, percussive, bass-centered, fast-tempoed emotional rampages. (By all means- feel free to disagree with this statement. It is a generalization, but for the most part true, I think. You don' get any more furious than Flight of the Bumblebee my friends.)
And it may be eternally associated with a movie, but Thus Spoke Zoroaster-Richard Strauss will always rule over all of them. This is not arguable. You may try but you will be wrong.=)

[Claverhouse]

And it may be from a movie, but Thus Spoke Zoroaster-Richard Strauss will always rule over all of them. This is not arguable. You may try but you will be wrong.=)
Eeeeek, gulp. I think Herr Strauss wishes to talk to you through a medium.

Anyway, once you've tried Wagner, you never go back...



Claverhouse :ph34r:

[Sally]

And speaking of movies.......... Everyone knows that Wagner is the anti-Christ/vampire/Frankenstein monster/Hitler. But that's why we love him. :}

And per Anita Pallenberg, there's nothing better to wank to.

[Boneca]

I have a sort of love/hate relationship with classical music. There are some works I have been forced to play that I simply can't stand (yes, mr. Stravinsky, I'm talking about you!), and there is the large bulk that are played over and over again, but still can only be classified as boring.
As a matter of fact, even though I've played the cello since I was a kid, my interest in classical music has been moderate at best.

Still, there are those few pearls that make me unable to dismiss the genre.
Since I was little, I've loved Brahms' Hungarian Dances - for some reason they make me very happy. Of course, I like Eastern European folk music, so that may explain it. (along with Dvorak's Slavonic Dances, etc.)

Then there are Vivaldi's Cello Sonatas, I love them all, but especially the 3rd. I have never played anything that allows me to convey emotions as much as that first Largo - it is my way of crying.
I must say I like Vivaldi's music in general, probably because a lot of it is in minor keys and quite melodic. And possibly also because it is usually not played on the piano, which is an instrument I vaguely dislike.

Other pieces I like are Ravel's Bolero and Grieg's Peer Gynt suites - both very pleasant and calming music. Holst's "The Planets" is also quite interesting. And there are probably a few more that I've forgotten, and hopefully a good number that I haven't discovered yet.

[Johnny]

Wagner's work is good. I'm a Sibelius fan, myself.

The composer's work itself is only part of the story in classical music, just as it is everywhere. Jimi Hendrix did a wonderful version of All Along the Watchtower, to take a rock music example.

Beethoven's 5th rocks with Klieber at the helm. Bohm's interpretations of Mozart's symphonies are great too. They're not so fast that the orchestra is taxed on technique and things get too sloppy sounding. Of course, it helps to have great orchestras doing the work...

Prokofiev and Stravinsky are good. I like Brahms' symphonies and his violin concerto. For me, learning to play the doublebass gives me a way to relate to the music in a way I can understand. I'm not sure I'd be so keen on it otherwise.

Seeing a good orchestra perform onstage may help you appreciate their magnetism too.

Good luck on your quest.