Post by jandl100 on Jun 28, 2018 14:05:20 GMT
My classical music journey - from the 1812 overture and the Four Seasons to Sculthorpe, Vasks and Tuur.
Another title for the thread might be "What the hell is that crap that Jerry is listening to these days?
"
I'm a musical nomad at heart. I tend to stay a while, making the most of where I have got to, then wander on.
I get bored with things and want to try new stuff.
I think it was ChrisB who pointed out on a TAS thread that I'm as much a musical box-swapper as I am with the hifi gear. - Very insightful, I thought, it really hadn't occured to me to look at it in that way.
I've always gravitated to classical music. Sure, I had the obligatory rock classics when I was a lad at school and uni, and enjoyed them (I still do, now & then) but I only really played them because all my friends were doing so. When listening on my own it's always been mainly classical music that I choose to play - even more so these days.
Oh, I started out with The Planets and Beethoven's 5th and the Moonlight Sonata and Bach's Brandenburg concertos back in my teens. And yes, the Four Seasons.
I recall the amazing day when I put on Beethoven's 9th symphony - and that rather weird 1st movement actually started to make sense and sound like music! Fantastic.
I grew to love the Beethoven and Brahms symphonies, then Mahler and Bruckner. The Big Concertos - wow.
Ah, great days. They kept me happy and content for a few decades, I guess.
Weirdly, I barely listen to them now.
The thought of starting up the Brahms violin concerto, once very much loved, now just brings on a sense of intense meh-ness. I just can't be bothered with it.
It must be decades since the Beethoven symphonies have made it on to my playlist. Ditto for the Beethoven piano concertos. And so on.
As for the Four Seasons .... well, I think you know my feelings about that!
I started to gravitate toward smaller scale music - chamber music; piano sonatas, string quartets. And to wander away from the mainstream, in search of new and different musical experiences.
These days I want to hear music that is new to me. I love to explore.
It used to cost me a small fortune - I was often spending over £100 a month for CDs, usually used ones from Amazon Market Place. Seldom was the week when a half dozen or so didn't arrive by post.
The advent of internet streaming was the ultimate freedom to explore - it's just perfect for me, and hugely cost effective. What had cost me a £1000 or more a year I can get for £10 or £20 a month.
So, I will have to ask your forgiveness for my often 'left field' (aka downright weird) choices when I get to do the Classical Monthly Album stint. It's where I have recently been in my own musical journey that generally guides my choices, and that tends not to be Big Tunes / well known classics, but is more focussed on innovative and challenging musical sonorities and textures - it doesn't have to sound "nice" these days for me, "interesting" can be far more interesting as far as I am concerned!
Another title for the thread might be "What the hell is that crap that Jerry is listening to these days?
"
I'm a musical nomad at heart. I tend to stay a while, making the most of where I have got to, then wander on.
I get bored with things and want to try new stuff.
I think it was ChrisB who pointed out on a TAS thread that I'm as much a musical box-swapper as I am with the hifi gear. - Very insightful, I thought, it really hadn't occured to me to look at it in that way.
I've always gravitated to classical music. Sure, I had the obligatory rock classics when I was a lad at school and uni, and enjoyed them (I still do, now & then) but I only really played them because all my friends were doing so. When listening on my own it's always been mainly classical music that I choose to play - even more so these days.
Oh, I started out with The Planets and Beethoven's 5th and the Moonlight Sonata and Bach's Brandenburg concertos back in my teens. And yes, the Four Seasons.
I recall the amazing day when I put on Beethoven's 9th symphony - and that rather weird 1st movement actually started to make sense and sound like music! Fantastic.
I grew to love the Beethoven and Brahms symphonies, then Mahler and Bruckner. The Big Concertos - wow.
Ah, great days. They kept me happy and content for a few decades, I guess.
Weirdly, I barely listen to them now.
The thought of starting up the Brahms violin concerto, once very much loved, now just brings on a sense of intense meh-ness. I just can't be bothered with it.
It must be decades since the Beethoven symphonies have made it on to my playlist. Ditto for the Beethoven piano concertos. And so on.
As for the Four Seasons .... well, I think you know my feelings about that!
I started to gravitate toward smaller scale music - chamber music; piano sonatas, string quartets. And to wander away from the mainstream, in search of new and different musical experiences.
These days I want to hear music that is new to me. I love to explore.
It used to cost me a small fortune - I was often spending over £100 a month for CDs, usually used ones from Amazon Market Place. Seldom was the week when a half dozen or so didn't arrive by post.
The advent of internet streaming was the ultimate freedom to explore - it's just perfect for me, and hugely cost effective. What had cost me a £1000 or more a year I can get for £10 or £20 a month.
So, I will have to ask your forgiveness for my often 'left field' (aka downright weird) choices when I get to do the Classical Monthly Album stint. It's where I have recently been in my own musical journey that generally guides my choices, and that tends not to be Big Tunes / well known classics, but is more focussed on innovative and challenging musical sonorities and textures - it doesn't have to sound "nice" these days for me, "interesting" can be far more interesting as far as I am concerned!
