Classical Music

What is your opinion on classical music?

  • I hate classical music/never listen to it.

    Votes: 1 1.7%
  • I like some of it/certain pieces.

    Votes: 21 35.0%
  • I love most classical music/listen exclusively to it.

    Votes: 38 63.3%

  • Total voters
    60

tlbuncut5

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My truck license plate is ( N2 BACH) Think that says it all. Get a little ribbing, a Cowboi that love classical music is kind of strange. But i like country, and rock. My fave rocker is Rob Thomas
 

Brillig47

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The questionnaire is too limited and divisive. I grew up playing classical music from age 4 (and learnt to hate the piano as a result.) but I love the music and have mostly played Baroque and earlier, Medieval and Renaissance. Always wished I could play the great church organ...J.S.Bach's Triosonatas for organ are my dream for my next life...

But I wouldn't want to exclude down and dirty Rock n Roll, Beatles, Stones, Led Zeppelin, Sly Stone, Neil Young, Dylan, The Band, Annie Lennox, ....that's just the start of the list....Amy Winehouse, Lady Gaga.....not to mention contemporary jazz...and if you play wind instruments ( as I have done) nothing beats Sousa.

The only composer I avoid is Wagner ( too overblown, too many unnecessary notes, too many deferred climaxes ) and opera generally ( too much wobbly singing ).

If you're still reading this Google Emma Kirkby..there's a divine voice
" " " " " " " Carlo Gesualdo...there's a mind-boggling composer (from 1610)

Where to begin....seriously
 
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701757

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I grew up playing classical music from age 4 (and learnt to hate the piano as a result.)

Uh oh whaaat? Exact opposite happened here. I also like a lot of the bands and singers you listed there, but I don't listen to them as often.
 
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So I've noticed that classical music tends to get very little love on radios or in popular culture now a days . . .

It depends on where you are. In Chicago, we have one of the best classical stations in the world—WFMT 98.7. I have WFMT on in my car all the time. For smart phone users, there is a free app for this station. There are apps for other great classical stations.

First, if your answer to the poll question is 'I hate classical music/never listen to it.', put any reasons you have as to why.

Oddly enough, people are surrounded by classical music and never realize it until someone identifies it. TV, movies, even football games. I think the term "classical" has become a term that signifies "avoid at all costs." It's like "opera: "Oh, I hate it." "Have you ever seen an opera?" "No, but I still hate opera." It's also like the climate in some schools: It's cool to be stupid, but not to be smart.

While I listen to all types of music, at the end of the day, I need what classical music can provide.

FYI: There have been threads in the past at LPSG concerning classical music and the listening lists of our members. Try using search. If I remember where to find these threads, I will post them.

Yesterday, I heard a wonderful piece of music by Gerald Finzi that is appropriate for today. Rather than celebratory it is reflective.

Gerald Finzi—New Year Music, Op. 7
 
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Brillig47

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srk515....I had a string of really horrible piano teachers is what (I was at boarding school in the UK) but I had a great teacher for wind/brass, and my boyfriend was a brilliant organist..heaven was to be with him in the college organ loft, turning the pages while he played Bach, Buxtehude, Widor, etc. I also had a great cello teacher.
 
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D_JohnQPubic

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The questionnaire is too limited and divisive. I grew up playing classical music from age 4 (and learnt to hate the piano as a result.) but I love the music and have mostly played Baroque and earlier, Medieval and Renaissance. Always wished I could play the great church organ...J.S.Bach's Triosonatas for organ are my dream for my next life...

But I wouldn't want to exclude down and dirty Rock n Roll, Beatles, Stones, Led Zeppelin, Sly Stone, Neil Young, Dylan, The Band, Annie Lennox, ....that's just the start of the list....Amy Winehouse, Lady Gaga.....not to mention contemporary jazz...and if you play wind instruments ( as I have done) nothing beats Sousa.

The only composer I avoid is Wagner ( too overblown, too many unnecessary notes, too many deferred climaxes ) and opera generally ( too much wobbly singing ).

If you're still reading this Google Emma Kirkby..there's a divine voice
" " " " " " " Carlo Gesualdo...there's a mind-boggling composer (from 1610)

Where to begin....seriously

I quoted you to begin my entry because virtually all of what you wrote echoes my feelings and interests. But for me specifically...

I have two degrees in music, a BA in performance, and a Masters in Sacred Music as a choral director. I play all keyboards, including organ, though my pedal playing is limited, not expert.

As a young man I mostly listened to JS Bach, Vivaldi, and Mozart. And all of it was instrumental. As a man in his fifties now, I primarily listen to (and perform) choral music, preferably a cappella (voices only, for the uninitiated). I like small ensembles of voices, from three to thirty.

Favorite composers these days? All of them, nearly. But if I were forced to choose only one I could take to a desert island for the rest of my life, despite my vocal music leanings, it would be Beethoven. I always come back to Ludwig, especially his piano music.
 
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701757

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I bet we can assemble a LPSG orchestra and advertise ourselves as "The Most Hung Orchestra Ever Seen".


Clarinet, sax, bassoon, oboe, guitar, and drums. I also sing, and can get by on harmonica and kalimba.

That's pretty impressive lol. I can kinda play the guitar too but I wouldn't really call it playing.
 

Brillig47

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ThreeLegsGood........if I could take only one album to a desert island to listen to forever, it'd have to be J.S.Bach's Triosonatas for organ, but second place would be Beethoven's 7th Symphony, conducted by Otto Klemperer, 3rd place, Beethoven's Violin Concerto with Nathan Milstein, 4th place Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Virgine 1610 (John Eliot Gardner), 5th place, Carlo Gesualdo's Tenebrae Responsoriae (either Tallis Scholars or the Hilliards ).

Maybe we should do our top ten favourites..what we really listen to most often.....
 

Brillig47

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And we shouldn't forget the classical music of other cultures...I listen to lots of Indian classical...esp sarod, bansuri and sarangi (northern traditions) Veena and mridangam/dholak (southern tradition) but Google U.Srinivas on electric mandolin...WOW.

Do you call traditional gypsy music from Romania a kinda "classical" tradition of folk music? Try Taraf de Haidouks.

Turkish/Lebanese traditional ud music..another amazing foreign "classical" tradition

Japanese shakuhachi........ditto.
 
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701757

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Chopin's Ballades (especially 4,1, well all of them)
Scherzi
Barcarolle Op. 60
Fantaisie in F Minor Op. 49
Polonaise 'Heroique' Op. 53
Grand Polonaise Brilliante Op. 22
Polonaise-Fantasie Op. 61
Sonata No. 2 and 3
Piano Concerto No. 1 and 2

Ahh, all too godlike.
 

tallguypns

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I highly favor the Romantic composers, Gershwin, and some impressionist music. The classical era is rather boring to me, but Beethoven did a lot to change that period. Baroque and medieval are my least favorite periods of "classical" music. I am fortunate enough to make a good money recording classical music concerts and sessions for archival purposes and CD release.

I second (or third) what some said about the huge impressive low ends of organs. A very impressive sound for sure.

I've also been fortunate to record some world premier works of lesser known composers that are usually commissions for university ensembles and have usually enjoyed those pieces as well. A couple of examples are a Requiem by Penhorwood, which was commissioned for Katrina victims, and a cuban violin concerto by Gavilan.

Overall, I like tonal music and tend to shy away from the modern atonal or 12 tone stuff.
 

SilverTrain

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I'm somewhere between liking some of it and loving all of it.

My knowledge as to identifying specific pieces of music is woefully lacking. If I turn on the "classical" radio station, I'm content with most of it, truly pleased by a lot of it, and put off by very little of it.
 

ConanTheBarber

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Chopin's Ballades (especially 4,1, well all of them)
Scherzi
Barcarolle Op. 60
Fantaisie in F Minor Op. 49
Polonaise 'Heroique' Op. 53
Grand Polonaise Brilliante Op. 22
Polonaise-Fantasie Op. 61
Sonatas No. 2 and 3
Piano Concerto No. 1 and 2

Ahh, all too godlike.
That's a lot of Chopin.
Which pianists do you most like?
 

D_JohnQPubic

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ThreeLegsGood........if I could take only one album to a desert island to listen to forever, it'd have to be J.S.Bach's Triosonatas for organ, but second place would be Beethoven's 7th Symphony, conducted by Otto Klemperer, 3rd place, Beethoven's Violin Concerto with Nathan Milstein, 4th place Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Virgine 1610 (John Eliot Gardner), 5th place, Carlo Gesualdo's Tenebrae Responsoriae (either Tallis Scholars or the Hilliards ).

Maybe we should do our top ten favourites..what we really listen to most often.....

You and I like a lot of the same music. The 2nd movement to Beethoven's 7th was my favorite "music to make love by" when I was in my early twenties. And almost anything directed by Gardner is worth hearing many times.