Feb. is "What the hell, I'll give it a try" month!

[aukhawk]

I'm very split on British composers...Byrd, Purcell, Elgar, Britten I adore. Holst, Bax, Walton, Delius I don't give much time too.
...
Let me say that I am no way downgrading these composers, it's more of a I would rather not listen to them.

You can respect a composer's originality and seminal influence, without liking the music.  With me, it's Mozart I'm sorry to say.

Out of the 2nd names in your list above, I'd suggest Holst is very under-rated (perhaps because his Planets may seem overrated or at least overexposed).  His output's rather limited, but what there is sounds a bit ahead of its time to me.

[Mirror Image]

I didn't say noise. If there actually was some noise (aka dynamics, tension, contrast) in it, I would like it much better.  It's pretty but too much of it doesn't go anywhere. And just note that I found two works with some personality that I actually like there. That's a breakthrough for me.

That's the beauty of Delius' a lot of his music: the journey is its' own reward. Too much Delius, for many, can be fatal like a drug overdose. For me, there's so much depth to the music and the way it can subtly change harmonically is, quite simply, nothing short than marvelous. But I'm certainly glad you found some works you enjoy, erato.

Maybe I can find something I enjoy by Bach or Mozart? Who knows, stranger things have happened.

[Brian]

Mirror John's gonna give me a nasty look for saying this, but I guess this means that for me, February will be devoted to... Bartok 

Monkey Greg, for Ravel a safe bet is Boulez: the three DG CDs (Daphnis, Bolero, concertos w/ Zimerman) are my faves. But if you want your port of entry to be Ravel's "dark side," the disturbing side of his music rather than the velvety ballet side, you should start with the left-hand piano concerto and Gaspard de la nuit. Ravel's in my personal top five so...

[The new erato]

I'm working on it John, and you give a good explanation for why you like it. After 40 years of listening to classical music I still discover works I didn't know I liked (last case: Mendelssohn's Elijah); that's the wonder of it. With 40 years (?) of listening in front of you and an open mind, I wouldn't discount the possibility that you will find something in Bach or Mozart and look back in amusement on some of your posts.

While Bach was an instant hit with me, with Mozart it took me 30 years to discover that "there's so much depth to the music and the way it can subtly change harmonically is, quite simply, nothing short than marvelous". Before that it often (though there were exceptions like Don Giovanni) seemed simply like "too little was happening". But it does, to the open mind.

[The new erato]

Mirror John's gonna give me a nasty look for saying this,

You mean the Mirror Man?:

[mahler10th]

Composers you have disliked for as long as you have been a music-lover, composers you have dismissed and even abused with fredquency, and composers who had caused physical pain when you last listened...
Hey! Maybe time have changed? Maybe you have changed? Maybe it is time to be more open-minded and give the fella another chance, and give yourself another chance at opening up your horizon?
For me, right now:
John harbison: Ulysse's Bow

No! NO!  This is a TERRIBLE idea. This means I will have to listen to SCHOENBERG and his 12 Tone cronies again.  Oh well.  What the hell.  I'll give him ANOTHER try.  It may be a different experience altogether this time due to much improved audio hardware (even if it is 19 years old!) and speaker placements in my home.  In fact, I'm turning off the news on TV right now and I'm going to try it, perhaps the new acoustical experience will turn me around.  I have had oodles of help and suggestions in my quest to understand and appreciate his music, I will revisit those helpful posts and listen and see what happens.



My ever ongoing nemesis...

[Mirror Image]

Mirror John's gonna give me a nasty look for saying this, but I guess this means that for me, February will be devoted to... Bartok 

Excellent, Brian! One of my favorite composers. I could never give anybody a nasty look for trying to get into music that they haven't connected with yet.

[madaboutmahler]

No! NO!  This is a TERRIBLE idea. This means I will have to listen to SCHOENBERG and his 12 Tone cronies again.  Oh well.  What the hell.  I'll give him ANOTHER try.  It may be a different experience altogether this time due to much improved audio hardware (even if it is 19 years old!) and speaker placements in my home.  In fact, I'm turning off the news on TV right now and I'm going to try it, perhaps the new acoustical experience will turn me around.  I have had oodles of help and suggestions in my quest to understand and appreciate his music, I will revisit those helpful posts and listen and see what happens.



My ever ongoing nemesis...

Out of interest, John, do you feel the same about Berg  that you do Schoenberg?

[Mirror Image]

I'm working on it John, and you give a good explanation for why you like it. After 40 years of listening to classical music I still discover works I didn't know I liked (last case: Mendelssohn's Elijah); that's the wonder of it. With 40 years (?) of listening in front of you and an open mind, I wouldn't discount the possibility that you will find something in Bach or Mozart and look back in amusement on some of your posts.

While Bach was an instant hit with me, with Mozart it took me 30 years to discover that "there's so much depth to the music and the way it can subtly change harmonically is, quite simply, nothing short than marvelous". Before that it often (though there were exceptions like Don Giovanni) seemed simply like "too little was happening". But it does, to the open mind.

You see I had a similar situation, though certainly not 30 years, of being instantly struck by Delius and having to work hard at Shostakovich. Suffice to say that, in the end, both came out on top.

[mahler10th]

Out of interest, John, do you feel the same about Berg  that you do Schoenberg?

Yes.  All of them.  Senseless cacophonies and irregular rhythms and bizarre moments.  I am listening to Webern right now, loud, and why I bought this a couple of years ago may yet take me some more years to find out.  I have visions of death, hellfire, strange and lonely people in vast surroundings when I listen to this kind of stuff.  Even as I listen, my body is experiencing certain mutations and irregular pulse.  LOL  But I will keep listening at the moment.

[TheGSMoeller]

Yes.  All of them.  Senseless cacophonies and irregular rhythms and bizarre moments.  I am listening to Webern right now, loud, and why I bought this a couple of years ago may yet take me some more years to find out.  I have visions of death, hellfire, strange and lonely people in vast surroundings when I listen to this kind of stuff.  Even as I listen, my body is experiencing certain mutations and irregular pulse.  LOL  But I will keep listening at the moment.

quote of the day*

[Sergeant Rock]

That's what I said after watching Last Tango in Paris.

Maria Schneider is a fine memory...if only I could get Brando out of my head!!! ARGGGHHHH!

Sarge

[Sergeant Rock]

...the only Mozart I own.... the Bohm box set of symphonies on DG.

Geez...no wonder you hate Mozart, John. If I only had Böhm's lumbering, sleepy performances, I'd hate Mozart too 


Sarge

[Brian]

Geez...no wonder you hate Mozart, John. If I only had Böhm's lumbering, sleepy performances, I'd hate Mozart too 


Sarge

Böhm's Mozart is one of the first CDs I ever got rid of, one of the first times I ever decided to cull my collection.

And, like Scots John, I'll have to make some kind of effort with the Second Viennese School this month. Hey, it will be worth it if Gurn is by my side and Mirror John is listening to Vivaldi nonstop!

Mirror John, you should place trust in Charles Mackerras with Mozart, just like you would with Janacek. The Scottish Chamber Orchestra recordings, which were his very last recordings, inspired him to say in one of his final interviews that he'd finally done all he'd wanted to do. I also think you'd profit greatly from hearing HIP ensembles which inject some danger and sharpness into the music, like Europa Galante in Vivaldi or Cafe Zimmermann in Bach or Jordi Savall's people in just about anything. Baroque music doesn't have to be a bland snooze.

[madaboutmahler]

Yes.  All of them.  Senseless cacophonies and irregular rhythms and bizarre moments.  I am listening to Webern right now, loud, and why I bought this a couple of years ago may yet take me some more years to find out.  I have visions of death, hellfire, strange and lonely people in vast surroundings when I listen to this kind of stuff.  Even as I listen, my body is experiencing certain mutations and irregular pulse.  LOL  But I will keep listening at the moment.

haha, I kind of share the same thoughts about Webern!
I think that Berg has a far more sensitive, romantic streak through his music though which is why he is my favourite of the three. Do you know his violin concerto, John?

[North Star]

Mirror John, you should place trust in Charles Mackerras with Mozart, just like you would with Janacek. The Scottish Chamber Orchestra recordings, which were his very last recordings, inspired him to say in one of his final interviews that he'd finally done all he'd wanted to do. I also think you'd profit greatly from hearing HIP ensembles which inject some danger and sharpness into the music, like Europa Galante in Vivaldi or Cafe Zimmermann in Bach or Jordi Savall's people in just about anything. Baroque music doesn't have to be a bland snooze.

+1000
And Freiburg Barockorchester's Mozart, too.

[Opus106]

And, like Scots John, I'll have to make some kind of effort with the Second Viennese School this month.

That's a surprise, Brian, to hear that you haven't yet made piece with this group. Not that I take a dive in their music every day -- in fact, most of what I've listened more than a few times is not entirely the archetypical output from this school. Still, I think I'm 'okay' with Berg, even with the operatic excerpts and some of the songs, when I'm in the mood. And just a few weeks ago, I made a mental note to start listening to all of Schoenberg's quartets. This thread has served as a reminder to me.

Mirror John is listening to Vivaldi nonstop!

He might do that, you know. The real emotion and complexity, which sadly is lacking in Bach's and often in Mozart's music trivial noise, is what makes him a fan of the instrumental Italian Baroque. Like, really!

[mahler10th]

haha, I kind of share the same thoughts about Webern!
I think that Berg has a far more sensitive, romantic streak through his music though which is why he is my favourite of the three. Do you know his violin concerto, John?

Yes.  MI John introduced it to me a while back.
It is now at home in a particularly small section of my music collection which I strategically called "NOT" - NOT being NOT music I have bonded with, which is where I fished out the Webern...and quickly fished it back in again.   

[Brian]

Yes.  MI John introduced it to me a while back.
It is now at home in a particularly small section of my music collection which I strategically called "NOT" - NOT being NOT music I have bonded with, which is where I fished out the Webern...and quickly fished it back in again.   

For a few years, Berg's violin concerto was my least favorite piece in the classical repertoire. But a combination of my maturity and Isabelle Faust means that now I can tolerate it, or mostly tolerate it. I'm at peace with Schoenberg's Chamber Symphonies, but with the weird exception of K.A. Hartmann's Sixth Symphony, I still find the Second Viennese, and almost everything they inspired, to be very tough sailing. Not even a fan of Shostakovich's First Symphony.

[Lisztianwagner]

I gave a chance to Verdi's music and I listened to Nabucco which was broadcast on last Friday, from Teatro alla Scala. I'm afraid the experiment didn't go very well, the music wasn't able to involve me at all, except for some parts; I've found it too melodramatic, not thrilling, passionate and overwhelming enough. The only Verdi I seem to appreciate is the orchestral one (Requiem, the prestissimo from Don Carlos).