Classical Music Torture?

[Monsieur Croche]

I live in Melbourne, Australia. Starbucks gets so few customers that some of them have to be closed down. We are all coffee snobs here.

Rebels Strike Evil Empire! ~ Film At Eleven

Good on you all, mates :-)

[Monsieur Croche]

Seriously, what it is that is so wrong (if not actually egregious) about the question in the OP is that any one piece, or even "all the works of" one composer, as all one can ever hear in eternity?
Hell?  Yeah!...No matter how freakin' divine the works or composer.

Similar to the 'one piece or composer / desert island' question, whenever it comes up, has me thinking more...
Truly, desert island? ... probably use those discs to create a shade screen, or snap one into pieces for cutting tools, shiny side of the CD as mirror-sun flash signal if a ship went by... etc.

[Mirror Image]

Nothing, I just don't want you to take off your belt and start hitting me.

[Monsieur Croche]

Nothing, I just don't want you to take off your belt and start hitting me.

No matter whose, it would be a virtual belt, not at all useful for holding up your pants or a dress, and one way or t'other, you wouldn't feel a thing. 

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

To put things into perspective: I suppose you love the sound of people losing their jobs and having to find other employment as well?

I'm not being literal. What i mean is that I prefer cafes that actually makes coffee that tastes really good as opposed to the low quality stuff you get at Starbucks

[Mirror Image]

I'm not being literal. What i mean is that I prefer cafes that actually makes coffee that tastes really good as opposed to the low quality stuff you get at Starbucks

I can make better coffee at home. I have no use for Starbucks. On this point, I agree with you.

[Karl Henning]

I'm not being literal. What i mean is that I prefer cafes that actually makes coffee that tastes really good as opposed to the low quality stuff you get at Starbucks

"Burnt black beans" as one of my buddies in Texas says.

[Simula]

I think the point is that any piece of music that was repeated for 10,000 years would be quite torturous. However, some would be worse than others. What would be interesting would be to assemble a psychological team to catalogue the effects of all the different pieces after prolonged listening. Beethoven would produce external violence, while Reich would produce utter madness and self mutilation. 

[Karl Henning]

O.

K.

[aleazk]

Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.1.

[aleazk]

Starbucks is the McDonalds of coffee. In a hurry, they can be helpful. To ask quality in those places is simply an ill posed question since I don't think that's their main concern in the first place.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Reich would produce utter madness and self mutilation.

In what part of the anatomy?

[Mirror Image]

Starbucks is the McDonalds of coffee. In a hurry, they can be helpful. To ask quality in those places is simply an ill posed question since I don't think that's their main concern in the first place.

That's a fair point. By the way, welcome! I LOVE your avatar. Bill Evans is my favorite jazz pianist. Such a huge influence on me.

[zamyrabyrd]

I often wondered how much of the same piece my family members could bear hearing my practicing them over and over again. One thing for sure, hearing some teachers down the hall in a conservatory bang and scream would make me go to pieces. I don't know how the secretary would stand for it but he was usually seen playing computer solitaire and then turning the screen when we came to his desk.

[Monsieur Croche]

I think the point is that any piece of music that was repeated for 10,000 years would be quite torturous. However, some would be worse than others. What would be interesting would be to assemble a psychological team to catalogue the effects of all the different pieces after prolonged listening. Beethoven would produce external violence, while Reich would produce utter madness and self mutilation.

Your proposal, using human subjects, is a titch to the left of a Mengelian stamp of socio/psychopathy :-)

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Starbucks is the McDonalds of coffee. In a hurry, they can be helpful. To ask quality in those places is simply an ill posed question since I don't think that's their main concern in the first place.

I'd sooner inject caffeine into my bloodstream with a syringe than order coffee at Starbucks

[Monsieur Croche]

"Burnt black beans" as one of my buddies in Texas says.

Them be "French Roast," pardner -- that variety invented as a means of giving more flavor to bland or inferior beans -- sort of like adding burnt chicory to the coffee.

[Spawnofsatan]

Listening to Mozart makes me want to rape little bunnies 

[Mirror Image]

I have to completely disagree to the highest level, as he has always been my #1 composer and I have trouble listening to his work too much sometimes, through being addicted 
Xenakis is a pleasure to listen to, I even named one of my accounts after him....hmmm 

That's fine. We all have our favorites and Xenakis could never be one of mine.

[Mirror Image]

It's alright, you don't have to like (or love, like I do) his music, as with any other compser (like Beethoven).

What are your thoughts on Varese and Messiaen? just wondering 

I really like Varese's music (esp. Ameriques and Arcana). I'm not a fan of Messiaen. I almost had a breakthrough with his music last year (?), but when I made a return to his music, I was thoroughly disappointed that whatever enthusiasm I had seemed to have faded away. I do love his L'ascension. I think this is a masterwork, but little else has made an impression of me. I tend to like the earlier generation of 20th Century French composers, especially Ravel, Debussy, Poulenc, and Koechlin. Generally speaking, I'm not really into French music too much and prefer the Russians, Nordics, Austrians/Germans, Brits, and Americans (incl. Latin Americans). I also like a few Czech and Hungarian composers.