Driving music - listening in the car

[Brian]

Inspired by experience on the drive home today. I put on Prokofiev's "Love for Three Oranges" suite (Silvestri/EMI) and don't recommend it as road music - it was so frantic that I was worried every car around me was going to crash into me or start speeding 

Yesterday I listened to Satie's "Parade" in the car and right when police sirens started wailing, two real police cars started following me 

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BUT we can also talk about our favorite driving music!

I think the two big requirements are to have a lot of interest, but also to have a relatively narrow dynamic range. Too wide dynamics, and you can't hear the quiet parts, or you are constantly changing the volume knob. Most ballet music is phenomenal for driving the car - Massenet, Auber, Tchaikovsky, just about any great ballet will do. Mozart piano concertos are superb, as are many Haydn symphonies and baroque orchestral/operatic suites (like the Savall Rameau set).

[SimonNZ]

The classical radio station and pretty much nothing else. Most other music will lower my concentration if my thoughts turn to analyzing some aspect of what I'm hearing, in a way that for some reason a chattering passenger doesn't. Even the classical station I'll often turn down in busy situations.

[Mandryka]

Have you seen David Hockney's Wagner Drives?


https://www.academia.edu/36877329/Twilight_on_the_Roads_The_Wagner_Drives_of_David_Hockney_Chapters_1_and_2

https://www.therestisnoise.com/2021/01/david-hockneys-wagner-drive.html
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/01/18/a-road-trip-with-david-hockney-and-richard-wagner

[Holden]

I agree about dynamic range being an issue but a number of genres make most of this irrelevant. I can happily have any number of classical symphonies, piano music, etc. The important thing is that it's good music to drive to and doesn't require you to listen too attentively. The Klara Wurtz Mozart piano sonatas work very well in the car and so do most of the Rossini Overtures (William Tell excepted as it has too wide a dynamic range).

[DavidW]

I tend to prefer silence on my drives.  That being said when I occasionally do listen on long trips I prefer big box sets so I can start it and let it go.  For example, on one trip I listened to the Smetana Quartet's Beethoven SQs cycle.

[San Antone]

I listen to Jazz when I'm driving.  Lately the "complete sessions" boxes by Miles Davis, in chronological order. 

This one for the last week:

[Florestan]

The Romanian classical radio station plus a pop music radio station called Romantic FM is pretty much all I listen to while driving. As for specific music, I agree about ballet, Mozart / Haydn (actually, anything Classical / Early Romantic is all right in this respect) and Baroque. Waltzes and dance / light music in general are also fine while driving. Opera, too.

[Brian]

Rossini overtures are truly perfect road music!

I listen to Jazz when I'm driving.  Lately the "complete sessions" boxes by Miles Davis, in chronological order. 

This one for the last week:

My commute home from the office used to be 35-40 minutes in the evening, exactly the time of a typical 50s-60s jazz LP, so I used to bring classical for the mornings and a classic jazz album for the evenings. Got introduced to many, many great recordings that way.

Now my drive time is about 35 minutes *combined* so I guess mornings could be side A...

[Todd]

For short drives, I just listen to the radio.  If I have a hankering for classical music, I can turn to KQAC (which also streams) and listen to whatever they are playing.  I have learned of some recordings and artists that way.

For longer drives, I will say that I generally do not listen to much classical, but when I do, string quartets often fit the bill, with the Auryn Quartet's Schubert cycle my current fave.  For other music, Otmar Suitner's Dvorak cycle works remarkably well in a car setting.  Also, Renaissance liturgical music works well.

[San Antone]

Rossini overtures are truly perfect road music!My commute home from the office used to be 35-40 minutes in the evening, exactly the time of a typical 50s-60s jazz LP, so I used to bring classical for the mornings and a classic jazz album for the evenings. Got introduced to many, many great recordings that way.

Now my drive time is about 35 minutes *combined* so I guess mornings could be side A...

I live in the country, pretty much 30-45 minutes from anywhere like a "city".  The closest town (pop. 900) is still 15 minutes away.  Yesterday I went to Walmart in Carthage TN (pop. 2400) to return a skillet that arrived damaged (30 min drive) and then stopped at the only Chinese restaurant within reach for takeout.  Total trip took about 1.5 hours. Cookeville TN (pop. 35K) is the closest "big town" to us, about a 45 minute drive.

So, while I don't do this everyday, it is how I listen to a lot of music in my truck each week.  I also have to listen to a certain kind of music since my truck is not a quiet vehicle.  Classical music just doesn't work.

[Maestro267]

Dynamic levels are too varied in classical music for outdoor listening. Gotta be prog for me outside.

[Olias]

For other music, Otmar Suitner's Dvorak cycle works remarkably well in a car setting.

YES!  I have two sets of the Suitner cycle, one remains in the car.

[Olias]

One of my first considerations when buying a car is that it has to be quiet enough to let me listen to the music no matter what dynamic.  Having said that I tend to listen to less chamber music and more orchestral music in the car.  My only problem is when its pouring and the music gets hard to hear over the rain.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

I listen to William Walton and Prokofiev (and jazz) a lot while driving.

[Mirror Image]

I never play classical music in the car as 1. it requires a quiet environment and 2. requires committed listening. Sometimes I'll listen to talk radio or a rock station, but, honestly, I seldom listen to the radio as I'm more focused on driving as one should be anyway.

[Brian]

I listen to William Walton and Prokofiev (and jazz) a lot while driving.

The Walton symphonies are great on long highway drives when you need motivation.

[pjme]

I enjoy listening to opera fragments - be it Monteverdi or Puccini.
Renaissance dances and songs (Senfl, Hassler...) - Tanzen und springen...

Or any of the classical radio stations available (VRT, RTBF, dutch Radio 4) - often with interviews or the presentation of new recordings.

[Mookalafalas]

I commute by train. I study Japanese in the morning, but coming home I am through the Szell box in order. I'm on disk 70. I have big over the ear headphones and ear-plug types. They both block most of the ambient sound (I turn them up to max).