Back to Favorites - Or Not?

[Florestan]

Much as I like to discover new works, I always end up finding that none of them can match, let alone surpass, the works of my favorite composers, and I have a distinct feeling that if I listened to nothing but my favorite composers for the remainder of my life I would lose nothing at all.

How about you?

[Daverz]

I like discovering new favorites, but do find comfort in old favorites.

[Florestan]

I like discovering new favorites, but do find comfort in old favorites.

Yes, sure.

Now, suppose you will get only favorites for the remainder of your lifetime! What then?

My feeling is: all right and works with me!

[Karl Henning]

Much as I like to discover new works, I always end up finding that none of them can match, let alone surpass, the works of my favorite composers, and I have a distinct feeling that if I listened to nothing but my favorite composers for the remainder of my life I would lose nothing at all.

Save for an accident of timing, you would have lost Henning. Per what I italicized above, it won't surprise you that a composer doesn't feel that way at all.

Now, suppose you will get only favorites for the remainder of your lifetime! What then?

Music as a library science, not as a living art.

[DavidW]

My favorites change over time, except for the core. I discover new favorites and fall out of old ones. It churns.

When I'm at work, I usually want to take the least amount of time to pick something, so it is generally out of a whim, and commonly, I'm not that familiar with it, but it is fun.

It is kind of like this: my friend and I have lunch together every week. And he has his favorite and he always orders it. I sometimes order a favorite, but I love trying new things. And we probably both justify it by "life is short."

Whether you love your old favorites or you yearn to try something new, just be true to yourself.

[Kalevala]

My favorites change over time, except for the core. I discover new favorites and fall out of old ones. It churns.

When I'm at work, I usually want to take the least amount of time to pick something, so it is generally out of a whim, and commonly, I'm not that familiar with it, but it is fun.

It is kind of like this: my friend and I have lunch together every week. And he has his favorite and he always orders it. I sometimes order a favorite, but I love trying new things. And we probably both justify it by "life is short."

Whether you love your old favorites or you yearn to try something new, just be true to yourself.

I'd be frustrated if I couldn't try new things...particularly where food is involved.  I like to listen to new music, but it also has to factor in:  time and other things going on in my life.

K

[Karl Henning]

I like to listen to new music, but it also has to factor in:  time and other things going on in my life.

Completely understand!

[hopefullytrusting]

I try to never listen to any classical music more than a few times, and I try to listen to more living composers than dead.

I also focus on other forms of marginalization and favor that over the "norm".

[foxandpeng]

I try to never listen to any classical music more than a few times, and I try to listen to more living composers than dead.

I also focus on other forms of marginalization and favor that over the "norm".

I've come to the conclusion that because of the brevity of life and limited listening time, that classical music needs to be from the last 100 years or so, for me to invest my time. Purely personal preference,  but genre, style and approach draw my lines. There are sone exceptions, of course, mostly sacred musical that meets away from masses.

Thread - I love what I love, but finding more is essential. There is so much to discover - whether music, food, literature, places, stuff, and things!!

[San Antone]

Much as I like to discover new works, I always end up finding that none of them can match, let alone surpass, the works of my favorite composers, and I have a distinct feeling that if I listened to nothing but my favorite composers for the remainder of my life I would lose nothing at all.

How about you?

I enjoy listening to music which I know nothing about, mostly music written in the last 20 years.  There are several YouTube channels that offer new videos weekly, or fairly often. 

Other than that, my favorite composers or periods shift throughout a year.  I do have a few favorite works which I listen to more often than others, and when I learn of a new recording of say, the Durufle Requiem, I am quick to listen to it.

But the reality is that classical music occupies only about one-third of my listening time.  Jazz and what I call "roots" music takes up the other two-thirds - and the same kind of process of discovery of the new and revisiting the old takes place.

[Mandryka]

if I listened to nothing but my favorite composers for the remainder of my life I would lose nothing at all.

 

You will lose the pleasure of the new.

[AnotherSpin]

You will lose the pleasure of the new.

Proven pleasures may be more valuable than new ones, which come equipped with uncertainty .

But seriously, pleasure doesn't come from the outside, it's within us, and the reason that drives us to experience pleasure is secondary. What matters is that we can, want to, and don't stand in the way of our own enjoyment.

How do we stand in the way of our own enjoyment? For example, by chasing after unattainable desires while ignoring what we always have and what can never be taken from us.

[71 dB]

When it comes to classical music, I feel I'd be more than okay having only the music of my top 2 composers Elgar and J.S.Bach. All the other stuff I enjoy is kind of awesome extra to that. I discovered Elgar in the end of 1996 and while J.S.Bach's name was of course familiar to me even before getting into classical music, in summer 1997 his music really hit me. These composers have been in my top 2 for over 25 years now. I have of course discovered many new composers I enjoy a lot since the late 90s, but there are no signs of anyone surpassing my top 2.

I discovered Weinberg aka "Shostakovich modified to my taste" about 10 years ago and he is pretty high for me. I have also been surprised about how much I enjoy contemporary classical music (I ignored it for so long...).

Classical music is about half of my music listening, but it varies. There are months during which I listen to hardly any classical music and months when I listen to mostly classical music. Electronic dance music of the late 80s and (early) 90s is VERY important to me. That's were I started my music listening journey. Since year 2000 I have expanded my music taste to cover many genres, but in selective manner: Pop, Rock, Synth, New Age, Funk, Jazz, Vaporwave,...

[prémont]

During my life I have listened a lot to my two favorite composers J.S. Bach and Beethoven, but I have also explored especially renaissance and baroque music and have found many composers from that time who came to mean a lot to me. I have also spent time on some 2000 century music, but only very little contemporary music.

If I were much younger - or if you lived 300 years - I would probably spend more time exploring contemporary music at least a little more at this point, even if I don't feel immediately drawn to most of it. But time is too short to spend a lot of time trying to enjoy it.

[steve ridgway]

I feel now as if I've completed my initial stage of exploring classical music and want to become more familiar with the works of the composers I really like, enter a period of consolidation I suppose.

[ritter]

I suppose that with music, as with most things, the law of diminishing marginal returns applies.

And, as we grow older, many lose that sense of adventure and excitement, that need for new discoveries, we have in our youth.

[pjme]

And, as we grow older, many lose that sense of adventure and excitement....

OK - I understand. But I do enjoy continuous finetuning, searching.

I do enjoy (and need) going back to "old favorites" (Bach, Schütz, Mozart, Praetorius, Ravel, Bartok, Stravinsky, Brahms, Varèse, DEbussy ...), often I go mad and sad when Dvorak's 9th, his cello concerto, Sibelius Karelia and violinconcerto (all at least 1000X every day), Beethoven symphonies and concerti, sonatas... are performed/broadcast over and over again. If possible cut up in small tasty snacks. I still like radio, the combination of news, talks, news, information .

[Florestan]

Save for an accident of timing, you would have lost Henning.

If I hadn't stumbled upon GMG, I'd have had slight chances to discover your music, unless I stumbled upon it on Youtube.

Per what I italicized above, it won't surprise you that a composer doesn't feel that way at all.

Sure, but I am not a composer. I am a listener whose time is limited and who perforce must make choices and selections. Thirty-five-plus years of experience have taught me not only (1) what I like, but also what I am most probably to (2) like or (3) dislike. I generally avoid (3)* and constantly give a try to (2), but the satisfaction I get from it is rarely, if ever, at the same level as (1). Not anybody can like anything and life's too short to even try liking anything.

* sometimes, though, I try it too, if only to be reminded of why I avoid it in the first place...

[71 dB]

If I were much younger - or if you lived 300 years - I would probably spend more time exploring contemporary music at least a little more at this point, even if I don't feel immediately drawn to most of it. But time is too short to spend a lot of time trying to enjoy it.

It is about prioritising. Music is very important for me. That's why I have kept exploring. Not always very actively, but at least passively. On the other hand I have given up with new movies* and TV shows except for rare exceptions (Spielberg's movies or stuff like Kane Pixel's forthcoming backrooms movie).

* Movies have become cynical, calculated, depressing, unoriginal (endless sequels and spin-offs), visually annoying (tons of cgi and non-stop action for the sake of it captured with shaky camera and short cuts and forced into "trendy" colour schemes such as Orange & Teal).

[Mandryka]

r stuff like Kane Pixel's forthcoming backrooms movie).

.

Thanks for that -- new to me and his work seems interesting.