Breakthrough pieces

[max]

I'm not saying I'm Jesus. That's for others to say. 0:)

Daniel, I agree that for all its weaknesses, Classic FM can indeed be a good starting point for beginners. It certainly helped me in the early days.

...that's how I started many moons ago. It didn't cost anything, which was important since we didn't have anything...even though we did get to purchase the Missa Solemnis, The Magic Flute and a host of suchlike by oatmeal subsidies.

Anyways, becoming attuned to the repertoire through freelance listening, it was easier to make choices later on! Even now having access to a good radio station can cause one to start spending on music one never expected to have any taste for.

This usually happens by accident. Mahler happened to me that way!

[71 dB]

So that's what started it all ........

Yes. If I had been exposed to Elgar's music in my youth I probably would have gotten interested about classical music much sooner than at the age of 25. I was almost shocked when I heard Enigma Variations. It was so much better than anything I had heard so far. I understood Chopin's Piano Concertos are not the best classical music has to offer even if they played them on classic FM all the time.

[Daidalos]

For me, the piece that converted me completely was Bach's fugue in G minor, BWV 578. I was and still am endlessly fascinated by the music. It was so strangely, inexplicably beautiful.

[Lethevich]

I am young enough for the net (and filesharing) to have been a major influence on a) giving me access to music and b) allowing me to research it in private, at my own pace (without having to ask anyone ridiculous newbie questions face to face). While there were obviously other avenues available, such as magazines with samplers, libraries or radio, if not exposed to it by their parents, many kids (myself included) who were ignorant of those or too disinterested in something so "primitive" as radio () had to do it their own way. A mix of obstinance and insecurity - I wanted to keep my investigation pretty private, as I had been given absolutely no indication from my parent or friends that this interest was in any way "normal".

I did hear one sampler that came with a newspaper though - it had Beethoven's 5th piano concerto and "Moonlight" sonata. The PC didn't have much of an impact on me, but the sonata did. I recognised the first movement from many sources - TV, having heard online, etc - but this was the first time I had heard all of the movements. I loved the little interlude in the middle, and was blown away by the kinetic energy of the finale.

Stumbling around Napster, Kazaa, then Audiogalaxy (pretty much the only programmes widely availably at 2000 onwards), I sampled Wagner, Grieg (amusingly my favourite "Grieg" piece was actually Sibelius's Finlandia, it was labeled Grieg by a lazy tagger, because most of the pieces on the CD must've been by him) and Beethoven.

After a few months, these pieces (in some case single only movements of them) had wormed their way into my head, and pretty much demanded that I bought CDs of the music, so that my bedroom's shelves could represent what I liked (the appeal of having physical copies of things was quite strong). So I started visiting an independent CD store in town, I was lucky the place existed, as there wasn't a single other place to buy classical CDs, and started to buy whatever looked interesting. I combined regular CD buying with quite voracious online research - reading biographies, articles, etc - which familiarised myself with the basics after half a year (where everything "stood", not having heard it all, but being aware of most thing's place and general significance), and after a year began to explore stranger avenues such as Vaughan Williams and Pärt.

Essentially, "illegal" downloading of a few files when I was a kid got me into this, and I now own around 1000 classical CDs and getting on for 100 DVDs, and I listen rather obsessively. Screw what the industry say about downloading 0:) Admittedly this was before torrents, which had full CDs, and nowadays ripped to lossless too, it was more of a chaotic pick and mix prior to that.

Big impact pieces: Tannhäuser overture (grandeur), Sibelius's Finlandia (unprecidented brooding atmosphere), Beethoven 9th's "scherzo" (pure energy) and "Moonlight" sonata had very big impacts on me when I was younger.

Edit: Oh, another rather exciting finding was the clarity of CDs when listened to on headphones - it gave works that I was quite familiar with a new lease of life. To be honest, getting into classical music really ruined my school work Enough with "Baby Mozart", I spent time I should've spent doing homework listening to music

[Mark]

Lethe, might I please be spectacularly and publically rude (and risk a virtual slap in the face) by asking your age? I had you pegged as a little older than the above post seems to date you.

[Lethevich]

Lethe, might I please be spectacularly and publically rude (and risk a virtual slap in the face) by asking your age? I had you pegged as a little older than the above post seems to date you.

Eek, 20 I got quite obsessive about music rather earlier than some (12 or so).

[Mark]

Eek, 20 I got quite obsessive about music rather earlier than some (12 or so).

Now I feel bad. I thought you were closer to my age. Like Greta, you're incredibly mature and 'together' for one so relatively young.



*Hopes he hasn't seriously offended Lethe*

[BachQ]

Lethe, might I please be spectacularly and publically rude (and risk a virtual slap in the face) by asking your age? I had you pegged as a little older than the above post seems to date you.

Eek, 20 I got quite obsessive about music rather earlier than some (12 or so).

How much do you weigh?

[Mark]

How much do you weigh?

[Lethevich]

How much do you weigh?

Oh, at least 600kg - I lost count at half a ton... 0:)

[Renfield]

Eek, 20 I got quite obsessive about music rather earlier than some (12 or so).

Hah! Success.

(I was guessing 20-23 even before the above post, and 19-21 after it. But I'd anyway have asked about it myself, if Mark hadn't: I was too curious. )