Standard repertoire

[(poco) Sforzando]

Ugh. That could be a whole thread unto itself. I don't agree with you and I ain't going there.

On the What are you Listening To thread you cite the Brahms Quartets. Above you yourself write:

"Well, if you get tired of listening to Beethoven, Harry, you can listen to Schubert or Mozart or Chopin..."

QED. We are all part of a community, a culture of Western listeners. Same with literature, theater, dance, art. Do you think it's just by accident that when Patrick Stewart is appearing as Macbeth in Brooklyn this season, you can scarcely get tickets, or that when the original panels from the Baptistery in Florence appeared at the Met, the throngs were three and four deep? No man is an island when it comes to developing taste. Even the gadflies who reject Beethoven, Mozart, what have you in favor of their own eccentric favorites, are constantly fighting against the culture they claim to be so independent from.

[MN Dave]

Perhaps we need more scandals in today's classical music?  When's the last time classical music had a great scandal?  The premiere of Stravinsky's 'The Rite of Spring'?

We need wing-nut conductors who bite the heads off bats and doves. 

Classical music has pretty much a cult following now, innit?

[MN Dave]

On the What are you Listening To thread you cite the Brahms Quartets. Above you yourself write:

"Well, if you get tired of listening to Beethoven, Harry, you can listen to Schubert or Mozart or Chopin..."

QED. We are all part of a community, a culture of Western listeners. Same with literature, theater, dance, art. Do you think it's just by accident that when Patrick Stewart is appearing as Macbeth in Brooklyn this season, you can scarcely get tickets, or that when the original panels from the Baptistery in Florence appeared at the Met, the throngs were three and four deep? No man is an island when it comes to developing taste. Even the gadflies who reject Beethoven, Mozart, what have you in favor of their own eccentric favorites, are constantly fighting against the culture they claim to be so independent from.

What I'm saying is that if each work is a toggle for like/dislike, I find it hard to believe that there will be any two people on this planet with all their switches flipped in the same pattern.

[(poco) Sforzando]

What I'm saying is that if each work is a toggle for like/dislike, I find it hard to believe that there will be any two people on this planet with all their switches flipped in the same pattern.

I did not and would not specifically claim that. There are individual variations. You may like Parsifal; I prefer Meistersinger. You may like the Schumann Piano Concerto; I'll take the Dichterliebe. Or maybe you don't like Wagner much at all, though you recognize his immense importance and his mesmerizing appeal among those who do.

But these variations are within what I would say is a general community of concensus among people who care deeply about these matters. E.g.: while going through all the Bach cantatas some time ago, I found the opening soprano aria of 151 so striking that I replayed it a dozen times. Looking up the work on www.bachcantatas.net, I found I was far from alone in finding this a particularly stunning piece of music. Coincidence? somehow I doubt it.

[MN Dave]

I did not and would not specifically claim that. There are individual variations. You may like Parsifal; I prefer Meistersinger. You may like the Schumann Piano Concerto; I'll take the Dichterliebe. But these variations are within what I would say is a general community of concensus among people who care deeply about these matters. E.g.: while going through all the Bach cantatas some time ago, I found the opening soprano aria of 151 so striking that I replayed it a dozen times. Looking up the work on www.bachcantatas.net, I found I was far from alone in finding this a particularly stunning piece of music. Coincidence? somehow I doubt it.

Today, I listened to Bach, Brahms, some hip-hop, electronic, pop and rock music. How about you?

[(poco) Sforzando]

Today, I listened to Bach, Brahms, some hip-hop, electronic, pop and rock music. How about you?

I heard Alban Berg and Beethoven. So what? I'm not interested in anyone's daily consumption, rather in one's overall sense of what music matters.

[MN Dave]

I heard Alban Berg and Beethoven. So what? I'm not interested in anyone's daily consumption, rather in one's overall sense of what music matters.

I always say that there is good music in every genre. One just has to find it.

[karlhenning]

No, you're right, ChamberNut, the era before Renaissance is Medieval.  Being a fan of that era takes some doing.

And, esteemed Dave, do not inform us how you've come to know what two gerbils mating in a tin bread box sounds like 

[MN Dave]

And, esteemed Dave, do not inform us how you've come to know what two gerbils mating in a tin bread box sounds like 

Ask Xenakis or Varese or one of those crazy bastards.

[Harry]

the era before Renaissance is Medieval.  Being a fan of that era takes some doing.

Well I am a fan, and it did not much doing, I simply loved what I heard, that's all.

[MN Dave]

I simply loved what I heard, that's all.

That there is the battle won.

[karlhenning]

Well I am a fan, and it did not much doing

Oh, but it did;  there are fewer recordings than of music of practically any other era (so that you expended the effort of voluminous acquisition).  More than other eras of music, anyone interested in the medieval era have to make an effort to seek it out.

Anyway, Harry, you prove the rule, because you're simply a fan of everything  

[karlhenning]

Ask Xenakis or Varese . . .

Neither of whom interested himself in rodents, so far as I know  0:)

[MN Dave]

Neither of whom interested himself in rodents, so far as I know  0:)

Admit it. I gave you ideas for your next piece.  0:)

[not edward]

In terms of listening at home, I'm sure my general listening is somewhat based around the canon. There's at least two reasons for this: firstly, a lot of the music that is in the canon is damn good; secondly, there are lots of different performances of music that's canonical and thus more chance to hear a wide variety of valuable interpretations of this music. I'm pretty sure there's not a single Ligeti piece that's available in as many worthwhile performances as, say, the Eroica.

When going to live performances, I tend to go for less canonic works: new pieces that I may never get a chance to hear live again; obscurities that would be interesting to hear in person, and so on. I grew up with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra as my local orchestra, and thus have had my fill of mediocre run-throughs of Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky--I'd much rather hear something that the performers care about and would do well.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Not knocking the value of the quality older stuff but the concerns are largely financial, the newer stuff needs more (or equal) exposure. But it poses too much of a risk (& work), so they opt. for the safe, familiar, tried & true.

Don't forget either that a lot of the newer stuff demands new performing techniques that instrumentalists and vocalists have not inevitably mastered. I can bang out much of Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, etc., on my home piano - ineptly for sure but at least the techniques are within my physical grasp. Put a Ligeti etude in front of me and I'm a baby.

But I think some of that is changing. The Juilliard students I heard the other week playing Elliott Carter's Sinfonia sounded utterly fearless, and I've heard Boulez state that he can put together a performance of Marteau in 1/10 the time it took back in the 50s.

[Ephemerid]

Admit it. I gave you ideas for your next piece.  0:)

Gerbils mating in a tin bread box... in a helicopter!! 

[MN Dave]

Gerbils mating in a tin bread box... in a helicopter!! 

Underwater.

[Harry]

Anyway, Harry, you prove the rule, because you're simply a fan of everything  

That is so not true, and you know it. I could name tons of music that I dislike.... 0:)

[paulb]

That is so not true, and you know it. I could name tons of music that I dislike.... 0:)

I admit you are much more open minded that i am.
i have only like 15 favorites, I think its 15, maybe a few others. But definetly not over 20.
there may be total 25 composers represented in my collection, with another 2 or 3 to add.