Music that took years to appreciate

[some guy]

How about "Music that took beers to appreciate?" 

Hear hear!!

[DavidRoss]

  Oh dear you find Wotan, King of Gods who goes from a power hungry deity to a lustfull Wanderer and ends up in the deepest abyss of despair waiting for his end to come a one dimensional archetype?? Or action where Siegfried, the fool born from an incestuous love affair between a brother and sister, defeats a monstrous dragon, falls in love with a fallen Valkyrie then gets murdered by a gang of hooligans lacking in dramatic effect??

The conductor Solti once said of Wagner's Ring that it is a very violent piece in Solti's words "murder, incest, everything that is evil is in there!!"

It's not the plot elements, but the execution that makes Wagner such an abysmal failure as a dramatist...though I must admit it takes a perverse sort of genius to turn such thrilling and timeless material into a tedious snoozefest.

[Haffner]

It's not the plot elements, but the execution that makes Wagner such an abysmal failure as a dramatist...though I must admit it takes a perverse sort of genius to turn such thrilling and timeless material into a tedious snoozefest.

"an abysmal failure as a dramatist", "tedious snoozefest"

Gee, doesn't sound (or feel) that way to me!


_{^{laughing like a hyena}}

[DavidRoss]

"an abysmal failure as a dramatist", "tedious snoozefest"

Gee, doesn't sound (or feel) that way to me!


_{^{laughing like a hyena}}

And thank God for the differences!  Imagine if we all had the same psychological makeup, same education, same life experience, and were all at the same point on the path!

[Haffner]

And thank God for the differences!  Imagine if we all had the same psychological makeup, same education, same life experience, and were all at the same point on the path!

Post of the day.

[greg]

It's really interesting, how Wagner and Mahler you took to right off, but Haydn and Mozart, not. I was the reverse. Mahler especially took some concentrated listenings. Actually, it's strange, but it seems like once I "got" Mahler's style, the other symphonies are alot easier to digest at one or two sittings. Almost like you have to set your ear for them. The 9th Symphony took me at least 3 listens. The 7th (my most recent discovery) took exactly one. Maybe "getting" the Mahler helped me get set for Bruckner as well, since I am having no problem with AB's 2nd, 3rd, 8th, and 9ths.

Interesting...... the 9th symphony took several listens for me, too.

The way I started listening was that I started by playing a certain area in Final Fantasy VII, some isolated forest where I had to fight these gnome creatures again and again to level up so I could get some treasure, I forgot what it was. I can't even remember what I thought the first few times, but I did that, literally 4 or 5 days in a row. It took awhile just to understand this really big symphony.

The 8th and the 4th I "got" immediately....... although I don't like the 8th any more now than i did before, since there's so much in there that sounds like a bunch of notes that don't really mean much, although he's trying. The 4th is just amazing, really.... it's not something to go to at night, but more like something good to hear in the morning when you wake up and have nothing on your mind.

[bassio]

It took me some time to be able to appreciate the classical period. I even got Baroque first.

[eyeresist]

The only more humorous descriptions of Bruckner I know are when a poster on another forum once referred to the scherzo of #7 as a sea shanty (this from a composer with lived his whole life in landlocked Austria) and when a writer who se name I can't recall described the scherzo of #8 as "the mountains dancing" (which is a positively brilliant metaphor).

I think the scherzo from Bruckner's 9th sounds like elephants hopping from foot to foot.

BTW, Bruckner was present for the inauguration of the organ at Albert Hall (along with Saint Saens), so he must have seen the sea at least twice in his life.

[Wanderer]

And thank God for the differences!  Imagine if we all had the same psychological makeup, same education, same life experience, and were all at the same point on the path!

That path would be really crowded.

[Sean]

The Duparc songs were another few pieces of great music I had to return to...

[ChamberNut]

I think the scherzo from Bruckner's 9th sounds like elephants hopping from foot to foot.

Pretty good description!

[DavidRoss]

That path would be really crowded.

So is it an aversion to crowds that has us on the path less traveled?   

[marvinbrown]

So is it an aversion to crowds that has us on the path less traveled?   

  If you happen to come across Robert Frost (metaphorically speaking), please send him my best wishes! 

  marvin

[(poco) Sforzando]

I think the scherzo from Bruckner's 9th sounds like elephants hopping from foot to foot.

BTW, Bruckner was present for the inauguration of the organ at Albert Hall (along with Saint Saens), so he must have seen the sea at least twice in his life.

He didn't fly Austrian Airlines?

[ChamberNut]

Beethoven - Symphony No. 8 in F major

In the beginning and for quite some time, I thought this seemed like the "odd" symphony Beethoven composed, I just couldn't stand it at first.

Through repeated listenings and being exposed to it more often by a certain internet radio host for whom this symphony was her favorite (and she played it very often), I came to really love it!  It has a great deal of energy.

Now, I certainly consider it a worthy masterpiece along with the other 8.

[helios]

Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata for violin and piano
Schubert's Trout Quintet

Really?   

The Trout, in particular, is probably one of the most accessible pieces of classical music ever written.

[helios]

I still haven't fully gotten Bartok's quartets ...  0:)

[ChamberNut]

Really?   

The Trout, in particular, is probably one of the most accessible pieces of classical music ever written.

I found it a little annoying and trite at first. 

[Greta]

Beethoven and Brahms!

Mahler and Bruckner, maybe a year or less to get into once I made an effort, but Beethoven and Brahms I have listened to on and off throughout much of my musical life - I knew for years this was amazing music and writing but that there was so much I just wasn't getting about it.

Now after years it's coming together, Brahms is taking the longest though. He and Beethoven, that music is just not...simple. Emotionally to me, it is so complex and mysterious and subtle. Well, it's also very dramatic at times, but subtle in details and construction.

Bruckner is those things too, but is a little easier to grasp, his repetitions and ways he builds on his motifs were a way in for me, and Mahler I feel is so very specific and vivid in his emotions, that while it's chaotic music, his message is clear.

Sibelius I think is not hard to appreciate on a superficial level, it's gorgeous music, but to deeply get to know and understand - I think I may not even in years. Much akin to Brahms and Beethoven.

Might as well throw the other B in as well. Bach. It's taken me a really long time to understand and appreciate what is going on in his music, even though it's often studied in form and theory class, to appreciate the natural logical beauty of melody, rhythm and construction on a larger scale took many years.

[Sean]

Good one there Greta.