Your Classical Life

[MN Dave]

I have been listening to classical off and on since about the mid-80s. Nowadays, it's mostly on. Pop and rock are losing their power over me as time goes by.

I mostly listen to music on my iPod or computer--at home and at my day job; to listen I use computer speakers or Bose ear buds. I would listen to the stereo in our living room, but don't have much time or opportunity. I also listen to music in my Jeep Liberty.

Magazines I sometimes pick up for reviews are Gramophone and Fanfare. I also have a few books I consult for suggestions on purchases, as well as the online review site Classics Today and the folks here at GMG.  And, heck, a lot of the time I'll just make an educated guess.

I discuss classical music here at GMG and with a couple guys in my own forum. Otherwise, I know nobody who cares. 

I don't go to concerts much, have only been to a couple—both LvB's 9th with the Minnesota Orchestra. I really have no one to go with but that's not a problem since I'm happy listening to recordings all day.

I will buy CDs online but mainly purchase music through iTunes because it's just too damn easy to get music I want, and get it now. I only go for the "Plus" recordings though because these have better sound.

[Opus106]

Listening (obsessively!) since about Jan-Feb '06.

Mostly internet radio through puny speakers. If I have the time, then the "stereo in the living room."

I look for reviews at at the usual places, and discuss stuff only through the internet, mostly with people halfway across the planet.

I've been only to three concerts till date: Two of the them were string quartets (and the same quartet, too - the Signum Quartett, from Germany.) and the other was wind trio from France called Trio a Vent. 

I have CDs that were purchased online, but my primary source is a chain of book stores, but they do have a decent collection, IMO.

[MN Dave]

Listening (obsessively!) since about Jan-Feb '06.

Mostly internet radio through puny speakers. If I have the time, then the "stereo in the living room."

I look for reviews at at the usual places, and discuss stuff only through the internet, mostly with people halfway across the planet.

I've been only to three concerts till date: Two of the them were string quartets (and the same quartet, too - the Signum Quartett, from Germany.) and the other was wind trio from France called Trio a Vent. 

I have CDs that were purchased online, but my primary source is a chain of book stores, but they do have a decent collection, IMO.

Thanks, opus67!

Which internet radio stations do you listen to?

[Opus106]

I started with a place called Beethoven.com, which is good for beginners but not for exploration beyond the familiar works. These days, it's mostly two places

WCPE - http://theclassicalstation.org
KING FM - http://www.king.org/

Of course, some may consider even these stations to be too cliche, but at least they usually play the whole work, and there are lot of works that I haven't familiarised myself with. I also listen to a satellite radio station called Maestro which is much more varied. They regularly play (comparatively speaking) the lesser-knowns, composers and compositions, and also works no more than a a few decades old. (And there's little chit-chat. )

[Bonehelm]

I've been a lover of it since I first heard Fur Elise played by my piano teacher. Then I went to classes and learned about orchestral music (the first piece being the Can can dance in Offenbach's opera, forgot the name). That was about 8 years ago, when I was 9. Then I took more classes and eventually joined the school orchestra and started buying recordings and downloading more music. I borrowed many books on the subject (Orchestration by Walter Piston, etc), and self-educated. Basically 90% of the musical knowledge came to me this way. Then I started taking Harmony and History classes. Now I'm learning how to prolong VII chords and analyze a short score.

I listen to music on my AKG headphones, or my computer speakers (of course, no one would expect a high-school student to be able to afford real equipment).

[marvinbrown]

  Classical music has always been a very big part of my life.  I grew up playing the piano- a lot of Chopin (the Mazurkas), Liszt (Hungarian Rhapsodies), Bach (The Well Tempered Clavier, Tocatta and Fugue), some Beethoven (Fur Elise, Moonlight Sonata even the 5th Symphony's 1st movement, I insisted on being taught that!) and Mozart (Turkish Rondo, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and a handfull of other peices)  At school I joined the band and used to play the clarinet.  We would play Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance, melodies from Mozart's The Magic Flute etc.  But it was my mother's love for the vocal work ie. operas, passions, requiems that really grabbed my attention. The apple certainly didn't fall far from the tree!  I spend 85% of my listening time on opera and vocal work. Wagner rules the roost! Verdi, Mozart, Puccini, Richard Strauss, Bach's cantatas, passions and oratorios are a very big part of my life.  I listen to at least one opera every week. I'd like to go back and take more piano lessons but I just don't have the time for it now unfortunately  .  The clarinet, I have long forgotten! Oh well not much I can do about that now  .

  marvin 

[Don]

Much of my day is spent listening to classical music - driving, standing, sitting and walking.  I also subscribe to American Record Guide, Fanfare, International Record Review, BBC Music Mag. and Gramophone.

I've loved Classical since the late 1950's with a few years of abandonment in my teenage era.  I was quite proficient at playing piano and clarinet when young.  I still occasionally play, but what I hear really sucks and my reflexes are shot to hell.

I hardly ever listen to non-classical.  It's not that I don't appreciate other types of music, but I'd rather go with the best.

[Don]

I listen to music on my AKG headphones, or my computer speakers (of course, no one would expect a high-school student to be able to afford real equipment).

Well, you have much to look forward to when you're a wealthy adult and can afford the best equipment.  Although, I have to say that my enjoyment of music was just as great when my equipment was minimal.

[jochanaan]

Marvin, I'm a lot like you.  I was surrounded by great music from birth; my father was a violinist (and scientist), and my mother a competent pianist with a lovely contralto singing voice, and they both loved great music.  But my own love didn't begin until about 1970, when I discovered "Switched-On Bach" and "The Well-Tempered Synthesizer."  (I suspect a lot of young people got into it about that time for the same reason.  Thank you, Walter/Wendy Carlos! )  Then I began to listen to an actual orchestral recording of the Brandenburgs--and here I am, decades later, playing oboe in a chamber group and still listening mostly to great classical music, much of it considerably more progressive than the Brandenburgs.

[marvinbrown]

Marvin, I'm a lot like you.  I was surrounded by great music from birth; my father was a violinist (and scientist), and my mother a competent pianist with a lovely contralto singing voice, and they both loved great music.  But my own love didn't begin until about 1970, when I discovered "Switched-On Bach" and "The Well-Tempered Synthesizer."  (I suspect a lot of young people got into it about that time for the same reason.  Thank you, Walter/Wendy Carlos! )  Then I began to listen to an actual orchestral recording of the Brandenburgs--and here I am, decades later, playing oboe in a chamber group and still listening mostly to great classical music, much of it considerably more progressive than the Brandenburgs.

  jochanaan I only wish we were a lot like each other.  You are a professional musician and I am wallowing in nostalgia of wonderfull days long gone.  I really do miss those days when we were rehearsing for a school concert.  There really is nothing quite like playing a piece of music you enjoy!  My piano years were a lot harder. That was a tough instrument to play, especially having to read two Clefs (the F and G clefs).  Believe it or not I still have Beethoven's Fur Elise memorized by heart.  What pieces are you playing these days?

  

  marvin

[jochanaan]

...What pieces are you playing these days?

Not much on piano, although I could still produce Debussy's The Sunken Cathedral and a few other pieces.  But tonight I'm off to rehearse the Poulenc Trio for oboe, bassoon, and piano and maybe the Hindemith Oboe Sonata.  And I'm doing a lot of jazz and improv.

[ChamberNut]

Thank you, Walter/Wendy Carlos! )

Yes, I owe him/her a big thanks too.  A Clockwork Orange soundtrack, and the Switched on Bach box set me on the path.

[MN Dave]

A Clockwork Orange soundtrack

Yep.  I wonder how many people were turned on to classical by that movie.

[Kullervo]

Thank you, Walter/Wendy Carlos

Some people I used to know called her Walta.

My classical life: I got into "serious" music, after a long interest in electronica, through being introduced by a friend of mine to an album with Pierre Henry's Voile d'Orphèe and Variations pour un Porte et Soupir. I loved it and eventually started to seek out more musique concrète and early electronic music like Luc Ferrari's Presque Rien and Morton Subotnick's Silver Apples of the Moon. I found out that a composer named Olivier Messiaen had used an early electronic instrument called the ondes Martenot in some of his pieces and bought the Myun-Whung Chung recording of Turangalîla-Symphonie and the TASHI recording of Quatuor pour la Fin du Temps. I loved both and bought all the Messiaen I could, which eventually led me to Debussy, and from Debussy to all directions. While I rarely listen to the composers and pieces that introduced me to classical music, I owe a debt to them for bringing me into a set of pleasures I had never imagined existed.

I try to listen with undivided attention to at least one disc every other day. In this way music remains for me a special event and never becomes mere background noise. I listen to new pieces at least three times, or until I feel I've come to an understanding with them, before "shelving" them, and moving onto another piece.

[Bonehelm]

Well, you have much to look forward to when you're a wealthy adult and can afford the best equipment.  Although, I have to say that my enjoyment of music was just as great when my equipment was minimal.

What was that "minimal equipment" of yours? See if it can be any worse than mine

[eyeresist]

I think it must be really hard to get into classical music if you're not in some way raised with it as a child.

My parents sang in the church choir and also did Gilbert and Sullivan musicals, but there wasn't really much music played at home. I was sent for several years to piano lessons, but as I received no positive reinforcement in this, it was a chore rather than a delight. This is where most of my musical knowledge comes from.

My father had a few things on vinyl, including a Readers Digest box of Wagner highlights, which I explored in my late teens. I should also mention at this point the importance of Disney's Fantasia - some may roll their eyes, but for many young people this is the closest they'll ever get to a concert of serious classical music. I'm still grateful for such a rich and varied introduction to such great music.

In my 20s I picked up a few cheap Pilz discs of names I recognised, but they didn't have much effect on me (I subsequently found that some of the "big names" just aren't to my taste).

Years later, a friend of mine told me he was "thinking of getting into classical music", which still strikes me as a bizarre thing to say. Anyway, this prompted me to get out the old discs, and I particularly connected with a collection of Chopin. Then I bought an Eloquence disc of Rachmaninov's 2nd concerto - and then things started to snowball!

At this point, I think a lot of people would've recommended listening to the radio to see what else I might like, but I've never much liked radio because I don't like having my choice of listening material being out of my hands. Fortunately, at this time there were a vast number of Point Classics CDs available locally, for $2-3 dollars each. In a week I might buy 10 or 20 discs, thus getting closely acquainted with the repertoire on my own terms, and, amidst the ordinary performances, finding a few which still hold a proud place in my collection.

6+ years on, I'm still buying almost compulsively, trying to make up for years of ignorance and develop a great collection (according to my tastes!) with minimal outlay. Just today I received Kondrashin's Shostakovich set in the mail, which I scored for about $50 new (on Venezia). Let the good times roll on!


Oh, for reference, apart from online reviews, Amazon, and various forums, I have the Penguin Guide 2006/7 plus the Third Ear guide, which I am currently ruining with a highlighter pen. I occasionally get BBC Music or Gramophone, but I'm beginning to be disillusioned with these.

[Don]

What was that "minimal equipment" of yours? See if it can be any worse than mine

Definitely worse - a tiny transitor radio made in the 1950's.

[Kullervo]

I think it must be really hard to get into classical music if you're not in some way raised with it as a child.

Well you see the roundabout way I came to it! No one in my family, not even a distant cousin, likes classical music, or is really interested in music at all (apart from my grandmother who accompanied hymnal songs in a church). I don't think any of them are even really sure what it is, exactly, that I listen to.

[MN Dave]

I think it must be really hard to get into classical music if you're not in some way raised with it as a child.

Hm. I'm not sure about that. No one in my family listened to classical. I loved music--period, and maybe that's all it took.

[marvinbrown]

I think it must be really hard to get into classical music if you're not in some way raised with it as a child.

  That statement definitely applies to me.  My mother loves classical music and especially opera.  She exposed us to opera when we were very young. This early exposure helped me get into opera culminating in my discovery of Wagner which is a real thrill.  Never underestimate the importance of early exposure! 

  marvin