Classical Music Stereotypes

[Keemun]

i just wish recordings wouldn't emphasize so much the dynamic range, at least so when you're listening in the car (with someone else who can be easily irritated) you don't have to change the volume all the time.

That's why I rarely listen to classical music in my car.  At high speeds the noise makes it impossible to hear the quieter details of the music. 

[Kullervo]

That's why I rarely listen to classical music in my car.  At high speeds the noise makes it impossible to hear the quieter details of the music. 

Stick to the baroque and classical periods, or solo instruments and chamber music. I played all the Brandenburgs on my last long trip.

[Mozart]

I used to listen to the 4 seasons in my car...right before the 3rd mov of summer it would get really silent...and then BAM! every single time it happened i jumped up. Even when I would expect it...ok dont get scared this time...hey were is it...oh maybe i should focus on the road... bamm! Oh sh*t!

[12tone.]

Organ music works nice in the car.  I once played some of organ music by Bach...quite nice   

[jwinter]

What works nicely in the car, I find, is historical performances.  The dynamic range is already compressed, so as a %, you're hearing much more of the recording than if you went with a digital recording.  Good time to try out Toscanini, Schnabel, etc.

[12tone.]

What works nicely in the car, I find, is historical performances.  The dynamic range is already compressed, so as a %, you're hearing much more of the recording than if you went with a digital recording.  Good time to try out Toscanini, Schnabel, etc.

But there are digital baroque recordings?  I don't get it 

[Monsieur Croche]

The term 'proud ignorance' really riled me up there, Grazioso, as it brought back certain unpleasant memories during my high school days... But you are right: It seems that the only socially acceptable things these days are those that panders to the lowest common denominator of our society, and the enjoyment of classical music will likely continue to be confined to a small elite. Lest anyone wishes to condemn me as an elitist, let me clarify that elitism implies exclusivity and obscurantism – things that very few true classical music lovers would want to engage in! (After all, what good will that do to us?) On the other hand, I am fervently against the dumbing down of classical music just to appeal to the masses... The fact is, classical music does require a certain amount of effort to appreciate, and to say otherwise would be a gross distortion of truth.

My local radio station, unfortunately, fits your description perfectly. I remembered the radio announcer saying things about music to soothe you during the traffic jam or something like that, and I seriously wondered if he was interested in classical music at all. Nevertheless I still listened to the radio occasionally, until perhaps around a year ago, when I heard the same annoying excerpt from Bizet's Carmen played twice in the same day!

I think my experience with Mozart provides a good example of the de-sensitizing effect of popular music. When I first started out in classical music, and was still struggling to escape the trappings of popular music, 'shallow' is precisely what I hear in Mozart. Yet now I hear incredible emotional depth and subtlety beneath the happy-go-lucky veneer in his music.

Let me just add another stereotype here: If it is an instrumental piece of music, and it doesn't sound like jazz, then it must be classical music. I suppose this misconception is responsible for the entirely undeserved inclusion of artists such as Richard Clayderman into the classical genre. I don't bear a grudge against these artists on the strength (or lack thereof) of their music alone, but their masquerading act has a dangerously misleading effect on the public - and this I can not stand.

[lisa needs braces]

It's boring.

Then again, there is Mahler...

[Monsieur Croche]

Then again, there is Mahler...

But then there is also Telemann...