Are You Obsessed with Classical Music?

[Karl Henning]

But in that case you won't know how unutterably fantastic they are until you have heard Quartetto Energie Nove play them (partly a question of edition, reinstated passages etc.)

Luke and I aren't saying that we're unhappy to be beneficiaries of others' obsession. 

[DavidW]

Well, yes, I forgot to specify in the OP that the question is not addressed to professional musicians; otoh, I should have thought it was obvious. I don't have any data but I suspect professional musicians are less likely to spend an inordinate amount of time listening to recorded music, they are too busy playing or writing it. 

That is amusing.  That is like saying that authors don't read books written by other people because they're too busy writing their own!  

[Florestan]

That is amusing.  That is like saying that authors don't read books written by other people because they're too busy writing their own!  

You might have missed the qualifier "an inordinate amount of time". If a professional musician listened to music all day long they wouldn't have any time left for doing their job, which is playing and writing music. If a professional writer read books all day long, he wouldn't have time for writing his own. This doesn't mean that the former doesn't listen to music, or that the latter doesn't read books, at all. Nothing amusing about it, just plain common-sense. 

[Luke]

@DavidW

This is a good point and I think that actually there could well be some truth in it. Seriously, I have sometimes wondered if my obsession with such a wide range of music - with the depth and the wonder of this tradition that we all love so deeply, with the minutiae of composers' outputs, with minor figures and obscure corners of the repertoire, with questions of aesthetics and styles - wasn't something of a hindrance to me as a composer (I'm not sure I still count as such).

[DavidW]

You might have missed the qualifier "an inordinate amount of time". If a professional musician listened to music all day long they wouldn't have any time left for doing their job, which is playing and writing music. If a professional writer read books all day long, he wouldn't have time for writing his own. This doesn't mean that the former doesn't listen to music, or that the latter doesn't read books, at all. Nothing amusing about it, just plain common-sense. 

I think you might be surprised.  Having watched interviews with many of my favorite writers it turns out that they dedicate just a few hours a day to writing because it is so mentally exhausting.  They will write in the morning or late at night.  And then the rest of the time they are pursuing other things, much of which is reading.

That doesn't come as a surprise to me, because even though I'm not a creative mind... but as a teacher writing tests and prepping lectures is much more draining than teaching, office hours, meetings and grading.

[Mandryka]

@DavidW

This is a good point and I think that actually there could well be some truth in it. Seriously, I have sometimes wondered if my obsession with such a wide range of music - with the depth and the wonder of this tradition that we all love so deeply, with the minutiae of composers' outputs, with minor figures and obscure corners of the repertoire, with questions of aesthetics and styles - wasn't something of a hindrance to me as a composer (I'm not sure I still count as such).

For what it's worth when discussed music with Richard Barrett I always got the impression that he's pretty interested in these things too. Neil Luck too. And clearly Michael Finnissy.

[LKB]

You might have missed the qualifier "an inordinate amount of time". If a professional musician listened to music all day long they wouldn't have any time left for doing their job, which is playing and writing music. If a professional writer read books all day long, he wouldn't have time for writing his own. This doesn't mean that the former doesn't listen to music, or that the latter doesn't read books, at all. Nothing amusing about it, just plain common-sense. 

I have music in my head nearly every waking minute. Sometimes snatches of some favorite work will manifest themselves even while composing or performing.

Of course, this isn't listening per se, more like an intrusion of memory. It might simply be indicative of an inability to concentrate, perhaps due to age.

But whatever it is, I'm admittedly less than opposed to it. 

[Mandryka]

They are pretty darn remarkable performances!!

Yes, I played them again after making that post. It's music which means a lot to me. I remember clearly when I heard the second quartet for the first time, it was on the radio, Talich Quartet I think,  and I said to myself that I had no idea that music could be like that. It was a transformative experience.

[Luke]

For what it's worth when I've discussed music with Richard Barrett I got the impression that he's pretty interested in these things too. Neil Luck too. And clearly Michael Finnissy.

True, true. But composers like Finnissy - especially Finnissy - have a genius for absorbing and digesting their disparate influences and turning them into something personal and powerful. The same ability is not in me!

[Luke]

Yes, I played them again after making that post. It's music which means a lot to me. I remember clearly when I heard the second quartet for the first time, it was on the radio, Talich Quartet I think,  and I said to myself that I had no idea that music could be like that. It was a transformative experience.

Was the Smetana Quartet for me. They got this music so profoundly, it seems to me (and the previous edition was made by one of their number, fwiw)

[foxandpeng]

Yes the same for me!

That gives me great sadness to hear, Tinnitus is a dreadful affliction, and no cure is available.

Thank you, sir.

[Cato]

Tinnitus is a dreadful affliction, and no cure is available.

Thank you, sir.

Yes, my condolences!  Tinnitus (rhymes with Latin's Spiritus ) has hit me occasionally, usually because of an allergic reaction, or congestion in the eustachian tubes, and was cured by pseudoephedrine allergy pills.

[Florestan]

Tinnitus (rhymes with Latin's Spiritus )

So, instead of Veni, creator spiritus!, it's case of Vade, destructor tinnitus!. 

[prémont]

Yes the same for me!

I too experience varying degrees of tinnitus. Usually I can ignore it, but when fatigued, it becomes nearly unbearable. Maintaining a regular sleep pattern is helpful to prevent such a situation.

[VonStupp]

(rhymes with Latin's Spiritus )

Really; never heard it pronounced that way. But the yokels around me have never been good examples of the King's English. I think if I said Tinnitus with the stress on the first syllable around here, my house would be surrounded by torches and pitchforks. 
Imagine a terrifying version of American Gothic.
VS

[Cato]

So, instead of Veni, creator spiritus!, it's case of Vade, destructor tinnitus!. 

Optime!   

Really; never heard it pronounced that way. But the yokels around me have never been good examples of the King's English. I think if I said Tinnitus with the stress on the first syllable around here, my house would be surrounded by torches and pitchforks.

Imagine a terrifying version of American Gothic.

VS

Well, that is disturbing!   

Anyway, to make tinnitus parallel with  e.g.  Arthritis ignores all sorts of things!  Some dictionaries, however, have surrendered to the mispronunciation.  My friend of well over 50 years, who is a doctor and who also majored in Classics, says not one of his professors at the University of Cincinnati Medical School ever used "tin-nite-tis" for "tinnitus."

I should mention that "tintinnabulate" and "tintinnabulation" (the latter used by Edgar Allan Poe in his poem The Bells come from the same Latin root as "tinnitus."


Concerning our topic and speaking of my friend, he has a specific Classical Music obsession which began in high school, when he heard Boris Godunov for the first time.

Not just this opera, but all things Mussorgsky became an obsession for him.

Boris Godunov led him onward to Rimsky-Korsakov's operas: I introduced him to The Flaming Angel of Prokofiev, which back then was available only via a 1950's French version on some badly pressed records.

[LKB]

I've endured significant tinnitus in my left ear for over a decade, because of the thoughtless act of a construction contractor at Apple headquarters.

While at work, l noticed a young man carrying an armload of steel cubicle framing over to an area where he and his colleagues were staging materials to be used in the future.

He suddenly stopped about fifteen or twenty feet from my location, and dropped his armload of metal onto the concrete floor.

My left ear immediately started ringing, and the ringing has never changed or faded since that moment.

That was in 2013...

[foxandpeng]

I've endured significant tinnitus in my left ear for over a decade, because of the thoughtless act of a construction contractor at Apple headquarters.

While at work, l noticed a young man carrying an armload of steel cubicle framing over to an area where he and his colleagues were staging materials to be used in the future.

He suddenly stopped about fifteen or twenty feet from my location, and dropped his armload of metal onto the concrete floor.

My left ear immediately started ringing, and the ringing has never changed or faded since that moment.

That was in 2013...

I'm sorry to hear this and the experience of others who also live with this frustrating and sometimes unbearable condition.

Keep on, my friends!

[Luke]

I've endured significant tinnitus in my left ear for over a decade, because of the thoughtless act of a construction contractor at Apple headquarters.

While at work, l noticed a young man carrying an armload of steel cubicle framing over to an area where he and his colleagues were staging materials to be used in the future.

He suddenly stopped about fifteen or twenty feet from my location, and dropped his armload of metal onto the concrete floor.

My left ear immediately started ringing, and the ringing has never changed or faded since that moment.

That was in 2013...

Horrific. What a terrible thing.

[kyjo]

In response to the question posed in the title of this thread, I'll be brief...


Yes.