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jazzpiano
31-10-2011, 16:57
Maybe a better way to help get people interested in classical music is to say how "we", those who enjoy it, got into it. For me, I was 18 or 19 and I simply was bored with rock/popular music. It just didn't have enough nourishment for me. At the time, I felt like I was separating the good crap from the bad crap - but it was still all crap (which isn't true of course). I had maybe 300-400 LPs and I remember selling ALL of them and starting over (stupid mistake! I wish I had alot of those records back now.) Pivotal events: One, I bought my first classical LP from my local Hi-Fi shop: a modern audiophile demo record of Handel's Water Music on Delos and listened to them on my new pair of Rogers LS3/5as. Second, I was invited to a birthday party for a friend whose father was a music teacher, and he loaned me a vintage EMI mono recording of Walter Gieseking playing Ravel. This was a revelation! How could this "old" mono record w/ what I assumed were cut-off highs and lows sound so beautiful? I could hear the wood in the piano? I could hear the approximate size of the thing And, subtle gradations of tone. My modern demo record sounded clean and vivid - nothing missing, or so it seemed. How could they be so different but both sound so good? So, this got me started and I began listening to my local classical radio program and gradually was able to discern which host was most likely to play the music that interested me (20th century British and French). Gradually I evolved from focusing on composers alone to paying more attention to the musicians and finding which ones I liked the best (this still goes on). One caveat, I think it's good to admit when you don't like a composer but admit that it may be the performance or interpretation. It's only been in recent years that I've enjoyed Mozart's piano music, since I discovered Haebler - before then too aristocratic and formal sounding. When I was younger it was all about whether the music was "cool". Now, I think I listen to music more based on how it makes me feel, and music that I find both interesting and entertaining. Admittedly, alot of that old rock I had was "classic" and has stood the test of time. Because I felt that too much music was like cheap cheese and should be sold with an expiration date on it, I lumped it all together. But, it did get me on this journey... :)

WOStantonCS100
31-10-2011, 20:56
Maybe a better way to help get people interested in classical music is to say how "we", those who enjoy it, got into it. For me, I was 18 or 19 and I simply was bored with rock/popular music. It just didn't have enough nourishment for me. At the time, I felt like I was separating the good crap from the bad crap - but it was still all crap (which isn't true of course). I had maybe 300-400 LPs and I remember selling ALL of them and starting over (stupid mistake! I wish I had alot of those records back now.)

Lot of good points to chew on. I'll start with this. I too have found it's a good idea not to discard one "type" of music when one discovers another. Luckily for me, I almost never outright discard music. Rediscovery can be just as grand as discovery, especially after a hiatus of sorts. I couldn't rightly say I expanded/broadened my appreciation if I simply replaced one "genre" with another.


Pivotal events: One, I bought my first classical LP from my local Hi-Fi shop: a modern audiophile demo record of Handel's Water Music on Delos and listened to them on my new pair of Rogers LS3/5as. Second, I was invited to a birthday party for a friend whose father was a music teacher, and he loaned me a vintage EMI mono recording of Walter Gieseking playing Ravel. This was a revelation! How could this "old" mono record w/ what I assumed were cut-off highs and lows sound so beautiful? I could hear the wood in the piano? I could hear the approximate size of the thing And, subtle gradations of tone. My modern demo record sounded clean and vivid - nothing missing, or so it seemed. How could they be so different but both sound so good?

I've had many "musical mentors" (people who were willing to take the risk of sharing music with me) in my lifetime. They are invaluable as is exposure and opportunity to hear music written well, performed well, recorded well and played back well. I often remind myself to find ways to be a "musical mentor" to others.


So, this got me started and I began listening to my local classical radio program and gradually was able to discern which host was most likely to play the music that interested me (20th century British and French).

Sadly, NPR stations in the US are struggling as funds are revoked. However, I still find these outlets extremely worthwhile, musically speaking.


Gradually I evolved from focusing on composers alone to paying more attention to the musicians and finding which ones I liked the best (this still goes on). One caveat, I think it's good to admit when you don't like a composer but admit that it may be the performance or interpretation. It's only been in recent years that I've enjoyed Mozart's piano music since I discovered Haebler - before then too aristocratic and formal sounding.

I recently had a similar situation where I listened to a recording of La Valse and really didn't prefer it. For a split second I fancied that I didn't like the composition; but, it was simply that I much favored other performances of that same (Ravel) piece.


When I was younger it was all about whether the music was "cool". Now, I think I listen to music more based on how it makes me feel, and music that I find both interesting and entertaining. Admittedly, alot of that old rock I had was "classic" and has stood the test of time. Because I felt that too much music was like cheap cheese and should be sold with an expiration date on it, I lumped it all together. But, it did get me on this journey... :)

As for me, I grew up with everything; but, Sunday was classical music only day (on my dad's hifi) whether on the tuner, vinyl, tape... or... live in church; a big huge stone building with the stained glass and pointy bits... AND a simply magnificent pipe organ AND a regionally acclaimed, virtuosic organist. That brilliantly gigantic sound accompanied by her amazing dexterity left an impression that has lasted to this day. I love rock; but, this was "bigger" and "grander". Bloody fantastic. I still love all the other stuff; and like the other stuff, classical music has always been and will always be with me; one of my many musical mistresses.

jazzpiano
01-11-2011, 01:04
Well said Biff. (I particularly liked "pointy bits"...) Glad you didn't discard like I did.
Best,
Barry

jazzpiano
11-11-2011, 17:43
Hello Biff,

I re-read your comments and I wonder if there's any interest in a discussion about influences/mentors re: music or hi-fi? Thanks for your insights.

~Barry

Tarzan
11-11-2011, 18:09
Through having hangovers on a Sunday morning- needed some music, and this was the only music l could stomach so to speak, and gradually really started to understand and appreciate the work, effort and passion that went in to making the music.:)

jazzpiano
11-11-2011, 21:35
Awesome Andy. I never thought of it as a hangover cure but I'll try it - maybe that was the impetus for its original invention? I know some blokes who'd have a lot more respect for it if it was.

Best,
Barry

PS - what composers/instruments work best w/ a whisky hangover? ale? wine? we can tweek this ala audiophilia

jazzpiano
26-11-2011, 19:58
Hello (echo, echo, echo),

So who or what influenced you on the classical leg of your musical exploration? What helped? For me, it was a co-worker in a hi-fi shop I worked at in the early 80s. He owned over a 1000 classical LPs, from early music to 20th century and something new and interesting was always on the deck. Since he knew I was sincere or "into it", and had a properly set-up table, he let me borrow at will. Books (Oxford Guide, Penguin, library bios), Mags (Fanfare), and radio hlped. After this, the most fun was monthly purchases of affordable vinyl from Radio Doctors - a local classical shop, and cut-out seller Berkshire Record Outlet. As my hi-fi experience was developing at the same time classical music and hi-fi are synonymous in my nostalgic mind. A bit of a rant but I'm enjoying myself...

Best,
Barry

WOStantonCS100
26-11-2011, 21:38
Hello Biff,

I re-read your comments and I wonder if there's any interest in a discussion about influences/mentors re: music or hi-fi? Thanks for your insights.

~Barry

Sorry, :o I missed this somehow. And, yes... always up for such chat.

Wow!!! 1,000 classical LP's. My dad had/has 300, possibly. Come to think of it, I need to beat the old man down and take his stuff. :lol:

jazzpiano
26-11-2011, 22:06
Biff, before you beat the geezer (no disrespect intended), just make him write in the will, at gun point if necessary, that you get the goods! Seriously, you could actually buy in quantity in those days, everything wasn't put on a pedestal and folks weren't always trying to get 'whatever the market will bear'.

~Barry

Thing Fish
26-11-2011, 22:55
It strikes me as a genre I should be into but find it hard to break the shell (so to speak)

I watched the film 'Amadeus' when it come out and bought the sound track which I enjoyed but it went no further.

On the way to work I pass 'Harold Moores Records' and gaze at the endless titles in the window. They scare me with their foreign titles and strange covers. With names like 'Sherberts opus 10 in F minor' by the Twickenham ladies encore ensemble...:scratch:

A few years back I was listening to my ipod on shuffle whilst lying on my bed. I must have fallen asleep which is very unusual for me with headphones on. Whilst asleep I had a weird dream and woven within this dream was some beautiful music which made me cry...!

When I woke up I was actually weeping and felt very emmotional and frail.

I knew it must have had something to do with what I was listening to but what track was it. My ipod has a full 60gb of music most of it aquired from a friend who lives abroad.

For days I tried to hum the song in my head but to no avail. I was stuck...!!!

Then bugger me about 10 years later I was watching the BBC when a programme came on dedicated to the very song I had listened to that night. I almost cried again upon hearing it.

The song? it was - miserere by gregorio allegri...:)

I hear the best recording of this was made my a music dean in Cambridge college around 1962? Can anyone confirm this?

Of course I only play vinyl so I suspect this makes aquiring most titles a bit of a task.

WOStantonCS100
27-11-2011, 07:15
Dave, that's deep. Waking up weeping, as an emotional response to music... that's deep; but, awesome! :) That would have driven me nuts until I found that piece of music. Great story.

I won't break off into a whole philosophical discussion of music and the human soul; but, I get that. It is that connection to music that has brought my collection to where it is. It's not about my collection is bigger than that guy's or anything like that. I'm addicted to the emotional response (high or low or in between) that I get from music. It's not better than sex. I love my wife, really. It's that the emotional high of music is in a completely different realm apart from sex. We're really not crazy. ;)

Like other music, classical music is full of compositions that will make you weep, take your breath away and/or compel you to jump up and march like a proud viking. This is what keeps me taking chances on thrift finds, listening to the classical NPR station, borrowing CD's from the local libraries, etc. I know what you mean about the titles. And, that whole BWV cataloguing system and opus this and opus that and the announcers with the very pompous sounding voices still messing up pronunciations... :lol: At some point, I said, "Screw it!" I wasn't trying to join some elite club. I just want the music. Then it became simple. If I didn't like it, I tossed it back in the sea; but, I didn't (and still don't) let anyone or anything dissuade me from fishing. There's a whole lot of plump an' round succulent skrimps out there. ;)

And Barry,

I'm okay with the whole "at gunpoint" thing. :eyebrows: Joking aside, I'm just sorry I didn't listen to all of his collection when I lived with him. With all the music I've heard, there's so much more I haven't!!

morris_minor
27-11-2011, 14:19
The song? it was - miserere by gregorio allegri...:)

I hear the best recording of this was made my a music dean in Cambridge college around 1962? Can anyone confirm this?


Dave - maybe your recording was this one (http://www.gramophone.net/Issue/Page/November%201965/83/747585/ALLEGRI.+Miserere.+Goodman+(treble),+Choir+of+King s+college,+CambridgeWillcocks.+Argo+Q+EAF111%3A+0+ ZFA111+(7+in.,+10s.+4d.+plus+is.+8d.+PT.).+Mono+fr om+RG365+(264),+stereo+from+ZRG5365+(264).) from King's College Choir directed by David Willcocks?

My intro to classical music was largely from my parents, who played a few well worn records on the Ferguson Radiogram when I was a kid, and also dragged me along to classical concerts in Guildford - where there was a semi-professional orchestra with a young music director called Vernon Handley. Little did I realise at the time that Vernon, Tod, Handley was to become one of this countries best conductors with a great specialism in British music (which held him back from wider acclaim IMO). Not only did he turn the Guildford orchestra into a fully professional outfit - one which London players were happy to jump on the train to play with, but he was allowed a great freedom in programming music that today wouldn't get a look in. Bax, Moeran, Finzi, Lambert, Martinu, Berg, Webern, plus first performances of all kinds were interlaced between the standard repertoire.

There was a Philharmonic Choir to go with the orchestra and a youth choir called the Proteus Choir - which I joined. My first work with them and the orchestra was Bernstein's Chichester Psalms. Not exactly easy, and in Hebrew too. The Proteus joined with the Philharmonic on occasions, and a very memorable concert was Elgar's Dream of Gerontious. We also recorded Finzi's Intimations of Immortality for Lyrita (http://www.gramophone.net/Issue/Page/May%201975/88/788371/FINZI.+Intimations+Of+Immortality%E2%80%94Ode+for+ tenor%2C+chorus+and+orchestra.+Ian+Partridge+%28te nor%29%2C+Guildford+Philharmonic+Choir+and+Orchest ra+conducted+by+Vernon+Handley.+Lyrita+SRCS75+%28f 2.78%29.+Recorded+in+association+with+the+Ralph+Va ughan+Williams+and+Finzi+Trusts.) in a freezing cold Guildford Cathedral during one of the "winters of discontent" with power cuts threatened at any time. Every take needed a retune by the orchestra, and our breath just hung in the air! The soloist, Ian Partridge, was magnificent, and the resulting disc (I think still available on CD (http://www.lyrita.co.uk/cgi-bin/lyrita_build.pl?filename=SRCD0238.txt)) got a very warm reception. (Has there ever been a dud Lyrita disc?)

So it's not surprising that recordings of music by British composers feature large in my music collection, and for this, and my appreciation of good music of all kinds I have Tod Handley to thank.

Thing Fish
27-11-2011, 15:11
Dave - maybe your recording was this one (http://www.gramophone.net/Issue/Page/November%201965/83/747585/ALLEGRI.+Miserere.+Goodman+(treble),+Choir+of+King s+college,+CambridgeWillcocks.+Argo+Q+EAF111%3A+0+ ZFA111+(7+in.,+10s.+4d.+plus+is.+8d.+PT.).+Mono+fr om+RG365+(264),+stereo+from+ZRG5365+(264).) from King's College Choir directed by David Willcocks?

That's the puppy. Thanks...:eek:

JJack
30-11-2011, 19:02
I was a singer in high school and then at university, so I was always into vocal music.

I "discovered" orchestral music when a friend played Mahler 5 for me on this dormitory room stereo. A live performance under Marek Janowski solidified my love of orchestral music.

Happy to say that I'm still discovering things, like my more recent passion for string quartets, especially the late Beethoven quartets and Bartok as well.

Here's the funny thing: even though I'm a singer, I vastly prefer orchestral and chamber music, and only listen to a few singers.

MartinT
08-12-2011, 07:20
My introduction to classical music was via my mentor Erik, who ran a shop across the road and lived above it. His room was large and the system was magnificent: IMF Professional Monitors, Dynavector valve monoblocks, Micro Seiki three-arm turntable etc. My father left when I was a vulnerable 16 year old and Erik became a very good friend, guiding me through much teenage angst.

Anyway, he was a classical music buff and had a very large collection of orchestral and operatic music. I would go over there and he would play me Mahler and Strauss and more obscure composers like Piston. Some of my earliest loves were Mahler's 2nd symphony, Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra, Holst The Planets and other good orchestral pieces. I couldn't get into opera so he only gave me glimpses of that world.

My very first classical LP was Neville Marriner's Vivaldi Four Seasons on Argo, an LP which I still have and which still sounds good.

Sadly I have lost touch with Erik, who went back to his homeland Scotland, about 10 years ago. Many a time when I play classical music I think of him and how pleased he would be at my growing collection and how my system sounds these days.

WOStantonCS100
08-12-2011, 22:58
Here's the funny thing: even though I'm a singer, I vastly prefer orchestral and chamber music, and only listen to a few singers.

Hmmm... As a guitarist, I continue to study vocalists; how to play with the same inflections and dynamics, as opposed to just playing the note(s). Interesting.


My introduction to classical music was via my mentor Erik, who ran a shop across the road and lived above it. His room was large and the system was magnificent: IMF Professional Monitors, Dynavector valve monoblocks, Micro Seiki three-arm turntable etc. My father left when I was a vulnerable 16 year old and Erik became a very good friend, guiding me through much teenage angst.

Anyway, he was a classical music buff and had a very large collection of orchestral and operatic music. I would go over there and he would play me Mahler and Strauss and more obscure composers like Piston. Some of my earliest loves were Mahler's 2nd symphony, Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra, Holst The Planets and other good orchestral pieces. I couldn't get into opera so he only gave me glimpses of that world.

My very first classical LP was Neville Marriner's Vivaldi Four Seasons on Argo, an LP which I still have and which still sounds good.

Sadly I have lost touch with Erik, who went back to his homeland Scotland, about 10 years ago. Many a time when I play classical music I think of him and how pleased he would be at my growing collection and how my system sounds these days.

Your story is very similar to that of my father. What a treasure it is to have someone risk rejection in order to take a chance on possibly giving you a magnificent life long gift. And, that recording of Four Seasons is a goodie! I have a copy on vinyl; but, it was knackered before I obtained it. I need to replace it, soon.

jazzpiano
09-12-2011, 06:32
Thoroughly enjoyed your story Martin. And, what a hi-fi rig! What's more valueable than that Argo Vivaldi? - there's memories galore what with the Holst Planets, Piston exposure, etc. People + music + hi-fi = memories.

Best,
Barry

MartinT
09-12-2011, 07:02
Your story is very similar to that of my father. What a treasure it is to have someone risk rejection in order to take a chance on possibly giving you a magnificent life long gift. And, that recording of Four Seasons is a goodie! I have a copy on vinyl; but, it was knackered before I obtained it. I need to replace it, soon.

Yes it is and it's something I try to pay back in any way I can. Sadly I know few classical music fans these days. As for the Argo - you must!

JJack
31-12-2011, 03:16
Yes it is and it's something I try to pay back in any way I can. Sadly I know few classical music fans these days. As for the Argo - you must!


I live in a university town, and it's so wonderful to see young classical music fans.

If they hear it, many of them will come to love our music.

tannoyman
15-11-2012, 08:21
It strikes me as a genre I should be into but find it hard to break the shell (so to speak)


The song? it was - miserere by gregorio allegri...:)

I hear the best recording of this was made my a music dean in Cambridge college around 1962? Can anyone confirm this?

Of course I only play vinyl so I suspect this makes aquiring most titles a bit of a task.

Hi Dave

The Misereri is actually a setting of Psalm 51. It originated in the Vatican in the late 16th century and was jealously guarded for more than 100 years until in the 1760's a young Mozart visited the Vatican and when he left he wrote the piece out note for note and that is the version that we all love today.

I am reasonably confident that the version you refer to was recorded by the Choir of Kings College Cambridge under David Willcocks in 1963. The soloist was Roy Goodman on the Argo label (I dont know the Cat No offhand). If you ever get the chance to go to choral evensong in Cambridge this piece performed as the anthem quite regularly in both Kings College Chapel and St John's College. It is magnificent.

kind regards

David :):)

shane
15-11-2012, 10:37
When I was very young, Dad got hold of an old wind-up gramophone in a cabinet about four feet high (that's 125cm to you youngsters). He took out the wind-up bit, put something hot, glowy and dangerous in the bottom and a Garrard aoutchanger in the top. He had an album of 78s which included Toscanini doing Beethoven's 6th symphony (5 records), some odd bits of Tchaikovsky, a couple of Chopin Nocturnes and Big Noise From Winetka by Bob Crosby and the Bobcats (look it up on Youtube. Brilliant). As soon as I was big enough to lift the lid I was allowed free rein, and it's just sort of stayed with me ever since.

Beethoven and Mozart to me are probably the greatest ever and it took me a long time to embrace anything more radical, but fifty five years later, I'm just beginning to move into the late 19th and 20th centuries!

Doesn't explain why I'm now a dyed-in-the-wool prog fan though. Probably due to 70s substance abuse more than anything...

Audio Al
15-11-2012, 12:35
I purchased a job lot of LP;s at a boot sale

4 classical LP's were included

I decided to give one a try and the rest as they say is history ;)

julesd68
15-11-2012, 14:56
My youth was dominated by classical music. I was a chorister at Windsor Castle for some years and in addition to singing every day, I learnt to play the violin, viola, trumpet and French Horn. Sadly not all at the same time ... :lol:

But when I reached my teenage years I had a very strong backlash against all the hours of practice and discipline. I ditched all the instruments and didn't really listen to classical music at all for the next 30 years. Then, with the birth of my son, I started to put on quiet classical music in the background that I hoped would soothe him and also stimulate his grey matter. Whether this worked or not I have no idea, but I started getting familiar with the music again and found that it relaxed me no end in these stressful early sleep deprived years. Listening to Classic FM simply became a bit of a default for me - I would make a note of works that I liked and then started to collect my favourites on vinyl. I was simply staggered by how good a 40 year old recording could sound! The more I got into the music again, I started going to classical concerts regularly and I now hope that this is something I will continue to do for the rest of my life.

keiths
15-11-2012, 15:56
I was never exposed to classical music at home - both my parents hated it (my dad still does) and I never got to enjoy it when played in the very few music lessons we had in school.

Straight after university, I started working in a small IT department (though back then it was called 'Data Processing' :wheniwasaboy:). There were three of us in the department and one Friday evening each month we would all work late applying OS patches, testing new applications and doing the bits of IT housekeeping you can only do when there are no users on the system.

We had a 'ghetto blaster' in the office which would get played whilst we were working late. One of my collegues - a lady in her mid 50's - would bring in tapes of classical music to play. After a few months, I found myself enjoying the music she brought in more and more. I bought my first classical CD - Vivaldi Four Seasons (Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble/Nils-Erik Sparf on BIS label) - after hearing that piece on one of Joan's tapes.

Soon the office ghetto blaster was replaced with a cobbled-together office stereo - Sony Discman and Walkman, Sony amp and Wharfedale Dentons :cool:

tannoyman
15-11-2012, 15:57
Hi Barry

Classical music has been a major part of my life since I was very young. As a child I sang in local school and church choirs. When I was 9yrs old the choirmaster of our local church, Mr Harvey, thought that I had some promise and suggested to my mother that I should audition for St Paul’s Cathedral Choir in London. I went along to St Pauls and did reasonably well in the singing element of the audition (I remember that my solo piece was ‘How Beautiful are the Feet’ from Part 3 of Messiah) but rather less well in the unexpected written tests. Sadly I did not get in and in later life I frequently joked to friends that my musical claim to fame was as a St Pauls Cathedral reject. I say sadly, because in those days (1959) as a St Paul’s chorister you not only received a first class musical education, you also received a top class public school general education at the St Pauls Cathedral School at no cost, which was a big thing.

Mr Harvey was not a man to give up and shortly afterwards he saw an advertisement in the Church Times for choristers for St Mary of the Angels Song School (named after the Vienna Song School) in Beaconsfield and persuaded my mother to allow me to audition. This time I was lucky and got in and the 2nd January 1960 marked the beginning of 4 years of being totally immersed in classical music. The school run by the Reverend Desmond Morse-Boycott who founded it in the slums of Somerstown in London in 1932. Father Desmond as he was known, was a remarkable fellow who not only founded the school but also was a journalist for the Church Times, once played football for Tottenham Hotspur and was a cousin of Winston Churchill. Immersion of this intensity leads either to total rejection of classical music later on or as it did in my case, to its becoming a lifelong passion .

When I left the school in 1963 I went back to my home town, Reading, and Mum enrolled me in a local dancing school mistakenly believing that I could earn a living in the entertainment industry. Sadly Mum’s ambition exceeded my talent by no small margin but I did get heavily involved in amateur revue shows and acquired a great love of show music and other popular stuff. When I first I went to work met a guy who owned a Decca Decola radiogram which was my first real introduction to the world of hi-fi. In 1968 I bought my first system which consisted of the ubiquitous Garrard SP25II with Decca Deram cartridge, a Tripletone valve amplifier and a pair of Paraline Horn speakers designed by Rex Baldock which my Dad helped me to build in his garage. I have been through many systems since then including Garrard 401 with SME 3009II arm, Linn Sondek LP12, Tannoy Lancaster’s with 15” Monitor Gold drivers and numerous Meridian components. I have built a number a magazine loudspeaker designs such as the Chris Rogers 4 way Transmission Line enclosures from Hi Fi Answers and the John Atkinson 5 way Transmission Line from Hi Fi News.

For me, much as I like the kit, it has always been the music and the records that really float my boat and it is today. I can no more imagine my life without classical music than I could without my wife or family, though my wife sometimes wonders which comes first! I love Bach Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Handel, Elgar and most classical composers. Berlioz I find a struggle by even he had his good moments such as Les nuits d’ete (the recording by Regina Crespin with Ansermet and the OSR is ravishing) or the Te Deum.

Sorry this post is so long but like many enthusiasts I could, and frequently do, bore for England on my subject!

David :lol::lol:

Eremite
15-11-2012, 18:42
Classical music was always around me at home. My father had a Garrard turntable built into a self-made bit of furniture; and a Quad valve amp driving a single (yes, mono!) ESL-57. He collected old Archiv recordings - especially of Bach and had a love of Russian chant! I was a chorister from the age of 7 pretty much until I left home to go to Uni.

When I started collecting my own stuff, it was pretty main stream: the Planets, 1812 Overture, Four Sea Interludes, New World Symphony; that sort of stuff. Then teen-age came along...

...I grew up eventually though :)

MartinT
15-11-2012, 22:34
I bought my first classical CD - Vivaldi Four Seasons (Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble/Nils-Erik Sparf on BIS label)

What an absolutely fantastic first recording to buy - one of my desert island discs! I played it to Jerry and I think he liked it ;)

Andrei
01-01-2013, 20:52
I got in through an open mind. Just sitting in the car as a young teen and every now and then something would come on the radio - The Anvil Chorus , Beethoven's fifth, Tchaikovsky's first PC. It gradually dawned on me that there must be a lot more of this stuff. I taped things from the radio and then made the first of a long list of discoveries. I discovered Tchaikovsky. Then I discovered Beethoven. Then I discovered Rachmaninov.

I did some reading and there was so much talk about Stravinsky, how different and strange. I borrowed the The Rite from a library. It was here that I made my greatest discovery. This 'music' did not sound like music. I knew in the depths of my mind (I was about 24 at the time) that there was some sort of key to be unlocked. I listened and listened again and it actually started to make sense. I think what I had learned, amongst other things, was that great music did not have to have a catchy tune. Today it is still astonishing to me that 'classical' music is so varied, beautiful, and contains pretty mush every human feeling there is. I am still making discoveries, a couple of years ago it was Piazzolla, and now I am dipping my toes into Chinese Classical music.

Nice thread Barry and I have enjoyed others' experiences.

JJack
23-08-2013, 17:39
So many great stories, and the stretch from immersion as a youth to pure chance.

Tarzan
23-08-2013, 19:47
Another thing for me regarding classical music is the album artwork, walking round Charity shops, could look at some of the covers for ages, and buy albums based on how the cover looks alone, my last was Vaughan Williams "London Symphony", conducted by Vernon Handley,how good is this! Amazingly atmospheric,that includes both album and cover.

Oldpinkman
24-08-2013, 14:18
My dad had a good collection of the well knowns. I then started working my way through the adverts - Hovis (Dvorjak 9th), Hamlet (Air on a G string - Jacques Lussier - but originally Bach orchestral suite - and the wool advert, Old Spice (Carmina Burana) , British Airways (Pearl Fishers duet), but...

For Opera (given earlier posts and Steadmans peasantry) - try a DVD of an 80's French film, available for about a fiver with sub-titles - "Diva" with Wilhelmina Wiggins somebody (on a campsite away from reference sources).

And then of course I married a classically trained soprano - debued our soprano and guitar version of "I dreamed a dream" last night to a drunken camp site audience - the pitch next door moved out the next morning. Well received by its intended audience though - although they had drunk about a bottle each by that stage. Just warning you Steadman...:cool:

JJack
26-08-2013, 15:32
Another thing for me regarding classical music is the album artwork, walking round Charity shops, could look at some of the covers for ages, and buy albums based on how the cover looks alone, my last was Vaughan Williams "London Symphony", conducted by Vernon Handley,how good is this! Amazingly atmospheric,that includes both album and cover.

It's always fun when this works out (e.g., a cover of a clear, cold snowy landscape for a Sibelius symphony)

Gordon Steadman
26-08-2013, 15:56
My dad had a good collection of the well knowns. I then started working my way through the adverts - Hovis (Dvorjak 9th), Hamlet (Air on a G string - Jacques Lussier - but originally Bach orchestral suite - and the wool advert, Old Spice (Carmina Burana) , British Airways (Pearl Fishers duet), but...

For Opera (given earlier posts and Steadmans peasantry) - try a DVD of an 80's French film, available for about a fiver with sub-titles - "Diva" with Wilhelmina Wiggins somebody (on a campsite away from reference sources).

And then of course I married a classically trained soprano - debued our soprano and guitar version of "I dreamed a dream" last night to a drunken camp site audience - the pitch next door moved out the next morning. Well received by its intended audience though - although they had drunk about a bottle each by that stage. Just warning you Steadman...:cool:

I'm really, really looking forward to this.

Fortunately, SuperU have a special offer on extra strong Guiness this week, must lay some in, must lay lots and lots and lots in.

Oos this Lussier bloke? We all know its LOOsier (spelt Loussier:ner:)

Gordon Steadman
26-08-2013, 16:09
I was always a pop fan, starting with the Beatles of course. My first wife wasn't into music at all (don't ask why - I really can't remember how I could have been so stupid, hormones probably) but when we were sort of starting to break up, I made friends with a guy who was a researcher at the Beeb. Edification and all that. When destroying the odd bottle together, he started playing me totally unfamiliar music from Joni Mitchell, BB King and then Vivaldi. I loved that, it was pure jazz and great fun. My first non pop LP was Vivaldi Lute and Mandolin Concerti. I still love it and play often now.

This was all in the 70s when music and books was really what life was about. We didn't have silly things like the internet to take our attention and I have never watched the gogglebox. I used to buy two LPs every week and thats a great way to build a collection and discover new music.

So I did the whole gamut. Of late though, I have fallen right out of love with the 'classical' and 'romantic' periods and mainly listen to Baroque and more modern stuff. I find Mozart lightweight and Beethoven boring (oh dear!!!) but the jazz and dance of Baroque still floats my boat. All the other stuff is still there so once I have the time and am to old and decrepit to do anything else but sit, I may try and get interested again. Who knows?

pjdowns
03-09-2013, 20:15
Not sure I would say I'm really into Classical but I always liked and aspired to have Beethoven's 9 Symphonies and this came about from keyboard lessons where I was taught the first few bars of the 9th.

Also my Dad has a wide and varied collection of Classical so I got some of my influence from him :)

Andrei
04-09-2013, 06:55
I find Mozart lightweight and Beethoven boring (oh dear!!!) but the jazz and dance of Baroque still floats my boat. All the other stuff is still there so once I have the time and am to old and decrepit to do anything else but sit, I may try and get interested again. Who knows?

Hmmmmmmmm. A few thoughts.

For me it has only been addition. So while I "moved on" from Beethoven he never was boring. The great classics just are. So as with art: after a few years I will look back at Picasso's 'Guernica' with absolutely fresh eyes. I am blessed (if you will allow me this conceit) with a broad taste in art (in general and music in particular) so I can hop from one to another and back again. There is now so much great music out there (even in pop - Katie Melua for example) that one can traverse it all and after circling the earth find fresh pastures anew.

An interesting phenomena for me is Piazzolla. I have not moved on from him. This is not one of the world's great conundrums but I put it down to the fact that he is uniquely able to be transcribed. So original music of his is re-written for different ensembles again and again. What is more; virtually every transcription (I cannot think of one negative off the top of my shallow head) is good inasmuch as it adds another face to the multi-faceted diamond.

Mozart lightweight? I do know what you mean but Gordon this is a state of mind. You must take him seriously. PC 20 (K466) - Get a good - or different! - recording and concentrate! Same with the Jupiter. And this is just the 'pops' of Mozart. Beethoven: well my present path is to explore the treasures of the less well known sonatas. Last week I attended a concert of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra doing 'The Ruin of Athens' overture and Symphony No 5. Great, just great! I have 10,000 recordings of the 5th but it was still great. Tempos a-la-Kleiber but the players seemed to-a-man to have Stradivari instruments. Wow!

My tuppence worth

Gordon Steadman
04-09-2013, 07:28
Mozart lightweight? I do know what you mean but Gordon this is a state of mind. You must take him seriously. PC 20 (K466) - Get a good - or different! - recording and concentrate! Same with the Jupiter. And this is just the 'pops' of Mozart.

I think your comment about a different recording is pertinent. Most of the Beethoven and Mozart I have in the collection came from a friend of mine in Wales. He is into the metronome. Any slight variation in tempo to stress an important passage or anything that strays from his vision of correctness is a no no. A possible reason for my present boredom. Its also just on the Mac and iTunes, so I'll dig out a few old LPs and clean them up.

The performance is so important. I have more than ten versions of Vivaldi's old potboiler. I could sleep through most - including surprisingly, Karajan with Mutter on the viol. They are treating it like classical music, all lush and smooth, totally inappropriate - I just love Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music. Lively, fun and pure jazz, exactly what Vivaldi should be. The fa.... sorry 'plump' ladies riding their ponies makes me crease up every time. (even if they don't warble Richard)

I also tend to have periods where certain music just suits my mood. I'm feeling a bit lively at the mo, so jazz it is.

Frankyc2003
04-09-2013, 07:48
What a brilliant thread.
I just discovered it today and I have to say I truly enjoyed everyone's stories.

As a child the only records at home were Jazz (bebop) from my dad, loads of Miles, Coltrane, Monk etc...
So not much classical. And I did find the stuff a bit boring to be honest.
There seemed to be more fun in my older brother Led Zeppelin, Purple, Sabbath and Maiden...
Then there was movies. And I guess that's how I started to appreciate the stuff.
Films like Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon were 'ear' opener so to speak.
Film allowed emotions to be permanently associated with visual images.

During the 80's, it became very fashionable to use classical music as soundtrack to movies, so suddenly a great mass of classical pieces were made available to me. Thanks to a heavy addiction to the VHS rental shop down the street, I got introduced to Rachmaninov, Schubert, Haydn, Strauss, Bruckner etc.
Interpretation didn't matter so much to me, what was important was to get that melody on my Sony Walkman! So I bought loads of budget Cassettes at the local music store.

One thing I still couldn't digest was Opera. Mammoth of schrieking and Brass... (I mean Wagner obviously :eyebrows:)
That is when a very old friend of my mum moved into our block of flats. He was a very talented and successful radio producer for the national broadcaster (Radio France). he worked with such pioneers as Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry. He did produce full broadcast from such festivals a Bayreuth and Salzburg. His record collection was enormous. Walls of it.

I remember hearing him playing his records very late at night, very loud. I was a young student and fairly insomniac.;)

I guess I owe him my introduction to Opera. First the easy stuff, Freischutz by Weber, Fidelio by Beethoven. And the mighty Verdi. Rigoletto is the first Opera I listened from beginning to end. And what a revelation that was.

The association of image and sound I got used to with film earlier on was magnified as the drama became acted on stage in front of my 'ears'.
Thanks to the the great Decca Solti/Culshaw Ring cycle, I could hear and almost see the Rhine Maidens tease Alberich, feel Wotan' fury etc.

What my mum's friend did too was to make me aware of the art of 'interpretation'. That every Mozart 40 isn't equal in front of our ears. That Brendel is not Argerich, that Mutti is the opposite to Abbado, that Kathleen Ferrier was probably the best Orpheus, etc...

To conclude my little journey, he bequeathed all his collection to the National Library in Paris, where people can consult his archives now. He wasn't survived by anyone.

His name is Bronislaw Horowitz (like the great pianist).

So classical music is like any form of music, it moves you, makes you angry, tires you, bores you, enlightens you... And there is SO much of it to discover.

What a pleasure! But please never forget to support actual performers by attending as many live performances as possible! Music that isn't played is as good as dead.

:cool:

Andrei
05-09-2013, 22:05
Francois
Interesting journey! I myself don't listen to much opera. Partly because there is so much other great music. But also because of the shrieking sopranos. I think this is because they are singing notes that are out of their natural range. If, for example, I am going to get another version of Carmina Burana then I turn to the part (it's called Dulcissime) where the soprano has to really let rip. If she sounds strained then I give it a miss. Composers for some reason often write music at the edge of what is possible. Most sopranos can sing this stuff but most of them are straining - it is unfortunately all too easy to hear. The solution to this is simple in theory - just purchase the better performances with singers you know. In practice of course it is not so simple.

I agree also about the issue of interpretation - was it the pig in Animal Farmwho had something to say about that? It is curious, I have never got the bottom of it, that sometimes you can enjoy two different performances equally well.

Frankyc2003
13-09-2013, 07:08
Thanks Andrei,

Yes the shrieking can sometimes get a little bit much...
Composers are 'show offs', so they usually try to push performers to newer limits. A bit like Athletics nowadays...
SO you end up with pieces in the repertoire which can hardly be reached by normal performers.
The net result is sometimes you have whole recordings with a totally inappropriate voice... Shame.

But you are right, best thing to do is listen with your ears, and choose what you like. Don't trust reviews too much and go with your heart.

The problem of interpretation is a vast one. But in short, it's a bit like a model. Imagine a top model, she has some inner qualities that makes her beautiful.
Then she will be photographed by a multitude of artists. Different lights, different angles, different lenses, different backdrops, indoors, outdoors, props, no props, etc.
The result will be a multitude of very different photographs of the same very beautiful woman, all looking like a different person sometimes...

It's the same with a piece of music. A conductor will always choose to cast a specific light on the work they are recording.
Even on the account of being totally truthful to the composer, they will make choices of tempi, instruments, which will make this interpretation theirs.

Again, the only way is to listen, listen and listen more.
Beethoven sonatas by Schnabel for example, as well as being a historical recording, cast a very different light on the work than Brendel did.
I like both, but won't listen to them on the same occasion.

In my honest opinion, anyway...

m10
28-02-2014, 22:31
What a great thread... on the shrieking sopranos thing: most sopranos (certainly most who get to make records don't actually shriek) but I think it can be an acquired taste - rather like whisky. First go may seem unpleasant, but keep going and you educate your palette. When you listen to a Joan Sutherland, say, and hear the support, the technique, the agility and the sheer beauty of the sound it's quite breathtaking IMHO. Similar, but different is the likes of Birgit Nilsson (steely heroism), Jessye Norman (regal dignity), Kiri Te Kanawa (alluring beauty), Leontyne Price (smoky sensuality) and so on.

My intro to classical was more basic - I remember being played The Planets at school and thinking it was fun, and being engaged by the titles of the pieces and how that related to the character of the music. At 18, owning my first CD player I went and bought The Planets on CD. I remember the local WH Smith had the Levine and Karajan (both on DG). The Levine would probably have had better sound, but for some reason "Berliner Philhrmoniker - Herbert Von Karajan" grabbed my attention. To be fair, apart from a little ferocity in the strings it is an incredible recording. Peer Gynt came next, I think with my first Mozart and Beethoven soon after.

I really don't know what turned me on to opera, but a compulsion had bitten. Tosca with Kiri Te kanawa and La Traviata with Joan Sutherland were my gateways into that world (after dabbling with CDs by Kiri, Jessye Norman and Joan).

My local record store of the time used to get the printed Decca, Philips, EMI and DG catalogues and they kind of opened the door in a big way for me too - allowing me in pre-WWW days to get a feel for the repertoire and artists. September 1991 was my first Gramophone magazine which I read solid for fifteen years!

MartinT
03-03-2014, 19:42
I remember being played The Planets at school and thinking it was fun

Snap - I have my (I guess long departed) primary school teacher to thank for that.

Gromit
03-03-2014, 21:00
There was a certain inevitability to my getting 'into' classical music. I was brought up with music from a few days after I was born with my father being heavily involved with the music at our church. By the age of 5 I could read musical notation and it was at this point that I would learn to play my first instrument. My dad was a fairly competent brass player (he taught me to read music anyway) so I picked up a Cornet and began making dreadful noises through it. :D

Dad always had orchestral music playing through his hifi, and it fascinated me - even at bedtime I would go to sleep to the sound of classical music from downstairs which is probably why I still have such an emotional, even spiritual attachment to it which runs incredibly deep. At age 6 we had a placement teacher at our primary school who played the Clarinet and she would bring it into lessons and use it as a teaching aid. I was transfixed by it and pleaded my parents to let me learn to play it. 2 years later I took up the Piano but never had much talent for keyboard playing, sadly.

As years went by I progressed into school orchestras/county youth orchestra then playing with such groups as the Cambridge University Chamber Orchestra and then onto playing professionally. To not only listen to, but take part in the performance of classical music could therefore be said permeate into almost every aspect of my life. Bottom line though is that I feel extremely privileged. :)

MartinT
04-03-2014, 09:36
You were lucky, Richard. My parents were very non-musical and I ended up listening to a lot of classical on the Dansette via headphones, lost in my own world. However, my Dad bought a lot of Readers Digest classical collections - goodness knows why, as he never listened to any of it.

Jimbo
04-03-2014, 10:50
My father was a jazz and classical clarinet player who practised daily at home so it was in my audible background probably even before I was born. I cannot remember a time therefore when I actually got into classical music, it was always there and I just accepted thats how it was. For me it is more of a question about when I got into other music rather than classical:lol:

Gromit
05-03-2014, 10:17
You were lucky, Richard.

Absolutely, Martin and rarely a day goes by when I don't consider myself very blessed (if that's the right word?) to have been brought up in such an environment. To see my kids grow with strong leanings/interest in music is a joy too - our eldest has tried a few instruments (Clarinet, Violin, Piano) but settled on Flute and just oozes natural ability, she really has found 'her' instrument. She took it up in mid-October and has her Grade II ABRSM exam in 2 weeks and she'll walk it - I'm accompanying her for the exam on Piano and I will be so proud. Our youngest (now 3) can sing back simple pitch-perfect phrases I play to her on the Piano. Makes want to cry I'm so proud. :)

MartinT
05-03-2014, 10:24
My son took to electric guitar and plays it very well (he spent two years on the road); it substitutes for my lack of musical prowess.