Does anyone here listen to classical music?

[AlAaraaf74]

Franz Liszt is the greatest composer of all time.

I feel that Liszt is very underrated at times. Too many people focus on how difficult his pieces are.


One of my favorites by him.

 

[billygoverton]

Inventive is the very last word I would use to describe him. I read an interesting thread on another forum a while back on him, here it is http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=834560, which might be worth looking through if you have time. If not, the most important points were made in this post:

When I listen to Einaudi all I hear are the barest clichés (eg. 'ritornare' employing an augmented fourth suspended about IV [or presumably VI since this is minor]), with the buzzing fifths in the background all the time like Schubert's organ grinder (but without any of the complex irony in Schubert). Then the figures starts with all those 9ths in... I feel like all development has been evacuated, and all attempt to really explore how something might /feel/ has been replaced by automatic devices that have been well tried and tested for producing 'feeling' -- but deployed almost automatically. If you see what I mean... This is what leaves me so blank. There is also something really bleak about Einaudi's total lack of modualtion or deviation from a diatonic scale, which is the kind of tonal landscape you get at times in Ravel and Debussy, and also in Froberger / earlier contrapunctal composers, and which Bach summons occasionally in Die Kunst -- and it can be genuinely haunting there. But in Einaudi rather than greating a kind of meditative or peaceful stasis it creates just a void.

If people can't tell cliché and artless simplicity from thoughtful simplicity, if they can't tell automated 'emotive' responses to subtle and nuanced responses, this suggests to me that their emotive perception is somehow impaired. It's like crying at a Hollywood happyending: you've been taken in. It's one thing for music/films to be merely entertaining, but if they dictate your capactities for interpreting yoru experience, and in this case we're talking about emotive and empathetic capacities, it worries me that we might as a culture be losing the ability to genuinely feel anything or empathize with anybody. Einaudi's music is inhuman.

is this post yours?

it's a bit of a headache to be honest. It's well-written, but I can't help but feel like I'm reading politician-style rhetoric. I'm going to respond to this rather sporadically, for the sake of keeping myself attentive.

The Hollywood comparison: my love of movies is rather different from my love of music. I make music, constantly-- daily. I'm getting my bachelor's in recording arts, but I'm certainly not indignant about people who make music without training. So, there's some context anyway. With movies, it's sort of a blind love. To some extent my film-major buddies or critics (this includes Movie Bob on this website) rub off on me, but mostly I enjoy whatever movies I connect to most. There's a catch, though, which is how much I find myself absorbed and emotionally committed to what's happening on screen. A movie like Avatar and most melodrama for that matter fail to captivate me for a very identifiable reason. This brings me to your point of "cliche". I would argue the relationship music has with this term and what many movies are guilty of is quite different. Music, in my experience and taste, absolutely (most of the time) has to strike a balance between both tension and release, and thematic placement in order to work most cohesively. What I'm saying is what this person identifies as cliche are merely the tools all musicians use in their compositions. This person is looking for the art in the wrong places with this particular composer. It's in the constant attention to texture and to constructing very clear, very easily digested music. So pointing out the fact that he never pushes boundaries tonally, or rhythmically doesn't really convince me that there's no quality there. oh, and inventive is a tricky word, I'll definitely concede i was the wrong one. The conclusion that it's "thoughtless" is completely beyond my comprehension. This music to me is an exercise in what Einaudi likes best about music, and I think it find it's uniqueness in it's shrugging of traditional complexities assumed necessary.

the end of the post is stupid, pointless, and insulting. just because you don't find value in something, doesn't mean anybody who listens to it doesn't have taste. words like "artless" and "cliche" become meaningless when you are only using them to discount a style you don't like.

emotional value IS a matter of taste. and while this is probably not the best way of achieving that result, there is feeling in these melodies, and there are subtleties of texture I find interesting.

sorry for the long post, and sorry again if any of my points got lost along the way in the mess of it.

 

[cormacdffy]

Yes I listen to it quite a lot. Being 17, I'm the only one in my circle of friends that actually does, but fuck it it's awesome .

My favourite composers are Tchiakovsky, Bach and Mozart.

 

[bob-2000]

I love Bach, Rachmaninov and Satie.

I'm also a big Inon Zur fan, but im not sure if that counts.

 

[Genixma]

I enjoy some Bach, Little Fugue in G Minor. Or Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. 1812 Orchestra as well as Mozart's Requiem.

 

[SplitDemonIdentity]

Is this the broad definition of classical that also includes Baroque and Romantic? Or just you know Classical?

Either way I listen to them all with an alarming frequency sometimes to the chagrin of my into metal and religious brother {don't ask me about the combination. It's odd to me too}.

But classical is amazing and I'd likely never stop listening if I wasn't asked to.

 

[gillebro]

I'm a horn player, so I don't have much choice.

Percy Grainger remains one of my favourite composers ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiZzpRME_DY (sorry, I can't embed)

I'm very much a fan of the easy-to-listen stuff.

 

[motyr]

I'm not sure if anyone's posted him yet, but my favourite composer is Mahler. My favourite piece of music from any genre is his Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection."

 

[Ask]

Franz Schubert's Erlkonig is one of my favorite pieces.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuG7Y6wiPL8

Franz Liszt (There are a lot of arrangements by Franz Liszt but this one is a favorite)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z36aWM3jYT8&playnext=1&list=PLEB4EC97160882260

Brahm's Hungarian dance is a wonderful piece:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X9LvC9WkkQ
His symphony number 3 is also amazing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ju7jb1rkyK0&feature=related

Honestly there are a lot of classical composers that I enjoy that unfortunately I'd end up writing novels about if one just left me to it. It's nice to see that there are a lot of people who still enjoy classical music.

 

[AlAaraaf74]

I'm not sure if anyone's posted him yet, but my favourite composer is Mahler. My favourite piece of music from any genre is his Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection."

I don't think he's been mentioned! And that's a shame because I think his symphonies are better than Tchaikovsky's (which everyone on this thread seems to love)

I also like his symphony 2, but my favorite is a tie between his 5 and 7. Then 2, then 8.

 

[frizzlebyte]

snip

Actually, you didn't come off as rude. I just thought I might've. Man, the limitations of text, eh?

Yeah, I have always liked classical music. My whole family is into music and art and whatnot, so I come by it honestly; though I dabble in the arts, I skew really hard into science and technology, and that is where my true talents lie.

But yeah, appreciating non-pop music seems to be so hard for a lot of people it seems sad, but I actually appreciated classical before I appreciated pop music, so I guess other people think the same about me.

 

[Kyoh]

These two must be on a list of great classical pieces.

Chopin's Nocturne in C# Minor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cectrAqFSZQ

Bach's Air on the G string
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2j-frfK-yg

 

[GeorgW]

I love classical music, I have a big collection of it.
My favourite composer is probably Beethoven.

 

[King Toasty]

Not a whole lot, but I listen to quite a bit orchestral music. Movie and game themes are really, really good nowadays. Especially when Jeremy Soule or Hans Zimmer are involved.

Side note: Is my avatar showing up? It won't for me.

 

[coolkirb]

props to chopin but my all time favourit has to be Holst and his amazing planets suite, he may only have be known for it and have it overshawdow all his other work but it is amazing Jubiter is a masterpiece

youtube=3B49N46I39Y

 

[AlAaraaf74]

Side note: Is my avatar showing up? It won't for me.

Yeah, I can see it.

 

[King Toasty]

Side note: Is my avatar showing up? It won't for me.

Yeah, I can see it.

Is it a gif?

 

[AlAaraaf74]

Side note: Is my avatar showing up? It won't for me.

Yeah, I can see it.

Is it a gif?

No it's just a toaster.

 

[motyr]

I'm not sure if anyone's posted him yet, but my favourite composer is Mahler. My favourite piece of music from any genre is his Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection."

I don't think he's been mentioned! And that's a shame because I think his symphonies are better than Tchaikovsky's (which everyone on this thread seems to love)

I also like his symphony 2, but my favorite is a tie between his 5 and 7. Then 2, then 8.

I agree, I like Mahler more than Tchaikovsky as well.