Classical recordings you suddenly liked

[Hase]

I think I like Vivaldi. When I first started really listening to classical music, I was studying in Salzburg, so I was always bombarded with Mozart. I went out of my way to try other composers and one of the disks I bought was a “Four Seasons” recording. I hated it. I rarely listened to it for almost two years, only forcing myself to on occasion to see if I could tolerate it. This time, right now, as I type, I am listening to it and it clicked for me. I am really enjoying it. It is still not J.S. Bach’s third Brandenburg for me, but it is terrific. Finally, payoff. Maybe someday I’ll be able to listen to Aaron Copland too.

So, I saw a similar thread that was mostly commenting on non-classical music, I guess I can start one specifically for classical.

Anyone else had such a moment with a classical recording? Was it the composer or the performer that you turned around on? What about the other way, ever liked a recording for a long time but dislike it now?

 

[Tyson]

Bartok was like that for me. I had to learn & love Shostakovich first, and that sort of paved the way for me to start appreciating Bartok.

 

[saint.panda]

That would be Bach for me. As a kid my piano teacher often made me practice the fugues, which apparently required more than just getting the notes right. Ever since I have acquired a personal distate for anything by Bach and much preferred the Romantic repertoire by Beethoven or Chopin, whose piano pieces were also easier to impress people with. Right now, it seems silly to have combined personal reasons with taste but Bach was the enemy back then.
Fast forward a couple of years when a friend of mine, who was and still is a great jazz pianist, told me that he was currently practicing the Goldberg Variations by Bach. It was the famous 1981 recording by Goldberg and I loved it the moment I heard it, especially variaton #14 (track 15). That was the turning point when I also started practicing Bach again, although still without success when it came to the fugues.

 

[Bunnyears]

I was always pretty adventurous when it came to music, but then one day someone suggested that I get a recording of works by George Crumb. The first time I listened I was so put off that after about 3 minutes (if that) I just took the cd out. It stayed on the shelf for almost a year and then one day, just out of curiousity, I put it in the cd player and this time I listened for about 10 minutes before I gave up. It took 3 weeks of putting on tracks and listening, but suddenly it was as if a lightbulb had switched on! The music made sense in a way it never had before and instead of thinking of tortured cats and hyped up crickets, I found myself feeling space around me and sound just zooming from different directions into my consciousness. It was a very unique moment of my life, and drug free (for all of you who might be wondering). Now, if I want to listen to his works I have to wait until my husband and daughters are out of the house because they start screaming at me to get that awful stuff off the cd player, so it's become a secret pleasure. It also works amazingly well in my sensaphonics where it feels as if the sound is originating in different areas of the brain. It is not music for the squeamish, and makes Bartok sound like Mother Goose.

 

[Tyson]

I hear you bunnyears. Bartok was my gateway, once I started to appreciate him, other more modern composers like Crumb, Schnittke, Webern, etc... followed pretty quickly. Once you acclimate to their soundworld, it's some pretty cool and wild music!

 

[SunShip]

Out of interest, which george crumb recordings would you recommend? I'm looking to explore more modern music. Any other recommendations?

 

[Tyson]

Check out the Kronos Quartet recordings.

 

[Bunnyears]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SunShip Out of interest, which george crumb recordings would you recommend? I'm looking to explore more modern music. Any other recommendations?

My first, and now favorite, is Ancient Voices of Children. I also love Black Angel and Easter Dawning, and any of the volumes of the Makrokosmos, especially Music for a Summer Evening.

But buy cautiously! Too many listen to this once and just can't do it again.

 

[Bunnyears]

Tyson, as a child I had pages and pages and volumes of the Mikrokosmos to work through on the piano! By the time I heard my first Bartok orchestral music he was so engrained into me; but it was a love hate relationship. Melodies were so easy to pick out with the hands separately, putting them together with the different rhythmic patterns was hellish for an 8 year old, and still required utmost concentration as I got older.

 

[Hase]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyson Check out the Kronos Quartet recordings.

For a George Crumb recommendation? I don't know much about Kronos but have loved everything I have heard.

 

[JohnFerrier]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bunnyears My first, and now favorite, is Ancient Voices of Children. I also love Black Angel and Easter Dawning, and any of the volumes of the Makrokosmos, especially Music for a Summer Evening. But buy cautiously! Too many listen to this once and just can't do it again.

Just ordered Ancient Voices Of Children. This may lead me to discover other American contemporary works. However, commenting on atonal music may be challenging. A work either strikes the right chord in a person or not...I liked the samples.

 

[Bunnyears]

Good Luck! That was my first Crumb work and it took me so much time to really be able to listen to it. Start with the tracks from Makrokosmos, I think they are a little more accessible (if you can even use that word for Crumb). He is a labor of love, and the accent should be on labor.

 

[JohnFerrier]

Crumb's Star-Child on order as well. Think his art will fit right in with the other contemporary orchestral works I enjoy.

 

[Leporello]

I have never been particularly touched by Verdi's music. Passionate melodies, super dramatic scenes, but somehow "shallow" compared to Mozart or Wagner, for instance.

But recently I watched "Don Carlos" on DVD. Then I purchased the famous Giulini recording of "Don Carlo". Suddenly the whole affair sounds much more interesting than it used to do.


Regards,

L.

 

[taymat]

I thought the last instrument, after a kazoo, that I'd want to listen to after years of boring music at Church is the organ, However I heard Bachs, hang on a sec I'll just check what it's called, Toccata und Fuge and I loved it straight away. It just sounded right to me, hard to explain but it's an easy piece to like.
I tell you what there are many tunes like that I love in Classical music from Beethoven to Tchaikovsky (hope thats right, at least I don't call him Ter-chov-ski anymore) that I thought were great upon the first listen, like Fuer Elise.
I think part of the reason is that we are all exposed to classical music a lot: in cinemas, shopping centres, tv, etc. Heck even computer games have used classical music that's been drummed into me from an early age. Anyone remember Earthworm Jim? Or even earlier Lemmings?!
Vivaldi was a composer I took a while to like as well, but all composers seem to have such a variety of music that's both good and bad to my ears, that it's hard for me to name composers that I like/dislike right now.