The Struggle to Appreciate: Tobias in Whatever

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The discussion revolves around the challenges of appreciating classical music, particularly for those new to the genre. Participants suggest starting with more accessible pieces, such as adagios and nocturnes, to ease into the experience. Recommendations include works by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Samuel Barber, and the Goldberg Variations by Bach, as well as Mozart's Clarinet Concerto. The conversation touches on the distinction between traditional classical music and contemporary classical, with some expressing disdain for the latter. Suggestions for further exploration include composers like Dvorak, Schubert, and Tchaikovsky, emphasizing the importance of gradually acclimating to longer musical forms. The complexity of classical music is acknowledged, with advice to begin with popular pieces before delving into more challenging compositions. Overall, the thread highlights the subjective nature of musical enjoyment and the varying experiences of listeners as they navigate the classical music landscape.
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I am trying to like it but it hurts on my nerves, all the sharp notes, tobias in
what ever, how can you like it?
 
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wolram said:
I am trying to like it but it hurts on my nerves, all the sharp notes, tobias in what ever, how can you like it?

To what are you listening?!? Start with some adagios or nocturnes. :rolleyes:

Try Ralph Vaughn Williams!

Or Samuel Barber, especially his Adagio for Strings.
 
I am particulary fond of the Goldberg Variations by Bach. Also Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A.

~H
 
Hootenanny said:
I am particulary fond of the Goldberg Variations by Bach. Also Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A.

~H

Can you give me an online rendition of some thing that is not so, painful ?
 
If you stick with Mozart, your ears should not be pained. But after you have got the habit of listening to longer musical lines than pop tunes or rock anthems provide, you should branch out. I recommend for your second step, Schubert, and then some of the French late romantics (Franck, Saint-Saens) and Dvorak. All of this is as sweet on the ear as classical music gets. Oh, Smetana's The Moldau is popular with a lot of people who don't like listening to symphonies.

Have you got access to a public library? Check out their CD collection.
 
Or listen to an online radio station. I've been listening to Beethoven.com for the past two months and it's great!
 
neutrino said:
Or listen to an online radio station. I've been listening to Beethoven.com for the past two months and it's great!

Good idea, i will give it a try.
 
What on Earth were you listening to?
 
  • #10
wolram, you are such an enigma (I was going to say 'strange bird' but enigma is more polite).

Sometimes you seem as familiar as the guy next door, and sometimes you seem so ... alien?

I'm dying to know your story.
 
  • #11
DaveC426913 said:
wolram, you are such an enigma (I was going to say 'strange bird' but enigma is more polite).

Sometimes you seem as familiar as the guy next door, and sometimes you seem so ... alien?

I'm dying to know your story.

:confused: Me, i am as common as muck, a bit scatter brained at times i
know, but alien?
 
  • #12
Evo said:
What on Earth were you listening to?


Tobias, that's all i heard, anyway i have had classic FM all day and must say
:rolleyes: i like some of it.
 
  • #13
Tobias Picker? I don't know how they can call that classical music, it's "contemporary classical", new music, not what one thinks of when one mentions "classical".

http://www.tobiaspicker.com/
 
  • #14
Try Pachalbel's Canon, very soothing.

And stay far, far away from opera - even I can't stand it.
 
  • #15
Curious3141 said:
Try Pachalbel's Canon, very soothing.

And stay far, far away from opera - even I can't stand it.

My sophisticated bro goes to opera, i am sure some of those singers have a
compresd air line up the ***, how do they hold those notes so long
 
  • #16
Curious3141 said:
And stay far, far away from opera - even I can't stand it.
I like Madame Butterfly. It makes me cry. :cry:
 
  • #17
Evo said:
Tobias Picker? I don't know how they can call that classical music, it's "contemporary classical", new music, not what one thinks of when one mentions "classical".

http://www.tobiaspicker.com/

Trust me to get it wrong.
 
  • #18
"contemporary classical' is crap. It is not even close to the same level.

I like Dvorak 9th, From the New World.
 
  • #19
cyrusabdollahi said:
"contemporary classical' is crap. It is not even close to the same level.

I like Dvorak 9th, From the New World.

:confused: You still call it the new world, i thought all these guys came from europe, or about.
 
  • #20
You have much to learn about classical music.

The New World is the United States, because Dvorak imigrated there from his native bohemia. He liked to ride the steam engines up and down the United States.
 
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  • #21
cyrusabdollahi said:
You have much to learn about classical music.

The New World is the United States, because Dvorak imigrated there from his native bohemia. He like to ride the steam engines up and down the United States.

Well sure i have a lot to learn, i have ony just started to listen to it :rolleyes:
I did start a thread in history about, blast, forgot his name, but he had a
facinating life.
 
  • #22
Found it, i lied it was Van Gogh.
 
  • #23
wolram said:
Found it, i lied it was Van Gogh.
Not many people are familiar with Van Gogh's music. :biggrin: I believe he played the nose flute.
 
  • #24
You must remember that pieces in classical music weren't just made for the sake of just listening and enjoying the music. For some great composers, it meant more intellectual challenges and unheard melodies.

In fact, I would think of as enjoying classical music being the tiniest part of the experience. Its no brainer that some of the music won't get into you - the music was composed for a different style of audience and style, and what might be called masterpieces may be denounced easily by the public nowadays.

You really have to put yourself in the past for baroque and classical music, as some can get really hard to listen to. I can mention a couple of pieces that are really hard to listen to at first - the passions of bach, (just ANYTHING with Bach to be realistic) late string quartets of Beethoven, and for me, (contraversially(!)) everything by Mozart. The time effect is lessor in romantic music and contemporary.

So what does this mean? To get the true essence of classical music, you'll, if you don't your ears hurting, try to listen to more popular classical pieces at first, moonlight sonata, fur elise etc. (despite my disdain for it) Then move on.

Try this for a list:

Canon -> Moonlight sonata -> pathetique sonata -> appasionata sonata -> hammerklavier -> Bach solo cello suites -> Beethoven symphonies/ piano concertos -> Bach Violin partitas -> Everything by Mozart -> Everything by Bach.
 
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  • #25
Evo said:
Not many people are familiar with Van Gogh's music. :biggrin: I believe he played the nose flute.

You mean he did the boogy woogy :smile:
 
  • #26
Bladibla said:
I can mention a couple of pieces that are really hard to listen to at first - the passions of bach, (just ANYTHING with Bach to be realistic)

It was the other way for me. I was in love with Baroque music from the instant I started to listening to it. Yes, many of them sound very similar and were restricted in many ways, and, of course, there was the "Red Priest" who wrote the same composition a hundred times (or was 400 it times?) :-p. But I enjoy Baroque.

Wolram, maybe you should try the Four Seasons by Vivaldi (aka the Red Priest). Hope someone here can recommend a good performance.
 
  • #27
Damn. I'm too late to say anything useful. What did they say about Wagner, "The music is better than it sounds."
 
  • #28
Some of this stuff i am listening to is good, trouble is they all ways rattle off
what it is and i can never catch it all.

Oh the melody by chikovski (spelling)
 
  • #29
Tchaikovsky, Chaikovksy, Tschaikovksky, lots of transliterations. He wrote an incredible violin concerto...
 
  • #30
Bladibla said:
In fact, I would think of as enjoying classical music being the tiniest part of the experience.

:frown: ...[/color]
 
  • #31
I shouldn't read depressing posts like that. Let me cheer myself up - Wolram, here are a few classics which I believe absolutely anyone can enjoy, without knowing anything about the art. Particularly, these are the least likely to be either boring or physically painful to your ears!

Hector Berlioz, Symphony Fantastique
P.I. Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 5; Violin Concerto; Piano Concerto ("No. 1", usually not stated because No. 2 and No. 3 are very obscure)
Johannes Brahms, Piano Concerto no. 2; Quintet in f minor, for piano and strings
Beethoven, Symphony No. 6 ("Pastoral"); Piano sonatas op. 53 "Waldstein", op. 81a "Les Adieux", op. 109
Frederic Chopin - the Nocturnes (very short pieces), Preludes op. 28
Felix Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto
Franz Schubert - Impromptus, op. 90; op. 144
J.S. Bach - the Cello suites; the Brandenburg concerti

(This listing is not comprehensive, merely reflecting a tiny subset of the most accessible and enjoyable music ever written. This is of course, incredibly controversial. The opinions here are solely my own, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Greg B, Physics Forums, or its subsidiaries or shareholders.)
 
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  • #32
I usually listen to a lady, i have found i like chopin all ready, i must get something to play music on, i only have a radio for entertainment.
 
  • #33
Stay away from Shostakovich :biggrin:
(Although I personally love his music)
 
  • #34
Markjdb said:
Stay away from Shostakovich :biggrin:
(Although I personally love his music)

You just made that one up :smile:
 
  • #35
Rach3 said:
:frown: ...[/color]

Sorry. A bit of a misunderstanding. I was meant to say 'from the composers view'
 

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