Can you get everyone to like classical music?

[Frank Dernie]

I started with Schubert's 9th Symphony when I was at University in London. It was not really intentional, I must have picked up one of my mother's record club LPs by mistake when taking mine away after a holiday at home.
I played it one evening when I was at a loose end and found lots of nice tunes so listened again rather than discarding it. By the time I left Uni I was going to classical concerts in London as well as local startup bands (like Pink Floyd and Genesis...) frequently and my girlfriend, now wife of 43 years was a musician studying at the Royal College of Music.
It all went from there with 2 of our 4 children accomplished amateur musicians as well as my wife being a professional.
Nowadays my favourites are Bach, Mahler, Schubert and Puccini, though I like many others too.

 

[NorthSky]

Say someone is buying you a pair of music concert tickets; any price, any concert. What music genre would you pick?
Rolling Stones? Rap music concert, Opera Classical Ballet, Orchestral Classical, Choral and Organ, Punk, Metallica, Beyonce, Celine Dion, Iggy Pop, ...?

The most expensive music concert tickets cost $10,000+ (each), you can have two (for you and your wife), any band/orchestra you like, and anywhere in the world (hotel and airfare all included, paid off). Where are you going, Broadway in New York, Jazz club in San Francisco, Monaco, Paris, London, Vienna, North Korea, ...where?

Me I'd go to Italy to a Classical music concert in one of their best treated concert halls. ...A modern classical music composer of the highest order and caliber.
A real maestro with his baton and two opera singers, tenors (man and woman), with full orchestra and a grand piano.
Total cost for two (after taxes): $47, 663.39
But it's free because someone is buying for us.

What about you guys, which music concert would you go; Pink Floyd, Eminem, Celine Dion, Rage Against the Machine, Shakira, ...what?
And where; Las Vegas, San Diego, Miami, Seattle, Montreal, Berlin, Paris, Rome, Chinatown, ...where?

 

[Frank Dernie]

Puccini at La Scala, Milan.

 

[RayDunzl]

What about you guys, which music concert would you go

Carla Bley

 

[RayDunzl]

My 24x7 Classical feed (via WUSF HD2 broadcast):

WSMR

They feature both locally programmed and canned programming.

Sometimes I get to hear some rumble, wow, and flutter, too.

 

[Sal1950]

So about a year and half to two years ago I decided to give it a strong effort.

Should music be something you have to give a "strong effort" to enjoy?
Joined a BBC Classical CD of the month club sometime back in the late 80s for a couple years along with some other "audiophile" stuff gathered over the years. It just never did it for me and after 10 or 15 minutes the boredoms always set in.
With so much excellent "popular" modern music of the various genre's that's been made in the 20th century to listen to, I came to the position of "why bother?". So much music and so little time.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

I like Frank Zappa, neither banal nor unoriginal.

But his is not like "most music."

 

[Wayne]

But Blues is the music that makes me move physically, Classical is the one that moves me inside.
...And everything else between...all that jazz.

Good observation and succinctly said. Quite possibly a common experience, IMHO.

 

[NorthSky]

Puccini at La Scala, Milan.

Classy!

Carla Bley

I wonder, besides us, who else here is familiar with Carla Bley and have some of her albums in their music library?

 

[Cosmik]

Should music be something you have to give a "strong effort" to enjoy?
Joined a BBC Classical CD of the month club sometime back in the late 80s for a couple years along with some other "audiophile" stuff gathered over the years. It just never did it for me and after 10 or 15 minutes the boredoms always set in.
With so much excellent "popular" modern music of the various genre's that's been made in the 20th century to listen to, I came to the position of "why bother?". So much music and so little time.

I have found that there is classical music I don't have to make any effort to like, but it is a small proportion of it. I probably like an equally small proportion of popular music, too.

 

[Thomas savage]

I'm sure you can get anyone who's interested in music to like something in the 'classical ' range.. it's the five day test match of music though so while appealing to some many find it rather less so..

 

[RayDunzl]

Classical Music?

The radio is playing...

03:01 PM ... 11m ... Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Horn Concerto No. 4 in E-Flat K 495, Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, Janos Rolla, Dale Clevenger, horn, CBS/Sony, 44906
02:50 PM ... 23m... Fanny Mendelssohn (Hensel), Overture, Womens Philharmonic, JoAnn Falletta, Koch International, 7169
02:27 PM ... 23m ... Mauro Giuliani, Guitar Concerto in A Op 30, English Chamber Orchestra, Charles Groves, John Williams, guitar, CBS/Sony, 45610
02:22 PM ... 5m ... Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Mlada: Procession of the Nobles, Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy, CBS/Sony, 39786
02:02 PM ... 20m ... Domenico Cimarosa, Concerto for 2 Flutes in G, Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Paul Freeman, Mathieu Dufour, flute; Alex Klein, oboe, Cedille, 80
01:48 PM ... 14m ... Ludwig Van Beethoven, Leonore Overture No. 3 Op 72a, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Georg Solti, LondonDecca, 421773
01:39 PM ... 9m ... Gerald Finzi, Romance Op 11, Royal Ballet Sinfonia, David Lloyd-Jones, Naxos, 555069
01:07 PM ... 22m ... Jean Sibelius, Symphony No. 5 in E-flat Op. 82, Minnesota Orchestra, Osmo Vanska, BIS, 1986
01:01 PM ... 6m ... Giuseppe Torelli, Trumpet Sonata A 5 Clinque No. 3, English Chamber Orchestra, Raymond Leppard, Wynston Marsalis, trumpet, CBS/Sony, 39061

Average time: 15.8 minutes

Maybe it's not appropriate for folks accustomed to 140-character conversations.

Even the titles are too long:

"Domenico Cimarosa, Concerto for 2 Flutes in G, Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Paul Freeman, Mathieu Dufour, flute; Alex Klein, oboe, Cedille, 80"

150 characters

 

[SPFC]

Music from Chopin, Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Schubert, ...all good places to start and then expand...Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Mahler, Scarlatti, Handel, Purcell, Salieri, Rossini, Berlioz, Mussorgsky, Bizet, Verdi, Dvorak, Offenbach, Saint-Saens, Janacek, Puccini, Debussy, Strauss, Chabrier, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Barber, Glass, Adams, Part, Ravel, Copland, Bernstein, Gershwin, Wagner, Boulez, Rachmaninoff, Villa-Lobos, Ligeti, Faure, Elgar, Chavez, Schoenberg, Reich, Nyman, Varese, Kronos Quartet, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, ...

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_major_opera_composers
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th-century_classical_music

The universe of Classical music is as grandiose as all the space above the sky and the galaxies, over the stars and the planets and travelling on comets from far far away and abroad. It's worth taking the journey...IMHO. It expands the mind of the soul, and beyond.
Besides, people who love Classical music are the best lovemakers; the main essence itself of human life procreation. ...The subsistence of the human race. ...In harmony and in synergy and in synchronicity with all the entourage of peaceful surroundings...nature, mountains, oceans, rivers, forests, jungles, wildlife, earth, water, fire, air, aether, wood, metal, rock and paper, ...all that jazz.

Hey, where do you think Led zeppelin got their inspiration from?

Nice one. I really like this documentary "It Might Get Loud" - Three very different takes on the electric guitar. All great!

 

[amirm]

Should music be something you have to give a "strong effort" to enjoy?

I think so. I went through a similar experience with food. Used to be that I would only eat western food and hated things like Sushi. Then I worked for Sony and had to travel to Japan very often and eat Japanese food/sushi. Hated it for a good while. Then stopped hating it but not enjoying it. That then turned into enjoyment.

A remarkable thing happened after that: I started to like and enjoy tons of other international food. This then translated to my children who also started to eat and enjoy every kind of food. This led to enjoying food while traveling and indeed, that is one of the highlights of my international trips.

Back to music, it is great to be able to enjoy the classical music that is played at shows and posted on forums. Whether it is classical, jazz or blues, I enjoy it very much. As I type this, in the background the music from Carla Bley Trio is playing and adding so much to the experience of being here. I would not have liked that music a few years ago.

It is a bit like learning a foreign language. Impossible and painful at first but once you get to the other side, it is delightful and great assett.

Maybe some of it is psychological. I.e. classical, jazz and blues are so much part of audiophile life that one feels left out without appreciating it.

 

[Sal1950]

Maybe some of it is psychological. I.e. classical, jazz and blues are so much part of audiophile life that one feels left out without appreciating it.

I have take your position in that entire thread as more confused than enlightened.
"I like all food and all music" just isn't human so either you seem to be having an issue with making up your mind.
Or your blowing a bunch of smoke at us to prove your liberalism.

BTW Sushi it cat food. LOL

 

[amirm]

I have take your position in that entire thread as more confused than enlightened.

I find your opinion of me more confused than enlightened.

You don't want to like more music or food, be at it. I am just sharing my life story and how I am better for it at the end.

When I was in your fine state I ate alligator meat. Was I supposed to throw up at the thought of it?

The world has a lot to offer us. I am happy that I have access to a lot more of it than I used to. That should not be a cause of pain for you.

 

[Thomas savage]

I find your opinion of me more confused than enlightened.

You don't want to like more music or food, be at it. I am just sharing my life story and how I am better for it at the end.

When I was in your fine state I ate alligator meat. Was I supposed to throw up at the thought of it?

The world has a lot to offer us. I am happy that I have access to a lot more of it than I used to. That should not be a cause of pain for you.

I find I have to eat BBQ ribs quite often to 'make sure' I still like them

 

[Sal1950]

Then I worked for Sony and had to travel to Japan very often and eat Japanese food/sushi. Hated it for a good while. Then stopped hating it but not enjoying it. That then turned into enjoyment.

This experience reminds me more of a brain washing technique. Like the POW who is beaten by his jailer daily. At first he hate's it, later not so much, in the end looking forward to the beatings.
Thank you sir may I have another, what is it you'd like to know today?

That should not be a cause of pain for you.

No cause of pain for me, I was not the one forced to eat cat food. LOL

 

[Thomas savage]

I still try Brussels sprouts at Christmas, you never know...,

In fact Iv grown to quite like the early season ones but don't tell my mum.

 

[Sal1950]

I still try Brussels sprouts at Christmas, you never know...,

In fact Iv grown to quite like the early season ones but don't tell my mum.

But I'm still not eating dose damn cranberries!