# Anyone Else Wonder Why They Listen to Classical Music?



## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

As far back as 10 years ago, I didn't imagine myself listening to it. It was Yngwie Malmsteen that got me intrigued I gotta admit. Even now, I question if Classical Music is the best music for me. Though maybe I burned out all the music I cared for in rock and now need to find a new genre to burn out on. lol So yeah there are times I wonder why am I listening to this. Anyone else feel that way at times?


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## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

I listen to classical music because I burned out on the other things I was listening to. It was actually to the point where I hardly ever listened to music at all. The CM that I listen to seems to scratch me where I itch at this point in life.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

I've never burned out on a kind of music, unless "teenager music" counts as a genre.

Originally the reason I started listening to classical music was that I wanted to be a culturally literate person. That got me a long way, through years and years of listening to music. It got me into jazz, old folk and blues, classic rock.

The music hooks you though. Maybe I would enjoy electronic music just as much, if only my interests had led me in that direction. But that's a hypothetical. What did happen is that classical music and jazz hooked me. If I never again meet someone else who likes Rzewski or Enescu or Gombert, I'm going to keep on listening and enjoying it.

Perhaps the question meant why we listen to classical music rather than other stuff, but I don't allow myself to see things that way. There is nothing about enjoying Nono's music that means I can't enjoy Miles Davis' music, or _Pet Sounds_, or Sonny Chillingworth, or Dead Can Dance, or Merzbow.

Really, there are just four things I really, really love (not counting beautiful women because I'm a married man): music, literature, history, and science. I think I could live without everything else in the world, but I'll spend the rest of my life in pursuit of four of those things.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I was at that point a couple years ago. I only knew one person who listened to it, and he stopped. Then I was on an elitist classical music forum which was more about vague insults and self-exaltation. I was going to give it all up and listen to pop music like the rest of the world. 

When I came around here, that changed. As Science said, if you want to listen to Varese, then Obrecht, then Frank Zappa, around here, it's okay. I've never met anyone from this place, but just knowing there are other people out there who feel about music like I do is not only comforting but affirming.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Sorry, I didn't finish that post! I meant to say a few things about classical music that pull me back over and over again.

1. Its relation to history. Of course it's not the only music related to history; for instance, I wouldn't want to know about 1968 without knowing about rock music. But with what we've come to call classical, you're dealing with about nine centuries of human history, the invention of modernity, and some of the most influential cultures that have yet existed. I find myself coming back to European history over and over again, whether I'm studying the history of science or math or war or architecture or whatever, and classical music is the soundtrack to that history. This is both good and bad of course.

2. Huge variety. I read sometimes people saying they've heard too much, say, Mozart. Cannot understand it. I listen to hours of music every day, mostly classical, and maybe two hours of Mozart a week. This week I did one of the Brendel sets of concertos; last week I did one of Rampal's recordings of the flute quartets. Did a Pollini recording of a couple concertos three weeks ago. The only thing I've heard twice in three weeks is piano concerto #24. How can you burn out at that rate?

Meanwhile, in those three weeks, I've listened to the Boskovsky box of the Strauss family waltzes, a box of Fauré's songs, four oratorios by Handel (the Messiah twice), Joan Tower's _Made in America_, _Balalaikan Favorites_, Hindemith's Kammermusik, Tallis, Golijov, Meredith Monk's _Book of Days_, string quartets by Ge Gan-Ru, Honegger, Korngold, Messiaen, Rachmaninoff, Hummel, Medtner.

I don't care what anybody says, Medtner is not Scarlatti is not Tallis is not Barber is not Henze. _Huge variety_.

3. Intelligence. What I mean is music that intellectually rewards repeated, attentive listening. Now this is not by any means unique to classical music, or universal within it. It's characteristic of jazz, and I'd guess of quite a few other genres such as Indian classical music. And all music has some degree of intelligence. But some has more and some has less: I listened to "Gangnam Style" five or six times, and it is a little interesting. Good stuff going on with rhythms and synthesized sounds. Some smart people worked on that. But I'm pretty sure it doesn't have a lot more to offer me. But I've listened to Beethoven's Fifth probably fifty times, and I'm pretty sure it has a lot more to offer me.

So just as I re-read books by Annie Proulx but not books by Tracy Chevalier and don't even read once a book by Norah Roberts (I tried but couldn't get past the too-frequent mixed metaphors and and the astounding abundance of clichés), I come back to classical music (and jazz and prog rock) much more often.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Listening to Schumann's Piano Quintet right now. No, I don't wonder why I listen to classical music! :tiphat:


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

KenOC said:


> Listening to Schumann's Piano Quintet right now. No, I don't wonder why I listen to classical music! :tiphat:


Well, I do. Another great work that hasn't revealed itself to me yet.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

science said:


> Well, I do. Another great work that hasn't revealed itself to me yet.


You have to start with Webern and work backwards...


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## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

It's pretty clear in my case. My parents introduced me to classical music when I was a toddler--I had a Pavarotti "Opera for Children" CD when I was 5 and I listened to that all the time, along with a few compilation CDs of Mozart, Beethoven, and Opera music. I didn't develop an interest in other types of music until middle school really. Classical was all I listened to in my young childhood 

Though I sometimes I wonder why I like certain non-classical genres like dubstep...


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

science said:


> 1. Its relation to history. Of course it's not the only music related to history; for instance, I wouldn't want to know about 1968 without knowing about rock music. But with what we've come to call classical, you're dealing with about nine centuries of human history, the invention of modernity, and some of the most influential cultures that have yet existed. I find myself coming back to European history over and over again, whether I'm studying the history of science or math or war or architecture or whatever, and classical music is the soundtrack to that history. This is both good and bad of course.


That is a big reason for me as well. Classical music is a major part of the European civilization's collective heritage, and I want to appropriate as much of that heritage as possible and pass it on to my children.

And the second reason is that it is simply beautiful, which cannot be said about most modern music. I used to be quite a metal fan, and a lot of metal comes across as melodic and beautiful to me too , but it comes nowhere near to the level of beauty and intensity of a Beethoven symphony or a Wagner opera.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

Not since Clayton Moore dug the spurs into his horse, and yelled a hearty, "Hi-yo, Silver! Away!"


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## Dimboukas (Oct 12, 2011)

KenOC said:


> Listening to Schumann's Piano Quintet right now. No, I don't wonder why I listen to classical music! :tiphat:


Isn't the last part just great?!


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## peeyaj (Nov 17, 2010)

I listen to classical music because:

1. I enjoy it.

2. I enjoy it.

3. I enjoy it.

4. I enjoy it.

5. It stimulates my mind.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I evolved backwards. 

I started out liking classical around 11 or 12, probably because of the movie 2001: a space odyssey. I was completely in the grip of Ligeti and Richard Strauss. I started buying LP's with my allowance. Being a 'tween, as Americans call it, I was essentially headbanging with the loudest classical I could find, the big bombastic orchestral pieces. 

When I saw pop and rock music on TV and heard it on the radio I HATED it. I thought it was a bunch of morons trying to make a giant step backward, like cavemen banging on logs, jumping up and down and yelling. I sure was a stuffy little git. 

Then one blessed day when I was 18, a friend invited me over to play chess. He put on two progressive rock albums, one after another and I was mesmerized. I had no clue any such complex other worldly music even existed. I promptly lost every game, and soon lost a great deal of spare cash buying every prog album I could find, eventually working my way to other genres of rock. 

A decade passed and I found my way back to classical. As an aspiring illustrator, I was trying to compose a kind of visual fugue within the confines of the picture plane. I studied music history, focusing on baroque, started collecting as much baroque as I could find for ideas on how to translate the fugue and the Fortspinnung technique into visual art. I was never entirely successful at this, but I keep trying to this day. 

Eventually the movie Immortal Beloved came out, making me a life long Beethoven fan in spite of it being an almost total fabrication. One thing has led to another so that now I am addicted to many many types of music, from Renaissance modal, through all the periods of music history, through rock and metal to today's IDM, and experimental electronica. Going on 57, there is no sign yet of being set in my ways or an end to learning and growing.


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## Novelette (Dec 12, 2012)

I've never felt burned out by Classical Music itself, but I have been burned out music itself a good number of times.

For me, there really isn't much alternative to Classical Music; it's not that more modern genres are bad, but they don't satisfy my listening palate. Modern vocal music doesn't do much for me--as lyrics are largely the same across the modern spectrum [with notable exceptions]. There's so much variety within classical music: if I'm tired of Berlioz, I'll listen to Bach; if I'm tired of Bach, I'll listen to Stravinsky; if I'm tired of all of them, I listen to Palestrina and the Gabrieli's.

I have to agree, also, that the association with history is appealing to me too. History is one of my main interests, and there are few things more interesting than putting a context to the music that can be traced to the evolution of nations and peoples.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

neoshredder said:


> As far back as 10 years ago, I didn't imagine myself listening to it. It was Yngwie Malmsteen that got me intrigued I gotta admit. Even now, I question if Classical Music is the best music for me. Though maybe I burned out all the music I cared for in rock and now need to find a new genre to burn out on. lol So yeah there are times I wonder why am I listening to this. Anyone else feel that way at times?


I've drastically slowed down my intake of CM that's new to me, but lately I've been going back and listening to things I've known for a while now - whether its for a few years or decades.

I doubt that I'd have gotten into CM without my parents, who listened to it (as well as jazz and rock to some extent). The CM audience in Australia is not as much as in Europe/UK and USA, its only really become part of the culture since post-1945.

But I do personally know people into CM, just that they are few and far between compared to other musics here. However things are changing, film music seems to have an ever growing following here (incl. of old music used in films).

I would say that I have come to a point where I'm questioning CM, its underlying values. The whole industry, ideologies associated with it, or just ideas to do with it. Its past, present and (possible?) future/s. I must say I am not wholly positive about this all, but I continue to listen and explore. However I am firmly of the view that CM is just part of the wider picture of musics. I don't see it as superior to other types of musics. So I've developed a keen interest in other things over the years, principally jazz, contemporary alternative stuff and also things like world musics and crossover. I don't see much boundaries between these, nor do a number of people I personally know, its just the fans (esp. of more 'hard core' disposition) who kind of keep the boundaries & guard the gates of 'purity' or whatever.

So yeah, if I don't want CM, I got other things I can listen to. Having said that, CM is still what I usually listen to. There's huge variety in it to serve most of my needs at this time. But I've been on again off again into it. Eg. for almost a decade I listened to mainly jazz, got away from CM. So I go through phases, I see it as a guard against burn out...


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

No, but then I don't wonder why I listen to gamelan or the blues either.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Sometimes in the middle of an opera, I think "what the hell am I doing?" I'm sure my old rock-and-roll buddies would not approve; but they've all got hep C and herpes, so it kind of balances out.


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

I don't generally burn out on music. My appreciation grows as I become more familiar with it.


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## Kevin Pearson (Aug 14, 2009)

I would imagine that is we could do a legitimate survey of people who listen to classical music we would find they overall would test out in above average on any intelligence tests such as Mensa. It's not to say that people of higher intellects don't listen to other kinds of music because I'm sure they do but whether they enjoy it on the same level I have my doubts.

Music for me has to have two primary connections. First is the intellectual and the second is the emotional. It's not that I can't appreciate music of various kinds but they usually don't reach me on the intellectual side although they might reach me on the emotional side. I grew up listening to my mother's music like Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Andy Williams and in some nostalgic way I can and do appreciate them but not on the same level as my classical music. I certainly don't belittle people who enjoy other types of music but classical meets most of my musical needs on both the intellectual and emotional and brings me great satisfaction and a feeling that my valuable free time was well spent. 

Kevin


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

bigshot said:


> I don't generally burn out on music. My appreciation grows as I become more familiar with it.


In general, yes. But I've burned out on a lot of my favorite stuff. The brain gets bored with familiarity, so I have to move on.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

I think that for me, music of any kind, to be good, must transmit some sort of meaning. This can be purely musical, and it can be aided by any combination of factors: texture, sound, voice, words, historical context, memory, experience. Lots of music which I might now dismiss upon first hearing nonetheless has great meaning to me, because it is embedded in my early memory banks, and associated with experiences in my life at various stages.

As far as classical music, I have early memories of my mother playing Beethoven and Chopin. I was probably crawling around on the floor under the piano. I distinctly remember Beethoven's Sonata No. 7 in D major, Op.10 No. 3, II. Largo e mesto, the entire movement is ingrained into my memory. She played it slightly faster than I have ever heard it since, and to this day I have not found a version fast enough to "sound right" to me.

She also played all the "Tin Pan Alley" songs which are known as "standards," hence my interest in "good songs" and jazz. Ones I remember are T_hey Can't Take That Away From Me, Minnie the Moocher, Blue Light Boogie, Fly Me To The Moon, I'll Remember April,_ and so many more. Other jazz players I have met are surprised that I know the words to these standards, as they are "songs" to me.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

As far as meaning in music, intent is what matters to me. Is it an honest expression , or is it bullsh#t? If I detect the latter, I tune out.


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

Why do people concentrate on any kind of music ? Duh . It's because that's what they enjoy .
Myself, I wasn't particularly musical at all until I discovered classical music at about age 13 . But it clicked instantly with me, and I was hooked for life . Sure ,I've heard Rock,pop, Folk music,Jazz, world music, you name it . I don't have anything against these and am no snob. I don't look down on anyone for being a fan of other kinds of music. That's fine wth me. 
I just love classical . It's more emotionally and intellectually satisfying to me than other kinds of music .
No other kind of music has the emotional power of a great Mahler or Bruckner symphony, the Beethoven string quartets, or an opera by Wagner, Richard Strauss, Janacek, Mussorgsky etc, or so many other great classical works .


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## Arsakes (Feb 20, 2012)

I had some Bach, J.Strauss II and Mozart bought by my father in the 90s but they didn't completely attract me toward classicial music.
I listened to Movie music and Video Game music (late 90s, early 2000s), until I found video games with chosen 'Licensed Soundtracks' mostly Romantic, Baroque and Renaissance. Then I became a Fan of classical music and seek it.


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

starthrower said:


> In general, yes. But I've burned out on a lot of my favorite stuff. The brain gets bored with familiarity, so I have to move on.


I'm extremely fortunate to have never had that problem... probably because my listening habits are so varied. No time to overindulge in anything.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Arsakes said:


> I had some Bach, J.Strauss II and Mozart bought by my father in the 90s but they didn't completely attract me toward classicial music.
> I listened to Movie music and Video Game music (late 90s, early 2000s), until I found video games with chosen 'Licensed Soundtracks' mostly Romantic, Baroque and Renaissance. Then I became a Fan of classical music and seek it.


I've heard that some of that video game music is really good. Any suggestions?


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## Guest (Jan 24, 2013)

Sometimes I forget why I listen to classical music, but then again I'm so absent-minded that one time I walked up to a horse and tried to place a bet on my bookie.


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

millionrainbows said:


> I've heard that some of that video game music is really good. Any suggestions?


In my experience the best way to listen to a video game soundtrack is to play the game it's from, I've heard countless soundtracks from games I've never played and found them lacking compared with those of games that I have played and enjoyed. Obviously there are some exceptions, I'm a big fan of the _Metal Gear Solid_ series but I don't like the soundtracks much at all out of context, I'm also quite partial to the _Legend of Zelda_ soundtracks even though I don't like the games much.

Some games/soundtracks I enjoy:

Nobuo Uematsu - _Final Fantasy IV_, _V_, _VI_ (Super Nintendo) & _VII_ (PlayStation)
Kenji Yamamoto - _Super Metroid_ (Super Nintendo)
Stuart Copeland - _Spyro the Dragon_ (PlayStation)
Peter McConnell - _Grim Fandango_ (PC)
Mutsuhiko Izumi - _Snatcher_ (Sega CD)

VG soundtracks being what they are, I highly recommend experiencing those recs in context if you decide to look in to them. _Snatcher_ is quite hard to find, especially with it being on an old and unpopular system, so you may have to emulate it on the PC instead.


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## Arsakes (Feb 20, 2012)

millionrainbows said:


> I've heard that some of that video game music is really good. Any suggestions?


Here I mentioned some of them:
http://www.talkclassical.com/19980-licensed-classic-music-video.html

*Fallout 3* and *New Vegas* have very nice Jazz, Blues, Country music of 40s and 50s.

*Galactic Civilizations II* but I haven't listened carefully to its music, so I don't know if it's sad neo-romantic or minimalist.

For video games with original soundtracks I suggest *Heroes of Might & Magic* series (Specially 3rd and 4th game) and *Medieval II: Total War*.

*L.A.Noire* has also some nice Jazz music.

I've never played _Final Fantasy_ games. They seem they have a combo/hybrid kind of music. Soundtracks of *Jazz Jackrabbit 2* are interesting later Jazz styles.


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## OboeKnight (Jan 25, 2013)

I think what really caused me to love classical was when I began to play it. I am 17 years old, so my journey with classical music has been brief, but nevertheless I have had some wonderful experiences! I am privileged to be a member of a youth orchestra that plays the original works, as written by the composer. Playing pieces such as Dvorak's Carnival Overture, Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio Espagnol, and Tchaikovsky's 5th have really caused me to fall in love with classical music. Now I not only love to play it, but I love listening to it as well. Being so young, I rarely find people my age that share a love for classical unless they are classical musicians themselves. I wish there was a way to get people interested in the music again.


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## palJacky (Nov 27, 2010)

sometimes I wish I didn't HAVE to listen to classical music so compulsively..
I guess there are worse addictions..

To me video game music exists in the same realm of film music.
I have trouble listening to most film scores on their own and do not own a single 'soundtrack'.

My favorite "moments" in a video game music appear in the context of the games.
The two series I've been most impressed by the USE of music in the last few years are "god of War" and "bioshock".
but hearling overly romantic triumphant music when finally overcoming a difficult challenge adds a dimension that just isn't there when that music is played by itself.





the above video gives a good idea of what I'm talking about.
the music really adds to the gameplay of "god of war" but on its own...


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

I never wonder that because I've listened to classical my entire life. If anything, I find myself wondering why I can't seem to stop listening to Begin Again by Taylor Swift!!


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## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

I rarely wonder why I listen to classical music, though that is easily explicable: I am barely in my first year of discovering it. What got me into it was nothing more than the simple question: 'why _don't_ I listen to classical music?' Having never tried it, I had no reasonable ability to judge it, did I? So, I went home, looked up a forum thread on beginner works (Copland's Appalachian Spring really helped), bought my first CD -- Bernstein playing Mozart's symphony 40 and 41 -- soon after, and in no time I discovered how big a world classical music really was, and how much there was for me to discover -- and still is! I probably have never heard _any_ work by at least a third of the 'canonical' composers (just a week ago I listened to my first Mendelssohn piece ever, and just yesterday I listened to my first Bruckner ever.. I've never yet heard any Ravel, Mussorgky, Rachmaninoff, Monteverdi, Rossini, Chopin, Verdi, Bizet, Britten, Gershwin, Schoenberg or Liszt, just to name a few). No reason to get tired, especially seeing the contrast between, say, Scarlatti and Ligeti.

To be honest, I can't properly put into words why I like it so much.


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

Crudblud said:


> Some games/soundtracks I enjoy:
> 
> Nobuo Uematsu - Final Fantasy IV, V, VI (Super Nintendo) & VII (PlayStation)
> Kenji Yamamoto - Super Metroid (Super Nintendo)
> ...


I totally forgot about _Fallout 1_ & _2_, two classic turn-based RPGs with killer soundtracks to boot. The only caveat with the original Fallout games is that they are quite often ridiculously hard, and that is compounded by the limitations of the technology they were using at the time. Also, they can be quite difficult to get running on modern PCs but they're still well worth a look.

*I originally called him "Stuart" (supposedly an Australian politician), but no, it's actually the drummer from The Police.


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

Sometimes I wonder why I spent so many years of my life NOT listening to classical music. Lucky I found my way, finally!


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## Kevin Pearson (Aug 14, 2009)

I discovered classical music as a direct result of two things. One was my love of rock music which led me to discover progressive rock and jazz. The foundation of progressive rock, which was heavily influenced by classical and jazz, had a huge impact on my receptivity of classical music. You have to understand also that I was a hippie teenager in the 1970s and did a lot of drugs. I also have been a fan of science fiction from about the age of 5 years old. I was 16 in 1974 and my best friend and I skipped school to go to smoke some pot and see a sci-fi film starring Sean Connery (James Bond) called Zardoz. The score of the film was haunting and at the end of the film I had to wait for the credits to see who wrote the music and to my dismay I found out the main theme was the 2nd movement of Beethoven's 7th symphony. I immediately went out and bought a copy and took it home. It was a version with Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra and coupled with the 2nd symphony. I can still remember the cover! I listened to that every day for a week and then went and bought the rest of the Beethoven symphonies. While shopping at my favorite record store I discovered they had these wonderful inexpensive LP box sets by Vox Records and I bought several of them by Mozart and Haydn. That was a journey of discovery for me that still has not ended after 40 years and I imagine I will continue to enjoy until I die or go deaf. I have found classical music to be one of the richest and most fulfilling things in my life.

Kevin

Edit: I must make a disclaimer here. My mentioning my pot smoking is NOT an endorsement for anyone to do so and in fact I gave it up completely at the age of 20 when I became a Christian. So I am not pro-pot at all and think mind altering drugs should be avoided. There are better ways to spend your life than high on drugs.


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## Rapide (Oct 11, 2011)

Sid James said:


> I would say that I have come to a point where I'm questioning CM, its underlying values. ...


What exactly are those values you speak of? Can you be specific? As far as I am aware, the regular listener can pick up classical music and _simply enjoy it._ When you do answer my question, try to separate out facts from own perception, if you can.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Rapide said:


> What exactly are those values you speak of? Can you be specific? As far as I am aware, the regular listener can pick up classical music and _simply enjoy it._ When you do answer my question, try to separate out facts from own perception, if you can.


You've got to be kidding. I mean read your signature by Boulez. What are the underlying values in that? Are they what you'd call 'nice' or are they words that sound authoritarian and bullying?

Don't think I need a PHD in music or anything else to figure that one out...


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## Rapide (Oct 11, 2011)

Sid James said:


> You've got to be kidding. I mean read your signature by Boulez. What are the underlying values in that? Are they what you'd call 'nice' or are they words that sound authoritarian and bullying?
> 
> Don't think I need a PHD in music or anything else to figure that one out...


I don't see what my signature/Boulez quote has to do with your "underlying values" in music thing.

P.S. Doctor of Philosophy is abbreviated as PhD (lower caps "h").


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Rapide said:


> I don't see what my signature/Boulez quote has to do with your "underlying values" in music thing.
> 
> P.S. Doctor of Philosophy is abbreviated as PhD (lower caps "h").


Thanks for correcting me. Since you're so smart, maybe you can stop stalking me and making threads feeding off the carcase of MY thoughts. Do you actually have any of your own thoughts and opinions (other than Boulez's Stalinist phase) or is that all you can do, do rebuttals of my opinions like a bloody lawyer.

Anyway I'm thru with you, I am putting you on my ignore list. Goodbye.


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

My mother, besides her work as an architect, is also a professional painter. When I was a kid she painted while listening to classical music. I always loved that music. In fact, from that experience, I wanted to be a conductor. Some time later, I started to listen to classical music more seriously, particularly some old _cassettes_ of my mother which contained some pieces by J.S.Bach. Some of the pieces were the Double Violin Concerto, the Italian Concerto (for solo harpsichord), Brandenburg Concerto N.4 (which is still my favorite), some other violin concertos, and the Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue (for solo harpsichord). That last piece made a huge impression on me, and after that experience I wanted to learn to play the piano, for classical music of course. Fortunately my parents are very cultured and liberal people, so they immediately bought a piano for me and paid piano teachers. When I started I was obsessed with Bach and with counterpoint. Although I played the piano very decently, I decided to go for physics as my principal career, mainly because I always loved science and I used to read a lot about science when I was a kid and I was fascinated with all that and philosophy, particularly metaphysics. Also there are not good conservatories in the city where I lived and I thought that my talent was not enough. Now I'm just an average physicist and a mediocre-frustrated composer. Hey, it's something .


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## Hoosier (Apr 19, 2013)

neoshredder said:


> As far back as 10 years ago, I didn't imagine myself listening to it. It was Yngwie Malmsteen that got me intrigued I gotta admit. Even now, I question if Classical Music is the best music for me. Though maybe I burned out all the music I cared for in rock and now need to find a new genre to burn out on. lol So yeah there are times I wonder why am I listening to this. Anyone else feel that way at times?


Yep, yep, yep. Ten years ago, it would have been mostly Nirvana, the Pixies, Stiff Little Fingers, and the Clash. I still like that stuff. But now it's 90% Classical, 10% rock/classic blues. Nothing wrong with the 10%. But I've just come to find that I'm listening to Poulenc more than Cobain.

But your question is WHY it happened.

Not sure. My late father was a Classical pianist. So I think his influence was always there. And as I aged, it seems to have grown stronger, until this Hoosier hit a crossover point a year and a half ago.


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

Why did I start listening to CM? Looney Tunes.


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## Hoosier (Apr 19, 2013)

Well, that explains Wagner and Liszt . . .


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## GiulioCesare (Apr 9, 2013)

I was brainwashed by my family to love classical music... damn it, brainwashing works!


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

Hoosier said:


> Well, that explains Wagner and Liszt . . .


And Rossini and Mozart ("Welcome to my Shop / Let me cut your mop / Let me shave your crop / Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaintily") and Schubert (_Erlkönig_) and Brahms (Hungarian dances).

You have to be cultured to watch Looney Tunes.


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## BurningDesire (Jul 15, 2012)

I listen to good music. Alot of classical music is good, so I listen.


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

GiulioCesare said:


> I was brainwashed by my family to love classical music... damn it, brainwashing works!


as the religious say, get them while they're young!


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## hello (Apr 5, 2013)

Why would I?


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## LordBlackudder (Nov 13, 2010)

no not really. but i do wonder just how much enjoyment someone gets from pop music as they talk over it all the time and than forget about the song a week later.


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## Novelette (Dec 12, 2012)

LordBlackudder said:


> no not really. but i do wonder just how much enjoyment someone gets from pop music as they talk over it all the time and than forget about the song a week later.


Agreed! Anyone who forgets about Bach's B Minor Mass ever, let alone after a week, would be a disreputable person!


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Because I've loved music since I was a child. It must have started at age 3 or 4 when I was playing with grandma's organ. 
When I was a bit older I sometimes listened along with my parents to The New London Chorale, which introduced me to some famous melodies taken from classical music. 
Later at age 15 or so, I started to listen to a classical radio station. I did that when going to bed, with headphones on. It was still very new to me and a truly wonderful journey of discovery. 
Later I became more interested in all sorts of electronic music, but since 5-6 years, I've picked up classical music again and started to delve deeper into it.


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