# Familiarize with the music before going to a concert



## rice (Mar 23, 2017)

Do you do that if you've never listened to some or all of the program?

I found that it was very difficult for me to stay focus if it was my first time hearing a piece in a concert, even if the music was quite "easy to grasp". It just makes me drowsy for unknown reason. 
But when it comes to a piece I'm already familiar with, I would enjoy it immensely. Live performance always brings me the excitement I can never have from listening to recordings. 
So what I do now is to listen to the unfamiliar piece a couple of times on youtube before attending the concert. 

Does anyone share this experience or would you prefer hear it fresh in the concert?


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Both...it's always fun to hear familisr works, but i also enjoy hearing a fresh work, a premiere, whatever, for the first time...see/hear how it affects me on first hearing.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

I don't buy tickets unless I'm familiar with it already, and deemed it worth seeing Live.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I used to but these days if it a composer I know I am fairly sure I will follow it without difficulty.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I sometimes encounter a work at a performance that I have heard before and walked away from. But hearing (and seeing) it performed live convinces me. Not too often but often enough.


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## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

In general, I try to familiarize myself with the music if I have the chance. I've found it is usually on about the third hearing when everything really comes into focus for me.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

When I was a classical neophyte, I spent a lot of time prepping for a concert. I'd read a bio of the composer, something about the music and also read through a pocket score along with a recording, if one was available. My pocket score collection grew very large very quickly. Nowadays there's little on concerts I haven't heard repeatedly and don't do any of that except for opera. I find that if I read the ubiquitous surtitles that I don't really listen; so I learn the libretto as well as I can and then can concentrate on the stage action and the music.


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## Room2201974 (Jan 23, 2018)

I do both. If it's something in the standard repertoire I'll youtube it before the concert and I prefer the score versions so I can follow along. I've never taken a pocket score to a concert. I really like to listen to the music and watch the symbiotic relationship between the orchestra and conductor. It's an art form in of itself.


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

I will always try to find a version of anything new to me before a concert, as like others have mentioned it helps my enjoyment
A good example being Lutoslawski’s Cello concerto which is on the programme at a concert we are attending next month. This is where I find music streaming so helpful with the comprehensive choices available


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

I'm going to Beethoven 4 and 5 by Gardiner/ORR in March here in Chicago. 

Should I familiarize myself with those symphonies? Are they well known?


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## eljr (Aug 8, 2015)

rice said:


> Do you do that if you've never listened to some or all of the program?
> 
> I found that it was very difficult for me to stay focus if it was my first time hearing a piece in a concert, even if the music was quite "easy to grasp". It just makes me drowsy for unknown reason.
> But when it comes to a piece I'm already familiar with, I would enjoy it immensely. Live performance always brings me the excitement I can never have from listening to recordings.
> ...


I always do the same.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

MatthewWeflen said:


> I'm going to Beethoven 4 and 5 by Gardiner/ORR in March here in Chicago.
> 
> Should I familiarize myself with those symphonies? Are they well known?


I wish I was going to that concert - sounds like fun. Quite famous works, well-known and loved. But if you listen to "traditional" performances (Karajan, Walter, Klemperer, Szell, etc) you're in for a real surprise if not shock: Gardiner and the ORR are very much in the historically accurate performance club - and it's great!


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## Judith (Nov 11, 2015)

I listen to pieces a few times until I am familiar with them about two weeks before concert.

Incidentally, I have a focus of the month where I concentrate on unfamiliar works.

This month has been

Sibelius Symphony no 3
Rachmaninov Symphony no 3
Brahms Clarinet Trio
Fruhling Clarinet Trio


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

mbhaub said:


> I wish I was going to that concert - sounds like fun. Quite famous works, well-known and loved. But if you listen to "traditional" performances (Karajan, Walter, Klemperer, Szell, etc) you're in for a real surprise if not shock: Gardiner and the ORR are very much in the historically accurate performance club - and it's great!


Oh, I'm well acquainted with Gardiner's reading. Karajan/BPO 1977 is my number one desert-island cycle, but Gardiner/ORR 1994 is my number two.

Since the former is currently unavailable for live performance, I bought tickets to see the latter


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