# Why Classical Is the Most Satisfying Genre (for me)



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

- It almost always has class and sophistication.

- The live performances are always of a high level of accuracy, and enjoyment is more dependent of enjoying the _intentional_ interpretation.

- I like that Classical Musicians are highly trained ones that have undergone rigorous schooling and countless hours of practice.

- It doesn't ever feel at all poppy and shallow; it's almost always rich and deep.

- Jazz also fits the above criteria, but I prefer music that is based around composition first and improvisation second (Cadenzas) rather than vice versa.


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## derin684 (Feb 14, 2018)

My reason for that is probably Mahler and Brahms late solo piano works. It might also include Schoenberg. And also some of what you said above.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

I love all three of those composers, I actually find Schoenberg to be beautiful; at least the album of his piano works I have.


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## Guest (Aug 17, 2018)

I don't know what music doesn't have sophistication to tell you the truth.

What I love most about classical music is that the music I love to listen to happens to fall under that umbrella term.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

"Class" is not a real trait of Classical music, but a social use of Classical music like in exclusive parties that play antiquated music to appear high-end, and trivializing the blood, sweat and tears of composers. It is serving a exploitive function, rather than something inherent in the music. Rite of Spring is a reaction against that type of attitude, and is more technically sophisticated than a lot of music that is "Classy".


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## ibrahim (Apr 29, 2017)

Captainnumber36 said:


> - It almost always has class and sophistication.
> 
> - The live performances are always of a high level of accuracy, and enjoyment is more dependent of enjoying the _intentional_ interpretation.
> 
> ...


Well, Captainnumber36, I find classical music satisfying because it's the genre of music which most easily tickles the pleasure centers of my brain. Anything else is incidental.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

A) I like it.

B) It speaks to me.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

There are times when only (my choice of) rock (in the broadest sense) or jazz will do. But generally I listen to classical in one of its many forms. It seems made for repeated listening. It somehow - via performance - delivers a wide range of palpably real emotions even though (or is it because?) it is highly planned. The skill involved in writing or playing it doesn't guarantee anything but is necessary. 

But it is such a specialised taste these days in this highly connected world. It is the art form that it is OK to be ignorant of or even to sneer at. Just take public service TV - if they broadcast something on literature or drama or painting/sculpture they will probably seek to do so in an intelligent way secure in the knowledge that many people want to know and understand and get into it. But if they broadcast anything in the classical music field they give us dumbed down and poorly argued stuff that tells us that they fear being labelled elitist if they take it seriously.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Phil loves classical said:


> "Class" is not a real trait of Classical music, but a social use of Classical music like in exclusive parties that play antiquated music to appear high-end, and trivializing the blood, sweat and tears of composers. It is serving a exploitive function, rather than something inherent in the music. Rite of Spring is a reaction against that type of attitude, and is more technically sophisticated than a lot of music that is "Classy".


I both agree and disagree with you. I agree there are people that use it for appearances, but I do see a certain class and sophistication with pretty much all Classical Music; even the quartets/pianists that re-arrange rock songs.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

MarkW said:


> A) I like it.
> 
> B) It speaks to me.


Yes, but the OP describes why.


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## eugeneonagain (May 14, 2017)

A lot of non-classical musicians also have schooling and many years of practice.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

eugeneonagain said:


> A lot of non-classical musicians also have schooling and many years of practice.


Yes, but often lack the richness of Classical and are often poppy sounding (imo).


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## eugeneonagain (May 14, 2017)

Well they're going to be 'poppy sounding' if they're playing pop. Would I be correct in suspecting that you may have once been a listener of pop, but then found classical and now exalt it above all other music?

Different music for different moods and moments; there's no need to play them off against one another.


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## jenspen (Apr 25, 2015)

shirime said:


> I don't know what music doesn't have sophistication to tell you the truth.


I can only admire your generosity of mind, shirime.

Anyway, to address the OP's remarks - from the time, as a child, that I began to become acquainted with "classical" music I wanted more and more of it. As I was lucky in having a few friends who were becoming besotted too, I didn't think it was something to be analysed. I thought it must be a natural preference for the sort of people who liked to read books. And I am amazed when I often discover it isn't.

Fair enough, you can't dance to a lot of it


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## eugeneonagain (May 14, 2017)

I think you _can_ dance to a lot of it.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

I like classical because I have an attention span greater than 3 minutes. I like classical because it demonstrates how much a person can achieve through genius, hard work, and dedication. I like classical because it is beautiful, stirring, profound, exciting...

But I also love classical because a lot of it is like an old friend. I've known some of it close to 60 years, and I never tire of it. In a world where everything seems to change with increasing speed, my old friends remain the same - and just as fresh and exciting as when I first got to know them. To be sure, some old friends I've let go of, and some certainly show their age. But the Beethoven 9, Brahms 4, Mahler 11, Tchaikovsky 6, Dvorak 9, Schmidt 4, Schumann 4, the operas of Puccini and Wagner...and so much more have been my "friends" for decades and will remain so.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

eugeneonagain said:


> Well they're going to be 'poppy sounding' if they're playing pop. Would I be correct in suspecting that you may have once been a listener of pop, but then found classical and now exalt it above all other music?
> 
> Different music for different moods and moments; there's no need to play them off against one another.


I've listened to Classical my whole life, I studied Classical piano as well. If you enjoy listening to other forms of music for your different moods, that's fine, I prefer Classical for all my listening needs.

I've listened to all kinds of music, but nothing quite does it for me like Classical these days.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

ibrahim said:


> Well, Captainnumber36, I find classical music satisfying because it's the genre of music which most easily tickles the pleasure centers of my brain. Anything else is incidental.


That's a great way to put it, sir!


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

mbhaub said:


> I like classical because I have an attention span greater than 3 minutes. I like classical because it demonstrates how much a person can achieve through genius, hard work, and dedication. I like classical because it is beautiful, stirring, profound, exciting...
> 
> But I also love classical because a lot of it is like an old friend. I've known some of it close to 60 years, and I never tire of it. In a world where everything seems to change with increasing speed, my old friends remain the same - and just as fresh and exciting as when I first got to know them. To be sure, some old friends I've let go of, and some certainly show their age. But the Beethoven 9, Brahms 4, Mahler 11, Tchaikovsky 6, Dvorak 9, Schmidt 4, Schumann 4, the operas of Puccini and Wagner...and so much more have been my "friends" for decades and will remain so.


Some shorter pieces are just as good though. I think of Satie, for example. And some of Debussy's stuff!


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

I think I also just have a love of the traditional instruments utilized in Classical Music, going back to the Lute!


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## IpadComposer (Aug 12, 2018)

Phil loves classical said:


> "Class" is not a real trait of Classical music, but a social use of Classical music like in exclusive parties that play antiquated music to appear high-end, and trivializing the blood, sweat and tears of composers. It is serving a exploitive function, rather than something inherent in the music. Rite of Spring is a reaction against that type of attitude, and is more technically sophisticated than a lot of music that is "Classy".





mbhaub said:


> I like classical because I have an attention span greater than 3 minutes. I like classical because it demonstrates how much a person can achieve through genius, hard work, and dedication. I like classical because it is beautiful, stirring, profound, exciting...
> 
> But I also love classical because a lot of it is like an old friend. I've known some of it close to 60 years, and I never tire of it. In a world where everything seems to change with increasing speed, my old friends remain the same - and just as fresh and exciting as when I first got to know them. To be sure, some old friends I've let go of, and some certainly show their age. But the Beethoven 9, Brahms 4, Mahler 11, Tchaikovsky 6, Dvorak 9, Schmidt 4, Schumann 4, the operas of Puccini and Wagner...and so much more have been my "friends" for decades and will remain so.


I like this thread. People are not arguing about some abstruse over intellectualized theme. People are just saying what they personally feel and there can be little argument with that. As a jazz musician primarily, feeling, for me, is the quality I seek and as a classical music lover I find most of it full of feeling as well. The idea that classical music is staid, or for old fogeys, or like one poster said is dumbed down and condescending to an audience who don't really get it is a rather sad state of affairs as young listeners may not want to be profiled as fans of something that is antiquated and irrelevent.

I can only imagine the thrill people felt going to listen to a new Beethoven Symphony. Was it really so different than going to see a rock star today? Classical music wasn't "classical" music when it was first being heard in 1805 was it? Did listeners think about sophistication or did they think of exhilaration? Were these compositions "old friends", as Mr. Haub understandably greets them, or were they flamboyantly trendy intoxications concocted by mad and exotically far removed inventors pushing the limits of creative imagination? To me that sounds more exciting and alive.

If I could hear a Chopin Ballade without knowing it as an "old friend" since I was thirteen years old and my piano teacher gave me an LP of Rubinstein playing them for my Bar Mitzvah... if I could hear that music for the first time as an adult right now and the dear consumptive Pole was afoot ravishing our ears with Polonaises and waltzes.... well, maybe you get what I am driving at... it would be so much more than listening to a CD or streaming to my Sunday morning coffee.... it would be stunning, revolutionary, hip, mind bending and emotionally torrential! At least I think so in my fantasies about it. Well, it is still great even a couple of hundred years later, but it can never have that power of genius level music coupled with the gemeinschaft of the time.

All i can do is imagine such a time, forget my lifelong associations and hope that the music will somehow be reborn in me. When that happens the music is truly alive. This is just my personal feeling and certainly just one subjective way of listening,


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

IpadComposer said:


> I like this thread. People are not arguing about some abstruse over intellectualized theme. People are just saying what they personally feel and there can be little argument with that. As a jazz musician primarily, feeling, for me, is the quality I seek and as a classical music lover I find most of it full of feeling as well. The idea that classical music is staid, or for old fogeys, or like one poster said is dumbed down and condescending to an audience who don't really get it is a rather sad state of affairs as young listeners may not want to be profiled as fans of something that is antiquated and irrelevent.
> 
> I can only imagine the thrill people felt going to listen to a new Beethoven Symphony. Was it really so different than going to see a rock star today? Classical music wasn't "classical" music when it was first being heard in 1805 was it? Did listeners think about sophistication or did they think of exhilaration? Were these compositions "old friends", as Mr. Haub understandably greets them, or were they flamboyantly trendy intoxications concocted by mad and exotically far removed inventors pushing the limits of creative imagination? To me that sounds more exciting and alive.
> 
> ...


I agree with your implication that no music is really greater than another, and it's more about what you find exhilarating. I find Classical to be the most engaging to my ears.


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## bfBrian (Aug 12, 2018)

I find classical to be the most fulfilling music. When I listen to another genre, I often tire of it quickly and put on something classical. I still listen to rock, EDM, and new age, but when I really want a satisfying musical experience, I find more and more that I need classical music. I think a big part of it is the lack of repetition. Other music genres often repeat the same phrase numerous times in a row. Classical music takes me on a voyage of the mind, while other genres doodle around the harbor, never making it past the breakwater.

Edit: Forgot to point out that there are exceptions of course.


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## Schumanniac (Dec 11, 2016)

For me i think its chief draw, and perhaps an unconsidered importance, is quite simply the absence of words. Music for me is essentially a form of communication, a portrayal of moods in all its nuanced shades. Which is where words do begin to fall short in some aspect. We all know what 'joy' _means_, but the sentiment comes in a variety of intensities and difference, impossible to truly define in speech.

Each expressive word signifies an elaborate caleidoscope of inner feelings, but it does not conjure them. It creates a framework of universal understanding, but is not an experience. But instrumental music bypasses that. It lacks the immediatly understandable framework (programmatic somewhat excluded), forcing interpretation by toying the heart strings.

There's no use of stories told, metaphors, anecdotes and poetry to convey its mood. It simply shows it, projected within. In essence, most music would try to describe feelings and situations of heartfelt joy; Classical simply makes you feel it  It does not convey to its audience, it creates within them, and thats the magic for me. Thats when i feel the most alive.

P.S. I do NOT like vocal classical music, so do ignore that aspect of it.


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