# I'm pretending Common Practice never happened



## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Some days ago, my geriatric laptop died, and with it, my entire collection of music (I had the whole thing backed up on an external hard rive, but that _also_ died not long ago!)

How refreshing: new laptop, and time to slowly build up a new collection. And I found myself suddenly sick to death of the old war horses, the Three Bs, the Salzburg Wunderkind, the Bayreuth Nazi, the whole blasted lot of them. Of course, I have not completely lost my mind and I will no doubt return to these old friends in due course, but for the moment, my taste in music ends around 1600 and picks up again around 1900 (I'll make an exception for _Afternoon of a faun_, seeing as that is generally agreed to be the first piece of 20th century music ).

Time for me to do what I have been meaning to do for a long time, namely to thoroughly explore the last century or so of classical music (and the Middle Ages, of course). I delight in the idea of ending up with a collection of classical music that none of my family, friends or acquaintances will want anything to do with - I guess I'm a snob and elitist when it comes to that. 

Of course, the 20th century produced its own war horses - Rite of Spring, Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra, Rachmaninoff, Concierto de Aranjuez, Carmina Burana... I will probably allow some of those to slip into the collection. But on the whole, it's gotta be stuff I enjoy and most other people experience as noise (at least until they make a genuine effort).

Thus far, I have downloaded bits and pieces by Khachaturian, Prokovief, Rautavaara and Penderecki, albeit mostly quite accessible pieces. And some 12th and 13th century chant. But that's just the beginning, of course...


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

Lucky unlucky you  You're in the right place for recommendations here!


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## Selby (Nov 17, 2012)

May I offer some recommendations? Non-'noise'-contemporary classical music:


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## WildThing (Feb 21, 2017)

Oh you gotta have some Ligeti.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Following on from Selby's excellent suggestions (I endorse the Donnacha Dennehy album in particular):


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

brianvds said:


> Some days ago, my geriatric laptop died, and with it, my entire collection of music (I had the whole thing backed up on an external hard rive, but that _also_ died not long ago!)


I think if that happened to me they would find me in the attic gently swaying back and forth from the rafters! I have backups of my backups! An IT friend told me that nothing exists in the digital world unless it exists in at least three places, one of which should be off the premises. I haven't gone that far but I do have a backup copy on a hard drive in a fireproof box in my attic! Yes, I know!

Good luck with the new voyage of discovery. Don't run aground.:lol:


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## Omicron9 (Oct 13, 2016)

brianvds said:


> Some days ago, my geriatric laptop died, and with it, my entire collection of music (I had the whole thing backed up on an external hard rive, but that _also_ died not long ago!)
> 
> .......


Too bad. Just another of the many reasons I prefer CDs over mp3.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Barbebleu said:


> I think if that happened to me they would find me in the attic gently swaying back and forth from the rafters! I have backups of my backups! An IT friend told me that nothing exists in the digital works unless it exists in at least three places, one of which should be off the premises. I haven't gone that far but I do have a backup copy on a hard drive in a fireproof box in my attic! Yes, I know!
> 
> Good luck with the new voyage of discovery. Don't run aground.:lol:


Oh, I have learned not to get too attached to digital things. They never last, and there is something weirdly refreshing about starting over on a clean slate. 

I will no doubt be showered with more recommendations than I can possibly check out, but that just goes to show how much there is to be discovered. Thanks for the ones thus far!


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Omicron9 said:


> Too bad. Just another of the many reasons I prefer CDs over mp3.


I actually have a collection of CDs, but they are packed away in a box in a rather inaccessible place, and they mostly consist of war horses from 1600 - 1900...


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

Three recs off the top of my head at this moment:


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

Omicron9 said:


> Too bad. Just another of the many reasons I prefer CDs over mp3.


Yep, I also have about 3,500 CDs,albums and cassettes in the same attic which is actually a conversion and is my retreat. But my wife has threatened divorce/murder if I buy any more CDs. Hence the reliance on downloads.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

It sounds like you got tired of harmony, and that's understandable. Old music has a melodic character, and so does newer 20th century music.
After a while, Tchaikovsky gets to be tiresome.


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## topo morto (Apr 9, 2017)

Stop consuming, start composing.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

brianvds said:


> Time for me to do what I have been meaning to do for a long time, namely to thoroughly explore the last century or so of classical music (and the Middle Ages, of course). I delight in the idea of ending up with a collection of classical music that none of my family, friends or acquaintances will want anything to do with - I guess I'm a snob and elitist when it comes to that.


Welcome to my world!

I never enjoyed any classical from pre 20th century, with only a few exceptions.

It wasn't until I heard The Rite, that I became aware that classical could sound different than common practice, and I instantly became a fan.

There is so much variety (despite what every anti 20th century and contemporary thread on TC would imply) in music composed in the last 100 years.

I am in the state of constant discovery of new composers and pieces, it is hard to keep up. I guess that is what is known as a 'high-quality problem'.


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

This is all very interesting... every once in a while you encounter someone who will listen to both pre- and post-common practice music, but not the stuff in between. Also millionrainbows may be onto something with identifying harmony as the main culprit.

I like both pre- and post-common practice music, but usually I feel that there's... a lack of something, even if I like the piece very much. Something is missing... and in my mind, I identify the missing piece as _reason._ Or to put it another way: pre-CP music is all about the heavens, and post-CP music is all about the earth, and there's no connection. Yes, they convey very well states of _being..._ but it's a very existential, lonely being... whereas in CP music, I hear being in connection with everything else. It's as if there are lines... sort of, lines of perspective... (have you ever read Erwin Panofsky's _Perspective as a symbolic form_? Something like that!) connecting your personal state of being to the Grand Perspective that holds the whole universe together. I'm hooked on that feeling. CP music says to me: the world makes sense.

Of course, this kind of thing may feel... oppressive... to someone. There's a Grand Truth and you're part of it. Oh, I love when chromaticism rebels against the Grand Truth, because it's a noble rebellion and bound to fail. But I must stop now before I proclaim the dreaded S-word and all the seals of Solomon break...


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Going in the other direction...


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

topo morto said:


> Stop consuming, start composing.


I did in my youth, but I kind of suck at it. 



Xaltotun said:


> This is all very interesting... every once in a while you encounter someone who will listen to both pre- and post-common practice music, but not the stuff in between. Also millionrainbows may be onto something with identifying harmony as the main culprit.


Well, I started out my classical music career with Beethoven, and then expanded from there toward B's past and his future. I'll likely return to that too; my current state of mind is probably just a temporary aberration. 



> I like both pre- and post-common practice music, but usually I feel that there's... a lack of something, even if I like the piece very much. Something is missing... and in my mind, I identify the missing piece as _reason._ Or to put it another way: pre-CP music is all about the heavens, and post-CP music is all about the earth, and there's no connection.
> 
> 
> > It could be. Around here it is autumn/early winter, and this time of year I always tend to mysticism. Perhaps music from the age of enlightenment is just too reasonable. Presumably I'll get back to it in a few months when spring is in the air.
> ...


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Omicron9 said:


> Too bad. Just another of the many reasons I prefer CDs over mp3.


Any day of the week, just but a new CD player and ......done.:angel:


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Xaltotun said:


> ...in CP music, I hear being in connection with everything else. It's as if there are lines... sort of, lines of perspective...connecting your personal state of being to the Grand Perspective that holds the whole universe together. I'm hooked on that feeling. CP music says to me: the world makes sense. Of course, this kind of thing may feel... oppressive... to someone. There's a Grand Truth and you're part of it.


That's fine, and it sounds like it works for you, but for those of us who have been forgotten and marginalized, had bad luck, or are simply institutionalized, it doesn't.


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

millionrainbows said:


> That's fine, and it sounds like it works for you, but for those of us who have been forgotten and marginalized, had bad luck, or are simply institutionalized, it doesn't.


You're absolutely right and I understand it very well, because a long time ago I felt differently about it myself.


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## Lindenbaum (Jun 8, 2017)

If you want to start making some connections between pre- and post-CP, 







(Very weird harmony)







(Extremely wacky rhythm--these composers should be more famous; I just love some of these pieces)


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## MissKittysMom (Mar 2, 2017)

Ah, yes, the three B's. Bartok, Barber, and Bax.


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## Tallisman (May 7, 2017)

Janacek's string quartets, of course.


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