# What makes you want to test listen a composer?



## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

Participating on TC invariably exposes most of us to the names of composers we've never heard of or, at the least, never heard any of the music of.

If you are like me, you have loads of music to listen to and your musical plate is heaped beyond your capacity to digest it all and you've already got the next couple of plates heaped up in advance. Then, someone mentions a new (to you) composer.

I know it's mostly all on You Tube or elsewhere and doesn't cost me a pfennig, but I simply lack the time to follow every lead. I have to be selective.

Do you manage to check out everything that catches your interest? If not, how do you decide who you will check out and who you will skip (until next time around, if you have more time then)? What makes one composer catch your interest and another not?


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## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

I really don't know. Generally, the ones I listen to are the ones whom I remember long enough to search for.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Pretty much just their existence. Composers are like Mount Everest: I climb them because they exist. Well, I listen to them. 

In terms of prioritizing, the more I see someone's name mentioned, the more curious I get. But sometimes there's something that makes me more curious... perhaps weird album art, or hearing that the composer had some unusual influence, or used some odd technique, or that some famous author that I admire was a big fan....


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## tortkis (Jul 13, 2013)

If the work belongs to a genre I am currently interested in (e.g. string quartet, early music), I usually want to check it out even if the composer is new to me. Also, for example, if an ultra modernist member recommends (or just mentions) a work of late Romantic or Classical composer I didn't know, I would become curious. I sometimes just buy an album of a composer I have never heard of, if it is recommended by someone whose taste I like. However, since there are too many such composers, it is very difficult to catch up. I simply pick up next one randomly.


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## Bruce (Jan 2, 2013)

In some cases, if a fellow TC member writes something appreciative of a composer I know little of, or dislike, I figure I'm missing something. This inspires me to give a composer a chance (or a renewed chance). Perhaps it would be more accurate to say, to give myself a chance to appreciate what he or she has written. I have the same response if reading a review of a composer's work. If the reviewer comments on certain aspects of a composer that seem intriguing, I'll try to find time to listen to some of his or her output.


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## Dave Whitmore (Oct 3, 2014)

It depends on what's said. If someone raves about a piece of music then I have to check it out. If several people rave about the same composer or piece of music that just seals the deal. Thanks to YT it costs me nothing to check it out.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

TinyChat for TC folks has been a most wonderful way to preview new composers. Found a ton of stuff that peeps have featured there that I appreciated.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

My experience is similar. Often, I forget about them before I can explore  but I know that 99% of them will be mentioned again eventually. If I recognize the name, then the composer has a better chance at getting shortlisted, but it's not a guarantee. If I am on a campaign for a certain genre, then other genres interest me less until I have had my fill of whatever it was I was into. I am more likely to dig into the unknown post-Beethoven than I am pre-Beethoven. I'm guessing that my collection is about 20% pre- versus 80% post-Beethoven. What people are saying about the composer and what I have read is important. Knowing which composers the composer was/is like, influenced by or an influence of helps place them among the more or less interesting ones I already know. Familiar and preferred performers can help draw me to unfamiliar composers. Labels mean something to me. I tend to like major labels and specialty labels I am familiar with over ones I have never purchased or heard of. Links to files somewhere are of low appeal: I like to see album covers. It makes the product tangible, attainable and collectible. Knowing I like some piece is not the same as owning a copy of it. And when I'm up to my eardrums in new purchases, little else grabs my attention.


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

Having spent many years away from classical music TC has helped me greatly in the last year.
My collection was very much classical/romantic and it was very soon apparent how much I was missing. Like others the problem is 'so much music, so little time' and how to prioritise?
At the moment I am using the Composers of the Month thread to focus my listening on definate composers, who otherwise I probably would never have listened to. This is fun and really broadening my taste, my wife is less impressed!
I have also found myself drawn to more chamber music in the past few months, there is just something so intimate in it. A lot of this is, as would be expected in the classical/romantic era and many knowledgable folk have helped me on TC with this.
Having Spotify helps and I prefer this to YouTube

I realised that whilst typing this I have been listening to Haydn No 95 a symphony I know well. However this is a different HIP performance via Spotify, so there goes my plan to use streaming services for new music


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Unknown composers from my favorite periods I shall listen and search for out of passion (e.g. those from the great 18th century). At the other end, contemporary composers I say perhaps out of particular musical point to explore/experience for the sake it (e.g. listen to so called "stochastic music" to check it out for the first time and then stopping there).


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

I search out baroque composers that I don't know, just to improve my knowledge of the period. I also look on YouTube for versions of baroque pieces that I'm playing in violin lessons, and if they don't exist, I listen to other pieces.

If a thread deals with a composer I don't know, I check him/her out on Wiki and listen to a little YouTube. I don't make comments on composers I know nothing about, as policy. I might discuss philosophical or linguistic issues connected with him/her.

If somebody raves about a piece, particularly from the Early Music to Baroque time periods, I'll check it out.

PetrB used to send me links of twentieth century music, which I'd listen to, and usually like.

If I'm going to an opera or concert, I'll check out the programme beforehand.  Oops - time to look up *La Traviata* for Tuesday!


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

1. Reading through the All Music Guide, the Penguin Guide, the Oxford Guide, etc and yellow highlighting things I want to hear. It helps if my library system has it. (I have checked out a lot of things composed by people or recorded by people whose last name begins with "A"...)
2. Reviews in BBC Music Magazine
3. Someone whose music is recorded by an artist whose output I am collecting
4. Someone who happens to be recorded on a label I am collecting (currently cpo)

I may have occasionally investigated based on what other TC members talk about. But, it isn't a big part of my selection process. Don't know why. Can't tell you how many times CoAG made me want to check out Ligeti when he was in his Ligeti phase. But, for some reason I never got around to it. Likewise for the lists. When the selection process clearly involved me assessing something by an unfamiliar composer, even my desire to participate in the process was never enough to get me to do it. Maybe it's partly because I don't do You Tube or Spotify or any of those things.

Plus, I guess there's an element of self-direction in the methods I use (except, possibly #2). I tend to get more enthusiastic about something when I can also be a bit obsessive about it.


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

Ingelou's post reminded me that I have discovered new composers through concerts I've attended. Just haven't been to many lately.


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

Their music!

/ptr


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## Piwikiwi (Apr 1, 2011)

ptr said:


> Their music!
> 
> /ptr


But how do you know if you want to listen to their music if you have never listened to their music before?


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## dgee (Sep 26, 2013)

science said:


> Pretty much just their existence. Composers are like Mount Everest: I climb them because they exist. Well, I listen to them.


yesyesyes. And, I think, because for me, listening to some stuff I don't necessarily like or want to hear again is more than offset by than the small knowledge I gain about new music or composers or genres etc. I'm a voracious listener, I have my own internal framework now for trying new stuff and then seeing how I respond, where it takes me and seeing how I might put that stuff in my mental picture of music and how I might come back to it the future

With spotify and youtube, there is really no cost other than time to taking composers for a test-drive and oh-so-much to gain - and if you don't, think of what you might be missing! Mind you, a bit of research can help you not waste too much of your time - I'm not going to listen to also-rans from yesteryear for the sake of it. I really want the prospect of something appealing in quality or a provocative and interesting novelty (and the novelty might be Bingen to Mincek)

In general, I think developing a way to tackle unfamiliar music without inhibition or without making it too big a deal, and supporting it with even the least research (and this is probably only a quick google, e.g. what is this Boito opera? Verdi says it was strange - might be worth a crack then), is a vital skill for the listener

P.S. - the Boito opera was not worth a crack but I'm the better for my efforts!


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

Piwikiwi said:


> But how do you know if you want to listen to their music if you have never listened to their music before?


You read stuff other humans have written, books, magazines, internet boards, you have experience with certain record labels and if they release something You don't know You buy it based on their track record. You go to about 4-5 concerts every month and at least two festivals that major on "unknown" music every year and You are generally the Captain Kirk in Your outlook on music (go's boldly where only a select few have gone before..  )

I've done this for the last 40 years so I have some slight experience, but generally I think it is all about not being afraid!

/ptr


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## Bruce (Jan 2, 2013)

Piwikiwi said:


> But how do you know if you want to listen to their music if you have never listened to their music before?


Well, in my case, I don't. That's where I find links to YouTube videos posted by other TC member to be helpful. I prefer to actually do my serious listening undistracted, so while I'm reading through the TC posting, I'll sample some of the links I see. That way I get an idea of what the music is like, and can give it more attention later if my prima facie response is positive. By just sampling the music, I don't waste much time on it.


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## Guest (Feb 28, 2015)

ptr said:


> You read stuff other humans have written, books, magazines, internet boards, you have experience with certain record labels and if they release something You don't know You buy it based on their track record. You go to about 4-5 concerts every month and at least two festivals that major on "unknown" music every year and You are generally the Captain Kirk in Your outlook on music (go's boldly where only a select few have gone before..  )
> 
> I've done this for the last 40 years so I have some slight experience, but generally I think it is all about not being afraid!
> 
> /ptr


I don't have a hundredth of your experience, but it makes sense, really. Wherever I've been in that musical journey, I've always developed a trust for the tastes of certain people, the output of certain labels. Composers you've never heard...well, they can disappoint you. But hopefully the circle of more familiar critics, performers, and record labels surrounding them... well, perhaps you can learn whether or not to trust them.


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

I have an extremely long list of new composers/works that I wish to hear. In general whenever I come across a TC thread where people suggest music, I copy and paste many suggestions. There are many members who have very similar musical tastes or whose classical music "wisdom" I value. These people's suggestions always go on my list. But I also explore online sites that list or play music of new (often modern/contemporary) composers. I will generally take a chance on many of these composers hoping to hear something interesting. Sometimes I'll listen to 10 new composers in one extended listening period.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I rarely listened to Schoenberg's music before joining TC.

Schoenberg's Piano Concerto was being talked up quite a bit, so I ordered the Uchida performance without ever hearing the work before.

It took me around a month of listening and now I consider it a masterpiece, one of my favorite concertos.

Without coming to TC, I probably would never have had the motivation to listen to it.

So, if I see enough buzz about an unfamiliar composer's music on TC, I would try it, sure!


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## bharbeke (Mar 4, 2013)

Hearing a piece on the radio or recommendations on TC help expose me to new composers. If it's in a category I like, I'll probably add the piece or composer to my master list of classical music.


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

I woke up this morning thinking I'd listen to some Gould/Bach cds for the umpteenth time, but instead i listened to a bunch of random Wuorinen tracks on spotify. Why did I do it? I really couldn't say--it felt random.

*p.s.* Apologies in advance if my nomination list for the SQ Project is a little Wuorinen-heavy. I'm in the grip of something strange :lol:


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## trazom (Apr 13, 2009)

The two biggest factors for me are: The recommendation of the composer's work by people whose opinions I greatly esteem, and also following various performances of musicians I really admire.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

I recall my surprise when TC posts got me curious enough about Ligeti to buy a recommended CD. I enjoyed the music! Since then I have enjoyed damn near all of his music I've come across. Thanks, TC.


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## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

If enough people recommend something, I will listen as soon as possible.


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