# Composers whose music you reserve for special listening



## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

I know the title sounds awkward, but I couldn't think of how better to phrase it. I am referring to composers who you listen to relatively infrequently. Not because you "have to be in the mood for them" per se, but because their music is so special or mystical or interesting to you that you somehow want to preserve that feeling by not over listening.

For me I have two such composers: Mahler and Ravel. There is just something about hearing something new from them. It's a transcendent experience. So I like to savor them.


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

No composers, but a few compositions.

I only listen to Strauss's _Vier letzte Lieder_ when I've had a bad day.


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

Schubert. I make space for him every now and then, and not the same piece every time. It's more related to mood and commitment with me, that I get in a Schubert-place and have stuff I previously put on the long finger: I let it ferment a while, and it's ready for me. I feel that way about Mahler too...


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## Sudonim (Feb 28, 2013)

Mahler for me as well. I'm developing a serious, possibly incurable addiction to his music (the symphonies, anyway) but I fear exactly the kind of "overlistening" you mention, Sonata.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

You cannot truly overlisten to really durable music with its built-in longevity power.

I actually do the opposite, again not by mood. I reserve for less frequent listening those works I really like which I feel / think will wear out their welcome because they are less longevity durable.

You can only hear a piece completely as a new experience once -- I think the rest of the notion is a bit precious, since there are oceans of really fine pieces. Yes, familiarity can breed contempt, but with a really strong work, there is always always something else to notice, even if noticed before, because you are in a different frame of mind from one listen to the next.

You may lose the new experience feel, but the deeper familiarity has its own rewards, less instantly sensational, I suppose, but _sensational_ usually has a very brief shelf-life anyway.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I too do not do this with a composer's entire output, but only specific works. Sometimes the work is just too involved, which is why it's taking me so long to get going on Mahler, or sometimes too full of personal meaning, or both. Here are a few I avoid until special occassions or when I feel I need them.

Bach - The Art of the Fugue.
Beethoven - the final three piano sonatas.
Strauss - Death and Transfiguration
Rimsky-Korsakov - Le Coq d'Or Suite (significant in that it is almost the earliest piece of music I ever heard)
Elgar - Cello Concerto
Vaughan-Williams - Tallis Fantasia

It appears my tastes run a bit sentimental during whatever special mood triggers listening to these.


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

I know this is slightly away from what you meant in the OP, but I only ever listen to Christmas-related music in the last 2 weeks before Christmas Day itself, and I always reserve time to listen to Mahler's 2nd at Easter, though I do of course listen to it at other times too, but often not the whole work.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I'm one who's listening habits are dictated to by what category the music comes under rather than who it's actually by. Biggest examples are opera and, in some cases, oratorio - combined I have a collection of well over 100 yet I rarely listen to them compared to, say, symphonies and chamber/instrumental. I think this is probably because when listening to these works I have to concentrate doubly hard what with having to follow the text as well as trying to focus on the music, especially if the work is a lengthy one. If I don't do this then I feel as if I'm 'cheating' the work if I just listened to it without following the action in my mind's eye. As a result, my listening to an opera/oratorio is more of an 'event'. Apart from that, I could easily be playing something by Haydn one minute and maybe something by Reich the next.


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## Kleinzeit (May 15, 2013)

Maybe a little off the OP but I'm an old art school kid, and have never turned down an opportunity to watch endless conceptual art films --Stan Brakhage, Yoko Ono, Vito Acconci-- where nothing happens for a long, sometimes long long, time. But often doesn't happen very beautifully.

And I've totally swallowed the kool-aid when it comes to Morton Feldman. Big tattoo of his face on my back, etc. Got two recordings of the six hour 2nd string quartet, and have... paid attention?...let's say hung around bushy-tailed through it six times, and just had it on while doing things a dozen more. And I love it like going to a brook that empties into the sea. So that's 36+ hours that have felt like a good long difficult hike that wears you down & out with tired & sunburn & cold & bug bites, and builds you up with vigour & strength & joy joy.

Morton Feldman String Quartet 2
Flux Quartet Mode audio DVD

and the one by 
Ives Ensemble Hat Art [now]

So in the same spirit I spent an afternoon with Satie's Vexations on this disc:

42 Vexations
Stephane Ginsburgh
Sub Rosa

It's about 70 min., so 20 spins would give you the requisite 840 cycles. I got off the bus after 5 spins, which is 6 hours, but it was good. I'll definitely go the whole 20 hours one of these weekends when I'm all by myself. 
I don't consider any of this an endurance feat, but rather messing around with your wavelengths.


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

Nope, every time I listen to music is special! I believe that music is to precious to be delegated to sometime later! 

/ptr


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## Skilmarilion (Apr 6, 2013)

I used to abstain from listening very often to some of my most beloved works - particularly those of Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn and Beethoven, but as I've discovered more and more great music, I can't seem to put myself through the waiting game anymore. I've come to realise that the replay value of such masterworks of music is near infinite. 

I agree regarding a composer like Mahler however; sometimes you need a certain moment and frame of mind to truly experience the depth of the music.


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## cjvinthechair (Aug 6, 2012)

Grechaninov, Sviridov - and a good few other Russian 'sacred' composers - never fails when I'm down & need some inspiration.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Kleinzeit said:


> And I've totally swallowed the kool-aid when it comes to Morton Feldman.
> 
> Morton Feldman String Quartet 2
> 
> Satie's Vexations.


Hey, I like you already! I've been through Feldman's quartet twice. I'd add a few more spins, but I can't find my CD. And I hesitate to admit it, but with Satie's Vexations, I've been through only an hour of it. I guess my Kool-aid glass is only half-full.


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## Kleinzeit (May 15, 2013)

My current favourite, though, needs no special prep.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

techniquest said:


> I know this is slightly away from what you meant in the OP, but I only ever listen to Christmas-related music in the last 2 weeks before Christmas Day itself, and I always reserve time to listen to Mahler's 2nd at Easter, though I do of course listen to it at other times too, but often not the whole work.


_I think the absolute best time to really listen to and hear Handel's Messiah for what it is is in July. Seriously._

Ditto for all other "seasonally bound or seasonally associated" works.


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## hello (Apr 5, 2013)

I have to be in a special mood to enjoy the works of Horatiu Radelscu. Even so, I think he's great. A master of sound-texture.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Mahler for myself as well. Heard most of it once, saving the second listen for after I'm dead.


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## Kopachris (May 31, 2010)

I can never really enjoy a piece the first time through. I get the most enjoyment from listening to it over and over until I could follow along in my head with any voice in the music. Thus, no piece of music is too sacred for me to "save for a special occasion." The only ones I specifically try not to listen to very often are the ones that have already worn out their welcome.

It's a dopamine thing, I think. Matching what I hear to what I have in memory releases dopamine, prompting further memorization and facilitating addiction.


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## Andolink (Oct 29, 2012)

Definitely Mahler is in this category for me.


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## Arsakes (Feb 20, 2012)

20th century composers (mostly neo-classicists and minimalists):
Bartok, Stravinsky, Prokovief, Hovhaness, J.Adams and Shostakovich!
I'm more of a 19th century music fan.


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## dstring (May 14, 2013)

I come back to Kaija Saariaho's music every now and then and try to feel it, create a place for it in my mind and understading. This is about four times a year.

I've always failed and probably will.


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## schuberkovich (Apr 7, 2013)

Kopachris raises a good point. I don't think humans ever (or very rarely) _get_ a piece of music on the first listen. To really enjoy a piece, I need to be familiar with it, sometimes so familiar that I know exactly how it goes. On the first listen, you can think "this is nice" or "that's definitely interesting" but I don't think you can "instantly connect".


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## Kopachris (May 31, 2010)

schuberkovich said:


> Kopachris raises a good point. I don't think humans ever (or very rarely) _get_ a piece of music on the first listen. To really enjoy a piece, I need to be familiar with it, sometimes so familiar that I know exactly how it goes. On the first listen, you can think "this is nice" or "that's definitely interesting" but I don't think you can "instantly connect".


I think some people can instantly connect with some pieces. I'm not one of them, though. Or at least, I haven't found a piece that I instantly connected with.


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## Kleinzeit (May 15, 2013)

dstring said:


> I come back to Kaija Saariaho's music every now and then and try to feel it, create a place for it in my mind and understading. This is about four times a year.
> 
> I've always failed and probably will.


I put a great deal of effort into failing with Saariaho and many others. It's been working out pretty well so far.

Also, the amount I don't know increases daily, so I got that working for me, which is good.


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