Earlier this year it was clear I was musically stuck. Spotify unwrapped told me that for the nth year in a row I’d mostly listened to Lloyd Cole, Dylan, Nick Lowe, Teenage Fanclub, Leonard Cohen et al. Now, I love them all dearly but seriously… Basically with endless choice had come paralysis.
Then came an extended period of mostly solitary forced rest, with the need for a project of some sort to distract from pain and other worries. So I thought, what about a bit of classical?
I’ve dabbled before, but in a Greatest Hits kind of way. Fair bit of Bach, bit of Mozart, bit of Vivaldi, maybe even some Purcell. But always the obvious stuff. The sheer range of composers, works, instruments, versions always felt a bit overwhelming, so back to Bandwagonesque it was.
So a couple of months ago, painkillered up and after a bit of internet research I fired up Spotify with intent. Starting with major composers and major works, then following recommendations, playlists and the internet, I disappeared down a rabbit hole from which I’m yet to emerge. Who knew what riches awaited me?! (I should perhaps have guessed…).
Truth is I haven’t felt this excited about music, found such much needed joy in music, since I first realised there was a whole wide world outside this week’s top 40 30+ years ago. Albinoni, Boccherini, Corelli, Josquin, Byrd, Dowland and more and more names. It’s never ending (in a good way…). Some I’d vaguely heard of, most are totally new to me. And I’m just beginning to scratch the surface. Mostly on a Baroque trip right now but can’t wait to dive both forward and back in time. It’s actually slightly thrilling to start the day so I can listen to something else new to me. What felt overwhelming now feels kind of exhilarating.
Not sure the point of this post, classical doesn’t appear here much obviously, just sharing a new/reawakened enthusiasm, maybe recommendations? But this piece of music is a perfect example, made my jaw drop, more or less literally. Feels like I’ve been waiting my whole life to hear this, and I’d never even heard of Albinoni. Stunning. Music of the spheres and all that (the oboe at 0:35 or so. ****). Of course it’s possible everyone knows and it was just me! But the scales have well and truly fallen from my eyes.
Well done you. I dabble but i think when coming to unfamiliar genres you really do need to immerse yourself.
Junior I should point out that you also greatly helped out with my other musical rejuvenation project (currently temporarily on hold, but only temporarily) when a year or two back I asked for African music recommendations and your Pan-African playlist (got my own going now!) started me off down many other interesting rabbit holes. Don’t know if I said thanks at the time, should have done, but I will do now. There’s some stunning stuff there, and so so much to discover. Which is still ongoing.
That’s great.
Great post and glad you’re enjoying all your new discoveries. When you consider that Haydn alone wrote over a hundred symphonies, you realise that you are unlikely to run out of road with the classical back catalogue. I’ve always had a bit of a thing for Schubert, the 9th Symphony and the string quintet being particular favourites. In Baroque land have you tried C.P. E. Bach?
Many years ago Q Magazine started a fantastic beginner’s guide to classical music that became the basis of my subsequent collection.
I’ll get there. To the Bach sons, to Haydn, to Schubert, to Beethoven, to the classicists, the romantics, maybe even to the moderns. It’s a job of work (as you say Martin there’s a lot of road), but doesn’t feel like it. And unfortunately I now have to actually work again. But the great thing is there’s less lyrics (or at least I don’t understand most of them) so you don’t get so distracted while doing so 😉
The Trevor Pinnock Brandenburgs is one of the best double albums this side of James Brown’s Solid Gold. Uh! HIT me!
On my father’s penultimate day on Earth, lying in his bed with a broken hip and dosed on morphine for the subsequent pneumonia, I brought some headphones and music in for him. I knew his two favourite pieces, and the correct versions: Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte (Karl Böhm, Philharmonia Orchestra, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf) and Bach’s Goldberg Variations (Trevor Pinnock – it had to be on harpsichord), which he devoured with absolute joy. My father was normally the very definition of reserve, and I’ve never seen him express musical pleasure so openly and with such abandon as he did on that day.
Wallow in the Greats! Buy the Beethoven symphonies, swoon to the Brahms violin concerto, bang your head excitedly to Rachmaninov’s second Piano concerto, fall in love with Liszt, air-conduct Dvorak’s New World, and get gloriously heroic to Khachaturian’s Spartacus. You have nothing to lose but your wallet’s contents.
For me, the best Beethoven is in the piano and chamber music. My god, the piano sonatas! Particularly Appassionata, Moonlight, Hammerklavier. Symphonies 1-3 are amazing and 4-5 are great, but 6-9? Keep em, IMO.
My favourite symphonies are Mahler 8, pretty much all of Sibelius and Bruckner, Mozart, Brahms, Dvorak, Shostakovich. Beethoven 3 is about the only one I’d put in that company.
What’s wrong with Beethoven’s seventh?
Probably nothing, but to my ears he just gets a bit kitchen-sinky post 5. Just a taste thing: I don’t massively love any of them except Eroica, and the late ones are just a bit… much.
The last movement of the 7th is very kitchen-sinky, in that it starts fast and loud and carries on at a relentless pace until it burns out. To have that, and the 2nd movement in the same symphony is amazing.
It’s probably about time I revisited Beethoven – it’s been a long time since I had his dope beats to step to.
Wagner called the 7th “the apotheosis of the dance”.
You absolutely cannot say that without saying “darrnce” Even if you are German.
Wagner called a lot of things a lot of things.
For you Tommy Englander, zer symphony iss over….
Ze apotheosis of ze *gun cocking noise* DANCE, SCHWEINHUNDE, DANCE
Great post. I’m also in a rut, and this has made me want to go seriously classical again (though I can hear all my teachers yelling at me that “classical” has a specific meaning 😉).
My musical background until my early 20s was entirely classical: choral and cello, two (and a bit) scholarships, three grade 8s and a performance certificate. Considered music college for a while, before realising how good you have to be to make a serious living.
Anyway, pop for me was a pressure valve: as much as I loved the discipline of the day job, I often think my love of pure pop is because I spent my teens learning the Dvorak, Elgar and No. 1 Shostakovich cello concertos (ok, only bits of the Shostakovich, cos it’s utter nails), or getting the Mozart quartets just right, or the Mendelssohn octet, or whatever. And when I wasn’t doing that, I was singing Stanford or Lassus or Allegri or Messiaen two or three hours a day. No wonder when I got home I liked to blast three dumb chords or listen to Ol’ Dirty saying he’ll be stickin pins in ya head like a fuckin’ nurse – and no wonder I’ve never developed a liking for pop with delusions of complexity.
It takes all sorts, music. Lately I’ve been going back to the old stuff because part of me feels like I’m just done with the pressure valve. I have so much distance from my musical background now that I want it back. Time to shelve the pop, maybe – for a bit at least.
Not classical, but the Andy Kershaw podcast has had me spending upwards of 50 quid with every episode. He’s now up to 12 two-hour long podcasts.
I have a long way to go to catch up with Junior when it comes to ‘world’ music but, every fortnight, Andy takes me by the hand and guides me towards stuff I can’t believe I’ve not heard before.
I have that very Albinoni CD in the OP above. Big fan of all things Baroque, including many of the names you mention, especially Bach, Corelli, Handel, Albinoni and Vivaldi. I like Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn as well, but not so keen on the more overblown classical stuff from the Romantic period. I’m very keen on early music too – there is some wonderful choral stuff out there on obscure classical labels.
Not sure why: I find baroque a bit irritating. I start getting interested at Beethoven, especially the quartets, and things steadily improve until we reach Sibelius, probably my favourite composer. I also like Shostakovich – especially the quartets! – Bartok, Nielsen, Robert Simpson and Vaughan Williams. I suppose I enjoy 20th century music the most – but prefer it to be mostly tonal.
I presume you’ve read Listen To This by Alex Ross.
No: not familiar with that. Why do you presume that I’ve read it?
In that case you should read it. It’s all about the music of the 20th Century that comes under the ‘classical’ umbrella. It’s really well written.
Cheers, Tiggs – I’ll seek it out. What did I write that made you think I’d already read it? 🤔
@fitterstoke
I’ve got two of his books mixed up. The one I’m talking about is called The Rest is Noise. It really opened my ears to a wider range of 20th Century classical music & your enthusiasm matches his.
I recognise that title – I’m sure I’ve seen it in one of our bookshops. Sounds interesting (arf!) – might nip down and get it today.
“Support Your Local Bookshop!”
I suspect I’ll end up where you are even after mu short time at the coalface. My brief forays out of baroque have given early music a big thumbs up, later romantic stuff much less so, though there’s a long way to go!
We had Albinoni’s Adegio as the walking in music at my Dad’s funeral. I think it’s the saddest music in the world.
Lovely post. So much music and so little time. Must admit that Baroque isn’t my favourite period; like fitterstoke, things get really interesting for me round about the time of Beethoven, who as far as I’m concerned is the Shakespeare of music. That said, of course Bach, of course Purcell, of course Monteverdi; of course Vivaldi. A few years ago I bought Rachel Podger and the Brecon Baroque’s recording of L’estro armonico and it is a thing of beauty indeed.
This is the kind of thing that I do, and have done several times over. I am planning to get to classical music at some point and recently bought the Rough Guide To Classical Music in preparation, but it’s on blogs where you find the best tips/recommendations. Just as I was with rap and jazz, I’m one of those typical people that know and have all the more popular works, but apart from Tchaikovsky, who my old boss used to tell me was ‘vulgar’ I haven’t done much more than scratch the surface. I would, however, put the music from Swan Lake up there with my favourite albums. I’ve been to see it 4 times, once with Nureyev as Siegfried – now that was good.
I’ve been on the jazz route for the past year, but might start trying to broaden my classical appreciation soon, so. If you carry on writing about it you’ll give me plenty of places to start from!
I once knew someone who described Tchaikovsky as vulgar…on closer inspection, she was only talking about the 1812 Overture. Mind you, she only really liked the rarified air of Fauré and Ravel…
Nay, the rauréfied air…
NAY, the ravelfied air…
There is so much to discover!
Can I make some recommendations for 20th century minimalist music
Philip Glass – So much. The early stuff is new and revolutionary but can be challenging. Four hours of Music in 12 parts is startling given when it was written but in reality you are not going to listen to it that often. To me his later works are less interesting. To start I would recommend songs from the trilogy ( a best of from the first 3 operas ), the soundtrack for koyaanisqatsi or vikingur olafssons recent recording of the piano etudes.
Steve Reich – It has to be music for 18 musicians. A joyous seminal work.
Arvo Part – Ok. If you take one recommendation from me this is it. The ecm Gideon Kramer recording of Tabula Rasa ( and fratres and cantos for Benjamin Britten). Timeless and stunning. Clear links with early music. If you don’t like this I will personally refund your money. No really. I am that confident!!!
Happy listening!
Talking of Philip Glass, I discovered yesterday that the Lodger symphony is finally out (on streaming services and Bandcamp so far – CDs to follow, presumably).
https://philipglass.bandcamp.com/album/philip-glass-symphony-no-12-lodger-from-lyrics-by-david-bowie-and-brian-eno
Another recommendation for Pärt’s music, particularly the vocal religious pieces (I suppose all his music is religious, to an extent) like the St John Passion and the Berlin Mass. I was lucky enough to hear a performance of the St John Passion in Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow, with Part present. Suffice to say, the cathedral-sized space had a reverb that suited the music to a tee…
Music for Eighteen Musicians
One of the best things I’ve ever seen live. Totally engrossing.
This is worth a read (it may be out of print and tricky to get these days) – Seb Hunter’s “Rock Me Amadeus”. Basically a heavy metal fan’s exploration of classical music…..
I’m having an eerie sense of deja vu with this thread, but I’ll say it again: my most enjoyable musical discovery recently has been that merry old Frenchman Francis Poulenc. I love the way his music capers about in an irresistibly perky way, then sometimes moves into music of such ethereal beauty that you suddenly have something in your eye. His choral music is a particular fave – in fact it was singing in his Gloria in Brisbane a while back that really got me hooked. The Stabat Mater is very fine too. Give this a go.
There’s lots of other stuff too – orchestral, concertos, chamber, piano, songs – and an opera too, though that contains a few too many honking tenors and screeching sopranos for my taste.
Here’s perky:
As a side note, I doubt the vinyl revival has extended to classical music. Pretty much all the classical I own was bought secondhand on vinyl. I had a wonderful recording of Schubert’s Impromptus with Alfred Brendel that I eventually had to replace with the CD version, and it never gave me the same buzz. I imagine most classical enthusiasts these days have moved on to high res streaming via a Qobuz subscription.
Beethoven’s fans were forever demanding that he do some old. He didn’t listen (ho ho)
You can fill your boots with all the classical records you want – even the better pressings. My theory is the collectors were from the last generation, more have carked it and their kids, our generation dumped the collections.
I haven’t listened to nor bought much else other than classical over the last two years. Currently, Max Richter’s recomposing of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons is on repeat because of its prominence in My Brilliant Friend.
There was a great documentary on BBC4/iPlayer about his Sleep concert in LA. The music sounds amazing, but I may just invest in the abridged version rather than the whole eight hour set.
“Not much else” @Tiggerlion so just 50 or 60 albums of your mainstream Afterword stuff then?
Arf.
For a film with great classical music see “Un cœur en hiver” – Emmanuelle Béart pretending to play Ravel trios quite convincingly. Wonderful film/music.
Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis.
This may be the greatest piece of music ever written. No really.
I tried but gave up halfway through.
Off to my prog!
One of my favourites, Pete – also one of John Cale’s favourites…
It is absolutely bloody sublime. But then, so is most of Tallis himself, and most of the rest of Vaughan Williams.
Vaughan Williams is apparently terribly unfashionable these days – though that may be what Helen Lewis calls an “orphan take” – an outraged online reaction to a position nobody actually holds. But nobody should care either way. He’s incredible. The symphonies, too. Pastoral and Sea, obvs, but also the later ones. VW9 is quite the eye-opener if you’re only familiar with Lark, Tallis etc.
My careful link to Helen Lewis’s blog got stripped out, for reasons. So here it is as an ugly old URL:
https://helenlewis.substack.com/p/the-bluestocking-vol-226
It’s well worth your time. A consideration of the “ant mill” of online discourse.
@hedgepig
That’s an interesting read – certainly with regard to general social media discourse – but with VW I think it’s more likely to be lazy acceptance of historical thinking (“boring, cow in a field music” – Beecham didn’t help matters!). It’s remarkable how people still think of VW as exclusively “pastoral” music, without ever attempting to listen to the rest of his output.
As an aside, I wonder how “fashion” in classical music is determined these days…
I’d read a couple of articles saying how the snowflakes today all hate VW because he was a nationalist, or something. The “orphan take” thing was because I’ve never actually heard or read first-hand anyone saying anything of the sort. The articles I’d read seemed to be reacting to a position they’d made up in their heads so they can write an article rebutting it, hence the Helen Lewis link.
(I mean, he was a nationalist, but musically, not politically. He believed England has a musical legacy unconnected with mainland Europe, and revived it in his music. I’m not sure anyone really objects to that, but probably some commentators want people to, so that they can object to the objections. It’s all very tiring.)
Interesting – they can hate VW without necessarily having heard any of his music. I agree, the endless circular argument is tiring.
As I may have said before – I’ll retire to bedlam…
Oh, hating things from a position of total ignorance is the stock-in trade of online opinion of all kinds these days. It’s quite the thing, I’m told.
Ironically, I “hate” the current online discourse from a standpoint of my own total ignorance – this site reflects my sole online presence and I suspect its generous approach is not typical…
Vaughan Williams isn’t universally rated but overall I’d say that if anything his reputation is on the rise again, and I think there will be a lot of reevaluation about this year as its his 150th anniversary of his birth. He perhaps suffers from the fact that the sheer popularity of his most famous pieces – especially Lark Ascending – counts against him with some people. But his symphonies especially are increasingly recognised as amongst the greatest British music ever written, and much more than the wistful English pastoral nostalgia that Vaughan Williams sometimes gets characterised as. The 6th Symphony, written after the Second World War is a good case in point.
My impression (not backed by numbers) is that Vaughan Williams is well thought of on this site, rather more so than out in the real world. It’s a shame that the later symphonies (say 6 to 9) don’t get the same attention as the Pastoral, etc. Any disparaging comments about “cow looking over a gate” music would be refuted very quickly.
Calling @Arthur-Cowslip …
I like him. (Not him, his music, I’ve never met him and I imagine he’s dead). And I think The Lark Ascending deserves highest praise. In EM Forster’s Howards End one of the sisters is well into ‘Music and Meaning’ and the elephants and goblins who she visualises pottering around in Beethoven’s symphony. I never do that. Except with Lark Ascending. I can’t think of any other instrumental piece of music that conjurs up a visual image* so absolutely perfectly as The Lark Ascending does.
*Of a bird. Going up.
Edit. My first two sentences refer to Vaughan Williams, not Arthur Cowslip. As far as Arthur Cowslip goes, I like him, him not his music of which I don’t know if there exists any, have never met him and I imagine he’s alive.)
What kind of bird?
That’s a very good question. Never thought about it before, but certainly will next time I listen to the piece. Probably a pigeon. They get everywhere. Or perhaps a chicken, if chickens count as birds.
This is in my top 10 albums of any genre. Branford Marsalis & The English Chamber Orchestra.
https://www.discogs.com/release/7936570-Branford-Marsalis-Romances-For-Saxophone
His bro has done a storming Mozart Horns too.
Alan Civil? Step off.
I think all you jaded rock peeps should spend some time investigating Duke Ellington’s music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvaBqWeCe3w
Yes, yes, yes! We do love him madly!
So very many varied responses and loads more to explore. Thanks all.
A question. Is there a decent book that does the history of classical in accessible style (Think Yeah Yeah Yeah by Bob Stanley), something that brings the period, composers, styles and other strands together without flying over my head with it’s musicality. Failinhg that a podcast? I like my music to have context me.
The Rest Is Noise, which Tiggs mentions above, is probably the one to go for.
Something with more sensory input might be useful. Howard Goodall is a great communicator. Here’s part 1 of a The Story of Music. His How Music works is very enlightening, at least for a total non-musician like me, and is also on YouTube.
One podcast worth checking out is Sticky Notes, by the conductor Joshua Weilerstein. It isn’t a history, but he covers specific works (mainly 19th and 20th century) in some depth and with a good combination of enthusiasm and knowledge.
Tom Service is good value as well. His Listening Service on Radio 3 (all of it on BBC Sounds) often covers interesting and sometimes idiosyncratic ground, and his series of articles on The Guardian’s website on ’50 greatest symphonies’ is often very good.
I missed the Sticky Notes recommendation at the time – I’ll seek it out.
I already subscribe to The Listening Service – very good it is, too.
No idea how I missed this post at the time or I would have commented! I can see I was even paged above??
Great post. The feeling of being musically jaded is a common one, but I love it when something “new to you” reignites that old feeling again. And I definitely had that feeling of rebirth a few years ago when I started dabbling in classical more. My passion has lulled for the moment and I’m currently in a bit of a dip, but content enough for the moment just comfort listening to old favourites (currently have Jean Michel Jarre’s Equinoxe on the ol’ jukebox and it hits the spot just fine….).
At the moment, I seem to be digging back into Schubert, Beethoven, Brahms, etc @Arthur-Cowslip – most of my interest is in 20th century (RVW, Sibelius, etc) so it’s been good to refresh my interest. Piano sonatas and chamber music, mostly – although Beethoven’s Eroica symphony has seldom been off the gramophone lately. Hard to say why – just seems to be feeding a need just now.
I wish I liked Beethoven more than I do. I feel I’m missing something. I absolutely LOVE the obvious classics: the Sixth, the Ninth and that slow movement from the Seventh. And Moonlight Sonata is a given. But anything else I’m afraid I just can’t seem to focus on.
And yeah, 20th century is also my happy place! I think RVW’s A Sea Symphony seems like a line in the sand where all the great stuff starts flooding in after that.
*EDIT – ha ha, “sea”, “flooding”… that was unintentional!*
Been dipping into Mahler a bit, and tentatively into bits of Wagner… so being slowly drawn into previous centuries. I’ll get there.
Arthur, can I be cheeky and recommend a couple of pieces? I know you didn’t ask…🙂
Firstly, the op. 111 piano sonata – the second (of only two) movements is in a kind of variation form – and can sound quite jazzy in places (the so-called “boogie-woogie variation”), depending on the pianist! Can’t imagine what they made of it just after it was written – I’m guessing it must have seemed very weird and avant garde!
Also third and eighth symphonies – third usually viewed as the first ever Romantic (as opposed to Classical) symphony and every bit as powerful as the fifth – but not played as often. The eighth was viewed as a bit of a lightweight between the seventh and ninth. All the better for it, IMHO.
Quartets – start anywhere – they’re all superb and reflect where he was in his head at the time of composition. So the earlier ones are light and fresh, the closing ones reflect a lifetime of stoicism and impending mortality. All good.
I’ll take your suggestions on board, but I’m a curmudgeon who is very slow to take on new things, so you’ve been warned!
It’s a marathon – not a sprint, Arthur! But I’ll be interested to hear what you made of ‘em in due course…
How did you get on with The Rest Is Noise, @fitterstoke?
Well, @Tiggerlion, time for my confession. I bought a copy last year but still haven’t started it. Poor, very poor…
I went through a phase of not reading very much, don’t know what happened – but your prompting has encouraged me to get it down and read the thing!
Don’t feel bad. Reading it is meant to be a pleasure.
Well, quite. There was a period last year when I sank into comfortable familiarity – re-reading old favourites, watching old movies and endless period detective shows, listening to music that I’d lived with for decades…just where my brain was at the time.
I’m still there. I listen mainly to classical. I do find myself obsessing in a single artists oeuvre for weeks at a time, currently The Beatles(!). However, if something new grabs me, I do listen multiple times just like I did in the seventies – hello Black Pumas.