Classics help needed

[Donk]

On Friday night we went to a performance by the Atrium String Quartet. On the programme: Mozart's String Quartet in D minor K421, Shostakovich's No 9 Opus 117, Brahms' B flat Opus 67. If I heard any of them tonight, I wouldn't be able to recognise them

There's a lack in me somewhere. I just don't "get" a lot of classical music. I have a good ear - I can pick out the individual instruments in an orchestral piece; I can recognise a bad or off-beat note when I hear one. What I can't do is gestalt the whole piece. All I hear are individual phrases, beautifully played but signifying nothing. I need to hear a melody before I can remember a piece. Holst's Mars and Jupiter: no problem. The 1812, likewise. Bolero... if I can whistle it, I can remember and identify it.

My Lady can listen to a few bars of just about anything and name at least the composer, and usually the title of the piece as well as the orchestra and conductor. How does she do it? More to the point, can I learn to do it as well?

This sort of music has been enthralling many thousands of people for hundreds of years. They can't all be wrong. It must be down to how I'm listening to it, or what I'm listening for. Can anyone give me any tips?

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

Meh....could be who your listening to...for me its Bach, a very little Brahms (pretty much strings only), Vivaldi, Strauss, and a very little Mozzart.....BUT....this all depends on who are playing and more-so who is conducting! Why so much emphasis on the conductor?

It boils down to THEIR vision of the piece when it comes to how it is performed... how they see it, how they feel, it how they hear it.

Unfortunately Their Vision may not have anything to do with how the Original Composer envisioned the piece...or for that matter how the audience hears it.

I've heard many a wonderful piece ruined by an over zealous conductor ("talented" yeah right)

The best example off hand would be Bach's Six suites for Violoncello...While at present Yo Yo Ma's version sells better (but is pure garbage) and by that standard must be more popular (at least amongst the masses)...But I'll swear till the day I die that Pao Casals version performed in 1954 from the 1730 copy put to paper by Bach's second wife is the only recording worth having.

It is much more full, expressive and lively to my ears. Of course You may seek out a listen to both and decide the opposite (I don't think it likely but there's always a chance)

BTW- you tube has a pretty good film version of one of the suites from '54 and I seriously doubt they wouldn't have the same suite being played by "mr Ma" (Great flying spaghetti monster I hate him....partially cuz I'm jealous that he has a Strad whilst I'm stuck with a "Yami" but mostly because he has the skill and a Strad but seemingly not the "heart")

My Lady can listen to a few bars of just about anything and name at least the composer, and usually the title of the piece as well as the orchestra and conductor. How does she do it? More to the point, can I learn to do it as well?

Listen to lots and lots of performances of the same piece as performed and conducted by different conductors. Eventually the differences will become clear as day and night.

[lawcat]

Originally Posted by Donk

They can't all be wrong.

That's great Donk. Man, why do you have to be like others, or force yourself to like something you don't like?

I like classical music in general, but I can't say I like all classical music. (Sometimes I don't like the mood, or sometimes it's rhytm that disagrees with me, or the melody.)

Music is a matter of inspiration (The Internet Classics Archive | Ion by Plato). It either resonantes with you or it does not.
Memory: Repetitio est mater studiorum. Practice makes perfect.

Originally Posted by Donk

It must be down to how I'm listening to it, or what I'm listening for.

Elitism: If you do not like classical music, or appreciate only segments of seminal tunes, it generally indicates lack of formal training. People who are formally trained, whether in youth for a few years or decades, have much greater appreciation and gust for classical music. Now, whether their inspiration came later, or whether they were first inspired and then started playing, is a question of what came first: chicken or the egg?

How you are listening to it, and what you are listening for, is a matter of sophistication that comes from training your ear. You ear is best trained through performance of playing.

Originally Posted by Donk

Can anyone give me any tips?

Enjoy what you enjoy keeping in mind your inspiration, and respecting the inspiration of others. Or, if you want to develop sophistication for classical music, try playing.