Classical Music part II
 

Colleagues,

I picked up a copy of of Hi-Fi + magazine the other day ( a magazine I don't usually read} because it had an article on learning to love classical music, part 1.

As you probably know I am a poster boy for for classical music and whether or not I agree with the writer of Hi-Fi+ articles, I wanted to ask you, my fellow AudioAficionado-ites your thoughts on why classical music is not liked by more people.

Are we effete snobs, who demand Dom Perignon with our foie de gras or do we like our steak and fries with an IPA.

I would like to hear you comments before I give my response.

Happy Listening,

Gaius Petronius

Salve Petronius!

Yes, we are a bit of a snob. :D

For me, it is simple.
I can listen to classical all day.
To pop music: one album is enough, two in my best days.
But classical is an acquired taste, even more so than jazz, which is also niche.
Pop music is much more easily digestible.
Rhythms are simpler, melodies can be sung along by most people - try to do that with Bach's 'das musikalische Opfer'...

I think that people would like it better, if they were exposed more at a really young age.
Certainly a task for schools.
And parents.
I did my best...

Happy listening indeed.

Bartholomeus.

Thank you Bart,

Your right on the money with acquired taste, and the schools don't teach music appreciation. ( what do they teach anyway?) People are not exposed to classical music with the exception of orchestral film music, and there is not much of that these days.

Snob? I'm not sure, particularly of the performers. I'm usually just damned happy to get through a Bruckner Symphony with my lips still attached. Then the entire brass section goes out for beer.

The audience? Sure, Some of them but not most. I think that most of them are there to hear the music.

Are there any classical pieces that you recommend to new listeners?
I usually recommend Brittens young persons guide to the Orchestra The Planets, and Respighi's Roman Trilogy.

Keep on Listening

Greetings from Mt Baker, Petronius. My father was a classically trained pianist and, like you, I went to music school but ended up having to earn a living[emoji41]. I think there a couple of big reasons, at least here in the US, why classical is less popular:

Music appreciation is no longer taught in schools. When I was a kid, we had a music appreciation class in which the teacher played recordings of more accessible music, especially pieces that had a narrative or a natural story-line that the teacher could explain, like the Planets, Dvorak’s New World Symphony, Appalachian Spring, etc. We were also encouraged to take up a musical instrument, which the school provided at a very modest rental cost. Most kids didn’t end up rushing home to tell their parents to buy classical records, but at least they got a grounding in the basics.

The other challenge is not snobbery, but economics and access. Before recorded music, classical music, especially orchestral, was mostly accessible only to the upper classes. The average working stiff couldn’t afford to attend classical concerts, didn’t receive classical music training, didn’t understand classical, and probably considered it “high brow” and for the rich upper crust - the snobs. Most working class people did, however, have ample access to folk or “popular” music, whether played in the home on guitars and fiddles, or in taverns, beer halls and dance halls. As working class lived the American dream and ascended the economic ladder, they brought popular music with them - rather than classical music filtering down, popular music filtered up. To a large degree I think it still holds true that classical music is much less accessible to the majority of people, and ends up being primarily listened to by a smaller, more well educated elite.

It's all about your intelligence level and your indoctrination to the world of music.

Because it is not socially relevant the way popular genres are.


Dom Perignon with our foie de gras

:wine:

If I may, I’ll share from the viewpoint of someone who has tried to get into classical music, and jazz for that matter, but just doesn’t get it. To shatter part of Hobie1dog's theory, I am probably more intelligent than the average bear…although my wife might disagree some days ��. I have read a couple of books, listened to numerous albums, and attended a couple of symphony concerts. I think the issue is not having others to explain, guide, and decipher what is going on. Books analytically explaining it just doesn’t cut it for me. Music is more personal than that. I would love to find a friend who could sit, listen, discuss, and emote what the music is about. That's my two cents.

One reason--and it's strictly a guess--is that it's because classical typically requires a more-than-casual attention span, where you have to listen actively, often for long stretches--unless all you care about is the "big tune." We're an immediate-gratification, hurry-hurry culture, and the rigors of classical listening don't quite fit that mold.

I suspect that the same could apply to jazz.

Yes. Two and a half reasons today for the ever shortening attention span:TV and the Internet and the remote control. Before those, pop culture and radio. All related to a proclivity or disinclination to focus without distraction for 20-90 minutes.

Although there are exceptions, classical music is more complex tonally, temporally and dynamically than most other music genres. It is more complex (and expensive) to execute well, requiring, at the orchestral level, 30-120 trained musicians, 20-40 different instruments, a large perfomrance space with decent acoustics and a singular genius level conductor to control it all while understanding a score. Fewer patrons are positioned to bear those expenses. Modernist and post-modern music (as interesting as they may be) do not have the audience draw of classical and romantic genres providing both tension and release.

For an entertaining read try The Life and Death of Classical Music by Norman Lebrecht.

Good comments and insights all. If I may address the comments from Imapo, classical music just might be not for you. Before you throw it out, get a couple of recordings of some easily accessable recordings that tell a story. Ie,The Pines of Rome, and Church Windows both by Respighi, Scherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov, and maybe some orchestral film music from some movies you have seen. Star-Wars is an obvious example, Ben-Hur (the 1959 one) by Miklos Rozsa is another.
And again it just may not be for you.

Addressing attention span...hoo boy, I have no idea how that can be fixed. O Lord please give me patience and I WANT IT NOW!!!!

Thank you Tima on the Norman Lebrecht books. I'll get them.