"Great" composers: which for you, wear well/don't-those you use to listen to, but don't anymore? Why?

Question

This question is mostly directed toward the older/mature generation of classical music lovers; but anyone, please feel free to respond.

We all have our idiosyncratic tastes in music as in everything else in life. I'm 74, and have been listening to classical music since I was about 6 yrs. old.

And have found that over the years, much music that I use to love to listen to, no longer holds any appeal for me. Beethoven was one of my first loves; but now, I rarely listen to any of his compositions. And it took me a long time before I came to an appreciation of Mozart and Bach: but they too have for the most part, gone by the board.

And I now find that, Wagner's music aside to which I never seem to tire of, I find myself listening repeatedly to pieces like Scriabin's "Poem of Ecstasy", Tchaikovsky's "Sleeping Beauty", de Falla's "El amor brujo" or some such.

What's been your experience? Have you found that your taste in music has just mildly changed over the year, drastically, or not at all?

Alberich

Answer 1

We like to think, as we age, that we have grown more discerning with the passing of time. I very much doubt, however, that this completely accounts for the sometimes drastic changes in our love for particular works.



When I remember my devout passion for heroic music, I sometimes squirm with embarrassment. [Much of this embarrassment is simply because I am something of a musical snob, perhaps.]



Youthful passions have a habit of wearing out, and as an older people, we wonder what we ever saw in certain works. Now I am old, I am quite sure that the percentage of music that I love is considerably smaller than once it was.



We are told that some characteristics of older people are grumpiness, intolerance, and opinionated ranting. I realise that I try hard to prove to the world that these characteristics do not live in me, and that I am open to new ideas and concepts continuously, accepting of other people's differing standpoints, and as agnostic about certain issues as ever I was.

I'm afraid that this is mostly a pose, a veneer.



Perhaps because I am an organist, I doubt that my devotion to the polyphony of Bach will ever disappear. The profundity of this man tends to overwhelm me.

To my astonishment, however, my veneration of some of his great organ works has begun to shrink, and I listen to recordings played on neo-baroque organs with a growing distaste for them.

I now see in this type of performance a fake attempt to show fidelity, a fusty rejection of the present, and pretentious cuteness.



This is such a change from my Bastille-storming days of advocacy of a return to the Baroque ideals of organ design, that I wonder what has happened to me!

[ People such as myself asked our communities to spend millions of their dollars on this antiquarian fad, and I begin to reject the result we 'achieved' - now I am old. How very embarrassing!]



As a composer in my younger days, I shared a pseudo-Bohemian passion for electronic music, and spent years in this now-extinct activity. [I am grateful that much of my output from this time of 'hedonistic delusion' is lost.]



'Fads pass, and I am as susceptable to fashion as anyone'. That is the most likely explanation!



My present adoration of Britten and Stravinsky has not always been thus. My passion for Webern and Bartok has diminished over time. So what !



How very fortunate we are that the Art we love is so extensive and so varied, able to supply us with joy and inspiration whatever our age. Even if our concepts of musical beauty change again and again, there is so much available to enjoy.

Answer 2

For me, I'm afraid it's Shostakovich. When I was young, then a student, and then into young adult life, I worshipped Shostakovich. I even wrote a thesis on him at university.



Although there are still many of his works I enjoy and admire, I am much fussier now and I find it hard to stomach some of the works I consider among his weaker ones, such as:



Cello Sonata

The Limpid Stream

Piano Concerto No 2

Piano Sonata No 2

Song of the Forests

String Quartets 4 & 6

Symphonies 3 and 12



There are, however, some works by Shostakovich which rate as among the best of the 20th century:



Both Cello Concertos

The Execution of Stepan Razin

Lady Macbeth from Mtsensk

Both Violin Concertos

String Quartets 5, 8, 9, 10 & 13

Symphonies 4, 8, 10 and 14



What has happened over the years is that I have become a lot more discerning.

Answer 3

Well in the last five years I have gone from liking only what was popular on the radio, to the most random classical music.



There was a time in my life where I said that I "liked" hip-hop. Now I hate it, I hardly consider it music, sometimes the lyrics are poetry and have a message but I think the message is lost in the delivery.

Three years ago, I started listening to classical music, and then I only listen to opera, namely operas by mozart, Rossini, and Verdi. Then I heard Carmen, and loved it.But since then I have expanded my love of classical music beyond opera.



I dont think that my taste in classical music has changed much. I will admit that I do like Baroque music more now than I did this time last year, (when I was having a massive obsession with German Romanticism... Schubert in particular!)



I will also admit that I am not nearly as old as you! (I am sixty years younger than you, man that makes me feel so young and inexperienced!)

Answer 4

Yes Alberich, like you my listening habits have changed over time. I find that I have tended to listen to a lot of one composer at a time and then move on to another until I am saturated with their style. My tastes have always leaned toward the forms of the symphony, symphonic poem and opera overtures. I too progressed through Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, and then on to Brahms, Bruckner (with full scores in hand), Wagner, the Russians (Shostakovich and Prokofiev primarily), Elgar, and Ralph Vaughn Williams and others. Only lately have I come around to exploring in more detail the work of Chopin and Rachmaninov.



Along the way I have picked out favorite sections or movements that I return to listen to whenever the mood strikes- the first movements of Brahms 4th, Beethoven's 5th, Shostakovich's 5th, the Overture to Die Meistersinger (Wagner), Les Prelude (Liszt), Saint-Saens Symphony #3, and the Wind Serenades of Mozart. I also find that I enjoy repeated hearings of Howard Hanson's "Songs of Democracy", Lenny Bernstein's "Candide" (the overture and the "Make Our Garden Grow"), and Delius' "Song of Summer."



I still search for new works to listen to, but I enjoy having my old favorites to fall back on when needed.



Musician, composer, teacher.

Answer 5

I have to say... and this may be because I am nothing more than an enthusiastic amateur, that I have not really developed a truly jaded attitude to any of the works of the great composers. I still love Beethoven's Symphonies (I am listening to No.1 right now), but I actively try to avoid listening to any particular work too frequently... this is why I can still listen to the Moonlight Sonata and still be appreciative and moved by its depth and beauty. In an effort to widen my listening, I periodically acquire works that I have previously ignored or irrationally avoided. In recent months I have been exploring twentieth century British composers, a activity that stems from my love and admiration for Vaughan Williams whose music I find positively transcendent.

Even more recently, I have been listening to Howard Hanson's first two symphonies, a little more Shostakovich and a tentative investigation of Stravinsky, who until recently I had decided was not deserving of all the "fuss."

However I musically wander, I still periodically return to those core works and find things about them that I hadn't appreciated before.

Answer 6

Hi Alberich,



As usual, you have posed a very interesting question, and one that I've carefully contemplated before attempting my answer.



I think that generally, my musical tastes haven't changed that much over the decades. I fell in love with Mozart, Handel, Vivaldi, Monteverdi and JS Bach when I was a kid - now I'm in my 40's, and - well, I'm still passionate about Mozart, Handel, Vivaldi, Monteverdi and JS Bach.



Over the years, I've collected a few "secondary" favourites like Gabrieli, Albinoni, Telemann, Byrd, Lully and Marais. As for later music, well I've flirted a little with Beethoven over the years (especially his piano concertos) but he never quite made it into my "harem." I even had a short, firey fling with Stravinsky when I was an orchestral bassoonist - intoxicating, yes, but not enough to keep me addicted.



My tendency is to have "love affairs" with my five favourite men - I "rediscover" them one at a time and I simply gorge myself on him for months on end, often a year. These "affairs" are intense, but then they gradually fade and I'll move on and recycle another old flame for the umpteenth time. (But during these obsessive stages, I still enjoy other music, too, desides my current "heart throb" - don't worry, I'm not THAT obsessive!)



I've recently emerged from an unusually obsessive year long liaison with Vivaldi, and I'm currently experiencing the heady joy of rediscovering my passion for Handel. I can't get enough of him at the moment! It's fun going through my CD collection and taking all my Handel recordings and putting them onto my MP3 player, so I can indulge myself whenever the time's right.



But it's always the same five favourite composers, and I love them all equally - but only one at a time.



Who knows will come next? All I know is that it'll either be Mozart, Monteverdi or JS Bach...



I don't know why I'm like this. I think that each composer satisfies a certain need in my soul, a facet of my being...that's the closest I can come to explaining it.



Cheers,

Hafwen.

Answer 7

When I was in my teens, I adored Khatchaturian, especially the Piano concerto and the Gayen Ballet suite. Now I think it's crap.



Turn the questions on it's ear, and I would say I used to loath Mozart -- but I grew up and the two have switched places. So I am like you in that way.



Do you think perhaps that one must gain a great deal of musical experience before one "gets" Mozart? I have noticed that many youthful listeners do not like his music. It takes time to absorb the subtlety of Mozart, I think.



I think the same could be said of Chopin. (and really, isn't it pianists who mostly appreciate him?)



Richard Strauss is also a composer I was passionate about in my youth, but now find long-winded and overblown.



Unlike you, I have never tired of LVB's music -- and the more I read through his sonatas the more I admire him.



Cheers,



Glinzek

Answer 8

I am a few years younger than you and grew up listening to what we then called "popular" music--pre Rock and Roll. I listened to cowboy songs (the Sons of the Pioneers) "Your Hit Parade" and didn't give much thought to classical music, although--as a Lutheran--I was exposed to the church music of Bach.



While in high school I got my first radio job, as a disk jockey (I hate that term) playing different kinds of music, some of which was classical. I began to develop a love and taste for the music, which grew during my college years.



Since I have been in and out of radio in the years since then I have continued to be exposed to all kinds of music.



I find that I have a highly varied range of musical tastes. Gone are the cowboy songs--but I do like some country music (especially Johnny Horton and Johnny Cash) and have a growing affinity for good Bluegrass.



I like some Rock and Roll, mainly that of the late 1960's and early to mid '70's. I like a lot of classical music, including Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Vivaldi, Chopin, et al, but the list continues to grow as I expose myself to Ravel, Mahler, Wagner and others. There is so much good music that I cannot become bored of it.



Frankly there are some modern classical pieces that don't do much for me. If I happen to hear them on a classical music radio station that's when I usually pop in a CD.



I consider myself fortunate to have seen a lot of changes in the ways we are exposed to music and are able to hear the music we choose. When I was a small child music came on 78 rpm records and was all monaural. I saw the introduction of "binaural" or stereo, 45 rpm records, 33 rpm long play records, reel to reel home audiotape, cassettes, 8-tracks, CD's and the MP3 players so popular today. I have seen the rise and fall of 4-track audio, and have been a little amazed at the popularity of music videos.



I have been fortunate on a few occasions to have seen and heard live symphonic performances.



To me variety is everything. No, I am not a little child with a short attention span. And I am rarely bored. It always amazes me when people dismiss any music as having no merit. Even the music I dislike has some merit to some person or persons.



I could write a very long list of music I would just as soon avoid having to listen to, but in most cases I have listened to it and know full well why I would prefer to avoid it.



Your question suggests that you are open to music less familiar to you, as am I. We never dislike music we have liked--it just moves back a little to make room for music we (perhaps temporarily) like more.



It's not like a teenager who was infatuated with Britney a few years ago and now can't stand to listen to her. We don't lose our past musical loves when we meet new ones. But like the teenager we know what we like for right now and that is where we focus.



Good question. Thank you for your insightful answer to mine a few days ago. I'm glad the voters chose it as best answer. It would have been my choice as well.

Answer 9

Taste definitely changes - or should I say "evolves"? And it's only natural, since we constantly change who we are. Maybe we should call this process "taste growing" - like we say we "grow" under the influence of everything that happens to us...



My taste has been expanding. I still love everything I used to love to listen/play, and a lot of others joined in. For instance, as a teenager I couldn't stand Bach and Chopin. Now I frequently play their works - and I love it. Also, "my favourite piano/violin/cello/etc. concertos", "my favourite symphonies" and so on, are exactly the same as 15 years ago. But maybe that's just me... anyway, I'd be terribly surprised to wake up one morning and realize I prefer Wagner to Puccini ;)



Very good question... best luck

Answer 10

Oh dear, you're scaring me! I'm one of the few people my age who actually loves classical music (I'm 22), and I hope I never get tired of any of it. I'm still a neophyte, I generally prefer the Romantics, but I've been moving through Bach and love that too, in a different way, and one of these days I'll get to 20th century music. Wagner, though, may take me a while to like... :) I don't doubt his genius, but it's not exactly your everyday stuff!



This may be a silly question, but have you ever tried other genres of music? Newer stuff? And do you like any rock? I'm not trying to sound like a know-it-all, believe me (you'd know better than I would!), but a lot of music in other genres is great too. Maybe it's not quite as good as classical, but I still love it. You've probably heard the best classic rock songs (like Stairway to Heaven), don't know if you like those... I'm thinking specifically, though, of some alternative rock bands (the stuff that isn't usually on the radio) and, believe it or not, a few gothic metal bands. A lot of them are predictably awful (cheesy lyrics and pop voices, or bombastic music and "growlers", horrors like that), but a few are amazing- they have classically-trained songwriters who aren't afraid to experiment, fronted by opera singers. It sounds like a strange combination, I never thought I'd like metal anything!, but bands like Nightwish (until the last album with their new singer) have some great songs. Even my dad likes them, and that's saying something. He has a classical music collection to die for, over 400 records and 200 CD's, and I don't think he's listened to anything else in years. (Yeah, not everything new is hip-hop and Brittany Spears, thank God!)



Well, it's worth a shot, it may be something new... Otherwise I can't help you, you obviously know much more about classical music than I do.



I hope you find something. Interesting question!

Answer 11

As one gets older the music that fits one's animas shifts. I should never had considered Schumann in my youth but now I never tire of his cello music. Mahler , I adored in my youth but now deem him an adolescent never really reaching maturity. I shall never tire of Wagner; Ii am constantly finding new marvels in his truly great works. I agree on the Beetroot , excepting the marvellous late quartets and wonderful piano sonatas. Sibelius always has, and I'm very much afraid always will do absolutely nothing for me. Mozart, only the vocal music retains any hold...BUT BACH will always inhabit a special place in both mine and any musician's heart.



The Russian Opera greats is something I have turned in the last 10 years, attending a Kirov performance of Boris(1869) under Gergiev shall remain one of the most sublime experience in my life of listening to music.

Answer 12

The only one would the music of the Strauss family,Blue Danube and the like.

When I first discovered classical music I loved that stuff.

Now,well I'd rather garrote myself with cheese wire.

Why,well I don't know.

Not to be disparaging to this music of course.





Arggh! You mentioned the fourth string quartet.

Oh I really love that piece if only for the last few bars which I think are so amazing that it more than compensates for all that preceded.

Or am I confusing it with another?

I will have to go and check.





Dohh! as my avatar would say.

I had indeed confused the one with the other.

The other being the rapturous ending of the 2nd.