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Old 12-17-2020, 04:43 PM
Petronius Petronius is offline
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Default On Listening to Classical Music

Colleagues,
As you know, yesterday was Beethoven's birthday. 250 years. In order to sufficiently celebrate this I went to the grocery store and found myself in the beer aisle. A nice tasty lager seemed in order, along with some red meat.
After selecting Guinness Blond (Budweiser doesn't cut it) I went to pay for my stuff I mentioned to the checker whom I know that it was Beethoven's birthday and I was going to listen to a recording or two and once again enjoy his genius with my spouse and my dog. The cats will probably leave the room.
overhearing me, a rather attractive woman (one mustn't say girl or lady any more) remarked that her mother, occasionally listened to classical music because it was so relaxing. What! What is she listening to Mantovani? It sure as hell wasn't Beethoven! One doesn't listen to Beethoven to relax. I of course didn't say that. What I did say was "oh?"
"Oh yes, and she usually reads when she has it on."
Egad! I'm reminded of Schroeder in the Peanuts cartoon strip, "BEETHOVEN IS THE MEANING OF LIFE!!"
It was meaning less to pursue this exchange any further, so I wished Patty (the checker) a Merry Christmas (I'm NOT P.C.) and then the young woman also.
As we on this site know, listening is a personal thing. What ever the composer has in mind, we have to find it within the notes written, and then expressed by the performer. I won't drag this on any further, but I once had a conductor say during rehearsal, that to play Beethoven's music at any less than fff (unless called for), was stylistically incorrect.
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Old 12-17-2020, 06:18 PM
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May be of some interest.........Here's a thread from some time ago on Beethoven's symphonies and our go to performances:

https://www.audioaficionado.org/show...ight=beethoven
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Old 12-17-2020, 06:25 PM
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Default On Listening to Classical Music

Well said, although I must say I do find some of the string quartets “relaxing.”

IMG_0558.JPG
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Old 12-17-2020, 06:52 PM
PHC1 PHC1 is offline
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Relaxing is “easy listening” genre to me, not classical. Relaxing means very passive. I like Zen Garden Music for that.

Classical music for the most part is never relaxing. It is supposed to stir the soul and evoke powerful emotions. The emotional response varies of course depending on the composer, the period and instruments, the musical piece and even the performance. The emotional state can evoke a light euphoria, or sadness, or nostalgia or a dozen others. Isn’t that the whole point of music and virtually any genre?

I however doubt one can find many examples of the popular and well known classical music compositions that will leave one completely devoid of any emotional response if they are actively listening.

Some people just don’t relate well to classical music and perhaps either cannot or do not want to handle the emotional baggage of classical music.
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Old 12-17-2020, 07:08 PM
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Play Bach’s “Ich steh mit einem Fuß im Grabe” (I am standing with one foot in the grave), BWV 156 (organ)... Tell me that doesn’t bring goosebumps and make the hair on the back of your neck stand up...
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Old 12-17-2020, 07:31 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PHC1 View Post
Relaxing is “easy listening” genre to me, not classical. Relaxing means very passive...



...Classical music for the most part is never relaxing. It is supposed to stir the soul and evoke powerful emotions.

These are not necessarily opposing ideas, and whether classical music is not relaxing is both a matter of opinion and a matter of one’s understanding of “relaxing.”

Webster lists, among other definitions:
“to make less tense or rigid”
“to relieve from nervous tension”
“to cast off nervous tension, or anxiety”
“to seek rest or recreation”

Classical music can be any or all of those things for me, thus “relaxing.” When I listen to a good recording of Beethoven’s piano concerto #5 at volume, I cast off all tension and am both elated and relaxed.

Of course, another Webster definition is “to relieve constipation.”

YMMV
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Old 12-17-2020, 07:48 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Antonmb View Post
These are not necessarily opposing ideas, and whether classical music is not relaxing is both a matter of opinion and a matter of one’s understanding of “relaxing.”

Webster lists, among other definitions:
“to make less tense or rigid”
“to relieve from nervous tension”
“to cast off nervous tension, or anxiety”
“to seek rest or recreation”

Classical music can be any or all of those things for me, thus “relaxing.” When I listen to a good recording of Beethoven’s piano concerto #5 at volume, I cast off all tension and am both elated and relaxed.

Of course, another Webster definition is “to relieve constipation.”

YMMV
Yes, depends what one considers relaxing. As I mentioned, to me relaxing is passive and without much emotions or thoughts the music can evoke. For the most part it always does. Even the light and cheerful strings of classical make me think or remember something and it usually keeps my attention. Easy listening or zen garden as I call it, I can be doing something else, tune out and not even realize the whole album already played. That’s relaxing to me.
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Old 12-17-2020, 07:57 PM
PHC1 PHC1 is offline
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I also did not enjoy classical music nearly as much for the first 35-40 years of my life. I’ve only learned to appreciate it more the past decade or so. Sure, I kept a few dozen CDs and listened occasionally but it always stirred up too much in me after a busy day with work and family and all that life stuff.

Cheerful strings I could handle. The heavy Baroque drama, I could not.

Harpsichord after a busy day at work was not exactly relaxing to me. I guess one either learns to like it from the early days or has to mature and transition into it? Most of my audiophile friends are not into classical.
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Old 12-18-2020, 03:00 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Antonmb View Post
These are not necessarily opposing ideas, and whether classical music is not relaxing is both a matter of opinion and a matter of one’s understanding of “relaxing.”

Webster lists, among other definitions:
“to make less tense or rigid”
“to relieve from nervous tension”
“to cast off nervous tension, or anxiety”
“to seek rest or recreation”

Classical music can be any or all of those things for me, thus “relaxing.” When I listen to a good recording of Beethoven’s piano concerto #5 at volume, I cast off all tension and am both elated and relaxed.

Of course, another Webster definition is “to relieve constipation.”

YMMV

Tony....
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Old 12-18-2020, 12:35 PM
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As a 10-year-old kid who was listening to AM top 40 radio and whose only LP at that point was "A Hard Day's Night" by the Beatles after seeing the movie on TV. I introduced my dad's LP of the 1812 Overture to my friends. It rocked for us! That said, as we hit fifth grade, Zep and the Stones certainly caught our attention a lot more, and for an extended period.

On the other hand, there are quite a few pieces that can relieve stress, and, although not quite to the level to which Tony refers, LOL!
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