Classical Newbie Recommendation Request
Even though my grandparents gave me lots of exposure to classical as a child, it's never really stuck. Most of it I don't enjoy, even though I keep looking for a foothold on which to focus my explorations. I may have just found one...
http://www.emusic.com/album/Johann-Johannsson-Virthulegu-Forsetar-MP3-Download/11965476.html
"Virthulegu Forsetar" by Johann Johannsson
I would like to hear more of what he's playing in those 30 second samples. That's the kind of classical I would like to hear.
Quite frankly, I'm not even sure that Johann is considered classical by fans of that music. I do suspect that my preferences in classical are sort of pedestrian, but I really enjoy the sound he's presenting there.
Is there an album or two that I should try that is similar in sound?
I'm looking to build my trail of breadcrumbs through the classical forest one slice at a time.
Cheers.
http://www.emusic.com/album/Johann-Johannsson-Virthulegu-Forsetar-MP3-Download/11965476.html
"Virthulegu Forsetar" by Johann Johannsson
I would like to hear more of what he's playing in those 30 second samples. That's the kind of classical I would like to hear.
Quite frankly, I'm not even sure that Johann is considered classical by fans of that music. I do suspect that my preferences in classical are sort of pedestrian, but I really enjoy the sound he's presenting there.
Is there an album or two that I should try that is similar in sound?
I'm looking to build my trail of breadcrumbs through the classical forest one slice at a time.
Cheers.
Comments
Part?
Lang's Passing Measures?
I wouldn't blanch if the Classical tag is applied to Johannsson. However, some big caveats need to be added as well. His music is emblematic of a meeting ground between Classical and early Ambient that draws upon select features of the classical tradition: adagios, using slow harmonic movements rather than melody to drive a piece, disquiet. There are a number of composers on ECM that cultivate the same qualities--Kancheli and Knaifel come to mind.
The Gorecki was promising, but it's too bad that each tune got interrupted by some lady in the audience standing up yelling at the musicians (maybe that's what it sounds like when Italians demand to hear Freebird). Warning: Humor may not have desired effect.
But I do think that the classical ambient slow harmonic movements might be a good gateway for me into classical. Something with soft lush violins and horns and woodwinds calling out over the top in long slow notes.
I'll keep looking around. Thanks for the recs thus far.
If you liked Johansson (and incidentally of his other albums I think Fordlandia, which has mysteriously disappeared from emusic, has some really nice stuff on it), I would suggest spending some time with Olafur Arnalds:
For a visually as well as aurally delicious sample take a look at this video for the track Lj
I would though recommend Without Sinking by
Hildur Gudnadottir
and then Hauschka's Ferndorf
If I'm allowed a stupid analogy, Jonah, what you've asked is "Even though my grandparents gave me lots of exposure to fruit as a child, it's never really stuck. Most of it I don't enjoy, even though I keep looking for a foothold on which to focus my explorations. I may have just found one... the eggplant. Now what fruit should I eat?"
My suggestion to anyone wanting to get into classical music is to not faff around in these grey areas. There's enough shall we say "obviously" classical music that's accessible without you needing to be gently led from the outskirts in. Listen to a bunch of big, famous, tuneful orchestral works, a handful of chamber music, some piano, one good compilation of opera arias, a few baroque pieces, a little bit of Renaissance polyphony, and something by the Second Viennese School. And if none of it sticks, then you'll just have to accept you don't like classical music.
(Also, try John Luther Adams!)
Besides, young Jonah's grandparents may have only gotten whatever fruit was available at the local market, grown for durability rather than taste. He may never have eaten a date other than the sugar and flour- coated pellets sold for baking.
Similarly, we don't know how Jonah's grandparents tried to expose him to Classical music. In most cases that would mean listening to the orchestral repertoire of the mid-18th to early 20th centuries. Indeed, he might have heard but a small group of recordings whose canonicity was defined by 19th century German scholars attempting to capture the spirit and genius of the nation.
If the most Jonah will get into Classical music is Ravel, I don't see why he must listen to Palestrina or Rimsky-Korsakov first. He wants to branch out, he will. I doubt he would send someone to Dixieland if someone, after hearing US3, decided that they want to hear a little Jazz.
I'd also recommend Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time, and Stravinsky's Petrushka - I could see those appealing to a jazz fan.
If you like film score type stuff, try some symphonic Phillip Glass, like maybe Symphony No. 2, and also some Gershwin.
Disclaimer: I don't know mutton about nuthin. (mutton being the autocorrected version of nuthin, sometimes)
As far as my childhood experiences, it mostly came from the local Chicago classical radio station (WFMT? I forget which), though my grandparents had albums that they'd play as well.
As far as what I've listened to... other than stuff on NPR, some that I like, I've collected a whole ton of those Amazon "The Greatest..." albums that got me 100 pieces of classical for $1.99 and have tried to listen to them all. Also, free samplers. I think I've poked around on the Naxos site a few times, but really can't even remember what the results of it were.
It is possible that in the grand scheme of things that I don't like Classical, but if it's as diverse as I've been led to believe, then I'm sure I can find some exceptions to that statement. The thing is, I'll hear a piece now and then which floats my boat, but when I explore other things by that artist, well, most of it ain't to my tastes. I think the benefit of finding that foothold out on the fringes of a genre is that the sound is going to be one comfortable to my ears and if the composer introduces elements of classical music within the composition, perhaps it will allow my ears to branch out deeper into the genre because I'll see those same elements, presented in different ways, in more traditional classical pieces. Or not.
Thanks for the recs, thus far. I'll be going through them this weekend.
Cheers.
Yeah, classical covers a very broad range, which is why I suggested a bunch of different styles. Few people will like Vivaldi, Schumann, and Webern equally but they're all worth trying. That's how it was when I started listening to classical music, so I understand where you're coming from. My experience, though, is that to get from not liking Mozart to liking Mozart, what I had to do was listen to plenty of Mozart, not something else to lead me to Mozart. Took several years though. On the other hand, to get from not having heard a note of Mahler to becoming a huge Mahler fan took about five minutes. That's why I say throw yourself in at the deep end, repeatedly.
Morales - "Parce mihi Domine"
Mouton - "Nesciens mater"
Both tracks from this album.
Me and Katie were in separate rooms working on various things and the radio was on NPR. After several minutes of beautiful music, we both wound up meeting by the ipod radio and just staring at it like it itself was the reason for the music. I wrote down as much as I could. I was fortunate to get the composer name. Something about a second movement and I think it mentioned wind ensemble. Anyways, I'm trying to get a listen to his music, but everything I go to online is so damn soft to make it unlistenable on my crappy laptop speakers. I'm gonna see if my library can dig something up for me.
Cheers.
P.S. I still mean to go through all the recs here, but since starting the AAJ dotd, it seems like all my free time is listening to submissions and new releases for invites.
The speakers on my laptop are crappy, so I use earphones when I really want to hear something. Makes all the difference in the world. I may listen to some of the samples next time I go to the library.
srsly.
if anyone still connects to bissie, go out of y'er way to share my more than heartfelt appreciation.
srsly.
https://www.newamsterdamrecords.com/?portfolio=now-ensemble-awake
NOW ensemble.
I kind of forgot about this thread. I'm drowning in so much jazz right now, I haven't been able to listen to much of anything else, other than the occasional ambient drone type of thing to start my day off to.
I did discover a couple other names, but I'll have to look them up first. I know I bookmarked their websites somewhere. Maybe Nico Muhly is one, but I could be misremembering that.
Cheers.
Charles Koechlin's "Les Heures Persanes", an hour of hazy piano music