advertisement


How did you get into classical music?

windhoek

windhoek

The Phoolosopher
Following on from this 1812 thread in the audio section, perhaps we should have a thread of our own where we can share how we ended up getting into classical music... or own up as to how we got into classical music, as the case may be.

I'm gonna have to own up: it was the 1812 Overture that did it for me but in tandem with Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in Em. I was kindly given both pieces of music to listen to on cassette by an old friend, now deceased, and whether I was commuting on the bus or simply walking around, I soon played both pieces enough to appreciate and enjoy them in their entirety.

That was around 1990. But it wasn't until 1999 or thereabouts that another old friend of mine turned me on to Shostakovich's 5th Symphony. He loaned me the CD he had but I returned it after just one listen saying I just couldn't get into it. Thankfully, he wasn't about to give up on me so easily so he put it back in my hand and urged me to give it another chance, promising it had so much to offer if only I could stick with it. And I'm so glad I did. If the aforementioned pieces by Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn opened the door for me, it was Shostakovich who brought me fully inside, fully into the world of classical music.

How did you get into classical music?
 
Always in the background. My parents never listened to anything else. My dad plays piano, a good sight-reader, he likes Bach, Chopin etc. Still hanging in there at 89 years old, though he just has a little Yamaha or Casio type keyboard now. My mothers taste was very ‘popular classical’, which never really did anything for me. As such nothing much connected with me and I found my own path with rock and pop. I always liked Bach though.

My first real exploration was via an early girlfriend who was a music student. She introduced me to Schoenberg, Berg, Webern, Stockhausen (I introduced myself to Stockhausen decades later, got his autograph like a right fanboy!). Stuff which took a while for the penny to drop, but it did and I got to love it and then found my way into minimalism etc.

As such I started from both ends; Bach and 20th century stuff. It took me a very long time to grow to really like all the stuff in the middle, and to this day I’m more comfortable with chamber works than symphonic or opera. As an example if someone says ‘Beethoven’ I think late string quartets or piano sonatas, not symphonies. I’ve grown to really love the string quartet as a form, a lot of my favourite classical is in this genre. Solo piano too. So much wonderful stuff there. That said I’m almost at the stage of loving everything now, e.g. a month or two ago I found how much I like Dvorak symphonies, a few months before that the same with Sibelius. Just so much to explore…
 
Tony L said:
Always in the background. My parents never listened to anything else. My dad plays piano, a good sight-reader, he likes Bach, Chopin etc.
Click to expand...

Same here. Dad bought a Bechstein grand for the living room and was always playing it. Mostly Bach.

We always had a good selection of 78s and then LPs. Lipatti, Cortot, Toscanini, Horowitz etc.

I can't remember not having classical music in the house. I started playing piano quite early, but was mostly self taught.

I played clarinet and then French horn in the school orchestra, then double bass which I stayed with.
 
Tchaikovsky Winter Dreams Symphony in the 1950s on my parent's radiogram.

Violin lessons at two grammar schools, leading to playing Haydn and Handel in youth orchestras in the very early 1960s

A school visit to a Mozart concert, the same music played on a school Quad valve system, with analysis

FM Radio in the late 1960s to 1970s resulted in a pile of Mahler, Shostakovich, Schoenberg, Tippett and Stockhausen LPs. It was a time of great discovery and they are still regularly played in CD format.

I came to Edinburgh in 1994 and went to Usher Hall etc many, many times from then until the pandemic..
 
I started going to concerts with grandparents and ballet performances with parents aged 6 or 7 but neither listened to Classical music at home.
My dad isn't really that much into music and my mum liked '60s, Brazilian and French music.
 
2001 (Ligeti)
Ascent of Man (Bartok)
These were my earliest introductions - when I heard them I just had to find out what they were and everything went on from there.
Became a member at Birmingham music library (remember when you could borrow LP's ;) ) and spent many years just trying out different composers.

Then a few later the CBSO was lucky enough to hire Simon Rattle and he opened many doors to music - later still was the formation of the BCMG for music on a smaller scale.
 
1966 my father bought Lenco Gl75, Leak Stereo 30 & sandwich speakers - over the years I was introduced to Sibelius 2, Bruckner 7, Ravel chamber music, Chopin mazurkas & polonaises.
He also took me to hear the Amadeus Quartet & Paul Tortelier (in York Minster).
Eventually I was allowed to use the system myself.
 
My old friend who introduced me Shostakovich's 5th was studying music at uni at the time (classical guitar was his primary instrument) and it was also he who got me to my first classical concert: The Planets and Enigma Variations at the Royal Concert Hall here in Glasgow. Again, this was around 1999 or 2000. It was an eye-opening experience. I can still remember one guy standing up at the close of Enigma Variations and proclaiming, "Yes," as he clenched his fists together and locked both arms into the classic puggy machine handle pose; you know, how they look when you pull them down to a 45 degree angle. A satisfied customer, for sure!
 
I got into classical as a child/teenager by trying (and mostly failing) to learn to play the piano, listening to the radio (Radio 3 sort of stuff), going to concerts with my parents, building amplifiers and listening to the radio some more. The musical diet was mostly late baroque and early classical, with some early 20th century thrown in for good measure. Mostly orchestral and choral. The orchestra in the town where I grew up was more of a chamber orchestra than a full symphony, so the repertoire reflected that: lots of Mozart, Haydn, Handel, Bach, Vivaldi, Schubert... Chamber music, symphonies from the classical or contemporary period, oratorios and cantatas.

Once I'd started to develop a love for some of these composers, I went to the town's public library where you could borrow 3 or 4 LPs every week once you'd brought your stylus for inspection. This helped me to branch out into the Romantic and late Romantic periods. Later on, I fell in love with Bartók, Stravinski, Debussy and other more recent geniuses.
 
PsB said:
I went to the town's public library where you could borrow 3 or 4 LPs every week once you'd brought your stylus for inspection. This helped me to branch out into the Romantic and late Romantic periods. Later on, I fell in love with Bartók, Stravinski, Debussy and other more recent geniuses.
Click to expand...

That's interesting - bringing your stylus for inspection!

Nice photo of Bartok. Very much the equal of Shostakovich but seemingly less popular.
 
My father, my music mentor, listening to Debussy and Wagner amongst other composers, I started listening to classical at a very early age.
He insisted I listened to Handel but I just didn't like him and I still don't!
He also introduced me to Jazz.
Music was played from morning to night in my parents house.

My father had no time for television saying it was a distraction to what was important, Music!
 
cobbers said:
2001 (Ligeti)
Ascent of Man (Bartok)
These were my earliest introductions - when I heard them I just had to find out what they were and everything went on from there.
Became a member at Birmingham music library (remember when you could borrow LP's ;) ) and spent many years just trying out different composers.

Then a few later the CBSO was lucky enough to hire Simon Rattle and he opened many doors to music - later still was the formation of the BCMG for music on a smaller scale.
Click to expand...
Nice one , i love ligetti . Friend is generous donor of cbso and goes to all the concerts
 
My family was not musical but there was a "Dansette"-type record player. There were uninspiring school music lessons. Friends at school were into a lot of different music and talked about it - but not classical. Curious to find out what enthused them I started buying LPs (The Who, David Bowie, ... but not classical).

After school it was on to University in 1975 as a "Physical Electronics" undergraduate. Close friends I made in the Electronics Department were into HiFi and classical music. Also I made friends with others staying in the same hall of residence who were in the Music Department, and an undergraduate Civil Engineer into classical music.

I decided that engineering education needed to be balanced by exposure to the more subjective arts. With those friends and the Turner Sims concert hall on campus I embarked on a journey of discovery. The rest is history.
 
cobbers said:
2001 (Ligeti)
Ascent of Man (Bartok)
These were my earliest introductions - when I heard them I just had to find out what they were and everything went on from there.
Became a member at Birmingham music library (remember when you could borrow LP's ;) ) and spent many years just trying out different composers.

Then a few later the CBSO was lucky enough to hire Simon Rattle and he opened many doors to music - later still was the formation of the BCMG for music on a smaller scale.
Click to expand...
I was an apprentice sparky at brum council. On wednesdays George Ball used to practise on the organ in the Town Hall. All the wino's would come in for a warm, as it was free. That was my first experience of hearing was causes a building to shake. Never got into it, but do appreciate it. My mate (RIP) played a cello. Wow
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top