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Music reviews-Why I love the music I love

Del monaco

Del Monaco
I have you might call an ‘eclectic’ taste when it comes to music.
My teenage years were wrapped around Bowie with a lovely nostalgic background wash of John Denver, Johnny Mathis, Jim Croce and Bread, courtesy of my parents. I’ve always been interested in theatre.I loved writing and acting and that developed into a love of musicals and melodrama. This love of drama and theatre permeates and continues to influence my musical tastes.
I put forward my grandmother as my introduction into classical and opera. She was a teacher who played the piano and loved opera. My first steps into classical were through her cassette of Peter and the Wolf. An old actor narrated, who may have been Ralph Richardson. The music took me to places and seemed to convey every emotion explicitly. Fear, love and anxiety were all there in the music.
Meeting my future wife gave me impetus. Her father was a man deeply passionate about classical music. He bathed in Toscanini, Horowitz and Fischer-Dieskau.His system was something to behold as well.My National Panasonic music-centre paled in comparison. It was the first time had experienced sound like it and it gave a cleaner window into music. Naim and Linn initially, then Krell, Kef and ML. He contributed my first proper hifi on my wedding day.I still have the Marantz Cassette Deck!
But back to the music! Once hooked on classical I couldn’t get enough. Penguin Guides and Gramophone became staples and I quickly established a basic library through Bath Compact Discs, HMV and the wonderful Naxos range bought at Windows in Newcastle.
Classical music moves me more than any other genre. Whether it’s the aching beauty of a Shostakovich Violin Concerto or the shattering journey of Otello, it takes me to places that other music only hints at.
My favourite composers are Puccini, Verdi, Beethoven and Rachmaninov though I travel across all. I also love the hear-stopping and ethereal beauty of Arvo Part’s pieces. Can’t us to the Memory of Benjamin Britten is imprinted on my sub conscious forever. My favourite pieces are the Late Beethoven String Quartets with the Italian Quartet, Chopin with Arrau, Rachmaninov with Argerich, Verdi with Toscanini and Puccini with Barbirolli and the lovely sensitive Pappano. Haitink’s compelling Shostakovich always gets an outing. I love Callas with her sense of theatre but it only makes sense to me when I see her. I mostly return to Scotto, Tebaldi or Varady when I need emotion. The old tenors do it for me. Bergonzi and Bjoerling princes for me, though the later Jon Vickers towers above recent tenors for me. His Otello and Grimes would be enough to cement any tenor’s reputation. A glorious, generous, even cavernous voice that evokes memories of Di Stefano in his peacock prime. Voices have to move me and sincerity is my marker. Some technical greats leave me cold.
I do foray into more popular tastes and have penchant for individual voices, including Nick Cave(majestic) and late Johnny Cash( real) but my heart lies in classical.
So, that’s my pleasure.What is yours?
 
Like your 'Why ...' threads :)

I coast most genres, from extreme to extreme, the more extreme the better ie Free Jazz, D/Metal and most things in between other than Pop charts and Country (oddly I really like Lyle Lovett but that's the exception).

Streaming has opened this world of the new, old favorites, weird, beautiful. - Best thing ever.

We are lucky to have the musical universe at our fingertips these days.
 
Like your 'Why ...' threads :)

I coast most genres, from extreme to extreme, the more extreme the better ie Free Jazz, D/Metal and most things in between other than Pop charts and Country (oddly I really like Lyle Lovett but that's the exception).

Streaming has opened this world of the new, old favorites, weird, beautiful. - Best thing ever.

We are lucky to have the musical universe at our fingertips these days.
Streaming is great and it opens up a whole world of possibilities and off favourites. Like owning your own shop. The fact that it can sound extremely good is bonus. I must try some free jazz.Any recommendations?
 
I am very fortunate in that i put on a 3 hour drive time music program on radio/internet 3MBS [ Melbourne ] . The emphasis is very much classical but jazz , folk ,world ,film ,shows are all acceptable . The only taboos are rock, pop, country and western . So I can indulge myself playing any of the 25000 cds from the radio library or any of my own . Recent especial favourites are the " Best Audiophile Voices " volumes 1-7 . Doing the preparation and the show has kept me sane during our world record lockdown here on Melbourne .
 
I always knew there was a tune inside me that I had to hear. But the problem was that I had no idea who had written it or how it even sounded. So I would randomly buy LPs and hope that I would eventually find 'it'.
Mahler got close, Sibelius gripped like nothing else, but I still couldn't find it. Years went by. One day - and I don't even remember where - some tune by Elgar wafted through my ears. And there it was - what I'd
been yearning for all along. The sound of someone else yearning. Almost every tune he wrote seems to have this quality.
 
Any more stories of where your musical tastes came from?

Mainly late 60's British/American rock ( in my opinion ) the most creative time in popular music, also enjoy Classical Vaughan Williams in particular, however l listen to 'anything that is good' and enjoy trawling Charity shops looking for CD's and records.

Music not listened to;

Rap or any of that Urban stuff, Drill etc- utter rubbish, with folk who are so out of tune and the use of them blooming drum machines:mad:.

All that said the beauty of music is that there are so many genres of it, suppose there is no right or wrong.:)
 
I always knew there was a tune inside me that I had to hear. But the problem was that I had no idea who had written it or how it even sounded. So I would randomly buy LPs and hope that I would eventually find 'it'.
Mahler got close, Sibelius gripped like nothing else, but I still couldn't find it. Years went by. One day - and I don't even remember where - some tune by Elgar wafted through my ears. And there it was - what I'd
been yearning for all along. The sound of someone else yearning. Almost every tune he wrote seems to have this quality.

In my mind, Mahler nailed it with Urlicht. In my mind, it is the finest piece of music ever written. The best version I've heard is by Fassbaender/Chailly but this one with Baker on vocals and Bernstein at the helm is decent enough, even if a tad on the slow side:

 
Mainly late 60's British/American rock ( in my opinion ) the most creative time in popular music, also enjoy Classical Vaughan Williams in particular, however l listen to 'anything that is good' and enjoy trawling Charity shops looking for CD's and records.

Music not listened to;

Rap or any of that Urban stuff, Drill etc- utter rubbish, with folk who are so out of tune and the use of them blooming drum machines:mad:.

All that said the beauty of music is that there are so many genres of it, suppose there is no right or wrong.:)
Also fond of Vaughan Williams. Love the London Symphony .
 
My Father was a huge classical music fan, but I'm afraid it wasn't that that influenced my musical journey... thinking back I think it must have been his occasional spinning of Irish music.
However, it was a long while before I discovered the World of Irish and general Folk music.
In the 70's I loved the West coast sound of The Eagles, Bread, Beach Boys, singer/songwriters such as James Taylor and Carly Simon.
Then the 80's came along and I really didn't take to the new wave sound at all. A friend of mine introduced me to Soul/Smooth Jazz and my love of that went on for about 10 years, but the genre was taking a different direction which didn't do it for me and eventually I found myself back to that Acoustic sound where I really started.
I write a Folk/Acoustic blog and upload podcasts to Spotify and Mixcloud, all Folk and Acoustic based which keeps me busy, hopefully brings enjoyment to others and occupies me during retirement.
Back to classical music, over the years I have found myself enjoying the occasional piece, Vaughan Williams's The Lark Ascending has to be one of the most beautiful pieces ever written and I want it played at my funeral.
Mac
 
I view my musical taste as a journey. I grew up an only child in a classical household so it wasn’t until about age 9-10 or so that I really started hearing pop or rock music at friends houses. I dived straight into T. Rex etc, and from there moved into psyche, prog etc via a friend’s older sister’s record collection. Then punk happened, which largely passed me by (I was 13), but I did buy some Sex Pistols, Devo, Stranglers etc, plus I always liked electronica so had started discovering Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk etc by then, plus early Hawkwind, Floyd etc. I was the right age by the time new-wave arrived in 1979-81 so dived head first into that and absorbed the DIY mindset of that era which has largely formed my attitude to music since. I kept on that path right through the ‘80s indie scene and became an active participant right at the heart of things in Liverpool. Towards the later parts of the ‘80s I started paying attention to jazz (the budget ‘A Sample Of Blue Notes’ compilation LP being ground zero), which has been my main trajectory since, plus electronica was reborn into many new interesting forms which I have followed. Pretty much everything else is in there too somewhere too, e.g. dub reggae, soul, funk, Americana, African music etc. I try to look both forwards and backwards and I will never become bored seeking out new (to me) stuff of all eras.

I can’t really fit classical into the above timeline, though it has always coexisted to some degree. I have always loved Bach, Chopin solo piano etc, but I have always struggled with ‘popular classical’, the familiar romantic symphonic works etc. Early in the ‘80s I had a girlfriend who was a music student and she introduced me to the outer reaches of Schoenberg, Webern, Stockhausen, Cage etc, so I’ve had an interest there for a very long time. As such my classical journey has been attacking it from both ends but largely avoiding the middle ground. I still tend to prefer smaller scale/chamber stuff to orchestral, e.g. my favourite Beethoven works by far are the late string quartets. I also got heavily into minimalism (Riley, Reich, Glass etc) back in the late-80s and found that linked very well with the emerging techno scene.
 
The thing I like about this hobby is that I don’t know what I don’t like until I hear it and even then, I forget that I don’t like it. I sometimes suspect that I appreciate, more than I should, the work of producers/arrangers when I hear a surprise hook that catches you off guard, as in the Move or 10cc, or the entrance of some unexpected instrument like Henry Lowther’s electric violin on Keef Hartley or John Mayall’s harmonium on Bare Wires or Van Morrison blowing a discordant sax blast when you least expect it. I guess I’m in a late 60s/ early 70s Brit blues time warp continuum mixed with Soul of any descriptionand Amy, and Stevie and Tamla tambourine and, and,and. I do keep trying though, promise.
 
mmm…

My Dad ran a youth club which had a Friday night disco, with a large dance floor.

The equipment was Carlsbro (local company) and I would spend most Friday nights in the D.J. booth with Rob (? I can’t remember) watching him get the crowd (150+) dancing. I soon got into sifting through his large collection of 45’s, and even got to spin discs when he had a fag break.
This also got me into dancing, which I was good at. It attracted Girls, so a bonus.
This was for a few years in the mid 1970’s, Disco was huge and being in the East Mids, there was a massive Tamla Motown and Northern Soul following.

The flipside of this joyous situation for an 11 yr. old was that my parents had little interest in music and HiFi. We had a basic BSR deck, which I regarded as mine. My Mam would play Bridge Over Troubled Water (album) on repeat, Johnny Mathis, and various musicals.

I tried many types of music, including a lot of classical music. I would focus on a sound for a while, collect my favourites, then find something else. This didn’t mean that I stopped listening to a certain style, in fact I still play albums that I have from the age of about 15.

I have you might call an ‘eclectic’ taste when it comes to music.

:)

I have never met anyone who has such a varied taste as my own.
From Point Blank ‘Nailbomb’ to Mahler. Gyuto Monks from Tibet to Just-Ice, I enjoy a massive range of music.

I will happily listen to Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra or Sassy Vaughan.

More experimental electronic noise is nectar to me, as is turntablism.
I like trash metal, heavy metal or Blues. Male Voice choral music cuts me in half. Well formed Pop can be great, Hi-N.R.G. is hypnotic. I think whether one can dance or not greatly affects the width of musical choice. Men who cannot dance are soo funny.

It makes me smile the backwards viewpoint of ‘rap’ Hip-Hop on pfm, obviously a deep rooted schism, maybe an illustration of how Old White Man pfm is? For another thread ;)

Most things are worth a listen I find, although the modern Pop/Folk trend I find a bit nauseating.

My closest oldest friend (an Artist) occasionally comes out with the statement that he likes all kinds of music. I only have to put a female vocalist on the Stereo for him to give me the negatives. We have had a big influence on each other musically, but he avoids anything mainstream. It offends his Arty affectations :)

I don’t mind saying that Jazz took me a while to get into properly, with no family or friend influences it has been a ‘suck and see’ journey. I had a Chris Barber album when young, I don’t think that helped. My mates Dad was a massive Dixieland jazz fan, this also was a put off. By the end of the 90’s I had some Jazz that I loved, it had finally clicked with me.

Classical music, I find gives me the biggest emotional punches. For that reason I sometimes avoid playing it as it can be exhausting. I find it very personal, and rarely mention it on pfm. I have been to some concerts, which often leave me as a blubbering wreck.

And then there is Kate Bush, Bowie and Prince. This is more than music to me, and I am glad to be alive during their lifetimes.

I could go on, but need tea.
 
My parents had/have no interest in music, my Dad's old fashioned beyond his years, my Mum not so and quite a bit more open minded. They did play one side of Bridge over Troubled water ( a gift from my Aunt & Uncle) very loudly EVERY Sunday after church while making the Sunday dinner.
I have a brother 5 years older than myself so from I was about 6-7 (1978-79) we started watching TOTP and listening to the charts on a Sunday, he liked The Police and Thin Lizzy. The first music I can remember really liking was Blondie.
Then I heard and watched the Ashes to Ashes video on TOTP, it immediately struck a chord, my mum told me that Bowie had a song about Major Tom in the late 60's which intrigued me further. The first three Lps I bought were Space Oddity, Heroes and The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust...shortly after Bowie released Let's Dance which I wasn't really that fussed on. I discovered The Smiths which led me to buying the NME and started listening to a lot of indie bands throughout the 80's, Husker Du were a big favourite.
During my teenage years I listened alot to local radio at night which introduced me to The Band , Cat Stevens , Van Morrison, The Doors, Led Zeppelin and many other rock and pop bands from the past, there was also a lady called Candy Divine who played mainly Motown Blues and Soul music on a late night show every Thursday which I thoroughly enjoyed.
I think that probably Massive Attack, Portishead and the other trip hop bands were the last new genre to really catch my ears.
These bands and artists all remain firm favourites to this day.
Classical music is fine as background , Jazz I don't like much at all, for me personally the genius is the songwriter, combining lyrics, melody, rhythm, etc
I'm always looking for something new, something fresh but I find most new releases a regurgitation of what has past though there has been and is new artistes that I enjoy.
 
It makes me smile the backwards viewpoint of ‘rap’ Hip-Hop on pfm, obviously a deep rooted schism, maybe an illustration of how Old White Man pfm is? For another thread ;)

There are a couple of very outspoken dad-rock fans, but I suspect you’ll find rather more rap, hip-hop and related music in collections here than you might expect!
 
There are a couple of very outspoken dad-rock fans, but I suspect you’ll find rather more rap, hip-hop and related music in collections here than you might expect!

I know there are some more open-minded listeners, but the Haters are very quick to spew bile.

It is like a self-congratulatory ‘Hate Club.’

Pathetic.
 


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