For those of you brave enough to read past the title, congratulations! Now instead of me talking about music by people my age, you get to hear me talk about music written by dead people. Well, they weren’t dead when they wrote it… but let’s not confuse the issue.
I grew up listening to lots of classical music. This was pretty much due to the fact that my parents listened to lots of classical music, and I was too young to buy records or run the record player. So classical it was. I remember Bach Cello suites, including a neat recording played by John Williams or Segovia or somebody on the guitar. Dad liked Stravinsky, so we heard some of that, too. And then there was the requisite Beethoven, and then some fun stuff by Prokofiev. (Though the title “Love for Three Oranges” sounds kinda kinky now that I think about it…)
Then I started taking piano lessons, and gained some more personal appreciation for composers. I think I initially got started playing Grieg because my friend Lydia was playing him, and I wanted to out-do her. However, he quickly became a favorite. Then I got my skill up to where I could tackle Chopin’s Ballades. They’re still some of my favorites. (How do I pick between No. 1 in G-Minor and No. 4 in F minor? Too tough to call!) And then there was Rachmaninoff. I hacked through his Second Piano Concerto during my first couple of years of high school. It was only after college that I picked up some of his Preludes, Etudes Tableux, and his wonderful arrangement of Kreisler’s Liebesfreud.
Oh, and any talk about my classical music history wouldn’t be complete without mentioning that tape of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture and Capriccio Italien that got played over and over and over and over in the van.
I don’t have classical music on that much any more; I’m going to have to make sure that I turn it on more often so Laura and Addison grow up with at least an exposure to it. Laura, though, already watches a Classical Baby DVD that has a bunch of good stuff on it; Mozart, Bach, Schumann, Bartok, and Villa Lobos, to name just a few. I guess that’s a good start. Next I’ll pull out some Mussorgsky…
I had the same experience growing up, but instead of producing a love of classical music in me, it produced a great hatred, probably because my parents would permit me to listen to almost nothing else.
But thankfully I’ve gotten over that – I still hate classical radio, as what they play what to classical as adult contemporary is to art rock – but recently I’ve discovered some wonderful classical composers, especially of the Russian variety that I love very much.
*dan
Yeah, classical radio always leaves something wanting. However, my local library has a nice selection of classical CDs available…
Which Russians are you fond of, Dan? Rachmaninoff is still my favorite. Oh, and did I mention his Vespers? Beautiful, a capella choir stuff. Amazing.
I love classical music. I don’t listen to it nearly enough. Beethoven is probably my favorite (I made an MP3 CD with all nine symphonies, about 10 piano sonatas, and a couple string trios that gets a lot of use.) but I also love Bach, Vivaldi, Chopin, and Stravinsky.
I’m about due for another classical music phase.
Rachmaninoff most certainly, but also some of the obscure greats like Modest Mussorgsky, Alexander Glazunov, Tchaikovsky, and of course Igor Stravinsky.
*dan