Before I used to listen to classical music I used to listen to a variety of music until I started listening to Radiohead. I liked this group so much that I stopped listening to most other types of music but it did lead me to listen to Aphex Twin as well. After a while I exhausted these two artists but didn’t feel inclined to go back to what I had used to listen to because it seemed to be so inferior by comparison. It is part of the reason I got into classical. Classical was a complete departure from the sort of music I used to listen to so I didn’t find myself so inclined to compare it unfavourably with Radiohead and Aphex Twin.
My liking for Radiohead and Aphex Twin was born of a sort of snobbery in which I felt I had found a superior form of music and no longer felt that other types of music were worthy of listening to. The snobbery was partly based on the fact that I felt Radiohead and Aphex Twin were not easily accessible artists likely to be liked by everyone.
Now that I’m listening to classical I am wondering if the same might happen and I don’t really want it to because it will limit me as it did before.
Specifically the older music is less sophisticated because technique has evolved and improved over the years. I try to appreciate the fact that older artists were geniuses in their time and every bit as skilled as those composers that followed but when I hear something that is more modern I am wondering if it is ruining my ability to appreciate the composers from long ago who could not employ the same range of techniques because they had not been developed.
I don’t know enough about classical to give concrete examples but it would be something like Beethoven maybe being influenced by Mozart but then developing music beyond this. Composers who followed Beethoven were more likely to be influenced by Beethoven than Mozart because he had taken Mozart’s music to the next level. Does this mean that as listeners we are wasting our time listening to Mozart rather than Beethoven?
In more general terms (genres rather than specific composers) music has evolved from Baroque, through Classical and Romantic to Modern. I know that Shostakovich is not exactly modern (or is he?) but his music seems to break new territory in that it began to be less tonal and I know that what followed was a revolution in music in which it began to experiment with atonality. Again, when I listen to music from the likes of Shostakovich it can make me feel that music by the likes of Mozart is relatively simplistic and my snobbery of wanting to listen to less accessible forms of music kicks in.
I’m not saying that Mozart wasn’t one of the greatest geniuses ever but I still find myself wondering if music hasn’t progressed to a point where he is less worth listening to.
Of course you might say to me “listen to what you enjoy and stop thinking about things in this way” but attitude towards music can affect ones enjoyment of it. Am I just guilty of snobbery or is my inclination towards less accessible music justified in some sense? Really I want to be open to all that classical has to offer because if I limit myself too much I will find that I very quickly exhaust the music within the niche I create for myself.
By the way, I am not a completely lost cause yet, I do listen to all sorts and I still enjoy it but I have a sense of the inclination I have just described and I want to stop the rot before it goes too far.
My liking for Radiohead and Aphex Twin was born of a sort of snobbery in which I felt I had found a superior form of music and no longer felt that other types of music were worthy of listening to. The snobbery was partly based on the fact that I felt Radiohead and Aphex Twin were not easily accessible artists likely to be liked by everyone.
Now that I’m listening to classical I am wondering if the same might happen and I don’t really want it to because it will limit me as it did before.
Specifically the older music is less sophisticated because technique has evolved and improved over the years. I try to appreciate the fact that older artists were geniuses in their time and every bit as skilled as those composers that followed but when I hear something that is more modern I am wondering if it is ruining my ability to appreciate the composers from long ago who could not employ the same range of techniques because they had not been developed.
I don’t know enough about classical to give concrete examples but it would be something like Beethoven maybe being influenced by Mozart but then developing music beyond this. Composers who followed Beethoven were more likely to be influenced by Beethoven than Mozart because he had taken Mozart’s music to the next level. Does this mean that as listeners we are wasting our time listening to Mozart rather than Beethoven?
In more general terms (genres rather than specific composers) music has evolved from Baroque, through Classical and Romantic to Modern. I know that Shostakovich is not exactly modern (or is he?) but his music seems to break new territory in that it began to be less tonal and I know that what followed was a revolution in music in which it began to experiment with atonality. Again, when I listen to music from the likes of Shostakovich it can make me feel that music by the likes of Mozart is relatively simplistic and my snobbery of wanting to listen to less accessible forms of music kicks in.
I’m not saying that Mozart wasn’t one of the greatest geniuses ever but I still find myself wondering if music hasn’t progressed to a point where he is less worth listening to.
Of course you might say to me “listen to what you enjoy and stop thinking about things in this way” but attitude towards music can affect ones enjoyment of it. Am I just guilty of snobbery or is my inclination towards less accessible music justified in some sense? Really I want to be open to all that classical has to offer because if I limit myself too much I will find that I very quickly exhaust the music within the niche I create for myself.
By the way, I am not a completely lost cause yet, I do listen to all sorts and I still enjoy it but I have a sense of the inclination I have just described and I want to stop the rot before it goes too far.