[purple99]

I used to hate this sort of music: over-blown, melodramatic, those soppy grins many sopranos wear when singing a 'happy' bit, then reverting to a face like a smacked a*se when the music's 'serious' again.

But now I can't get enough of it, and the above raises hairs on the back of the neck. A powerful, highly trained soprano, with a lung capacity like a troop of bagpipes (watch Anne Sofie von Otter pump herself up at 1:47 - gosh) is a thing of beauty and wonder.

Do you find your music tastes change over time and, if so, can you trace it to a cause? In my case it was being exposed recently to Dudamel conducting some highly Romantic 19th century stuff. It was an eye-opener and blew away my prejudices.

 

[Frasier]

They do and it's because I fatigue easily with just one genre/period of music. My music collection (which is more of a "just in case" thing than a collection de facto) spans Renaissance to Punk (after which popular styles fell into a kind of super-conservative soup) and contemporary music.

On the classical side they cover orchestral, ensemble, a few soloists, vocal, opera (edit: )and electroacoutic. Notable gaps in my interest nowadays are Haydn and the classicists. I do have a couple of Beethoven Symphonies, the big Mass in D, all the quartets; Brahms, the Symphonies.

So it's a question of the prevailing mood I'm in - or the one I want to be in (music provides an easy transition) and what I've recently heard too much of!

Opera has always been a peculiar issue for me. While a young teen I was taken to see Berg's Lulu. That hooked me. But I could find little more until earlier Rossini. Broadened a bit since as I'm always ready to explore.

 

[World Violist]

I think I would be hard-pressed to find a classical music lover whose taste doesn't change at least sometimes. There's just such a wealth of music in the world; I couldn't stand to have a "taste" for all of it at the same time!

Though I must say, I've been hooked on Mahler and Sibelius for quite some time now...

 

[opus67]

It's inevitable. There's the case of fatigue, as Frasier stated, but there's also the urge to explore. Some territories may be uninhabitable at the moment, while others seem welcoming. There will be day when the uninhabitable would seem like a paradise.

Though I must say, I've been hooked on Mahler and Sibelius for quite some time now...

Wow, really?

 

[Conductor]

Yes... Over time my entire aspect of classical music has changed... and so has my musical appetite.

 

[david johnson]

as you learn and experience, you probably change tastes...or maybe just expand your boundaries.

dj

 

[purple99]

I used to fight shy of Ligeti, thinking of him as too much like hard work. But then discovered I'd liked him for years without realising it! Large chunks of his Requiem appear in one of my favourite films: '2001: A Space Odyssey' (associated with the black monoliths).

 

[Weston]

Yes - it was 2001 that got me into classical to begin with.

I still shy away from Ligeti though. I do like some of the more experimental 20th century pieces, but I believe also we should have a common musical language. Otherwise there can be no surpises. If every note is a surpise, then none of them are.

My musical tastes have expanded. 2001 got me into the huge orchestral sounds of the romantic era. After I discovered the complexity of baroque, I spent decades binging on that almost exclusivley. and though I never warmed entirely to the classic era - especially Mozart - I'm now an absolute fanatic about Beethoven, whom I still consider in the classic period, the pinnacle of it infact. I have begun also to appreciate chamber music such as quartets and piano trios, which in my younger days I would have considered boring because there are no ground shaking orchestral crashes involved. I have since learned to appreciate the subtleties of chamber pieces.

But each of these transitons are an addition, not an entire relacement for my tastes. If I could live a couple hundred years, I might come to love everything.

 

[purple99]

If I could live a couple hundred years, I might come to love everything.

I feel the same. I was watching Star Trek the other day and there was a scene where Captain Pecard was relaxing to a Klingon Mass (or was it a Ressikan flute concerto?)

 

[natas]

I am still not into the classical music, but I know that in this time filled with poprock crap it is impossible to listen to the classical without the progression.

 

[Yagan Kiely]

Anyone who says no (understandably the poll is very one sided. i.e. 100% so) is either lying or has the most closed mind I've ever seen.

 

[marval]

I don't think my musical tastes have changed dramatically, but to a certain extent they have. I think my listening tastes change, depending on the mood I'm in.
I still like what I used to a long time ago, I guess it is just that I have learned to like other music too.

 

[opus67]

I don't think my musical tastes have changed dramatically, but to a certain extent they have. I think my listening tastes change, depending on the mood I'm in.

How do you differentiate musical and listening tastes?

 

[marval]

Well for instance I haven't gone from liking orchestral to opera. But I mean if I am in a happy mood I like to listen to something full on and cheerful, if I am sad then I like something a little bit slower. When I need to concentrate it has to be soft music in the background. My musical taste are a range of classical, but my listening tastes depend on my mood.


Margaret

 

[opus67]

Well for instance I haven't gone from liking orchestral to opera. But I mean if I am in a happy mood I like to listen to something full on and cheerful, if I am sad then I like something a little bit slower. When I need to concentrate it has to be soft music in the background. My musical taste are a range of classical, but my listening tastes depend on my mood.

Margaret

Oh. Thanks for clarifying that.

 

[Chi_townPhilly]

Abstain.

My Classical Music taste is static inasmuch as... once I like a classical piece, I will continue to like it. There are virtually no exceptions to this (Verdi comes close, though).

This is as opposed to rock/pop music, where I DO have those moments where I say "what did I ever see in ___________?"

My Classical Music taste in dynamic in the sense of "expanding." Works that I'd rejected previously, or had been unwilling to give a complete hearing are finding their way well into my sphere of appreciation.

 

[purple99]

Abstain.

My Classical Music taste is static inasmuch as... once I like a classical piece, I will continue to like it. There are virtually no exceptions to this (Verdi comes close, though).

This is as opposed to rock/pop music, where I DO have those moments where I say "what did I ever see in ___________?"

My Classical Music taste in dynamic in the sense of "expanding." Works that I'd rejected previously, or had been unwilling to give a complete hearing are finding their way well into my sphere of appreciation.

That makes sense. I should have included an abstain option.

 

[Chi_townPhilly]

Point being... I think this thread would be a good launching point for the interesting question: "to what extent do your musical tastes change over time?" We've achieved that rara avis of message board participation, unanimity on the header question... so then the topic can be distilled further, to the question of how and how much our changes in musical taste have occurred.

 

[ClasicalTB]

My Thoughts Exactly

as you learn and experience, you probably change tastes...or maybe just expand your boundaries.

dj

My Thoughts Exactly
Life is a progress, we are listening to music and probably something new will change our tastes.

 

[purple99]

Point being... I think this thread would be a good launching point for the interesting question: "to what extent do your musical tastes change over time?" We've achieved that rara avis of message board participation, unanimity on the header question... so then the topic can be distilled further, to the question of how and how much our changes in musical taste have occurred.

I agree. The other interesting question is 'why?' What causes the change to occur? A related question is how much people move from pop music to classical music as they get older. To what extent is musical taste is a function of age?

More specifically, much pop music is used as backcloth to mating: young people listen to it, embed themselves in the culture, while sexually active. Once they've settled down in a semi with a cat, their musical tastes may change. That's not to imply that classical music isn't also used for mating purposes - as this thread on the BBC Radio 3 website made clear recently - but the sexual function seems less primary.