About classical music

In my childhood my family didn’t listen to classical music. I became curious about it when I was a teenager and started to borrow records of it from Bradford Central Library. Shortly after I started to buy my own LPs of pieces I particularly liked. The first of these was the Deutsche Gramophon recording of Beethoven’s 5th symphony by Karajan with the Berlin Philharmonic. The energy and the fullness of the sound were quite breathtaking to me reared on a diet of pop, not too demanding jazz and, later, 70s rock. The intricacy of the composition, the tensions, the beauty of the melodies, the variety of instrumentation and dynamics were a gateway to a much richer and more rewarding musical experience. I still listened to plenty of rock, but at some time when I was a student the classical LPs came to outnumber the rock and other ones. When in search of something to accompany stronger emotions it was to the classical ones I turned - especially Beethoven’s 9th.
If I’m not mistaken, I went to my first classical concert before my first rock concert - again Beethoven symphonies. The experience was even better in the concert hall.
Beethoven is a good entry point to the classical repertoire as he is right in the middle of it, between the classical and romantic, always very definite in his statements and excelling in each of the genres. From Beethoven symphonies I went to his concertos, piano sonatas and later still chamber music. From Beethoven himself at first forwards to Brahms and backwards to Mozart.
There wasn’t a record library at University but in the covered market there was a man who sold DGG LPs at knock-down prices (they had a nail hole driven through the middle so they were officially damaged). My taste started to broaden at the whim of what he had in stock. As Christ Church had a very good choir, I also began to taken an interest in choral and sacred music. There were some good concerts in Oxford; I remember being particularly moved at a piano recital by the great Emil Gilels.
I came to opera much later. Although I did enjoy seeing “la Traviata” at the Fenice in Venice when 17 (foregoing dinner to stand in the gods while inter-railing) I didn’t actually buy a recording of an opera until having seen the film of Amadeus, when I invested in “le Nozze di Figaro”.
In 1985 I bought my first CD player and with it some Bach cantatas and a new version of Karajan’s Beethoven 5. I now own over 1700 CDs of classical music, though recently I have brought my manic CD buying habit under control, largely because I now own most of the core repertoire ( - and a lot besides, that I never get round to listening to). Most of these CDs have been bought at reduced price or second hand. Also record companies have always repackaged great recorded versions from the past at attractive prices. I worked my way fairly methodically through everything in the Médiathèque’s CD lending library over about twenty years, guided by various books on music and individual composers. When I found something I liked, I added it to a list of what to buy when I saw it available cheaply., though I was in no hurry. So over time the collection grew and grew.
In the meanwhile I became a regular concert goer at the Palais des Beaux Arts (now restyled Bozar) where most of the famous names come to play in Brussels and took out a subscription at the Monnaie, following seeing a performance of Mozart’s “la Finta Giardiniera” from close to the stage which revealed to me the full theatrical potential of opera. I also try to get down to the monthly Bach cantatas at the Minimes when in town. Counting concerts and opera together I easily go to thirty classical music events a year. So I listen to a lot of classical music, both recorded and live, and it is very important to me.
I’d like to write a little about some of my favourite composers (the number is of CDs in my collection; at the end of each I give some examples of pieces I am fond of). These will be general impressions, easily contradicted by other examples from their output, for the essence of any great composer is variety.

Bach - spirituality (130)
Bach is at his best in his religious choral music. There is something quite sublime about the poliphony of so many human voices underpinned by such perfect orchestration. You get the feeling everything is in exactly the right place. Bach is the soundtrack of heaven. His music transcends this world, taking us on a spiritual journey to another place more conducive to meditation. His solo arias so often express a kind of questioning longing of the soul; his choruses a feeling of awe before the vastness of creation.
And then there are his flawless instrumental works too.
Magnificat, cantatas “ein’ feste Burg”, “Gottes Zeit”, St Matthew Passion, Bm Mass, Brandenburg concertos, cello suites, Well tempered clavier book I

Handel - grandness (115)
A Handel oratorio is always a real treat and none better than Messiah. There’s something grand and stirring about the choral singing and general tone that makes you glad to be alive. His operas contain some fine music too.
Messiah, Israel in Egypt, Ode to St Cecilia, Coronation anthems, Water music, trio sonatas for wind

Vivaldi - cheerfulness (45)
I'm far from being the only one to feel cheered by a brisk rendition of the Four Seasons, but there are many other great concertos by Vivaldi and more importantly the glories of his sacred choral works.
Gloria, Beatus vir, Stabat mater, il Cimento dell’armonia, l’Estro armonico

Haydn - urbanity (122)
To the modern listener, Haydn, as a composer of the classical period, always suffers from being in Mozart’s shadow, but he was and is a great composer in his own right. His music is eminently civilized and often highly original and witty. He was incredibly prolific (104 symphonies, 67 string quartets, 62 piano sonatas, 42 piano trios, 14 masses etc) and it is easy to be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of his works, as it is difficult to short list what might be his absolute masterpieces. He is not so much a composer of soaring peaks as of constant quality and as such often undeservedly neglected. I find I listen to more Haydn as I get older.
London symphonies, late piano sonatas, late string quartets, St Nicholas mass

Mozart - joy of being alive (156)
There is an incredible lightness, clarity, grace and ease to Mozart’s music, which I first took to be facile but soon came to appreciate for what it is: a great musical creativity and intelligence capable of anything and apparently without effort. Great art is, after all, that which conceals itself. He communicates an infectious enjoyment of life. Though he is capable of sadness too, never despair. He is great in all genres, but excels in the ensemble singing of his operas and its instrumental equivalent which is his own instrument, the piano, dialoguing with the orchestra in his piano concertos. Sometimes I feel: why bother listening to anyone else, when Mozart makes you feel so good ?
piano concertos 18 - 27; Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, die Zauberflöte; string quintets KV 515, 516, clarinet concerto and quintet, symphonies 39, 40, 41, piano sonatas in Am and Cm, grand partita for winds, eine kleine Nachtmusik

Beethoven - struggle sometimes achieving serenity (64)
Beethoven’s music is not easy, it expresses the struggle that is life, the fight to create in the face of destruction, to get the emotions under control, the constant struggle that is man’s destiny. Sometimes a plateau of serenity, of inner peace can be reached, but never held, it will always be disturbed by a new struggle. His music is often wrought out of apparently little; small motifs painstakingly repeated and varied into complicated structures creating and resolving tensions. His music is resolutely of this world, its triumphs and failures; it is profoundly human. His best work is instrumental: the symphonies, string quartets and piano sonatas.
symphonies 3 - 9, late string quartets and op.59, piano sonatas with names and n° 30 -32, piano concertos 4 + 5, Archduke trio, violin sonata 10

Schubert - wistfulness (62)
You never quite know whether Schubert is in a major or minor key. His take on life is one of pleasant sadness, wistfulness. He is not a tight composer, you must let yourself be carried along by him, not worrying about time and structure, he will bring you to moments of incredible poignancy that have a cathartic effect.
last 3 piano sonatas, Great symphony (9), trout quintet, impromptus, Winterreise, string quintet, piano trios

Chopin - sparkle (18)
Though his ouput was small compared to the rest of the composers here, Chopin quite simply wrote some of the best music for piano, covering a range of moods and rhythmically full of life.
nocturnes, polonaises

Brahms - comfort (37)
Brahms is perhaps a less obvious choice here, but he has been with me a long time. His works combine a classical structure with a romantic taste for melody and harmony. In my opinion a most satisfying combination. His chamber music is particularly fine.
symphonies 3 + 4, clarinet quintet, horn trio, violin sonatas, late piano pieces

Verdi - nobility (44)
Verdi doesn’t do light. His stirring arias, richly varied instrumentation, glorious rum-ti-tum oompah choruses are serious and noble. This is grand opera and to be relished as such, more in the theatre than in your living room.
Traviata, Rigoletto

Shostakovich - anguish and mockery (60 )
Shostakovich is without doubt the greatest composer of the twentieth century. He wrote the best cycle of string quartets after Beethoven, and although he is better known for his impressive series of symphonies, this more intimate genre is where he made his most profound statements. He can write a fine tune and his sense of instrumentation is phenomenal. Shostakovich is capable by turns of sardonic humour, great lyricism and bombast, but his inescapable mood is one of anguish. Shostakovich is the soundtrack of what Hobsbawm called “the Age of Extremes” - he did after all write a lot of film music.
string quartets, violin concerto 1, piano concerto 1, symphonies 5 - 8, 14, 15, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk

So this first eleven accounts for about half of my collection. Other composers I enjoy include Schumann, Dvorak, R. Strauss, Debussy, Prokofiev and Britten. The one composer I really dislike is Wagner.
I find recently I tend to listen to what I know well and like, rather than exploring less familiar works. It’s another case of taking the time to appreciate more what I have, rather than rushing off somewhere else.