So let's start with something basic: a listening plan. As I recently demonstrated to myself, you can get a lot done with a little planning. The exact opposite of a planned investigation of something is what we do on the Web: just surf around randomly. When you do that you tend to fall victim to the Web hucksters and bait and switchers. Have you noticed that YouTube recently has become dominated by them? Just about every clip offered up is deceptive to some extent. Top ten this, worst that, most embarrassing the other. It is like a kind of evil carnival of crap.
I think the solution is to not be a feckless wanderer, but to plan things out a bit. If you were going on a vacation you would most likely do a little planning: book a hotel, arrange a flight, decide where you would most like to visit. Only a few of us would just jump in the car and start driving (though that can be interesting on occasion).
So here is a basic plan for listening that should take you from acquaintance with the fundamental kinds of music with the emphasis on classical music, to an appreciation of some of the more challenging varieties. Let's organize it by weeks assuming that you can set aside one hour a week to just listen. Hey, one benefit is that it will get you into a peaceful, possibly meditative, environment for a short while at least. And if you are still trapped at home, at least it will give you something to do.
What you will need: a private place free from interruptions. That means no phone, no messages, no WhatsApp. Somewhere you can shut the door and just be by yourself. If you want a partner, that's fine as well. But listen, don't talk. Next, you need a decent sound system. These days that means either a good set of speakers for your computer or a good set of earbuds or headphones. Please don't try and do your listening with your built-in laptop or iPad speakers. For one thing, they really don't have any bass. The good news is I don't have to send you out to your local record store to buy anything because a) there is no local record store any more and b) everything is on YouTube. Yes, I know I was just dissing YouTube, but if you are searching for something in particular it is quite good--just not for random browsing.
Ok, now that you are all set, where do we start? Classical music is huge and I'm not going to restrict the listening to just classical. What do I mean by huge? One thousand years of notated music compositions by thousands of composers. That's a million pieces of music at least. But, thankfully, they are not all equally significant, great, important or delightful for the listener, however you want to think of it. You can listen to one fugue by Bach and get more out of it than listening to a hundred fugues by his contemporaries. So let's start week one with a mini-survey of a few pieces by some of the composers who really stand out from the crowd.
Week One: J. S. Bach. Well, yes, this obscure Saxon organist in the 18th century somehow manages to get himself at the top of every list of great composers. And it's not through adroit marketing as he never had any. He just writes really wonderful music. I'm going to pick three pieces to give you an over-view. He wrote a set of pieces in all the keys for keyboard, largely for the education of his sons. If you want to know about keys, here is a good Wikipedia article. But let's get right to the music. Here is the Prelude and Fugue in C major from book one (yes, he wrote two books) played by Friedrich Gulda:
Here is a piece for solo violin, the Siciliana from the Sonata No. 1 played by Hilary Hahn:
At the other end of the spectrum here is his Magnificat for vocal soloists, chorus and orchestra with the Netherlands Bach Society conducted by Jos van Veldhoven.
The whole piece is twenty-eight minutes long, but you can listen to just the first two pieces which are a bit over five minutes total.
Next composer is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart whom I am sure you have heard of. Amadeus was an excellent film about him from the viewpoint of his rival, Salieri. Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria and became famous from age nine when he went on a two-year tour of Europe with his father and sister. There is likely no more famous child prodigy in any field than Mozart. He received his first opera commission, from La Scala in Milan, when he was only fourteen! He wrote lovely, graceful and dramatic music in every important genre from the piano sonata to the string quartet to the symphony and opera. Let's listen to a little divertimento he wrote when he was only sixteen. There are three movements, quick, slow, quick and the second one has some of the most beautiful harmonic clashes you will ever hear. Ton Koopman conducts the Amsterdam Baroque Orchesta.
Near the end of his life Mozart wrote three great symphonies in one summer. The last of them, Symphony No. 41 in C major, ends with a finale movement that I don't think anyone has ever topped for sheer transcendental joy. He combines several different themes in a way that seems to rise into heaven. The rumor is that the angels in heaven, when they wish to praise God, play Bach. But when they just want to have fun, they play Mozart. Sorry, Blogger won't embed:
That only comes to forty minutes of listening, but it is hard to find anything to follow that finale! So let's stop there for this week.
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