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« on: 20:44:11, 16-10-2007 » |
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Does anyone else find that their favourite piece of music is impossible to listen to when feeling down?
I love Barber's violin concerto, but to listen to the slow movement when not feeling so happy makes me cry. If all is well I just wallow in its beauty...am I alone in this? - and if I am not , does anyone else have a piece of music to which they react in the same way?
I also have a pop song that was sent to me by my daughter when I was not feeling so happy , and that behaves in the same way!!
Also is there a piece that you can always listen to , whatever mood you are in?
A
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Well, there you are.
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Soundwave
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« Reply #1 on: 21:35:13, 16-10-2007 » |
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Ho dear "A". I know what you mean exactly. If I'm even a little depressed, the slow movement of Rachmaninov's 2nd Symphony becomes impossible for me. Instead, I'm likely to put on the orchestral version of Albeniz's "Suite Espanola", music I can always listen to and that I've used in my videos of various sunny beaches round the world. Soon - I feel O.K. Trust things are fine with you both and that you're "hanging in" following the recent stupidities. Cheers S'wave p.s. I take it you still have these.....  |
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Ho! I may be old yet I am still lusty
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offbeat
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« Reply #2 on: 21:57:13, 16-10-2007 » |
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Hi A
I know exactly what you mean and i feel the same way about certain works in particular vaughan williams 5th last movement always makes me kinda grey if in mood - rachmaninov vespers has same effect even if in good mood - its beauty and sadness is just too much in parts
i try and counter grey moods by putting exact opposite on in mood such as vaughan williams 4th or the scherzo to mahlers 9th symphony - it usually changes my mood to anger - not sure if this ideal solution lol
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MabelJane
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« Reply #3 on: 22:05:05, 16-10-2007 » |
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always makes me kinda grey
Poor offbeat - you are looking kinda grey... |
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Merely corroborative detail, intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative.
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Andy D
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« Reply #4 on: 22:52:26, 16-10-2007 » |
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W C Fields was always pretty grey - or, at least, black, grey and white.  |
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harmonyharmony
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« Reply #5 on: 23:14:14, 16-10-2007 » |
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For me, finding the right piece for my mood is always a challenge.
Sometimes I'm just generally receptive and can listen to anything (just about) but at other times, I can get through a whole pile of CDs before I stumble on the 'right' one. This doesn't have to be because I'm not happy (though that is the case more often than not), but it's sometimes because I'm unwinding for the evening or I'm wound up (I once got to a particularly anxious/frustrated point of cooking a meal for a dinner party where the only thing that really expressed how I felt was Xenakis - and thus my guests were greeted with the full fury of Phlegra (IIRC) when they arrived).
I'm just thinking of heading to bed, and I'm considering what to listen to...
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'is this all we can do?' anonymous student of the University of Berkeley, California quoted in H. Draper, 'The new student revolt' (New York: Grove Press, 1965) http://www.myspace.com/itensemble |
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MT Wessel
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« Reply #6 on: 00:15:55, 17-10-2007 » |
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W C Fields was always pretty grey - or, at least, black, grey and white. "It aint a fit night out for man nor beast". 'The Fatal Glass Of Beer' (1933).  |
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lignum crucis arbour scientiae
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Baziron
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« Reply #7 on: 09:39:04, 17-10-2007 » |
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Ho dear "A". I know what you mean exactly. If I'm even a little depressed, the slow movement of Rachmaninov's 2nd Symphony becomes impossible for me. Instead, I'm likely to put on the orchestral version of Albeniz's "Suite Espanola", music I can always listen to and that I've used in my videos of various sunny beaches round the world. Soon - I feel O.K. Trust things are fine with you both and that you're "hanging in" following the recent stupidities. Cheers S'wave p.s. I take it you still have these..... Ho soundwave - still vibrating as strong and clear as ever I trust?! The only thing that satisfies me all-pervasively A is the Bach '48 (though the ONLY recording that will do it is the one by Gustav Leonhardt). When I'm feeling down, it cheers me up; when I'm feeling OK it makes me feel smug; and when I'm feeling over-the-moon (which happens occasionally) it makes me feel intoxicated. Cheers,  Baz |
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Jonathan
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« Reply #8 on: 12:55:42, 17-10-2007 » |
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I used to listen to lots of late Liszt when I was depressed, the net effect was it made me so sad that I bounced back to my normal happy self.
My Mum says she can't listen to classical music at all because it makes her sad, irrespective of what it is.
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Best regards,
Jonathan
*********************************************
"as the housefly of destiny collides with the windscreen of fate..."
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A
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« Reply #9 on: 22:47:26, 17-10-2007 » |
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Baziron
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« Reply #10 on: 10:54:18, 18-10-2007 » |
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"Rumour"? What rumour? (OK - I'm "sussed"!) But the music one hears is only as good as the performance through which one hears it. With Leonhardt's we have a correctly-tuned instrument using Well Temperament rather than (incorrectly) Equal Temperament. This means that while each key sounds well in tune, they are all slightly different in effect (because the inequality of semitones is spread differently for each separate key). This brings out a nuance and colour in the music that is lacking in every other performance I have listened to. His deep understanding of - and sympathy with - this music lifts (for me anyway) the whole experience on to a very much higher level than anybody else's performance. Baz |
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harmonyharmony
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« Reply #11 on: 11:07:43, 18-10-2007 » |
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But the music one hears is only as good as the performance through which one hears it. With Leonhardt's we have a correctly-tuned instrument using Well Temperament rather than (incorrectly) Equal Temperament. This means that while each key sounds well in tune, they are all slightly different in effect (because the inequality of semitones is spread differently for each separate key). This brings out a nuance and colour in the music that is lacking in every other performance I have listened to.
A wonderful recommendation. Thanks Baz! |
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'is this all we can do?' anonymous student of the University of Berkeley, California quoted in H. Draper, 'The new student revolt' (New York: Grove Press, 1965) http://www.myspace.com/itensemble |
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Sydney Grew
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« Reply #12 on: 11:18:15, 18-10-2007 » |
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With Leonhardt's we have a correctly-tuned instrument using Well Temperament rather than (incorrectly) Equal Temperament. This means that while each key sounds well in tune, they are all slightly different in effect (because the inequality of semitones is spread differently for each separate key). This brings out a nuance and colour in the music that is lacking in every other performance I have listened to.
His deep understanding of - and sympathy with - this music lifts (for me anyway) the whole experience on to a very much higher level than anybody else's performance. The Member (whom we last remember impressing us with his tale of a performance of the Art of Fugue on his own organ very much slower and more relaxed than that of some speedy superficial over-excited Dutchmen) has interested and inspired us - henceforth we shall be on the look out for Leonhardt! Indeed the Member himself is rather like Schoenberg - he too had an intimate knowledge of the Well-Tempered Clavier. He wrote in 1950 that: "I believe there is a hidden mystery in these fugues which has not yet been discovered. I have frequently tried to discover such a principle therein, but in vain. Nevertheless I always feel that something is going on that catches my attention in a peculiar way. What is it? I want to suggest that gifted and experienced musicians should try to solve this problem. I myself have assumed that one such principle could be detected as deriving from multiple counterpoint of the second, third, fourth, sixth and seventh."
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Baziron
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« Reply #13 on: 12:47:12, 18-10-2007 » |
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Thanks to members harmonyharmony and Grew. The Leonhardt recording is on deutsche harmonia mundi: Editio Classica:
Book 1 : GD77011
Book 2 : GD77012
They are inexpensive, and (for me) open up a quite different experience of this wonderful music.
I acquired my set from Amazon.
Baz
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A
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« Reply #14 on: 23:12:08, 18-10-2007 » |
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Just been listening to Mozart string quintets on the way home from a Delius Society meeting, they are so lovely... to play and listen to. I think I could probably listen to those in any mood... I think so , yes!
A
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