Falling out of love...
I am sure that there is some piece that you once thought was the most exciting, passionate, intense yada yada yada thing you had ever heard. But in time you tired of it. Perhaps you have had some composers that you don't care for anymore.
As Valentine's Day approaches please share your disappointments in musical love.
I'll add a few of mine in a bit.
Replies (22)
I've been doing a TON of Vivaldi lately - conducting the 4 seasons, teaching the violin concertos to my students. I wouldn't say I have fallen out of love with Vivaldi, but I think it's about time that we took a break for a little while.
Brahms - used to be my favorite, still is technically, but I can't stand him right now. It's like with any relationship I guess. I love you but get away from me for a while!
Goosens....he wrote an oboe concerto that we are playing on a concert in a couple weeks...oh wait the thread is 'falling out of love' and i definitely never loved this, it's so weird sounding...alas.
Maybe it's because I'm relatively new at this game, but I haven't tired of any composers yet. After working on a piece for a while (with little further improvement) it does get a bit wearying. Except, of course, for just about anything by Mozart! I am, however, somewhat fickle about instruments. I can be very enthusiastic about a particular violin that I'm trying out but then, after a short while, I just don't like it anymore. It's a good thing dealers allow us a trial period!!!
There's an old saying that "familiarity breeds contempt." But I don't think so. I think that what familiarity breeds is meaninglessness. Just trying saying one word over and over and over again, and it begins to be perceived as a meaningless jumble of sounds. It's that way with words, with visual art, even with relationships. So, too, with music.
The solution is to find something different, something new, some different point of view, some different way of experiencing it. I believe that any piece of music can become "stale" if you practice it and listen to it repeatedly. There are pieces of music (and performances) I've heard so many times that I can hear every little thing endlessly repeated in that mental "loop" of sound. And, inevitably, I've gotten "tired" of hearing almost everything at some point.
However, if I give it a rest and don't listen to it for some time, I find that when I come back to it, it's with renewed enthusiasm, and I find myself connecting to the emotionalism in the music and the performance. I find that even with violinists and performances I wasn't that impressed with before, I find a new meaning in it. I think that as I get older I'm getting better at hearing what each artist is trying to do - his or her point of view.
All in all, I'd say that, for me, the magical sound of the violin well-played (or even not-so-well played but with heart, and by anybody at any level) in almost any piece of music is more compelling than ever.
Sandy
I once loved Mahler's symphonies. I can still take 1 and 2 sort of.. No. 8 has one absolutely fabulous idea but it is worked to death. Nos 3 and 7 should be retired altogether. The Adagietto of No. 5 is great if its played in anything less than 9 minutes.
Schubert fascinated me at one time. I still like the songs and the short works for men's chorus. The long works are full of gimmicks that are very tiring. Brahms thought a lot of Schubert should have been accessible in the archives for scholars only. I think he was right.
Bruckner wrote one symphony nine or ten times. When I was in college I played No. 4 and thought it was fantastic. I can't bear to hear it any more.
I am tired of Mozart confectionary. Especially for Valentine's Day.
You don't love Mahler 4 any more, Corwin? Oh! Have you heard the recording with Kathleen Battle? :)
Definition of love (by Ambrose Bierce): "A temporary insanity curable by marriage."
I can get as tired of Brahms
As I can of a night at the Proms.
I find myself snoring
At anything boring,
Even loud fifes and drahms.
Eat a bowl of raisin brahms and you will cure...
Anne-Marie
The Mengelburg recording (late 1930's early 1940's) is quite decent. The slow movement is lovely.
I was infatuated with Bruch a few years back. But then after having had studied it intensly for several months, that infatuation soon wained. Now, Bloch is my passion, but I suspect that in a month or two that passion will fade as well.
However, Bach has remained my true love for decades.
Whoever writes the songs for the Backyardigans television show. Of course, it may be just because my kids watch that show incessantly. Oh yeah, and Steve Riech.
Anyone for limericks on lost love?
alas, as we get older,
our fires can only smoulder
our once crisp staccato,
now a small farto,
and why another pain in the shoulder?
I used to think Bolero was the sexiest classical composition ever. But I heard it one too many times, played interminably with no buildup, no dynamics to speak of. Now I have to change the channel if it comes on the radio.
In the "new age" genre, I'm totally sick of Yanni. In the early 90's I saw "Live at the Acropolis" and developed a crush on his Greek hotness. After a while all of his music sounded the same to me and I had to call it quits. A documentary came on about a month ago, and he was gushing over his "wonderful new idea" to use the human voice as an instrument. I was intrigued, so I watched for a while. But it turned out that he just had some singers write lyrics to songs he composed 20 years ago.
But the all time love-it-then-despise-it champion is "You Light Up My Life" by Debbie Boone. I hope I never get stuck in an elevator while it's playing.
A piece will "register",then assume a great deal of importance---then you may master the piece,then you become restless for the want of another....Most would describe this as an addiction---it is,its an addiction to life and playing a decent tune on a violin !
Glenda, about Yanni I think that the live at the acropolis was extraordinairy but that for some reason he wasn't able to compose anything as good after or before. This was like heaven but when you listen 4500 times to heaven you might become sick... Sad thing but I think it was because he had the unique chance to work with a full orchestra for the live at the acropolis + I'm am not that fan of signing compared with instrumental music (so maybe my opinions or personal tastes are based on this!) However wasn't it the same with many great composers who only compose a few "hits" for many ordinairy works? Being composer is certainly a though job!
Anne-Marie
i agree with glenda about the ravel,
however this may have something to do with having just been woken by it because one of my flat mates is playing it very very loudly!
Hi Anne-Marie,
You are totally right about Yanni. He was amazing in a live performance, but his studio recordings were rather bland in my opinion. Plus the same pieces kept getting recycled on multiple CD's. To get one or two new pieces, you had to buy several of the old ones again. iTunes came along too late to save this love affair... I don't have any desire to buy his newer works individually, so that must mean it was only puppy love all along!
However, I don't think anything could ever cool the flames I have in my heart for Mozart and Vivaldi. Their music stirs me like nothing else can. Sigh... (cartoon heart bubbles floating around my head)
Thanks Glenda for your response, you are right!
Anne-Marie
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February 7, 2009 at 08:40 PM ·
Can I say everytime that I hear x person is going to play a new modern concerto! I would run away but am more polite that that! Yes, I hate most modern works full of noise... can't help it!
Anne-Marie