The Official Classical Music Discussion Thread.

I completely agree that the cliché about classical music is wrong. It is not boring and to the composers you mentioned I would add Mahler. Prokofiev and even Beethoven, Brahms, Stravinsky, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin.

Now on the idea that classical music isn't for everyone, I'm not sure I agree with that. Although I'm sure that wasn't your intention but I feel like there's often an elitist mentality hiding behind this statement. What I do believe is that classical music takes effort, patience and curiosity to appreciate and that's what turns people off without them knowing it. It's very difficult to enjoy a 40-min long symphony or concerto if one doesn't know sonata form or doesn't have minimal knowledge about the history of music and composers. But that's something that can easily be grasped with a little effort. Also, from my personal experience, it takes time and repetition to appreciate a piece, and that by actively and curiously listening to it several times. In order to appreciate a piece, you need to get familiar with the material and the structure. The more you listen to it the more you discover things inside it and appreciate it. And while some composers and works are more accessible than others, classical works are more complex than other genres generally speaking in terms of form, counterpoint and orchestration and from the romantic era onwards in terms of harmony as well. There's a piece I've been loving recently: Prokofiev's 7th sonata. I heard it about a year ago but it didn't really speak to me at first. I thought it was just noise. I also shared it with one of my friends who doesn't really listen to classical music, and he also told me it felt like random noise. I didn't immediately appreciate it but after a few tries I'm absolutely IN LOVE with it. I couldn't appreciate it ago because my ear wasn't used to hearing that much dissonance and harmonic instability. But now that I'm a bit more used to that, I'm able to understand it musically and appreciate it.

One last reason is that people don't really have the time to listen to a Mahler symphony for example. All Mahler aficionados will tell you that the effect is maximized if you struggle through the whole symphony and reach the finale. But Mahler's 2nd symphony is an hour and a half long. Who has the time for that in this fast-paced world?

On the other hand I truly believe that classical music is so rich it has something for everyone. People tend to think of classical music as one genre, but it's actually a cluster of musical periods and genres. The difference between Mozart and Prokofiev is huge, same as the difference between a symphony and a prelude or a lied (which is basically a song).

Effort, patience and curiosity are hard to come by. The attention span of an average human is now apparently less than a goldfish’s. Having the attention span of a goldfish is now a compliment.

I agree that people would benefit from classical music, though.

I just listened to Für Elise one day and was hooked.

Can’t disagree with any part of that. And never have I thought classical music would fix defects.

Classical music certainly changed my life to the better. I do believe it can increase attention span because you're actively listening (which means following through the music and engaging with it, not just passively receiving sound) to long works.

Here comes the brainrot.

Here is the Prokofiev sonata I was talking about. When you listen to it the first time it's just noise and random notes being played. Then the more you listen to it you understand the structure, and recurring themes and motifs. Then you read a little bit about the history of music and you see that Prokofiev is a 20th century composer (vs e.g Mozart 18th century) and that the more classicsl music advanced the more chromaticism was being used which implies more harmonic instability and dissonant intervals and that's why it is so dissonant and you get used to that kind of music. Then you read about the context of the sonata. You see that it's nicknamed the 'Stalingrad' sonata and is the second of the three 'War' sonatas Prokofiev composed during the second world war. You understand what it's supposed to represent. The war, the terror, the uncertainty, but then also the hope and the triumph in the end. Now I understand that all that is quite 'geeky' which is why maybe classical music 'isn't for everyone'. But besides all this, just listen to that 3rd movement it sound so cool, very jazzy, extremely virtuosic and those hand crossing sections are just badass.

Agreed. I feel like most people today see music as a background thing, unless there are lyrics to follow through but even then...

It is highly improbable that one would fall in love, for instance, with the Prokofiev sonata I just shared with this mentality though...

You get all the proof you need when you take into consideration that a surgeon general of the US publicly spoke out against it.

One thing I should say though, going back to the topic of classical music, is that it was never popular regardless of modern culture and social media, only with the exception of 'Lisztomania' but even then I would say people loved Liszt for superficial reasons. It was always an 'elite class thing'. And it has always been art music (which is the more accurate way of saying classical music) vs pop/folk music. More people are listening to classical music now than ever before with the easy accessibility to recordings of great artists. I could even listen to Rachmaninoff himself playing some works!