Sung composers that you just "don't get"

Started by Christopher, Monday 15 August 2011, 08:59

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Mark Thomas


eternalorphea


Christopher

Hadrianus (and others) - I started this thread precisely because I wanted to examine the issue of personal tastes.  Is the fact that I just "don't get" Mahler (for example) - however hard I have tried - due to my personal taste, or..?  On the other hand, when I started this thread, I just "didn't get" Miaskovsky.  Then there were some most valuable contributions and suggestions, I approached Miaskovsky in a different way, and now I am loving his music.  That is surely a positive outcome, and all the more so if others have had similar come-to-the-light moments as a result of this thread.  In fact - if anyone else's mind has been changed on a composer as a result of this thread, or this forum, do tell us.

As for people saying "horrible things" - well, welcome to free speech - a right to express your own opinions and a duty to be prepared be offended by those of others and all that.... Music makes people feel and express things strongly, no doubt about that.  And it's to be welcomed.  Some music, if rendered verbally, might be unprintable - what would Beethoven's Rage over a Lost Penny look like in text I wonder...!!  We lesser mortals who cannot put our emotions into music must stick to words, profanities and all.

Alan Howe

We repeat: the issue is the range of composers that was being discussed, not the discussion itself. Thus, now that UC's remit has changed (from the summer of 2012, i.e. after the start of this thread), some composers are no longer appropriate here, e.g. later Schoenberg, later Busoni, the Second Viennese School, Stravinsky, Hindemith, Britten, Penderecki etc.

We would be grateful, therefore, if discussion were now restricted to the composers people 'just don't get' whose works fall within the remit of this forum.

eternalorphea

Could an aria of a baroque composer therefore meet the forum's parameters if it let's say sounds romantic..?

Mark Thomas

Read this post, which explains our boundaries. We moderators really are not going to allow this question to be raised again and again in topic after topic. If you are in doubt, email or PM a moderator before you post.

eternalorphea

Sir, I really don't get why you hate me that much because I post about Pejačević..??? I honestly apologize, but I have never raised a question without giving context/explanation. I thought one should contact a moderator only if one intends to create a new topic about a composer or his particular work one is not certain if it falls within the Forum's scope. Ultimately, you're not obliged to answer either.

Besides, I've never asked that very question before, it must have been someone else

Peace, and a thanks XX
Eternalorphea

Alan Howe

Oh please, how hard can it be? Pejačević fits here - obviously. She's a romantic. But if you post about someone outside our guidelines, we are obliged to respond, otherwise the site becomes a free-for-all, and we are not interested in running something like that. So the motto is: think first, then post. Please! And, if in doubt (according to our guidelines), then contact the moderators first. Simple!

eschiss1

Agreed, in a mutatis mutandis sort of way: speak no good and no ill (or at least get the impression that those who are violating the policy by speaking favorably are being treated the same as those who violate it by speaking ill. This impression I haven't really had...)

Christopher

Hi Eternalorphea - I would like to say that I very much welcome your posts on this site, and especially your contributions about Croatian music in which you clearly, and rightly, take much pride.  I have very much enjoyed listening to the pieces that you have pointed us to.  It's also great to have a lady's insights into musicians and music - I get the impression that most of the contributors on here are guys... I've been ticked off and knocked down on here a few times, best not to let it get to you!

Gareth Vaughan

Eternalorphea, please don't take offence. Nobody hates you. Alan and Mark are just trying to clarify matters because we went through a long process of deciding on the sort of music which we wanted to discuss on this forum (and some people took offence during that process and left - which was a pity) and they don't want to open the whole question up again and possibly rake over old disagreements. Your posts on Croatian music have been very revealing and informative - and, incidentally, I'm really looking forward to getting the latest CPO disk of Dora's orchestral music (even if the overture is perhaps not quite out her top drawer, so to speak).

jerfilm

Yes, Eternalorphea, I certainly concur with Christopher.   And I am a big fan of Dora's music.  What a pity she died SO young.  I just downloaded her Life of Flowers opus for piano - and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Jerry

sdtom

Just try to understand the basic rules of the forum. No one is a bad guy here. It took me awhile to understand.
Tom :)

semloh

If one "gets" music in the romantic style, then it might be thought odd to claim one doesn't "get" a piece of music or a composer that falls within UC's remit.  However, just to prove that one can indeed "not get" a particular romantic composer despite as a general rule loving all romantic music, I confessed in an earlier post to being completely unmoved, indeed quite annoyed, by the much vaunted charms of one of the true 'greats' of romantic music. The problem with this thread is that its title is at odds with our remit - i.e. "Sung Composers....", so let's not revisit that, and maybe stick to UCs.

I cannot think of any examples that I don't "get" that would qualify under UC's remit, unless late-19thC French 'art songs' count!  ::)

Gauk

It depends what you mean by "get" - understand or like? I don't like most romantic opera much, but I have no trouble understanding it. Verdi is not a draw for me, great composer though he may be.