The first time I thought about existence and the possibility of the divine in a conscious manner was after hearing Mozart’s “Kyrie” from Requiem in D minor, K. 626.
(You can let it play as you’re reading this)
I remember that the CD had only this track on it and when I popped it into my half-broken stereo, it took me a few tries to get it to play. I sat on the bed and experienced what I can only describe as bliss.
In fact, things got so intense I had to stop listening to it after the 30th time.
At that time, I didn’t understand what I was hearing really. Being 7 or 8 years old, it was an unfiltered experience, imprinted on my mind to this day.
Are We Listening To Good Music Today?
The majority of people don’t develop a musical taste. They simply inherit what pop culture produces or what their friends listen to.
Even whey they grow older, they seem to fall back on to the established pattern and the same 4-5 pentatonic chords they’ve been accustomed to.
When they’re exposed to more complex musical structures and habits, it’s natural they’re underwhelmed.
That has to do with the way we consume music, yielding to the pressure for digestible and marketable products.
After WW2, there was an unprecedented discontinuation of the linear progress in music.
For 1000s of years, we’ve been consistently building on top of our history and theory, up until the early part of the 20th century, where we broke the chain.
It’s not only that the quality started degenerating but the very way of composing changed.
That’s not to say we don’t have good music today. We certainly do. But in my opinion, we haven’t been able to progress beyond the peak of the late 17th to late 19th century.
Most “tracks” or songs are 3-4 minutes long, consisting of overly simplistic melodies and chord progressions that don’t even touch the musical palette and technical possibilities we have in our toolbox.
The average listener will eat up anything catchy, rhythmic, and bass dominated. Our standards have eclipsed and they’re certainly not as high as they are for other forms of entertainment, like movies and TV shows.
The Purpose Behind “Ascoltare”
Practically everyone knows who Bach and Mozart are. They’re boring, dead composers who produced slow, boring music. Where’s the “drop” already? (FYI, it was called the cadenza back then).
This is what a friend of mine said to me…
That’s a natural and understandable reaction, to be honest. The context where this kind of music was produced in, has eclipsed.
Not only that, our school system (I assume this is where most people came in contact with classical music for the first and last time) exposed us to the most “blunt” pieces that don’t represent the body of work of these composers.
Even though they are the most famous and technically sound pieces of music, they are not meant to be heard without a gradual introduction to the rest of their repertoire.
The purpose of this newsletter is to help you hear what I hear when I listen to classical music.
Every Sunday (or every other Sunday, depending on how this is received), I’ll curate a “gallery” of music you can accompany your morning coffee or your evening drink with.
In layman terms, I’ll describe what you’re listening, where to focus your attention, interesting passages, and little trivia here and there.
You don’t need to have any theoretical knowledge. This is about your experience, not about breaking down a partiture.
The first issue goes out next Sunday (25/10/2020)
You can share this with everyone who wants to explore “old” music from a fresh perspective:
Fantastic idea. Despite numerous attempts to "get into" classical music, I've found it a bit overwhelming.
Looking forward to seeing where this goes!
Love the idea behind this. Niche enough to provide focus, but broad enough that you will be able to happily stick to the topic indefinitely.
And in a way I consider it an kind of companion to my own work in that it seems like they can replace the dying and fading arts sections in Sunday newspapers.
I’ve already started to recommend this new venture of yours to people. We all grow and evolve together. No competition.
Cheers.
Tom.