Buidling a Classical Music Library - Introduction
The musical approach on this blog so far has been resolutely contemporary. That’s about to change.
As someone who is unimpressed by the uniformly bland industrial sound that comprises today’s chart music, I shall be writing a regular guide to “classical” music.
I am not an expert. I’m a poor musician, have a limited range of music on my shelves and don’t attend many live concerts. But I do love classical music.
When the kids aren’t forcing me to listen to plinky-plonk music in the car, I’ll listen to Radio 3.
One of the greatest artistic experiences of my life was listening to the Russian violinist Maxim Vengerov playing a Shostakovich violin concerto with the London Philharmonic, conducted by Mitoslav Rostropovich, a man who knew the composer. In its way, it was as insightful a portrayal of madness as anything you might find in King Lear.
But I want to know more than I do and extend the range of music that I’m familiar with. So, this is the introduction to a series of entries dedicated to building a library of classical music.
It will be a chronological survey of 50 of the greats. The list and much of the information is taken from Phil G. Goulding’s book Classical Music: The 50 Greatest Composers and their 1000 Greatest Works.
Each month, I shall briefly explore a composer, his life and his music. I shall recommend a key work or works.
For example, the first composer is Palestrina. As he specialised in religious music, I shall pick a key composition in that genre.
Other composers, such as Mozart, were equally adept in a range of styles (choral, chamber and symphonic) and I shall choose a key piece in each of those styles.
Inevitably there will be heinous omissions and basic errors. So be it – hopefully they will be a starting point for further discussion.
The aim is a selfish one: to put in place the essentials of a library for my own enjoyment. But the journey will be more fun it others were to join in.
As someone who is unimpressed by the uniformly bland industrial sound that comprises today’s chart music, I shall be writing a regular guide to “classical” music.
I am not an expert. I’m a poor musician, have a limited range of music on my shelves and don’t attend many live concerts. But I do love classical music.
When the kids aren’t forcing me to listen to plinky-plonk music in the car, I’ll listen to Radio 3.
One of the greatest artistic experiences of my life was listening to the Russian violinist Maxim Vengerov playing a Shostakovich violin concerto with the London Philharmonic, conducted by Mitoslav Rostropovich, a man who knew the composer. In its way, it was as insightful a portrayal of madness as anything you might find in King Lear.
But I want to know more than I do and extend the range of music that I’m familiar with. So, this is the introduction to a series of entries dedicated to building a library of classical music.
It will be a chronological survey of 50 of the greats. The list and much of the information is taken from Phil G. Goulding’s book Classical Music: The 50 Greatest Composers and their 1000 Greatest Works.
Each month, I shall briefly explore a composer, his life and his music. I shall recommend a key work or works.
For example, the first composer is Palestrina. As he specialised in religious music, I shall pick a key composition in that genre.
Other composers, such as Mozart, were equally adept in a range of styles (choral, chamber and symphonic) and I shall choose a key piece in each of those styles.
Inevitably there will be heinous omissions and basic errors. So be it – hopefully they will be a starting point for further discussion.
The aim is a selfish one: to put in place the essentials of a library for my own enjoyment. But the journey will be more fun it others were to join in.
posted by Joe at
7:37 pm
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