Do any of you piano people even like classical music?

[dedalus89]

What composers do you like?  What are your favorite genres? Is it mostly piano music or do you like symphonies, quartets, sacred music, opera? What is your favorite era? How often do you listen to classical music and how does it compare to your listening of non- classical music?

[ego0720]

I personally don’t listen to a whole lot of music. I listen to mainly jazz-blues-ragtime and some classical.  It’s hard to get until you learn the structure behind it and follow the logic.  It can be esoteric but anyone can get it, maybe requires a year to start getting. It’s not fun to listen to until you practice it yourself. Then the realization occurs that this art is -extremely- hard. And then it becomes a rabbit hole of endless attempts.

[ted]

I do not play or listen to much classical or jazz now because I am too preoccupied with creating my own music. However, had I not been exposed to and trained in these fields when young I am certain I would be much the poorer for it. It isn’t a question of physical technique, anybody can acquire that in numerous ways with time and discipline, but rather a matter of refraining from excluding anything without very good reason, especially when young. Everything feeds everything else and it seems to me an illusion that advantage exists in being a primitive in either art or science. If you do have something of value to say then how can it possibly not be enriched through studying what has gone before ?

[transitional]

yes, it's amazing! If you understand it. Also, you need to be listening to the right subgenres (e.g. ABSOLUTELY NOT fur elise)

[ego0720]

… It isn’t a question of physical technique, anybody can acquire that in numerous ways with time and discipline, but rather a matter of refraining from excluding anything without very good reason, especially when young. Everything feeds everything else and it seems to me an illusion that advantage exists in being a primitive in either art or science. If you do have something of value to say then how can it possibly not be enriched through studying what has gone before ?

I wasn’t clear on this. But listening to anything requires a certain training or level of participation.  That changes what type of brainwaves are involved.  The general idea of listening to music can be at the same level as watching television. It’s when we try to create, become active participants rather than passive, that then our perception and involvement of it changes as we have conditioned ourselves of the parameters to look for in said system.

I believe most ppl in classical music, per OP’s question, listen to them appreciate the touches of that genre as it is loaded on subtleties. But someone who isnt conditioned or primed for it, follow the construction and logic if u will, to reengineer the build .. it isn’t engaging to listen to at face value.  Only in rare cases can a music be moving at instinctual levels but even in these cases one has to wonder what created the interpretive language at its atomic levels. We created the artificial fundamentals of meaning in the system, and those complex results are of the amalgamation of these elements. In ways beyond what we knew.

 Btw OP, just wanted to mention “you piano people” feels like a stereotype.

[jimf12]

I listen and play a lot of classical.   The problem with "classical" is the range it covers - it would be like someone asking if you like modern music - pop, R+B, rap, country.    Some of it I do, and some of it I don't.   Same with classical. 

Some of the truly great composers I do love.   But then there are many icons that I don't, and often those guides to classical music feel compelled to initiate readers with some of the iconic music of the genre.   But people listening to modern pop music aren't going to sit down and like Mahler's 5th for example (many many more to choose, just picked one).    I had a friend ask me for suggestions, and knowing his personality and his preconceived notions of the genre and why he hadn't given it a fair shake, I pointed him to Prokofiev's War sonata.    He was gobsmacked.   He had no idea "classical" music had rhythms and sound like that.    To him, Classical=Refined=Boring.   I wanted him to see that is not the case at all. 

Classical can be about anything you want it to be.   It is a pity that people don't explore more and find out what is available.   

[dedalus89]

Haha "you piano people" IS a stereotype! But all in good fun. And for the one who said it depends on the genres and mentioned Fur Elise (a bagatelle) I wonder what you have against bagatelles!

I'm a great fan of classical music though I prefer mainly the classical and earlier eras as well as fortepianos and harpsochords for classical and earlier respectively. They just sound better for that repertoire in my opinion but many people love Bach on piano for just one example so more power to them. How common is it for serious piano players (really just asking each one of you individually) to be fans of opera, say, or string quartets or masses and other sacred music? Lately I've fallen in love with the music of Froberger, an earlier baroque composer who is generally credited with creating the keyboard suite with the 4 dances (allemande, courante, sarabande, jigue) which became popular and by Bach's time people were adding many, many more dances to them.

Another thing I've been doing lately is comparing recordings of different pianists with some Mozart and Haydn piano sonatas just to get a better understanding of how differently different pianists can interpret the same works. I've been listening to the same pieces by people like Pires, Uchida, Gulda, Brendel, Arrau, and for a fortepiano offering Bezuidenhout. A lot of interpretations I must admit are quite similar, and I think modern performance practice encourages samey kinds of interpretations while on the other hand HIP performances are MUCH more adventurous. Gulda is the biggest exception of the names I listed, with his interpretations being quite a bit different from the others. There are of course differences between them all, but many more similarities than differences for sure.