Music to My Ears
One of my favourite guilty pleasures is a set of gentle romances from the 60s and 70s by Iris Bromige. Her heroines are gentle, firm and optimistic, her heroes are domineering and loving, and the couples never really fall in love – they just grow to love. One thing they always seem to do is sit down with a cup of tea listen to the latest recording of a Beethoven string quartet, or the Mahler 5.
It’s been a long time since I did that myself – sit down, turn off the lights, pour a cuppa, and listen to music. Not music as I’m doing something mindless, like maths homework or cleaning, or background music, or simply playing music. But paying attention to the music itself is a practice I’ve fallen out of. When Toronto lost city power several years ago, my friend told me she put batteries in her stereo and put on Coldplay’s Parachutes, sitting for 45 minutes listening to it in the dark. The other day my iPod was on shuffle, and Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto come on. And I decided that it deserved – and I deserved – a full 40 minutes devoted to it. So I turned off the lights, turned up the volume, and sat down.
And oh, what a joy. My favourite recording is the Artur Rubinstein (no Lang Lang for me, thank you very much), and I’m glad that I took the time to re-discover it. The harmonies, the virtuosity, the sweeping grandeur and romance – I only wish that I had a phonograph to listen to it properly.
I’m glad I took the time out do it. I listen to music too often through an iPod, and inundating my senses in music is an experience not easily replicated when you’re shut in and shutting out.
Do you just sit down and listen to your favourite album or artist? What would you recommend?
– Jean AAR
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Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.
For me, it’s Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos. I can get totally lost in those.
Susan/DC – I can only do it with particular pieces or albums. The Rach 2nd is one; certain musicals are another, and it’s definitely easier if a story is told.
Magdalen – Have never seen Brief Encounter, so I don’t have the automatic association, but I know what you mean. I’m not picky about most instrumentalists except pianists, but I will admit to an instant and unfair prejudice against Yo-Yo Ma.
Jean — I love the Rachmaninoff 2nd, although I can’t hear it without thinking of Brief Encounter. Not a bad thing, just an unbreakable connection.
I haven’t sat and listened to a piece of classical music in a long time, but I do listen to music sometimes when I’m walking the dog. I live in the country, and the walk is 45 minutes long, around a hilltop grass air strip that’s rarely used. It’s a quiet experience, so it’s almost like listening to music and doing nothing else.
I know what you mean about needing a specific soloist. I feel that way about the Dvorak Cello Concerto — I know Rostropovich is more famous but I grew up with the Leonard Rose recording and everything else sounds wrong.
Must admit that I find it very hard to concentrate on music and only music unless I’m sitting in a concert hall. If I’m home, I’m too easily distracted. My husband and one of my sons are very music-focused, but I’m more likely to read and then I become so engrossed in the words that I don’t hear the music at all. I do envy people who are able to follow music and understand it.