Classical Music

Re: Janine Jansen - Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64

Not that your YouTube video isn't good enough. But if I'm going to listen to that, I want to stream it in lossless stereo on Apple HomoSexual Music that Perverted the Super Bowl Halftime Show (henceforth mercifully shortened to Apple Pervsic).

They have Mendelssohn & Bruch: Concertos & Romance (With…) Gewandhausorchester (Mr. Flu will no doubt give us the translation of this), Janine Jansen, Riccardo Chailly. Here's the CD at Amazon.

In don't know why the Mendelssohn is packaged together with the Bruch, but I'm listening to the Bruch portion right now and it's very fine as well.

That sounds like a set-up scene of just the kind of movie I like. Fade to 1922 with the orchestra tuning up and this old man, now a young man, in his place under the warm glow of the lights in the string section. A single gunshot is heard in the distance. The house lights momentarily blink . . .

I am glad you liked it. As you may know, I wrote a number pieces for ST, which retold things I had experienced over the years. They were mainly pieces which revolved around some unusual action or a special setting. 

Lately, I have been thinking back on my youth and it occurred to me that I experienced many many acts of kindness from people who did not know me. I could give them nothing and, very often, what they did actually cost them something. Yet they were kind to me.  These were not "big" people. They may or may not have had a lot of money, but it wasn't obvious to me if they did. Most were simply good, down-to-earth citizens getting on with life. 

I like to flatter myself that, at least a small part of the reason, these people were so kind to me was that I was not a prick. In fact, I was very open, naive and something of a dreamer. (Oh ancient days) I was interested in others and wasn't worried about their backgrounds or race. But it could just be that I was lucky in the people I encountered. 

My remembrance of that Cafe' in Goslar is one of these experiences.  I may just be mis-remembering, but I believe the old man bought the girl and myself a dessert. The word Torte (cake) springs to mind. A small gesture, but still kind.  Which leads me to my favorite saying. 

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.-Aesop

Pheromones are way over-rated. But there are things equivalent to that which a person gives off socially or behaviorally (subtle gestures, general demeanor, etc.) that are not under conscious control. Yes, you probably didn't come off as a prick and probably quite the opposite.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Remember when there was the fad where mothers played classical music to their unborn infants because it was supposed to make them smarter? I don't know if there's any good evidence for this. But it could be true if you consider that there can be no doubt that rap music makes one dumber, duller, and more vulgar.

Classical music is civilized. Sinatra's claim to fame could be that he brought this same high-civilization influence to pop music. Yeah, he was a good singer. But there was an air of class and elegance about him. This can easily be contrasted with a society that venerates vulgarity and ugliness.

That short time in a land far away gave us the fruits of Judeo-Christian culture – fruits that could have come from nowhere else and from no other influence. Many were overtly Christian such as Bach or Handel. Others -- the Jewish side, such as Mahler, Mendelssohn -- perhaps less overtly religious, but no less important for the sensibility they brought to their music.

Classical music certainly was not a religious movement, but it was a movement we can see as diametrically opposed to the dumbing-down and vulgarization of music in our era. Even if Mozart was a bit of a screwball, his music evoked something much deeper – so deep and pure it arguably couldn't have come only from that particular man-child. Those notes vibrated in accordance to something truly eternal.

And do you suppose God listens to Mahler or Snoop Dogg?

At the very least they will attract a better class of criminal.

Idagio is working out great. I've been listening to it off and on the last few days and it seems to give me all I need of classical music. I'll wait to cancel Apple Music until April 10. I want to see what their Apple Classical Music looks like first...and that should be coming out any day now.

I do not, and never have, owned an Apple product. So I can't join you and cancel them.