I’m quite a bright fella. In fact that’s using false modesty to under-sell my intelligence. I’m pretty bloody clever really. But I’ll admit there are large gaping holes in my knowledge bank. For a start I am rubbish at languages. Never got to grips with any of them. Not even French and that’s easy. You just say everything quickly, eat garlic and horses and use lots of hand gestures. Or is that Italian?
Anyway I know bugger all about classical music and in a bid to address this I have been buying the odd CD here and there for the past year or so.
My first buy last year was Beethoven’s Nine Symphonies and I’ve struggled with these for some time as they’re a bit clumpy-clumpy, bangy-bangy.
Now Stravinsky. Quite like him and The Rite Of Spring. Hell, he even wrote some of the cello music for Jaws. Top fella from what I’ve heard so far.
My fave find so far, though, is John Tavener. He’s a little bit Gothic, a little bit epic and a little bit Medieval and a little bit New World all mixed together. I particularly like how he combines elements from various religions with other musical influences to create a new mythology examining the problems of our times.
So it says on the booklet with one of his CDs anyway…
My father-in-law has recommended Steve Reich so I may well be dipping into him soon too. It’s a brave new world of aural delights!
I love finding new things. Even if most of them are a few centuries old…
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