Angry, upset or blue?

[anthonykay]

My problem with classical music Anthony is I associate it very strongly with feeling ill. I was a very sickly kid and spent a lot of time stuck indoors feeling poorly with my Dad playing all sorts of classical music to 'soothe' me. I've never been able to untangle the association. He was a massive Elizabeth Schwartzkopf fan. I suppose Elizabeth Fraser could be a modern manifestation of the female 'voice of an angel'!

It's a pity that bad associations have deprived you of such a wealth of musical experience.

I grew up in a house where, if the radio was on, it was tuned to BBC Radio 3 (although if an operatic soprano, or anything by Wagner, came on, my father would hit the Off button: he had some "bad associations"). And on the rare occasions when my mother sat down at the piano, it was Mozart, Schubert or Bach that I heard. I was aware of some blokes called the Beatles, who apparently lived in a yellow submarine, but they didn't have much effect on my musical tastes.

[noel]

I like some classical music but I'm still probably a complete heathen by liking things made famous by adverts. "Ah yes, I know this one: it's the DFS summer sale!"

[Wheeze]

Well, despite most of the classical genre reminded me of being unwell, when I got a little older, my Dad bought the Walter Carlos Album, The Well Tempered Synthesiser, which showcased Back, Handel and Scarletti. I was fascinated by this and it ignited a course of musical exploration with electronica that led me over the decades to Liz Fraser and her colleagues in Cocteau Twins.

That being said, for me, hands down, no question, the most complete and brilliant piece of music ever composed is this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frxT2qB1POQ.

Every human emotion encapsulated in 3 minutes of simple perfection.

[anthonykay]

That being said, for me, hands down, no question, the most complete and brilliant piece of music ever composed is this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frxT2qB1POQ.

Every human emotion encapsulated in 3 minutes of simple perfection.

I remember in my early teens hearing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUo7tQOvapE on the radio and getting that same sense of absolute perfection. These pieces (and others) show what Goethe must have meant when he said that Bach's music "is as if the eternal harmony was conversing within itself, as it may have done in the bosom of God just before the creation of the world."