Has education expanded your listening tastes?

Photon and Arnettpartners, imprinting no doubt occurs. However, there is more in play. My parents listened to country music almost exclusively. My first exposure to classical music was in the 5th grade. The music teacher decided she didn't want to do anything that day so she played a Tchaikovsky symphony. I loved it. I turned increasingly to my Dad's long wave radio, which allowed me to listen to European stations that played classical music. Once the teens rolled around, peer pressure was sufficient to steer me towards the popular music of the day. Again things took a turn when I had a next door neighbor in college who listened to a lot of classical. That was the final turning point. Its been 42 years of nothing but classical. This is what my kids grew up hearing, but they have all turned to country.

I am reminded that Martin Luther, whose knowledge and love of music is well known, commented that he placed music next to theology in its importance. He observed that God uses music, not geometry or similar disciplines to communicate his message. I am further reminded of a study (pet Imaging I think) I once saw that showed the same areas of the brain are activated by music and theology.

Music is a part of the human experience, and historically has been a significant part. It is just in our souls, or else it isn't.

Mapman, Your question "What changed" is a great question, but change didn't occur abruptly at the end of the 19th century as an unprecedented phenomenon. Change, even change in music, is relentless.
The audience changed, beginning in the late 18th century, shifting from the clergy and the nobility to increasingly include the merchant class. The venue changed from the elector's palace to the city's music hall. The practice of one performance per piece changed to one where the major composers had their works published, printed, and widely distributed. The works enjoyed multiple performances across Europe. LvB's 3rd symphony was worlds apart from Haydn's 10th not just in in structure, scope, and content, but also in terms of its receiving audience. Haydn's early symphonies could afford to be more formulaic than LvB's. Beethoven also had music critics to deal with. LvB had to do something new with each subsequent symphony. With the turn of the 20th century, this pressure became that much more pronounced as recorded and broadcasted music came on the scene.
Music had to change, and the change had to accelerate and become more radical. Stravinsky was going to go nowhere if he produced a 4 movement symphony in the style of Brahms.
It could be argued that the rate of change has accelerated. The baroque period is generally recognized as lasting 150 years. Bach continued producing Baroque works 25 years after everyone else had stopped. There were a few guys who continued to write romantic pieces into the 20th century. Not many people would recognize their names, apart from Richard Strauss and Rachmaninov, perhaps.

Another question is why was the change not as monolithic as it was at other periods? The passing of the romantic genre was not followed by emergence of a single predominant new genre. I suspect that this is because Mahler, Brahms, Dvorak etc were hard acts to follow. Their music was the end of a road. The road did not extend.

Now is the time to call in Frogman for an expert opinion.

Mapman, The first performance of Bach's St. Matthew passion in Leipzig was met by utter bewilderment. They had never heard or conceived of the like. Reportedly, his estate, including far too much of his work, now lost to us, was auctioned off as scrap. We have a gentleman who visited a fish market in Leipzig 80 years after Bach's death, who found his fish wrapped in part of the autograph score, who fortuitously recognized its value and delivered it to Felix Mendelssohn, to thank. Otherwise, it would be lost to us. If these reports are true, it proves Martin Luther was quite right on this subject. Likewise, LvB's Eroica Symphony was met with head shaking. The first movement was longer than most symphonies. Stravinsky's Rite of Spring caused a riot, which in turn caused him to withdraw the ballet. These works are of course foundational works of the repertory now-- indisputably great in the minds of nearly everyone, except my good friend Schubert, who is not too keen on Stravinsky. In fact, as opposed to Mozart and Haydn, much of LvB's work did not meet with general public or critical approval. It was the cognoscente who sponsored him and truly appreciated his work. Give a listen to his Grosse Fugue or very late piano sonatas for an appreciation of how radical LvB was. 30 years ago, the works of Charles Ives was lost to me. Now I appreciate him very much. Let us be slow to condemn that which we do not immediately assimilate.

As for any comparisons of these Ikons to present day rock composers, I think it is a stretch.

And we still need Frogman and Learsfool to speak.

Well, as expected, Frogman provided what was missing. Now, if only he can provide the key to unlock Elliot Carter.

Frogman, For years I sat in the front row at the ISO concerts. Not only was the price right, but it really allowed me to watch the musicians work. And I do mean work! You guys must go home dead tired after a Beethoven symphony. I also have a vivid memory of a Russian conductor scolding a Russian cellist with " non tropo!" I got a kick out of that but I'm not sure the cellist was equally amused.

Most of us non pros get a sense of what constitutes a flawless performance and how obvious and distracting one slip can be. I remember a preconcert talk with one of the members of the Pacifica Quartet who said he usually turned off the classical music when he went home- practice and teaching all day long every day was quite enough.

I can't play a thing other than my cd player. I would give almost anything to be able to sit down and play the Goldberg Variations on a piano-up to such single minded laser focused effort that I no longer loved the music.

Kodos to you and Learsfool and others who work so hard to bring so much beauty into our lives.

Last night I pulled out HvK's 1963 Eroica and gave it a listen. I thought about how much more I like this recording than almost all of the other Eroicas I have. If someone were to ask me, "Why do you like this version best," the most candid response would be because I do.
Learsfool and Frogman could probably entertain me for 2 hours talking about why they do or do not like that particular recording better than another. Everyone has a right to an opinion, but not all opinions are of equal value.
During a pre concert lecture the lecturer (a local music professor) played a part of a chamber work from Brahms and another one from Beethoven. She asked me to briefly describe the difference. I answered that the LvB went straight to my heart, while the Brahms engaged my mind. That was a valid answer, but an utterly subjective one devoid of any particular value to any one but myself. When I retire, perhaps I will have time to educate myself more on that which I love so much. I really can't fathom how anything bad could come from that.

Rok2id, Lynn Harrell went from 1st Chair cello in the Cleveland to a distinguished solo career. On the other hand, I remember several years ago listening to Alban Gerhardt discuss the excruciatingly difficult decision he had to make in turning down an offer from the Berlin Philharmonic for 1st chair cello in favor of a solo career. I’m sure there are many other examples.
I will say this—if you think about the soloists that really do well, it is my perception they tend to have more than their fair share of personal charisma in addition to their musical talents. There are obvious examples where this is not true. But just think about people like Hillary Hahn, Itzhak Pearlman, Yo Yo Ma, Joshua Bell—they can work a crowd in a unique way.
For others, a steady job in a world class orchestra may be a better fit.

Rok2id, So true, and that crossed my mind when I ever so carefully chose to limit my comments to "charisma."
As for your recent LvB trios, that sounds like a winner of a combo. I've had the pleasure of hearing Lynn Harrell live twice. Best Dvorak concerto I ever heard, and I've heard a number of the big names including Ma.