Music that has a hold of me beyond understanding


I just took a musical bath. I listened, for the umpteenth time, to Puccini's La Boheme. I can't begin to understand how someone could ever create such a thing of beauty. There are many 'songs' that compete in their individual beauty, but no other opera, play, or body of singing that even comes close, for me. You?

newbee

Showing 1 response by simonmoon

There is so much music that has this effect on me.

Music that has a hold on me, transports me, alters my mental state, on different levels, for differing reasons, describes the vast majority of my music collection. If it didn’t, I would not have much reason to listen to it.

All the music I listen to, even though they are from different genes, has more in common than differences, at least in the way I look at music.

Those things that the vast majority of music I like have in common, in no particular order are: very high levels of musicianship, complexity, deep and broad emotional and/or intellectual content, (usually) long form, (usually) does not follow verse>chorus>bridge song format, no need or desire for catchy hooks or even singable melodies. Although, not all of these have to be present, but the more that are, the better chance it will have the effect on me,

The 3 main genres that most often have most or all of the above attributes are, and has a hold on me:

Prog and most of its subgenres (classic, Zeuhl, avant-prog, Canterbury, prog-metal).

Classic -Yes, King Crimson, Anglagard, PFM, Deus ex Machina, Genesis, etc.

Zeuhl - Magma, Setna, Eskaton, Corima, Zao. etc.

Avant-prog - Henry Cow, Thinking Plague, Univers Zero, Art Zoyd, Yugen, etc.

Canterbury - National Health, Hatfield and the North, MannaMirage, Zopp, etc.

Jazz (post-bop, spiritual jazz, fusion, chamber-jazz, avant-garde):

Coltrane, Pharaoh Sanders, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever, Steve Coleman, Oregon, Eberhard Weber. Allan Holdsworth, Anthony Braxton, Miles, McCoy Tyner, many more.

Classical (avant-garde, serial, modernism, spectralism, atonal):

Elliott Carter, Luciano Berio, Charles Wuorinen, Rebecca Saunders, George Perle, Alban Berg, Stefan Wolpe, Gyorgy Ligeti, Jon Tower, Per Norgard, and many more.

Almost all of my huge classical collection, is from post 1950. I have tried many times to get into earlier eras of classical music, and for me, they do nothing.

No other genre that I have found, has that effect on me besides these genres. Although, I have been slowly getting into Indian classical music, and it may have this ability for me. But my exploration is very new.