"Emotionally involving" music and your system...


I recently attended a concert performance of Brahms' 1st Symphony and found the experience, quite frankly, overwhelming. I had previously heard this piece at least a dozen times on my system. I had also attended roughly a dozen live concert events over the last several years. While I found each of these listenings on my system enjoyable and each of these live performances interesting, none had any real emotional impact. On this occasion, however, I felt swept up by the music. By the time the last few chords came crashing down in the final movement I felt emotionally drained and had shivers running down my spine. I still cannot explain my reaction. Perhaps I felt that same sense of exhilaration that Brahms must have felt as he composed those last few bars, casting off the great shadow of Beethoven for at least a few brief moments. When I returned home I put a copy of this same work on my system. It had none of the emotional involvement of the live performance.

My question, then, is this: What pieces of music have you heard performed live that have had this effect on you? Have you been able to duplicate this effect at home via a recording? (I am sure some of you might think my system needs an upgrade, and I agree, but I will save that for another post.)

krusty2k

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