Why do we stop listening to new music as we get older?

@simonmoon: We all walk our our musical paths. Mine has been the reverse of yours; I started with 20th Century (Stravinsky, Copland, Ives, Vaughan Williams, Strauss, Rachmaninoff, Holst, Ravel, Prokofiev, Penderecki even (his "Threnody To The Victims Of Hiroshima" is the single most terrifying piece of music I’ve ever heard).

Then, just as I followed the bread crumbs back from the Rock music of the 1960’s to it’s origins in the Hillbilly and Jump Blues music of the 1940’s, I went backwards in Classical: through the Romantics (I love Wagner), then the Classical era (who doesn’t like Beethoven? Or Mozart? Well, except for Glenn Gould ;-).

But my love of Baroque music surpasses that of any other. Well, except Bluegrass.

@simonmoon: For a stimulating workout of your brain, give Bach's Concerto For 4 Harpsichords And Orchestra a listen. Each harpsichord plays a separate melody (the form of the Fugue, employing a lot of counterpoint), all following the chord progressions, modulations, etc. played by the orchestra. But it's not just an intellectual challenge, it's also a thrilling musical ride!

For the enlargement of your soul, listen to any of his Passions.

I was introduced to the music of the master by a great songwriter I was recording with in 1974. He had grown up a fan of The Beatles, but when I loaned him my copy of Smiley Smile (The Beach Boys) he became as obsessed with Brian Wilson as was I. That album led both of us to Van Dyke Parks, another near-genius. If you've heard Van Dyke's debut album Song Cycle and like it, there's no reason you can't become enamored with Bach's insanely great music.

If one can't find anything of interest in the music of J.S. Bach, perhaps he or she does not really love music as much as he or she thinks. JSB wrote enough music to keep one busy for at least a lifetime.