Feelgood classical works

[rauschwerk]

William Byrd: Though Amaryllis Dance. Especially when singing it one to a part and nobody puts a foot wrong!

[teamsaint]

Exactly. And one could say the same about music: if it were really capable of reliably affecting people's emotions in a controllable way it would long ago have been used successfully as a means of social control, which thankfully doesn't really work. Or does it???

You must have heard of Radio 2, or FM Radio ?!

Jayne refers to an emotional place that is unusually extreme. Most of us, most of the time aren’t in those places, thankfully..But when we are,I suspect that the usual “ rules “ don’t apply. A kind of “ difficult cases make bad law “ situation.

[Joseph K]

Yes I must admit some of those choices do rather stretch a useful description: the same could be said of the Lili Boulanger - but all the music produces a feeling of welcoming warmth in some way, to me, that makes me feel better for having listened to it, whether it concludes in an extrovert manner or not.

I would add Grisey's Quatre Chants pour Franchir le Seui as another odd work to appear on your list, S_A - but there you have it.

I'd add Messiaen's Turangalila Symphonie, to my aforementioned Beethoven, specifically 'Joy of the Blood of the Stars'.

[hmvman]

Bach: Suites for Orchestra
Bach: Brandenburg Concertos
Bellini: Oboe Concerto
Britten: Matinées Musicales
Glinka: Magic Dances from Russlan & Ludmilla
Vivaldi: pretty much any concerto...but particularly those from La Cetra

[jayne lee wilson]

You must have heard of Radio 2, or FM Radio ?!

Jayne refers to an emotional place that is unusually extreme. Most of us, most of the time aren’t in those places, thankfully..But when we are,I suspect that the usual “ rules “ don’t apply. A kind of “ difficult cases make bad law “ situation.

Not sure what the "usual rules" might be, but do they apply to The Difficult Case of The Year of the Great Pandemic...?

[Petrushka]

I'll add Janacek's Glagolitic Mass and Sinfonietta to my list.

[teamsaint]

Not sure what the "usual rules" might be, but do they apply to The Difficult Case of The Year of the Great Pandemic...?

The “ usual rules” of how we , individually respond. As you said, you respond differently, to how you usually tend to , when you are in those emotional places. Unless I misunderstood .

[Bryn]

On the variability of responses, one of my long-standing cheer-up works is the 6th Bach Cello Suite. When I was living above a bookshop in Finsbury Park, one of those running the shop used to refer to the work concerned as "that bloody funeral dirge you keep listening to". I have never been able to identify with such a reaction to it. I should, perhaps, add that the recordings I most often listened to were of performances using a 5-string violoncello piccolo.

[jayne lee wilson]

The “ usual rules” of how we , individually respond. As you said, you respond differently, to how you usually tend to , when you are in those emotional places. Unless I misunderstood .

I simply don't feel I have any "usual" responses to music now, generally or specifically.... often I'm surprised how unpredictable it can be. (A coupla weeks ago I'd never have imagined I'd become as Simpson-obsessed again as I am now).

I suspect many here would have had the experience of playing something in the hope of a certain emotive response or benefit - and just not getting that at all. A wildly demonic and impassioned piece might chase the gloom away better than a pastoral serenade for strings; catharsis might work better than anaesthetic (as some posts here seem to indicate). A very complex abstract work may "occupy the mind most wonderfully"...

Human Beings appear to be technically or intellectually very clever animals, who are not always very good at knowing what lies beneath; or keen to peer down there. But those hidden forces often run the show.
The many Covid-Lockdown articles and comments in papers and magazines (including many from children and adolescents) have been fascinating in this respect; probably most revelatory of all to the writers and people involved. Now they've taken the Red Pill, they can't go back to the usual rules...or can they? I guess many will try...

[Richard Barrett]

What would make me feel good is music played live in the same room as me.

[jayne lee wilson]

What would make me feel good is music played live in the same room as me.

I get that fulfilment from my HiFi...its that Living Presence....

[Richard Barrett]

I get that fulfilment from my HiFi...its that Living Presence....

Well it isn't the same really, because it doesn't have the dimension of sociality and sharing. Maybe that isn't important to some people, which is fair enough, but if like me you're used to going to upwards of 50 concerts a year and participating in quite a few of them, reducing that to zero is bound to induce some sort of withdrawal.

[jayne lee wilson]

Well it isn't the same really, because it doesn't have the dimension of sociality and sharing. Maybe that isn't important to some people, which is fair enough, but if like me you're used to going to upwards of 50 concerts a year and participating in quite a few of them, reducing that to zero is bound to induce some sort of withdrawal.

I think when I play music "ambiently" - say, plainchant "drifting through the house" it is at least partly for the human presence of the voices, when the silence gets too loud. But when (as tonight) a high wind sings through the trees, that is often enough on its own.

So, two more adumbrations of "feelgood"...

[Edgy 2]

What would make me feel good is music played live in the same room as me.

Now, if Khatia Buniatishvili were to pop round to my house and play some Alkan on my little Yamaha digi piano in my living room
That would make me feel quite good

[Nick Armstrong]

Just saw this thread for the first time, and the first piece to pop into my head is the orchestral version of

John Foulds: April-England