Which composer do you like more than you think you do?

[Lateralthinking1]

I'm sure he would have loved your reasoning ............

Thanks. It didn't come from me. One of my cactus plants told me to write it.

[Petrushka]

Vaughan Williams. I keep on thinking that I don't care that much for his music but when I hear it I know very well that I do. It's a strange feeling that I can't rationally explain.

[Serial_Apologist]

Thanks. It didn't come from me. One of my cactus plants told me to write it.

... a prickly issue, especially for more traditionalist board members if the stable door is left unBoulted.

[ahinton]

Thank you. So far the thread has highlighted Cage. I am not sure whether I like Cage more than I think I do or whether I think I like Cage more than I do. That, I think, is precisely the appeal of Cage.

Yes, I could well accept that his appeal is limited thus!

[ahinton]

... a prickly issue, especially for more traditionalist board members if the stable door is left unBoulted.

But better than putting the Cage before the horse, surely?

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

yep RVW always does better than i expect .... and i find my ears pricked

[ahinton]

I'm sure he would have loved your reasoning ............

Yes, I rather fear that he might!

Seriously, I've tried very hard with Cage but without success; I used at least to think that he focussed people's attention on things that they might otherwise have missed, but I'm not so sure about even this nowadays...

[Thropplenoggin]

If you'd asked me in January, I would have said I can't stand Mozart. For the past few months, it's all I've been listening to.

[Lateralthinking1]

If you'd asked me in January, I would have said I can't stand Mozart. For the past few months, it's all I've been listening to.

Have you changed your mind on Mozart or do you feel much the same and therefore have a darker reason?

[Ferretfancy]

Vaughan Williams. I keep on thinking that I don't care that much for his music but when I hear it I know very well that I do. It's a strange feeling that I can't rationally explain.

I was once standing in a tent during my National Service in Egypt listening to a review on the Forces Radio of the famous Decca series of Vaughan Williams with Boult.
They played a longish extract of his Pastoral, and I felt a sense of homesickness that I have never experienced as intensely since. It was quite overwhelming. Nowadays we understand that there is more to the Pastoral than English landscape painting, but as an eighteen year old at the time it really got to me.

As for Elgar, I blow hot and cold. If I had to make a choice I would have to pick the Enigma Variations and the Violin Concerto as the works I never tire of, but the two symphonies? I nearly always prefer the 2nd to the 1st, but I have to be in the right receptive mood, as I do with the Cello Concerto. The one Elgar work that gives me the creeps is Gerontius, too much incense and phoney sorrow for me, I'm afraid.

[Thropplenoggin]

Have you changed your mind on Mozart or do you feel much the same and therefore have a darker reason?

The former. I think it was hearing Beethoven in the music* via some fiery performances of the piano concertos (Haskil) and late symphonies (Mackerras, Pinnock). I've also fallen for Maria Joao Pires's renditions of the sonatas. A definite future purchase.

*I mean working back chronologically, hearing how Mozart influenced Ludwig Van.

[Serial_Apologist]

The former. I think it was hearing Beethoven in the music* via some fiery performances of the piano concertos (Haskil) and late symphonies (Mackerras, Pinnock). I've also fallen for Maria Joao Pires's renditions of the sonatas. A definite future purchase.

*I mean working back chronologically, hearing how Mozart influenced Ludwig Van.

You're not alone in that, Thropple: a later composer changing your perspective on his or her predecessors.

[Flosshilde]

... I think I like Cage more than I do.

I feel rather like that with Tippett - I do like the operas & A child of our time & The Rose Lake, but haven't really tried the symphonies or quartets; so perhaps I should try them & maybe find that I like him as much a s I think I do . Which I know isn't really the subject of the thread, but I can't really say who I like more than I think I do. I've recently been discovering composers I have dismissed in the past, so perhaps with them it's more a case of 'composers I like more than I thought I would' (which is still not the topic :sigh: )

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The music of Joseph Jongen. I discovered his music by buying the Liege Symphony Orchestra's 50th anniversary box. I had dismissed him as some third rate composer. I was wrong.

[Lateralthinking1]

I feel rather like that with Tippett - I do like the operas & A child of our time & The Rose Lake, but haven't really tried the symphonies or quartets; so perhaps I should try them & maybe find that I like him as much a s I think I do . Which I know isn't really the subject of the thread, but I can't really say who I like more than I think I do. I've recently been discovering composers I have dismissed in the past, so perhaps with them it's more a case of 'composers I like more than I thought I would' (which is still not the topic :sigh: )

"Composers I like more than I thought I would" are permissible. You have just made the mistake of becoming knowledgeable
in those cases. Ferret's time and place gave significance to a previously meaningless RVW. Thropple can now stand Mozart because he contextualises LVB. I am enjoying the variety of these inspiring replies. With a fair wind, they could be infinite.

I am not sure that I like Rodrigo as much as I want to do. It is mainly Orange Juice I like of his.