{"id":253,"date":"2006-05-15T10:55:09","date_gmt":"2006-05-15T10:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scienceblogs.com\/principles\/2006\/05\/15\/pimp-me-old-tunes\/"},"modified":"2006-05-15T10:55:09","modified_gmt":"2006-05-15T10:55:09","slug":"pimp-me-old-tunes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/2006\/05\/15\/pimp-me-old-tunes\/","title":{"rendered":"Pimp Me Old Tunes"},"content":{"rendered":"

My lightly tossed-off shot at classical music snobs<\/a>, and subsequent confession that classical music fails to make much of an impression has led to various<\/a> people<\/a> calling me an uncultured barbarian, but also to a surprisingly vibrant comment thread that has included some recommendations of music to try.<\/p>\n

I might as well roll with that while it’s going, so here’s the deal: I’m headed out to a conference tomorrow, and will have a couple of dull plane flights and a fair bit of time in a hotel room in which to listen to new stuff. By which I mean old stuff, so pimp me some classical music, subject to a few conditions listed below the fold. I’ll buy some of the recommended music off iTunes (I just got a check from Seed, so I’ve got some money to spend), and listen to it while I’m away, and then report back.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Conditions:<\/p>\n

1) I’ve got about two hours’ worth of stuff that Scott Spiegelberg recommended, so no nine-hour symphony cycles. Recommend something fairly short, that I can give a fair listen in a reasonable amount of time. Ten minutes is better than half an hour.<\/p>\n

2) If there’s a definitive recording, specify it. If I say I don’t like something, and you respond with “That’s because you didn’t listen to the version with Quintus V. Thrudbottle conducting the Bratislava Philharmonic,” you’ll earn a virtual Boot to the Head. I’m aware that there are dozens of versions out there of most classical pieces, and in the absence of a specific recommendation, I’m just going to buy the cheapest one off iTunes.<\/p>\n

3) It should be available off iTunes. If I can’t downoad it tonight, I can’t take it with me tomorrow.<\/p>\n

4) No Opera Voice, please. Scott recommended mostly vocal pieces, as I have often indicated a preference for music with lyrics over instrumental stuff. However, a quick listen yesterday suggests that I find the usual mode of singing for classical pieces very irritating– I’ll listen further, and see if I can get past that, but I’d like a little variety, just in case.<\/p>\n

5) The core problem you’re attempting to address is this: Classical music generally just doesn’t grab me. I like it just fine while it’s playing, but it doesn’t leave much of a lasting impression. Put another way, I have never heard a dozen bars of a classical piece and said “Who is that? I must own it!”, while I have been known to sit in a parked car with the engine running, hoping that a DJ will come on and tell me the artist and title of a pop song I just heard.<\/p>\n

So, if you’re going to suggest something, suggest something that you think will make an immediate impression, and ideally a positive one If I just think “Huh. That’s… nice,” that’s not a success<\/p>\n

So, here’s your chance: Help me be less uncultured. What should I be listening to other than the ephemeral pop that’s cluttering my hard drive?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My lightly tossed-off shot at classical music snobs, and subsequent confession that classical music fails to make much of an impression has led to various people calling me an uncultured barbarian, but also to a surprisingly vibrant comment thread that has included some recommendations of music to try. I might as well roll with that… Continue reading Pimp Me Old Tunes<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"1","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}