Relax, it's only classical music
Yesterday morning on my car radio, the NPR news announcer was giving the line up for the day. "After the news", he said, "you can relax with some classical music."
Relax? Relax? I'm tired of this misconception of the nature of classical music. It might be "relaxing" if you listen to the ersatz pseudo-classical that is made up of short fast movements in a major key and slow movements in a minor key with lots of tonic harmonies and no dissonance.
Classical music to me is a challenging emotional art form. The last thing I want it to be is relaxing. I want to hear it and get caught up in the emotion and complexity of the piece. And I'm not just talking later period romantic or twentieth century serial music. Baroque opera can be just as emotional and dramatic as verismo (as I talk about here) and I find as much pathos in a well-played Vivaldi concerto as in Schubert's songs.
Relax? That's the last thing I want to do.
Relax? Relax? I'm tired of this misconception of the nature of classical music. It might be "relaxing" if you listen to the ersatz pseudo-classical that is made up of short fast movements in a major key and slow movements in a minor key with lots of tonic harmonies and no dissonance.
Classical music to me is a challenging emotional art form. The last thing I want it to be is relaxing. I want to hear it and get caught up in the emotion and complexity of the piece. And I'm not just talking later period romantic or twentieth century serial music. Baroque opera can be just as emotional and dramatic as verismo (as I talk about here) and I find as much pathos in a well-played Vivaldi concerto as in Schubert's songs.
Relax? That's the last thing I want to do.
posted by Rich Russell at
12:18 AM
3 Comments:
I so agree. I have recently discovered that Classic FM are now selling Bath pearls, bubble bath and whatnot on their website, presumably becuase it's the perfect tie-in...
I'll third that sentiment, definitely! Relax? Yeah, sometimes. I'll admit I listen to some music to relax.
But Mozart and Baroque are not necessarily relaxing, I'm certainly not exactly "relaxing" into this Heliane. This is some seriously musically and emotionally challenging stuff!
And I defy anyone to say, "After the news we're going to relax with some Pink Floyd, followed by some even more relaxing Dead Kennedys."
I guess they have to play some soothing music of some sort, though, since the news is invariable so bloody, awful, hateful and/or nasty.
Can you stand one more "I agree" on this topic? I was anything but relaxed yesterday while listening to my CD of "Eugene Onegin," and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Post a Comment
<< Home