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Classical Music/looking for music

Expert: David Froom - 9/2/2005

Question
I have listened to Gorecki's 3rd symphony many many times and it is probably the best piece of classical music I have ever heard. I know there must be heaps of classical music as eloquent as this out there, but the catalogue at our library is so huge it would take years to come across something in this style and as beautiful(opinion I know!). Do you know of any other composers or compositions that match the utter beauty and grace of Gorecki's 3rd symphony? This would be much much appreciated. Thank you.

Answer
Besides exploring more of Gorecki's music (after all, he must have a first and second symphonies, and must have written much music since the third symphony), you might want to listen to composers who are doing similar things: Sofia Gubaidulina, Arvo Pärt, and Penderecki's music from the last 10 years or so. I think you'll find things you might like, probably not every piece by every composer, but certainly some things.

These folks are at the top and in the front of a movement to explore music that embraces simplicity, directness, and spirituality (particularly Christian Eastern Orthodox). If it is the spirituality you are after, you might also look at some more complex composers' ways of approaching this -- composers like Olivier Messiaen, and, among younger Americans, George Tsontakis and Osvaldo Golijov.

Libraries are, of course, the best place to search. You can borrow things and jump around until something catches your ear. Also read the CD booklets to see if you can get good suggestions about where to turn next.

Happy hunting and happy listening.

David Froom

Questioner's Rating

Rating(1-10)	Knowledgeability = 10	Clarity of Response = 10	Politeness = 10
Comment	OK, I can respect that. But, why is it a scientific fact that Mozart's music allows the creation of more protein cells in the brain? Why? Because Mozart's music has more concepts for the brain to aknowledge. Music complexity isn't music quality. Beethoven's "Hammerklavier" is very complex (individual fugues written for each change in key and form) but it isn't very good. Loud coarse junctions or passages or statements is a turning point from musical beauty to musical folly. Moast composers can provide symmetry or a few minutes but eventually screw it up. (Piano Con #5 "Emporer") Mozart had a higher legitmate pain tolerance than any other composer and that is why he was able grasp many concepts at the same time before he commited to them as being finished. Somebody like Beethoven - who couldn't even control his own anger - couldn't have reached Mozart's stature unless he was a stoic like Mozart. Mozart definetly knew love to be a concept of self-sacrifice, while simpletons like Beethoven or anybody else for that matter(besides Haydn, Schubert, Bach, Vivaldi, Handel, and what the hell... Hofstetter) probably percieved love as an emotion. As you probably know, MOzart had a heart of gold, and was a very selfless person. (the movie Amadeus has many unaccuracies) "If it not for a father and sister to whom I must support and sacrifice everything for. I would completely renounce my own interests - and consult yours alone." - Mozart "People make a mistake who think that my art has come easily to me. Nobody has devoted so much time and thought to composistion as I. There is not a famous master whose music I have not studied over and over." - Mozart "Before God and as an honest man I tell you that your so is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by name. He has taste, and what is more -(:?) the most profound kowledge of composition." - Joseph Haydn to the simpleton, ass, ox, swine, and coward Leopold trazoM P.S. The brain has protein cells just like in comparison to the body... Why would our individual adherence to the concept of legitimate suffering change between these two respects in any way? http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=395 Go to this web site plz, and listen to my personal favs. Try to look outside the box and listen his hidden ingenuities. ie... Listen to (3:05 - 3:14) in the Marriage of Figaro overture. If that small bars of genuis don't hurt your ears in a good way, then the connection between your limbic system and cerebullum to your frontal lobes isn't very good. (brain cell synapse and axons linked due to the same perception of energy ie... ion channels) Once you gain syncronization, you'll be able to listen to music and completely understand the theme or connection of ideas with greater accuracy and without pause or adherence to your curiosity. nickname = warpath