How do you introduce non-classical listeners to this music?

[dirkronk]

In the decade I've been away, I've been posting on forums with folks who, by and large, don't talk at all about classical music. Of course, that has seldom stopped ME from yammering away if the opportunity presents itself. So last year, on the Acoustic Guitar Forum's "Open Mic" area, someone asked "Any Classical Music Fans Here?" Most responses made it clear that the posters weren't really conversant with compositions and performances in this particular genre of music, mentioning background music for commercials or film scores. Naturally, I couldn't keep my mouth shut...but I also wanted to put things in terms these guitar players and collectors could relate to. I'll let you folks decide if I did the topic justice. But before I paste in that long-winded post, here's what I'd like as YOUR follow-up to this topic: how do YOU introduce someone with no previous knowledge of classical to this music? Do you have a selection of suggested works and/or performances to offer? Do you invite them over for an evening with you playing DJ? I know that there are plenty of intro albums designed for kids, but what if your friend is an intelligent adult, but has simply never been exposed to much in the classical realm? I'd be curious to know how you approach this.
Thanks in advance,
Dirk

And, as threatened (I mean promised), here's how I answered the question: "ANY CLASSICAL MUSIC FANS HERE?"

Since taking up playing the acoustic guitar again back around 2010, after a 30 year hiatus, I have listened more and more to folk, 60s/70s rock, and singer/songwriter tunes...the things I'm most apt to learn and play on the guitar. I showed up here on Acoustic Guitar Forum about 2011. However, while I'm a little rusty on the topic...

For several decades, from my late 20s until 60, at least 90% of my music listening was to classical (the rest, mainly jazz and folk). I collected classical LPs (10,000 at the highest point) and much later CDs, plus the serious hi-fi stuff required to listen to them critically. The LP collection (save 300 choice items) was donated to a university library several years ago, much to my wife's relief. But I was pretty much whole hog into the classical realm. When the internet came along, I posted prolifically on specialist international forums, mainly naming and evaluating specific recorded performances (ranging over time from the 1920s through the early 2000s). I'll try not to pontificate here, but let me make a handful of comments/suggestions assuming you want to enjoy classical but not make a college course out of it.

1. Don't be intimidated. Most classical music is just pop music from a long time ago. And the same rules apply. It needs one (or many) catchy tunes, with lots of repeated phrases but also a few hooks or sidebars to keep it interesting. Yeah, sometimes it gets so loud and grandiose and the instrumental group itself gets so enormous that it takes on a life of its own (thinking Beethoven's 9th symphony, Mahler's 2nd symphony, Holst The Planets, some of Bach's huge choral works...and grand opera as an entire genre) but the tune still needs to be there.

2. If you love a tune, track down and listen to the whole original piece it came from. It'll be worth it. I got into classical because (1) as a kid I watched so many Bugs Bunny and similar cartoons that used classical themes as soundtracks and (2) there was a scene in the movie Soylent Green (the Edward G. Robinson euthanasia scene) that used music that utterly enchanted me and I HAD to learn what it was (turns out, it was snippets from two different bigger pieces - Beethoven's symphony #6 and Dvorak's New World Symphony). While I was doing my detective work, I fell in love with this music. Luckily, I had help, so I also suggest...

3. Get recommendations from friends. If you know someone with a big CD/LP collection, hang out with him/her (yes, once we get past "social distancing") and listen to music. Sure, YouTube is a great source if you have to do your seeking solo on the web, but sometimes it builds your enthusiasm to have someone else poke you in the ribs and say, "Now listen to THIS part." Ask questions, but mostly just let them be DJ and enjoy. Me, I found a clerk at the local Sound Warehouse (about 1977) who ran their classical & jazz departments...a fount of knowledge and eventually a really good friend. He introduced me to Sviatoslav Richter and Yevgeny Mravinsky as well as Art Tatum and Thelonious Monk...artists with few if any peers, and whom I never would have known without my bud.

4. Interpretation matters. I could just tell you to go listen to all of Rossini's overtures (and I highly suggest that you do), because it's all really fun music. But I'd be doing you a disservice if I also didn't mention that the most exciting versions of the William Tell Overture (aka, the Lone Ranger theme!) are by Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Orchestra and (especially if quality sound is important to you) Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony. Sure, other groups do a decent job, but those two recordings will make you want to jump out of your seat, put on a mask, cowboy hat, powder blue jumpsuit and cap pistols, and go lead the fight for law and order in the early west. Just crank the volume. You'll see what I mean. For every major piece of music, there's going to be some particular recording that speaks to you more than any other version. Hope you find yours. (BTW, Toscanini and Reiner are both great in ALL the Rossini overtures they recorded, so don't just stop with Tell!)

5. Virtuosity matters. If an instrumentalist isn't good, he or she usually doesn't wind up on a record, but some just rise way above even excellence to sheer artistry. Just as Guy Clark notes in "Dublin Blues": "I have seen the David, seen the Mona Lisa too, And I have heard Doc Watson play Columbus Stockade Blues." The kind of veneration that Doc (or name your favorite guitar player in any genre) commands is conveyed upon a handful of players in each area of classical, as well. If you know their names and look them up on YouTube, you're likely to hear great performances, whatever they may be playing...and that process could help you expand your knowledge of classical and of what you like. To get you started, try these names:
Piano: Sviatoslav Richter, Emil Gilels, Ivan Moravec, Clara Haskil, Lili Kraus, Solomon (British, went by only one name), Annie Fischer.
Violin: Jascha Heifetz, David Oistrakh, Nathan Milstein, Arthur Grumiaux, Josef Suk, Johanna Martzy.
Cello: Janos Starker, Jacqueline DuPre, YoYo Ma, Rostropovich.

6. Listen for fun and start with the big hits. Before you dive into any composer (and there are lots of great names that have already been listed above), try to find out what works are most approachable for listeners new to classical. I mean, you wouldn't introduce an absolute newbie to Bob Dylan with Desolation Row, would you? Nah...you'd probably go with Don't Think Twice or Blowin' In the Wind. Same thing with classical...the "big hits" got big for a reason: they're fun or easy or amazing to listen to. Like the suggestion to try out Mahler symphonies if you like Beethoven: I agree, but try Mahler's Symphony 1 and 4 first...they're shorter, enjoyable and easier to get into than #2 and #8, for instance. Down the road, you may like 2 and 8 better, of course--but not if you feel compelled to consume too big a piece, too soon, and stop listening as a result.

Here's a handful of actual suggestions of classical pieces, plus the ensemble or artists I think do the piece to a T. If you like 'em, I'll suggest more:
- Mendelssohn: Symphony 4 ("Italian")--Szell/Cleveland Orchestra (or if you can find Van Beinum and the Concertgebouw, the sound is older but the performance is killer).
- Rimsky-Korsakov: Sheherazade--if you like bold/fast/exciting, go for Fritz Reiner/Chicago Sym; if you want big/lush/dramatic and with a violin that's too utterly gorgeous for words, try Kondrashin/Amsterdam Concertgebouw.
- Mozart: Violin Sonatas (any and all)--Grumiaux (violin) & Haskil (piano), or perhaps brother/sister duo Gil (violin) and Orli Shaham (piano).
- Beethoven: Piano Sonata #23 ("Appassionata")--Richter (live at Carnegie Hall 1960) will drop your jaw in the last minutes; or try Ivan Moravec to start...this is a piece worth hearing again and again.
- Beethoven: Symphony 6 ("Pastoral")--Bruno Walter/Columbia Sym Orch...accept no substitutes for your first time out...this is transcendent.

Good luck.

Dirk

[barney]

That's a brilliant post, and very helpful to newcomers. You can tell from its depth that it must have been written during the pandemic!

[Lance]

Yes, Dirk ... an excellent post. I plan to respond to your post. You have some workable thoughts. At 2:13am, it's not a good time to tackle that ... sleep time!

[Holden Fourth]

Great post Dirk. When I've been asked by someone to introduce them to classical music many of the tenets you propose in your post I've used.

Top of the list is the potboilers/war horses whatever you want to call them. They are war horses for a reason, it's bloody good music. Start with those.

Second is also mentioned by you - find a great performance. I remember in the early days trying to like Dvorak's 'New World' with not much success. Then I came across the Fricsay version and I was hooked on both the work and the conductor.

Third: I don't initially introduce them to complete performances but the work's signature movement instead. I mean, who doesn't like the Adagio Sostenuto of the Moonlight sonata? Let's say I was going to introduce someone to Shostakovich's symphonies. I'd start with the third movement of #8. It's thrilling, especially in the hands of Andre Previn and the LSO.

Fourth: Think mood and emotion. I've mentioned thrilling already (those drum whacks) but there's also sad (Death of Ase from Peer Gynt), power (first or fourth movement of the LvB 5th), you could go on forever.

Music I'd put on a USB for someone wanting to start out (far from complete)

1st movement of the Moonlight
A selection of pieces from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker
William Tell and Thieving Magpie Overtures
Una Voce Poco Fa by Callas
Grieg Piano Cto first Mvt
Toccata and Fugue in D minor
Chopin Op 64/1 Waltz
Schubert Heldenroslein and Auf dem Wasser zu Singen
In the Garden of the Temple - Bjorling and Merrill.
Mozart Piano sonata in C major K545
Mozart Piano Concerto #21 in C K467 Andante

I could go on but the bottom line is that the listener will like some piece more than others. When they come back to me with "I really liked this what's next?" This is when I give them full works instead of excerpts.

The main point is that most of these will have been experienced by the newbie via ads and other ways. In some ways they are already familiar.

[Ricordanza]

Great post, Dirk. One question, though. Since this was an acoustic guitar group, why no mention of Segovia?

Another question: Did you get any feedback from the group?

[maestrob]

I'll totally agree with my colleagues here that your post is very thoughtful and yet you don't "talk down" to your readers. It's a great way to start the conversation.

My niece gave birth to my first grand-nephew a year and a half ago, and since I had given her and her husband some classical recordings (Beethoven, Scheherezade, Vivaldi's Four Seasons and a few others) to try, she noticed that when she was playing them, he would fall asleep and stop crying from his teething pain. When she told me this, I leapt at the opportunity and offered her a set of CDs featuring recordings that I had grown up with that my parents had used to introduce me to classical music as a toddler. I even gave her a recording from 1934 from a 78RPM set I had played to death (Rachmaninoff II with Ormandy/Minneapolis) among others, including my own recordings of singers that I presented in Carnegie Hall. Time has gone by since then, and I keep adding to her collection, and they keep listening faithfully, with happy results.

Great performances of great music have a way of drawing in anyone with musical sensitivity, and that's the vast majority of any population in the world. I remember seeing on 60 Minutes clips of a performance by an African orchestra made up of desperately poor musicians who were playing Beethoven's IXth together for the first time, inspired by a conductor who just insisted on making it happen. While the sounds were quite scrappy, their dedication and enthusiasm brought a tear to my eye.

I'm very heartened by the cheap availability of classical music through various streaming services now with good sound quality. All folks need now is guidance and enough free time to explore. Judging by the number of hits on CMG's various threads, it seems that many are profiting from our conversations and guidance offered here, as it should be.

[dirkronk]

Since this was an acoustic guitar group, why no mention of Segovia?

These folks already know their guitarists! In fact, earlier in the thread, people had mentioned Presti and Lagoya, Sharon Isbin and other names. I could have mentioned Julian Bream, Christoper Parkening, and Carlos Montoya as some of my own early faves in classical (and flamenco) guitar repertoire -- but I wanted to focus on composers and performers they might NOT know. Also, as maestrob sensed quickly, I was trying to speak to the group as a whole without "talking down" to any of them. And that isn't always easy. Truth is, it's quite a diverse bunch, with some people being not very sophisticated or educated, yet others being brilliant, worldly and highly knowledgeable in other topics. Some are quite wealthy, too -- especially collectors with multiple instruments costing several thousand bucks apiece! Yow!

Another question: Did you get any feedback from the group?

Yes -- all generally favorable. I answered several questions. One about the music used in the old "Beef. It's what's for dinner" ads...which, of course, was Copland's "Rodeo." And I mentioned other Copland pieces for that poster to check out (Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid, Fanfare for the Common Man). Others, who DID know classical music but not a wide range of performers, thanked me for the list of pianists, violinists and cellists. The originator of the thread promised to check out some of the specific performances I recommended, as well.

Cheers,
Dirk

[dirkronk]

I'll totally agree with my colleagues here that your post is very thoughtful and yet you don't "talk down" to your readers. It's a great way to start the conversation.

Thanks, maestrob. That is what I was shooting for.

As an old married man but with no kids (but with a grown niece and nephew), I also identify with your story about your niece and grand-nephew. I hope your efforts to educate their ears bear sweet fruit in the very near future. At very least, you should achieve "favorite uncle" status!


Dirk