A philosophical question.


I want to pose a sort of philosophical question about our listening to music.
The obvious answer to the question is that we should listen to whatever we damn please. But the query is: should we be happy listening to our favorite composers and compositions, or should we feel guilty about not exploring new horizons and music we’re prone to hate?  For me, the obvious bitter pills are such as Liszt, Neilson and Bruckner, not to mention the Second Viennese school.  We run the risk of close-mindedness by ignoring that which we don’t know and missing out on what what glories might be out there.  On the other hand, we only have so much time, and there is a universe of more accessible music available.
I just wonder if this dilemma has crossed anyone else's mind.
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Showing 1 response by skyscraper

That's the fun of it, to learn about and appreciate new things. Now if you miss out on Tommy James and the Shondells, no big loss, but other things might a big loss to never understand, and great things to appreciate if you do get to. Maybe the Second Viennese school is one of those. Having never even heard of the first Viennese school I'd not be a good judge of that.

I've also found that things culturally related I don't understand, but have a strong negative reaction to, often times tells me there is something there worth exploring, and getting to understand and appreciate. That's not to say a third Viennese school might not be simply appalling. One of these days I'm going to get to understand 20th century modern art after Chagall or the German Expressionists. Must be something to appreciate there since they've go whole museum filled with it.

Kind of the same with much of classical music which I'm sure you love, but I'm just beginning to get a handle on. Or Coltrane's post "A Love Supreme"  free-form jazz, the same thing. In my opinion It's worth a bit of effort to achieve those cultural rewards if enough people you respect let you know they're there. Forget Bruckner though. 

Mike