It always surprises me when I meet people who play classical musical instruments but don’t listen to, or particularly like, classical music. Huh?
Maybe we can put that down to too much Mozart and too many violin lessons shoved down one’s throat in grade school, but I can’t understand it.
In any case, I am here to tell you that I love to listen to classical music and wouldn’t give it up for all the illegally pirated 70s rock CDs in China.
But I almost missed the boat. And that would have been some boat to miss. My high school “daze” were spent listening to artists like Boston, and Janis Joplin and—dare I say it—The Beatles. Not that there’s anything wrong with The Beatles mind you. But give my Anton Bruckner any day.
Bruckner was born in Austria on September 4, 1824 and was apparently a renowned organist and music instructor for much of his adult life before he started composing his own symphonies at the age of almost fifty. They are a joy to behold. But here’s the thing: Bruckner’s music is not easy.
Like most beginners, I started with Baroque—easy stuff like Vivaldi and Bach—then graduated to Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin and so on. Sound familiar?
But Bruckner was a different story; a whole different universe. First of all, his pieces are long—his Symphony #7 for example runs over an hour … and that’s fairly short for Bruckner. Compare it with Mozart’s Symphony #40 (my wife’s favorite) at around twenty-five minutes and you can begin to see the point: Understanding and appreciating Bruckner takes time and concentration and repeated listenings because his music is complex and sophisticated.
So what happened? How did a die-hard Beatles fan and Baroque listener graduate to someone like Bruckner? It was pure accident. A review of a new Bruckner #9 CD in Gramophone magazine had piqued my interest. I went ahead and bought it … and almost instantly gave up. What the hell was this?! Nothing like I had ever heard before. So I put the CD on my shelf for a few years and had all but forgotten about Bruckner when one day I found his #4 “Romantic” in a discount bin at a local department store. I took the risk, went home, slotted in the CD, and … pure heaven. Life has never been the same.
I beg each and every one of you to also try and make that jump from Rock to Bach to Bruckner. Bruckner’s music is both incredibly beautiful and incredibly powerful at the same time. Only a genius could have created what Bruckner has created. Start with his Symphony#4 or #7. Lovely. Then when you are ready, move on to #8 and #9. I also highly recommend #6.
To be perfectly honest, I do not like Bruckner’s earliest works, and I am still struggling with #5. Who knows, one day I may see the light with that one as well. I hope so.
