Two or three times a year, I get in a classical music listening mood in which I pile in Mahler, Sibelius, Beethoven, et al into the CD player for a week or so. And then I realize I don't really have that great of a variety and it peters out after a week.
Last weekend (and this week), I got into the mood. One of the discs I played was Bruckner's 7th, which John gave to a year or two ago. I've played it a couple of times, but it never made an impact. When I listened to it this time, though, I explored the dynamic range of the work. Or in layman's terms, I turned it up. Too loud for Joanne, but I explained to her that music is an amplified medium and the loud parts are supposed to be loud so that the "quiet" parts are audible, since, unlike overcompressed rock there actually is a range of volumes. Joanne retorted that I have the hearing of my dad and that pregnancy has imbued her with superpowers, one of which is super hearing, and she could hear the dynamic range just fine thank you.
Before I turned it down, I noted the increased volume made it a much more affecting piece. Oddly, the next day I listened to it again at a much lower volume (even lower than the superpowered-Joanne reduction) and it was less impressive. To be fair, though, I was paying less attention.
So the lesson learned? Orchestral works, more than other musical genres deserve the Freedom Rock (20 years old BTW) treatment, superpowered spouses notwithstanding:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
2 comments:
I prefer Fraggle Rock.
Speaking as maybe the only person who's ever written a tossup which had as its giveaway a mention of the linked awesome 80's commercial, I commend you.
Whether you commend the rest of us, however, for essentially disregarding the entire point of this post is another matter entirely.
Post a Comment