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It's all about the music, dude! Sit down, relax and listen to some tunes.

Re: Classical newbies corner

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Lucky Fredi!

To experience your first Mahler LIVE is to become hooked. My first exposure to Mahler was a performance of his 3rd by the Boston Symphony in Symphony Hall. I was only 19 at the time, but I was hooked for life.

R B,

What Rob says is more or less true. But there's hope. Rather than starting from Haydn and Mozart and then diving into Mahler, Wagner, and Tchaikovsky, try some Beethoven. Not only is he the greatest composer to have ever graced the face of the earth, but he is more or less the one who took the forms inherited from Haydn and used them to express his personal emotion. I'm sure you already know and love the fifth symphony, but listen to it to hear the anger in the first movement, the despair and sadness in the second, the grim acceptance in the third, and then, the sudden triumph in the finale. When you listen this way and feel what Beethoven feels, there is perhaps no greater joy than those opening strains of the fourth movement - they never fail to put a lump in my throat. And this is just the start; you can go on to explore all of his symphonies, sonatas, and especially the string quartets. Once you love the late quartets, you know you've arrived!

Then, after you feel you have a grasp of Beethoven, try some of the easier Romantics. Schubert is a good next step - lots of good melodies you can hum or whistle. Then maybe some Schumann, Brahms, or Chopin. As you become more comfortable with the Romantic ideal, you may want to try something a bit more adventurous. Eventually you'll be thirsting for more, which will inevitably lead to Mahler. It always does...


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