Music you "ought to" like but just aren't that into, .. help me like it? Options

[corenfa]

Corenfa, on opera maybe it has been already said that perhaps you haven't listened to or seen an opera which you actually like. As a result, you have listened to or seen only ones you don't really like and this has branded all opera for you as something to be missed. I became fascinated in my teens by Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries and on the strength of this one passage, listened to the whole of Die Walk?re on the radio, sung in German just to hear it in its proper setting. Needless to say I had Wagnerian indigestion that night!

However, I love to see Aida, La Boh?me, Madama Butterly, Tosca simply because the music is so gorgeous and the plots are at least understandable. If you haven't done so, then why not try one of these? But it is still true that nobody "ought" to like any music.

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In fact I think that my time as a music student has contributed greatly to this.. too long spent in the music library listening to set works. I have actually been to a few operas and even played in the pit for a couple, but I had to specifically think about them to remember. It is strange how when I think of "opera" I think of listening to it on CD, and never going to a live performance!

And yes, nobody "ought" to like anything - I love the music of Poulenc myself, but I don't think any less of the people here who have said they don't.

[muffinmonster]

Can't see the point of organ music at all. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/hides.gif)

[Cyrilla]

Can't see the point of organ music at all. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/hides.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif)

[corenfa]

I started this thread because I didn't like opera- since then, I've figured out that what I don't like is a certain style of singing which is commonly found in opera. I'm an ignoramus when it comes to styles of singing, but it's pretty much anything with extremely wide wobbly vibrato (whether high or low voice) or anything shrieky. I've just discovered Maria Ewing, and I didn't know opera could sound like that.

[Tenor Viol]

I started this thread because I didn't like opera- since then, I've figured out that what I don't like is a certain style of singing which is commonly found in opera. I'm an ignoramus when it comes to styles of singing, but it's pretty much anything with extremely wide wobbly vibrato (whether high or low voice) or anything shrieky. I've just discovered Maria Ewing, and I didn't know opera could sound like that.

I like some opera, but not all. I think changing musical tastes with regard to the use of vibrato is core here. I was used to hearing cathedral choirs where the boy trebles take the soprano lines: they do not use vibrato. One of the worst effetcs of C19th excess was the promotion of vibrato from something used occasionally as a form of decoration, to something that was used continuously, especially by operatic sopranos. It is thus at its zenith when operas by composers such as Verdi and Puccini are writing.

Thankfully, the last 40 years or so have seen recognition that over-use of vibrato is certainly wrong for the operas of say Handel, Vivaldi, Mozart, Haydn, Donizetti etc and should be used more sparingly in general. Singers such as Emma Kirby were early exponents of this revised style and it's so much more pleasant to listen to.

Vibrato has its place - it can warm a long note and it can assist with projection, but used continuously it is objectionable. I am firmly of the opinion that many people's dislike of opera stems from that one item.

[Dulcet]

I started this thread because I didn't like opera- since then, I've figured out that what I don't like is a certain style of singing which is commonly found in opera. I'm an ignoramus when it comes to styles of singing, but it's pretty much anything with extremely wide wobbly vibrato (whether high or low voice) or anything shrieky. I've just discovered Maria Ewing, and I didn't know opera could sound like that.

hmmmm .... surprised that she's the one who converted you! What vintage are the recordings?

I like some opera, but not all. I think changing musical tastes with regard to the use of vibrato is core here. I was used to hearing cathedral choirs where the boy trebles take the soprano lines: they do not use vibrato.

I don't think that this is universally correct. A lot of cathedral trebles do use vibrato.

Personally I don't think that you can lump all opera together. It's like saying "I don't like symphonies" or "I don't like songs".

Now "I don't like the sound of the human voice" is a different thing entirely... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif)

[corenfa]

I started this thread because I didn't like opera- since then, I've figured out that what I don't like is a certain style of singing which is commonly found in opera. I'm an ignoramus when it comes to styles of singing, but it's pretty much anything with extremely wide wobbly vibrato (whether high or low voice) or anything shrieky. I've just discovered Maria Ewing, and I didn't know opera could sound like that.

hmmmm .... surprised that she's the one who converted you! What vintage are the recordings?

Various from 1970something to 1990something, I think. It was just stuff I found on Youtube while I was looking for something else. It was more than just the singing - I think she's a really good actress too, but I am quite ignorant about such things.

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Personally I don't think that you can lump all opera together. It's like saying "I don't like symphonies" or "I don't like songs".

Now "I don't like the sound of the human voice" is a different thing entirely... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif)

This was indeed what I thought - that I didn't like "opera" in general and that I only liked specific instances.

I don't like certain timbres at certain pitches though - I wonder if that's something physical because it gives me a headache to listen to screechy things whether that be voice, violin or trumpet. There are certain recordings of Brandenburg 2 that I cannot listen to

[fsharpminor]

Ive never been much of an opera lover either, though as mentioned on another thread , I will be going to Glyndebourne this year. Most other music, instrumental, choral , symphonic etc I m happy with , and from any period.

[ma non troppo]

I really don't get Richard Strauss' "Four Last Songs". I have seen them performed live twice as well as listening to them on CD, and I really don't get what the big deal is and why everyone raves about them.

Also, in general, I have to admit that Brahms doesn't do it for me - I find most of his out-put turgid.

[corenfa]

What interests me is how relieved I feel now that I've realised I don't hate opera, just a particular style of singing. It always made me feel somewhat inadequate as a music student who didn't like opera. I felt like I was missing something in seemingly writing off an entire genre, which I suppose I was.

Not that I was losing sleep over it (I'm not a musician now nor do I ever intend to be).

Obligatory disclaimer - None of the above is intended to be any sort of criticism of people who don't like a particular genre or composer. It's just been interesting to see how things have chnaged in my head.

[Tenor Viol]

One thing I realised a while ago was that some works only come alive with the right performance / recording. I wrote a while ago about Beethoven 9 - I struggle with it and I think it's because it needs to be performed extremely well to really work through all of the movements.

In my teens I wasn't fond of Brahms at all - but I'd only heard it badly reproduced on an old radio. Once I heard a decent recording on decent equipment, it was a different story, as was live performance. Even live, you need a sympathetic performance or it can indded be 'turgid'.

Personal tastes do vary - I do like the Four Last Songs, but I'm a fan of Mahler's songs as well, but not overly keen on other lieder.

It would be odd if we all liked the same things.

I have mellowed as I've got older - I listen to a much wider range of musical styles and genres than I did even 20 years ago, let alone 35 years ago!

[Arundodonuts]

Personally I don't think that you can lump all opera together. It's like saying "I don't like symphonies" or "I don't like songs".

Nor indeed can you necessarily lump together all the works of a composer and say you universally like or dislike them.

I really don't get Richard Strauss' "Four Last Songs". I have seen them performed live twice as well as listening to them on CD, and I really don't get what the big deal is and why everyone raves about them.

Now you see I do. Perhaps I'm getting close to Abendrot (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif) In general I'm very fond of Strauss though I am quite happy never to hear one or two of his tone poems ever again.

Also, in general, I have to admit that Brahms doesn't do it for me - I find most of his out-put turgid.

Me too. Though one or two pieces I like very much.

[fsharpminor]

Yes Im rather ambivalent about Brahms too, I rarely play his piano music, listen to his Symphonies or Concertos, but I like the sonatas for clarinet, and cello, and violin

I aslo rerely listen to Vivaldi apart from the Gloria.

[bassoonista]

I love opera...until the singing starts (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blush.gif) I just hate that sound. I also can't get into jazz. As I become more advanced in my own instrument, I'm beginning to see how clever it is, but I just can't listen to it. I've even tried going to live performances, thinking that the atmosphere will help, but it doesn't. The other genre I can't get into is country and western.

[Arundodonuts]

I love opera...until the singing starts (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blush.gif) I just hate that sound. I also can't get into jazz. As I become more advanced in my own instrument, I'm beginning to see how clever it is, but I just can't listen to it. I've even tried going to live performances, thinking that the atmosphere will help, but it doesn't. The other genre I can't get into is country and western.

Are we related? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) I can't say I am keen in "Italian high opera" - all that bel canto mullarkey - but I do like some earlier and later opera (Britten is Purcell re-incarnated right?). I have eventually found a way into country and western (or rather "proper" country music as opposed to that dreadful "hot country" garbage) via folk and bluegrass. Jazz remains a closed door despite the best intentions of Frank Zappa, Soft Machine, King Crimson, Stravinsky, Ravel, Nigel Kennedy, et. al.