The quite lengthy title says it all: I simply dislike the sound of such music (in general). To me it sounds snobby and elitist, reminiscent of the stereotypical listeners of such music. Granted, I’ve not listened to a ton of classical music (especially the more modern compositions), as I just can’t get into it at all, but there can be things learned from such compositions.
Firstly, I would like to acknowledge a common criticism of classical music, that it lacks “feeling”. I do believe that some compositions, like Chopin, do have feeling and emotions. Unfortunately most of the great composers of the past have not been able to record their music, all modern classical recordings from such composers were not recorded by the composer themselves. Recording and performing one’s composition is such an important part of the modern music making process that traditional classical symphonies lack.
What, to me, is the most commendable part of such music is it’s innovation. All the composer that we remember were so revolutionary in some way that now their music sounds relatively generic. Their innovations built the foundation for the current state of music, and classical music’s contributions to modern music is in surmountable.
All this unfortunately is also the downfall of classical music. What used to be innovation is now standard practice, which now makes classical music sound boring and uninteresting to me. Music needs to be progressing constantly, and I think that classical music has progress as far as it possibly can, and we now need to move on.
Ultimately, I think classical music can be a good starting point for innovation, but I can’t see classical music as an innovation itself any longer.
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