Posted on 08/27/2023 11:44:40 AM PDT by karpov
In the summer of 1968, a friend and I went to see the blockbuster movie of the year—2001: A Space Odyssey. We settled into our seats and the theater went dark. The film began. And then we heard the most astounding music. It grabbed me like no movie music ever had.
There was more magnificent music in 2001, some of which I recognized, such as “The Blue Danube,” but it was the opening that stuck in my mind. What was that music and where did it come from?
Many others were wondering the same thing.
A year or two later, I found out that 2001 opened with the beginning of a tone poem by Richard Strauss entitled Also Sprach Zarathustra. I learned the name of the work because I had taken to listening to Milwaukee’s radio station WFMR, which broadcasts nothing but classical music. Through that station, I’d discovered a tremendous world of sound, ranging from Johann Sebastian Bach through 20th-century greats like Dmitri Shostakovich. After hearing that 2001 music one evening, I had to buy a recording of that magnificent work by Strauss.
As a youngster, I had heard a variety of music on radio and records—pop songs, Broadway show tunes, jazz. It was okay listening, but nothing to make me want to hear it again and again. Nothing that made me tune out everything else so I could savor the music.
A few years before my movie encounter with Strauss, I made a discovery that changed my life. One day my mother asked me to put on some nice music before dinner, so I went to the big stereo cabinet and found an LP that looked unusual. The cover read: “Scheherazade by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakoff—London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Pierre Monteux.”
(Excerpt) Read more at firstthings.com ...
TTIUWOM(this thread is useless without music) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzF3ubtimGE
Here’s some more for Strauss fans. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKGtwNZfd8k
I fell in love with classical (Longhair) music as a kid. I was supposed to laugh at the cartoon antics on screen but I found I liked the music!
Thanks for posting that! I have the article open in another window and I am going to listen to all of the pieces listed! :)
We have a classical radio station/show similar to that, and I always enjoy when people make requests.
When I was a youngster of 20 or so, I discovered Jean-Pierre Rampal, and his beautiful flute pieces. My favorite recording of his is ‘Claude Bolling’s Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano.’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-_QOlCJUek
Everything I learned about classical music I learned from cartoons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5-fP4QpL0A
Mozart’s symphony 25 in G minor is really mind blowing. It’s on my workout playlist.
Another favorite of mine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3Z7n7IwQjs
The author references "Scheherezade" in the article. I was exposed to that wonderful work through a TV cartoon called "Shazam" (two kids from Maine encounter a genie) in the late 1960s.
Yes, and there he was Pachelbel and his Canon in D Major!
😂😂 Love that!
My parents were both music lovers. They liked everything from classical to Broadway, standards, jazz, the Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel and other softer rock.
Whenever I heard a classical piece as a kid/teenager that peaked my interest, my parents could identify it for me and usually had a record of it.
I used to have a cassette of that, way back when, until it wore out. Just ordered a CD. Thanks for reminding me about a long-ago favorite.
The author was one of us nerds in high school.
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I learned classical music from Bugs Bunny and Friends.
My first serious girlfriend in college was a music major studying composition. She had to learn to play every instrument imaginable. I learned an awful lot about classical music from her. Was one of the most valuable life lessons ever.
I found that one after watching Amadeus.
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