Maybe it isn't manly...

[Mallette]

...but I freely admit to shedding tears when listening to great music, well performed, and well recorded. I've recently been told I am not a real audiophile as I am happy with what I hear and am not continually jonzin for something "better."

Just finished listening the Sheffield 1986 "Moscow Sessions" recording of the Tchaikovsky 5th. Peter Ilich would probably have been the first to say he wasn't a Bach, Beethoven, or Brahms...after all, he characterized his best known work, the 1812, as "rather noisy."

However, this recording, orchestra, and conductor had the tears rolling down my face as raw emotional power of Tchaikovsky's final movement filled the room.

It's why I listen.

Why do you listen?

Dave

[ryanm84]

While I've not shed a tear at music, I think what you speak of can apply to a movie, a book, art, etc. I want to hear (or see) something that reminds me of something I've experienced or would like to experience. Something that reminds me of a missed opportunity or a happy moment in life (birth of kids comes to mind, or the first time I laid eyes on my wife).

I also like to be surprised at something I thought I knew. Hearing a familiar musical passage and noticing some nuance can be really rewarding. It doesn't happen often enough, but when it does it is awesome.

Whether its the gear or not, I've also found myself opening up my interests in different types of music trying to appreciate what the artist is trying to convey.

[Dr Morbius]

Don't be around me when I play on my Cornscala's Bernard Herrmann's "Scene D'Amour" from the movie "Vertigo" with Kim Novak. Most beautiful thing in the world to listen to.

[oldtimer]

Do you have the Deutsche Grammophon box set of his symphonies by I think the Leningrad Philharmonic? I would be interested in a comparison. I listen for raw emotional power of music but also for the skill of the players and for the composition itself. It's a great combination which one can vary in relative strength at different times to exercise the brain, and just be human.

[mungkiman]

By definition, and audiophile is "a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction".

[pete.almquist]

I've always found Peter I. to be one of the most emotional composers to listen to and that makes him my most favorite of all. Emotion has been my most moving reason for listening to whatever music I am moved to. OK. some say he did the pop songs of his time but what makes me a big fan is the 'heart' that he always put into the music.

[Don Richard]

Tchaikovsky is one of my favorite composers. The holiday season wouldn't be the same without listening to the Nutcracker Suite at least once. I believe I'll look for his 5th Symphony around here and give it a listen.

[oscarsear]

For myself the emotion gets expressed as that unstoppable grin that percolates from a deep welling inside.......... and it just will not be contained. And it is as much an appreciation for the system as it is the music or the particular performance. A good performance and good recording - on a good system - reinforces the decision to pursue this hobby and the decision made in the equipments used to enjoy the hobby. It is not any matter of being manly or not........ it is emotional, pure and plain.

[BlackGTS]

Tears no, but a rippin' chill that goes up and down my spine?

Absolutely.

Ron

[CECAA850]

Tears no, but a rippin' chill that goes up and down my spine?

[LarryC]

Do you have the Deutsche Grammophon box set of his symphonies by I think the Leningrad Philharmonic? I would be interested in a comparison. I listen for raw emotional power of music but also for the skill of the players and for the composition itself.

Mravinsky was a really great conductor, not located in the best part of the world to be fully appreciated in the West in his day. Under his direction, the LPhil was very vigorous, extraordinarily precise, interpretatively among the best -- almost Toscaninian.

This is borne out in an audio-only recording on YouTube that demonstrates how good he and the orchestra were: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coAKPPiDfHg

I guess in the rather limited comparisons I've done, I've felt the Mravinsky-LPO performances were the best.

Edited February 10, 2014 by LarryC

[Mallette]

Mark, I was surprised at myself. Tchaikovsky was an early love for me as it is easy, approachable, and lovely. Certainly "1812" is rather martial, but "Pathetique" or "Capriccio Italienne?" Hardly.

The past few years I've delved, perhaps, too deeply into Hildegard von Bingen, the Ars Antigua school, the pipa, Mount Athos chant, and such. Marvelous stuff, but today the pure unadorned romance poured through. I know Peter Illich was going through some serious emotional issues at the time but didn't bother to refresh myself. Didn't need to. The Moscow Symphony transmitted his mind straight through to mine and I felt his exquisite pain.

Tears are incredibly powerful purificators.

Dave

[Bill W.]

Mallete, I understand what you are saying. Feeling a deep emotional connection to a great musical performance is very powerful. I enjoy many genres of music but the ability of certain classical works to affect me as you describe is incredibly powerful, almost spiritual. It's about being human

[Mallette]

Nice, Larry. I'd love to get a copy of that. Nothing remotely martial there. I didn't listen long as the limitations of the medium badly strip the power, but it was clear that's a marvelous performance worth hearing from a better source.

Dave

[Mallette]

It's about being human

TRVTH

I salute you, sir. That's the gist of it, isn't it? Can't wait for science to explain music.

Dve

[minermark]

Even my current tube system does NO justice to this. Yet another reason to "Endeavor to persevere" a truly great system.

[LarryC]

Nice, Larry. I'd love to get a copy of that.

I don't know if they are the same recordings, but this DG CD album is by Mravinsky and the Leningrad PO doing 4, 5, and 6: http://www.amazon.com/Tchaikovsky-Symphonies-4-5-6/dp/B000001G8B/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1391991528&sr=1-1&keywords=mravinsky+tchaikovsky+6.

While all the T. symphonies are very good, the last three reach an amazingly high level of emotionality and inspiration. So, this album is a good one to have.

Mark, I'm sure you can't be serious about judging T. by the 1812!

Edited February 10, 2014 by LarryC

[Mallette]

Even my current tube system does NO justice to this.

Justice to what? Music in general, or a specific recording?

Dave

[bracurrie]

What a great thread! However I was looking for a support group.

[Mallette]

I can cry over "La Boheme" or "Porgy and Bess", but probably not anything of the romantic composers like Tchaikovsky. I didn't want to imply I felt no emotion over music and art. But the art has to be relevant to me.

Any argument with that would be the height of arrogance. I cannot even begin to explain my emotional reaction to certain pieces of music. I recorded a chamber group 15 years or so ago who performed some Percy Grainger pieces. PG isn't exactly accepted as a complex, profound, or cerebral sort of guy, but when I want a good emotional workout I listen to "My Robin is to the Greenwood Flown" and memories of my mother and daughter overwhelm me.

And it makes me happy and grateful beyond belief. Music is more than just another one of the arts. There is something far deeper, more mysterious, and deeply spiritual going on there. I can only get vaguely close to it by reading Lao Tzu. "Before the beginning, something mysterious formed. I do not know what it is. For lack of a better word, I call it Tao."

That sentence ends just as well with "music."