Classical Bozo - Needs Help

[MandoTyro]

When I was young, my mother used to play classical music (mainly piano renditions) on the record player.

I am trying to figure out what type of music I would like to focus on for my mandolin playing and I seem to be drawn to the idea of classical music. But I know nothing about classical music and would like to listen and immerse myself in some.

Where do I start and what would you recommend that would lend itself to mandolin.

Thanks

[Jim Garber]

In general -- not necessarily mandolin: Bach for sure, then Mozart, Telemann, Corelli, Vivaldi, etc. Hard to know where to start if you have no idea about classical music.

As for listening more specific to mandolin, a few threads that discuss some recordings (not sure if I would agree to all as representative of classical -- for instance, Aonzo.Gambetta recording is really early Italian pop or folk music, but there is enough to go one here.

Also: 2nd Classical recording thread


Mandolin orchestra videos on Youtube

[MikeEdgerton]

I'm thinking that Classical Bozo would make a great band name.

[bratsche]

In general -- not necessarily mandolin: Bach for sure, then Mozart, Telemann, Corelli, Vivaldi, etc. Hard to know where to start if you have no idea about classical music.

Of course, in the examples you name, only Mozart is classical - the rest are baroque.

bratsche

[MandoTyro]

Okay, time to really show my ignorance....

Classical versus Baroque

What is the difference?

[Martin Jonas]

Okay, time to really show my ignorance....

Classical versus Baroque

What is the difference?

"Classical music" has two different meanings, depending on context.

As a genre of recorded or performed music it refers to fully-composed works from known composers working within a generally Western musical tradition of "serious" music (a somewhat self-serving description intended to exclude popular and folkloristic styles, although there has been plenty of overlap and interchange) -- what the Germans call "E-Musik", where "E" stands for "ernst" (serious) in contrast to "U-Musik" for "Unterhaltung" (entertainment). That definition has plenty of holes in it, as well as being annoyingly po-faced (not least in the implication that classical music isn't meant to be entertaining), but generally most people know what is meant and what isn't meant when referring to "classical music".

This wider "classical" genre itself comprises a number of historical periods, broadly mirroring and having corresponding names to periods of art history and literature. Thus, "Renaissance" refers to broadly the same time period in art as in music (c. 1400 to 1600) as does "Baroque" (c. 1600 to 1750). By a historical quirk, the musical period immediately after the Baroque is called the "Classical" period, a name that does not mirror any identified style in art history but instead mirrors the established historical periods of German literature. Thus, "classical" German literature refers to the works of Goethe, Schiller and other authors of the same period, which is commonly taken to have ended with Goethe's death in 1832, whereas the "classical" period in music history comprises the composers of the same period, including Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, and is commonly taken to have ended with Beethoven's death in 1827. In both German literature and music, the period immediately after the "classical" period is the "romantic". Both overlapped considerably in chronological terms: Schubert, who is usually taken to be a romantic composer, died in 1828, only a year after Beethoven, and most of the great works of German romantic literature (e.g. those by Eichendorff and Novalis) were written well before Goethe's death.

None of which is relevant to your original question, it is just part of the cultural ballast that can get into the way of enjoying classical music. There is plenty of very accessible classical music suitable for playing on mandolin, some of it originally written for the instrument and some adapted for it. While some classical music requires highly advanced skills, there is also a vast amount of music that was written by great composers to be performed by amateur musicians.

I don't have much (or any) classical background myself, and learned to read standard notation only several years after starting to play the mandolin. Even after ten years or so of playing the instrument, my technical skillset is fairly limited and I am at best an amateur hack, but I enjoy exploring little-known back alleys in classical music (in the wider sense -- much of what I play is renaissance or baroque) and find it both musically satisfying and intellectually stimulating.

Martin

[Jim Garber]

Of course, in the examples you name, only Mozart is classical - the rest are baroque.

That is true, but MandoTyro/John barely knows what "classical" in the more general sense of the term. I think he needs to hear some names.

[Tavy]

It's well worth going to the 'cafes mp3 page, and downloading all the classical tunes. It's free, and there are some great tunes there.

[vkioulaphides]

I must compliment Martin on a wonderfully succinct (and appropriately irreverent) summary of the customary terminology of music history. Having once written my dissertation on some works from the so called "preclassical era" (more descriptively known as Wiener Vorklassik in German), I have often shared the frustration of fishermen who occasionally find an octopus caught in their bottom-trawling nets: very hard to disentangle.

To make my own predicament even more perplexing, as my musical language is the offspring of the 20th-century Italian, so called "neoclassical" compositional aesthetic, the question is "which classical music am I referring to?" Hmm... does that make me a Neoclassical Bozo?

But, to get back to the OP's question, the best and wisest advice offered above is to enjoy it all, try your hand at just about anything that strikes your fancy, and love the mandolin for opening the door to so much wonderful music. All else will fall into place, little by little.

Cheers,

Victor

[Bertram Henze]

The previous posts have shown that the Germans have been responsible for a great deal of the etymologic confusion - I hereby collectively apologize for that, and lightheartedly so, because I have had no part in it
My parents were both classical pro musicians, I attended a school specialized in music lectures, and I had to run away from it all to find my own musical niche.

But looking back, I find that the earlier in musical history you search, the better the chance to find music fit for the mandolin.
Renaissance and Baroque were the times when music was far more independent from the instruments it was played on than in later periods, e.g. you stand a good chance to play some Bach or Händel on a mandolin alone and be taken seriously as producing what the composer had in mind; try that with a Wagner opera...

[Andy Boden]

There's no problem with Wagner opera, so long as you remember to wear the hat with the horns on.

[bratsche]

There's no problem with Wagner opera, so long as you remember to wear the hat with the horns on.

Or the hat with the wings!



bratsche

[Beanzy]

Here are a few starters
What is Classical Mandolin

Dive in and explore all aspects of the wider classical genres to find where your interests may lie. I personally would happily not commit to one period and feel there's no need, it's all there to be tasted. give yoursel time to sniff all the flowers in the garden.

A bing search threw this lot of videos up so now you've got some homework

Start reading some simple pieces and tunes as the dots will be a great way to get familiar with standard notation. Once you've put a little time into that a whole new world opens up.

Go listen to a mandolin concert if you ever get a chance. But go to classical recitals and concerts just for the pleasure of exploring and being surprised by the live experience. You don't need to behave and act like anyone else there, we're mandolinists so we're 'fringe freaks' anyway, revel in it. Maybe wear a cowboy hat, or a fez just for the added effect.

[Chunky But Funky]

Two names immediately come to mind for me with classical mandolin. Search YouTube for Carlo Aonzo and Joseph Brent (with that cool Brian Dean mandolin). Purchase CD's for whatever inspires you most. (Support those artists). I had a chance to meet Carlo @ his concert with the Pittsburgh Mandolin Orchestra when he was touring with Elena Buttiero. I think I said "Ciao" for a month or so after that event!

Doug

[JeffD]

Turn on your local public radio station, the one that plays classical music all the darn time. And just leave it to that station turn it on when ever you are home and leave it on (low-ish volume) as a sort of background music of your daily activities. Do only that for a couple of weeks, and the music will seep into you.

[mandopops]

I like the JeffD tip. Find a Radio station and just listen to what ever they're playing. Don't think in terms of "Classical Mandolin" yet.

Jim gave a good list of composers, from different eras, Bach/Mozart/Beethoven etc. Go to your local library & get CD's. Just pick one at a time. Pick a Bach & listen to that for a couple weeks. Return it for a Mozart , then...

What records did your Mother used to play? Look for those. The radio & library are cost free beginnings.

I think you've been given alot of good input, just don't get buried in the weeds. Sometimes getting into something as vast as "Classical Music" might be intimidating. It's just Music. Enjoy.

Joe

[MandoTyro]

Thank you all so much... I am listening to a CD or two and looking into other material.

Just have to get my wife to put up with me listening to it in the car..

[Bill Clements]

Okay, time to really show my ignorance....

A man who asks no questions is truly ignorant.
Great question, terrific replies!