Improve your understanding of the music

Today I listened to Albinoni´s "Oboe concerti" while driving to work. The music really fills the car! So far has my time to listen to music been limited and I have done most of it at work. Today I´m working aswell, and all the sounds from the machines and people interrupting makes in more difficult to really hear the music. When the music is new to ones ears it´s easy to discard it as ok but not more, as I did with this cd, since I couldn´t hear all the subtleties the first time. After listening at it in the car I find the whole cd so relaxing and beautiful, despite the oboe.
I read the cover of the cd aswell just a while ago, and that is something that also can improve the understanding of the music. It describes how Albinoni approached the oboe as compared to Vivaldi, who also made concertis for the oboe at the time, and about Albinoni´s favourite rhytmic device of hemiola.
My brother sent me an email saying that it was not Albinoni who composed "Adagio in G minor for Strings and Organ", but a 20th century composer Remo Giazotto! It´s a very beautiful piece regardless who composed it. :)
At wikipedia you can read about consonance and disonnance, really interesting. Apparently  has dissonance been understood and heard differently in different musical traditions, cultures, styles, and time periods.

Rather be dead than listen to classical music

Today I did most of the listening on the Youtube. Below you can see the version of "Für Elise" I listened to. Really nice piece. The version on the keyboard is only a minute long so some parts were, not to say the least, very unexptected. Other pieces I listened to were "Moonlight Sonata" and also "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" with Mozart.
Classical music is not what I expected at all. Since I started to listen to it, it has started to grow on me. The one I thought would be very difficult listening to was Mozart, and I kind of like his music now.
A fun thing happened at work last weekend. My collegue was early and I told him he could take a break before he took over the shift. He went to the kitchen next door and at the time I listened to Pachelbel. I wanted to hear better so I raised the volume, a little bit not to loud. After the piece had ended I lowered the volume again and looked back to see if the collegue was ready and I saw that he had closed the door to the kitchen! It has never happened before. Well, he is young and I laughed since it reminded of me at that age. Rather be dead than listen to classical music. :)
I feel like I have matured enough to listen to classical music, but I don´t know if it´s because I started to listen to it, or is it just my age?

Beethoven

Today I watched a program about Beethoven, In Beethovens footsteps. It was interesting to learn about his life and compositions. I had no idea that it was he who had composed "Für Elise" (one favourite on my keyboard) and I got surprised when I recognized parts of the 5th, 6th och 9th symphonys. The conductor Kurt Masur talks about the dissonance in the ninth symphony. Thank you!! Now I know it isn´t me just being ignorant and tonedeaf, the false tones are an actual fact. Masur called this dissonance "genious" and very modern, and that it was "hard to digest" for the listeners at the time and probably scared them away.

Third weekly challenge - listen to classical music

This week I´m going to listen to different classical composers and pieces. The reason for having this as a challenge is not only because I heard that classical music is good for the brain, you study better and the synapses build more connections, but I was also curious why people enjoy classical music and wanted to understand this, see what I have missed.
Today I will start with two cds I borrowed from the library. One is with the Berliner Philharmoniker playing Albinoni, Bach, Pachelbel, Vivaldi, Mozart and Gluck, the second cd is Oboe Concert Vol 2 by Albinoni recorded at Rosslyn Chapel, London.
I already started listening to the first cd at work last weekend. I listened to it for more than 5 hours. I found then that I loved the Pachelbel´s piece aswell as Albinoni´s immeditially. Listening through it today I enjoy the whole cd! Vivaldis Concerto for Flute, Strings and Harpischord in G minor, op. 10 no.2 "La notte" and Bachs Air are very pieceful to listen to. Gluck´s Dance of the Blessed Spirits is very beautiful. In my mind I was in a lusthouse with jewel curtains, surrounding trees and the sky were just mere colours. And when finally listening to Mozart´s Serenata notturna in D major, K. 259 I saw a huge canvas full of living music, maybe I got too relaxed. :) Normally I don´t like music that has very pompous parts mixed with slower parts and then the POM-POM-POM again, but I really like how it got my imagination started.
To summarize the first day: I think it´s the violins I love in the music, but I also enjoy the flute. I listened to Albinoni the first time when I was pregnant. I don´t know if the hormons made it easier to get connected to the music, but I have loved the one piece since. But if I tried listening to other classical music I could only hear dissonance and would pretty soon be feeling sick. Today, and specially after last Sunday, I don´t feel like I "overeate" classical music. I feel relaxed and I´m thankful that I learned to listen to this kind of music. I mean, so far so good.