Thursday 30 April 2020

Favourite Music


“Good evening, Saint Peter. Nice to see the Pearly Gates at last. My favourite music? That's a tough question. On your questionnaire: my favourite string quartet must be ... oh hek ... let's say Beethoven C sharp minor Opus 131. My favourite piano concerto? Oh, hek, again ... let's say either Mozart K 488, or Rachmaninov's second. My favourite violin concerto? Shostakovich A minor Opus 77. My favourite symphony? Mozart G minor K550, or Shostakovich No.10 in E minor. My favourite whisky? Caol Ila”. Dmitri Dmitriyevich scores high in my Pearly Gate entry list.

Some composers speak directly to a listener; some are just listened to, and it has nothing to do with “greatness”. Schubert speaks to me; Schumann does not. Rachmaninov speaks to me; Scriabin does not. Shostakovich speaks to me; Szymanowski does not. Like so much to do with music, the ultimate abstract art form, it is almost impossible to describe in words.

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