jackdaww wrote:bluedonkey wrote:"Even Mahler" !
Yes, I forgot ballet. Slightly easier than the others that I struggle with, perhaps it gets upgraded to a "meh".
=======================================
ballet and opera are great music - with knobs on ....
poetry and literature have passed me by .
I worked my way through the usual canon of classical works and as a teen/twenty something, virtually lived at the Royal Festival Hall (tickets must have been cheaper then? Then my boss took me two an opera and I found this gave me an extra dimension. Eventually I turned to ballet around 2010 and became hevily involved. Those composers I dismissed as "minor" now seem somewhat cleverer when seen in the right context. Massenet, Adolphe Adam: there music when added to dance are as though 2 and 2 make 5 - greater than the parts.
And if you can't get moved by Pina Bausch's production of the Rite of Spring, then I would be surprised. Naturally, you have to put yourself in the moment and suspend logic, but do that and it's incredibly emotional. The fear of those girls trying to avoid being the Chosen One who dances to the death is palpable. I saw it four times in one year and could hardly sleep for a week. Every performance, I came out feeling shattered. In a recent interview I heard, it seems that the dancers felt exactly the same and were really on another plane during the performance.
And of course, the music!.......amazing sound with a full on orchestra from my row A seat.