Classical Music - it's fun,  it's beautiful, and it lasts for ever

There is something for everyone in the huge world of 'classical' music. After that initial and possibly unexpected 'discovery' of a fantastic piece of music, an exciting and irrepressible adventure commences, which will provide  listening pleasure for the rest of a person's life.

Probably 95% or more of the population prefers pop, country or rock music, to classical. However, I am convinced that more people would enjoy classical music if they even knew it existed! Many people never get introduced to it at school or in the home. And everyone is constantly bombarded by popular rock and country music blasting out of loudspeakers in shopping malls, offices, pubs and clubs, even on the streets. There are some good tunes in some rock/pop/country music, ones you can remember, tunes that hum through your head.

But there are many thousands more good tunes in classical music. And they are packaged in a greater variety of ways, with different instruments playing the melody, different harmonies, different orchestral textures, and different rhythmic patterns. And many longer classical works feature multiple themes, combined together in pleasing and contrasting ways, such that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

For example, the overture to the Magic Flute by Mozart  might be compared to a beautiful  building, with elegant classical columns, ornately carved porticos, and symmetrical design across several dimensions.    It took a great architect to design it, and many skilled people took many years to build it.  A popular country or pop song on the radio might be compared to a kit home, mass-produced, and assembled in a few hours. Just as selling kit homes is likely to be more profitable for builders, popular music is usually more marketable and profitable for record companies. However, geniuses like Mozart,  Beethoven, Schubert and Tchaikovsky were moved by something different, something moving in their souls. Listening to beautiful classical music will give you an appreciation for what is "truly" beautiful.

To carry the analogy further, our immortal works of classical music will last for ever, just as the classical buildings of ancient Greece and  Rome have withstood the ravages of time for more than 2000 years. In contrast, our pop song may stay on the charts for a few weeks or months, and then be forgotten for ever, just like our kit home, which  may be ripe for demolition after a couple of decades.

It is extremely hard to define what is meant by 'classical' music. It embraces a wide diversity of styles, periods, forms, and ensembles, ranging from Monks peacefully rendering Gregorian chant, to the heart-tearing and despairing emotions of Tchaikovsky's "Pathetique" Symphony, At one end of the spectrum there is the classical elegance of Mozart's  trios for violin, cello and piano, at the other we have the jazz influences in Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.

If you want to escape from the stresses of a hectic modern life, and become calm and relaxed, there is nothing better than the exquisite, reserved and introspective chamber music of Haydn or Mozart. If you  are inspired by hearing virtuoso pianists and violinists play incredibly difficult music, listen to works by Liszt or Paganini.  If you crave the excitement of a full symphony orchestra going at full blast, then try Tchaikovsky or Richard Strauss. If you liked the symmetry, and complex interwoven textures in Bach, then you could try other baroque composers such as  Handel, Vivaldi, Purcell or Scarlatti.
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