Thursday, May 05, 2005

Meme Me

From Byzantium's Shores, I pick up this meme, regarding five things I simply don't get (that many, many others cearly do):

1: Mozart--Beethoven thrills me; Faure moves me to near-tears; Mahler is invigorating and inspiring; and Arvo Part gives me chills. But Mozart bores me. Clearly a case of my fault; not Mozart's.

2: Raging Bull--Many have called it the "best movie of the 80s" and for the life of me I just can't see why. It's not Scorcese--The Last Temptation of Christ is one of my all-time favorite films, and Taxi Driver is great. But I just don't get the fuss around Raging Bull. I liked it, and the physical transformation is very effective, but on the whole it was just a good film for me, no more, no less. Truth be told (avert your eyes now please) I prefer Rocky.

3: The Great Gatsby--A year or two ago I went through a spurt of trying to read "classics" that I had never read. Gatsby was good, but for the life of me I didn't see what made it the "greatest American novel ever." Now, The Grapes of Wrath, which I had also read in that spurt--that one I could see what the hype was all about.

4: I Love Lucy--I understand its historical importance, and how foundational it is, but, well, my house has a foundation too, and it's vital to the home, but were I to give a tour of my house I'd probably skip it. I think that we as a culture tend to do a lot of lionizing the past without good reason--this is but one example.

5: Really Expensive Clothes: I'm pretty well at the opposite end of the "fashion" spectrum, but I do understand the notion of looking nice, and how good clothes can really make an impression. And I can even kind of see how certain fabrics (cashmere, say) can be very expensive and very comfortable. But I have a hard time believing that, for example, a $200 polo shirt is in any real, measurable way better than a $100 polo shirt.

Until Whenever

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

~sigh~ I love Mozart. I worship Mozart. Listening to Mozart's best works puts me in a state of euphoria. The glory is indescribable. But I also like the other composers you mentioned. I'm actually not very familiar with Mahler or Faure but I like what I've heard. Arvo Part... ah... I just happen to be listening to his Stabat Mater right now. Chills indeed!

Tosy And Cosh said...

I did Faure's "Requiem for Jean Racine" in a high school regional choir and it's still, to this day, one of my favorites pieces of music, just jaw-droppingly beautiful.

As far as Mozart, as I said, I admit with no hesitations that the fault lies with me.

Anonymous said...

I hesitate to say this because everybody says it but maybe you just haven't heard the right stuff by Mozart. More than half of his compositions are either juvenile or light, "throw away" stuff recommendable only to the truly hard core Mozart fan (like me) If you're willing to experiment I would recommend that you try some of his minor key works, K350 and later. Some of my favorites: String Quartet in D minor (K421) Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor (K466) Symphony No. 40, (K550; Karajan's recording has made a few converts) String Quintet in G minor (K516) and, not in a minor key but it's the one that converted me: Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola (K364)

Somebody shut me up; I can't stop. See what happens when you get me started. :-)

Tosy And Cosh said...

If I didn't want to "get people started" like this I'd hardly start a blog, now would I.

I'll give one of your selections a try and let you know what I thought.