Two events were the impetus behind my coming to enjoy and listen to
classical music.  The first was my participation in the school band, where
I learned to play the clarinet, and became acquainted with the lighter
side of classical music.  The second was my purchase of a 5-LP set of
"best classical music," which I would replay repeatedly.  What cinched the
experience was my acquaintance with Pachebel's Canon in D (this was back in
the Sixties before it became commonplace), which I found expressed my inner
being most profitably.

Since then, I began to acquaint myself with choral music -- which to
me represents the apogee of classical music, containing within itself
the whole spectrum of musical voices.  There was nothing like Bach's
B-minor Mass, Mozart's and Brahms's Requiem, Aida and La Walley, Fidelio,
Beethoven's 9th, Allegri's Miserere, Palestrina's and Haydn's Masses (the
latter's oratorios didn't do much for me, as did Handel's), and the like.
From the apogee of full-throttle classical music, I began gradually to
appreciate the smaller ensembles (especially Haydn's Quartets and Trios).

Yet, still to this day, I don't have any affinity towards the "modern"
twelve-tone, and non-melodic "music." I admit it's a craft, but I can't
agree it's an art.

D. Stephen Heersink <[log in to unmask]>