Don Satz wrote:

>For many weeks now I've been listening almost exclusively to Bach's music.
>I don't know how much longer this will last, but I was curious if any other
>list members have spent weeks on end listening to just one composer's
>music.  What factors brought you to this regimen, and how did it end? I'm
>not worried about listening to Bach; in fact, I'm enjoying it greatly -
>just solo keyboard works.  However, trying to be more well-rounded is a
>goal some people have favored for me - screw them.

I have done this many times.  Bach is frequently to blame with his
everlasting appeal.  I don't much know what to say regarding why I often
listen to only one composer's music for a time.  I have noticed that
certain qualities in music lead me back again and again.  By the same
token, certain qualities tend to tire me out.  To me, Bach is absolute
perfection.  Bach knew how to write catchy music and, at the same time,
sneak quadruple counterpoint by our ears without us being TOO aware.  I
love how the music is written so fluently and, yet, so incredibly full of
AWESOME complexities.  Bach's music contains so much to be heard that it's
no wonder I can stick with the guy for so long.  There are new and wondrous
things to be heard each time you listen, even after a hundred times.

On the other side you have composers like Mr.X, (unnamed) who write lovely
melodies and cute, childish piano pieces......fun for the whole family.
Blah!  I am probably creating the wrong impression here but that's ok.  Mr.
X writes music that appeals instantly to the ear and displays a certain
knack for "broken-record" V7-I, V7-I etc.  I have nothing against excessive
dominant to tonic chord progressions but sometimes they're used with rotten
taste.  Toss in the Alberti bass and you have a recipe for disaster.  Bach
could write V7-I over and over again and I could listen to it over and over
again.  It's how he used the chords which appeals to me.

Brahms and Purcell are a couple of other composers who I have singled
out for weeks on end.  They have fairly massive catalogs of nothing but
wonderful music.  I think, that for me to listen to a single composer for
a long period of time, that composer needs to have a large output of mostly
great music.  Some composers have written a lot of stuff which could keep
me interested but most of it doesn't appeal to me so it doesn't work.
Mozart, I mean Mr. X, is an example.  With Bach I can listen to the Art of
Fugue and then turn right around and listen to the motets or the Orchestral
Suites(Ouvertures).  Purcell gives me some fantazias and then some church
anthems and Dido and Aeneas to finish things off.  Same goes for Brahms.
I imagine the vastness of Bach's mind is what allows you to stay with the
guy, Don.  He keeps you on your toes, never lets you down, and constantly
amazes with his immortal combination of beauty and complexity.

--Wes Crone  (Disciple, spreading the gospel of Mr. Bach)