Classical Music

It's a pity that talking about classical music when you're young can lead to your dismisal as an elitist... I think it's because of this stigma that fewer people of the younger generations listen to classical, because really it's extremely accessible music. It is something i am finding out more and more frequently as i dig deeper into the genre, this often celestial, transcendental and completely spiritual art form.

In film and television classical music is everywhere, sometimes so subtle it's almost subliminal, sometimes so intense it speeds your heart to 160 bpm, the ominious opening bars of Flight of the Valkyries in Apoclaypse Now, the resonant doom of Beethoven's 9th in A Clockwork Orange...these are two of the most powerful pieces of music that will ever be created. However classical need not be so loud nor intense to be as powerful - take for instance the heart aching plantiveness of Chopin's Nocturnes, or the eerieness yet suspense of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonatas.

These pieces are immortal and yet ephemeral. They have their own souls as they dance through the air until it comes time for them to fade away, you are unsure of whether what you heard was in fact real or an illusion. No other music effects mood like classical does.

The four pieces I mentioned were of course some of the most popular works ever written, and i'm sure that people of all ages would be at least somewhat familiar with them. Yet why is it that despite being such a pervasive art form it so often goes unmentioned? Whilst any number of trite and mundaine bands are being talked about and utterly devoured, classical music is rarely talked about, despite it's popularity in film.

Anyhow, here's a few of my favourites...