How and what to listen to the classics: a lot of letters about the training of perception and genre of equipment

Knowing about my passions, my acquaintances often ask me questions about how and what is the right way to listen to classical music (chamber, symphonic, opera, etc.), focusing on the equipment. In many ways, this post will be the answer to them and, I believe, will be useful to those who are just beginning to be interested in academic classics.



At the same time, contrary to the established practice, I will start not with the equipment, but with the characteristics of perception. It is known that, unlike others, understanding and “immersion” into academic genres requires students to master the methods - special skills in perceiving a piece of music. Considering the problem from these positions, the issue of equipment becomes secondary, but I will also touch upon it under the cut.

Those who immediately want to go to the technical part and leave aside the issues of music perception, can simply skip three sections.

Attempt to classify academic genres by perception complexity

For the vast majority of people with whom I spoke, there were several gradations of complexity in academic genres, chamber works were most easily perceived (short compositions for chamber compositions - quintets, quartets, etc., works for solo and doubles). This is not surprising due to the small number of tools and, often, a relatively uncomplicated structure.

There are exceptions to this rule, such as works by Rachmaninov and complex polyphonic compositions by Mozart for two grand pianos. In these cases, like a number of some others, the limitations of camera possibilities does not make the work easier.



Opera works are considered more complex for perception. Due to the fact that opera is a combined form of musical and theatrical art, where actors “play” roles primarily with their voice, a great deal of experience is needed to understand the subtleties of the work and to evaluate the quality of the performance.



Even harder to understand is not very experienced listeners called organ music. Evaluation of the quality of works, and even the very predilection for fugues, tokats, Passakals and organ preludes rarely appears at the beginning of the fascination with the classics. A lively interest in an organ can rather be called a sign of an emerging taste. Neophytes in the classics are a great rarity at organ concerts, more often experienced listeners there, which partly confirms the complexity of such works for the overwhelming majority.



The most difficult works are considered to be symphonic classics and polyphonic choral compositions. With regard to the latter, it is possible to argue, but if we accept the axiom that the human voice is the most complex of musical instruments, then the logic of this approach becomes clear.



Such a classification by complexity is imperfect and does not take into account a number of significant exceptions, but, in my opinion, in general reflects reality. So, a chamber work is comparable in complexity to some rock ballad with the only difference that the first is usually several more than the last.

To start

Understanding what is simpler for perception, and what is more difficult, you can choose where to start listening to the classics. In addition, the useful rules at the beginning of familiarizing with the academic musical tradition are the principles of “listen to everything you like”, “be sure to listen to hits” and “listen to the work in full”. And if with the first (everything that pleases me) everything is clear, then with the following two principles, I believe, we need some explanations.

Regarding hits, it is important to understand that, despite their hackneyedness, ostensibly pop and universal prevalence (advertising, screensavers in the media, the use of Youtube bloggers and cinematographers), it is easiest for them to understand the unprepared listener. The ingenious simplicity made Beethoven’s Sonata No. 14, the 5th and 9th symphonies, Paganini’s 24th caprice, Bach's tokkatu and fugue in a minor, the “Flight of the Valkyries” by Wagner and Vivaldi’s The Seasons.

Without examining these works, which allegedly have become obscene, without listening to them before the holes, without comparing a couple of dozen interpretations (from Furtvengler to Karayan), it hardly makes sense to move on.

As an example, I cite two very original interpretations of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, the difference between Karajan’s and Uncle’s interpretations is immediately noticeable :





Of course, there are personal musical discoveries among unknown compositions covered with the dust of musical history that touch the soul of an inexperienced listener, but this is the exception rather than the rule.

For me, the sudden discovery was an unknown Finnish postmodernist from academic classics Erkki Salamenhaar (much later I learned that he was one of the scientific leaders and teachers of the cult futurist and 60s geek Erkki Kureniemi) :



As for the “to the end,” too, I think, it is worth explaining. The fact is that an impressive amount of modern music is built on one main, dominant theme, which, pardon the stamp, a “red thread” runs through the entire composition, with only minor changes and short breaks to such a uniform chorus-refrain. In academic works, everything is wrong, the main melodic theme changes several times and in each such segment you can find a lot of interesting nuances, so you can evaluate the author’s intention only by listening to the track to the end.

So, to sum up, the ideal piece for starting in a meaningful listening of the classics looks like this: a chamber concert for some string-brass quartet, known and preferably not very long, so that you can listen to and quickly understand the author's idea.

In the future, having listened to chamber masterpieces, you can move on to more ponderous genres. At the same time, experts on the classics often recommend starting with as simple as possible hits. For children, the symphonic fairy tale “Peter and the Wolf” by Sergei Prokofiev, where each instrument corresponds to a certain character, and the musical canvas created by the composer, makes it easy to read the plot is considered to be an ideal piece for familiarizing with the academic musical tradition.



Also, many advise young audiences by Leonard Bernstein’s novice listeners to the classics, which were broadcast on CBS and are now available on YouTube.

Training for perception

In addition to the choice of works that are suitable for beginners, it is useful to explain exactly how to listen to them. So for most people, so-called. The “focal” perception of music, when the listener concentrates on the party of one instrument or group of instruments simultaneously playing the theme, while the other parties remain completely on the periphery and serve as a kind of background that is not perceived properly.

It is known that the consciousness of an unprepared listener can usually hold three, up to 4 instruments in a relative focus for a long time, the rest remain on the periphery of perception. If you listen to some melodic death or post-cast, then such abilities are quite enough, but they are not enough for a decent academic string quintet, not to mention a full-fledged symphony orchestra.

In people with a developed perception, more often in experienced music lovers and musicians, it turns out to be concentrated in groups of eight to ten instruments simultaneously sounding in different frequency ranges, while the rest of the monolith of the symphonic work does not leave the focus of perception. Thanks to this ability, you can hear the symphony as a whole.

Symphonic composers and brilliant conductors have an even more interesting feature, they are able to focus on the whole work at once and at any time of the performance they hear every nuance and every feature of each of the instruments sounding in the orchestra. This ability of musical perception is either the result of a rare innate endowment, or the fruit of strengthened long-term workouts.

Such trainings can also help listeners for whom it is important to hear the piece as it was heard by the composer. I developed the ability of a holistic perception of a musical work with the following exercise:

I concentrated on one instrument, and then alternately added several more to it, trying to keep them in the focus of perception for the longest possible time.

After a month of daily two-hour classes, I could keep in focus the solo violin, French horn, basset horn, and a pair of cellos. A year later, I heard an impressive part of the instruments of a symphony orchestra, and at times I could even notice the jamb of a musician with an inaccurately taken dissonance note.

There is also a perception training built on the exact opposite principle. For it, it is necessary to decompose the existing musical array into instrumental components in the process of listening and concentrate on the parts of individual instruments. It is important to focus on this instrument from the beginning to the end of the work.

From personal experience, I can recommend that other genres not be overloaded with classics and in between “integration” exercises, I was greatly helped by the deliberately brutal and primitive electronic motifs of the slide project of participants of 25/17, the LYOD-9 team. In this sense, they also turned out to be good due to the transition from the perception of classical abstractions to hard social textual specifics.

I also occasionally read about developmental exercises for musicians and conductors (that is, for those who “read from the sheet”). In such exercises for the development of musical memory and holistic perception, it was recommended to study the score in parallel with listening to the recording, after which, without turning on the music and simply looking at the sheet, recreate the party of individual instruments in the mind, presenting each note, and then reproduce in the mind of the party 2 , 3, 4, etc. tools.

Equipment

I must say at once that I am not a hot zealot of the concept of genre equipment. In my opinion, loyalty reproduction is a universal concept and genre can only be spoken in cases when it comes to quite subtle nuances.

From a technical point of view, any sound-reproducing system (we do not take into account the “fierce” technocratic High End) is a kind of compromise that allows one to achieve some advantages by sacrificing others. And the notorious “genre”, in my opinion, can be viewed solely as a compromise study of technical features associated with the reproduction of certain genres, but not as a technical concept completely “honed” under, for example, choral works.

General principles
From some audiophiles, one often hears stories that the lamp is there, it’s supposed to be for jazz and classical, although the level of harmonics and intermodulation distortion is even higher in modern lamp technology and, accordingly, the “blurred” sound is guaranteed. Somewhat more reasoned judgments are about the genre of acoustic systems when they say that rare wideband speakers are better suited for symphonic classics in a closed box. Thus, they try to get rid of the filters that twist the phase, as well as the additional distortions associated with the phase inverter.

Ideal for classical music will be the most "honest" in terms of playback components. For extremely experienced and trained ears, even the source (which in other cases has practically no effect on the audible parameters), i.e. choral and symphonic classics is the case where “hi-res does matter”. I tactfully keep silent about the wires, the lovers of the laces can express their opinion about which and how heated “hangers” better cope with the classics in the comments.

Gain
The gain will not be decisive for the quality of the result, but the fact is that the amplifier must be good. The vast majority of UMZCH experts recommend systems operating in classes A, AB, and B. I will personally refrain from recommending a particular class due to the debatability of the issue. Let me just say that the main thing is distortion (the lower the harmonics and IMD, the better), the speed of the response of the operational amplifier also matters. Of the uncompromising decisions often recommend an isolated gain stereo channels, the so-called. dual mono. Naturally, the disadvantage of such decisions is the cost.

Au
The most difficult thing is the choice of speakers. Here you can put a lot of money and not get the desired result. If in our time you manage to find something in a closed box affordable and without phase inverter, as well as with acceptable frequency response, frequency response and distortion, then with high probability this system will give you the necessary level of fidelity playback. Intentionally looking for audiophile broadband options is difficult, ungrateful, and is unlikely to lead to the desired result - because if there are no problems with filters, they will arise with frequency distortions and harmonics.

The perfect option for the classics, I think, is electrostatic loudspeakers. If you have the opportunity to purchase them and you are planning to seriously listen to the classics - do not pull too hard. But as a rule, there is a cost problem. By the way, electrostatics are more often produced in a combined form, which makes it possible to strengthen low ones with the help of a dynamic phase inverter section. Isodynamic variants (so-called planar, from planar magnetic) are cheaper alternatives to electrostats, but for the overwhelming majority they are also expensive.



For those who are not ready to give millions for uncompromising decisions, but want an “honest” sound, it makes sense to pay attention to the monitor acoustics. Among my personal favorites are JBL LSR308 , Dynaudio LYD-5, Focal Shape 40 and the active Adam Audio T7V . I want to note that these devices were created for professional use, that is, they will not give any advantages in the form of multi-room integration, special management and switching convenience, but they have universal parameters and are quite suitable for thoughtful listening to a symphony orchestra or a large mixed choir.

An important aspect is the creation of a realistic stereo panorama, i.e. the location of the apparent sound sources (CDF), which audiophiles refer to as the term “scene”. Being a frequenter of live concerts, you can easily determine where a particular instrument should be in the “scene”. If you do not often visit the nearest Philharmonic, then the scheme below will help you.



The directivity pattern, panoramic features (width, depth, clarity and accuracy of localization of the CID), as well as intermodulation distortions are those parameters that are difficult to detect by hardware and will have to be evaluated subjectively. For intermodulation distortion, a female or children's treble chorus is well suited - blurring is audible with the “unaided” ear. Other subjective features should be checked in a high-quality showroom, where room acoustics reduce the influence of first reflections and parasitic room resonances.

Total

To use or not to use recommendations for training perception and choosing equipment is a personal matter. What is important is that the classics should be listened to, since the analysis and study of academic music provides the basis for understanding the rest, and in the case of musicians and composers, the impetus to create something new.

Jeans
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