GoodSoundClub - Romy the Cat's Audio Site

In the Forum: Site Support Forum
In the Thread: Who inherit Mocondo or another Mini-Me.

Post Subject: A seismic question.Posted by Romy the Cat on: 1/25/2015

I got an email from a site visitor with an interesting question:

“I wonder. Has age and fatherhood narrowed the focal point of listening habits?

A while back, there was a mention in the blog of an elderly gent who had jettisoned all expansive orchestral listening. He now preferred Baroque over anything too ‘taxing’ for the mind. Perhaps you should update that thread…

Everything across the board, still works for me. Slight shifts can occur for weeks at a time, but overall, I still get a kick from a broad spectrum of Composers and their works.

You and I are the same age. Have things changed for you, in any way, - I mean considering the seismic shift a child can have on ones life, not to mention times effect of the sudden appearence of “rogue” hairs that make their bold statement in the listening chambers……”

The question itself about change listening habit with age is superbly interesting, but I do not think that I am in position to obese it from more or less elevated altitude. The last few years were rocking for my listening habits. Falling in love, mirage, birth a child… all of it come with unquestionable toll to listening, some negative and some positive. I have made a number of attempts to writhe about it but I never posted as I felt it they all were transitional observations that witnessed my current state at the time and did not pretend to be any generalizations of any kind, something that I always like to do.

So, without abstract myself out of my current horizons I might describe only what I am going through now with my listening habits. We are going over second month of baby, fist month baby home and all that I can report is that in our family it is all about Bach. It is indicate cercus of preludes, Goldberg Variations, WTC, solo violin preludes (in viola rendition), cello suites. No we do not make Thomas to scream in harmony yet but I would not be surprise if he in 20 years chop us with a chain saw for all of it Bach “violence”.

To our surprise we still are going to concerts, even with baby, thanks to Amy’s patents. The last week we had St. Petersburg Philharmonic with no less than Andrey Garvilov playing Rach 3 (the most ridicules concert I ever attended) and BSO taking on Bruckner 7. BTW, we taking a little slow down time with Bruckner. Nowadays listening Bruckner for us is rather an ironic 3 min event in a car when we look at each other and smile, reminding ourselves that it was time what we were not able to listening a whole Adagio from B8 without feeling an overwhelming need to make love.

My own listening habits is very different nowadays. Last week my local audio friend come and asked when I used my TT last time. I told that it was before Amy and I went to hospital. I am glad he did not ask me when I solder capacitors last time… I would not remember that…. The short time I have in my own disposal when I can literally max out Macondo and blast music with force the blows snow off the roof I spend mostly with Bach. There are two CDs that I play very recursively that very much fulfill all my current demands for musicality. They are:

http://www.amazon.com/Bach-Famous-Cantatas-BWV-131/dp/B000000SLU

http://www.amazon.com/Bach-Organ-Concertos-BWV-592-596/dp/B00000E3XJ

….both are stunning illustration of best music in best performance/recording and both, particularly the Simon Preston’s magnificent play in Lübeck Cathedral, is how I feel about world nowadays.

The Cat

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