Erik's Random 10

I knew that at some point this would force me to talk about classical music. And the reality is that I have little to say. For all the massive amount of ink spilled on Bach over the centuries, classical music is something I've come to fairly recently. I've always had an interest in modernist composers. I guess it was in college that I started listening to Edgar Varése, Stravinsky, and others. They spoke to me as a modern person. It's only been in the last or two that I've started picking up albums by some of classical music's more ancient icons. It's great music, there's no doubt. This particular cut is quite beautiful, even though I'm not so into choral music. So rather than say something stupid about Bach when a million other people have said things far more interesting, allow me to muse for a sentence or two on classical music more generally.

I really wonder why people listen to people like Bach. Obviously there's an inherent reason for people who are into good music. It is good and of course worth listening to for its own sake. But I do think a lot of people listen to this stuff because they are supposed to. They have not listened to Bach's contemporaries and made actual judgments on why Bach is so much better than they are. Rather, they are into the idea of the canon and knowing Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, etc. Of course they are going to listen to Bach because it is what any "civilized" person would do. Given that I hate the idea of a canon, something Wynton Marsalis is trying to create in jazz, I just oppose this idea on principle. It would be nice for classical music fans not to judge composers based upon received wisdom and instead make these decisions for themselves, maybe sometimes coming to conclusions that are odd or even heretical to the dwlinding classical music establishment in this country.

1. Johann Sebastian Bach, Ein Herz, das seinem Jesum lebend weiß - Chorus, Osterkantaten (St. Thomas Choir, Leipzig)
2. Merle Haggard, Kentucky Gambler
3. Lovage, Stroker Ace
4. Bill Frisell, Steady, Girl
5. Cowboy Copas, Crazy Over You
6. Arise Therefore, Disorder
7. Animal Collective, Cuckoo Cuckoo
8. Gram Parsons, I Can't Dance
9. Lightin' Hopkins, Baby Please Don't Go
10. Mance Lipscomb, Sugar Babe (It's All Over Now)