What I'm Currently Listening To

[Brians Cravat]

Let me begin by explaining that, when it comes to music I have a catholic taste. As such, I comfortable listening to a wide range of musical genres. This may be classical, folk, heavy metal, punk or, plain and simple pop music.

What I'm listening to at present is:

Karl Jenkins' 'The Armed Man a A Mass for Peace'. This calls for a full orchestra and chorale.
Anyone who listens to Classic fm will be familiar with 'Benedictus'

https://youtu.be/zc1Zoz-NUro

This is just a small part of what, I consider to be a wonderful musical experience.

In terms of what is currently featuring on my iPod in the car, I find anything by Karina Polwart acceptable. She is a Scottish singer-songwriter equally at home with traditional Scottish folk music and songs she writes herself. The latter output is a mixture of pathos and humour. I've followed her music for the last ten years or so and, she never fails to please me.

https://youtu.be/CDjfGEcRL7Y

Finally, a singer-songwriter who has really only come to prominence in the past year. I first saw 'Rag 'n' Bone Man' on Jools Holland's Hootenanny at new year. His unusual baritone voice and, his mixture of blues and soul music is highly original. Ignore his physical appearance and just take in the sound.

https://youtu.be/L3wKzyIN1yk

You may not like everything that I like but, perhaps these examples give you a flavour of my musical tastes.

[An Tarbh Dubh]

That sounds very like my own musical tastes! I'm not very keen on Country & Western, don't really consider "rap" to be Music, and can't comprehend the stuff that seems to be beloved of teenage girls on public transport (I don't know what it's called, but it sounds more like the SFX from an exceptionally bad sci-fi movie than actual music, or sound equipment with serious faults).

Some of the albums on my phone (i.e. regular listening):

Abba
Berlioz
Chris de Burgh
Christy Moore
Dvorak
Electric Light Orchestra
Elgar
Genesis
Grieg
Holst
Orff
Pink Floyd
Queen
Rimsky-Korsakoff
Saint-Saens
Sibelius
The Killers
Wagner
Widor

[Edited to add: Brian,I noticed the topic seems to have been created on the double ... I took the liberty of removing the duplicate ]

[Rwth of Cornovii]

I'll concur on "The Armed Man" Brian. Most of my musical taste is a bit more elderly than yours, owing to my advanced age. Mine includes listening to rare instruments like Sumerian Harps, though I'm not entirely sure I enjoy them. Ancient music and world music generally. Often niche stuff including blues and ragtime. Otillie Patterson singing "Shipwreck Blues", Modern musicians like the Eagles' more arcane things like "New York Minute", or Dire Straits' "Private Investigations" and "Fade to Black". Chet Baker singing and playing "Almost Blue", I was thrilled by Boney M's "Rivers of Babylon", which despite the ancient lyrics I regard as a comedy record. Quite a wallow, when you think that Babylon was a lovely place to be, and some of them stayed on.

I love the Cathedral choir of Rio De Janeiro singing Ramirez' "Missa Criolla". Better even than the double rosetted Jose Carreras version. For me, I think music has to have the tingle factor, so the early recordings of Charles Trenet's "La Mer"

[Brians Cravat]

Regarding the Ebony Bull's musical preferences:

ABBA: You'll find no opposition from me. Yes, it's 'pop' music but, it's well produced pop music by a band who clearly knew their Market and, served it really well. Their high point coincided with my being into some of the more pretentious bands who took months to produce an album. ABBA never did that.

Berlioz, Dvorak etc: Again no problem for me. Any Classical composer pushes buttons here.

Chris de Burgh: Don't want to put down an Irish music icon but, there isn't much of his output that I enjoy. Perhaps at his best in my view when he is story-telling on tracks like 'Spanish Train', 'Waiting for the Hurricane' and odd others. The rest I can take or leave.

Christy Moore: Yes please. Can't get enough of the man.

Electric Light Orchestra: Jeff Lynn is probably the best songwriter and producer we've seen in rock music.

Genesis: While Peter Gabriel was lead singer but, less keen on the output after that point.

Pink Floyd: Yes, this is potentially one of those bands that spent moths in the studio but, I don't care.

Queen: One of my regrets is that, I never saw them live while Freddie was still with us.

The Killers: Love them!

Perhaps I can chip into the mix with: Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Led Zeppelin/Robert Plant and many more.

Agree with on Country and Western and Rap. Can't stand some 'dance music either.

Rwth, with you all the way on muany of your tastes. Not sure about Sumerian Harps. Blues and Jazz, yes please.

Like this discussion. It's interesting.

[Rwth of Cornovii]

I may have been joking a little over the Sumerian Harps. The fact is that I had a record of South American harps from all over the continent. There were the Paraguayan, made famous by David Attenborough's Zoo Quest programmes, and they did a really brilliant recording of Malaguena that I subsequently found on You Tube. The Mexican harps were cheerful and foot tapping, even while driving!. But the Peruvian harps were really loud and very brilliantly played. The Old Sumerian text referred to theirs sounding like "the roaring of bulls in the mountains" and I could well believe that, listening to the Peruvian pieces. The quirky chap who built a copy of a Sumerian harp and played it didn't come that close, but give him time. He had rebuilt the smaller, silver harp, but the huge gold one in the British Museum might be a much bigger sound too if he were to get on to that.

I do love Sibelius especially Finlandia and the second symphony. The CBSO (Birmingham) has had a very dramatic conductor, Andris Nelsons who made the "Firebird" sound electrifying. I think music has to have the power to raise the hair on the back of your neck sometimes. At a genealogical meeting, the speaker had got hold of a recording. It was a bugle call made by the man who blew the call for the Charge of the Light Brigade. He was just a boy then but as an old man he still made it sound very stirring.
I also heard once a band of young musicians from Belfast. They were all playing harps and it sounded wonderful.

At the 3 Choirs festival one year they played Elgar's 3rd symphony. He hadn't been able to finish it himself and had lost his way somewhat, but a Prof from Birmingham, Anthony Payne had picked up the pieces from Elgar's notes, and had woven them together to make something very Elgarian, but still his own. I loved it. When it came to it, Mozart never finished his Requiem, but it was finished by his pupil, Sussmayr.

I like film music quite a lot. Kevin Doyle's music for Henry V directed by Kenneth Branagh was brilliant even though I did think at the time, William Walton's score for the Laurence Olivier version couldn't be bettered. It just shows you can still be surprised. They play film music on Classic FM on Saturdays, and it's interesting how some really awful films had very good music. My late husband wasn't at all drawn to see Harry Potter, but he bought the CD of John Williams' score and played it constantly for weeks, so I had to like it.

I love the Sanctus from Beethoven's Missa Solemnis. There's a violin solo that weaves in and out of it and really chokes me up. If they play that at my memorial service, it won't matter if I'm actually lost in the Takla Makan Desert.

[Brians Cravat]

Sumarian flutes bit reminded of a joke I once heard a folk singer tell. He had claimed throughout his show that he could play this and that instrument. In truth, he didn't play any of them during the show. He then pulled out this weird instrument made up of odd sized tubes. This was, he asserted an Afghan Nose Flute but, he was unable to play that evening because he had left his Afghan nose on the kitchen table? They say the old ones are the best.

I's interesting that you mention Sibelius and 'Finlandia'. I was listening the other day to an album by Joan Baez in which she sings a vocal to part of 'Finlandia' known as the 'Finlandia Hymn'. It's worth pointing out that Sibelius wrote the tone poem 'Finlandia' in protest at increasing Russian censorship. The 'Hymn' has become a significant national folk tune in Finland.

The version sung by Joan Baez is known as 'The Song of Peace'. I've attached a version that includes the English lyrics which will perhaps explain the connotation with peace.

https://youtu.be/Tp43wYtKoP4

Elgar, interestingly enough has featured in the Midlands News today. Apparently, his birthplace in Lower Broadheath, near Malvern is being handed over by the Elgar Museum and Birthplace Trust to the National Trust. Apparently, the house needs some major restoration work and the private trust simply doesn't have the resources to carry this out.

You mention Film music and, it is indeed an important genre these days. The Harry Potter themes and, music from the 'Lord of the Rings' film are often played. However, another area to consider is theme music composed to accompany video games. It may seem odd to associate these games with sounds that aren't electronically generated bleeps, squeaks and bangs. However, this 'main theme' from the game 'Final Fantasy' indicates, it isn't all like that.

https://youtu.be/O8IBoFIFE-E