Into Classical Music Recently

I hardly listened to classical music before. Although I love listening to instrumental music like Celtic and other folk music, for some reasons, classical music just didn’t enter my radar. But not until last year.

It started when I first heard of Japanese violinist Sayaka Shoji’s Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto on Youtube. For some reason, I really liked it (and I still do) that I listened over and over again. Soon I was browsing for more videos of her on Youtube that I got to know more violin concertos and repertoires.

Then I learned about the Australian Youtuber violinist duo “TwoSet Violin”. Viola jokes aside, I started to appreciate classical music even more and even get to learn bits of music jargon every time I watch their videos. I actually used to play a Filipino rondalla instrument so I can relate to some stuff sometimes.

Then came the symphonies and piano repertoires. The more I looked, the more I discovered the fine musicians out there. And the great composers of the past as well. As for me, I do have certain preferences in compositions and interpretations. For compositions, I generally like the works of Bach, Brahms, Debussy, and Prokofiev. For musicians, I like Sayaka Shoji, Tifanny Poon (pianist), and Klaus Mäkelä  (conductor).

I also started attending concerts recently. Last summer, I went to Tokyo just to see Sayaka Shoji’s performance together with Polish conductor Krzysztof Penderecki. I also went to Hyogo to see again Sayaka Shoji’s performance but this time with Finnish conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen. I was also into Klaus Mäkelä’s Shostakovich Symphony No. 7 lately (in Youtube) that when I learned that he will conduct this in Tokyo, I bought the ticket right away even though it’ll be on a weekday. Sadly with the pandemic going on, the concert was cancelled.

So for now, I’ll dwell into classical music to help me this difficult and uncertain times. Sigh. That reminds me, the musicians are also having a tough time..