Cheesecake and Classical

My wife and I went out for our first date night since the baby was born 1 month ago. We went to the Cheesecake Factory, which for us is a little weird. In general we aren't really into chain restaurants, and there are definitely better places we could have gone, but we figured we needed to go somewhere loud with a booth just in case the baby decided to wake up and fuss. He didn't though. He slept like a champ through the whole thing. And that's how we get to the recording for today.

Artist: Elliott Carter [pg 144-145]
Album: Symphonia: Sum fluxae pretium spei; Clarinet Concerto
Album #225



Part 2 of Clarinet Concerto
Symphonia Part 1
Symphonia Part 2 [Not the full concert, be thankful]
I love the breadth of this book's scope. In the last 5 recordings I've heard mariachi, avant-garde rock, gospel, R&B, and now classical. I don't know much about classical music, but I know this album was an assault on my ears. If this album was a cheesecake, it would be a quiche. Similar ingredients, not the same result. "Modern" classical music tends to be so much more grating to me. While the clarinet playing in the concerto may have taken a lot of skill, the sounds being made were like someone was strangling a goose. It was so bad, in fact, that within 2 minutes my son had woken up from a deep sleep and started crying. When my wife came in and I told her how fussy he was being, she immediately looked at the computer, which was eminating an ungodly sound, and said, "I wonder why." On the bright side, missing his nap did help him sleep through dinner. The 2nd part of the recording is more of a full symphony, less minimalist (code word for "lazy" as far as I'm concerned). I still didn't find it very enjoyable, as every time I heard something nice starting to brew, the whole thing would get loud, and for lack of a better word, "clangy." Someone who enjoys classical music, can you help me here? I dealt with Bach, and actually enjoyed Beethoven, but this stuff is really out there to me. Oh, and I know you are wondering; yes, we each got a piece of cheesecake. Don't judge me, it was the first time out, we had to celebrate. I got chocolate coconut cream cheesecake, and my wife got Godiva chocolate cheesecake. Damn right.

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