Well, I have 3 advanced degrees focusing on classical music, so, yeah, I guess you could say I like it.
My favorites have varied through the years; an early one was Tchaikovsky which led directly in Mahler after my Jr. High band directorthought I’d like him since I liked Tchaikovsky.
But since there’s been a focus on European composers, I thought I’d throw in a homegrown favorite, whom I just found out that he’s a 7th cousin, which thrills me to no end. The real founder of American classical music is Charles Ives. Before him the American composers were all German trained and pretty much followed that model. Ives received his initial training from his father, who had been a Cival war band leader at the age of 15. His father, George Ives, liked to experiment, one time inviting three other town bands to his Connecticut hometown and had each band march towards the town square from different directions playing different songs. Charles would later incorporate these sonic memories into his own music.
Sometimes nostalgic, oftimes forward thinking, always beautiful.
Heres just a couple of iconic pieces.