[Thor Joachim Haga]

I touched on some of this briefly in the “origins” thread that Nick mentioned. But to expand a little:

I hated classical/orchestral music as a child. My dad played it all the time, and it went on my nerves. Especially opera. But right before my teenage years, there was a change. I had started to latch on to progressive/symphonic/art rock, with lengthy instrumental passages, and electronic music. Somewhere in there, I started listening to, and loving, those “LSO Plays Classic Rock” albums (I think first via one of my dad’s cassettes that I got). With all those influences in play, I finally opened up to orchestral music.

Interestingly, I bypassed most classical music and went straight for film music. There is something about the emotional immediacy that I liked, and the reason I still prefer film music over classical music. In films, there isn’t always a lot of time for ornamention, the music needs to get to its point more quickly and succinctly. I preferred that, and still do.

But of course, in the wake of opening up to all kinds of orchestral film music, I’ve also dipped my toes in various classical music over the years. I’m not an expert like you, Nick, or Sigbjørn, but I’m on a level now where I’m at least above-average. And I obviously recognize a lot of overlap between the two.

As far as the issue of recordings is concerned, the low lows and high highs are almost only something I’ve encountered in film music, like those RSNO recordings from the 90s. Overall, classical music has been much better recorded, especially if you go back beyond a certain date. Those Karajan/Berlin Phil recordings for Deutsche Grammophon in the 50s sound like they were recorded yesterday. Compare that to any given score of the 50s, and there is no match.

Of course, with this severe tinnitus situation of mine, all those issues are now minimized in importance. Now it’s a challenge to even listen to the extreme dynamics of orchestral music, period, to say nothing of various recording techniques and mixes. My ears rest more comfortably with non-orchestral music, but I won’t let that stop me.