Music

I like some modern music. Well, mostly indie which is not so much modern as 5-10 years ago but never mind. I enjoy a bit of pop every now and then, even nu-metal if it's good. I'm not that keen on Radiohead but I wouldn't rather listen to Aqua instead. So I'm not knocking rock and pop but somehow nothing I've heard has the same power as a really beautiful piece of classical music. Perhaps it's because I'm a mathematician - the complexity holds me as the melodies twist round each other - but then even quite a simple piece can have that quality. I came across my old BBC Proms CD last night which has Faure's Pavane on and was utterly spellbound by it again - haunting and beautiful. I'm also finding that I listen to more of it at work than I used to at Dresdner. I put this down to the fact that I needed to be given energy at Dresdner (Kylie and Puretones on repeat for 4 hours makes you twitchy you know) whereas now I need to have focus and the thing which gives me that most is often classical (this is not to say I'm listening to it all the time, just a lot more that I have for a while).

The other standout piece for me is Beethovens Violin Concerto. I got it on my very first CD with a couple of his violin Romances to go with the CD player my parents bought me for Christmas at 13. I didn't like so much at first but I kept playing the CD because I liked the other pieces and it grew on me. The first movement is 20 minutes long but you'd never know it - listening to the violin soar above the orchestra and out on its own is just breathtaking. There's nothing like it.