Some of you that know me probably know already that I’ve been getting really into the whole classical music thing for the last year or so. It sounds kind of ridiculous to listen mostly to a genre that the great majority of people out there would consider background music at best but there’s very good reason. There’s real depth to classical music and it isn’t as hard to grab onto as you would think, it just takes time. Modern pop music is all about instant gratification and while that’s great, there’s a lot to be said for art that forces you to slow down and get caught up in the whole story that’s unfolding in front of you.

A great example is Richard Wagner. You know, the opera guy with all the valkyries and whatnot. He was a master at building tension and suspense in his music. One of his operas, Tristan und Isolde, spends the entire opera building up tension and only finally releases it at the very end. Unfortunately this mastery is also why most people can’t bother to listen to his stuff, we’re too impatient. So, I’d like to invite anyone who is willing to listen, and I mean really listen, to Wagner’s Prelude to his last opera Parsifal to give it a shot. It’s very slow to pick up but, if you allow yourself to get caught up in it and see it through to the very end, it’s incredibly rewarding.