What is Musicality?


Hello fellow music lovers,

I am upgrading my system like a lot of us who follow Audiogon. I read a lot about musicality on Audiogon as though the search for musicality can ultimately end by acquiring the perfect music system -- or the best system that one can afford. I really appreciate the sonic improvements that new components, cables, plugs and tweaks are bringing to my own system. But ultimately a lot of musicality comes from within and not from without. I probably appreciated my Rocket Radio and my first transistor radio in the 1950s as much I do my high-end system in 2010. Appreciating good music is not only a matter of how good your equipment is. It is a measure of how musical a person you are. Most people appreciate good music but some people are born more musical than others and appreciate singing in the shower as much as they do listening to a high-end system or playing a musical instrument or attending a concert. Music begins in the soul. It is not only a function of how good a system you have.

Sabai
sabai
Excellent recommendations by Schubert. I would add Heitor Villa Lobos' "Bachianas Brazileiras" No. 1 for eight cellos and No. 5 for orchestra of cellos and soprano. Villa-Lobos was the greatest of the Latin-American composers to, like Kodaly, blend the native music of his country (Brazil) with European Classical tradition. In this case, "Bachiana" refers to the influence of Bach; subtle, but easily heard in these pieces particularly in the fugue. The EMI recording of these pieces with the glorious Victoria De Los Angeles singing No. 5 is the one to have. Music not quite of the depth of Schubert's recs, but beautiful by any standard and showcases the cello.
Detlof and Frogman,

Monk created a unique style -- according to his wife, due to his small fingers (especially his baby finger which was nearly half the length of his middle finger). His compositions became classics. Peterson composed very little. He had a huge reach. His command of the keyboard, his virtuosity and his beautiful arrangements and renditions of the "classics" were breathtaking. Monk and Peterson are two of my favorite jazz pianists.
I don't know long his fingers were, but I love to listen to Lenny Tristano, who seems a great musician to me.
Uberdine, to the excellent recommendations by Schubert and Frogman, I would add the Haydn concerti, and there are great sonatas for cello and piano by Beethoven and Brahms.