Dave Hurwitz has a gift: he can explain what great music is, and how to best listen to it, in simple words. Out of many popular videos he has produced, we selected four (4) as they give accessible and important keys to listen to chamber music. He quickly explains that “great music” does not mean “classical music”, or “chamber music”.

Great music has “uniquely musical properties”. And learning to recognize these properties does not require a music degree, but only active listening. He guides us to actively listen in 4 videos, to the 4 movements of Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt suite #1, opus 46, isolating one uniquely musical characteristic. We will present one video each week in October:

1. Great music can stand alone, it needs neither words or action to communicate.
2. Harmony: composers skillfully use harmony to create great music (now published: click here to read).
3. Topic and Timber. Music evokes specific topics, and timber is used towards the expression. The “pastoral” topic is omnipresent in the Western musical tradition. (now published: click here to read)
4. Form. After breaking down the common “AABA” musical form, Dave defines the 2 elements of musical form: repetition and variation. (Now published: click here to read)

To help you watch these videos quickly, we will precede it by a sum-up with shortcut to the part that you may be most interested in.

In this first video, Dave compares two versions of Peer Gynt’s music, both composed by Edvard Grieg. One accompanying a play, with words and action, one without. He can thus help us focus on the purely musical characteristics of what we hear.

00:00 Definition of “great music” and why comparing music with words to the same music without words is very helpful

03:40 Introducing Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt suite #1.

05:50 Presenting the first example: how Grieg enhanced the meaning of the play while detaching music from the words it initially accompanied.

08:32 Introducing “in the hall of the mountain king” by Edvard Grieg.

12:29 Listen to 1st excerpt, with listening keys by Dave (…when you realize you knew Peer Gynt’s tunes 😄! Start here if you have only 5 minutes)

17:32 Listen to 2nd excerpt, without words. Dave points out key changes Grieg made from the version with words.

26:35 Listen again to 2nd excerpt as a more aware listener, and conclusion. As children learn a native language through active listening of adults, learning to listen to great music, without words, requires time invested in active listening.

Thank you for reading, Hervé