once read a bit of roger scruton on music (the aesthetics of music, 1997) who says that you enjoy music more if you know music. he was writing about classical music and referring to musical structures and quotations only visible to those trained in the language. how one composer borrows from another, etc.
so, if what he says is true, and i’m missing out on many winks and jokes, even though i can hear the same motifs in fidelio or the ruins of athens and all over beethoven, but i can’t tell you what they are or how to write them, then i’d say yes, knowledge opens up more dimensions, it lets you hear an ongoing conversation between composers (and you can hear them talking to themselves).
is it the same to hear the pixies here comes your man without having ever heard a hard day’s night? it’s sure different. which one is better?
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