Water Music

If anyone is wondering what the big deal is with classical music, and whether maybe everyone is just pretending to like it, while in fact it’s just boring, I have a cure. Classical music is like beer: Some people think they don’t like it, but it’s just that they’ve only tasted Coors. So here are two stout draughts that have very much increased my own thirst for classical music: Pablo Casals’ recording of Bach’s Cello Suites, especially the first prelude (featured in Master and Commander). I think EMI sells it. Casals practised these pieces for 12 years before he played one publically. And Arcangelo Corelli’s Concerti Grossi, Op. 6. Master and Commander plays the adagio from the eighth concerto. While we’re at it, if there’s anyone who can’t see the virtues of the English language, (and I think there are more of these than either of the first two), go out and buy Master and Commander, and read it. The only way you can despise the language of your birth is if you haven’t learned to speak it. This book will begin to teach you.