Years ago, at a church, we did a children's version of Handel's Messiah (youth and adults were in the choir and the kids helped out with the reading). I think it's a good thing to introduce to classical work to kids who may have never heard it.

I listened to Yes again a few days ago and still found their music very enjoyable. I still have the vinyl LP’s from the 1970’s and of course the music is very dated, but it is great for nostalgia.  I don’t think a lot of today’s music has that wonderful sound of the 1970’s. Among the best albums were Close to the Edge, Fragile, and Tales from Topographic Oceans. Yes was considered one of the best British progressive rock groups, and they were a big hit here in America.  I think many people still like them (especially in my age group as I was in college at that time).  Yes even played some classical music. There is a piano work by Brahms on the Fragile LP, which I thought was quite well performed. It’s hard not to love that vintage music. 🙂

This was my favorite song when I was a kid in the early 2000's. I've listened to it back in 2020, and it helped me during covid and lock-down.

I wonder if people here liked singing hymns in church when they were children.  I remember liking certain hymns like “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” and “God of Our Fathers Whose Almighty Hand”, although the old fashioned English,  which imitated the King James Bible, sounds a bit archaic now. The publishers modernized the language in the hymnbooks, which our church purchased about twenty years ago. The language didn’t make much difference in my liking for the songs since some I had liked while others seemed tedious like “Come Ye Disconsolate”, which we had to sing in elementary school. One wonders why the teachers chose sad and depressing songs like those for children.  There was other music which was far better.  In recent years through listening to recordings of choral groups like King’s College Choir and the Cambridge Singers I have begun to like choral music much better.  🙂

I am not sure if people today consider John Denver’s music to be country music. I have always liked it.  Some of his best songs included “Country Roads, Take Me Home” and “Rocky Mountain High”.  The music is very listenable and I think I like it better than most country music, but that of course is only my own taste. It’s so tragic that John Denver died in a plane crash in 1997. I don’t think there was anyone else quite like him, although other folk musicians like Peter, Paul, and Mary have also written great songs. 🙂

@narnian78 I love John Denver's music too! Rocky Mountain High is one of my favourites (even though I've never been to Colorado, or anywhere else in the Rockies for that matter), plus Calypso, which I think just perfectly captures the feel of adventuring on and in the seas! I do have a really lovely album of his best songs, specially re-recorded by him in his later years, but unfortunately it's still back in Australia somewhere, so I'm struggling to remember which other songs on it I really loved...  

@courtenay 

I have never been to Colorado, but I have lived in Michigan all my life.  It would be so nice to see the mountains which we don’t have in our state.  The music I own of John Denver is all on old vinyl LP’s which I bought in the 1980’s. I love to listen to it on my old fashioned stereo, which is also from that time. 🙂

I am now listening to my favorite Christmas choral music. Somehow the choirs are the best for getting me into the Christmas spirit. I especially like King’s College Choir and Trinity College Choir, although there are other groups that play similar music. I also love The Waverly Consort, whose performances of songs from the Middle Ages were like a fairy tale. I think the best way to enjoy the vintage recordings is on an old fashioned stereo if you can’t attend the concerts in person. It is something that modern technology cannot replace. 🙂

There is other vintage Christmas music from the 1970’s or before that time that I really like. Somehow it means more to me if it comes from the past. My taste may be mainly nostalgia, but I think it is a good thing. Rocky Mountain Christmas by John Denver is another fine album. The Robert Shaw Chorale produced a number of fine Christmas albums many years ago and some of them are still available on CD (downloads of those recordings may be hard to find and CDs and vinyl are better quality). I tend to prefer Christmas music that is decades or centuries old, but of course that is my own taste. I think it is worth sampling the music especially if you have never heard it before. 

Right now I am loving My Soul Among Lions' Psalms albums. Two songs that I am really enjoying are Arise, O Lord (Psalm 7) and Come Now, My Friend (Psalm 11).

Another song that I have heard a lot recently is Word of God by Brenton Brown because my mom has been playing it.

SnowAngel

I seem to be bouncing back and forth between listening to the Psalms albums by various artists and Christian rock/metal. My jam lately has been Wolves At The Gate, I really like their album Types & Shadows.

SnowAngel

I love to listen to old collections of classical music such as Beethoven’s Greatest Hits, which are CD’s from the 1990’s. Some of these CD’s are now of print, but they are often still available on eBay, and they are often new in the package and in perfect condition. It is interesting which works the people who made the albums consider to be the greatest. The CD’s featured many composers including Beethoven, Bach, Schubert, Brahms, and others. They were like a small version of Music 101, the course I took many years ago in college. I think it was a great way to introduce people to classical music. I don’t know if they are available as downloads, but I prefer the better sound quality of CD’s and vinyl when they are played on an old fashioned stereo. For me the nostalgic way of listening to the music is the best. 🙂

I'm quite a big fan of Adam Watts lately.  For anyone who hasn't heard of him, here's a sample!

This song (When a Heart Wakes Up) is probably my favourite one by him, and is partially responsible for getting me through the pandemic.

Brian Sauvé's new album Even Dragons Shall Him Praise was released this week. Ten more Psalms arrangements to listen to!  

I actually like listening to movie soundtracks.

I was just listening to Howard Shore's score of The Two Towers. One is a song that Eowyn sings at Prince Theodred's funeral. Just listening to the song is just as heartbreaking as watching it on film. Watching a scene like that has me emotionally drained, and while the song is beautiful, you feel the sadness as well.