What are you listening for?

I recently realized that we all have a sort-of musical anchor which shapes how we react to music.

You have it, too. I guarantee it.

Its that little "something" that makes you want to go back to one album and reject another, even if it contains actually better music.

You don't feel it. You don't see it. And yet, it shapes whether you like particular music or not.

For me, it's the bass. I used to play double bass, and even now, years later, it's still the thing I instinctively listen for first. It's my anchor, the thing I am drawn to when hearing a record for the first time. And if the bass doesn't sound well - if it's muted, or pushed too far, or muddy - I feel off. Even if it's just placed weirdly in the mix, it irks me.

This is why, for example, Yuja Wang's Rachmaninoff 2nd Piano Concerto on DG is such a frustrating listen for me. I appreciate that it's a genuinely spectacular record.

But the mix flips the orchestra so that the basses are on the left. And let's be clear, there is nothing wrong with that. I can even justify it. Flipping the orchestra was, probably, the easiest way to improve the piano sound, a difficult instrument to capture in such a setting, after all.

But basses on my left just don't fit my lens. And so, I can't listen to a performance I should love.

(And I tried. Many times.)

Here's the part I find interesting: we build that anchor over years, usually without naming it. And it quietly decides what music reaches us, regardless of how good it objectively is.

Anything on the record could be that anchor. An instrument. A particular tone. Orchestra placement in the soundstage, or in the mix. The cymbal ping in jazz. The clarity of the recording...

Is the anchor just our musical taste? No, I don't think so. Because it can push us away from the music we'd normally love (consider this: Rachmaninoff is one of my favourite composers, and I have a huge respect to Yuja Wang).

Both fit my taste. But to me, this particular record is unlistenable.

The same happens with Paavo Jarvi's recording of Schubert Symphonies 7 and 4 (on Sony.) Here, the orchestra is flipped, too, and I can't bear it.

But put on his recording of "Schoenberg & Fauré: Pelléas et Mélisande" (on Alpha Classics,) where the basses are where I expect them to be, and I am smiling from ear to ear.

So, what's your anchor? I'm curious to know. Is it an instrument, a tone, recording clarity? Hit reply and let me know.

What I've Been Playing

A few records that have been keeping me company this week.

John Coltrane – Live at Birdland (Impulse!)
Absolute masterpiece, and the very first jazz record I ever heard (at around the age of 11, and not the easiest record to start a jazz journey with, I have to say). I've been revisiting it for an article I'm working on, and it brought back so many memories.

Pierre Boulez/Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra – Karol Szymanowski: Concerto pour violon n°1 – Symphonie n°3 (Deutsche Grammophon)
I'm only just discovering Szymanowski's music (which is sort of a point of shame, since he's a distant relative on my mother's side), and so far, I am more than amazed. I also covered his symphonic suite from King Roger in Finds this week.

John Abercrombie, Dan Wall, Adam Nussbaum – While We're Young (ECM Records)
Incredible jazz trio: organ, guitar and drums. Often considered a sister record to Abercrombie's Timeless (with Jan Hammer and Jack DeJohnette), however, this one seems more abstract than Timeless. But it's an intriguing record, nonetheless, and one that reveals something new with every listen.

Group 1850 – Paradise Now (Pseudonym)
A purely accidental discovery, and a great listen. Dutch psychedelic rock album from 1969, with a tinge of folk and early Pink Floyd (think their Saucerful of Secrets era). It captivated me from the very first listen. Oh, and the bass sound on this one is a pure bliss.