Today's must read ...

... Songs of Love and Death.

Like Nige, I find myself listening more and more to Bach, and to even older music, Josquin in particular. I never listen the Beethoven symphonies except in concert. Occasionally, I listen to Brahms's fourth symphony. There is something about the older music that seems purer, less programmed to get across a message, less about the composer and more about the music.
And while Nige may lack the technical knowledge of the clever clods who write the liner notes, what he says communicates more about the music itself than those notes usually do.