Nice recommendations. Of course I have playlists for both cigar smoking and pipe smoking. Actually a few for the pipe, since some days are more 'jazzy' than others.
But here's some food for thought. I also like to do the opposite, match the pipe to the music. For example one would never be playing one's banjo and be smoking an Ichi Kitahara. Talk about not fitting together. Foggy Mountain and Corn Cobs, now that goes together.
Christmas music - Christmas pipe. Opera music - Italian Billard. Personally I'm a little more relaxed when listening to something like Le Nozze Di Figaro. For a comic opera I might even go with a free hand. But Don Giovanni that calls for the most serious pipe on the rack. Nothing whimsical about being dragged screaming into the bowels of hell. No Sir, nothing at all.
A lot of times if I am enjoying a pipe by myself I will read and when I read I prefer to listen to classical regardless of the blend. There are those times though that I will watch some YouTube pipe presenters but again I don't think I gravitate towards a specific blend or if I do I don't realize it.
If you're asking if Don Giovanni is a requiem, most would say yes, I say, "I guess it is. sort of". A requiem is a Mass for the deceased or a Missa pro Defunctis. Believe me, you don't want to be defuncits.
At the time of Wolfgang, people would commission music to be played at their departure, which the music for Don Giovanni was, but it's not a Mass. It is really an Opera based on Don Juan, whom you may have heard of. The story goes that he lives a life of debauchery and thinks it's great. Catting around, beating people up, all the usual debauchery stuff There's one point where he and some other dude were talking with a statue (must have been drugs involved as well). I mention it because if you see clips of that Opera you usually see a guy covered in silver makeup singing, that's the statue, he's a Commendatore. Anyway, everyone keeps telling Don to change his ways or he'll be sorry. Finally some hot chick, Elvira (not the one you're thinking of), begs him to repent, but he just laughs at her.
I won't give away the big ending, but my previous post on the subject may be a bit of a spoiler.
If you want a traditional requiem then you want to listen to something like Mozart's Requiem in D Minor, K.626. Requiem's are almost always in a minor key since people are sad. There are some exceptions of them in a major key, but those are for when people are glad to see you go. For my funeral they will most likely play Banana Banjo.
I joke around but listening to the example I gave (the K. 626) is actually good pipe smoking music. Of course you have to be in the mood for it, but if you want to sit back in a big chair with your eyes shut, puffing away, it's not bad.
Either way, the point of my first post was not to match the music to the smoke, but to match the pipe to the music, and I stand by that.
I enjoy the singer and song writers, I am a huge fan of Jerry Garcia and John Denver, I enjoy a goody Burley blend and a good beverage when listening to them. My pipe choice, well that depends on my mood
There is a debate in the classical music world that Mozart's Requiem is the greatest single piece of classical music ever. I would definitely say it's in the top 1%!
When I'm feeling a bit nostalgic I'll put on one of those Greatest Hits Of The 60s' "Nuggets" CDs and relive my teenage years. Grooving to those great psychedelic tunes, one-hit wonder garage rock bands, and love songs from bands like The Association, The Turtles, and The New Colony Six. Remembering what it was like to be a 'hipster dufus' pipe smoker, puffing on Middleton Cherry Blend while my buddies in the neighborhood brood extolled the virtues of inhaling menthol cigarettes. What a picture that must have been - me, imagining myself the sophisticated 'cat's ass', puffing on a pipe while decked out in a garish multi-colored paisley shirt, hop sack pants, and the occasional ascot around my neck.
@ghostsofpompeii I was feeling a little nostalgic myself last night; so I played some Urge. Sure it's 90's but when you were born in the 80's I feel like that's fair!
Pulled out a pair of concert DVDs I plan on watching as I smoke on a cold Midwestern afternoon. Both bands are progressive rock and doubtful that anyone is familiar with them - but I'll tell you all the same just in case there are a few progheads out there. The bands are "Porcupine Tree" and "IQ". Both British - and both concerts were filmed in USA venues.
@Woodsman I followed Tangerine Dream from their beginnings in 1969 with the album "Electronic Meditations" all the way up to the 1994 album "Tyranny Of Beauty" for a total of some 28 albums, then for some unknown reason I seem to have stopped. I need to do some catching up. Looking forward to giving Transsiberian a listen.
Have you listened to the early Gandalf albums "Magic Theater", "Fantasia" and "Gallery Of Dreams"? Great music as well.
Comments
Lonnie Mack- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm7A1fVwVjE
Blackstone Cherry- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZepHvVzj_0
Delmore Brothers- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkjRDaoF39w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LhsE-uqqE0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qannFs974gg
Gandalf "Labrinth"
GhostsofPompei; did you ever hear Tangerine Dream's "Transsiberian"?
@Woodsman I followed Tangerine Dream from their beginnings in 1969 with the album "Electronic Meditations" all the way up to the 1994 album "Tyranny Of Beauty" for a total of some 28 albums, then for some unknown reason I seem to have stopped. I need to do some catching up. Looking forward to giving Transsiberian a listen.
Have you listened to the early Gandalf albums "Magic Theater", "Fantasia" and "Gallery Of Dreams"? Great music as well.