Classical Music 101 for the Serious

Wilhelm Furtwängler

A lot of people ask me how to get started listening to classical music. They seem to appreciate the complexity, nobleness and beauty of it, but most of time an instructive roadmap is missing which might be discouraging for some. Most quit before they even start.

I listen to 45% classical, 45% jazz, 10% others (techno, house etc.). When I was a teenager my music taste wasn't diversified like today; it was 99% classical. However I still think I have a good trackrecord introducing people to classical music. Here is some -maybe unusual- advice for newcomers.

Common Wine Flaws

On average 1 out of 20 bottles of wine are flawed and worth sending back. Below are some of the most common wine flaws:

Corked:

Wine is corked when it has been in contact with a cork infected with a fungus that produces 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA). It is a compound that gets into cork and imparts a musty odor in the wine.

Despite what you may have seen in old movies, you’re not going to detect cork taint from sniffing the cork. It also has nothing to do with little pieces of cork that crumble into the wine. You’ll detect it by sniffing the wine and noticing a smell like wet, musty newspapers, wet cardboard, or moldy basement. The palate will taste similar, will lack fruit, and is often quite bitter.

Most Used Tools of HBS and Less-Expensive Alternatives

I am not an HBS MBA nor a faculty member. However I spent a fair amount of time at the Baker Library during my time at Harvard and noticed excessive usage of databases and financial data vendors. Here are some practical observations: