Classical Music Fans?

[Shamshir]

Anyone here into classical music? Ti's tough to find classical fans my age it seems. It's all my dad's fault, he had to have a massively large classical music collection which I had to be curious to listen to.

Anyway, it's taken over my life. My IPOD so far is filled with over 45GB worth of classical music numbers.

So anyone else out there, and if so what composers/works do you like?

[al-Canine]

Hi Shamshir,

Nice to meet you! And what a different sort of thread than what I am used to reading here.

I grew up listening to Mozart as an infant, and was making up my own (bawdy) words to "Carmen" by age 12. Can hum—in their entirety, and among others— Wagner's entire Ring cycle, Strauss' Die Frau Ohne Schatten, Mozart's Don Giovanni, and Brahm's Symphonie #2. Heaven help my friends and neighbors if they have to overhear. ;)

My husband and I are die-hard classical music fans. We have full subscriptions to the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall and the NY Philharmonic. We also enjoy the ballet. I feel so fortunate to have so many opportunities to enjoy classical music here. :)

I adore German opera, am particularly fond of Wagner and Richard Strauss (his more modern works) but also very much appreciate post-modern (Berg, Britten, Stravinsky, Floyd). And who cannot love Verdi and Mozart...

I also enjoy listening to sacred music: masses by Mozart, Haydn, Brahms, etc. And I'm a fan of Elgar, Bach, Vivaldi, Tchaikowsky, etc., etc.!

Please tell me what you enjoy!

[Shamshir]

Hi Shamshir,

Nice to meet you! And what a different sort of thread than what I am used to reading here.

I grew up listening to Mozart as an infant, and was making up my own (bawdy) words to "Carmen" by age 12. Can hum—in their entirety, and among others— Wagner's entire Ring cycle, Strauss' Die Frau Ohne Schatten, Mozart's Don Giovanni, and Brahm's Symphonie #2. Heaven help my friends and neighbors if they have to overhear. ;)

My husband and I are die-hard classical music fans. We have full subscriptions to the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall and the NY Philharmonic. We also enjoy the ballet. I feel so fortunate to have so many opportunities to enjoy classical music here. :)

I adore German opera, am particularly fond of Wagner and Richard Strauss (his more modern works) but also very much appreciate post-modern (Berg, Britten, Stravinsky, Floyd). And who cannot love Verdi and Mozart...

I also enjoy listening to sacred music: masses by Mozart, Haydn, Brahms, etc. And I'm a fan of Elgar, Bach, Vivaldi, Tchaikowsky, etc., etc.!

Please tell me what you enjoy!

Well hey there Al-Canine, I'm glad to have found another who appreciates the wonders of classical music! I'm also very jealous of your tickets at the Met and NY Philharmonic. Out here in San Diego we're besotted with a symphony orchestra that can't afford to keep it's top musicians (in fact we lost two of our best players last year to the NY Phil because they could pay them a lot more). Also all the great conductors who have decked the NY Phil... Bernstein, Stodowski, Masur, B. Walter, even Mahler who I absolutely adore! I do envy you!

Like you, I do love the Wagner Ring cycle, as long as it's one of the shorter ones (some sets go on as long as 17 hours!). I own the Solti set and I love it, but I hear the Karl Bohm set is the best, and have been trying to save up for it. I've never been able to see it live though, as our opera here in SD has never attempted to stage it.

As for me, I'm a huge fan of Bach. I adore his Cantatas, they are so ethereal and inspiring. If there ever was music for any god, then Bach's cantatas are as close as they come. They can also be humourous, for instance his Coffee Cantata. His oratorios and passions are also wonder and I listen to them frequently. He also wasn't bad on the orchestral and chamber music scale either... I love the Cello Suites, the Six Sonatas and Partitas for Violin, the Violin Concertos, and can't forget to mention the Brandenburg Concertos and the Orchestral Suites.

But besides Bach, I do listen to copious amounts of Beethoven and Mozart as well. Beethoven's symphonies and Mozart's Piano Concertos are downright fabulous (especially Mozart's Concerto for 3 Pianos, can't get that out of my head). Also love the Mozart Operas, his requiem mass, his serenades and string quarters. Gotta love both composers piano sonatas as well.

Well, besides those guys, I also love Haydn. I think Haydn is severely underrated (no thanks to his good friend Mozart). His symphonies and string quartets are outstanding. I also love Brahms and Mendelssohn and their works (Brahm's Ein Deutsches Requiem especially, and Mendelssohn's piano concertos and oratorios). I also have to mention Schubert and his wonderful piano works and symphonies, same can be said for Dvorak. Also love Mahler and Bruckner and their symphonies. I love most of the Russian composers (Glazunov, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Stravinsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Shostakovich).

LOL, seems I like everything, but there are expections. I tried Phillip Glass and I despised him. I also couldn't really get into Liszt, and to a lesser extent Chopin.

Well there's a survey of what I like to listen to lol. I have no time left for contemporary music. OH I also cannot forget to mention the Gilbert & Sullivan Operas! Now there's something that I definitely want to see live (the costumes for the Mikado are legendary!).

[Becky]

I loooooves the classical music! Particularly opera. I think my favorite would have to be the opera "Faust," easily Gonoud's best, at least in my current opinion.

[Atlas]

Anyone here into classical music? Ti's tough to find classical fans my age it seems. It's all my dad's fault, he had to have a massively large classical music collection which I had to be curious to listen to.

Anyway, it's taken over my life. My IPOD so far is filled with over 45GB worth of classical music numbers.

So anyone else out there, and if so what composers/works do you like?


Vivaldi- The Four Seasons

Opera, in Italian. German or English opera just sounds wrong to me

[Shamshir]

Vivaldi- The Four Seasons

Opera, in Italian. German or English opera just sounds wrong to me

But German Opera is the best! I could not imagine Opera without Wagner's Ring Cycle. As for English Opera, you're missing out on Gilbert & Sullivan if you think it sounds wrong.

[Hound]

I have too many favorites to mention them all, but lately I seem to revisit Dvorak 's New World Symphony, and the Planets by Holst.

I would like to suggest to any with kids that might peruse this thread that if you want to turn on your children to classical music, you can't miss with Peter and the Wolf by Prokofiev or the Grand Canyon Suite by Grofe.

There is also a really cool piece called Hall of the Mountain King that is a story symphony that I have been meaning to acquire for the littles, but I can't remember the composer.*

* I checked it out it's Grieg.

[Shamshir]

I have too many favorites to mention them all, but lately I seem to revisit Dvorak 's New World Symphony, and the Planets by Holst.

I would like to suggest to any with kids that might peruse this thread that if you want to turn on your children to classical music, you can't miss with Peter and the Wolf by Prokofiev or the Grand Canyon Suite by Grofe.

There is also a really cool piece called Hall of the Mountain King that is a story symphony that I have been meaning to acquire for the littles, but I can't remember the composer.*

* I checked it out it's Grieg.

Flight of the Bumble Bee by Rimsky-Korsakov is always a hit with the kids whenever I play for me younger cousins.

[Klaus]

Liszt - Hungarian Rhapsody # 2 (Ten minute version)
Rossini - The Theiving Magpie
Handel - Hallelujah Chorus
Pachbel - Canon in D
Beethoven - 9th Sympony, Moonlight Sonata, Fur Elise... anything really
Vivaldi - Four Seasons
Phantom of the Opera - Music of the night
Stravinsky - ALL
Zappa - LSO


Streaming online at:
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Dallas, Texas

[al-Canine]

al-Canine's New Crush

I have fallen for a new opera hunk. We saw “Peter Grimes” on Saturday, and I was blown away by the performance of New Zealand baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes. I am seriously smitten. He is a dreamboat, about 6 foot 5, with swaggering, craggy looks a bit like a mix of Sting and Heath Ledger (RIP). If we had not been in a hurry to get home I would have camped outside of the opera house and waited to meet him in person afterwards. SWOOOOOON.

Check out that chest. <drool>

And the boy can sing!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_Us_E551Z4

Sorry, just had to share my new crush. :happy_10:

[Shamshir]

al-Canine's New Crush

I have fallen for a new opera hunk. We saw “Peter Grimes” on Saturday, and I was blown away by the performance of New Zealand baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes. I am seriously smitten. He is a dreamboat, about 6 foot 5, with swaggering, craggy looks a bit like a mix of Sting and Heath Ledger (RIP). If we had not been in a hurry to get home I would have camped outside of the opera house and waited to meet him in person afterwards. SWOOOOOON.

Check out that chest. <drool>

And the boy can sing!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_Us_E551Z4

Sorry, just had to share my new crush. :happy_10:

LOL. Crush eh? Let me introduce you to Mr. Gustavo Dudamel. Young virtuoso who's been regarded as the next big conducting phenomenon. He's got some recordings out already, most notable Beethoven's 5th and 7th on Deutsche Grammaphone (stick to the Kleiber or Karajan sets IMHO, his Orchestra ain't as good as those Kleiber and Karajan had!).

http://alfredo.octavio.net/files/aoctavio_dudamel.jpg
http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Arts/Arts_/Pictures/2007/08/20/simonbolivar460.jpg

[al-Canine]

LOL. Crush eh? Let me introduce you to Mr. Gustavo Dudamel.

Cool! :) I am looking forward to seeing him conduct next time he visits Avery Fisher Hall. Isn't it great when a new talent bursts onto the scene?!

Hey Shamshir, any chance you can visit NYC next year to see the Met's RING cycle??

From the season catalogue:

"Don't miss the final opportunity to experience Otto Schenk's landmark production of the world's greatest theatrical journey. Wagner's monumental four-part epic of universal destiny is a supreme challenge for any opera company, and no other staging matches the sheer grandeur and scope of the Met's. James Levine, one of the great Wagnerians, leads his magnificent orchestra in the Met's revival of this masterpiece."

Let me know if you can make it! I am planning to at least see "Siegfried," my fave of the bunch (tho we saw a great "Walkure" this season.)

The tix are waaaaaaay expensive, tho. :mad_12:

[Shamshir]

Cool! :) I am looking forward to seeing him conduct next time he visits Avery Fisher Hall. Isn't it great when a new talent bursts onto the scene?!

Hey Shamshir, any chance you can visit NYC next year to see the Met's RING cycle??

From the season catalogue:

"Don't miss the final opportunity to experience Otto Schenk's landmark production of the world's greatest theatrical journey. Wagner's monumental four-part epic of universal destiny is a supreme challenge for any opera company, and no other staging matches the sheer grandeur and scope of the Met's. James Levine, one of the great Wagnerians, leads his magnificent orchestra in the Met's revival of this masterpiece."

Let me know if you can make it! I am planning to at least see "Siegfried," my fave of the bunch (tho we saw a great "Walkure" this season.)

The tix are waaaaaaay expensive, tho. :mad_12:

Ya know Canine, it would be a dream come true if I could join you for the Ring cycle, as the Ring is one of my favorite operas. But alas, I'm but a student, and ticket prices being expensive just might not work. I'm trying to get some internship over the summer, if I make enough money maybe I can save up some to see the Ring! Cause I really do want to see it! San Fran I believe is doing it this year, but alas I will be away.

I am craving to go to the opera though!