Any Classical Music Fans?

[Floppyman]

Hey all,

Over the last 4 years or so I have been steadily building my collection of classical music, lately adding a lot from the Romantic Era (by far my favorite). Just today I received another gem in the mail, a set of Anton Bruckner's 9 Symphonies performed by the Berlin Philarmonic on the Deutsche Grammophon label. I really like these recordings do far -- the energetic, brassy Bruckner sound is fantastic and the Berlin Philarmonic is nothing short of superb. For the whole set I paid just $37, and that's over 9hrs of enjoyment. Anyone else out there into collecting/listening to classical music?

[Brad the best]

i adore classical music and opera . its just goes with every situation , and i duno sorta makes you feel different . or maybe thats just me .

[XenaWP]

I'm a big Classical fan. Like you, I particularly like the Romantic era, my favorite composers being Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Smetena, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninoff. I have some Brahms, some Schumann and Shubert, and some older stuff ... Mozart and Bach. Bach gets a little monotonous to me, but the Brandenburg concertos are quite amazing.

I also like Vivaldi and Telemann, Handel, Scarlatti and other composers of that era.

I have quite a few operas too ... I was fortunate to have had a French teacher in High School who incorporated music (opera) into his language teaching curriculum. Being exposed to opera and learning about it, gave almost every one of us an appreciation of that genre. I like Gounod and Verdi and Bizet and Puccini and a few others. Not so much, R. Strauss or Wagner.

I've been exploring ways to catalog my many classical CDs. With my other CDs, it is easy enough to tap the Artist/Disc into a little PalmOS database I made, so I don't inadventertly buy a duplicate when I'm shopping. Much harder with classical CDs, as you can have mixed composers on a CD, multiple opuses, etc.

I procured a barcode reader, but am not having much luck getting the UPC code on the CD to tie into the disc information.

[Kasturi]

I was never really into classical music. That was until I took it for one of my electives for college.

I am still having trouble with who does what, or what ere they are in.

I find myself switching over to the classical station while I am driving more & more.

My favorite all time is "Carmina Burana" (O Fortuna)

If you have seen any horror film then you will know which one I am referring to.

[The_YongGrand]

Originally Posted by Floppyman Hey all, Over the last 4 years or so I have been steadily building my collection of classical music, lately adding a lot from the Romantic Era (by far my favorite). Just today I received another gem in the mail, a set of Anton Bruckner's 9 Symphonies performed by the Berlin Philarmonic on the Deutsche Grammophon label. I really like these recordings do far -- the energetic, brassy Bruckner sound is fantastic and the Berlin Philarmonic is nothing short of superb. For the whole set I paid just $37, and that's over 9hrs of enjoyment. Anyone else out there into collecting/listening to classical music?

I'm a fan of Baroque music. I have Vivaldi's Lute Suites, Goldberg Variations (Trevor Pinnock's) and a full collection of Brandenburg concertos. John Williams' violin concerto is very nice too. I hope to have Glenn Gould's interpretations of his French, Italian suites and the Keyboard concertos. I get to play some of the French Suites (the one with G-major, BWV 816) on the electric guitar (I mixed both parts carefully) and they sound fun and cheerful. Also I loved to listen to some Renaissance, but I couldn't find them well enough from the CD shop.

I'm very comfortable in playing Baroque music - and I'm too inclined until I could play in a mechanical manner. I tried to play Romantic music, in a romantic way, but I just couldn't. Well, I have some fave Romantic music too - the Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata (Presto) and Chopin's Preludes and one of his famous Waltz.

How about classical? I never listened to much of it but pretty amazed of Mozart's pieces. As a guitarist, I tried to rework some of his simpler sonata pieces to fit on two or three guitars. Well, a guitarist has five fingers on the fingerboard, but a pianist has ten on the keyboard. Guess I have to learn up piano later, but I have too much time constraints.

[Floppyman]

Thanks for your input guys. I want to underscore again how awesome Bruckner's symphonies are, what a true delight to my ears. They are, however, not for the lighthearted listener -- the music is exceptionally loud and energetic. The brass section sure gets a workout almost every symphony.

The next set I'll probably add will be Schumann's 4 symphonies. They are perhaps not all too well known, but I'm really starting to like 4th already after having listened to previews.

[Kareeser]

Just beginning my journey into Classical music.

If you have the time, check out "Armenian Scenes", by composer Alexander Arutunian. They're quite excellent. I had the chance to play one of the movements for a recent concert.

[Stuey]

Freshman year of high school I took music appreciation. I did poorly on my first report card after a Baroque period exam. Then came classical music exam where I scored in the high 90s. Some of the memory tricks stuck.

My favorites are Pachebel's Canon in D minor and Beethoven's 9th (Ode to Joy part).

[kstatefan40]

Originally Posted by Kasturi My favorite all time is "Carmina Burana" (O Fortuna) If you have seen any horror film then you will know which one I am referring to.

My high school symphonic band / Choir did a performance of this last year for an audition peice.

I am a fan of Tchaikovsky, Williams (not classical, I know), and many others.

[Floppyman]

I just received Schumann's Symphonies on cd as an early birthday gift. What can I say, this is another jewel of the Romantic Era. Simply beautiful music.