Hello to Radio 3 Forum Members

[Beppe]

I am 61 years old. Started in the 70s with rock music and then started listening to some classical that my father encouraged (Mahler, Beethoven, Wagner). But then drifted away from music for many years. Got back in about 2009 and listened to nothing but my favorite non-classical musician, Johnny Winter, for a couple years. Then something struck me and I went back to classical big time. For non-classical I also like Neal Young, Bob Dylan, and Johnny Cash a lot. I went to live operas in the 1980s before surtitles were present and it was mainly because it was a good way to weed out low-lifes in finding dates.

I play no instrument and am a musical ignoramus, but love listening. I am actually a huge opera fan and that is what I mostly listen to. Some favorites include Bellini's La Sonnambula, Flotow's Martha, Mascagni's L'amico Fritz (where I got my username), Beethoven's Fidelio, Wagner (Ring, Hollander, and others), Verdi's Il Trovatore, Puccini's La Fanciulla del West, Donizetti's Maria Stuarda, Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, Tchaicovsky's Eugene Onegin, Weber's Der Freischutz, ...

I also like Handel's Messiah, Haydn's Creation, Mendelssohn's Elijah, all the symphonies of Beethoven, Mahler, Mendelssohn, Saint-Saens, and Rachmaninov. I also like Beethoven's piano sonatas and most classical violin music. This site seems more performance oriented and I am more CD and DVD with a HUGE collection.

I am going next spring to see Handel's Alcina live at the University of Michigan School of Music.

[LMcD]

Hi there Beppe and welcomes!
It's nice to know that I'm not the only Forumista who's a musical ignoramus and loves listening (though I watch a lot of classical stuff on youtube and DVD as well).

[french frank]

Hello Beppe

You'll see from the thread titles that people here like various sorts of music, though most like classical music too (including opera). Feel free to talk about whatever you want to. My next opera-going is likely to be Bellini's Donizetti's Roberto Devereux, mainly because I don't know it at all (or who the composer was, seemingly ). Revived from WNO's 2013 production:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/oct/03/roberto-devereux-review

(Not one you're likely to see, I suppose, judging from where you're from …)

[Richard Tarleton]

I am 61 years old. Started in the 70s with rock music and then started listening to some classical that my father encouraged (Mahler, Beethoven, Wagner). But then drifted away from music for many years. Got back in about 2009 and listened to nothing but my favorite non-classical musician, Johnny Winter, for a couple years. Then something struck me and I went back to classical big time. For non-classical I also like Neal Young, Bob Dylan, and Johnny Cash a lot. I went to live operas in the 1980s before surtitles were present and it was mainly because it was a good way to weed out low-lifes in finding dates.

I play no instrument and am a musical ignoramus, but love listening. I am actually a huge opera fan and that is what I mostly listen to. Some favorites include Bellini's La Sonnambula, Flotow's Martha, Mascagni's L'amico Fritz (where I got my username), Beethoven's Fidelio, Wagner (Ring, Hollander, and others), Verdi's Il Trovatore, Puccini's La Fanciulla del West, Donizetti's Maria Stuarda, Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, Tchaicovsky's Eugene Onegin, Weber's Der Freischutz, ...

I also like Handel's Messiah, Haydn's Creation, Mendelssohn's Elijah, all the symphonies of Beethoven, Mahler, Mendelssohn, Saint-Saens, and Rachmaninov. I also like Beethoven's piano sonatas and most classical violin music. This site seems more performance oriented and I am more CD and DVD with a HUGE collection.

I am going next spring to see Handel's Alcina live at the University of Michigan School of Music.

Hi there Beppe, and welcome. Get stuck in wherever you like. With you on your non-classical likes, tho' I had to look up Johnny Winter....strikes me you might also have been a George Thorogood fan?

Also similar opera tastes. Marta - I love that opera (tho Wagner didn't ). Have you seen a live production? It's one that ought to be played a lot more, the only performance I've ever seen was a student production in the mid 1960s, but I fell in love with it and bought the complete recording with Rothenberger, Fassbender, Gedda and Prey cond. Heger - perfection. Renée Fleming sings the Flotow arrangement of Last Rose of Summer (in English) on the soundtrack of Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri....

[cloughie]

Hello Beppe

Welcome to the house of fun. All musical tastes catered for - well almost - we can be an argumentative lot, but in a good way, mostly!

Cheers
Cloughie

[Beef Oven!]

I went to live operas in the 1980s before surtitles were present and it was mainly because it was a good way to weed out low-lifes in finding dates.

???????

Please tell me I've misunderstood you ............

[BBMmk2]

???????

Please tell me I've misunderstood you ............

A bit of BBMish there, Beefy?

[Beef Oven!]

A bit of BBMish there, Beefy?

I hope not.

[richardfinegold]

I see that you hail from Southeastern Michigan. I'm from Detroit, been in Chicago for over 30 years. I stumbled into this forum a while ago when I was vacationing in the UK and googling to see if I could find good places to go buy CDs (remember them?). How did you find your way here?

[Beppe]

I see that you hail from Southeastern Michigan. I'm from Detroit, been in Chicago for over 30 years. I stumbled into this forum a while ago when I was vacationing in the UK and googling to see if I could find good places to go buy CDs (remember them?). How did you find your way here?

I actually live one mile outside of Detroit on the west side. Someone at another site told me about this site. Oh yes I remember CDs and in fact have a lot of them. Can't seem to stop buying them. Barenboim's Complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas arrived in yesterday's mail. Today I went to Dearborn music and bought a set of Handel's Orlando. I still have Nielsen's Maskarade and my 25th Bellini La Sonnambula coming in the mail, as well as my fifth Wagner Tristan und Isolde DVd and a DVD of Rimsky-Korsakov's Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh.

[Dave2002]

Hi Beppe,

Seems to me you like opera rather more than the average person. Do you still go to them, or have you reverted to CDs and DVDs only after your earliest non surtitle experiences? I note you like Mascagni - including one (of many) operas I don't know. In recent years I have seen Iris (which I enjoyed) and Isabeau (which seemd a complete mess). We also sometimes go to cinema showings - which are cheaper than the "real thing", but I still find those less satisfying.

How are you on chamber music? You didn't mention Beethoven string quartets, or other works, such as piano quintets and quartets by composers such as Brahms and Schumann. I suspect you may already have discovered those, but if you haven't ....

Looking forward to hearing more about your listening, and your CD/DVD collection.

[Beppe]

Hi Beppe,

Seems to me you like opera rather more than the average person. Do you still go to them, or have you reverted to CDs and DVDs only after your earliest non surtitle experiences? I note you like Mascagni - including one (of many) operas I don't know. In recent years I have seen Iris (which I enjoyed) and Isabeau (which seemd a complete mess). We also sometimes go to cinema showings - which are cheaper than the "real thing", but I still find those less satisfying.

How are you on chamber music? You didn't mention Beethoven string quartets, or other works, such as piano quintets and quartets by composers such as Brahms and Schumann. I suspect you may already have discovered those, but if you haven't ....

Looking forward to hearing more about your listening, and your CD/DVD collection.

I mostly enjoy opera on CD and DVD but do want to take the opportunity to see some live. I saw the concert performance of Ariodante a couple years ago and L'orfeo last year. Both had some acting but not full staging. They were very good. The Alcina I mentioned for next spring is a full opera. Also am looking at Hansel and Gretel for next spring and Eugene Onegin for next month, both at the Detroit Opera House.

I have not really gotten into chamber music, but have more focused on symphonies and choral works. I do have a complete Beethoven set with 84 disks and did listen to all of it, but never really focused in in much of it beyond a few select pieces.

[Dave2002]

I mostly enjoy opera on CD and DVD but do want to take the opportunity to see some live. I saw the concert performance of Ariodante a couple years ago and L'orfeo last year. Both had some acting but not full staging. They were very good. The Alcina I mentioned for next spring is a full opera. Also am looking at Hansel and Gretel for next spring and Eugene Onegin for next month, both at the Detroit Opera House.

I have not really gotten into chamber music, but have more focused on symphonies and choral works. I do have a complete Beethoven set with 84 disks and did listen to all of it, but never really focused in in much of it beyond a few select pieces.

I liked this quote from the Detroit Opera site - "The Detroit Opera House has no defined dress code policy. You should dress comfortably—”life is short, opera is long,” as the saying goes. " - and the section on Dress Code!

https://michiganopera.org/detroit-opera-house/

You didn't mention the Barber of Seville, which is coming along soon I think. Perhaps not quite your thing, but it is often rather silly, and actualy quite fun.

https://michiganopera.org/ November 2018.

Do give some (all?) of the Beethoven quartets a try - particularly the Grosse Fuge and Ops 130-132 and the Rasumovsky quartets.

[teamsaint]

I actually live one mile outside of Detroit on the west side. Someone at another site told me about this site. Oh yes I remember CDs and in fact have a lot of them. Can't seem to stop buying them. Barenboim's Complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas arrived in yesterday's mail. Today I went to Dearborn music and bought a set of Handel's Orlando. I still have Nielsen's Maskarade and my 25th Bellini La Sonnambula coming in the mail, as well as my fifth Wagner Tristan und Isolde DVd and a DVD of Rimsky-Korsakov's Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh.

I do think you’re going to fit right in round here.

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?1061-Bargains

Great to see the Cleveland Browns flying.

Sort of.

Must have a decent chance today against the Raiders .
Do you follow an NFL team ?

[richardfinegold]

I do think you’re going to fit right in round here.

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?1061-Bargains

Great to see the Cleveland Browns flying.

Sort of.

Must have a decent chance today against the Raiders .
Do you follow an NFL team ?

Cleveland is about 200 miles from Detroit, TS. Most Detroiters don't give a fig about Cleveland sports teams, although I can't speak for Beppe. One Detroiter who is an exception to that rule is named Dan Gilbert, who owns the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team.
You may have heard of a former employee of his named LeBron James. Anyway, Detroit has it's own collection of mediocre professional sports teams. Their NFL team is the Detroit Pussycats, who last won a Playoff game the year before I was born.
There were a lot of Detroit area sports fans here in Chicago, as one of my alumnus, the University of Michigan, was here to play another of my alumnus, Northwestern University. It was a tight game but I missed the ending as we had tickets to the CSO last night to hear Muti conduct Mozart Don Giovani Overture & Symphony #40, with Rimsky's Scherazade after the break, which was when I finally learned that the Wolverines had come back from a 17 point deficit against the spunky Wildcats.