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Rock/March On!
I was sitting here at work, rating freight bills, and grooving to 'Pomp and Circumstance March No 1'.
It's been a few years since I went on my Classical music kick. I really got into classical music for a couple of years, bought books, talked to people online, educated myself about the various composers and which conductors/recordings were worth my time, and which weren't. I found that I especially liked orchestral music from the Romantic period (most of the 19th century really), and I have extensive collections of Dvorak and Bruckner especially, and a lot of other Romantic composers, especially symphonies, tone poems, choral work, and then misc stuff from all over the spectrum. The only thing I really didn't get into was Opera, and I didn't collect much chamber music either. But overall I have 200 to 300 classical discs.
Along the way I became a bit of a musical snob, in that I could easily tell the difference between a good performance of a symphony I liked and a bad performance. I bought a version of Dvorak's 7th symphony conducted by Neemi Jarvi, and it was so absolutely awful that I started doing extensive research before I picked up any given version of a symphony I liked. Some symphonies are pretty hard to mangle, but Bruckner for example is only really worth listening to when you get an A+ performance, and then he's outstanding. :D
Because of this, there are holes in my collection even when it comes to Romantic symphonic music, because I held out for that one conductor who was supposed to be the best, and never found the disc I wanted. One such hole is Elgar. It's easy to find his Enigma Variations and the Pomp and Circumstance marches, but I wanted to get the symphonies and I never found the versions I wanted.
So anyway I was at Half Price Books last week and I kind of gave in and bought two discs of Elgar music. One is an Andre Previn disc with the Enigma Variations and Pomp and Circumstance Marches on it. I haven't checked, I might already own versions of both, but as I recall Andre Previn is a decent Elgar conductor. It never hurts to have more than one version of music you like.
So I was rocking out to the Pomp and Circumstance Marches. :) Everyone knows the first one by heart -- the music used for every single graduation on the continent every single year -- but it's still fun music, and the other marches are also familiar and just as good to listen to.
The other Elgar cd I picked up was not his two symphonies, but his third symphony, which he never finished. This version has been completed by Anthony Payne, so it's not what you'd consider "official" but who cares? :)
I have 20 cds in a plastic bag here at work today. What's really pathetic about this is that I can't listen to more than five or so during the evening, but I feel compelled to carry all of them. And that's just the tip of the iceburg, because these are the cds that don't fit into my "Nerv" messenger bag (it has the Nerv logo from Neon Genesis Evangelion on the side), which has some 30 or 40 cds in it, which I haven't even looked at for a week because I've been carrying other cds that don't fit in this canvas bag... and yet I feel compelled to drag all of this to work every day just in case I want to listen to something buried in the bag. Not that I remember what's in the Nerv bag right at this moment. Anyway, some nights all I do is listen to NPR. :P
Some might call this obsessive-compulsive, carrying around dozens of cds that I never listen to. It's a bit like carrying around your laptop everywhere you go, on the off chance that you'll suddenly be inspired to write a novel, when all you're really inspired to do is play solitaire. :P
But just to give you an idea of what I'm carrying around, here's what I have in the plastic bag. Some of these I just bought at Half Price Books, some for $3 or less, and I feel compelled to carry them around a while and listen to them before I put them on my shelf, perhaps forever...
1. Elgar/Payne symphony 3
2. Elgar's Enigma Variations/Pomp & Circumstance Marches
3. Dvorak Symphonies 7 & 8, Christoph von Dohnanyi conducting
4. Varttina, Iki
5. Whiskeytown, Pneumonia
6. Split Lip Rayfield, In The Mud
7. The Terem Quartet, no, russia cannot be percieved by wit
8. Sting, the Soul Cages
9. Time Life Treasury of Bluegrass
10. Kila, Lemonade and Buns
11. The Ukranians, Respublika
12. Chen Jun, Erhu Classics
13. The Sorcerer's Apprentice & Other French Tone Poems
14. Dvorak Symphony 9, Kubelik conducting
15. Dave Matthews Band, Remember Two Things
16. The Rembrants (self-titled)
17. Annbjorg Lien, Baba Yaga
18. Thoth, Aghora
19. Thoth, Maiden Flight
20. UB40, Labor of Love II
Oh and I forgot, Blue Mountain, Dog Days, left that in the car.
I've been in a country rock mood again since I picked up In The Mud by Split Lip Rayfield. Those guys are incredible -- basically bluegrass punk, accoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin, and gas-tank bass played at 200 miles an hour. They pick about as fast as anyone I've ever heard. Also with more of a punk/rock attitude as far as intensity and music themes. That's why I'm carrying around my Blue Mountain (alt country/blues) and Whiskytown (country rock, this was Ryan Adam's band before he went solo). Might need to pick up some Uncle Tupelo or Old 97's. :) Also need to drag out my Killbilly and Burach cds again.
And by the way, does anyone want an Annbjorg Lien cd? I actually bought that one at Half Price Books because it's a great cd of Norwegian fiddle music (not traditional mind you, she blends in all kinds of influences). I thought Tom would like it, but he already has a copy. So does Sky. And now I have two. :D
It's been a few years since I went on my Classical music kick. I really got into classical music for a couple of years, bought books, talked to people online, educated myself about the various composers and which conductors/recordings were worth my time, and which weren't. I found that I especially liked orchestral music from the Romantic period (most of the 19th century really), and I have extensive collections of Dvorak and Bruckner especially, and a lot of other Romantic composers, especially symphonies, tone poems, choral work, and then misc stuff from all over the spectrum. The only thing I really didn't get into was Opera, and I didn't collect much chamber music either. But overall I have 200 to 300 classical discs.
Along the way I became a bit of a musical snob, in that I could easily tell the difference between a good performance of a symphony I liked and a bad performance. I bought a version of Dvorak's 7th symphony conducted by Neemi Jarvi, and it was so absolutely awful that I started doing extensive research before I picked up any given version of a symphony I liked. Some symphonies are pretty hard to mangle, but Bruckner for example is only really worth listening to when you get an A+ performance, and then he's outstanding. :D
Because of this, there are holes in my collection even when it comes to Romantic symphonic music, because I held out for that one conductor who was supposed to be the best, and never found the disc I wanted. One such hole is Elgar. It's easy to find his Enigma Variations and the Pomp and Circumstance marches, but I wanted to get the symphonies and I never found the versions I wanted.
So anyway I was at Half Price Books last week and I kind of gave in and bought two discs of Elgar music. One is an Andre Previn disc with the Enigma Variations and Pomp and Circumstance Marches on it. I haven't checked, I might already own versions of both, but as I recall Andre Previn is a decent Elgar conductor. It never hurts to have more than one version of music you like.
So I was rocking out to the Pomp and Circumstance Marches. :) Everyone knows the first one by heart -- the music used for every single graduation on the continent every single year -- but it's still fun music, and the other marches are also familiar and just as good to listen to.
The other Elgar cd I picked up was not his two symphonies, but his third symphony, which he never finished. This version has been completed by Anthony Payne, so it's not what you'd consider "official" but who cares? :)
I have 20 cds in a plastic bag here at work today. What's really pathetic about this is that I can't listen to more than five or so during the evening, but I feel compelled to carry all of them. And that's just the tip of the iceburg, because these are the cds that don't fit into my "Nerv" messenger bag (it has the Nerv logo from Neon Genesis Evangelion on the side), which has some 30 or 40 cds in it, which I haven't even looked at for a week because I've been carrying other cds that don't fit in this canvas bag... and yet I feel compelled to drag all of this to work every day just in case I want to listen to something buried in the bag. Not that I remember what's in the Nerv bag right at this moment. Anyway, some nights all I do is listen to NPR. :P
Some might call this obsessive-compulsive, carrying around dozens of cds that I never listen to. It's a bit like carrying around your laptop everywhere you go, on the off chance that you'll suddenly be inspired to write a novel, when all you're really inspired to do is play solitaire. :P
But just to give you an idea of what I'm carrying around, here's what I have in the plastic bag. Some of these I just bought at Half Price Books, some for $3 or less, and I feel compelled to carry them around a while and listen to them before I put them on my shelf, perhaps forever...
1. Elgar/Payne symphony 3
2. Elgar's Enigma Variations/Pomp & Circumstance Marches
3. Dvorak Symphonies 7 & 8, Christoph von Dohnanyi conducting
4. Varttina, Iki
5. Whiskeytown, Pneumonia
6. Split Lip Rayfield, In The Mud
7. The Terem Quartet, no, russia cannot be percieved by wit
8. Sting, the Soul Cages
9. Time Life Treasury of Bluegrass
10. Kila, Lemonade and Buns
11. The Ukranians, Respublika
12. Chen Jun, Erhu Classics
13. The Sorcerer's Apprentice & Other French Tone Poems
14. Dvorak Symphony 9, Kubelik conducting
15. Dave Matthews Band, Remember Two Things
16. The Rembrants (self-titled)
17. Annbjorg Lien, Baba Yaga
18. Thoth, Aghora
19. Thoth, Maiden Flight
20. UB40, Labor of Love II
Oh and I forgot, Blue Mountain, Dog Days, left that in the car.
I've been in a country rock mood again since I picked up In The Mud by Split Lip Rayfield. Those guys are incredible -- basically bluegrass punk, accoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin, and gas-tank bass played at 200 miles an hour. They pick about as fast as anyone I've ever heard. Also with more of a punk/rock attitude as far as intensity and music themes. That's why I'm carrying around my Blue Mountain (alt country/blues) and Whiskytown (country rock, this was Ryan Adam's band before he went solo). Might need to pick up some Uncle Tupelo or Old 97's. :) Also need to drag out my Killbilly and Burach cds again.
And by the way, does anyone want an Annbjorg Lien cd? I actually bought that one at Half Price Books because it's a great cd of Norwegian fiddle music (not traditional mind you, she blends in all kinds of influences). I thought Tom would like it, but he already has a copy. So does Sky. And now I have two. :D