Too many damn posts featuring old reel-to-reel tape decks for my enlightened and noble and morally and intellectually superior satisfaction.
Really, guys, I miss Anne, too...and Rena...and Muriel. (Though I sort of keep up to date with Rena via Facebook. Muriel and I kept up with emails for a couple of years, but we haven't swapped messages in quite a while.) Heck, I even miss Mike Forever. (Don't call me Mike. It's M! M Forever!) He's still castigating the victimized sort elsewhere, but it's hardly the same.
I presume I'm not the only one who has said most of what I have to say about X's 43rd Symphony or Y's Kazoo Concerto so many times already that I'm not interested in what I have to say about it, and I suspect few others are, either. Anyone who's that interested is welcome to look through the thousands of old posts on the site, or on the old forum that's still archived (at least it was the last time I looked--and I do go there occasionally to look something up from the past).
As for "new," obscure (or at least relatively uncelebrated) composers--that interest is what drew me to this site in the first place. But after a few years of following up the latest enthusiasm, I can't say that there's a single one of the "unknowns" who has captured and held my interest. On the other hand, during my time here I've come to greater appreciation of damned near every composer in the book, even the best known and most beloved, but especially the 2nd and 3rd tier sorts like Dvořák and RVW--largely through the impassioned posts of a persuasive champion who's encouraged me to take a deeper or broader listen to such fellows.
As for the many inveterate collectors who enjoy acquiring and discussing various recorded performances of Beethoven's Quartets or Schoenberg's Polkas, they certainly have their place, too, and these discussions and recommendations have also opened my ears to new or hitherto overlooked beauties. Certainly there are some collectors whose comments have never seemed to go much beyond, "Look what I got today!"--but I'm free to pay them no mind and the ignore button makes it especially easy to avoid the most persistent irritants.
One of the things that attracted me to GMG right away was the community of far-flung souls joined by a common interest, some of whom are folks I'd probably have lunch or coffee with frequently if we didn't live on different continents (and in some cases, perhaps, different universes!). Many members here are charming and convivial and have great senses of humor--even if I don't get all the jokes and allusions (I'm too old to keep up with the pop culture flavor of the week, but there are enough old codgers like me to be sure that I'll get some jokes, and some folks will even get mine!)
In short, I doubt I'm the only one who finds much to value in the camaraderie and warmth I find here. In my opinion it's the most consistently enjoyable and enlightening classical music community on the web. And it's the members who make it that way and who keep drawing me back, despite the occasional months-long hiatus.
Cheers, y'all!
