It's hello from me

[douglasofdorset]

My *real* name is John and I live on the South coast of England, between Poole and Bournemouth.

I am rather in awe of so many knowledgeable musicians on this board, but I would love to join in.  My favourite composer is Verdi and my favourite genre is opera.

In case there is anyone of a similar persuasion on this forum, I am also fanatical about a TV series - sadly it hasn't been showing in the States for many years - called 'Midsomer Murders'.   

Look forward to many exchanges of views, particularly about the Verdi operas - but I am strictly an amateur!

[vandermolen]

Welcome John to the forum. I am not a musician at all but that does not stop me rambling on about my favourite composers! I very much hope that you enjoy your membership and look forward to reading your posts.

PS You live in one of my favourite parts of England. I know Shaftesbury well as I have good friends there from my student days.

[Lisztianwagner]

Welcome to the forum, nice to meet you!
Although I'm from Italy, I'm afraid I'm not a great fan of Verdi's operas; but the ouvertures are nice and Falstaff I listened to recently is a quite fine work as well. The Requiem is a masterpiece instead, such a beautiful, powerful composition.

Ilaria

[Karl Henning]

Welcome, John!

[kyjo]

Indeed, welcome, John! I'm not a big Verdi fan (or opera fan for that matter), but I enjoy his overtures, ballet music and string quartet when I'm in the mood I enjoy the Requiem as long as the vocal soloists are not too operatic in their approach.

[mc ukrneal]

Welcome! One of our members bought the big Verdi box recently, and there has been talk about the 'best' villains in opera, so it's nice to see new blood (and you may enjoy that villains/anti-villains thread)! I listen to Verdi fairly often myself as well.

We love most all British detective shows in our house, including Midsomer. They were shown on Hallmark for a while (now Diva), so we have managed to see most of them despite no longer buying them. Though, we haven't seen so many since John Nettles left. We watch pretty much everything of this genre that we can find: Inspector Morse, Inspector Lewis, Rebus, Last Detective, Poirot, Prime Suspect, Cracker, etc. There's a lot of good stuff!

[bhodges]

Hi John, and welcome. Though I am known to most of my friends as a modernist (i.e., loving works from the last 50 years or so) I am a big Verdi fan. Favorite Verdi operas: Falstaff, Macbeth, and (especially) Otello. This spring I heard that the Chicago Symphony Orchestra will be releasing a concert Otello on its own label (CSO Resound) this fall, with Muti conducting. I was in the audience when he did it at Carnegie Hall in 2011 - one of the greatest concerts I've ever experienced. I suspect the recording (presumably made from the Chicago performances) will be terrific.

Anyway, welcome!

--Bruce

[douglasofdorset]

Thanks, everybody, for your very warm welcome!

I will of course explore the site further, but, re the Verdi Requiem, I only have a rather inferior recording of it (now very dated) with Leontyne Prrice, Jussi Bjorling, cond. Fritz Reiner.  The sound is very boxy and sometimes muffled, and the chorus occasionally gets out of sync with the orchestra.  Incidentally, did anyone hear the recent 'Prom' called 'Viva Verdi!' on BBC Radio 3 (U.K.)? - it included the original setting of 'Libera Me', which was interesting.  Rather disgusted that in this 200th birthday year this is the only offering we get on Verdi (and no opera), whereas there will be no less than seven operas by Wagner, including the whole of the Ring!  The excuse I heard was that singers of good enough calibre could not be found/were not available for Verdi, but if they can perform so much Wagner...

Edit - this is not quite the only Verdi at the Proms - on September 5th the first half will consist of excerpts - the Forza del Destino overture and several arias sung by Joseph Calleja.