Hello from Madrid

[ritter]

Hello to all members of the GMG Classical Music Forum!

I have been reading posts in this forum for quite some time now, and have finally decided to register. I am a member of a couple of local classical music forums here in Spain, and am now "going international".  ... I very much appreciate the wealth of knowledge that can be found in this forum, and am also delighted by the very pleasant tone of the posts...

I hope to contribute to the best of my ability to the discussions.

Main areas of interest: opera and 20th century music (yes, I am fervent boulezian    ), and much more...

Best regards,

[North Star]

Welcome to the forum! You'll definitely find several people here sharing your interests.
20th century music is certainly a major interest for me too, and I've been listening to more and more opera during the past couple of years.
Who are your other favourites, apart from Boulez?

[ritter]

Thanks for the welcome, North Star! Well, interests do tend to vary as time goes by, and some names recede into the background, to then reemerge with full force a couple of years later  ... But those that have always stayed in the forefront, in my case, are (purely in alphabetical order):

- Bach
- Beethoven
- Berg
- Boulez
- Debussy
- Mahler
- Monteverdi
- Mozart
- Stravinsky
- Wagner

These are all names that I not only am passionate about, but that I also believe are fundamental in the development of classical music. As you may see, not that many are strictly 20th century  .

If I widen the list a bit, I would also include names such as Falla, Enescu, Ravel, Haydn, Schubert, Schoenberg, Krenek, Webern and Stockhausen...and on the purely 20th century front, Maderna, Elliott Carter, Jonathan Harvey, Birtwistle, Cristóbal Halffter, and many more...

How about you? I'd love to get to know where your preferences lie...

Best regards,

[North Star]

Thanks for the welcome, North Star! Well, interests do tend to vary as time goes by, and some names recede into the background, to then reemerge with full force a couple of years later 

Definitely, and there is so much music that one can't listen to one thing constantly.

... But those that have always stayed in the forefront, in my case, are (purely in alphabetical order):

- Bach, Beethoven, Berg, Boulez, Debussy, Mahler, Monteverdi, Mozart, Stravinsky, Wagner

These are all names that I not only am passionate about, but that I also believe are fundamental in the development of classical music. As you may see, not that many are strictly 20th century  .

If I widen the list a bit, I would also include names such as Falla, Enescu, Ravel, Haydn, Schubert, Schoenberg, Krenek, Webern and Stockhausen...and on the purely 20th century front, Maderna, Elliott Carter, Jonathan Harvey, Birtwistle, Cristóbal Halffter, and many more...

How about you? I'd love to get to know where your preferences lie...

Best regards,

I love all the ones in your first list, and Ravel & Schubert especially from the others (Falla, Enescu, Haydn, Schoenberg, and Carter & Webern I like a lot, too ). Wagner's operas are something of a project now - not too long ago I heard Parsifal, first full opera I've heard from him, and loved it.

Anyway, Ravel, Janacek, Chopin, Berlioz, Sibelius, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Bartók, Britten, Berg, Debussy, Tchaikovsky, Ives, Martinu, Bach, Brahms, Dvorak, Mahler, Bruckner, Dutilleux, Elgar, Hartmann, Ligeti, Monteverdi, Mussorgsky, Nielsen, Pärt, Rachmaninoff, Satie, Schnittke, Schumann, Schönberg, Scriabin, Zelenka, Vivaldi, Varèse and Vaughan Williams  are some of my favourites

[mc ukrneal]

Hello Madrid! Welcome!

[Pessoa]

Some people from Spain now... Ars Sonora used to be  one of my favourite radio programs long ago.

[ritter]

Thanks mc ukrneal and Pessoa for your welcome! 

North Star, your list reflects admirably catholic tastes  ... not that I share them all, but that's probaby my loss 

So getting to know Wagner through Parsifal! Glad you loved it: that score is miraculous! 

[North Star]

North Star, your list reflects admirably catholic tastes  ... not that I share them all, but that's probaby my loss 

I'm pretty sure there's still enough music for you to listen to. 

So getting to know Wagner through Parsifal! Glad you loved it: that score is miraculous! 

Yes indeed! I'll have to see how I'll do with Der Ring.

[Mirror Image]

Welcome aboard! We could use some more 20th Century fans around here.

[ritter]

Welcome aboard! We could use some more 20th Century fans around here.

Thanks, Mirror Image! I hope I can contribute to lively 20th century conversations...

[bhodges]

Hello, ritter, and welcome from New York City. I also love opera, mostly where it and the 20th and 21st-centuries intersect. (Just received the DVD of George Benjamin's opera, Written on Skin, from the Royal Opera House.) And I like pretty much all of the other composers on your list, though like some here, I'm partial to more recent music.

Anyway, enjoy yourself!

--Bruce

[Lisztianwagner]

Welcome to the forum and have a nice time here!
Great list, many of the composers you mentioned are among my favourites too; especially, I'm very glad to see you're fond of Wagner's operas, they're all absolutely wonderful.

[Mirror Image]

Thanks, Mirror Image! I hope I can contribute to lively 20th century conversations...

Excellent! Look forward to conversing with you.

[ritter]

Thanks too to Brewsky and Lisztianwagner for the welcome!

Brewsky, Written on skin is quite an accomplishment, and is enjoying great success in Europe...I myself missed performances in Toulouse last autumn by just a couple of days  , but would love to see the piece onstage. I don't have the video you mention, but bought the Nimbus CD version (live from Aix-en-Provence during the world-première run) as soon as it appeared. Benjamin's orchestral writing is masterful, and the way the rather gorey (albeit poetic) libretto is set to music is very effective. As a friend here in Spain pointed out, the vocal writing is perhaps less convincing (I 'm not sure, but I detect  something brittenian in it that is not completely to my taste    ).

Lisztianwagner: I had the chance to see Tristan here in Madrid 10 days ago in the Peter Sellars / Bill Viola staging (which started out as the Tristan Project in LA and was then turned into a full staging in Paris some 8 years ago). Tristan, I'm embarassed to admit, has been the "toughest" Wagner for me in the over 35 years I love this composer (my favourite is Parsifal), but this perfomance changed my perception. Breathtaking!

Regards,

[bhodges]

Thanks too to Brewsky and Lisztianwagner for the welcome!

Brewsky, Written on skin is quite an accomplishment, and is enjoying great success in Europe...I myself missed performances in Toulouse last autumn by just a couple of days  , but would love to see the piece onstage. I don't have the video you mention, but bought the Nimbus CD version (live from Aix-en-Provence during the world-première run) as soon as it appeared. Benjamin's orchestral writing is masterful, and the way the rather gorey (albeit poetic) libretto is set to music is very effective. As a friend here in Spain pointed out, the vocal writing is perhaps less convincing (I 'm not sure, but I detect  something brittenian in it that is not completely to my taste    ).

Lisztianwagner: I had the chance to see Tristan here in Madrid 10 days ago in the Peter Sellars / Bill Viola staging (which started out as the Tristan Project in LA and was then turned into a full staging in Paris some 8 years ago). Tristan, I'm embarassed to admit, has been the "toughest" Wagner for me in the over 35 years I love this composer (my favourite is Parsifal), but this perfomance changed my perception. Breathtaking!

Regards,

Thanks much for the comments on Written on Skin. I'll be screening it with a group of friends in a few weeks and will post some comments here (or in the Benjamin thread).

--Bruce