Reintroducing myself

Started by Valentino, November 30, 2021, 12:08:21 AM

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Valentino

My real name is Kjetil and my avatar is my all time favourite actress.
I'm Norwegian, born 1965, married, we have two teenage boys, and we live in the country some 10 km from Hamar.

I was quite active here between 2007 and 2011, and I learned a lot and hopefully some of you felt that I contibuted a bit as well. In 2009-2011 my stereo evolved from your "normal" two way box speaker setup to a full range avant garde fully digitally controlled dipole system, but as the boys both reached school age I fell back into my other passion cycling and time for listening decreased. So I rode my bike, saw the boys grow up (they're born in 02 and 05), invented Norway's coolest bike race (Gylne Gutuer, UCI 1.2 these days), had a summer job guiding cyclists in the Alps and wrote about road cycling for landevei.no.

Then our oldest started studying music at school (year 11-13) in 2018 and joined the same week Prof. Thomas Caplin's Defrost Youth Choir. Bang! my music interest was reignited. I went heavily into the management of the choir and I'm still managing it, but now professionally. Our son is now a Defrost Alumnus and up in Mosjøen at a folkehøgskole, and he has just decided that singing classical music is his path of life. It gives me great joy of course. Our youngest is not into music but has an artistic streak too and has art, design and architecture at school now.

Over the last year and a half my stereo has been more down for maintenance than up and running. At least that's the way it felt. I needed a new PC, a new sound card, two power amps blew. No end to it it seemed. So this autumn there's new amplifiers for the main speakers plus a new "brain/user interface" that makes it a lot easier to listen to vinyl and Spotify than before.

So what do I listen to? Bach and Viennese classicism. Wagner of course. I like Boulez too. But there's more, much more, classical music I listen to. And Ellington. And The Stones. I like AC/DC too. I want groove. I'd rather listen to a choir that's found the groove in a piece than one that gets the harmonics perfect but forgets it's pulse.

It's nice to be back.

...

At work, turn 9, Alpe d'Huez, summer of 2018:





We audiophiles don't really like music, but we sure love the sound it makes;
Audio-Technica | Bokrand | Thorens | Cambridge Audio | Logitech | Yamaha | Topping | MiniDSP | Hypex | ICEpower | Mundorf | SEAS | Beyma

The new erato

And it's nice seeing you back. Fine introduction as well!

vandermolen

Quote from: The new erato on November 30, 2021, 12:14:04 AM
And it's nice seeing you back. Fine introduction as well!
+1 Welcome back.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

david johnson


Que

Welcome back! I do remember you from back in the day.  :)

Papy Oli

Hello and welcome back, Kjetil.

(and Juliette  8) )
Olivier

ritter

Welcome on board, Kjetil. I joined GMG sometime after you left, so we haven't met before. But I see we have many musical interests in common. I look forward to reading your posts.

Best regards from the opposite end of Europe (Spain),

Rafael



Brahmsian

Welcome back. Wow it has been a long time! I vividly remember your avatar too.  :)

Wanderer


bhodges

Hello, Kjetil, and welcome back! Love your bio, and that singing plays such a prominent role in your family (along with bicycling). Have a good time here, and hoping for no more blown amps.  8)

--Bruce

premont

Welcome back Kjetil, certainly nice to see you here again.
I recall you very well from earlier days.
γνῶθι σεαυτόν

Mirror Image

Welcome back! It's always nice to see a familiar face again. :)

Pohjolas Daughter

Welcome back!   :)

I joined after you had left, but always nice to have a "new" member.  And all good wishes to you, your family, and your stereo (fingers crossed for it).  ;)

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

Valentino

Thank you everybody.

I forgot to mention the fifth member of our family Ruffen, named after a hero. He is a cockapoopoo (mother a Cockapoo*, father a Poodle). Here he is on Insta, all 7 kg of him, listening to Andsnes and Mahler CO in Beethoven PC3.

*Cockapoo is one of these designer breeds, a cross of Cocker Spaniel and poodle. Another such breed is the labradoodle (Yup, Labrador*Poodle). The crown prince of Norway has one, so they're almost impossible to get hold of, and a bit on the large side for listening to Beethoven on one's lap.

We audiophiles don't really like music, but we sure love the sound it makes;
Audio-Technica | Bokrand | Thorens | Cambridge Audio | Logitech | Yamaha | Topping | MiniDSP | Hypex | ICEpower | Mundorf | SEAS | Beyma

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: Valentino on December 01, 2021, 10:06:12 PM
Thank you everybody.

I forgot to mention the fifth member of our family Ruffen, named after a hero. He is a cockapoopoo (mother a Cockapoo*, father a Poodle). Here he is on Insta, all 7 kg of him, listening to Andsnes and Mahler CO in Beethoven PC3.

*Cockapoo is one of these designer breeds, a cross of Cocker Spaniel and poodle. Another such breed is the labradoodle (Yup, Labrador*Poodle). The crown prince of Norway has one, so they're almost impossible to get hold of, and a bit on the large side for listening to Beethoven on one's lap.
He sounds very sweet!  Alas, I can't view him in your link.

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

Valentino

Duh! Private account...
Dog attached.
We audiophiles don't really like music, but we sure love the sound it makes;
Audio-Technica | Bokrand | Thorens | Cambridge Audio | Logitech | Yamaha | Topping | MiniDSP | Hypex | ICEpower | Mundorf | SEAS | Beyma

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: Valentino on December 02, 2021, 03:26:03 AM
Duh! Private account...
Dog attached.
What a cutie pie!  Such a sweet face! 😍

And this is coming from "a certified cat lover"!

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

Karl Henning

Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on December 02, 2021, 03:32:51 AM
What a cutie pie!  Such a sweet face! 😍

And this is coming from "a certified cat lover"!

PD

For our part, you are at nil risk of decertification, PD. My inner ten-year-old is still chuckling over cockapoopoo.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on December 02, 2021, 09:29:54 AM
For our part, you are at nil risk of decertification, PD. My inner ten-year-old is still chuckling over cockapoopoo.
Yes, I would be more tempted (if I were the dog owner and pressed to answer) to say what his parents were and leave it at that!   :) ;)

Must admit, he looks like a dog that would be nice to cats.

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

Valentino

Deceiving looks.
He's not really into cats, or maybe it's just the cats around here he's not into.
We audiophiles don't really like music, but we sure love the sound it makes;
Audio-Technica | Bokrand | Thorens | Cambridge Audio | Logitech | Yamaha | Topping | MiniDSP | Hypex | ICEpower | Mundorf | SEAS | Beyma