Greetings from the South!

[Diletante]

Hi there!

I'm a 21-year-old guy from South America. My mother tongue is Spanish, so please forgive any mistakes in my English.

I just got into classical music last year. Before that, I couldn't care less about it. This is what happened: I didn't get much satisfaction from my usual favorite genre (alternative rock); there didn't seem to be much good new alternative rock music in the second half of last year, so I sought new kinds of music I could listen to.

I also happened to watch Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange" for the first time that time around, and loved it. I also liked the background music Kubrick used, so I downloaded some of it (Rossini's "La Gazza Ladra" and "William Tell" Overtures, etc.) and other popular stuff (1812 Overture, etc.)

I found out that I liked classical music a lot, and kept on downloading stuff. I initially kept it very mainstream and then varied it a bit. I'm still exploring this vast genre, and that's why I joined this forum.

Mainly I like music from Romanticism on, especially concertos. Some music I like:

- Tchaikovsky's Piano Concertos No. 1 & 3
- Chopin's, Liszt's and Grieg's Piano Concertos
- Dvorak's Cello Concerto
- Brahms' Double Concerto for Violin and Cello
- Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini
- Mendelssohn's, Tchaikovsky's, Sibelius' and Schoenberg's Violin Concertos

...you get the idea.  Greetings too all!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Welcome to GMG, Tanuki! Your classical music journey has only just begun...

Greetings from Delft, Netherlands.

[Gurn Blanston]

Tanuki,
Welcome.

There is certainly nothing wrong with your taste, those are all excellent pieces of music. And there is enough variety there to encourage you to branch out of the mainstream someday too.

Your experience in starting out is very similar to my own, except that I had heard a enjoyed a lot of classical growing up. I just never thought that it would someday be MY music, too.



----------------
Listening to:
Boston Baroque / Pearlman - Bach Concerto #4 in G BWV 1049 2nd mvmt

[mn dave]

Welcome!

[Dundonnell]

Welcome from the cold North(Scotland)!

Your English is faultless btw

[Hollywood]

Greetings from Austria, tanuki. Welcome aboard. 

[Diletante]

Thanks for the warm welcome!

[knight66]

Welcome; I know there is at least one member here, cannot recall which though, who found his way into classical via Clockwork Orange. No need to worry about your English which seems perfect. My Spanish is restricted to the 'Where are the toilets' and a couple of other vital phrases.

I hope you enjoy yourself here.

Mike

[Florestan]

Welcome!

[SonicMan46]

Tanuki - a warm welcome to the GMG Forum - hope that you will enjoy! 

For starters, checkout the Composer Index, which provides links to many composer threads, including comments and recording recommendations!

[adamdavid80]

Greetings, droogie.   

[bhodges]

Welcome, tanuki--nice to have another poster here from your part of the world.  Where are you in South America?  I have a number of friends from São Paulo who have convinced me I need to visit.  Anyway, enjoy yourself.

--Bruce

[Harry]

Welcome Tanuki!

[Nunc Dimittis]

Welcome Tanuki,

I am curious about your screen name.  I currently live in Japan and Tanuki is the word for a racoon dog which is a very common character in Japanese folklore going back to ancient times.  Is this where you got your screen name?

[Diletante]

Welcome, tanuki--nice to have another poster here from your part of the world.  Where are you in South America?  I have a number of friends from São Paulo who have convinced me I need to visit. 

I'm from Bolivia. I don't know Brazil, but I'd love to!

I am curious about your screen name.  I currently live in Japan and Tanuki is the word for a racoon dog which is a very common character in Japanese folklore going back to ancient times.  Is this where you got your screen name?

Yes. I learned some Japanese a while ago and this was my username in a Japanese forum. I was so used to it that I used it for this forum as well.

[pjme]

  Hello Tanuki - greetings from Belgium! If possible keep us also a litle bit informed on musical life in Bolivia.
Choruses? Concerts? Recitals?....I have no idea what the classical music world looks like in your country.

Don't worry about your English - this Forum is quite International.

Sincerely, Peter

[Lethevich]

...and yet another welcome from me I hope you find the forum useful!

[Tapio Dmitriyevich]

Hi, a similar experience like I made. Many artists of my favourite genre "IDM" went out of ideas, I'd say somewhere after 2000 the IDM era ended, I got bored by always the same musical schemes and effects (they often use broken noises, hiss, cllicks and pops, unusual tempo variations and deconstruction/chaos, has all been invented in the 90s) and remembered I liked my father listening Beethoven symphonies when I was a child.
So one day after year 2000 I gave "classical music" a try. My route was also starting at mainstream (Beethoven Sym 5,6 ...) to also many lesser known gems, but only music for bigger orchestra.
Today the classic vs. IDM listening ratio is 99.5/0.5%.
I'm pretty happy I explored this genre. I have never been convinced more! I'm regularly thinking "oh, what a waste of life if you didn't know the classical masterpiece xy by composer z"... Today I also enjoy music with vocals and choir, but still often have problems with music for small ensembles, chamber music...
I freed myself from the "effect" side and see music as music, no matter if it's played on old instruments or having been done by fancy vst machines.
People tend to think classical music is just boring and academic. We know better. As any music, it can touch our hearts so much, it can lead to massive emotions... Just watch Bernstein conducting Mahler, so authentic...

[Diletante]

Hello Tanuki - greetings from Belgium! If possible keep us also a litle bit informed on musical life in Bolivia.
Choruses? Concerts? Recitals?....I have no idea what the classical music world looks like in your country.

I'm not totally informed in that respect (being rather new at classical music and all), but as far as I know, in my region (Santa Cruz [Eastern Bolivia]) there are two main classical ensembles, both with mostly young people (i.e. in their 20s). I just saw the Youth Symphonic Orchestra yesterday in a free concert where they played Mozart pieces. Their string section and woodwinds was beautiful, but their brass sometimes not so much. Besides, they have a lovely young woman as first violin. 

Anyway, by far the most important event here is the "Renaissance and Baroque Music Festival", which is held once every two years (next one is in 2010), where international and national groups play mostly Renaissance and Baroque music (hence the name) and also missional music from the Jesuit missions, in several towns in my region. Luckily I could catch a couple of concerts this year and it was absolutely beautiful. I'm looking forward to the next festival! Look here for a bit more information.

It is a shame, however, that the majority of people here are more concerned with models and beauty pageants than classical music. Or reading, or art, or theater... But I disgress...

I'm pretty happy I explored this genre. I have never been convinced more! I'm regularly thinking "oh, what a waste of life if you didn't know the classical masterpiece xy by composer z"...

Exactly. I'm actually happy that I found my way into this music in my youth. I constantly think: "wow, there's so much music out there to be discovered. I'm glad I have years to explore."

Übrigens, Wurstwasser, das ist ein komischer Name. Ich kann nur an eine schmutzige Bedeutung denken... 

[Drasko]

Anyway, by far the most important event here is the "Renaissance and Baroque Music Festival", which is held once every two years (next one is in 2010), where international and national groups play mostly Renaissance and Baroque music (hence the name) and also missional music from the Jesuit missions, in several towns in my region. Luckily I could catch a couple of concerts this year and it was absolutely beautiful. I'm looking forward to the next festival! Look here for a bit more information.

Thanks for the link, the festival looks very interesting. I got recently interested in Latin-American baroque a little and thankfully there are few labels like K617, Chanel Classics and Hyperion releasing some of it (de Araujo, Salas, de Mesa, Ceruti ...) otherwise it would be quite difficult to get to know that music on another side of the globe. Very beautiful music, baroque forms with lots of local flavour.

Glad you have the chance to hear it live, try to hear as much music as you can live, whatever the period, and even if performers aren't note perfect it's always an experience.

welcome, btw