Frustrated/bored with GMG

[The new erato]

I sense very quickly if the music has any potential.

THIS is the kind of statement that ends in flaming your posts. I've been listening to classical music for 40 years, and some of my loves have taken ten years, and a multitude of listenings, to blossom. And I don't think I'm particularly daft. Your statement is unsubstantiated nonsense.

[M forever]

Try to hear what Don is trying to tell you.  I, too, didn't care for Fidelio the first time I heard it.  Then I saw it, first on DVD and then in person (and really, DVDs are a fantastic way to experience opera if you can't get to one live), and the score began to "click" in a way that I could never have imagined.  First impressions are valuable, but you might want to be open to changing that impression.  And just my opinion, but sometimes music that takes awhile to grasp is often the most rewarding.

Very true, but:

An opinion shared by millions including myself.  Why 71 dB can't grasp it puzzles me.

Maybe because:

Good question. Basically, you could by not falsely imagining you already know everything, and by listening to some of the good advice and intelligent responses some people give you here. And I don't even mean me in this context. I hardly ever reply to you anyway anymore because I rarely ever see anything worth replying to, but a lot of other nice people still do. Their efforts are more or less 100% wasted on you, though.

For instance:

I can't take the above seriously.  To listen to a work just one time and then make definitive statements about its value doesn't make sense to me.  If I employed your ways, I would never have grown to love Bach's organ music or hundreds of other works by hundreds of other composers.

I borrowed the CD from my friend. I returned it before further listening. I sense very quickly if the music has any potential.

Don't waste your time, people.

[71 dB]

THIS is the kind of statement that ends in flaming your posts. I've been listening to classical music for 40 years, and some of my loves have taken ten years, and a multitude of listenings, to blossom. And I don't think I'm particularly daft. Your statement is unsubstantiated nonsense.

Well, why don't you give me ten years to warm up to Fidelio?

I mean I sense if the music will blossom some day. I have noticed most of the time I am right so it's a good strategy.

[M forever]

Don't waste your time, people.

[PSmith08]

Nobody seems to know anything about Zemlinsky, Magnard, Wetz, Schmidt, Stenhammar or Havergal Brian. I'm more depressed than you are 

Sarge

Hey, if people want to talk about Franz Schmidt, from the symphonies to Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln, I'd be down with that. I tend to listen to Das Buch more than his other works, and more than some works by Mahler and Bruckner.

[The new erato]

Well, why don't you give me ten years to warm up to Fidelio?

I mean I sense if the music will blossom some day. I have noticed most of the time I am right so it's a good strategy.

Which only means you have a closed mind and if there's something I don't listen to it's people with closed minds.

M forever; I thought you were harsh, but you were right. 71 dBs posts are of no relevance to me.

[Don]

Well, why don't you give me ten years to warm up to Fidelio?

Wrong way to look at it.  You have to GIVE YOURSELF the ten years (or whatever).  You have to understand that an initial hearing can't possibly do justice to a piece of art music - you have to stop thinking that you have what it takes to understand music immediately.  You are a human being, not a perfect clone.

[71 dB]

Wrong way to look at it.  You have to GIVE YOURSELF the ten years (or whatever).  You have to understand that an initial hearing can't possibly do justice to a piece of art music - you have to stop thinking that you have what it takes to understand music immediately.  You are a human being, not a perfect clone.

I am giving all the time. It's just that I can't buy every opera on DVD. Even Harry can't, can he? That's my point. Maybe I should introduce myself to Janacek's operas instead? I have never heard them. Or maybe I should buy more Puccini on DVD because I love his music? Fidelio has to fight for my interest and attention just like any other music.

[M forever]

Nobody says you have to have or hear or like or understand everything.

Except for yourself. You think you already understand everything, and you have to have a grandiose "opinion" about everything.

Don't waste your time, people.

[Choo Choo]

I am giving all the time. It's just that I can't buy every opera on DVD. Even Harry can't, can he? That's my point. Maybe I should introduce myself to Janacek's operas instead? I have never heard them. Or maybe I should buy more Puccini on DVD because I love his music? Fidelio has to fight for my interest and attention just like any other music.

Maybe you should try to relax more about it.

[S709]

i am not bitching about people not discussing enough Chinese music or other obscure composers

I tried talking about Qigang Chen once but it went nowhere...

[BachQ]

Lately I have felt bored/frustrated with this forum.

In large part, the forum is what you make of it.

Start some new threads, and quit whining ........

[The new erato]

I am giving all the time. It's just that I can't buy every opera on DVD. Even Harry can't, can he? That's my point. Maybe I should introduce myself to Janacek's operas instead? I have never heard them. Or maybe I should buy more Puccini on DVD because I love his music? Fidelio has to fight for my interest and attention just like any other music.

If you don't have the time to get to know Fidelio, then why, for God's sake, do you feel the need to have an opinion on it based on only one listen? I think you are the only one I know with this perverse need to make definitive statements on lots of stuff you can't possibly have sufficient knowledge on.
Next time you feel the urge, take a deep breath or three, count to one hundred and then find something else to do. Will do both you and the board a lot of good.

[71 dB]

Start some new threads, and quit whining ........

I did, this one! 

Now it's coffee time for me...

[M forever]

D minor - he started this thread *in order to whine*. And look how much attention he got. 5 pages in no times. Many good threads take days to get that.

If you don't have the time to get to know Fidelio, then why, for God's sake, do you feel the need to have an opinion on it based on only one listen? I think you are the only one I need with this perverse need to make definitive statements on lots of stuff you can't possibly have sufficient knowledge on.
Next time you feel the urge, take a deep breath or three, count to one hundred and then find something else to do. Will do both you and the board a lot of good.

Don't waste your time, people.

[Mark]

This thread was erased after Iago's posting!

And that was on my say so. When people can no longer treat threads in the spirit in which they were started (to say little of treating forum members with some common decency), then there's no point in a thread continuing to exist. I'm sure I read somewhere that personal attacks are forbidden round here. You wouldn't know that from the way some members of this forum behave.

[greg]

I feel I am the only true Elgarian here.

Well, to be fair, I haven't heard much of Elgar at all.......

[Iago]

This thread was erased after Iago's posting!

And yes envy has a lot to do with the hate PM's.

First of all my post did not in any way convey envy at Harrys cd collection. And I certainly did NOT send Harry a PM regarding this matter. And if Harry has any guts at all he will withdraw that subliminal accusation. My post was meant to convey what I thought to be the uselessness of such a vast coillection, when he couldn't possibly listen to all of those recordings in the span of three normal lifetimes. And if you can't listen to them, what purpose does it serve to have them? Just to "have" them is a waste of time and money in my estimation. 
Also the thread bearing my "controversial" post was deleted by Maciak at the behest of Harrys favorite urchin, "Mark".  In that post I supported the view(s) of Larry Rinkel. But "courageous" Mark did not wish risking the offending of the delicate sensibilities of "Harry the Hoarder" and asked that the entire thread be deleted. And Maciak got feet as cold as an iceberg and complied with Marks wishes. Now, it's actions like those of Mark and Maciak that contribute mightily to the "boring" aspects of the GMG forum.

[lukeottevanger]

It would be refreshing but I doubt the threads would go beyond a page or two.

Hey, I'd happily spin out a thread on Brian with you for as many pages as you wanted! Just finished re-reading all three volumes of Macdonald prompted by Harry's recent thread on him, btw. He stands revealed as a really major figure - but you knew that.

[Maciek]

Nobody seems to know anything about Zemlinsky, Magnard, Wetz, Schmidt, Stenhammar or Havergal Brian. I'm more depressed than you are 

We actually had a sort of small Zemlinsky festival in Warsaw a couple of years ago! It was quite an influence - I even remember the composers name now. Let me see... was it?... yes, Zem-lin-sky. See?

No, I think he's quite a worthwhile composer, actually... But still haven't got any recordings...

I have an extra copy of Sinopoli's Elgar 2. It might show up in your mailbox someday 

Hey, Sarge, have I mentioned before that I do not have a single Sinopoli recording in my collection? 0:)

Over in the Terry Riley thread is a small gathering of enthusiasts for a largely-unknown contemporary composer. 

Actually, I think Terry Riley is pretty well known, at least for a contemporary composer...