How long have we known each other now?

[Gurn Blanston]

I very seriously doubt I used two question marks. 

(And I'm working my way through the set right now.)

My memory isn't all it should be.

I hope you are enjoying it. It is one of my prized possessions.

[Cato]

I have lost track!  I think this might be my 10th year: 2003 sticks in my head as my first year. 

Possibly Our Fearless Moderators have a record from before the re-boot. 

Well, I was close: going on 9 years.  The archive says November 3, 2004 was the fateful day when Cato joined the group!   

About a week later, this is apparently (if the archive is complete) my first comment:

Topic - Your Favorite Symphonies

I like big works, so my list is heavy on the post-Romantics.  But I have a soft spot for the Schumann symphonies, as conducted by George Szell with the Cleveland Orchestra.

Everything by Brahms and Mahler and Bruckner!  Each of their symphonies is an original, emotional journey through a new universe.

Pelleas und Melisande by Arnold Schoenberg,  a work which is usually described as a tone-poem rather than a symphony, but has symphonic aspects.

Scriabin's 5 Symphonies plus the work known as "Universe" which was completed by Alexander Nemtin: showing the ecstatic development of the mystical pianist to the point where he seems to leave the planet and commune in the mysteries of cosmology and quantum physics.

More 20th century works:
The 4 symphonies of Charles Ives, with a warning that #4 is highly experimental, as is typical with Ives.

Symphonies #2, #3, #5, and #6 by Sergei Prokofiev: powerful expressions of emotions, even violence, tempered by bittersweet melancholy or even (protestingly bittersweet in #6) triumph.

Rarities but wonderful: the Symphony by Hans Rott, a pupil of Bruckner.  The Symphonies #2 and #4 by Sergei Taneyev (the only ones available).

And then later:

Allow me to expand on my list presented earlier: the 8 symphonies of Karl Hartmann, who died in the early 1960's, are not to be missed!  They are some of the greatest unknown works of the century.  We will admit that they are not in a traditional 19th century style, but the expressive content is undeniable.

Recently available on CPO are the complete symphonies of Ernst Toch, a contemporary of Hartmann: more tuneful than the Hartmann works, and therefore a wee bit more accessible.

Huge works in the symphonic style, if not form: the tone-poems of Richard Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra, Don Quixote, and the hybrid Alpine Symphony

[Todd]

I hope you are enjoying it. It is one of my prized possessions.

I shall refrain from posting any detailed comments until I have finished listening, but suffice it to say I enjoy it rather more than HJ Lim's cycle.

[Brian]

I enjoy it rather more than HJ Lim's cycle.

"My hometown is nicer than living in Darfur"
"Dinner tonight was tastier than a bowl of raw jellyfish"
"This movie is better-made than The Room"
"It's hotter than Antarctica in here"

[Daverz]

Not to brag, but I go back to '97, Classical Insites.  I few members here were refugees from that board.

I've been posting to rec.music.classical since before the split to rec.music.classical.recordings.  That was about 1994.  I think this is the only classical music web board I've posted to.  Is there another one worth bothering with?

[mn dave]

"My hometown is nicer than living in Darfur"
"Dinner tonight was tastier than a bowl of raw jellyfish"
"This movie is better-made than The Room"
"It's hotter than Antarctica in here"

[mn dave]

I've been posting to rec.music.classical since before the split to rec.music.classical.recordings.  That was about 1994.  I think this is the only classical music web board I've posted to.  Is there another one worth bothering with?

I really, really doubt it.

[Brahmsian]

Well, I was close: going on 9 years.  The archive says November 3, 2004 was the fateful day when Cato joined the group!   

Cato, I think I remember you when Opus106 (Navneeth) and I branched out to Talk Classical, and then we eventually switched to GMG.  Am I correct, or was it another Cato? 

[Wanderer]

I've been around (here) since (October?) 2005. Good times. 

[Daverz]

Interesting that in the first 3 years on GMG I posted more than the last 6.

[mc ukrneal]

I could tell you if I only I knew who the hell who you are!!!!

[amw]

I noticed the existence of GMG in 2006, but was in a different phase of my internet life-cycle, and also 14 years old at the time, so I didn't have any real interest in it.

I rediscovered it circa 2011 while searching for some information on Dutilleux (someone had posted a broadcast recording of Correspondances here, which at the time wasn't yet released on CD) and added it to bookmarks, but didn't come back for quite a while. I started "lurking" more regularly in later 2012 and don't think I posted at all before 2013.

As always with internet forums (with one, very significant [to me], exception), I feel like I got here long after the party was over, but I've never been much of a party person anyway. >.>

[Cato]

Cato, I think I remember you when Opus106 (Navneeth) and I branched out to Talk Classical, and then we eventually switched to GMG.  Am I correct, or was it another Cato? 

No, I am and have been the only "Cato" here!   0:)

As always with internet forums (with one, very significant [to me], exception), I feel like I got here long after the party was over, but I've never been much of a party person anyway. >.>

As far as the "party" is concerned, I can see where such an impression easily comes from, but it has always seemed that people can plug into any topic fairly quickly.

I am not a "party person" either.  I also have never gone to a "bar" for entertainment, and even restaurants with "bars" make me uneasy.   

I have entered such places about 4 times in my many decades on earth: most of those were to tell Grandpa that Grandma wanted him to come home "right now"! 

[Sergeant Rock]

I shall refrain from posting any detailed comments until I have finished listening, but suffice it to say I enjoy it rather more than HJ Lim's cycle.

Damning with faint praise 

Sarge

[Sergeant Rock]

I could tell you if I only I knew who the hell who you are!!!!

He's a god, currently in human guise 

Sarge

[Karl Henning]

[...] Karl was a latecomer. I was already a mod by then so it had to be late 2004 or early 2005. One of the other mods sent me a PM to watch out for the new guy, he was a real pain in the ass. And despite the inherent truth in that, still managed to talk to him nearly every day since.

If nothing else, I am consistent, then!  0:)

[Sergeant Rock]

I joined Feb 10 2006. I came from the Gramophone forum where I knew Jens, Tony (AnthonyAthletic), Pink Harp and paulb (who alerted me to the existence of this forum).

Sarge

[Karl Henning]

Here, I'll raise a mug of tea to our paulb!

[Gurn Blanston]

I shall refrain from posting any detailed comments until I have finished listening, but suffice it to say I enjoy it rather more than HJ Lim's cycle.

You're scarin' me, Todd...

[Gurn Blanston]

If nothing else, I am consistent, then!  0:)

Why yes, yes you are.

I wasn't thinking about non chat board posting. I was on rec.music.classical from '97-'99, when it all became too much for me. The Berlioz lover with the duck fetish was possibly the most normal person there. That's scary!