kinmonth@null.DEC (05/16/84)
A few days ago I became "aware" of the newsgroups, and, after perusing a
list of the available ones, decided to join a few, one of which was
net.music.classical. I submitted my subscription request, and in two days I
got my first set of newgroup articles. Interestingly enough, the first
article to come my way was a survey from a Rich Rosen (do I hear snickering
out there?). "Oh boy", said I, "Here's a way to make an initial
contribution to the newsgroup. I'll respond to this survey." Well, needless
to say, it only took a second or so to realize that it was not a survey at
all, dispite its claim of seriousness, but a diguised (thinly at that)
attack on the newsgroup. What a way to start out, eh? Now it seems to me
that the subgroup .classical is merely here for organizational convenience,
much as I would create a subdirectory for all my files dealing with, say,
project X. If I'm interested in project X, I don't want to wade through all
my files dealing with projects Y and Z. If someone wants the articles from
both net.music and net.music.classical, they just subscribe to both, right?
No one is being deprived. It's simply organizational convenience.
In response to Jim Cordy's suggestions for budget listening: just a word of
warning. Some budget recordings are indeed budget in every sense, including
price, quality of recording, and quality of performance. I remember that a
roommate of mine found "this incredible deal" in the college bookstore: all
9 Mahler symphonies on six disks for $4.99 or some similarly low price.
Well, we all sat down to listen (none of us were familiar with Mahler at the
time) and after a while, we were all of the opinion "Yeeaachhh. Who would
ever listen to this stuff? How unbelievably boring!". Luckily for me,
I went on in later life to here Mahler done properly by groups such as
the Chicago Symphony under Solti, New York under Berstein, other orchestras
under Levine, Haitink, etc, etc. The budget records were simply terrible
recordings as well as terrible performances. Thanks to Solti, however, I
am now an ardent admirer of Mahler's music.
I think the key here is that if you are buying technically difficult
music, you might be better off staying away from budgets. If you're buying
Beethoven's 1st symphony, well, sure, almost anyone can pull it off. But
if you're considering the Rite Of Spring or Mahler's 8th, you might be better
off paying for a well known orchestra and conductor. The one remaining
problem: if you're a beginner, how do you know what pieces need great
performers, and which pieces don't?
Bruce Kinmonth ...decvax!decwrl!rhea!null!kinmonthsimon@psuvax.UUCP (Janos Simon) (05/21/84)
[] Sorry, I couldn't let this pass "Beethoven's first symphony - anybody can pull that off" Yeah. Unfortunately very few can play the music that's in it. js