I think I found my new home!

[Sailor Steve]

AAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't have time to sit and listen to all that right now. I don't even have time to read this thread any more tonight, but every time I try to get off, there's another post!

[frau kaleun]

Do not listen to the heathen Wagnerite.

You want Beethoven. You need Beethoven. Your soul craves Beethoven.

Cross over, children. All are welcome. All welcome. Go into the Beethoven. There is peace and serenity in the Beethoven.

Here's me, listening to the beginning of the overture of every Wagner opera ever:

"Hey... this isn't too bad. Maybe I'll really like this one."

Here's me, 45 minutes later:

"OH DEAR GOD PLEASE LET IT END."



Actually "Ride" is pretty awesome, I used it for the ringtone on my old cell phone. Wagner does have some wonderful moments (and some terrible quarter-hours *cue rim shot*). I like some of the purely orchestral suites I've heard, with all of the singing - or "singing" as the case may be, YMMV - left out.

[vienna]

Good lord, you are quick, Frau!...

I have listened to Wagner in the past, but, as with you, my loyalty has always been with Beethoven. There is no other composer I admire or enjoy listening to more than LvB. My mp3 playeris loaded with the symphonies, sonatas, and other pieces by Herr Beethoven. I also have a bit of space for Haydn, Beethoven's teacher. I have always said, if you want to understand a master, learn to understand his teacher...

<O>

[Takeda Shingen]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

Do not listen to the heathen Wagnerite.

You want Beethoven. You need Beethoven. Your soul craves Beethoven.

Cross over, children. All are welcome. All welcome. Go into the Beethoven. There is peace and serenity in the Beethoven.

Here's me, listening to the beginning of the overture of every Wagner opera ever:

"Hey... this isn't too bad. Maybe I'll really like this one."

Here's me, 45 minutes later:

"OH DEAR GOD PLEASE LET IT END."

Wagner is an acquired taste, particularly late Wagner.

Wagner does have some wonderful moments (and some terrible quarter-hours *cue rim shot*).

Pfft. Rossini was a sellout.

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

AAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't have time to sit and listen to all that right now. I don't even have time to read this thread any more tonight, but every time I try to get off, there's another post!

Originally Posted by Red October 1884

No I haven't...but it looks like you've supplied enough information to get a Degree in Classical Music.

My connection would collapse and die under that amount of youtube.

Sorry guys, I didn't mean to flood with information. My concentration is Wagner Studies, and I actually teach a course on the Ring Cycle. It is hard to turn off professor mode sometimes. Feel free to disregard.

EDIT: In fact, that goes for everybody. I am sorry if I am droning on and lecturing. I try not to talk about music here for fear of being overbearing.

[vienna]

Sorry guys, I didn't mean to flood with information. My concentration is Wagner Studies, and I actually teach a course on the Ring Cycle.

Does this mean if we listen to all your Wagner postings, we'll get course credit?...

<O>

[Takeda Shingen]

Originally Posted by vienna

Does this mean if we listen to all your Wagner postings, we'll get course credit?...

<O>

Sure, full credit at the University of Tak. Accreditation pending.

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by vienna

Does this mean if we listen to all your Wagner postings, we'll get course credit?...

No, just a headache.

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Takeda Shingen

Wagner is an acquired taste, particularly late Wagner.

Speaking of acquired tastes, I went to the symphony again last month - Pinchas Zuckerman (sp?) was guest conductor/performer and they opened with Beethoven's violin romances and closed with Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony.

In between they did Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht and much to my surprise I really sort of... liked it. Of course IIRC it is a very early composition.

This Sunday I've got tickets again and they'll be doing something and something else and then the Emperor Concerto. It has become one of my very favorite pieces over the past couple of years and I'm really looking forward to it.

Next season they are doing a whole BUNCH of Beethoven, including the 8th symphony, and in all honesty I might even like that one better than the 9th. I never even listened to it until a couple years ago, I mean with LvB it seems like the focus is always on 3-5-7-9 and sometimes 6, but man when I got a complete cycle on CD I listened to it and it took me DAYS just to get through the first part of the first movement, I would get to the part where it - crap I don't know the technical terms - it all builds up and then you get that big "da da da DUM da da da DUM da da da DUM da da da" and then the last "DUM" bounces you right back to the beginning again. IT BLEW ME AWAY. I just kept listening up to that point and then starting over again, because it's so awesome.

Then I listen to the rest of the first movement and it gets EVEN BETTER. When it gets all minor and tense and builds and builds and then there's that moment where it all resolves back into a major fanfare and it's like the sun suddenly breaking through the clouds after a dark and violent storm. TA DA!!

And the fourth movement is seven minutes of pure bliss, unless the conductor sets the tempo too slow in which I case I turn it off and go listen to somebody else's version. Too slow it loses what I love about it most, which is that it feels so playful and mischievous. The image I always get in my head is someone dangling a string in front of a kitten, where of course you are the kitten and the music is the string and LvB is the one dangling it and chuckling every time you jump.

Oh hey yeah and I also bought a condo, what were we talking about again?

[vienna]

Next season they are doing a whole BUNCH of Beethoven, including the 8th symphony, and in all honesty I might even like that one better than the 9th. I never even listened to it until a couple years ago, I mean with LvB it seems like the focus is always on 3-5-7-9 and sometimes 6, but man when I got a complete cycle on CD I listened to it and it took me DAYS just to get through the first part of the first movement, I would get to the part where it - crap I don't know the technical terms - it all builds up and then you get that big "da da da DUM da da da DUM da da da DUM da da da" and then the last "DUM" bounces you right back to the beginning again. IT BLEW ME AWAY. I just kept listening up to that point and then starting over again, because it's so awesome.

I know the feeling (which is not the same as "I feel your pain.")...

It does seem a bit strange LvB's seemingly best symphonies are the odd numbered works. It is rather like the first set of "Star Trek" movies...

I have a number of favorite movements in LvB's symphonies; my favorite is actually the melding of the 3rd and 4th movements of the 5th Symphony, particularly the transition. The 3rd is so labored and angst-ridden as it continues, then, just as it transitions into the next movement, there is a slow, hopeful swell in the strings and it burst into a loud, joyful cekebration of what I have sometimes referred to as "free flight"...

I particularly dislike recordings where they separate the 3rd and 4th movement with the standard silent space used between numbers on a disc...

Speaking of the 5th Symphony, some co-workers of mine several years ago were debating "the world's greatest riff". They turned to me as the ancient keeper of long-forgotten rock lore and asked my opinion. I replied "The opening notes of Beethoven's 5th Symphony; just two notes, the first repeated 3 times followed by the second. It is the most identifiable, referenced, imitated sequence of notes in all music history. No other comes close." They looked at me and then decided the greatest riff was the opening to "Whole lotta Love"...

So, Frau, what's new with your house?...

<O>

[frau kaleun]

I am still coming to terms with the 5th. Of all his "great" symphonies, that's the one that I've so far had trouble really connecting with. Don't get me wrong, I know it's brilliant, and there are parts of it that I've always loved - that segue from movement 3 to 4, and the first part of 4, being one of them - but for some reason the big emotional attachment just hasn't happened. It's more of an intelletual appreciation than a big emotional reaction. I'm more drawn to it now than I was in the past, so it may just be a matter of "the right music at the right moment" - sometimes you just have to be in the right place in your life and development before the light bulb over your head clicks on and your heart really takes something in completely.

Maybe it's because the opening motif is so prevalent - I mean, everybody knows it even if they don't know that they know it - by the time you sit down to really listen to it for the first time, it can be more of an "oh, that" moment than an "a-HA!" moment.

So, Frau, what's new with your house?...

Well, in the absence of anything else to do at the moment (I was too tired to pack up much of anything tonight) I've been looking at things on line that I want or will need to buy or replace. A new desk, new bedroom furniture, etc. Mostly just to get some ideas and keep some price comparisons in mind for the near future.

Think I found the desk I want today, a nice corner workstation altho I may have to look at it in the store again, possibly with a piece of cardboard cut to match the dimensions of my monitor which should fit but it's going to be close. It has a nice lower ledge which will keep my CPU off the floor without buying a separate stand for it, probably also hold the subwoofer and some other stuff. Downside is that it has no drawers of any kind, but I'll have plenty of room to add a file cabinet and pick up a little cabinet with a few drawers to sit on either side and it will still likely take up less or about the same room as the standard L-shaped desk. I wanted a lateral file cabinet anyway, which can double as a place to put the printer.

Also looking at this bedroom set, I'd like to go for a clean, simple Asian influence there and I really love the the looks of the bed. Not so sure about the finish on the wood, though, I'll have to look at it in person. Definitely not the bedding in the picture though. DO NOT WANT. Thinking of something with maybe shades of lilac or plum and/or a very pale, cool green. Not having much luck finding anything so far, altho they do have this set currently at the same place. Not crazy about the gold but it's not too, too yellowish in the picture so I dunno. It doesn't look much like purple in the pic either altho the description says it is. I like that it has the black added in as I have some nice black lamps with an Asian feel, one of which would make a nice nightstand lamp if I convert to a "touch" lamp.

Also looked at this set and thought it had the pale green I wanted, but the comments from buyers describe it as a pewter/silver grey, and it's not in the stores so I can't see it in person without buying it and then returning it if I don't like it. I would probably like the silver grey, but not sure how it would look with the beige carpet, and the hardware on the furniture I like above appears to be some kind of silver tone... of course the carpet could come up and be replaced eventually... so many decisions! And then what to paint the walls and trim?

Man I bet you can find lots of cool, legit Asian-inspired stuff on the Left Coast, here it's not so easy.

[Mork_417]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

Well, Neal wants to know when people use the link and he needs to know what was bought so he can make sure he gets his cut of it.

PMing him that I bought underwear on Amazon would actually be a little creepier.

Originally Posted by Herr-Berbunch

Aaaaaargh! My stepson keeps saying that to just about everything we say to him. It's driving us crazy and now you start doing it here, too.

Too funny, i say it all the time. I forget where i got it from though.

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

Meth lab, casino, the Subsim All Male Strip Club - where Jimbuna was booked to come over and perform on spring break and holidays - all out of the running. I know you really had your heart set on the latter of the three but the HOA simply will not back down on this issue.

Congrats on the new home, it looks really nice!

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

IThink I found the desk I want today, a nice corner workstation altho I may have to look at it in the store again, possibly with a piece of cardboard cut to match the dimensions of my monitor which should fit but it's going to be close.

Corner desks are cool. My personal preference would have been a corner desk with two wings for books, but I had to settle for a single-wing straight desk, since any corner in my place puts my back to the windows I like to look out of while I work or play.

The bedroom furniture looks awesome. I'm sure you'll find the perfect bedding to go with it.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Takeda Shingen

Sorry guys, I didn't mean to flood with information.

You misunderstand me, I think. I wasn't complaining about the amount of information, or the amount of music. It's just that when someone posts links like that I want to go listen to the whole thing. When I don't have time it's frustrating.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

You want Beethoven. You need Beethoven. Your soul craves Beethoven.

You youngsters and your newfangled violins and forte-pianos. I've been listening to Hildegard von Bingen and the hurdy-gurdy all week.