Del monaco
Del Monaco
I have you might call an ‘eclectic’ taste when it comes to music.
My teenage years were wrapped around Bowie with a lovely nostalgic background wash of John Denver, Johnny Mathis, Jim Croce and Bread, courtesy of my parents. I’ve always been interested in theatre.I loved writing and acting and that developed into a love of musicals and melodrama. This love of drama and theatre permeates and continues to influence my musical tastes.
I put forward my grandmother as my introduction into classical and opera. She was a teacher who played the piano and loved opera. My first steps into classical were through her cassette of Peter and the Wolf. An old actor narrated, who may have been Ralph Richardson. The music took me to places and seemed to convey every emotion explicitly. Fear, love and anxiety were all there in the music.
Meeting my future wife gave me impetus. Her father was a man deeply passionate about classical music. He bathed in Toscanini, Horowitz and Fischer-Dieskau.His system was something to behold as well.My National Panasonic music-centre paled in comparison. It was the first time had experienced sound like it and it gave a cleaner window into music. Naim and Linn initially, then Krell, Kef and ML. He contributed my first proper hifi on my wedding day.I still have the Marantz Cassette Deck!
But back to the music! Once hooked on classical I couldn’t get enough. Penguin Guides and Gramophone became staples and I quickly established a basic library through Bath Compact Discs, HMV and the wonderful Naxos range bought at Windows in Newcastle.
Classical music moves me more than any other genre. Whether it’s the aching beauty of a Shostakovich Violin Concerto or the shattering journey of Otello, it takes me to places that other music only hints at.
My favourite composers are Puccini, Verdi, Beethoven and Rachmaninov though I travel across all. I also love the hear-stopping and ethereal beauty of Arvo Part’s pieces. Can’t us to the Memory of Benjamin Britten is imprinted on my sub conscious forever. My favourite pieces are the Late Beethoven String Quartets with the Italian Quartet, Chopin with Arrau, Rachmaninov with Argerich, Verdi with Toscanini and Puccini with Barbirolli and the lovely sensitive Pappano. Haitink’s compelling Shostakovich always gets an outing. I love Callas with her sense of theatre but it only makes sense to me when I see her. I mostly return to Scotto, Tebaldi or Varady when I need emotion. The old tenors do it for me. Bergonzi and Bjoerling princes for me, though the later Jon Vickers towers above recent tenors for me. His Otello and Grimes would be enough to cement any tenor’s reputation. A glorious, generous, even cavernous voice that evokes memories of Di Stefano in his peacock prime. Voices have to move me and sincerity is my marker. Some technical greats leave me cold.
I do foray into more popular tastes and have penchant for individual voices, including Nick Cave(majestic) and late Johnny Cash( real) but my heart lies in classical.
So, that’s my pleasure.What is yours?
My teenage years were wrapped around Bowie with a lovely nostalgic background wash of John Denver, Johnny Mathis, Jim Croce and Bread, courtesy of my parents. I’ve always been interested in theatre.I loved writing and acting and that developed into a love of musicals and melodrama. This love of drama and theatre permeates and continues to influence my musical tastes.
I put forward my grandmother as my introduction into classical and opera. She was a teacher who played the piano and loved opera. My first steps into classical were through her cassette of Peter and the Wolf. An old actor narrated, who may have been Ralph Richardson. The music took me to places and seemed to convey every emotion explicitly. Fear, love and anxiety were all there in the music.
Meeting my future wife gave me impetus. Her father was a man deeply passionate about classical music. He bathed in Toscanini, Horowitz and Fischer-Dieskau.His system was something to behold as well.My National Panasonic music-centre paled in comparison. It was the first time had experienced sound like it and it gave a cleaner window into music. Naim and Linn initially, then Krell, Kef and ML. He contributed my first proper hifi on my wedding day.I still have the Marantz Cassette Deck!
But back to the music! Once hooked on classical I couldn’t get enough. Penguin Guides and Gramophone became staples and I quickly established a basic library through Bath Compact Discs, HMV and the wonderful Naxos range bought at Windows in Newcastle.
Classical music moves me more than any other genre. Whether it’s the aching beauty of a Shostakovich Violin Concerto or the shattering journey of Otello, it takes me to places that other music only hints at.
My favourite composers are Puccini, Verdi, Beethoven and Rachmaninov though I travel across all. I also love the hear-stopping and ethereal beauty of Arvo Part’s pieces. Can’t us to the Memory of Benjamin Britten is imprinted on my sub conscious forever. My favourite pieces are the Late Beethoven String Quartets with the Italian Quartet, Chopin with Arrau, Rachmaninov with Argerich, Verdi with Toscanini and Puccini with Barbirolli and the lovely sensitive Pappano. Haitink’s compelling Shostakovich always gets an outing. I love Callas with her sense of theatre but it only makes sense to me when I see her. I mostly return to Scotto, Tebaldi or Varady when I need emotion. The old tenors do it for me. Bergonzi and Bjoerling princes for me, though the later Jon Vickers towers above recent tenors for me. His Otello and Grimes would be enough to cement any tenor’s reputation. A glorious, generous, even cavernous voice that evokes memories of Di Stefano in his peacock prime. Voices have to move me and sincerity is my marker. Some technical greats leave me cold.
I do foray into more popular tastes and have penchant for individual voices, including Nick Cave(majestic) and late Johnny Cash( real) but my heart lies in classical.
So, that’s my pleasure.What is yours?