I think my first experience of "classical" music was probably at my grandparent's house when I was about 7 or 8 years old. They had a wind-up gramophone and a stack of 78rpm records, bought mainly in the 1930s and 1940s. They varied amazingly - from "Lohengrin" to Spike Jones, with vocal performances by Peter Dawson and Ann Ziegler & Webster Booth and others. I suppose this variety arose from my father and aunt buying Spike Jones records in their teens, and my grandad buying "light classics". When I was 12, I took viola lessons and joined the Middle School Orchestra, which was a fantastic experience. I played these records over and over again, whenever I got the choice, and that - combined with what I heard on our Ecko bakelite "wireless" set - probably started a lifelong passion for music of all styles which has stayed with me all my life. As far as classical composers are concerned, I have a wide and varied taste - from early music to Steve Reich with everything in between. I have a particular liking for eastern European and Russian composers - Dvorak, Janaçek, Bartok, Moussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, etc. - but also a passion for French composers such as Satie, Debussy, Ravel and "Les Six" (Poulenc, Milhaud, etc.). Just recently I discovered the wonderful music of Portuguese composer and guitarra player Carlos Paredes, whome I read about in a book by blues and jazz guitarist Woody Mann. It's a journey that never ends...
|