Alfredo B Que wrote:

>How about "Beethoven or Bust: A Practical Guide to Understanding and
>Listening to Great Music" by David Hurvitz(Anchor Books/Doubleday, 1992)

I don't mean to be picky, but if there's anyone else who tried and had
problems finding this book, the author's name is David HurWitz.   [In
addition, it appears that all of Mr. Hurwitz's books are curretnly out of
print.  -Dave]  As with seemingly everything to do with classical music,
the book is highly regarded by some and by others . . .well. . .see for
yourself (from Amazon.com):

   Reviewer: A reader from California USA
   David Hurwitz knows little about his topic. Throughout this book he
   makes statements of "fact" that are simply--and easily--demonstrably
   wrong. All one has to do is check a basic reference work, or an
   encyclopedia article, or read a score, which Mr. H must be incapable of.
   He mustn't be, because many of his "observations" or "appreciations"
   are easily dismissed with a glance at a score. I am not sure what his
   credential are, but I have to say I feel sorry for beginners who are
   steered wrong by this book, for they won't know it till much later.
   Currently Hurwitz is "Executive Editor" of some one-man classical music
   webzine and a frequent (and rather controversial and tempestuous)
   contributor to the newsgroup rec.music.classical.recordings. Come by
   and check him out (and group reactions) yourself.

Of course, that has nothing to do with MY opinion -- I have none, having
not read the book.

I may as well take this opportunity to introduce myself.  My name is Aman,
born in India, raised in Norway, living in Colorado and attending college
in Massachussets.  I am 18 years old, studying physics and Electrical
Engineering.

Two years ago, a friend of mine (then 20 years  old) brought his gargantuan
collection of classical music  while staying at my house for a couple of
months.   Over those months I developed an interest for classical music
that has steadily grown.

Ed Zubrow wrote:

>Mostly I am just admiring the sight of a person standing on the edge of
>this wonderful world full of so much potential.

Yeah, Ed, I'm one of them and I'm loving it.  It's definitely not easy
-- frustrating at times, even -- but I'm loving it.

I'm sure you all remember being a college student on a budget -- $15 has
never seemed as big of a number.  To find my music, I frequently search
for MP3s on the internet (thanks for those mp3 picks!), which results in
a significant repertoire on my hard drive.  The problem with MP3s is that
they are not fully labelled -- or worse, incorrectly labelled.  They tend
to be low quality, and it's almost impossible to get anything but the most
popular pieces -- and half of those are "techno remixes".

So I'm back into buying CDs (not LPs -- sorry Gale), but picking my few
selections very carefully.  I started out with TimeLife's 100 Masterpieces
-- I got them both, so I supposedly have 200 masterpieces.  I used them to
find composers and pieces that attracted me, and built on those.

Starting out by buying a collection like the masterpieces has really
helped.  On the other hand, it only gets you so far, and I rarely listen to
them anymore.

I have some questions, as a novice to this world, and joined this list a
while ago.  The list itself has been very useful.  Intimidating is a word
often used, but I'm the kind of person who likes to dive in head first, and
my interest has far outweighed any turn-offs.  Although I only grasp a
small portion of what I read, I'm learning a lot (thanks to you all).

I should also grab a chance to ask some questions to those people who are
interested enough in novices to have gotten this far into my Email.

* I have a collection of about 50 CDs now, and plan on using some carefully
saved money over Christmas to buy some much wanted CDs.  I have hardly any
Bach (having only recently looked into Boroque), and plan to buy the
following (your opinions?):

 "Concertos for Oboe and Triple Concerto", Virgin
 The Violin Concertos, played by Izaak Perlman, EMI
 "The 6 Brandenburg Concertos and four Orchestral Suites", a 3 CD set from
          Archive.  It apparently got very good reviews.

I'm also looking into the Requiem by Mozart -- there is a good deal on a
Penguin recording.

* Should I be wary of buying CDs online?  They sometimes do not specify
the musicians/orchestras.  Any tips/suggestions on what to look for when
browsing a CD store?  I've had the bad luck of purchasing recordings that
even I, with my novice ears, could tell was badly done.

* Where can I find information on pieces of classical music?  Some of my
CDs come with inserts that tell you an anecdote, or analysis, or a segment
of the musical score -- but a majority come with no significant information
at all.  The more I know about the piece, the more I enjoy listening to it;
but finding out about a piece is hard to do.   I've come to the point of
getting music that I find information for, rather than the other way
around.

* Finally, has anyone heard of a composer by the name of Friebert?  I have
a Christmas Symphony by a Friebert on MP3, but from my various attempts to
find information on the composer, he doesn't exist.  Bad research, or
another product of morons putting classical music on the web?

It is hard being a classical music fan at the age of 18, attending a
technical university; not that I object to other types of music, but CM is
hardly popular.  The lack of anybody to talk to would stunt my interest and
learning were it not for the internet and this maililng list. . .thanks!

Aman Ahuja              [log in to unmask]
www.wpi.edu/~aman       IM: Cogito1729