Music Meme
Jun. 8th, 2005 11:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
av8rmikeLooks like I didn't get off without being tagged to do this music meme that everyone else has been doing. Thanks a bunch, Phil. =)
Total size of music files on my computer: I'm guessing around 200-300 MB, and no, that's not a typo. There's probably less than 100 MP3s' worth of music, just because I have no need to store much music on my computer. I have a few songs I downloaded when I was doing the a cappella arrangements, but since I don't rip my own CDs, there isn't much else. I also don't own an iPod or other MP3 player.
The last CD I bought was: A box set of the seven Sibelius symphonies, with Sir Alexander Gibson conducting the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. It was the cheapest box set that didn't have extra filler material, like Finlandia or a throwaway performance of the violin concerto.
Song playing right now on my iFruit: iWhat? I swear, I can't keep track of what all these iThings are. The "song" currently playing on my radio (do people still use radios?) is Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, with Gil Shaham as the soloist, and I think they said it was Sinopoli conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra.
Top Five Albums:
... of what?
Five songs that mean a lot to me:
1. "Faithfully" by Journey: Yes, I'm a wuss. And yes, Phil picked this one two, but I'm picking it for different reasons. When I was in college, my girlfriend Julia and I loved listening to cheesy/80s pop music like Journey ("Separate Ways"!). When she moved away and we were doing the long-distance thing, it became a kind of "our song". And, unlike my brother, I can play part of it on the piano. =P
2. Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 by J. S. Bach: While it doesn't really classify as a "song", this piece, and to a lesser extent, Nos. 3 and 4, were the pieces that really got me interested in classical music at a young age. I can still remember playing that old vinyl album Mom had on the old stereo and being fascinated with the tinkling sound of the harpsichord solo. The violin solos in the third and fourth concertos are probably what got my interested in learning to play the violin.
3. "In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel: This is a song with a kind of dual memory trigger. It evokes memories of one of my closest friends in high school and some experiences in her basement. Then, in college, I worked for the group that supplied the concert sound & lighting for on-campus events. This song was one of the ones we played frequently, to calibrate the sound system, and could usually be heard over most of the campus, along with "Red Rain".
4. "A Pleasant Shade of Grey" by Fates Warning: Also in college, I was in the height of my "progressive rock" phase. I'd been a Dream Theater fan since high school, but until I lived in Pittsburgh, I never found anyone else who shared my tastes, or a good place to buy the CDs. I'd already heard of Fates Warning, but as I recall, my friend Rob introduced me to their music. APSoG came out during the summer between my sophomore and junior years, in one of my "dark" periods when it seemed like I was always alone. The song was gloomy enough to mirror my moods yet uplifting enough to keep me from getting really depressed.
5. Concert Suite from Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss: I'm probably really reaching with this one, because it's a suite of music from the composer's most popular opera, yet it's still unknown who made the arrangement. All I know is that it's been one of my favorite things to listen to recently and has, IMHO, some of the most beautiful music Strauss ever wrote. Only Eine Alpinesinfonie and Ein Heldenleben can top it in terms of bombasticity, though.
Recent Discoveries: Not really. I've been very unadventurous in my musical tastes in the last few years, except for a few new classical composers like Bruckner and Nielsen. Thanks to my box set, Sibelius' Third Symphony is starting to grow on me, because it isn't played often. As far as popular music goes, I keep hearing these songs by The Killers on the radio, and keep thinking, "I should get that CD." It'd be the first non-classical CD I'd have bought in probably 5 years.
Total size of music files on my computer: I'm guessing around 200-300 MB, and no, that's not a typo. There's probably less than 100 MP3s' worth of music, just because I have no need to store much music on my computer. I have a few songs I downloaded when I was doing the a cappella arrangements, but since I don't rip my own CDs, there isn't much else. I also don't own an iPod or other MP3 player.
The last CD I bought was: A box set of the seven Sibelius symphonies, with Sir Alexander Gibson conducting the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. It was the cheapest box set that didn't have extra filler material, like Finlandia or a throwaway performance of the violin concerto.
Song playing right now on my iFruit: iWhat? I swear, I can't keep track of what all these iThings are. The "song" currently playing on my radio (do people still use radios?) is Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, with Gil Shaham as the soloist, and I think they said it was Sinopoli conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra.
Top Five Albums:
... of what?
Five songs that mean a lot to me:
1. "Faithfully" by Journey: Yes, I'm a wuss. And yes, Phil picked this one two, but I'm picking it for different reasons. When I was in college, my girlfriend Julia and I loved listening to cheesy/80s pop music like Journey ("Separate Ways"!). When she moved away and we were doing the long-distance thing, it became a kind of "our song". And, unlike my brother, I can play part of it on the piano. =P
2. Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 by J. S. Bach: While it doesn't really classify as a "song", this piece, and to a lesser extent, Nos. 3 and 4, were the pieces that really got me interested in classical music at a young age. I can still remember playing that old vinyl album Mom had on the old stereo and being fascinated with the tinkling sound of the harpsichord solo. The violin solos in the third and fourth concertos are probably what got my interested in learning to play the violin.
3. "In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel: This is a song with a kind of dual memory trigger. It evokes memories of one of my closest friends in high school and some experiences in her basement. Then, in college, I worked for the group that supplied the concert sound & lighting for on-campus events. This song was one of the ones we played frequently, to calibrate the sound system, and could usually be heard over most of the campus, along with "Red Rain".
4. "A Pleasant Shade of Grey" by Fates Warning: Also in college, I was in the height of my "progressive rock" phase. I'd been a Dream Theater fan since high school, but until I lived in Pittsburgh, I never found anyone else who shared my tastes, or a good place to buy the CDs. I'd already heard of Fates Warning, but as I recall, my friend Rob introduced me to their music. APSoG came out during the summer between my sophomore and junior years, in one of my "dark" periods when it seemed like I was always alone. The song was gloomy enough to mirror my moods yet uplifting enough to keep me from getting really depressed.
5. Concert Suite from Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss: I'm probably really reaching with this one, because it's a suite of music from the composer's most popular opera, yet it's still unknown who made the arrangement. All I know is that it's been one of my favorite things to listen to recently and has, IMHO, some of the most beautiful music Strauss ever wrote. Only Eine Alpinesinfonie and Ein Heldenleben can top it in terms of bombasticity, though.
Recent Discoveries: Not really. I've been very unadventurous in my musical tastes in the last few years, except for a few new classical composers like Bruckner and Nielsen. Thanks to my box set, Sibelius' Third Symphony is starting to grow on me, because it isn't played often. As far as popular music goes, I keep hearing these songs by The Killers on the radio, and keep thinking, "I should get that CD." It'd be the first non-classical CD I'd have bought in probably 5 years.
