Nobody here is leading you wrong. nathank rightly points out that classical music is execution-dependent. I'll go one further: Classical music is intended to be experienced live, within an acoustic environment where each instrument is its own emitter, arranged in physical space to provide an immersive, memorable event. You will find a symphony orchestra in your town, or near it. They will have been rehearsing whatever it is you're paying them to play for weeks and weeks, and they will all of them be having a ripping good time. And the simple act of showing up under the age of 70 will be regarded as mind-blowingly cool by them (so long as you don't hold up a lighter or hoot at the top of your lungs). You should go. Don't be afraid to go alone, because, as mentioned, people under 70 who like to go to the symphony are kind of a rare breed. But what you'll find, if you hang out after the reception, is A) they eat gourmet food B) they let wine flow freely C) They're rich AF and if you get to know them you just leap-frogged several social classes as far as hiring prospects are concerned The above also applies to opera. Although opera is more expensive to go to. You may find that they give discounted tickets to dress rehearsals. This is how I'd managed to watch over a dozen performances by the time I was sixteen. By all means - listen. Listen on headphones, listen in your car, listen on your phone, listen wherever. But if you're looking for recommendations, I recommend you go see the stuff live.
I've collected a large playlist, but at the very same time i've also got in touch with my friends who study opera, and my friends who are classically trained musicians. I'm very excite to engross myself in the music and the culture. Thanks for the recommendation of a different kind i didn't know about how accessible the opera might be. Gonna spend the next month learning and hopefully seeing a few performances.
I completely agree. I've mostly given up on buying/collecting recorded pieces and save my classical music money for live performances. They are infinitely better than virtually any recorded piece. And you are also right about the age thing, I usually feel like I'm visiting an old folks home when I go to the concerts. I hope local orchestras find a financially viable way to continue to have live performances in the next 20-30 years.
But be careful what you wish for. It was only one week, but VNV Nation was #4 for that one week.
There is a lot to dislike about VNV, but I have to say, every time I have seen them they have been exactly what you would expect a VNV Nation show to be like having only heard an album. It would have been next to impossible for them to let me down, but all the same, they did not let me down.
VNV played a club I installed. I showed up to see them and showed Ronan some pictures I got of him at a previous show (they're pretty good; I may dig them up). Ronan was appreciative and asked for copies. Then it was revealed that VNV's monitor mixer was sick; could I mix monitors? Well, sure. It's been a long day (I was on a deadline at work, had probably put in 12 hours of AutoCAD) but it's my rig, why not. Fortunately VNV had a "helper" who could help wrangle the stage. Unfortunately "helping" meant the mutherfucker disconnected every single cable and rearranged them so they'd look better. Yeah. We did a soundcheck and VNV's "helper" essentially reset everything to zero. Here, figure out a monitor mix, live, on the fly, in front of 700 people. Guess who Ronan yelled at, all night, over the PA, to the audience? Was it the "helper" that completely fucked their show? Or was it the guy who showed up as a fan on 4 hours of sleep and was working for free to do them a favor? Best part is I had it all on Minidisc. I kept it for a long time. Then I realized nobody cared but me, myself and I and I let it go. But I would still happily punch Ronan Harris in the face again and again and again.