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Is this excellent forum 'dying' ?

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guest224
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« Reply #15 on: April 01, 2017, 01:47:46 pm »

I just posted quite a lot of music up (in the Belarusian music folder).  Let's see if (present company on this thread excluded) there is any comment about it at all.

A couple of weeks ago I thought I would take the reverse approach: I have a complete recording of the opera "Mindiya" by Georgian composer Taktakishvili, so I asked BEFORE posting it up if people would be interested (in the Georgian music thread).  Absolutely no reply or comment.  So it's not posted.

I'll be interested!....  I have a lot of Taktakishvili on Melodiya... don't think I have that one.   Its surprising that none of his other piano concerti or symphonies have been released on CD.....???  :(    still a lot of Melodiya recordings that never see on CD


http://artmusic.smfforfree.com/index.php/topic,1507.msg29063.html#msg29063
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kyjo
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« Reply #16 on: September 16, 2017, 01:19:48 am »

Yeah, this forum is quite a bit quieter now than it was a couple years ago. I'll try to contribute as much as I can, but I'm a busy man these days! :)
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guest377
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« Reply #17 on: September 16, 2017, 09:30:42 pm »

I noticed that 2 other forums have been almost dead for several days recently... I think this forum ebbs and flows, some days more and some less or nothing..   weekends can sometimes have more activity, around the Holidays there can be no activity as folks are busy with the family and friends.    I think it does better than others.
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« Reply #18 on: September 16, 2017, 11:39:29 pm »

Well, as the member with by far the most posts on this forum (this one is No. 3674 and I don't think anybody else has reached 2000 ;D) I had better say something :).

First of all, in reference to the statistic above it is obviously not a competition to see who can contribute more posts than others. Some of my posts have been pretty lengthy (too lengthy perhaps!) and have consisted of lists of compositions or composers. Oftentimes these have had little comment from other members but I know (or at least certainly hope!) that that does not necessarily denote a lack of interest. And compiling such lists has given me pleasure and kept me mentally active-which, in retirement, is vitally important!!

It is true that the days when members were regularly posting links to music which they had uploaded seem to be past. I suspect that is because those who have been members for a number of years have provided all or most of the music which they had available and that there is actually not much else around to share with others.

I also agree and understand that there are many other calls on the time of members and that therefore the amount that they are able to contribute is limited and restricted by such pressures of time. Those who are retired-as am I-do have more time at their disposal.

This forum however remains one where I feel "at home", comfortable that our discourse is civilised and good-humoured. There are no ridiculous rules imposed by "over mighty" site administrators as in other forums one could mention (but I won't!!).

A number of years have passed since I visited the Good Music Guide forum so I have no idea how healthy it is. This forum had a more "intimate" feel to it and members have always appeared slightly more "friendly". I really have no interest in indulging in the "one-upmanship" and point scoring that can be a feature of some internet forums. I would prefer to share my enthusiasms rather than to denigrate music I do not understand or which does not appeal to my tastes and I certainly have no wish to criticise directly or indirectly the taste of others. For some vigorous debate and disagreement mean that a forum is more "alive" and interesting. I respect that point of view. Perhaps we do tend to agree with each other on here to an extent which might become "soporific" and if so that is a legitimate criticism but I can only say that I am now past the stage of taking part in debate which can degenerate into personal abuse.

....so, yes, there will be quiet periods on here but I do not believe that the forum is "dying" and it is up to us to ensure that it does not. I shall continue for as long as possible to contribute and do "my bit" :)
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guest128
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« Reply #19 on: September 17, 2017, 01:11:24 am »

Few if any here (besides at least "Latvian") will remember what might have been THE flagship Classical Music Discussion Forum, active in the mid-to late 90's, and named Classical Insites" or simply "CI".  Far more freewheeling, imaginative, creative, and often genuinely insightful (if sometimes outrageously so) than anything since, it was the very antithesis of a venue like today's "Unsung Composers" and it's "representative man" Alan Howe with all their punctilious anality and barren scholasticism.  CI was much more an allowed "microcosm" of diverse characters, interests, and enthusiasms than the rigidly defined, rule obsessed, and generic music forums of today, - with often dozens of active threads and dozens of posts to each (not merely perfunctory-like either, but frequently substantially elaborated), - and I can think of participants here who would quickly have become suicidal had they been thrown into the maelstrom of CI and forced to justify and defend their views rather than retreat into mere devotional sentimentalism.  One thing it lacked, of course, was the uploading/downloading feature of sharing music so much a staple of today's groups, - and there was less to talk about because of that.  But as I remember it was a modus of both knowledgeable critical dialogue and sincere inquiry and at the same time a theatrical stage for genuinely distinctive characters to perform and express their individuality on.  Not entirely I should add (most activity in probably all Internet forums is transiently forgettable), - but enough of that ethos reigned at CI to be an enduringly remembered quality by me (I could probably name several dozen former "regulars" there that two decades later are more vivid to me than even some present relations, - without ever having physically met any of them).  AMF is a congenial and sometimes informative and stimulating (if rarely provocative) congregation with an irreplaceably invaluable music archive, but just without the dynamism and (inevitably) the sheer novelty and fascination of the old CI.  The reminiscences and nostalgia of an old guy, I suppose, but no one who was there could possibly disagree and say otherwise, - or am I over-idealizing things and revisioning the real history, Maris?


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guest377
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« Reply #20 on: September 17, 2017, 01:37:52 am »

Well, as the member with by far the most posts on this forum (this one is No. 3674 and I don't think anybody else has reached 2000 ;D) I had better say something :).

First of all, in reference to the statistic above it is obviously not a competition to see who can contribute more posts than others. Some of my posts have been pretty lengthy (too lengthy perhaps!) and have consisted of lists of compositions or composers. Oftentimes these have had little comment from other members but I know (or at least certainly hope!) that that does not necessarily denote a lack of interest. And compiling such lists has given me pleasure and kept me mentally active-which, in retirement, is vitally important!!

It is true that the days when members were regularly posting links to music which they had uploaded seem to be past. I suspect that is because those who have been members for a number of years have provided all or most of the music which they had available and that there is actually not much else around to share with others.

I also agree and understand that there are many other calls on the time of members and that therefore the amount that they are able to contribute is limited and restricted by such pressures of time. Those who are retired-as am I-do have more time at their disposal.

This forum however remains one where I feel "at home", comfortable that our discourse is civilised and good-humoured. There are no ridiculous rules imposed by "over mighty" site administrators as in other forums one could mention (but I won't!!).

A number of years have passed since I visited the Good Music Guide forum so I have no idea how healthy it is. This forum had a more "intimate" feel to it and members have always appeared slightly more "friendly". I really have no interest in indulging in the "one-upmanship" and point scoring that can be a feature of some internet forums. I would prefer to share my enthusiasms rather than to denigrate music I do not understand or which does not appeal to my tastes and I certainly have no wish to criticise directly or indirectly the taste of others. For some vigorous debate and disagreement mean that a forum is more "alive" and interesting. I respect that point of view. Perhaps we do tend to agree with each other on here to an extent which might become "soporific" and if so that is a legitimate criticism but I can only say that I am now past the stage of taking part in debate which can degenerate into personal abuse.

....so, yes, there will be quiet periods on here but I do not believe that the forum is "dying" and it is up to us to ensure that it does not. I shall continue for as long as possible to contribute and do "my it". :)

Dundonnell, I just wanted to say "thanks" for all you have done for the forum.. I esp. enjoyed your "Complete Orchestral Works"  posts that you provided on various composers.... they were very helpful trying to locate the recordings.
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« Reply #21 on: September 17, 2017, 02:42:27 am »

Thank you very much for that comment  I do appreciate it
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shamus
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« Reply #22 on: September 17, 2017, 12:24:24 pm »

I second the thanks to Dundonnell, certainly hope this forum stays alive, I think Colin is right that we have reached the point where we have shared almost all we can and since everybody has access to YouTube one or the other of us will find stuff there, also appreciate dhibbard and Toby Esterhaze when they bring the youtube stuff to our attention. "Trolling" the many streaming radio sites for live concerts shows how so many orchestras stick with the tried and true, but occasionally they play something new (or something old but recently revived) that is shareable, so maybe that will be our only source for keeping up the contributions.  It is hard for me to participate in discussions as I really have not much technical knowledge about music except "I know what I like". One thing I hope is that if death really is imminent that Albion's magnificently huge British collection of files will stay available somewhere! My favorite thing is new discoveries of any era of music, and I appreciate those finds you kind folks share with us and the way one can make a request and almost always get a reply! But now I am listening to Schubert...and finding new sounds (to me) there!
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Dundonnell
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« Reply #23 on: September 17, 2017, 05:27:58 pm »

Thanks, shamus, but I certainly do not think that "death really is imminent" And never let a lack of "technical knowledge" deter you or anybody else posting about "what they like" I may have a pretty extensive "knowledge" of the orchestral repertoire of the 20th century but it is a knowledge based on being aware of the existence and the soundworld to which works belong. I cannot read a score, I cannot play an instrument, I have no great ability to analyse the differences in interpretation between one conductor's version of a work and that of another-although I think that I can tell a good performance from one that is mediocre.

There are serious limitations therefore on any "expertise" I may appear to possess. It is only enthusiasm for the music I love and I hope others also love or would if they heard it and a passion to hear more of the music of composers who I think are unjustly neglected which provide my principal motivations for contributing.
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Patrick Murtha
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« Reply #24 on: April 03, 2018, 04:47:43 pm »

I am visiting for the first time in a while and read this particular thread with great interest. I go through cycles with message boards, social media, and other platforms when I contribute quite vigorously for a while and then become disaffected or moody and go silent before starting the cycle over. In science fiction fandom, they used to call it "gafiating" - getting away from it all.

A lot of message boards on various subjects of interest to me seem to have gotten pretty quiet, or even to have disappeared. Is Bright Cecilia gone for good? Is the Good Music Guide Classical Music Forum really moving servers, as the page I just visited said, or is it too kaput?

Anyway, it is good to see that this pleasant forum is still, as they say, "a going concern".

One of the confusing aspects of life on the Internet is that the action is always moving elsewhere.
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« Reply #25 on: April 03, 2018, 05:22:14 pm »

As long as there are British, American, Scandinavian etc symphonies and concertos still waiting their first recording or until I peg out (and the latter will come first) you will find me prattling on about these unrecorded "masterpieces" even if I am only talking to myself  ;D
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« Reply #26 on: April 03, 2018, 05:39:53 pm »

......and another point ;D

When I was about 16 years old I used to visit the Music Library section of the Edinburgh Public Library to browse through reference books. I came across the names of composers of whom I had never heard. I was fascinated and intrigued to learn that there were British composers with wonderful names like William Wordsworth who had written multiple symphonies. I began listening to the radio and, very occasionally, got the opportunity to hear one of these symphonies. I dreamt of the day when there might be LPs (the cd had obviously not been invented then!) of the works. My friend, the late Malcolm MacDonald, used to buy imported LPs of American music from Harold Moores in London and, later on, I would tape these recordings for my own listening pleasure.

Now....54 years later so many of these works are on cd (including, shortly, six of Wordsworth's eight symphonies).

But-and this is the point ;D-if I was starting out again today with limited cash to buy cds I could find this site with its immense collection of music available for download. This includes our vast British and Irish Music Archive which is without parallel on the net. I would be in transports of delight ;D ;D
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« Reply #27 on: April 04, 2018, 04:50:49 pm »

Alas, the Music Library section of the Edinburgh Public Library is now gone. I don't know what happened to the scores. So is the Reid Library, and although the stock has been merged with the main University Library it's not as accessible any more. Farewell to the days of discovering scores of works like those of Karl von Ordonez, who is shockingly neglected.
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« Reply #28 on: April 04, 2018, 05:10:22 pm »

Is the Good Music Guide Classical Music Forum really moving servers, as the page I just visited said, or is it too kaput?

The server migration was initiated about two days ago, necessitated by the level of traffic and the size of the database of posts. There is every expectation that it will be up again shortly. The forum operator is very competent and strongly committed to the continuation of the forum. Fingers crossed.

GMG is gets a lot more traffic than this forum. It is not always clear what causes one forum to grow and another to stagnate or whither. "Classical Music Guide," where I used to participate, is in the latter category, where it is rare for a new member to join and there are a handful (a dozen or less) members who participate without pause.
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Patrick Murtha
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« Reply #29 on: April 05, 2018, 03:16:26 am »

Is the Good Music Guide Classical Music Forum really moving servers, as the page I just visited said, or is it too kaput?

The server migration was initiated about two days ago, necessitated by the level of traffic and the size of the database of posts. There is every expectation that it will be up again shortly. The forum operator is very competent and strongly committed to the continuation of the forum. Fingers crossed.

GMG is gets a lot more traffic than this forum. It is not always clear what causes one forum to grow and another to stagnate or whither. "Classical Music Guide," where I used to participate, is in the latter category, where it is rare for a new member to join and there are a handful (a dozen or less) members who participate without pause.

Thank you for this information! I am glad to hear the interruption at GMG is only temporary.
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