Ever since I was a youngster (over 40 years ago) I have had an interest in Classical Music, of course it started with the well-known pieces, like Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, Beethoven's Symphony No 5, and Holst's The Planets Suite. At the time I didn't appreciate the music other than they piqued my curiosity and they were lively pieces to listen to. Over the years I never really strayed from classical music, yes I occasionally dabbled pop music and jazz, however I always came back to the music I really loved.
As I grew mature I developed my classical music tastes and started finding more pieces that I started to like; Saint-Saens Carnival of the Animals, Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, Pachelbel’s Canon, Albinoni's Adagio, Johann Strauss' The Blue Danube, and Beethoven's Symphony No 6 'Pastorale.' Most of this was via vinyl or cassettes, and then one day I heard an orchestra live and then I wanted more of it, however it was very expensive to see a live concert so I had to stick to vinyl and cassettes.
Then CDs came onto the market and I now updated my collection and started broadening my horizons and discovered Vaughn Williams Lark Ascending, among the many more becoming available. I then discovered Chopin, Schubert, Delius, Rachmaninov and Grieg, especially his Piano Concerto.
Then opera started to influence me and although I listened to them mainly on the radio or CDs, I wanted more and then I bought to watch an opera; my first live opera was Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier. Since then I have watched, Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes; Puccini's Madam Butterfly; Puccini's Tosca; Berlioz's The Damnation of Faust; Benjamin's A Midsummer Night's Dream; and my next one is Wagner's The Flying Dutchman. I have also seen a couple of ballets as well; Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, and an Eifman's ballet Anna Karenina.
I have found that classical music is very soothing, especially after a hard day at work.
Reading reviews of Classical Music is not always helpful, it is only listening to it that you get to know whether it is a good piece or not.
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