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Thal, sadly I have not digitized but a handful of 78s.  And they were mostly popular bands and songs from the '20s.  I love that era and have a collection, also, of silent films on VHS and DVDs from that period.

I haven't the ambition or probably the time to digitize much of anything.  If someone comes along and wants a copy of something on tape or cassette, I will do that but otherwise the task is too daunting from someone my age. 

I did have an Edison machine that I bought in pristine condition for $5 back inthe 1950s along with a small collection of the thick records but gave that to my son some years ago. 

The other thing I have found to be rewarding - I have a Technics digital piano (Technics Grand Piano sound was sampled from the Steinway Grand and is very convincing).  This instrument will play MIDI files of course and several folks around the world have invented devices to convert reproducing piano rolls to very convincing MIDI files.  Several sites offer them FREE for the downloading and you can hear most of the most famous pianists of the last 19th and early 20th centurys.  Also many of the composers that we all love - Saint-Saens, D'Albert, Ravel, Gershwin, Mahler, Grieg, the list goes on and on.  Here is my favorite site:  http://members.shaw.ca/smythe/archive.htm.  Terry Smythe lives in Winnepeg......

Jerry

Oooops, another vote.  The opening movement of Bruckner's 9th.  Especially the old Bruno Walter recording.  And yes, the closing moments of Starker's Dvorak Cello Concerto.  So I lied, another TWO votes.....

Jerry

I wish there were an official Thread for introducing oneself – I would like to know more about the rest of you and how you fit into the musical world.  But since there isn't, I guess I'll just introduce myself here and let the chips fall where they will.

I'll be 75 in a couple of months.  I play piano and organ; neither of them terribly well any more since my eyesight does not allow me to see all of the staff at once.  Bummer.  And I have been collecting classical music since I was about 8.  Lots of old 78s; like 10 inch excerpts from the finale of Brahm's 1st.   I've computerized my collection of almost 11,000 works by 2183 composers.  Very few duplicate works although there are the inevitable "buy this one and get yet another copy of that.....".   My interest is mainly in 19th and early 20th century compositions – I am not in to so-called contemporary stuff – I don't understand it and have been tempted to walk out of any number of concerts.  Unfortunately, of course, these are always cleverly  programmed into the center of a concert – and there's always something you want to hear at the end.     I've been in to the "unsung" category most of my life- how lucky we are in recent years to have such a plethora of recorded performances.......  We have been season subscribers of one sort or another to the Minnesota Orchestra season for over 50 years and have been guarantors of the orchestra for over half of that time.  Oh yes, I've lived all of my life in a city of 10,000 about an hour south of Minneapolis/St. Paul. 

At the risk of being ostracized by someone who has never downloaded, listened to, viewed, copied or shared a piece which might have been copyrighted, I'd like to make a comment or two about YouTube.  This group put me on to the performance there of the Goltermann Cello Concerto #4 and I was frustrated that I could not download it.  That situation is now alleviated in a simple and inexpensive way.  Movavi  Flash Converter.  It will download and save not only full videos but will also separate the audio portion and save it as an audio file in a variety of formats.  All for about the price of one CD. (US$19.95) 

I recently uploaded the Violin Concerto in d, opus 7 of Ernst Fabritius (1842-1899) and while I'm sure many of you have this lovely concerto, here are the links for the two sections for any who might be interested: (they are not public):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThKC1ywOXQ4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bCD34x25bA
There are another 301 violin concertos behind that one that could be there.  Or 1234 piano concertos. It seems like YouTube might be a good place to exchange performances,  Although I'm always looking for someone who'd like to swap some CDs   My email address is jerfilm@aol.com.   Thanks for listening to an old guy ramble.

Jerry

The last few sections of Dream of Gerontius always brings me to tears.  (I don't get goosebumps, I guess.  I just cry......) Strange that an old Methodist would get torn up over Purgatory.......

Are the Lipinski Concertos on CPO worth investing in?

I'm curious to know if others have had this same experience.  How often I have listened to a new piece (new for me, I mean) and thought, Wow, this is going to be something else?  An opening that really rouses you?  And perhaps a nice adagio or scherzo.  And then, the finale comes along and seems to be a huge nothing.  Just doesn't live up to the promise of the opening movements. 

I'm thinking perhaps the composer had some really good ideas for starters, pretty much used them up in the first movements and then came to the finale and thought "Oh G**, what am I gonna write now?"  Perhaps by now, a little tired and ready to move on to something else?   Or is it just me?

Yes, I've always been enamored by Hummel's music. 

I expect most of you have read it, but one of my favorite books is "The Great Pianists-From Mozart to the present" (not really the present, since it's out of print. )  Written by the New York Times music editor the late Harold Schonberg.  Has, for me, at least, numerous fascinating stories about Humme, Moscheles, Kalkbrenner; all of the 19th century and early 20th century greats.

It is still available from Amazon.com.

Again, Alfred Hill's Symphony #2 - The Joy of Life.

And the not so unsung, Mahler 8 - a performance years ago in Northrup Auditoreum on the University of Minnesota campus with the monster pipe organ and what was then the Minneapolis Symphony.

How about it, Tobias - are there recordings of the Weismann or aren't there? 

OK, I'm off topic here but someone brought it up.  '56 Grove sez he wrote 2 violin concerts.  I have cassette tapes of all three of his piano concertos along with Symphonys 2 & 3. 

Yes, I find those two also.  But no sign of the Weismann.  Are they out of print, maybe??

Very lovely.  Can hardly wait for the release.

Here's some ideas to hear:  Violin Concertos by:
William Orchard
Cornelius Rybner
Friedrich Hegar
Julius Roentgen
August Adelburg (more than 1?)
Nicolo d'Arienso in a
John Alden Carpenter
Conrado Campo
August Pott  1,2
John Powell in E
Emile Sauret in g, in e
Camilio Sivori 1,2
Julius Weismann 1,2
Georg Jacobi 1,2
Hubert Leonard 1,2,3
Heinrich Noren in a

To name just a few.

So help me, these were all gleaned from 1956 Grove; sadly over half of which cannot be found in later editions.  I have a monster want list of works that I spent many hours "finding" in that edition......

I'm sort of fond of Mrs. Beach's Symphony in e.  Also, Henry Hadley's Symphony #2 - The Four Seasons.

My favorite has always been the Moszkowski.  Followed closely by Thalberg, Moscheles 3, Kalkbrenner, well, this is impossible.  They were most all second choices.  I often wished he had done Scharwenka 3, which is one of my favorites.  Also Von Sauer 1.

Funny how you get used to a given performance of a work.  I had purchased every recording of the Moszkowski that has been issued since and none compare.  For me, at least.  I don't know if it's the fire or the rubato tempos or what.  I used to listen to recordings before going to live concerts in Minneapolis but gave it up because too often, despite a terrific performance, I would be disappointed because it just didn't sound "right".......as soon as I quit doing that, I started discovering amazing "new" interpretations of familiar music.  From as far back as 30 years, I will never forget a Skrowaczewski performance of the Sibelius 2nd.....or an Elgar 1st conducted by Neville Mariner that brought me to tears.  Some performances you just never forget.... Hey, that might make a good thread.....

Hard drives.  Probably I'm preaching to the choir here but maybe someone will benefit from my 30+ years of computing.  Hard drives will fail eventually, especially if you're like me and keep your computer on 24/7 except when you're away from home for extended periods.  After all, what basically makes 'em go is an electric motor.  Even external hard drives will fail under those circumstances.  Usually not as quickly.

But good external drives ARE very cheap.  A 2 terrabyte drive by Western Digital is 119$ at amazon usa.  Or as little as 79$ for 1 Tbyte...... You can put a lot of music/scores/documents on a drive that large.  Set it up so that you can easily connect and disconnect it when not in use and it should last almost forever. 

I guess what amuses me is that at least here in Minnesota, the orchestra is perfectly willing to program new "music" by contemporary (and often unheard of) composers full of percussion clanking, squeaking violins and sliding trombones but refuse to program "new" (to the audience at least) works by unsung 19th century composers - music that I suspect is more likely to be enjoyed and remembered by a higher percentage of the audience. 

But then it's probably just as well - I would most surely drop dead of a heart attack if I were to pick up next season's program listings and discover a Raff symphony or a Ries piano concerto.....

I would undoubtedly fall into DM's catagory of "conservative" music lovers -I don't care for "music" that makes absolutely no sense to me.  But I am willing to listen to and purchase every new CD of works by Romantic era composers.