My name's Jayaprakash and I live in India. I used to be a 10-year old classical music fan, then a few years later adolescence kicked in and I took to more angsty musical interests. Although I've acquired CDs of some favourite pieces like Mahler's 1st over the years, and well-known pieces like the Peer Gynt suite, Rite Of Spring, Pictures At An Exhibition, I didn't concentrate much on classical music. I recently saw a bunch of classical CDs on sale at a local record store, recognised a lot of composers and pieces that had given me a lot of pleasure as part of my original, cassette-tape, classical collection, and decided to pick some up. A few days later, I returned because I just had to have some more Brahms. A week later I stalked zombie-like through the store, sale now long over, for more Mahler. A set of Beethoven's complete symphonies. Mozart's horn concertos. Haydn! Schubert! Dvorak! Tchaikovsky! Rimsky-Korsakov!

And so the madness grew.

In parallel, having become a part-time vinyl enthusiast some time back I've also been scouring the junk and antique stores for good LP records. I picked up some oods and ends - Bernstein directing the New World Symphony, excerpts from Carmen, some Grieg, some Sibelius, and so on, and then a month back I found a motherlode - a vast collection of unopened 60s and 70s vinyl, all classical, mostly Deutsche Gramophonnen. Lots of Karajan, Bruno Walter's Brahms symphonies, Rite Of Spring directed by Stravinsky and much more.

After spending some time lurking on the Radio 3 board at the BBC site, I decided that this would be a good place to plunge in, share my enthusiasm, crow about my finds, and perhaps pick a brain or two. Cheers!

A big welcome, JP_V,

I'd like to hope you've made a wise decision by coming here rather than the R3 boards, which can be rather vicious and dogmatic at times, with little sense of community. A few glances at various threads will show that we're rather stronger in that area, with a sense of mutual support to those who are experiencing difficulties, tribulations and worse.

It's also very pleasant to have a new member from a country so far unrepresented in our membership: am I mistaken, or is your name is of Southern Indian origin? Even if it is, I realise that you could be anywhere in a in a pretty large country, and you don't have to tell us anything you don't want to. If, however, you do want to tell us more, or even post pictures of where you live (or anywhere else in India, come to that) I know that I for one would be very happy to see some, and I'm sure that I'd not be alone in that.

Love the use of the word 'angsty', by the way: I look forward with keen anticipation to more posts and learning more about you and your present passions.

With very best wishes,

Ron

A big welcome from me too, JP! It's great to see such huge enthusiasm expressed about something that is clearly very close to your heart. Hope you'll find what you're looking for here. People will be only too willing to advise you.

I second Ron about the photographs, btw

Enjoy.

Great post JP. My experience with classical music is similar though I didn't start as early as 10. I was about 16 when I bought my first classical LP around 1969. I've always been listening to classical music but the late 1970s to early 1990s was in the main the rock/punk/jazz eras for me.

Vinyl is very plentiful here in UK charity shops, and much of it is mint. 90% of it is the very popular repertoire, but like you, I expect, I just can't leave a mint Karajan to gather dust between a Perry Como and a Liberace

John W

And if you're wondering about images, you need to put them in a Flickr place or a Photobucket site.  There is a Photobucket page for this board, but it was getting a bit congested so I use Flickr now.

Press the second button in on the bottom row above the message, and copy the URL of the picture between the brackets.  Like this:

  (I hope that doesn't offend - I just put your name in Google and came up with that image.)  If you press the quote button in the top right corner of my message you may see how I did it.

Hope that does not confuse, or as we say in my country, I hope I am not teaching my grandmother to suck eggs.  Ron is an ace photographer and delights us with his landscapes from the chilly fastness of Scotland.  If you are remotely interested in photography and have a digital camera, I am sure we would be enchanted by views of your infinitely fascinating homeland.

Welcome indeed, JP_V as Ron has already abbreviated your nickname. The world of serious music is vast and there is so much to explore!

I'm always interested in finding new avenues of exploration so any pointers or insights into the classical musical traditions of your own country would be welcome. (I'm particularly keen to transcribe anything I can make sense of).

Thanks for the warm welcome.

It'll take me time to remember people's online handles, so I'll answer the questions you've asked in a general way.

I don't have any special knowledge of Indian classical music, but as a South Indian (well spotted), I do have a great deal of exposure to the sub-set of Carnatic Classical music. I have a small but decent collection of this music, on CD and LP, and would be happy to post sample mp3s or wav files at some point for people who want to explore.

I once read a book by a Carnatic musician called Chitravina Ravi Kiran which included transcriptions of ragas for piano. The book, appropriately enough, was called Understanding Carnatic Music. I think an uncle of mine was involved in publishing it, so I'll see if I can find out any more about it.

I live in Bangalore. If any of you are British technical writers, I'm probably helping to ruin your job prospects. Sorry!

My exposure to Ray's films is woefuly sketchy, although I am fond of his Feluda detective stories.

I travel around my country when I can. Pictures from a recent hill vacation can be seen at my wife's flickt account: www.flickr.com/yasmineclaire

The Now Playing thread is always a great way to start participating and I hope to get stuck into more specific discussions elsewhere soon. There are many sub-forums to explore!

And, oo. How on earth did *that* picture ever emerge by dumping my name into google? I swear it isn't me! I never wear orange...

Dunno, JP, I just put Jayaprakash in Google and it came up.  I see it is a Bollywood comedy romance, with a Wikipedia page.  Is it very tacky?