I have posted a few times now, thought I'd say an official hello in here and introduce myself a bit:

Hello!

I'm MrYorick.  My absolute favourite composers are Beethoven, Schubert, Mahler and Britten.  I started to listen to Radio 3 because, well, they regularly feature programmes about and around Benjamin Britten, who is of great interest to me, and about the whole English artistic scene I discovered through my interest in Britten (W.H. Auden, Peter Pears, Janet Baker, John Shirley-Quirk, Kathleen Ferrier,...), and also because quite often some of my favourite singers will pop up.  On the messageboards these people are often discussed too, so I have always liked to read them and now decided to join this one.  (I have posted a very few times on the old messageboards in the past, under different nicknames, but never persevered.  I always got struck by 'messageboard anxiety'...)

As you probably can tell, vocal music, opera and singing are my main interests in music.  Other composers I have warm feelings for: Monteverdi, Rameau, Bach, Mozart, Puccini, Debussy, Rachmaninov, Berg, Stravinsky, Janacek, Shostakovitch, and erm... folksongs in general.  I also love pop music and Jacques Brel  .  Blind spots: Verdi, Brahms, Schumann.    With regards to contemporary music: I had a contemporary music phase when I was younger, but I seem to have grown out of it a bit.  Would love to rediscover new music.  My favourite living composers are (not sure if I'll be honoured for that in here): Giya Kancheli and John Zorn.

There.  I look forward to reading and writing on these boards.  As I have very little knowledge on music compared to the members here, my activity will be more on the asking-side than on the answering-side, I guess.   

Oh, and you must forgive any spelling and/or grammar mistakes, English is not my mother tongue.

Hello Mr Yorick

If you are an enthusiast for Lawrence Sterne (as I judge from your avatar and nickname) then you are far more aware of the subtleties of the English language than many native speakers.  (Although I am very fond of C18 literature and music, Tristram Shandy is one work I have never manage to finish.  (And I tried for the first time over 30 years ago.))

I suspect we have a lot in common - I prefer Verdi to Puccini any day, but I think I ought to like him more than I do.

I look forward to your contributions.

All the best.

Seconded.

Or fourthed, as the case may be.

Welcome too from Tommo, and hope you have a great time on these boards.

Tommo

And welcome from me too - hope you are enjoying Gerontius!

Enjoy your visits here too!!!

Woo

Thanks everyone...
Thanks especially for the kind words regarding my English...

I have to be honest with you, Donbasilio, I have had to trudge my way through A Sentimental Journey, but once I started to understand things, it became very special to me.  I daren't touch Tristram Shandy yet... That book is a long-term goal  .

Trained-pianist, the man in my avatar is Laurence Sterne, an Irish-born eighteenth century writer, author of the books mentioned above.  Mr Yorick is a character in his books that I find very charming: he's very overt and extremely sensitive, and also a bit loopy.  I searched for a picture of Mr Yorick himself, as there are some paintings of him, but I couldn't find a decent one, so I went for the author.

I'm afraid I haven't got round to 'Gerontius' yet, Roslynmuse...  And, Daniel, with regard to Owen Wingrave, well...  I have not as yet given Wingrave any close attention, but I don't think I'll ever be a great fan of it, too.  I remember on the earlier boards someone saying something like: "... and in that respect Owen Wingrave is probably Britten's greatest masterpiece", but I forgot what preceded it, and who the author was... 

Thanks again.

Personally, tp, I wouldn't be in a hurry.  Sterne is an oddball - he is claimed nowadays as the precursor of post modernism, but as I said above, I have never been able to finish his masterwork, Tristram Shandy.  I'm not sure that he ever lived in Ireland, but come to think of it, it is quite appropriate: James Joyce with funny jokes.

We drive past Namur in Belgium about once a year and I always mention my uncle Toby's wound in the groin got at the Siege of Namur.

My current avatar is of some eighteenth century Archbishop in York Minster, who my be Sterne's grandfather, Archbishop Richard Sterne.  I took the photo last year and I have forgotten which monument it is.

Mr Y, see the thread on Performing Britten for some less than enthusiastic comments on Owen Wingrave by some dedicated lovers of BB's music.