Hello, the internet!

... and welcome to my inaugural post for "The Casual Listener". I'm Jim Minim and I'll be your host for as long as it takes you to get fed up with me and move on to somewhere else, in the hope of finding someone more insightful, or less irritating.

Now I love classical music, and I think you should too. Perhaps you do already, in which case great! But maybe you're unconvinced, maybe you've heard a few renditions of Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture or Beethoven(NOT THE DOG)'s 5th symphony and think:

"That's all very well, I'd like to listen to something new. But I've got to get to the Post Office before it shuts, and in any case I can't spell Chikovskee. What I need is for some guy with an overinflated view of the value of his own opinions to point me in the direction of stuff he finds interesting."

"And to get me some biscuits, 'cos I've run out of Malted Milks."

Well fret ye not, for help is at hand! Having spent years flattering myself that people give two hoots what I have to say on any topic I'm going to delve into the 500-odd year back catalogue of that loose term "classical music" and pull out some shiny nuggets for you to devour with a side order of mixed metaphors. Hopefully you'll like what I find and it'll prompt you to do some delving of your own.

I'd love to hear about your views and some of your own discoveries too. Perhaps you've heard a piece or a composer that you'd like me to cover? Great! Remember, he who pays the piper calls the tune. (N.B. You don't have to pay me, but if the mood takes you...)

And because I brought it up, we could probably talk about biscuits too.

But mostly about music.

Happy listening!