The Classical Music Guide Forums

barney

I've got a lot of time for Barrie Koskie as a thinker about opera; alas, less so for some of his his productions. That said, the only one I've actually seen live, Shostakovich's The Nose, I enjoyed hugely. The criticism is about what's reported - not necessarily entirely accurate. In an interview wi...

barney

Not sure about that one. A lot of kings have spent a lot of time in the company of courtesans.

barney

Also John, a slight correction to your statement about sex necessarily being open to procreation. This is certainly a Catholic doctrine, but I don't know of any Protestant denomination that holds to it. As far as I know, Protestant churches recognise that conjugal relations are a proper good for th...

barney

He sounds remarkably like some sopranos I've heard, and definitely moves better.

barney

Also John, a slight correction to your statement about sex necessarily being open to procreation. This is certainly a Catholic doctrine, but I don't know of any Protestant denomination that holds to it. As far as I know, Protestant churches recognise that conjugal relations are a proper good for the...

barney

Thanks for posting this, JohnF. I love this sort of historical detective work - if I had my life again, I might be an archaeologist. The apparently speculative nature re Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth just adds to the fun.

barney

You should try to see the Imitation Game, the film mentioned in the article. I think it was pretty good. It is (fortunately) unimaginable today how sordid and secret this part of gays' lives had to be as recently as Turing's time.

barney

Yes, me too. From a 10-year -old (in less parent safety-conscious times) I would take the cable car into the city most Friday evenings, visit the Wellington Public Library (an excellent library), with the special treat of buying a dill cucumber at the delicatessen on the way home (both new to Wellin...

barney

Sorry, careless of me. Otello, not Macbeth. Not sure how I got that wrong. I don't imagine Solti took it too well when the record executive told him Pavarotti sold more records. It was also interesting to me to hear that both sides did their own editing, simply replacing each other's versions until ...

barney

Most enjoyable article from Gramophone about the titanic struggle between Solti and Pavarotti in recording Macbeth. Big Lucy won. I love the quote that I have used as the title: ‘Every ensemble, according to Pavarotti, was a tenor aria with everyone else an obbligato in the background’ Working with ...

barney

No, not the ones that are struggling but sort of holding it together. But the rung below were visible. For example, there were always beggars at the Port Authority. I admired them because they didn't just sit there but did things like open the door for people. Obviously they were hoping for a quarte...

barney

To tell you the truth, I'm not sure I trust the Democrats much either. Trump has set the bar so low for a president in terms of integrity, honesty, consistency and personal behaviour that I'm not sure the office of President will ever quite be the same. Maybe I'm just pessimistic. I certainly don't ...

barney

Quite right, John. In fact I hear Manhattan is going to require a passport to enter from Brooklyn!
As I've said many times, I think New York is a fantastic city. I wouldn't want to be poor there, though (or any big city for that matter).

barney

"Nigel Farage, leader of the Brexit Party in the U.K., tweeted on Sunday, "Kim Darroch is totally unsuitable for the job and the sooner he is gone the better." Yes, telling the truth was never a strong point for Farage. Much better to have a lickspittle and toady like Farage himself. At one point at...

barney

True. But one thing seems very likely, Len - he will leave the White House richer than he entered it (having secured a pardon in advance if the next President is a Republican).

barney

When it comes to sex, there is no such thing as too much or too many. Not sure where you are heading with this. Sure, people can call themselves what they want, who cares? I can call myself a billionaire, but it's not grounded in reality. Is your point that people can call themselves what they want...

barney

That is such an interesting article. Thanks for posting it. I know that because of its history the US' special demon is racism. But of course it is found everywhere, in every community. Japan, China, India, Australia, everywhere. It's certainly not merely a white, Western disease. In Australia I hav...

barney

I'll call her "she". But I'm not using some totally new term as though, as the queer orthodoxy has it, there are some 50 genders out there. When in fact there are less than a dozen. According to Facebook, there are now 71. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/10930654/Facebooks-71-gender...

barney

Further to the above, it is very sad that the issue has been taken up by both sides and made a central battle in the culture wars. No one wins when that happens, and the stakes become very high. The worst thing is when proponents on both sides say, in effect: "I agree vehemently with your right to a...

barney

I'm an advocate for freedom of speech All speech? Including hate speech, libel, conspiracy to commit criminal acts, betrayal of vital military secrets to an enemy nation in time of war? Just for starters. Nowhere in the world is freedom of speech absolute and unconditional, nor should it be. My con...

barney

From the Spectator, another account of scarcely believable identity tripe. If you are a man (or a lesbian) who likes sex with women with the normal female equipment but won't have sex with a trans-woman who has a penis, then you are a bigot who is causing mental harm to men who identify as women but...

barney

Of course the conductor was there, Len. He was just at the very back of the hall so he could get the audience perspective. Didn't you notice the night-vision binoculars the orchestra were wearing so they could see him in the darkened auditorium? Barney is this some sort of Fake News? Regards, Len :...

barney

lennygoran wrote: ↑
Sat Jul 06, 2019 6:50 am

jserraglio wrote: ↑
Sat Jul 06, 2019 5:15 am

And there's probably more. Round of applause for Donald, please.
Well afaiac that's neither HAIR nor there! Regards, Len

OOOooh! Dreadful. Why weren't you fleeing as you posted that?

barney

yeah but it's just not enough-he's a crook, a liar, a rapist . . . there's probably more. Yes, but how about some recognition for the man's accomplishments? War of 1776/1812 historian Nimble Arabian sword dancer Military tactician Ad-libber extraordinaire Electoral College strategist Twitter wizard...

barney

I wonder whether they'd like to stage my "Tosca in the Shower". The score is heavily truncated, and the notes are right only by accident, but art is art!

barney

Of course the conductor was there, Len. He was just at the very back of the hall so he could get the audience perspective. Didn't you notice the night-vision binoculars the orchestra were wearing so they could see him in the darkened auditorium?

barney

As a resident of USA's "fly-over country", I'm sympathetic to some of the author's observations, especially about certain of what we call here " Left Coast " and " East Boast " attitudes, but her classifications of Trump voters, and summary of Trump himself,are too simplistic,and a reaction to her ...

barney

Actually, I don't find his two female paragons of the left particularly attractive either. They have all the smug certainties of youth. they'll learn. Hard left and hard right often seem two peas in a pod - an observation, surprisingly, that might have been made before.

barney

It's another example of identity politics, which we have been discussing in a few threads in the pub. This Lebanese chap is categorically racist, consciously so, and rushing to embrace victimhood status. It seems to me just a way of trying to get his work performed because of who he is, not because ...

barney

I love the transcriptions too, especially the Schubert songs and the opera paraphrases. I have many accounts, but the main one is the huge box set of the complete Liszt by Leslie Howard (about 100 CDs). What's amusing about that is no sooner was it released than supplementary volumes began to appear...

barney

Much worse. Tricky Dicky was sneaky, a liar, a fraud, but he wasn't an infantile narcissist prepared to destroy anything for the sake of his ego. I wasn't a huge fan of George Dubya in his time but, crikey, he looks good now. Barney couldn't agree with you more-how sad we didn't get Hillary in 2016...

barney

Australia's national anthem has been quite controversial, especially with the nation's first people (Aborigines) for claiming we are young and free. It is Advance Australia Fair. It was made the national anthem only in 1984 (when it replaced God Save the Queen), though it had been around as a patrio...

barney

I love the Shostakovich Quartets, and I think my favourite performers, over the cycle, are the Emerson Quartet (who won a Grammy and a Gramophone recording of the year for it).

barney

Quite extraordinary to hear such control and purity from a 10 year old. Brian do you know what the physical requirements are? Of course she had a microphone; she isn't going to fill the Met with sound, but who knows in 15 years? One complaint - that stupid audience rising for a standing ovation in t...

barney

But of course the definition of old, as I may have mentioned before, is someone who is 15 years older than you.

barney

Oops, oops and oops. I don't know Marilyn Manson, never heard of Jordan Peele, and don't look in the mirror to shave. I haven't shaved since 1975. I do trim my beard on clipper 1 every week at the local barber, who paid for my trims for a couple of years by letting me win several hundred dollars in ...

barney

Your post ran out at the end for me too.

barney

I hear you, Len, but I feel so much cleaner after watching a movie-- like "The Bookshop" last nite. Joseph yeah-I can understand that-I'm spending so much time with this but I'm trying to figure out the best candidate to get rid of Trump-that's my top priority-he's the worst thing I've ever seen in...

barney

I haven't heard Malkki, but I esteem the others.
Harding has come to Australia more than once, and I heard the new Met director while on holiday in New Zealand, of all places.

barney

Very silly by Iran, in my view. Descending to Trump's level of personal abuse isn't going to help anything, and Trump is right about Iran's malign role in sponsoring terrorism.

barney

I was in the UK in April briefly, some of it in Scotland. Brexit was in the news but not in conversation. Perhaps people are brexited out. Apart from that, I agree. Tories have torn themselves apart, Corbyn certainly ought to be unelectable (I very much hope that proves so) and I see nothing but pai...

barney

I like to keep windows open while i browse, so might have 25 open at a time. To keep it being too clunky on one browser I use Chrome, Firefox and Microsoft Edge. For example, I'm typing this on Chrome, on which I have had the Pianist and the Lobster open since yesterday waiting to read, a philosophi...

barney

A scathing but fascinating assessment by a noted columnist for the Telegraph in London: 'When they can hide him no longer - danger will strike' By Simon Heffer June 22, 2019 — 12.05am A few months ago it seemed impossible that Boris Johnson could get even to the threshold of becoming prime minister ...

barney

Thanks for that, John.
Beautiful playing - I see by Gidon Kremer.
Fascinating and very witty, but I think I would be disturbed by it in concert. It strays a long way from Beethoven! Still, maybe the odd musical shock inside one's comfort zone is not a bad thing.

barney

Like most men, I have no objection to attractive women, but I have zero interest in such puerile music. As you said, kitsch.

barney

It's the usual thing in modern bureaucratic organisations, a form of Catch 22. We'll support you all the way until we have to.

barney

Did Perahia actually improvise the cadenzas or did he compose them? Quite a few pianists have written their own cadenzas for Mozart's concertos, but of course that's an entirely different creative process from making up a 2-3 minute cadenza on the spur of the moment, which is what Levin does. Jon K...

barney

Murray Perahia also improvised his own cadenzas, as well as gentle additions to the text, especially in the middle movements of the Mozart Concerti. I don't have scores, so can't point to specifics, but the videos I have of rehearsals that came with his Sony complete box set are fascinating to watc...

barney

Dear Barney, Thanks for the welcome. I am the old "Allen" on this board and have been here since 2003. Due to a recent technical problem on this board, I was unable to log in as "Allen" and had to apply for a new account (and change my name to "Danny"). Sorry for causing the confusion. I remember y...

barney

Yes, Germans do have a sense of humor, but they don't necessarily laugh at the same things we do and vice versa. And Austrians are especially quick-witted. Back in the CompuServe Music Forum we had a Vienna-born member who knew the Tom Lehrer songs and told us of a popular Viennese cabaret performe...

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