The Classical Music Guide Forums

lmpower

My son bought a used car on the internet from a website called Trader Publishing. He paid for it with a moneygram. It seems that the website has been shut down and they pocketed my son's money and absconded. Do any of you have knowledge of this type of scam?

lmpower

At the Bard College Music Festival last weekend in New York, the college’s president and festival director Leon Botstein made a striking remark about Richard Wagner and his cronies. “If we used our standards of normalcy on the 19th century,” he said during a panel discussion about Wagner and the Jew...

lmpower

Doesn't Abbado rate a mention from anyone?

lmpower

My introduction to Janos Starker was a Musical Heritage Society offering of the Beethoven sonatas on LP back in the 1960s. Many years later I got to see him perform live, although with a provincial orchestra. I have also wondered why he seemed to have lapsed into relative obscurity.

lmpower

I am not familiar with Geringas, Wispelway, Sharfran, Navarra, Gendron and Schiff. That's six or thirty percent of the list. You have made me curious as to where they fit in. I should add that I have a sentimental fondness for Jacqueline Du Pre because of her life and playing. How could I forget tha...

lmpower

The only ones I have seen perform are Piatigorsky, Fournier, Rose and Starker. I have records by Rostropovitch, Isserlis, Ma and Bylsma. I haven't even heard of five of the names on the list, so I am clearly not qualified to judge. I do know I have a soft spot in my heart for Leonard Rose because of...

lmpower

James Levine didn't fall all the way off the stage. He only tripped and landed on his shoulder, but the resultant surgery interrupted his career for three months.

lmpower

Up until now my favorite version was Elizabeth Scharzkopf singing it. This performance adds a whole new dimension.

lmpower

An award-winning opera singer has been taken to hospital after falling into the orchestra pit during a performance at the Glyndebourne Festival. Puerto Rican Ana Maria Martinez sustained minor injuries in the accident while playing the title role in Rusalka at the world-renowned venue near Lewes, Ea...

lmpower

Even more surprising than Bartok playing and talking is Bartok smiling.

lmpower

I think you are right about Spring Symphony being accurate. It may be the most accurate composer film I have seen.

lmpower

I saw the movie Rhapsody in Blue as a child. It featured Robert Alda as George Gershwin. I agree with Lance that Song of Love is a fine movie and more accurate than Amadeus, which is clever but quite a distortion of Mozart. I own the DVD of Fruhlingssymphonie. It supplements Song of Love by covering...

lmpower

First let me make a few rather trivial observations. George Sand was married and had children before she had all the affairs. Constanze gave birth during the composition of the D minor string quartet, not quintet. I recall Oscar Levant saying that Maurice Ravel was asexual. That impressed me because...

lmpower

Whenever Kathleen Ferrier sings anything that is usually my favorite interpretation. I like the way Brahms achieves contrast between the pained opening section and the warm, affirmation of the closing section of this work.

lmpower

Four serious songs is one of Brahms masterpieces and on a par with lieder by any composer. I am also extremely fond of Sapphische Ode and Gestillte Sehnsucht. I prefer all of these to be sung by Kathleen Ferrier for depth of feeling.

lmpower

Fischer-Dieskau is outstanding and also on Schumann lieder such as Dichterliebe.

lmpower

The string quartet in E minor (from my life) is on of the more outstanding chamber works.

lmpower

There are two places I have never visited that are enticing. One is Alaska and the other is East Africa. I am a nature lover and and interested in wildlife. Both of the above places are a paradise for someone like that.

lmpower

I think imperfect pitch and I followed a similar course. At first my tastes were narrow because I didn't know anything. Then they became broader, because I opened my mind to the vast diversity of music through the ages. Eventually I discovered what was most meaningful to me and narrowed down to that.

lmpower

An eclectic period in history is broad and shallow. There is something to be said for narrow and deep. The greatest composers did not have access to such a variety of music, yet people in the old days often experienced the music they had with considerable intensity. Eclecticism may be a sign that a ...

lmpower

I started with popular romantic works by Chopin, Tchaikowsky, Verdi, Puccini, Rachmaninoff, Wagner etc. I later plunged into modernistic works at the Monday Evening Concerts. I also went into old music with an immersion in Gregorian Chant for several years. Right now I feel a special kinship with th...

lmpower

My musical interests have narrowed with age. When I was young I was completely open minded and exposed myself to everything without prejudice. Now I know what I like and tend to focus on that.

lmpower

I didn't know foreign languages had been eliminated from colleges. That's a shame. They still require two years of foreign language to get into a college though.

lmpower

I currently own a TV, though for long periods of my life I did not. I fear that television changes the tone of the home for the worse. I sympathize with slofstra's position on the subject, and nowadays children have to contend with videogames and other harmful addictions. I just use my set to watch ...

lmpower

In the Southwestern deserts we had an abnormally cool June and a very hot July with a long humid spell but no rain.

lmpower

Holst's trombone scared sheep into lambing early Classical composer Gustav Holst was once ticked off by a Cotswold farmer for playing his trombone too loudly and making his sheep lamb early, researchers have discovered. Newly found archive material on the composer of The Planets reveals he would oft...

lmpower

I calibrated my words wrong sounds better than I shot my mouth off prematurely without knowing all the facts. It seems that Obama is about to be embarassed by another of his rabid black friends. First Wright and now Gates may need to be repudiated.

lmpower

Thanks for introducing me to Danielle De Niese. Even someone who doesn't like classical music has to be impressed by her vocal acrobatics.

lmpower

I saw a handbill advertising a leider recital once. Actually leider means unfortunately in German while lieder means songs. A recital by an amateur could be unfortunate.

lmpower

Yes, I was fortunate to have access to all these great artists, and I did get to see Heifetz play the Beethoven concerto as well as many other unforgettable performances from the old days.

lmpower

One of the first questions to cross my mind was why the person who reported the breakin didn't recognize Gates as the homeowner. If it was a neighbor, they should have recognized him. Unfortunately breaking into one's own home is quite common and legitimate.

lmpower

There is no question that Obama was premature in condemning police "stupidity." Now he is trying the hackneyed old strategy of blaming it on the media for overplaying the story. It appears that Bush and Biden are not the only ones with foot in mouth disease. I suppose anyone who is in the spotlight ...

lmpower

I have encountered this hatred of classical music all my life. It isn't always good natured teasing. It can be amazingly vicious at times. Music is one of the most passionate subjects, and people can take it personally when there is a disagreement. Wasn't a British footballer in a barroom brawl over...

lmpower

The only one I've ever heard is "Songs my mother taught me." I am definitely open to a hearing, because I have been a big lieder fan since Schwarzkopf was in her prime.

lmpower

I am happily married, but Helene Grimaud is quite fascinating. We could talk about wolves and Brahms. My wife would be welcome to come along. It might even be more comfortable that way.

lmpower

This was the same time period that I saw Schwarzkopf give a couple of lieder recitals in Los Angeles. I believe Gerald Moore was the accompanist. I am pretty sure there wasn't any Purcell, Arne or Quilter on the program, but the Wolf, Schubert and Strauss were very much there. I remember one delicio...

lmpower

I saw Maureen Forrester in a concert once. When I met her she was talking about the Canadian government's policy toward the arts. The Reiner-Forrester Lied von der Erde was the first LP I ever owned. It has always had a special place in my heart. It seems great artists are not always the best at man...

lmpower

The abschied from Das Lied von der Erde is indeed a good choice. "to love that well which thou must leave ere long." I am reminded of the dying girl in Victor Frankl's book. She looked out the window and saw the tree budding in Spring. We must learn to see this beauty before we are literally on our ...

lmpower

Ralph wrote: Standing ovations for mediocre or average performances.

I thought this was provincial or claques. Don't tell me this has become a fad in sophisticated venues like New York.

lmpower

Mahler's fourth has always been one of his more enjoyable for me. I think the seventh is probably the least appreciated.

lmpower

John, didn't the opera reflect Verdi's own relationship with Giusseppina Strepponi at the time?

lmpower

I accepted a job in the high desert because I had been too long in city pent and wanted to enjoy the wide open spaces and communion with nature. It has worked out well for my relationship with nature. I have become quite knowledgeable of the fascinating ecosystem and learned to love it. The impact o...

lmpower

I took the rising water as a metaphor for passing time. As he dove deeper he recovered the past from memory.

lmpower

That was certainly different. I found it thought provoking and rather poignant. The biggest surprise was all the Japanese names at the end.

lmpower

I was already aware of this episode in Mozart's life, but this article added some details to my knowledge. I appreciate this very much. Years ago a professor who was leading a tour of Europe told me there would be a Mozart festival in Prague. He said he couldn't imagine why Prague deserved such a fe...

lmpower

Thanks for the tip, John. I have just watched Bill Moyers interview with Sister Wendy. This is undoubtedly one of the best interviews I've ever seen. I remember seeing her art talks on public television years ago. She is an extraordinary person, and even her diet is extraordinary.

lmpower

I like it, but I still prefer the last three symphonies.

lmpower

John's comments are very astute. Maybe that is why Thomas Merton was given special hermit status at his Trappist monastery. I believe they gave him a cabin apart to do his own thing without participating in the routine of the community. I should mention that Newberg gives various exercises for relax...

lmpower

I have just finished reading "How God Changes Your Brain" by Andrew Newberg. I recommend this book very highly. Newberg takes a middle ground between the fanatics and the scoffers. By studying brain scans he shows that meditation and spiritual experiences can strengthen the anterior cingulate over t...

lmpower

I want to mention Elizabeth Schwarzkopf and Solveig Kringelborn as doing a good job on Sibelius songs. I think my favorites will always be Black Roses and Reed, Reed Sigh. I believe most of his songs are settings of Swedish poets. Although Swedish poets are unknown to the world, this is an injustice...

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