The Classical Music Guide Forums

lennygoran

>Red-Tails in Love: A Wildlife Drama in Central Park< John, coming in from the boondocks of NJ before an opera we try to arrive early so I have plenty of time to find parking--Sue may go shopping but if the weather is nice I walk in Central Park--one day I came right up on a hawk--had no binoculars ...

lennygoran

>And since nearly all of the Met's Zeffirelli productions have been telecast and published on DVD, people can look at them pretty much forever, even after they've been replaced in the house.< John unfortunately too many of the new productions change the story--fortunately Tosca kept that to a minimu...

lennygoran

>The Met premiere of Janacek's great final opera "From the House of the Dead " is this Thursday .<

Thanks for this summary--my wife and I see it Wed Dec 2. Regards, Len

lennygoran

>What piece of music touches you to the point of tears?< La Traviata--the ending. Which reminds me I'm also in tears over the Met's dropping some of the Zeffirelli opera productions including that one--read this in a 2008 NY Times article: "Gelb plans to start replacing Zeffirelli’s productions. “Th...

lennygoran

>I generally find audience etiquette to be appalling at live concerts.<

Much to my pleasure the last few years the Met audiences have been very well behaved--now if only they could get the directors of the productions to be that way! Regards, Len [g]

lennygoran

>As for conspiracy theories, Americans just love 'em, but where's the beef? The assassins of Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley acted alone,< John, from what I've seen on the History Channel and from Wiki there was more that just one lone person involved in the Lincoln matter. "Lincoln's assassin, acto...

lennygoran

>You can't possibly have too many "Marriage of Figaros." But yes, the Met may be overdoing it with all that Rossini. <ducking><

Heh, heh, heh! Regards, Len [g]

lennygoran

>plus Copland's "The Tender Land" in January for free. Manhattan School of Music will be performing Fauré's "Pénélope" in December and Handel's "Il Pastor Fido" next April, for $20/12.< John, wow, I want to be at these! Thanks for the info. While the Met is bringing in some new works it's not enough...

lennygoran

>Meyerbeer: L'Africaine.<

I'd like this one but would opt for his Roberto il Diavolo--I've listened to the music several times now--imo sensational!

Also Umberto Giordano's "Siberia." Giordano's Andre Chenier is one of my favorite operas. Regards, Len

lennygoran

>Any other recommendations ?<

Donizetti--several I'd like to see starting with Poliuto. Regards, Len

lennygoran

>The cheers were for the revisions, which made life much easier for the singers involved< I only saw it once--one of the last times the Met did it--my wife and I hated it--they hardly interacted at all--a great cast was forced to walk around like zombies or remain statues--I'll never be at another W...

lennygoran

>One that comes to mind is the recent production of Eugene Onegin.< We saw that at the Met and I was a little disappointed by the sparseness of the set--except there were alot of leaves and alot of chairs--the leaves reminded me of the giant chore I'll be facing in my garden pretty soon now! [g] Sti...

lennygoran

>just put a bigger hard drive in the DVR box<

John, who me--you gotta be kidding--I don't even open up the back of my computer tower! Regards, Len [bg]

lennygoran

>The future of cable TV, for example lies clearly in switched digital cable service with recording capability, where the only active channels are those actually being used on a given subnet, freeing-up huge amounts of bandwidth for other uses.< John, with my technological ignorance I can't quite gra...

lennygoran

>However, it seems that the production is going to appear in movie theaters at some point.<

Oct 10 live and Oct 28 encored. Regards, Len

lennygoran

>It is obvious the audience loved the singing.<

Last year it was Somnabul--great singing but a horrid production just ruined it for me! Regards, Len

lennygoran

>Ever since, Wilson's "Lohengrin" has been welcomed back and achieved something of the status of a classic, < John, I hated that production--the performers didn't interact with each other--they stood there like zombies--I won't be going to Wilson's productions anymore. Funny the Lohengrin we saw had...

lennygoran

>An abomination.< My wife and I came in from western NJ to change certain opera tickets at the Met Box Office and I traded in one on the subscription for a Tosca--I wanted to see Terfel as Scarpia and see Kaufman for the first time--also I love Matilla--it'll be next April--now I read about what app...

lennygoran

>We all have sign-on names.<

Len = Len Goran

lennygoran

> Does he deserve neglect?< I don't know much about him or his music but just last night my wife and I were watching the PBS HARLEM IN MONTMARTRE film presented on American Masters and he and Cocteau were mentioned. A lot of info about his love of jazz is available on/line--things like "His is best ...

lennygoran

>And then there's the dramatic scene in miniature, "When Luise burned the letters of her unfaithful lover." < John, thanks, amazing--found it too on YouTube: Als Luise die Briefe ihres ungetreuen Liebhabers verbrannte- "Shannon Wolfe, soprano, sings "Als Luise die Briefe" as part of the Mozart Madne...

lennygoran

>Mozart's hallmark <

John, talk about Mozart hallmarks I just learned of a song he did that's ranked very high--it's available from a number of YouTube clips and I enjoyed my first few hearings of it: Abendempfindung. Regards, Len

lennygoran

>Great Performances will present "Herbert von Karajan: Beauty as I See It," a 90-minute bio-documentary in belated recognition of the conductor's 100th birthday...In New York, the show will air at 10:00 PM, so as not to preempt "Antiques Road Show" and "History Detectives< John, thanks for the alert...

lennygoran

>as biography Amadeus is in many ways wanting, which does not keep it from being a wonderful movie.< I'll have to try to see the movie again sometime--still what made the play bad could make the movie bad too--overdoing how nonsensical Mozart comes across could ruin the movie for me--I've forgotten ...

lennygoran

>as a work of art, could 1984's 'Amadeus' be bettered?< My wife and I saw the original play and liked it--then we saw the movie and thought that was even better. However some time ago we saw the play again with David Suchet as Salieri--I hated it--it made Mozart look so monstrous--didn't make sense ...

lennygoran

>a stroll down memory lane with Reilly, Ace of Spies< Thanks, wasn't familiar with that one--Wiki has plenty of onfo on it including this: "The theme music is the Romance movement from Dmitri Shostakovich’s The Gadfly Suite." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reilly,_Ace_of_Spies I see where Netflix has ...

lennygoran

>Never tumbled to Suchet's Poirot - I'm a Peter Ustinov fan.< Oh, we loved his Poirot's--I remember seeing Suchet in a Broadway run of Amadeus--I started out liking the Amadeus both play and movie alot but that was before I realized how distorted a picture it gave of the real Mozart. Talk about Usti...

lennygoran

>On Mystery Theater Sunday evenings? < My wife and I love the Mystery Series--some of them including the current Marple run are done under the title Masterpiece Theater but whatever we really enjoy most of the shows. So far we've only DVR'ed the shows but the gardening keeps us so busy and exhausted...

lennygoran

>Right!<

John, well of course--you know what an expert I am on Mozart--especially Don G! Regards, Len [fleeing]

lennygoran

>Anybody want to say which?<

John, I'll say The Magic Flute. Regards, Len

lennygoran

>Why did you move to where you live now?< Gardening. We moved from Essex County NJ where we only had a fifth of an acre to garden on out here to the boondocks of western NJ where we have 2 and 1/2 acres to play around with. Musically this had hurt us because we're much further from NYC and it's hard...

lennygoran

>I have a clip which I hope to be able to download here<

Well I tried to upload the file but it didn't seem to work--I named it Philadelphia Flower Show opera. Regards. Len

lennygoran

>I can do quite a lot from this phone including take a photo,upload it to photobucket and then use said photo for plant ID purposes(I'm a plantaholic) < Yes, I too can take photos--I can even take movies with this smart phone. A few months ago we visited the Philadelphia Flower Show--considered by m...

lennygoran

>How are those Blackberries for surfing?< IMO superb--my blackberry kicks online much faster than my slow Dell PC where McAfee seems to run the show. [g] When my wife and I are travelling and a question comes up I can get to google in a flash. We're gardeners and sometimes when we see a plant in a g...

lennygoran

>I would also find punching in the letters one by one impossibly frustrating. <

I search and peck at my PC and it goes pretty quickly--it's when I'm using the BlackBerry that things slow down--even with a Querty keypad. Regards, Len [g]

lennygoran

>What shall we decriminalize next? Double parking? < John, they've done that in Manhattan--for the alternate side of the street parking during the hours they clean the streets everyone in the 70's and 80's on at least the westside moves their cars and double parks until they can move their cars back...

lennygoran

>I don't understand the question... <

Do you mean my question on unanswered posts--btw I found that category for unanswered posts but I was wondering if there was some quick way of seeing posts from others to you that you haven't read yet without having to read an entire thread? Regards, Len

lennygoran

View unanswered posts no, didn't know that existed--is that unanswered posts to me?

View active topics no

View new posts usually

View your posts no

Make all forums read yes

Regards, Len

lennygoran

>From this story, the company was ready to take the low road in court against Woody Allen. But obviously they picked the wrong celebrity for their shameless exploitation. Good for him.<

John, now someone should sue Woody Allen for what he did to Gianni Schicchi in LA! Regards, Len [g]

lennygoran

>Lenny, did you see New York City Opera's production with Lauren Flanigan? Lacking actual ice, she careered around the stage on roller blades. <

John, yes, my first and only Vanessa--now it's coming back to me! Regards, Len [g]

lennygoran

>Opera quiz: what's another opera with an ice-skating scene?<

John, would Barber's Vanessa apply? Regards, Len

lennygoran

>You want to present Saint-Saëns's "Samson et Dalila," then let Saint-Saëns and Ferdinand Lemaire tell the story of Samson and Delila. You think the opera is merely "a harmless, second-rate melodrama with a couple of crowd-pleasing numbers," then don't present it at all.< John, brovo, brava, bravisi...

lennygoran

>Peter Grimes,< We saw that one live at the Met--a terrible production--not Eurotrash--just terrible. The production did not make use of about 3/4's of the Met stage for most of the production--just a giant ugly wall near the front of the stage. What a pity--my first ever live Grimes and a really go...

lennygoran

>Taft was a lawyer, Bush isn't< Thanks, well I think that even if Bush was a lawyer he wouldn't be the person I'd pick. I was listening to Harry Reid on the Today Show and he felt it should be someone who wasn't a judge who had spent the last years in robes--he suggests someone from the real world--...

lennygoran

>Cast your vote for Supreme Court replacement!<

How about George W Bush--I believe there's a precedent: "William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857 – March 8, 1930) was the 27th President of the United States and the 10th Chief Justice of the United States." Regards, Len [rapidly fleeing the area!]

lennygoran

>The greater percentage of people, however, does not permit this to happen.< One thing that should help more people see operas is the live performances being done by the Met to movie houses--not as good as being there in some respects but still a very nice experience--my wife and I saw our first mov...

lennygoran

> no tenor being able to maintain full voice to the end< Funny you should mention this--I was at the performance at the Met where the great Ben Heppner's voice kept cracking at a certain point while doing the Prize Song. I had seen the opera earlier in the run with Botha who was very good himself bu...

lennygoran

>Few opera composers in my experience were sufficiently gifted to make two or three hours of listening only at a stretch even tolerable, let alone enjoyable. Mozart is the most notable exception.< Wagner's Der Meistersinger done at the Met was about 5 hours and with that superb production they now h...

lennygoran

>In other words, how much of the overall experience is reliant on the visual presence of the actors, scenery, etc.? < I love the total opera experience but sometimes it's just better to listen to the opera at home--for example the Met's Sonambula was IMO EuroTrash. I love Bellini and had been waitin...

lennygoran

>Unfortunately, you won't hear Tony, as he passed away last fall.< John, I'm so sorry to hear this--I met Tony through you about 4 times and really appreciated that--I remember seeing him at the Met the night Heppner's voice kept cracking in the final act at Meistersinger--we consoled each other. Re...

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