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Ricordanza

DCCC = Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Normally, I would contribute to the DCCC, because I want to see Democrats retain control of the House. But not after this cynical, wrong-headed move: Several election deniers backed by Trump prevail in hotly contested primaries By Hannah Knowles (Wa...

Ricordanza

More good listening to accompany my walks in the neighborhood. This "second-tier" composer wrote some very appealing music, and the young Stephen Hough (this was recorded in 1992) brings both brilliance and poetry to these works.

Ricordanza

A few weeks ago, we heard that Manchin was a holdout. Now we hear that he's on board. And where is Sinema? I'm not celebrating until there's a bill (or package of bills) signed by Biden.

Ricordanza

Rach3 wrote: ↑
Sun Jul 24, 2022 5:58 pm
BUT, who do the Dems otherwise have ?

My first choice in 2020, Amy Klobuchar, remains my first choice for 2024.

Ricordanza

Deaths at the podium are rare, but Mr. Soltesz is the fourth conductor to collapse midperformance at the National Theater, the Bavarian State Opera’s main venue, since the early 1900s.

The theme for "The Twilight Zone" was going through my head as I read this sentence.

Ricordanza

My question, which comes as an Australian, is why such focus on his race? He's clearly the best conductor available. He has a black father and a white mother. Why is there an automatic assumption he's black? He's half and half. Both parents obviously influenced him. This is the sort of racism deepl...

Ricordanza

While I'm glad that NYT columnist Michelle Goldberg admits she was wrong about Al Franken, her admission comes too late to change what happened. Al Franken's alleged misbehavior, even if all reports were true (which is doubtful) was clearly insufficient to support what amounted to a forced resignati...

Ricordanza

Listened to this to accompany my walks in the neighborhood the last two days. One of the best pianists of our time playing some of the greatest music ever written for the piano. What more is there to say?

Ricordanza

Firstly, the absence of male role models in the home . Almost all of them have no fathers in their lives. That's what Dr. Peterson always discusses, as does Dr. Glenn Loury. Society is downgrading fatherhood - not just through the Family Courts but with pejoratives like 'white male privilege' and '...

Ricordanza

One of the posted comments says it all: "When I heard this arrangement for the very first time I was convinced it must be a duet. I was astonished when I discovered this was just a single pianist."

Ricordanza

There's nothing "late" about Bill Maher's comments. Those of us who follow him know that he has been a critic of the left's foibles and excesses for years. However, he has maintained his support for core liberal values throughout. Those on the right who are cheering Bill Maher ought to look in the m...

Ricordanza

American democracy is in trouble, but we're still ahead of some other places around the world. This is from a wire service report in today's newspaper: Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers held a gathering Thursday of some 3,000 Islamic clerics and tribal elders for the first time since seizing power in Aug...

Ricordanza

I downloaded the 24/96 flacs, downsampled them to normal 16/44 wav format and burned them to cdr. Thanks, but I have no idea what any of this means, nor any idea how to do this if I knew what was being described. :? I think I'll just enjoy the music and Zino's artistry while the record is on my tur...

Ricordanza

https://ia802508.us.archive.org/11/items/scan-1-stitch-2-11/Zino%20Francescatti%20-%20Schubert-%20Grand%20Fantasy%2COp.159-%20Sonatina%20Nos.1%26%203%2COp.%20137.jpg?cnt=0 https://archive.org/details/scan-1-stitch-2-11 I recognize that cover! I have that LP, but haven't listened to it in years. May...

Ricordanza

But I suggest this has to be a legal process, and if it is a drawn out process I don't see how Trump can run in 2024. If Trump is indicted and awaiting trial, there is nothing legally OR POLITICALLY preventing him from running in 2024. Remember his famous comment in 2016 about shooting someone on 5...

Ricordanza

Excellent Op-Ed by Jack Goldsmith. While I believe that Trump is guilty of crimes and, in an ideal world, should be punished for those crimes, my instincts tell me that a prosecution by the U.S. Justice Department would do more harm than good. Goldsmith's Op-Ed spells out those harms in a cogent and...

Ricordanza

I'm thinking about the job interview for the aide that, ahem, handles this: "I understand that you want to work for President Putin." "Da! I admire President Putin and have been looking forward to using the knowledge and skills I attained in the university and post-graduate work to assist his admini...

Ricordanza

Happy Birthday to our fearless leader, Lance Hill!

Ricordanza

Donald Isler wrote: ↑
Sun Jun 05, 2022 9:30 pm
I believe this very fine program will soon be viewable again on the Klavierhaus YouTube channel.

Based on your review, I certainly hope this will be available for viewing.

Ricordanza

The outstanding pianist Angela Hewitt posted this rant on her Facebook page. I thought folks would find this interesting, whether or not they agreed with her: Please (young) pianists! Develop a beautiful way of playing the piano WITHOUT using the damn sustaining pedal. Learn whatever you're playing ...

Ricordanza

Thanks for posting this excellent article, Brian. I was about to post it, but you beat me to it.

Underscores the essential point that the Second Amendment, like the other rights in the Bill of Rights (freedom of speech, freedom of religion, etc.) is not absolute and is subject to regulation.

Ricordanza

If you want to understand America's gun culture--or more accurately, gun fetish--take a look at this ad by David McCormick, candidate for the Republican nomination for Pennsylvania's U.S. Senate seat. Does this ad display McCormick's qualifications for the U.S. Senate? You may not think so, but lots...

Ricordanza

So, what are those "unnecessary rules and constraints?" Playing the right notes?

Ricordanza

I'm glad about the favorable result in court, but what amount of legal fees did she incur? The article doesn't say.

Ricordanza

I'm still curious about the program choices. PCMS has an Artistic Director. Doesn't he get a say about the performers' programs? My guess is that the program director would certainly discuss repertoire, but the artist would have the final say, based on what each artist is working on at the moment. ...

Ricordanza

Fww, I’ d hear Uchida as you’ll get to hear all 3, and she is great in those (I have arecording of the 3 she did) ; Denk because I find him a fascinating pianist, his Op.111 will probably be quite different from Uchida’s , and I suspect the rest of his program interesting as well, he may even speak...

Ricordanza

...how much is too much? This is the time of year that I review the schedule of concerts for next season and decide which ones I'll attend. The first list I review is the piano series sponsored by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. As in past years, there are many fine pianists on the list, so ...

Ricordanza

Virtual concerts are better than no concerts at all. YouTube offers a huge variety of performances for the classical music lover. But there is still no substitute for a live concert, especially when the audience reaction—with the performer feeding off the energy of the audience—is an essential part ...

Ricordanza

Rach3 wrote: ↑
Sun May 08, 2022 5:15 pm
Dénes Várjon (piano)

I've heard him in recital. He's outstanding.

Ricordanza

By way of comparison, we went to a concert at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia on Friday night, and we were still required to show proof of vaccination to get in and to wear our masks throughout the performance.

Ricordanza

As for the white collar workers that were fired, are they now sorry they didn’t organize themselves? In the private sector, supervisors/managers are not eligible for union representation. It's different in the public sector. For example, in New Jersey State government, supervisors are represented b...

Ricordanza

I heard Angelich perform Brahms PC 1 with the Philadelphia Orchestra in December 2009. These were my impressions at the time: Then, it was on to one of the standards of the repertoire, and one of my favorites, Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor. Pianist Nicholas Angelich, making his first appea...

Ricordanza

I just read the court decision. It has many flaws, but one of the most glaring is the following: On page 43, the decision states, "The Court accepts the CDC's policy determination that requiring masks will limit COVID-19 transmission and will thus decrease the serious illnesses and death that COVID-...

Ricordanza

Mr. Heine, who grew up in Cherry Hill, N.J., became interested in Russian culture as a teenager.

Small world. That's where I've lived for the past 41 years.

Interesting article. Thanks for posting.

Ricordanza

When he went off to Washington on Jan. 5, she said, driving with a friend, Mrs. Thompson did not think that her husband would get into trouble. She was happy, as she put it, to be at home with the “house quiet.” But on the evening of the riot, Mr. Thompson texted her a video of himself, milling abo...

Ricordanza

Thanks, my friends, for your attempts at answering my question. I have now learned that this forum is populated by comedian wannabes.

Ricordanza

Check out 2019 Sphinx Medal of Excellence recipient and double bassist Joseph Conyers’ interview with Musical America Worldwide, discussing the work and impact of PROJECT 440, an organization he founded, in Philadelphia. Project 440 gives young, often inner-city students in Philadelphia the agency ...

Ricordanza

I for one will no longer purchase anything from Amazon till they do the right thing and engage in collective bargaining. For years, I refused to shop at Walmart because of their anti-labor policies. In more recent years, I learned that Amazon is just as bad. What to do? I've continued to shop at Am...

Ricordanza

But the N.L.R.B. “rarely” overturns elections on allegations of union misconduct , said John Logan, a professor at San Francisco State University who studies employer campaigns. Amazon will need to prove that any objectionable conduct could have altered the result of the election, he said, and “unl...

Ricordanza

While preparing the piano for Kalichstein, there was a damper causing problems, which I was attempting to correct when I had a phone call from my wife saying she had fallen and needed to go to the hospital. Mr. Kalichstein told me to go RIGHT NOW - he would handle the damper with no problem. The ne...

Ricordanza

Most piano recitals these days include at least one contemporary work, or a neglected older work. For this audience member, it’s a welcome opportunity to hear something new and unfamiliar. But I have no objection when a pianist offers a more conventional program of familiar works, as long as the pia...

Ricordanza

Don, thanks for posting this link.

Ricordanza

In an earlier post, I posed a question on behalf of a friend who is writing a book about Gene Krupa, and she was grateful when I conveyed the answer to her. Now she has another question. In this album, the last track (beginning at about 32:00) is entitled "Bach's Blues." Is this actually based on Ba...

Ricordanza

1. How is Vova to explain away thousands of body bags? Is he to tell their mothers, "Sh:t happens"? And are Russian boys left to rot on the battlefield part of Putin's hidden strategy? 2. If all is going so swimmingly (as both Putin and this analyst claim), then why would thousands of Russian stree...

Ricordanza

I considered posting this in The Corner Pub, but as you will see, there is a sufficient nexus to classical music to post it here: Ragtime had one revival. The music and its virtuoso deserve another. By John McWhorter Friday is the anniversary of Scott Joplin’s death in 1917. The story of this Black...

Ricordanza

barney wrote: ↑
Sun Mar 27, 2022 4:45 pm
Have you heard of the free app SoundHound? One of the first I ever loaded. Identifies tunes and, sometimes, even the recording.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll give it a try.

Ricordanza

Thanks, Brian and Len. My knowledge of opera is very meager, but when I heard the Krupa piece, the tune did sound familiar. Now that you've identified it for me and my friend, I now know where I heard it: Franz Liszt's fantasy for piano on themes from Lucia. But I never would have found the source w...

Ricordanza

In the main, however, relatively few Russian artists have been “canceled,” as Mr. Putin would have it. While there have been scattered examples of arts organizations in the West canceling Russian works and performers in the aftermath of Mr. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the vast majority have contin...

Ricordanza

A friend who is a fan of Gene Krupa asked me to identify this tune. The title of Gene Krupa's piece is "Fish Market" but the tune is supposedly from Verdi. Do you know what opera aria or chorus this is from? The tune is repeated several times; see 0:58 and 4:34 for example: https://youtu.be/Lw4HL840...

Ricordanza

Yannick also cancelled his weekend appearances with the Philadelphia Orchestra due to illness. We are going tonight (Saturday). The orchestra will be conducted by former assistant conductor Kenosho Watanabe.

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