tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post755747224103066779..comments2024-03-26T07:58:59.761+00:00Comments on I'll think of something later: Seasonal sugar plums in LeipzigDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-3271156373190865672017-12-25T07:37:28.106+00:002017-12-25T07:37:28.106+00:00No-one could have campaigned harder on a local lev...No-one could have campaigned harder on a local level than you did - glad you both survived, and as we've said before, advance, retreat and advance refreshed would seem to be the best motto. I bet New York at this time of year is wonderful: enjoy.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-67841903629640794652017-12-25T00:01:53.561+00:002017-12-25T00:01:53.561+00:00We are in NYC for the holidays, spending a good bi...We are in NYC for the holidays, spending a good bit of time catching up with longtime friends. As I write, J is already cooking for tomorrow's feast. This will be the mode going forward, at least when we're in NYC, which I hope, now that J is retired, we can make our "Winter Palace." What I take away from last year's adventures (and considerable misadventures) in trying to do my bit is a much better understanding of where I can help out effectively and still have plenty of time to enjoy life. Which is all to say that your resolution is a good one, which I heartily endorse. Warm wishes, once again, for the holidays, and here's to a better year ahead.Susanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15674930917585246294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-67789606267937857542017-12-24T23:05:16.474+00:002017-12-24T23:05:16.474+00:00Yes - only Vienna is comparably rich on that front...Yes - only Vienna is comparably rich on that front, and I was seduced quite by the extent of the Xmas Market, supposedly the best in Europe, and I can see why since it spreads out from the central Market Place along all major thoroughfares. After dark the Leipzigers come out in their thousands and queue for food and consume lots of Glu(e)wein.<br /><br />Well, now you need to think about Rilling and his supersingers - 71 CDs for under £100; though that does look excessive, it isn't. But if I hadn't picked up two LPs at the British Heart Foundation shop for £1 each, I'd never have realised I needed the whole thing...Started today with the fourth Sunday of advent, and for the next three days it's three more Xmas cantatas (not the ones for the Xmas Oratorio).<br /><br />Hope you're both having an easy time, wherever you are, away from the worldly mess. I have resolved not to look on the faces of the Horror Clowns on both sides of the pond for at least the next three days.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-12927253356594864982017-12-24T22:38:18.864+00:002017-12-24T22:38:18.864+00:00Leipzig must be close to perfect for a holiday mus...Leipzig must be close to perfect for a holiday music sojourn. I enjoyed the reminder of your cantata project (and Gardiner’s), including popping over to the TAD link and the further link back to your blog. At this time of year, I tend to bring out all my Bach choral work CDs and play them one after the other, without, however, regard for the season for which they were meant. Today I lined up a group of these CDs, collected over time, only now discovering that every one of them was conducted by Gardiner. (The early choices were surely by happenstance, only the later purchases were by design.)Susanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15674930917585246294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-82233975413949391192017-12-24T21:57:50.953+00:002017-12-24T21:57:50.953+00:00That's kind of you to say so, John. Not all ha...That's kind of you to say so, John. Not all have been in agreement. There was one anonymous comment I never published, but it's been sitting in the store pile facing me every time I have to check for new responses and never deleted, so for general amusement and the chance to get rid of it there and immortalise it here, this might be the time to quote it: <br /><br />'You are an arrogant know all. Who on earth ARE YOU to criticize great artists interpeting Elgar?!! They ALL have more artistry in their little fingers than you do in your pompous body!' <br /><br />Usually I like to respond to comments, but I wouldn't have known where to begin with that one. Peace and harmony!Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-78682811578275715982017-12-24T19:33:16.119+00:002017-12-24T19:33:16.119+00:00In warm agreement, David. One of many happy things...In warm agreement, David. One of many happy things about your blog is that, while you make your line of thinking clear, there's no question of people being shouted down or out. There's use for the internet yet. Happy Christmas! John Gardinernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-5332923474407356852017-12-24T15:38:29.406+00:002017-12-24T15:38:29.406+00:00Well, if the truth about a person can be elusive, ...Well, if the truth about a person can be elusive, the facts at least shouldn't be twisted. Taruskin has been the terror, and often the unintentional entertainment, of many a musical conference. Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-24223587277422017812017-12-24T10:56:54.495+00:002017-12-24T10:56:54.495+00:00Ah, yes, I'd forgotten about RT banging on abo...Ah, yes, I'd forgotten about RT banging on about Musorgsky, and of course I should have known that you'd know the book. The truth - rarely pure and never simple! Well, unless you're a particular breed of politician... I always quite enjoy reading Melodiya sleevenotes for a different perspective on Tchaikovsky: not so much denial as evasion! John Gardinernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-38962124396263173892017-12-24T10:43:55.868+00:002017-12-24T10:43:55.868+00:00Yes, I have, and it's a brilliant book, though...Yes, I have, and it's a brilliant book, though I found when I taught on Goldsmiths College's Russian Music degree course that the students were far too slavish in taking everything Taruskin writes as gospel truth. He has, famously, marked biases of his own. For instance he takes 'Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuÿle' in Musorgky's Pictures at an Exhibition as an anti-Semitic portrait, the Jew outwardly prosperous but snivelling within. This is completely against the origins, Hartmann's drawings, which do indeed show two distinct Jewish men (though you might question where the 'whingeing' comes from).<br /><br />Interesting about the homophobia, which I confess I hadn't picked up on, though now of course in Russia the history books are being rewritten with Tchaikovsky the passionate lover of women. The cultural minister knows no shame in his propagation of fake news. Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-49397217221672270692017-12-24T09:31:45.918+00:002017-12-24T09:31:45.918+00:00We owe a debt of gratitude to David Brown, but the...We owe a debt of gratitude to David Brown, but the magnitude of the work (he 'must' be right, having written at such length!) means that many readers have imbibed the prejudices too. One of these I think is a low-level homophobia, which is an issue in musicology generally because it blurs the aesthetic with the moral (or is it simply moralising?); and with Tchaikovsky it's a particular issue on account of his deliberate attempt at ear-pleasingness (prelest', I think, roughly in Russian?), such that there can be an increased suspicion of artifice (=camp =false =lack of inspiration...). One scholar to challenge this - and he's never one to challenge half-heartedly! - is Richard Taruskin. Have you read his brilliant essays on Tchaikovsky in Defining Russia Musically? DB really gets it in the neck! John Gardinernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-76110531052282139782017-12-23T23:35:52.709+00:002017-12-23T23:35:52.709+00:00What a timely and encouraging comment, John, thank...What a timely and encouraging comment, John, thank you, and likewise. As for Nutcracker, it's an absolutely perfect score, I think, and makes up in symmetry and compression what it might lack in expansiveness or a truly dramatic story. Always been horrified by David Brown in his multivolume study dissing the level of inspiration - I see it as a new minimalism. And the art of orchestration in The Sleeping Beauty continues here. I'd say Swan Lake was at a slightly lower level in some ways, if only because it's earlier (though the dramatic and thematic elements are very strong). But those three and Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet remain THE great full-length ballet scores of all time (OK, Nutcracker is mid-length. When it comes to one-act-ers, the three early Stravinskys surely have it, maybe Apollo and Orpheus too).<br /><br />I did have the Tate recording of Hansel but for some reason got rid of it (even though I remember it being good) and now I'm left with Davis, Solti - ah, Popp and Fassbaender! - and the old Karajan which I keep for Grummer's sake. Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-80857135389889097602017-12-23T20:16:56.213+00:002017-12-23T20:16:56.213+00:00Completely agree with you about the miraculousness...Completely agree with you about the miraculousness of the Humperdinck, David. (And the Tchaikovsky too: I see traces of the old Tchaikovsky-snobbery in people pointing out, almost irrelevantly, that The Nutcracker isn't The Sleeping Beauty. The answer must be: no, the soundscape is different, has changed, surely?) But as to the Humperdinck, I too love the Colin Davis; yet have heard the Jeffrey Tate with the BRSO? I cut my teeth on that, on to my mind it's still very formidable. <br /><br />This also an opportunity to thank you for another year of interesting, thought-provoking blogs. I regularly read, and feel all the better for it. Warmest wishes for Christmas and the New Year. John Gardinernoreply@blogger.com