tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post8787518495227554079..comments2024-03-12T17:53:27.753+00:00Comments on I'll think of something later: To the Thielska GallerietDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-64527551540579490662014-04-22T13:57:45.446+01:002014-04-22T13:57:45.446+01:00Lowering the tone somewhat, I think your duck is a...Lowering the tone somewhat, I think your duck is a barnacle goose.<br />http://ibc.lynxeds.com/photo/barnacle-goose-branta-leucopsis/bird-perched-feeding-gras<br />Catrionanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-82441578801411177022014-04-21T23:50:35.872+01:002014-04-21T23:50:35.872+01:00All I know so far is that it's been recorded b...All I know so far is that it's been recorded by France Musique, but whether that's sound or sound + vision I'm not sure. I want it to be seen, though: its only rival in my memory is a Scottish Opera Tramway production by Graham Vick from the early 1990s which one of my students had on a video - never made it to DVD.<br /><br />The Grimes was more flawed, but had great moments, as well as more superlative conducting from Ono, and it was the genius of the piece itself that had me in floods of tears nearly all the way through Act Two.<br /><br />Kindly the admin offered another night and a changed return so that I could see today's afternoon performance of Curlew River, but there were ailing mothers to be visited and we had the bliss of a lively afternoon in Paris yesterday - as well as a smooth homeward journey, thank goodness. May your garden finally bloom as ours all are.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-59479021815027484202014-04-20T15:40:02.955+01:002014-04-20T15:40:02.955+01:00The Lyons Turn of the Screw sounds stunning. I hop...The Lyons Turn of the Screw sounds stunning. I hope I get a chance to see/hear it at some point. Do you know whether it's slated to go on DVD? Glad you made it back all right--that was quite a delay! Now, off to the garden to do some preliminary clean-up, then back to NYC for three concerts this coming week!Susan Scheidhttp://prufrocksdilemma.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-28880287620157198932014-04-19T18:00:36.703+01:002014-04-19T18:00:36.703+01:00Thought of you too after the perfect Turn of the S...Thought of you too after the perfect Turn of the Screw, which I know you would have reeled at and which gave me goosebumps for the first time since I shunted scenery around at Aldeburgh back in the mid 1980s - I had to come to Lyon's mini Britten festival to see it. Ravishingly beautiful, disturbing and apt visuals courtesy of Fura dels Baus director Valentina Carrasco in which a giant cat's cradle/spider web catches up all the furniture of Bly in its web, fine singing - including a great young Governess from the opera project here - and beautiful, almost Debussyan sounds from the 13 players under the fabulous Kazushi Ono. More from him tonight in Yoshi Oida's production of Grimes. Missed Curlew River owing to Eurostar meltdown. We were lucky to get here at all on Thursday - though at 23 00 instead of the intended 18 00.<br /><br />As for other Sibelius symphonies, alas that there are only seven, none of them inordinately long...and now you can hear the fragments believed to belong to the Eighth on John Storgards' new CD cycle.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-84215325176820413312014-04-19T16:34:33.228+01:002014-04-19T16:34:33.228+01:00How very nice of you to think of us with regard to...How very nice of you to think of us with regard to our trip to Ainola, David! I was listening to Sibelius symphonies much of yesterday and thinking of your comment about enjoying swimming around in the soup. It turns out there are many more of the symphonies that I don't know than those I do, so there is much to discover. I enjoyed coming back here to the additional discussion, too. The Animate Orchestra sounds like so much fun--and such a great idea, too.Susan Scheidhttp://prufrocksdilemma.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-78638921285825499512014-04-18T22:57:18.621+01:002014-04-18T22:57:18.621+01:00For all the percussion battery in the Zimmermann, ...For all the percussion battery in the Zimmermann, it was the trianglist attacking with two beaters in the Brahms 4 scherzo who impressed the most.<br /><br />I fancy Photoptosis needs to be experienced live: it might not make too much sense simply heard. But there's definitely a line through it and an expressive urgency which lifts it, for me, above Boulez and Stockhausen.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-56016359047132102202014-04-18T17:21:54.337+01:002014-04-18T17:21:54.337+01:00I hadn't thought to include the concert in the...I hadn't thought to include the concert in the day's plan, but it wasn't practical with both Luke and Rowan and having to ensure Rowan's steel pan got home safely, and going for a pizza reward with Carla and her boyfriend afterwards. It was the least I could do given the hard work involved in a 3 day workshop plus rehearsal and performance. <br /><br />Rowan was very impressed by the LPO's percussionist who showed her how to use four beaters, and "can play anything" including piano and guitar. We shall listen to the piece on GooTube and I'll ask Rowan for her thoughts. I don't know Zimmermann at all so I have a lot of exploring to do.Howard Lanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03217071162180558304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-26465730284127638642014-04-18T10:11:39.046+01:002014-04-18T10:11:39.046+01:00Clearly a visit is in order for you (all?) to Swed...Clearly a visit is in order for you (all?) to Sweden, Howard, especially worth seeing A Flowering Tree in lovely Goteborg. Poor Julia had a tough call in the much-lambasted Fledermaus. I thought she was a mezzo in The Passenger, but clearly not.<br /><br />Keep us posted on your flexatonal activities. Back on that post, I just had a fascinatingly informative comment from our musical saw artiste, Berlin-based Katharina Micada, which chimes (wails?) with what an orchestral musician said about her friendly communicativeness.<br /><br />And still on the LPO note, how fascinating that Photoptosis project must have been. Wish I'd known. I've reviewed the concert for The Arts Desk (hope Rowan got to hear it) and was very glad to hear Zimmermann's masterpiece again (Susanna Malkki conducted the BBCSO in it a couple of years ago). Be interested to know what Rowan thought. Perhaps you could coax a couple of sentences out of her here or over on TAD?Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-80202798545303819742014-04-18T09:30:52.502+01:002014-04-18T09:30:52.502+01:00Such beautiful images, I always want to immediatel...Such beautiful images, I always want to immediately go to wherever you visually record, even the birch trees call out although there are plenty to be found here in Blighty.<br /><br />My tangent is that my former work colleague is moving to Sweden with his wife, soprano Julia Sporsén. She will singing Violetta in La Traviata at Folkoperan in Stockholm and Kumudha in John Adams’ opera A Flowering Tree in Gothenburg in February.<br /><br />We are planning to see her in Julian Anderson's new ENO work Thebans next month.<br /><br />Totally off-topic, my new flexatone had its first outing at the English Magic exhibition opening in Bristol last week, and Rowan went straight from that to the Animate Orchestra, an LPO workshop for children using Zimmerman's Phototopsis as the basis for a composition, performed at the Clore ballroom. I'm so proud of her many talents.Howard Lanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03217071162180558304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-23212494090707371572014-04-18T00:14:22.144+01:002014-04-18T00:14:22.144+01:00Indeed, Sir David - just been reading Cees Nootebo...Indeed, Sir David - just been reading Cees Nooteboom on Kant's most odious Weltanschauung and couldn't agree more.<br /><br />Sue - it would be reductive of me to say woods and water are what Finland's entirely about too, but you should get some of the same landscapes. Which reminds me that I need to get back in touch with Hilkka of Ainola to make sure you have the personal touch chez SibeliusDavidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-86278809157268014902014-04-17T22:52:29.602+01:002014-04-17T22:52:29.602+01:00So much to take in here, and all wonderful. Of cou...So much to take in here, and all wonderful. Of course you are whetting the appetite for our own summertime trip to that part of the world, though for us, as you know, it will be Finland. You remind me with the images of the Thiel collection, of an enjoyable trip to NYC's Scandinavia House for a Centennial retrospective of Scandinavian Art in America. I'd meant to write a post on it, but it's one of many that got away. Munch was represented, and from the exhibit catalogue I see Larsson (just as you describe his work, with a Christmas scene) and Liljefors were represented, too, though the latter by only one work, and not as appealing as the ones you show here. And beyond the artwork, the customs house! the heronry! and all the rest. And of course I'm curious about what Descartes was doing buried there (for a while). Must make a mental note to look that up.Susan Scheidhttp://prufrocksdilemma.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-8212347621719251012014-04-17T05:55:08.782+01:002014-04-17T05:55:08.782+01:00How intelligent and human were these French philos...How intelligent and human were these French philosophers, and how wise their insights as compared with the dangerous and unrealistic obscurities of German philosophydavid damantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-30150699130421143512014-04-16T14:57:27.166+01:002014-04-16T14:57:27.166+01:00How did I guess before I read it, Sir David, that ...How did I guess before I read it, Sir David, that your tangent would be Descartes?<br /><br />Of course it strikes me now that my previous city was Montaigne's Bordeaux...only connect.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-58199151295520217882014-04-16T14:29:18.226+01:002014-04-16T14:29:18.226+01:00France under Louis XIII and the young Louis XIV ha... France under Louis XIII and the young Louis XIV had for long had Cardinals Richelieu and then Mazarin as first ministers. After the death in March 1661 of Cardinal Mazarin, Louis XIV ( then 23) was asked.....to whom should we address matters of state?...to me,replied the king. "Le roi gouverne par lui-meme" says the medallion at the centre of the Hall of Mirrors. Thus, was the order for the removal of Descartes to France amongst his first acts? A cardinal might not have agreed with the views of Descartes, whose works were placed on the Index of Prohibited Books by the Pope in 1663. But maybe Louis took a different viewDavid Damantnoreply@blogger.com