tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post1672611136034321280..comments2024-03-26T07:58:59.761+00:00Comments on I'll think of something later: Capo, duomo and cappellaDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-66012013213339773722013-04-20T13:02:48.669+01:002013-04-20T13:02:48.669+01:00I'll give it a listen anon, Sue: thanks for th...I'll give it a listen anon, Sue: thanks for the alert.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-5775041996743113082013-04-20T02:38:48.993+01:002013-04-20T02:38:48.993+01:00Agreed, absolutely, on the gifted young/fresh resp...Agreed, absolutely, on the gifted young/fresh responses. Speaking of which, I don't know if you pay attention to the Pulitzer Prize for music, but the winner this year is quite an interesting choice, Caroline Shaw. New Amsterdam Records put out an album last year by Roomful of Teeth, which I mentioned in my year-end round-up, and her piece was on the album. I'll have to confess I didn't spot her piece as a stand-out, though I like what I've heard of the group and liked the album as a whole. Here's an article on the piece, if of interest: http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/caroline/Susan Scheidhttp://prufrocksdilemma.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-71358166345640138732013-04-19T12:10:24.758+01:002013-04-19T12:10:24.758+01:00Yes, I'll write up Mei Yi's recital with a...Yes, I'll write up Mei Yi's recital with a BBC Symphony concert for tomorrow. I had to check with her what were the extraordinary effects in the last Lachenmann piece and she's just obliged with a page of the score. To be fair, these are variations on very simple children's exercises, but of course he makes something original out of them.<br /><br />Isn't it - again to sound like some pious patrons we both know - wonderful to be in touch with the gifted young? I took a young friend, organ scholar at St John's Cambridge, fabulously talented, to the recital and it was so marvellous to have his fresh responses. We both found ourselves laughing at some of the pieces, which was absolutely intended.<br /><br />And well done for all your achievements the other day!Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-71634258972505386292013-04-18T22:55:34.243+01:002013-04-18T22:55:34.243+01:00Dazzled with Lachenmann, imagine that! And accessi...Dazzled with Lachenmann, imagine that! And accessible, too! Will you be writing on this at The Arts Desk, I hope? <br /><br />On the Contemporaneous front, well, they just continue to astonish. This time, a particular treat was a composition from David Bloom. Incredibly moving. I hope we hear more from him on that front--and of course watching him conduct is always great. Dylan had a new piece, too--dark dissonance in this one, then light bubbling through. They closed with Shaker Loops, so great to hear that live at long last! They had an "after party," first time ever, which gave me a rare chance for conversation with a number of the musicians, including the lovely Lucy D. (Tabby and Nagy weren't able to be there, down in NYC for a summer fest-related event.) They're delightful young men and women, every one. Look at me babbling on here . . . <br /><br />PS: lucked out on the Stevens web class, too--the prof & TAs read out a comment I made by e-mail and erupted into cheers. Al (the prof), knowing I'm a Stevens-lover, thereafter dedicated the webcast to me. I didn't deserve it, but it was fun anyway. Yup, boundless curiosity can keep one bounding without landing quite a bit. Feel like a kangaroo sometimes!Susan Scheidhttp://prufrocksdilemma.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-38331113824048960432013-04-17T23:06:48.834+01:002013-04-17T23:06:48.834+01:00I'm afraid you ain't read the half of it y...I'm afraid you ain't read the half of it yet (literally, because while I've covered two of the four quarters, there's also the Palazzo Lampedusa and its denizens to be considered, and the mountains will need a couple of entries).<br /><br />Boundless curiosity can sometimes tie one in knots, can't it? I just want to read and read about Palermo, adding to the list the two books Catriona mentioned. But I'm also on a Poulenc binge - want to get the letters as well as hear more of the music. And now that phenomenon Mei Yi has just dazzled us with a stunner of a programme. Far from repeating her 'Musical Toys' CD programme, she launched into Bartok, progressed with works by her friend Dai, gave a Benjamin sequence (at least half of it fabulous) and dazzled with Lachenmann (yes, accessible Lachenmann!)<br /><br />Looking forward to the next Contemporaneous report...Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-25772100904941090132013-04-17T21:18:56.716+01:002013-04-17T21:18:56.716+01:00With the artichokes alone, you had me on this one ...With the artichokes alone, you had me on this one (well, the sunshine helped, too—though at least now we’ve seen some of our own here). But really, I hardly know where to begin with all you’ve described. I may have mentioned that years ago we started on a plan to go to Sicily, but somehow it didn’t reach the stage of action. If we had known what you’re showing here, the story would have been different, I’m sure. <br /><br />Of course I love the juxtaposition of modern and ancient tuna carving—as you say, perhaps not great art, but these ancient scenes of daily life are priceless in their own right. I was immediately attracted to the east end apses of the cathedral (if I am understanding correctly the building portrayed there), and that balance of Arab and Norman in the Cappella Palatina (again, if I’m following your trail correctly!) is extraordinary.<br /><br />I don’t know exactly how you both packed all this in in the days you had, but I’m delighted to have this window in to all you saw. <br /><br />PS: And I, too, now have 4 books added to my "wish list." When and if I get to them is another matter entirely . . . My "assignment" for today was to study two poems (neither long, but Wallace Stevens, so focused thinking is required) for a web-based discussion tomorrow, and I have hardly begun. Ah, well, the only thing to do in such a case is give up on it and rush up to Bard for the final Contemporaneous concert of the year . . . so, off I go!<br />Susan Scheidhttp://prufrocksdilemma.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-84320638714185028082013-04-16T16:03:21.036+01:002013-04-16T16:03:21.036+01:00No, I don't know those two books, Catriona: th...No, I don't know those two books, Catriona: that makes four, with the two that Sue has mentioned in the comment to the Davis entry, that I have to read. I was thinking of tackling John Julius Norwich and of course I had forgotten Krol Roger had anything to do with the Normans in Sicily.<br /><br />I suppose you could put it another way: you are lucky not yet to have seen one of the most amazing cities in the world, so that the pleasure of discovery later in life will be all the greater. At any rate that's how I felt. Similarly, on a smaller scale, re Goettingen, where I'm so pleased to say we shall meet again over the last weekend.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-52555910234595393082013-04-16T15:59:06.830+01:002013-04-16T15:59:06.830+01:00Apologies if you have already mentioned - and I ha...Apologies if you have already mentioned - and I have missed - two relatively recent novels about the building of the cathderal; Tariq Ali's 'A sultan in Palermo' and Barry Unsworth's 'The Ruby in her Navel'. Both cover more or less the same period of 12th century Palermo, albeit from different angles, and you can throw Szymanowski's opera 'Krol Roger' into the mix as well. It would be interesting (for those of us not yet lucky enough to visit) to know how the fictional compares with reality. Catrionanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-9983499972503452992013-04-14T22:53:19.055+01:002013-04-14T22:53:19.055+01:00As do we, Laurent, again and again and again. This...As do we, Laurent, again and again and again. This even though I'm plunging into another book (after Peter Robb) on the Cosa Nostra...<br /><br />For me, it's not so much torture (nessun maggio dolore etc) as sheer vivid pleasure to relive the experience by 'doing' the walks and checking some incidental facts along the way.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-91823034210156127542013-04-14T22:47:46.690+01:002013-04-14T22:47:46.690+01:00This is pure torture, you torment us with your sto...This is pure torture, you torment us with your stories and pictures as we drift here on the ice flow in our little gulag. Brings back so many memories and we are so happy we went there more than once and drove around the island. I said to Will we have to return again.Laurenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03297393116796129135noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-75698904338944721952013-04-14T15:00:42.007+01:002013-04-14T15:00:42.007+01:00I'm so delighted you love it as I do, Will. To...I'm so delighted you love it as I do, Will. Too many people I've spoken to said: 'yes - but it's so dirty', as if that weren't a side of the city too. In the Kalsa especially I warmed to the mix of the tarted-up and newly chic with the characterfully crumbling. May it never become too pretty - not that there's any chance of that with the Sicilians (except in horrid, if beautifully situated, Taormina). Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-35450392154241074042013-04-14T14:48:50.559+01:002013-04-14T14:48:50.559+01:00My heart almost simultaneously rose and fell (if t...My heart almost simultaneously rose and fell (if that is possible) when I saw this next instalment on my beloved Palermo. I have no need to tell you how much I love that city - warts (or unsightly garbage bins) and all. Rose because I knew I would be experiencing it anew through your eyes and words - and as always being shown things I had missed; fell because I know it will be a while before I experience it again first hand.<br /><br />I'm so looking forward to your posts on Serpotta and Montreale. I've never been a fan of the Baroque - and certainly not Roman Baroque - but Sicilian Baroque has a glorious tongue-in-cheek insolence that, to my mind at least, captures the character of the Sicilians perfectly. Willymhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03652532356102638621noreply@blogger.com