tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post5127616683338278625..comments2024-03-26T07:58:59.761+00:00Comments on I'll think of something later: A bird room in BambergDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-83652467230599198352014-12-15T09:02:37.291+00:002014-12-15T09:02:37.291+00:00Age has a few disadvantages, but one advantage is ...Age has a few disadvantages, but one advantage is that I saw so many marvelous places before the crowds. Only half a dozen people in the Sistine Chapel and the Escorial. As for the great temple at Angkor Wat I was alone except for a priest in a saffron robe burning incense and chanting<br /><br />Whereas nowadays....one can only employ the comment made by the Guards Officer when he was asked what it was like on the beaches at Dunkirk <br />"My Dear - the Noise ! And the People!"David Damantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-13024443078923470482014-12-15T05:05:53.370+00:002014-12-15T05:05:53.370+00:00Rachel Tovey is stunning! Well, she stunned me in ...Rachel Tovey is stunning! Well, she stunned me in Elektra in Nuremberg, ears still ringing, and what about the (Bieito) Turandot <a href="http://youtu.be/NxFoZqweOgc" rel="nofollow">here</a>. For The Ring I would travel there depending on the usual variables, so who knows!<br /><br />I have to say, nothing prepared Nuremberg: the German in Germany, the home of Dürer, the home of the Reich as much as anywhere else, its horrors on display, the vast hideous Hitler rally fields suburbanizing themselves with car races and dance parties, the great churches (Meistersingers), the home of the bay window one floors up for the rich and discrete to observe the street in privacy, the walls unbreached till the Americans arrived bringing money, and men ...<br /><br />Bamberg I did visit on a day trip from Bayreuth PC (pre Castorf) and defer of course to David's vastly superior everything. Actually, what sticks in my mind were the shops and dealers in religious icons and statues, wooden of course, some of museum quality and likewise priced. <br /><br />One really needs a car down there.wandererhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08196036534397389760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-30631222411530025732014-12-14T08:53:52.346+00:002014-12-14T08:53:52.346+00:00Yes, absolutely, do go to the open rehearsal. It w...Yes, absolutely, do go to the open rehearsal. It will depend on what stage they've reached as to whether you just get a straight playthrough or more, and I usually can't hear what the conductor's saying from where I'm sitting. But Sakari is clearly a great guy, plenty of encouraging grins to the orchestra, obviously loves what he conducts to bits. I'll find out for myself in Januray when I interview him (finally; it was supposed to happen in Stockholm last March, when he was sick and Jukka-Pekka stepped in with that phenomenal Beethoven 7).<br /><br />Herr Damant, du hast recht. So many places I discovered as a 'traveller' have been ruined by 'tourists' (defined by busloads and the herd mentality). I somehow suspect that apart from the cathedral area, which already fills up with vast parties of Chinese and Japanese especially, the rest of Bamberg - including places like the Carmelite cloister - would be left alone. Mind you, that used to be true of Venice beyond St Mark's Square and the Rialto, and now everyone is everywhere. We can't complain, as however selective we like to think we are, we're still part of the problem.<br /><br />If, however, the most loyal blogfolk like Sue and wanderer get to go (you've been, I guess), my enthusiasm will have been well spent.<br /><br />Congatulations, by the way, for getting the Lampedusa heir Gioacchino and the lovely Nicoletta (aka the Duke and Duchess of Palma) to the Garrick. Damn nuisance that I was talking myself that evening (to an audience of five, as I think I've mentioned). Great report from diplomate and a few tasty morsels to sample Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-75238666082730407402014-12-14T08:40:01.146+00:002014-12-14T08:40:01.146+00:00David, you are addressing a highly sophisticated g...David, you are addressing a highly sophisticated group here on your blog, but you should hope that your recommendation to the English ( and others) to take more notice of Bamberg is NOT taken on board more widely. Numbers alone, quite apart from any other consideration, can ruin a place, especially as the locals respond by providing profitable services which are not medieval or 18th century.David Damantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-43379925874830770162014-12-14T03:33:47.507+00:002014-12-14T03:33:47.507+00:00Holy mackerel! I'm listening to BBC Player now...Holy mackerel! I'm listening to BBC Player now, though I'll probably have to start in again tomorrow, as the hour is late, but this Busoni is something else! <br /><br />Your review is fabulous, really captures the evening, and of course I love Busoni's design for the score's cover, not to mention your use of "anorak" in the first para. Nope, I don't think you tied yourself in knots trying to describe it, on the contrary, your recounting is vivid and particular, and of course I have to laugh when I think it took me three days to write 400 words about 1 CD with two pieces I've listened to repeatedly of a composer (Adams) whose work I know fairly well. <br /><br />Well, I'm sure glad I ordered up my ticket to the Oramo/NY Phil concert in New York (February), though the program is nothing like this. I'm wondering now if I should try to make it in for the open rehearsal, too--what do you think?<br /><br />You have also just added, in your latest comment, to the virtues of Bamberg and environs (as if I needed more convincing . . . ). Susan Scheidhttp://prufrocksdilemma.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-22608408911987678312014-12-13T23:43:02.813+00:002014-12-13T23:43:02.813+00:00The Nielsen post may be some time, Sue, but in the...The Nielsen post may be some time, Sue, but in the meantime the Arts Desk review is up of Friday night's concert. The Four Temperaments stunned, but I was taken aback by how well Busoni's 85 minute Piano Concerto worked - of equal interest in a vintage programme. Five stars - since we're obliged to give them - despite small faults.<br /><br />One of Bamberg's virtues is its closeness to 'Czechia', the Bohemian part of which at least could be easily embraced on some such trip. There's Bayreuth too, of course, but reports have it that the Ring in nearbly Nuremberg will be much better than the Castorf overload when it's completed. Our friend Rachel Tovey is singing Brunnhilde, so we'll make a week of it when the whole cycle is ready.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-22450492334512101252014-12-13T17:39:06.053+00:002014-12-13T17:39:06.053+00:00David: I'll look forward to the Nielsen postin...David: I'll look forward to the Nielsen posting, and I'm very sure I would have enjoyed your class about the 2d. Now seeing your response to Laurent, it's even clearer that Bamberg should be high on the list for future vacation planning. Our next "big trip" is a while off yet, but in the meantime I can dream . . . Susan Scheidhttp://prufrocksdilemma.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-36373563583710086032014-12-13T09:57:55.563+00:002014-12-13T09:57:55.563+00:00It's well worth a weekend if not a whole week,...It's well worth a weekend if not a whole week, Laurent. I still haven't covered the outer regions like the castle zone or the unique market garden area which helped gain Bamberg its UNESCO World Heritage status. Italians apparently flock there, to one of the few towns comparable to their own; the English don't really seem to know that this should be Germany's No. 1 tourist attraction if it's a medieval and 18th century past you're looking for.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-42241016580168393782014-12-13T04:30:30.395+00:002014-12-13T04:30:30.395+00:00We only did a train stop in Bamberg on our way to ...We only did a train stop in Bamberg on our way to Dresden in June. It looks fascinating, thank you for this post.Laurenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03297393116796129135noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-87262033346475578702014-12-12T10:40:30.887+00:002014-12-12T10:40:30.887+00:00Thanks, Sue - I also have to chronicle the astonis...Thanks, Sue - I also have to chronicle the astonishing capitals of the Carmelite cloister (zzz, I hear from other readers, but if you read the post on the Monreale cloister and liked it, this is more of the same). <br /><br />Wish you'd been with us last night - I took the class through Nielsen's Second Symphony, the wonderful Four Temperaments. Have always loved it but never studied it in detail, and how astonishing it is for 1902. There's also a programme note by Nielsen, who like Prokofiev could have been a professional writer. It includes a poetic, lilting (in what must be a very good English translation) short story about the character Nielsen imagines as his 'phlegmatic'. Will put it up in a post soon, I love it so.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-17208975459453769382014-12-12T03:05:42.871+00:002014-12-12T03:05:42.871+00:00I'm so pleased you've given us a bit more ...I'm so pleased you've given us a bit more of Bamberg, not to mention the associations with that wonderful book Germania. I've been feeling quite impoverished for visual stimulae here, and it brought to mind, among other things, all the wonderful places you've been able to get to in what seems to me to be a relatively short span. All the greater pleasure, then, to be able to enter into the world of Bamberg through your post. I'll look forward to more, whenever you can. Susan Scheidhttp://prufrocksdilemma.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.com