tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post7064763105264868921..comments2024-03-26T07:58:59.761+00:00Comments on I'll think of something later: Raising a mug to Prokofiev on his birthdayDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-68609539526638318792020-05-04T23:15:13.459+01:002020-05-04T23:15:13.459+01:00Just think, if you bought a copy, you'd give m...Just think, if you bought a copy, you'd give me a tiny royalty and I could eventually sign it should we ever meet. Harlow Robinson's biography is very good - lively style.<br /><br />No, I didn't get to hear that concert in the end - too many rival claims, though as you know I wanted to.<br /><br />Cairns' Berlioz is a model of its kind though crazily, without music examples. We're told that including them means we won't get reviewed in the Sunday papers. I argue that it's a bit like an art book with no reproductions. Big battle with Yale - I had to pay for setting of them in Vol. 1, they finally agreed to an upper limit of 60 they'd pay for in Vol. 2. I didn't realise that you actually pay to write a book regarded as 'academic', but sometimes you just have to do it for the greater good of music.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-56412637604289678432020-05-03T21:00:31.594+01:002020-05-03T21:00:31.594+01:00Must confess that I've never gotten around to ...Must confess that I've never gotten around to reading Vol. 1 of your Prokofiev bio, although it is in the local university library there waiting, if and when things open up again. The only bio that I've read is Harlow Robinson's one-volumer way back, which has a nice inscription by him when I cadged his autograph at a pre-concert talk in Boston back in the day. Good to know that you've started on Vol. 2, and hoping for a successful finish with it.<br /><br />Speaking of Prokofiev, Gemma New was supposed to conduct Prokofiev 5 with the SLSO last month, but that didn't happen for obvious reasons. Did you get to hear that one Stephane D. concert BTW? From the Berlin Phil's DCH, I watched Yuja Wang and KP with Prokofiev PC #3, and Dima Slobodeniouk conducting Prokofiev 2, the closest that I'll ever get to hearing the Second Symphony live. Stephane is a big Prokofiev fan, but I doubt that the SLSO management would let him get away with programming the Second Symphony.<br /><br />Also, on the subject of composer bios, one other big read that I neglected to mention was David Cairns' 2-volumer of Berlioz, in addition to Proust and the other big reads. Have finished Volume 1, and am at the point in Volume 2 where HB is about to embark for Germany.Geo.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-59921933953464155922020-05-02T15:16:22.310+01:002020-05-02T15:16:22.310+01:00Thank you both for your kind encouragement. I alre...Thank you both for your kind encouragement. I already have two chapters written and my feeling is I should just go on chronologically, but I do need to look over all the notes I've written on so many of these late-period works and see what I need to do to them. The concise phrase is 'you can eat an elephant in bite-sized chunks'. Where to begin and end, though, with the voluminous life-to-date of the great Sir D Damant?Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-43200724485841855102020-05-02T06:18:02.868+01:002020-05-02T06:18:02.868+01:00As regards the second Prokofiev volume remember J&...As regards the second Prokofiev volume remember J's remark that one can eat an elephant if one consumes it in small portions. And I can recommend one of my own methods when faced with a similar challenge to intellectual and moral energy. Forget the start or anything to do with the order of the work. Seize on one element in the proposed text that is in your mind ( however minor) and write that up. Then another of the same. And after you have done half a dozen disparate bits some of the bits will trigger other bits and then the energy to attack the whole thing will emerge.David Damantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-42716926869211698342020-05-02T00:41:40.150+01:002020-05-02T00:41:40.150+01:00I am so glad to know you are at work on V2. This i...I am so glad to know you are at work on V2. This is a wonderful tribute to the magnificent Prokofiev, whose piano concerti were among my very first thrilling ventures into classical music. I come late to celebrate his birthday, but I hope it's never too late to raise a toast to Prokofiev--and to you, his stalwart champion.Susanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15674930917585246294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-68692823650169699982020-04-30T15:58:37.289+01:002020-04-30T15:58:37.289+01:00Thanks, Josie. It was just one of those times when...Thanks, Josie. It was just one of those times when everything connected. And just think, without compulsory 'retirement', the Zoom meeting wouldn't have happened, either.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-29572522331255226992020-04-30T15:20:21.428+01:002020-04-30T15:20:21.428+01:00What a truly wonderful story David!
Here's to...What a truly wonderful story David! <br />Here's to you and Prokofiev!Josie Holfordhttps://www.josieholford.com/noreply@blogger.com