The Classical Music Guide Forums

barney

Thanks for the link. It is so Trumpian: sad, funny, outrageous, bewildering, manic, ignorant, deluded, bloviating etc.

barney

It's great to have some charismatic musicians who reach into the wider world. Dudamel certainly does that.

barney

There were several fine obituaries: Daily Telegraph of London, Washington Post, and Gramophone. The Post especially gave him a lot of space. The Gramophone amusingly had his honour Companion of the Order of Australia conferred by the Austrian Government. As his nephew wryly observed, Barry was proba...

barney

Thanks for your kind words. I saw him for the last time a couple of weeks ago, and while I was there the ambulance came to take him to palliative care from which he did not emerge. But he was sharp and funny as always, and delighted to talk about music. He was really a trailblazer as a horn soloist,...

barney

David, I think it's very reasonable to distrust the Democrats, who seem to be increasingly captured by the woke class and will therefore fail to persuade too many Americans. But Len is right: that doesn't change the facts about Trump, who is morally and intellectually unfit to govern, a serial liar,...

barney

Very sad. It was a peaceful death surrounded by family.
I was asked to write the obituary for his home town paper, which I viewed as a considerable privilege:
https://www.theage.com.au/culture/music ... 53sfb.html

barney

Happy birthday, Donald. Or, as we say in our family, nappy burpday.

barney

lennygoran wrote: ↑
Tue Jan 14, 2020 10:02 pm

barney wrote: ↑
Tue Jan 14, 2020 5:07 pm
You might have to learn to walk on water, Len. Been done before, apparently.
Barney walking on water-you must mean trump-he thinks he's the chosen one! Len

No Len, that's far too humble for Trump. He thinks he's the one who does the choosing.

barney

Too kind, Len. We have to be able to express ourselves somewhere, don't we? Mind you, I am reminded of Samuel Johnson's dictum, "no man but a blockhead ever wrote for money". I used to get paid for my opinions once! Or rather for a few of them. Hard to believe, I know...

barney

It would be important to hear evidence, so much so that I cannot understand how the Republicans are denying it. I know they are corrupt in this matter, and have no interest in ascertaining facts but just using their numbers to kill the issue. But surely they are concerned to look to the American peo...

barney

You might have to learn to walk on water, Len. Been done before, apparently.

barney

Thanks Brian, very well explained.

barney

That's an interesting answer: you did when you were performing. Does that mean your ego has diminished with your performing career? (You certainly don't seem to have an overwhelming ego now, but I suppose we should ask Theresa! :lol:) I wonder if we are talking about the same thing - I have in mind,...

barney

So Brian, does a great artist need a huge ego, as is often claimed? They certainly often have them, and sometimes (in not so great artists) utterly without justification.

barney

Thanks Len, all very interesting. What wonderful coverage the NYT provides. Opera reviews in The Age are usually 250 words.

barney

She, like the rest of us, no doubt misses JohnF, with whom she enjoyed vigorous and interesting correspondence. I notice the board is a little less active in his absence. But, like you, I hope she returns and ignores the Corner Pub. She should return-maybe she should ignore the Pub-her sister who I...

barney

Can't help smiling at the pic at the top of the thread. Teddy Tahu Rhodes is still taking his clothes off in his 50s, and congratulations on keeping his physique! I've seen him many times and never once has he kept his clothes on - the latest occasion a couple of months ago wearing a sleeveless dres...

barney

maestrob wrote: ↑
Sat Jan 11, 2020 11:37 am
So, I'm happy with what I have now for the time being.

An enviable state in which you should remain. I am too, really.

barney

Freire did the Emperor in Melbourne last year. Oops, 2018. Deeply satisfying, as one would expect.

barney

Thanks Len. Alagna comes across as pretty likeable. He did a concert in Melbourne, if I recall aright, in which I was unhappy - far more Italian songs than opera arias. Jonas Kaufmann, in contrast, worked really hard when he was here. I paid nearly $300 for a ticket, and was grateful. But the most i...

barney

Well, I saw that post but thought it was only temporary. There has always been some friction between the music boards and the Corner Pub. If it is music you really enjoy, I suggest people stick to the music boards. I don't visit there myself very often. My blood pressure is already being monitored!...

barney

Now, Len, don't get technical on me! :D I have wifi in my house - it's how visitors use the internet here, and my wife's computer etc, but the cable is directly connected to my computer because that's where it comes out. I thus use an ethernet connection to power my hifi. My TV is about 15 years old...

barney

Aha. A brief consultation with Wiki: Although little known in the West, never having toured or recorded there, Sofronitsky was held in the highest regard in his native land. Sviatoslav Richter and Emil Gilels looked up to Sofronitsky as their master, and famously, when Sofronitsky once drunkenly pro...

barney

Sofronitsky has a volume (two CDs) in the Philips Great Pianists of the 20th Century 200-CD set. I am gradually working my way through these again, but have only reached Emil Gilels, his great contemporary who reportedly thought Sofronitsky his master. But I remember his Scriabin from when I got the...

barney

Fascinating, Len, but I'm still not interested in streaming. Besides, with my collection of CDs & DVDs, I'll never run out of music I want to hear. For the cost of joining the three streaming services, I can buy at least 4 CDs/month, which is about my limit anyway for new issues of high quality. An...

barney

Brontosaurus Barney is on the same page as Megalosaurus Maestrob. I really hope streaming works, so that young people can get classical, as the article says, but I have zero interest for myself. Still, I find that the big companies - Universal, Sony, Warners - are offering ever fewer CDs for review,...

barney

Barney thanks for the links-that National Park looks beautiful! I looked at a map and you're about 9 hours from Sydney if I have it right. Most important though-how far are you from Miss Marple's Tearoom! Regards, Len :lol: https://www.missmarplestearoom.com/ Sassafras is just 15 minutes' drive, an...

barney

I can't believe what is happening with wildlife in Australia! People are even loading their cars with Koalas. And this thing with the camels, which are absorbing much-needed water and having to "do away" with many thousands of camels. This has got to be an horrific time in Australia. It seems like ...

barney

Read my lips: No way corrupt Senate Republicans will allow any witnesses. This is a sham: they are betraying their vows to govern honestly and have made it clear the only thing they care about is acquittal, whatever the facts.

barney

I am just below a national park,...Today I am packing my emergency kit: suitcase with some clothes, important documents, hard drive with photos, to grab if necessary. Which of course I ardently hope it is not. Barney could you provide the name of the park-great idea on the emergency kit! Regards, L...

barney

Sue, I agree with everything you just said. Sensible land management legislation to prevent a recurrence of this dreadful fire season is urgently needed. We had measures in the past designed to significantly lessen the impact of our annual fire seasons and they were subverted by well meaning but ig...

barney

Where I am there is no fire at present. But if one starts it will be devastating. The paper today said my area is absolutely primed for disaster, with thick, dense, totally dry bush. As I said before, I am just below a national park, and 50 yards from a large native reserve which has very dense unde...

barney

At the other end of the spectrum, I have attended several piano recitals where the pianist requests that applause be held until a series of pieces has been completed (and not necessarily a series of pieces by one composer). The most extreme example of this in my experience was a 2012 recital by And...

barney

Thank you, Brian, that's very kind indeed. But I see there are many performances on YouTube, so I shall hear it there.

barney

Thanks Lance. I've been providing occasional updates on the Australian fires thread in the Corner Pub.
Short answer: no immediate threat (today) but strong fears for the rest of summer.

barney

Mind you, I can't agree with your analysis. Stopping foreign aid would be reprehensible for one of the richest and luckiest countries on earth, and I can't imagine what leads you to advocate that.

barney

Ah Sue, I was just about to say welcome back =- I've been worried about your silence, thinking that more urgent matters - ie, fires - might have interrupted you. And now you want to say farewell? In the immortal baseball phrase, say it isn't so.

barney

I recall reading an article in the New York Times some years ago when pianist Artur Rubinstein was being interviewed. He said he had no objection to having applause between movements if the public was enjoying the work. The next day he gave a performance of a piano concerto and applause came after ...

barney

Applause between movements interrupts my concentration, and I don't like it much, but I swallow that on the grounds cited above that it is just reward for a fine or exciting performance. I've never heard boos at the end of a movement - though I have at the end of an aria.

barney

Yes, worth watching once as a curiosity. But there's so much Puccini that's worth hearing again and again and again and ... you get the picture. :D Agreed! I seem to remember DiCapo opera & La Selva both produced the opera as part of a double bill, but the dates have long disappeared from my memory...

barney

Yes, worth watching once as a curiosity. But there's so much Puccini that's worth hearing again and again and again and ... you get the picture.

barney

That's a different sort of envy, Len, and one I certainly share. Opera Australia is a top company, ranked high in the second tier (where that is not an insult) but the Met is very obviously one of the top three or four in the world. I love it when I go to the Met releases in Melbourne (the "on-deman...

barney

Well, we're of one accord about Eurotrash. But I'm not sure I'd call Morrison envious - he readily acknowledged good and less helpful aspects of the Met system.

barney

I don't know the opera at all. I have it on CD, and may have listened to it, but if so it was long ago and I don't remember it. It's part of a complete Verdi opera box set, and there were many others I listened to before I masnadieri, including many I barely knew.

barney

Much of the cast and production may have been mediocre, but I can't accept that term for the bass Giacomo Prestia. He was so good (along with the rest of the production) in Opera Australia's Don Carlos a few years back that I went twice. That's not really a role in which you can hide.

barney

Thanks for posting Len. A couple of CDs I will have to acquire. Especially interested in the Mozart concertos and the Brahms. I already have the Trifonov and the Schiff Schubert, which is almost my CD of the year.

barney

Thanks Len. I am within a kilometre of a national park, and if that goes up the embers will easily reach my house. I am within 50 metres of a large native reserve, and if that went up my house would definitely go. Also, the area is very thickly treed, and if such a fire occurred the fire brigade wou...

barney

Yes, Netrebko does seem to be getting better and better and extending her roles and mastery. She did a gala in Melbourne in 2017 with her husband, and I have to say I wondered whether he was getting around the world partly as her partner, as used to be said of Joan Sutherland's husband Richard Bonyn...

barney

Yes a belated happy new year to all CMGers, and indeed to everyone, especially those who are troubled or lonely. I say belated because it is well into January 2 here.

barney

Ah Brian, I have to bow out now (though I probably won't) because we are in perfect amity.

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