The Classical Music Guide Forums

barney

Well, I have no problem with paying higher taxes for a luxury car. You don't NEED a luxury car; it's a lifestyle choice. And I entirely support your right to make it. But nor do I have a problem with your making a contribution as a result.

barney

It is the one pictured above stating "Handel: Acis and Galatea", a photo of a Decca/DGG album of Mozart's Complete Handel Arrangements. Now, because DGG and Decca are under the same umbrella they can issue material from both catalogues. Sorry Lance, I'm a little confused. Which DGG/Decca item? If I...

barney

It would be ersatz. And classical lovers tend to be purists.
Or so I generalise, without a modicum of evidence.

barney

I almost wish he would. Then he could be locked up.

barney

Sorry Lance, I'm a little confused. Which DGG/Decca item? If I have it, I can give you the number.

barney

I'm too mean (and possibly too skint) ever to buy a new car. I can't bear that you lose about 30% in depreciation the second you drive out the door. My last few cars, since we became older and more comfortable, have been a year old, with most of the depreciation already gone.

barney

Yes, I agree. Before one runs out of energy... Yet another person in our music group diagnosed with cancer: they're falling like nine-pins. When you're in the over 60 cohort this is standard-issue livery!! And that's why we're making 'succession' plans for our estate while we are still breathing!! ...

barney

Well that's fascinating, John. But, though I bow to no one in my admiration for Mozart, Handel definitely wins on comparison of The Trumpet Shall Sound.
How odd of Mozart to have it without a trumpet at all, divided between strings and horns. Loved the bass,though - fine singer.

barney

Very interesting comments regarding your lecture. The thing I dread is that one day, the stage at Carnegie Hall will have an electric piano on stage with the likes of a Horowitz or Rubinstein playing a full program of Chopin! While electric pianos have come a long way, they have an even longer way ...

barney

I don't buy many CDs because I still get some to review, though far less than even two years go. Lance, Eloquence is still going strong. I just received 8 CDs of all Brahms' orchestral music with the Leipzig Gewandhaus and Masur, and 9 CDs of the complete Bruckner symphonies with different conductor...

barney

An attractive program

barney

Trump awards next G-7 summit to his own Miami-area resort By Toluse Olorunnipa and David A. Fahrenthold Washington: US President Donald Trump has awarded the 2020 G-7 Summit of world leaders to his own private company, scheduling the summit for June at his Trump Doral golf resort outside Miami, the ...

barney

And I'll third it, if you meant second, Sue.

barney

You're back to the early days of Trump's presidency, Len, when the question of Putin's influence was front and centre, and the stories were of the deals Trump planned in Moscow.

barney

Yes, I see that, and that it is indeed clever. But I don't see how she could diminish him more than he diminishes himself. Look at how incredibly fast American influence has collapsed after his betrayal of the Kurds, and that is spreading beyond the Middle East.

barney

Yes, I agree. Before one runs out of energy...

barney

I don't know whether to blame Sue or John. I was going to have an early night, but started listening to the links posted about 9pm. Now, via a huge round trip, it is 12.40, and I am still listening to music on YouTube. Right now, Bach's Toccata and Fugue. Via Handel, Mozart, George Formby (!!) and G...

barney

I haven't forgotten, Len. You get one fifth, along with a fifth each for my four children. Right now, $1.27.

barney

While we are posting favourite Handel links, I've always considered this close to perfection:
Kathleen Battle and Wynton Marsalis in Let the Bright Seraphim.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUOTq_x ... A&index=12

barney

This is interesting to me as a non-American because I did not immediately spot the racist undertones. It just isn't the same problem in Australia (not that racism doesn't exist, of course, but it's not part of the fabric), so I took it at face value until (next sentence) the reporter explained. Is h...

barney

Thanks Joseph. that's one of the best analyses I have read - really good. And really depressing.

barney

PS, of course my wife would have to die too, and she is in fine health and comes from a long-lived line.

barney

With the rapidly aging population and increased life expectancy one form is recognized as "elder abuse" and it mainly comes from families who want their inheritance and become impatient waiting for it!! I am very concerned to leave an inheritance for my children, a concern I inherited from my fathe...

barney

There are indeed some hit tunes in Handel's operas. "Ombra mai fu" is world famous, Polyphemus's "O ruddier than the cherry" is a hoot, and "Love in her eyes sits playing" (in Mozart's arrangement - woodwinds!) is a wonder. M6p6lVVViaU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6p6lVVViaU But it's not typica...

barney

A friend has alerted me to this generous offering from Steinway, free streaming of a dozen or so CDs. Right now I am listening to the first track on the first CD, the marvellously titled "Pavane for these distracted times". By Thomas Tomkins, it was composed not this week but 350 years ago! http://s...

barney

So, two awful alternatives. A bigger war in Syria that might go on and on, if the Syrian Army joins the Kurds, or a reshaping of power relationships to which the Kurds have to accommodate themselves, in which all the players are deeply unpleasant. And an utter loss of face and influence for the US i...

barney

New Yorker had a nice cartoon of that quartet. One of them is working a puppet Trump, while another is saying "my turn now".
Very telling.

barney

Yes Len, riveting reading. I really enjoyed it (as well as learning a great deal). Thanks.
What a character Zita was. And a tragic life, because it was dedicated to a chimera, the return of the Habsburgs.

barney

Another abject failure of executive power to be propagated into competent administration. Little wonder our allies have thrown up their hands in despair of ever finding anyone at Foggy Bottom in charge of actual policy. Meantime Bill Barr considers it seemly for the Atty General to meet with right-...

barney

There are, of course, many people in the world as unpleasant as Trump, such as Putin or Columbian drug lords. And they have an effect on my world too. But nothing like the same extent. It is hard to watch helplessly as Trump undermines the assumptions, understandings and systems that have shaped my ...

barney

Just got Conrad Tao's American Rage, with two works by Rzewski. Winnsboro Cotton Mills Blues strikes me as quite brilliant. Haven't listened to the other yet - Which Side Are You On? Also Copland piano sonata - beautifully played - and Julia Wolfe's Compassion, composed after 9/11, which I have yet ...

barney

Sadly, we are long past the stage of 'marriage counseling' where reflection and healing might attend upon an amicable settlement of differences. The resolution of the coming conflict, if and when it occurs, is unlikely to be a no-fault separation, but instead much more like a nasty and recriminator...

barney

PS, yes, I do feel better now. thanks.

barney

I don't trust Trump and I'm sure Morrison doesn't either. Nor does he trust the Chinese. On a scale of atrocities China beats anything the USA has ever done or could ever do and yet we're expected to 'kid glove' China and despise Donald Trump. I cannot do double standards myself. The Gladys Lui epi...

barney

Your last sentence partly explains the problem; my son turned up with references from 4 German au pairs they had working for them. All glowing references and very moving tributes to our son. The magistrate (at the FVRO hearing) said, " because of my workload I haven't been able to read these, so I'...

barney

Congratulations! You seem to be making some headway. I hope it continues. The wheel that squeaks the most - gets the grease! Very interesting comments about Rimsky-Korsakov. Well, they did mention the holiday today and did play a few additional selections, namely: another short work by Salamone Ros...

barney

Just a reminder that there are listeners for whom new music is not too much effort but an instantaneous joy. There are few of those listeners on this particular board (one?), but those listeners do exist, listeners who actively seek out music they've never heard before (the model of listening that ...

barney

I long admired Marilyn Horne: what a voice and capacity for vocal gymnastics that woman had! And vocal gymnastics are part of Handelian opera; they were virtuosic display pieces and they are certainly that. I take your point, Barney, about the Da Capo aria; all well and good if you liked the piece ...

barney

Thanks for posting that, Joseph. According to an article in Australian press, his rock-solid supporters in Pennsylvania and the like are not even interested, let alone concerned, so I hope you are right.

barney

Sue wrote: Why are either of those labels, or any others, even necessary? We're all human beings. That's the trouble when grievance groups start getting into contests over who has the greater grievance. Men have probably treated women worse than the reverse over the eons, it is true, but this doesn'...

barney

Sue, I was impressed by Morrison's first months. I thought he was deft and as centrist as he could be. But I think his handling of the US relationship has been awkward, inept and very much not in Australia's interests. He has come across as a toady, lickspittle and suck, who will agree with everyth...

barney

Of course both sexes are equal in being capable of the worst behaviors. I am not disputing that. The issue is one of proportion. I am suggesting that men engage in pernicious behaviors to a far greater extent than do women, but for a variety of socio-political reasons that have little to do with ge...

barney

Trump's betrayal of the Kurds will reignite suspicions that Trump is Putin's 'Siberian Candidate'. Russia is reportedly preparing to attack the Kurds from the south in coordination with Turkish air and ground forces from the north (source: WAPO's David Ignatius). Turkey is a huge deal. Trump now wi...

barney

1936, wasn't it. The news is worse, I'm afraid; my son will get to meet your President when he visits Australia (as he does other international leaders)! This comment might appeal to you; it was written under an item in "The Australian" this morning about this very topic: Donald is a bull in a chin...

barney

Sue, I was impressed by Morrison's first months. I thought he was deft and as centrist as he could be. But I think his handling of the US relationship has been awkward, inept and very much not in Australia's interests. He has come across as a toady, lickspittle and suck, who will agree with everythi...

barney

I'm interested that only Lenny of our American posters has said anything. Is that because of Trump-fatigue, or because you think I am wrong?
It has to be quite an issue in the US if even Republicans are condemning it, does it not?

barney

PS - I think I was sent that Serse, and didn't get round to opening it.

I will try to find it amid the piles on the desk, floor, around the turntable, beside the CD shelves etc.

barney

Thanks Brian I admire Bartoli immensely, and have very many of her CDs, from complete operas to her themed recitals, such as Sacrificium. I also heard her when she came to Melbourne a few years ago. Astounding flexibility and technique, great presence, but not actually a large voice. Of course I won...

barney

It's also extremely off putting to those distracted by the light from the phone. A year or two ago, at the end of the first work at a concert, I asked a woman in front of me to put her phone away because it was distracting - she was texting - and at interval half a dozen people thanked me. I was not...

barney

Alas, the magic eludes me. I quickly find them tedious. Long da capo arias, and no forward momentum. I remember an Opera Australia Julius Caesar where each singer would sing the aria, turn to walk off stage, then wheel about as if struck by a new thought, and sing it again. For me, baroque opera is ...

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