August 27, 2004
Mother of God, It's Mozart Blogging
I suppose the post below about the Yalie who is predicting the Armageddon of classical music spurned me on to this, but I spent this evening wallowing in some serious Mozart.
First, it was the "Prague" Symphony, No. 38 (K. 504). As far as I am concerned, the first movement of this symphony is the absolute apex of the classical symphonic statement. (I'm willing to concede that the second and third movements don't match the first in terms of brilliance, thereby weakening the argument that this is the greatest classical symphony ever written. But it's still pretty damn close.)
I have two recordings of this piece. The first, which I listen to regularly, is by Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert. It is pretty good, but there is a certain - how shall I say it? - mushiness that keeps this performance from being as good as it could be. My other recording is by Sir Charles Mackeras and the Prague Chamber Orchestra. The tempi are waaaaay too fast, making the whole thing sound frantic.
The performance of Mozart presents problems which, as far as I am aware, are unique to his music. On the one hand, notation must be respected precisely and tempi must be fast and crisp. On the other hand, the performance must appear effortless. Any deviation from the path between the Scylla of sloppiness and the Charybdis of Trying Too Hard is fatal to the performance. Buh-lieve me, I know what I'm talking about. I studied and performed the C-minor piano sonata, K. 457, in my day. Time after time, I would focus on technical perfection only to discover that I had blown the sense of the piece. When I tried to catch my breath and concentrate on the substance, I would frequently find myself forgetting to pay attention to the technical minutiae. Very frustration-making. Any time you see a pianist with bruises on his forehead, you will know you've seen someone practicing Mozart.
On the other hand, when done right, Mozart's music carries a sublime aura unknowable in any other composer's work. In this respect, may I strongly recommend Malcom Bilson, fortepianist? The other piece I listened to this evening was the piano concerto No. 18 in B-Flat, K. 456, performed by Mr. Bilson and the English Baroque Soloists under John Eliot Gardiner. This piece has always been a favorite of mine. Allow me to quote to you what Leopold Mozart, Wolfgang's father, had to say about Mozart's performance of this piece at a Lenten concert on February 13, 1785:
...a masterful concerto that he wrote for [the blind virtuosa Maria Theresia} Paradis...I... had the great pleasure of hearing all the interplay of the instruments so clearly that for sheer delight tears came to my eyes. When your brother left the stage, the Emperor tipped his hat and called out, "Bravo, Mozart!" and when he came on to play, there was a great deal of clapping.
I particularly enjoy the first movement of the piece. However, the rest is good as well. I swear that there is a thematic connection between the pathetic, almost tragic second movement and one of Susanna's moonlit arias from the fourth act of Le Nozzi di Figaro although I am too tired tonight to track it down. At any rate, Bilson is keenly aware of the pitfalls of Mozartian performance and avoids them all. His playing is crisp, clean and seemingly effortless. So you can lose yourself in the sublimity of the music without having to fret about the imperfections of Man dragging you back down to Earth. That's the way Mozart ought always to be performed.
What could we do? We were double-llama dared!
Our new pal Jeff over at Beautiful Atrocities alerts us to Salam Pax's desire to see Ayatollah Sistiani receive a "Queer Makeover." Seems the time in Britain left him looking a little---how do you say? ah, yes---baggy.
Well, how can we resist the opportunity to mock a religious figure revered by millions around the globe? I mean, we ARE the Llamabutchers....
anyhoo, here's the set up:
What did Ayatollah Sistiani say to Muqtada to get him to give it up?
"Muckie, Saturday night is indeed alright for fighting..."
The Death Of Musical Literacy
ACD at Sounds & Fury links to an article by John Halle, a Yale music professor, prophesizing the disappearance of the Western Canon from the stage.
God help us all if he's correct.
Swift Boat Lift?
I have been watching the Iowa Elections Market in a languid way for some months now. Over most of August, shares on Bush and Kerry have been trading pretty close to each other. However, have a look at the last couple days - suddenly Bush has shot back up to about 53 cents a share and Kerry has sunk back down to 46 cents - the biggest split since the beginning of the month.
I'm not saying this is a definite trend - given the gyrations of the past few months it's impossible to make such a judgement this early. But I find the magnitude of the shift over such a short period to be fascinating. I wonder if this is a sign that folks who put their money where their mouth is are beginning to believe Kerry's ship has some serious leaks below the water line.
Be sure to check back to the chart often.
Just Call Us Llama Link-Whores
I notice with intense gratitude that we are now #485 in the TTLB Ecosystem, right smack dab in the middle of the Large Mammal herd. (As is should be, given that we ARE llamas, after all.)
What else can we say but Yip! Yip! Yip!
Ricky Williams' Latest Victim: Michele Catalano
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
But wait, it gets weird:
Going retro? Queen of the blogs slumming in blogspot? You make the call.
PS--Happy birthday, Michele!
Afternoon snarf, part deux
Remember the scene in Ghostbusters when Howard Ramis tells the guys: whatever you do, don't cross the streams?
Baaad things happen when you cross the streams.
But like that's going to stop Scott Ott:
Kerry to donate medals to Korean gymnast
Afternoon snarf
How would the Guardian spin the first Israeli Olympic Gold Medal?
(Because "hat tipping" is passe, we bow down before the superior osmosis-blogging skills of the one and only Sheila).
Somewhere Douglas Brinkley is in bus station, muttering to himself....
Book I'm going to be looking for over at our campus bookstore in the "Haigography of Liberal Demigods" section
Graphic (but not bandwidth!) stolen from Jeff at Protein Wisdom.
Is this the thrill of victory, or the agony of defeat?
The Geek Empire poses a dilemma worth pondering from the Olympics.
Those of you viewing links from the friendly confines of government computers might want to follow and ponder at home....
Is this the thrill of victory, or the agony of defeat?
Gordon the Cranky Neo-con poses a dilemma worth pondering from the Olympics.
Those of you viewing links from the friendly confines of government computers might want to follow and ponder at home....
School of Dreck
I just sent the link over to our Dean that our college---Southern women's college that it is--should volunteer for this:
former MÖTLEY CRÜE drummer Tommy Lee will be the focus of NBC TV's latest reality entry, a half-hour unscripted comedy in which Lee will enroll in college with cameras following his every move. Eddie October ("Bands Reunited", "Wanda Does It") is behind the project, which is set up at NBC Universal Television and has a series commitment at the network.
The possibilities are endless....
(Thanks to Lawren, our source for all the good gossipy Tasty Bits)
Who is ahead?
Rule of thumb in politics---whoever is the one demanding debates is the one behind. And, the more debates they demand, the more they feel they are falling behind.
Got it?
Okay: Kerry campaign demands weekly debates between now and election.
Episode Three
You know what's giving the left such a monumental hissy---eight months of AWOL/Fahrenheit/BusHitler stuff, and not even a dent in his polls, and two weeks of this, and Kerry's sinking, fast.
Gosh, you have to wonder about the return on investment George Soros is getting for his billions.....
First day of classes
Today's a might bit busy, what with the first day of classes and all the attendant BS & crap therein attached. Rusty's swamped as usual over at Tatooine Tech.
So who does that leave in charge?
Why, the Crack Young Staff at the Hatemongers Quarterly, that's who!
Here's their week in review:
Day Two: Orientation
Day Three: Diversity Training (My advice? Run....FAST!)
15 Yard Penalty For Taunting
Rat-bastard Ricky Williams seems to have been calling the Dolphins recently.
Well, I hope Williams comes out of his drug-induced haze long enough to check out this site.
Sigh. Between this and now losing Ogunleye, it's gonna be a loooooooong season.
Sigh.
Ker-POW!
Don at Mixolydian Mode notes that today is the 121st anniversary of the explosion of Krakatoa.
Somebody came out with a book about this event within the past couple of years, the name of which now escapes me. However, my mother read it and was extremely enthusiastic about it. I'm going to have to try and track it down.
Dr. Dan Streetmentioner Strikes*
Over at Oxblog, you may have seen Josh Chafetz catch out Lewis Lapham, the editor of Harper's, for publishing a post-mortem on the GOP Convention before it's even happened.
Apparently, Lapham now has issued a feeble apology blaming temporary brain cramp in the matter of proper tense usages for the incident. Well, Josh isn't buying it. Go on over and be sure to check out the links too.
Heh, I say. Heh.
*If you get this joke, you are one serious Douglas Adams fan!
Otterly Believable
In the past, I've sometimes been suckered by Scott Ott's satiric columns, not realizing they were jokes until I saw who wrote them (a mark of true talent, btw, and the cause of several large "D'Oh!"- induced bruises on my forehead).
Today, Ott has a piece over at Right Wing News which dances closer to the hazy line between satire and reality than any I've seen yet. I don't say this to give away the joke. Rather, I say it because I think the campaign suggested by Ott really isn't such a bad idea.
Hamm-Fisted
I haven't had anything to say about the Olympics in general and this whole medal-controversy thing in particular, but the thing seems to keep getting sillier and sillier. Apparently, the International Federation of Gymnists is suggesting that Hamm's giving up the medal would be the sporting thing to do. In response, the US Olympic Committee are wetting their collective pants about pressure and cleaning up other people's mistakes.
Frankly, I think Hamm ought to give up the gold - of his own will and as a show of sportsmanship. But the way this is playing out, with everyone's backs being put up and noses getting out of joint- it isn't going to happen now.
Jeesh.
Your Tax Money At Work
My first case at DOJ this week, I was given the file and the manual and told to get to it. Simple enough.
On the other hand, I just got back from an hour and a half voicemail "training" session that consisted of an administrator explaining how to dial a telephone (this is a "one", this is a "two"...) and calling the wrath of the gods down on anyone who clogs up his or her mailbox with too many saved messages.
Go figure.
Llama-ette Reading Time
Last night, my six year old and I finished reading The Magician's Nephew - the first of C.S. Lewis' Narnia books in terms of Narnian chronology. When she realized that the magic wardrobe in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe was made out of the wood of the magic tree planted by Digory in The Magician's Nephew and that Digory was none other than the old professor in the big house in LW&W, her face lit up like Times Square on New Year's Eve. Very satisfying to watch the penny drop.
For some reason, I find it hard to read the Narnia books aloud. Perhaps this is because some of Lewis' sentences run a bit long, perhaps it is because I'm so used to reading them to myself. Also, the characters can be tough. I can do a passibly somber voice for Aslan. For the White Witch, I try to imitate Margaret Hamilton's Wicked Witch of the West. The children, especially the girls, tend to be more of a problem. I've yet to hit on a really satisfactory way of conveying their individual personalities. And the animals run a wide gauntlet, from Bree the horse to the wicked cat in The Last Battle.
Getting this right is important to me because I've always believed that certain specific readings and images from one's youth stick in one's brain. I remember my 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Cook, reading Tom Sawyer to the class. She was an elderly lady with lots of silver hair. To me, she was the very embodiment of Aunt Polly. Still is, too. If I'm going to make the same kind of impression on my girls, I want it to be a good one.
UPDATE: I should have been more clear about the Witch. I use Hamilton's voice for her shriller moments, but I try for something more imperious when she is coming it the Queen Jadis. What was the name of the eviiiil Queen from Sleeping Beauty? Sort of a cross between that, Glenn Close and Kate Hepburn.
Whiskey Barrel Blogging
Why not? Our pal The Bookish Gardiner has some sweet pics of hers.
My own have nothing more inspired than a mix of red and white impatiens. They've filled out nicely this year, but they look like the equivalent of a Chrystler K-car in comparison to Chan's Jag.
Forgive Me Father, For I Am About To Sin
I hope I don't cause our readership to tank with this post, but really, I feel I need to say this - as much as I enjoy Victor David Hanson's writing, he really needs a more rigorous editor.
I am nearing the end of Ripples of Battle, Hanson's book about the ways in which specific individual's experiences in specific battles have wider implications on a societal, political and historical level. (If you remember the old television series "Connections" by James Burke, it's a similar cause and effect principle.)
Currently, I am reading Hanson's discussion of the battle of Delium in 424 BC, in which an invading army of Athenians was pulvarized by the Boeotians. Among the surviving Athenian leaders was Alcibiadis, a flamboyant nobleman who would later be the principal mover behind the disastrous expedition against Sicily. Another of the surviving members of the Athenian phalanx, a man who performed heroically that day, was none other than Socrates. On the other hand, one of the Athenian casualties at Delium was Hippocratis, a conservative who had been trying to find a brokered end to the then-ten year old war between Athens and Sparta. Hanson examines these three figures, tracing (in the case of the survivors) how Delium influenced their thinking and status and how these matters, in turn, shaped history. He also wonders what might have happened had neither Socrates or Alcibiadis survived or if Hippocratis had not been killed.
This is all fascinating stuff and well worth reading and pondering, but Hanson's presentation really needs some serious trimming. He's long-winded and repetative and has an odd way of dancing back and forth between dry analysis and history-for-the-masses flourishes. And all those damned exclamation points! It seems to me that someone should have sat down with him and said "Vic, baby. Tighten it up."
UPDATE: On the other hand, Hanson's columns do not seem to suffer from this problem. In today's, VDH suggests that Kerry's Swift Boat might have been named Nemesis. (He does make one floater that I can't help pointing out: Nemesis was a goddess, not a god.)
Today's Required Reading
Steyn, of course.
I don't know whether Swift Boats are or were given names, but if so, I've got a suggestion for Kerry's: The Kobayashi Maru. In deciding to base his entire campaign on a couple months' service in Vietnam 30 plus years ago, conveniently forgetting his own horrid and irresponsible behavior after the war and the contempt in which most Vietnam vets did and still do hold him, Kerry has managed to create his very own no-win situation. If he chucks the whole Vietnam service platform now, his entire argument for qualification to lead the country in war (such as it is) goes right out the window. (And think of the field day the Republicans will have if Kerry starts "reinventing himself".) On the other hand, if Kerry keeps hammering on his war record while savaging his critics, the vets - furious at his response to date - will keep hammering on him.
My advice? Prayer, Mr. Kerry. The Swifties don't take prisoners.
Yips! to Hugh.