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Post by joew on Jan 17, 2015 16:59:22 GMT -5
He must be very clever. It's a fascinating story. I hope he's doing okay back in society.
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Post by BoatBabe on Jan 17, 2015 17:59:30 GMT -5
Yes, Joe, exactly what I thought.
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Post by gailkate on Jan 18, 2015 9:56:20 GMT -5
I'm still reading this - so many other things to read. But thanks for a link I'd never have come across on my own - such a cyber family we are!
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Post by gailkate on Mar 6, 2015 19:48:54 GMT -5
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Post by BoatBabe on Mar 7, 2015 11:11:28 GMT -5
Wow!!! I'm . . . aghast. What a runner!!
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Post by joew on Mar 7, 2015 14:50:10 GMT -5
This week the concert is the opera "King Roger," by Karol Szymanowski. Since Thursday's performance was the BSO and Boston premiere of the work I was happy to be in the hall for it. Charles Dutoit conducted with choruses and soloists listed on the performance detail page, www.bso.org/Performance/Detail/63164/ which also gives links to program notes, audio previews, and performer bios. It includes this description: (Some emphasis added.)The music is not tough to take. It's similar to other late Romantic opera in a way. There are no immediately obvious "tunes" but there are soaring lines. It's more like Strauss than Verdi, or even Wagner or Puccini. I'm not sure how it will work without the text, but if you take it just as music, I think it can be enjoyable. For an idea of what's going on, you can read the program notes and listen to the audio previews — not only those on the BSO's own page, but also the one on the WCRB page. www.wgbh.org/995/bso.cfm After attending the concert, I found some video excerpts from staged performances. In one case, seeing the action rounded out the experience, making the music and words more meaningful when linked to the action. In the other case, the director brought in a lot of business which isn't called for in the score — regietheater, they call it in German — and it was not so useful. The reviews were favorable, but since it isn't a familiar work, they couldn't really judge how well it was done. We'll have to accept that, given the quality of the performers, it was good. The review in the Globe www.bostonglobe.com/arts/music/2015/03/06/dutoit-bso-opulent-rare-szymanowski-opera/jLQkzB3kKYU2wBtzsiiywM/story.html gives a good sense of what the music is like as well as what it depicts. It helps perhaps, that there is only one work to review, and the reviewer may have been given a little extra space. The Boston Musical Intelligencer www.classical-scene.com/2015/03/06/king-roger-bso/ gives further insight into Szymanowski's musical style and has more to say about the performers. I know that Mariusz Kwiecien has sung a number of staged performances, and basically owns the role of King Roger, so with him you certainly get the "real deal." My own reaction to the whole thing has to include my feelings about the message of the opera — and I think it clearly has a message. Basically, I think the distinction between reason and order, on the one hand, and feeling and pleasure, on the other, is a false one. I mean that to choose one and exclude the other would be a mistake. Both should be present, and in balance. The Shepherd sings "My God is beautiful, as I am." Christianity would say the same. Beauty is a divine attribute. Truth is another. Catholicism in particular — perhaps along with other strains of Christianity — has at times succumbed to a sort of "Puritanism," an emphasis on avoiding sin, which left little room for joy, for spontaneous feelings, for appreciation of beauty. So there is justification in actual experience for Szymanowski's setting Church and beauty in opposition. But I don't think they need to be opposed, and in Dutoit's reading, at least, it seems that King Roger, and therefore Szymanowski, achieve a healthy synthesis. So, you can listen at 8:00 p.m. this evening March 7, and again on March 16, to the broadcast or web stream over WCRB, www.wgbh.org/995/ and see what you think. If you like the music of Richard Strauss, you'll probably like this.
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Post by BoatBabe on Mar 7, 2015 16:04:49 GMT -5
I guess you just got used to being the only one who posted in this section, eh, Joe?
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Post by joew on Mar 7, 2015 23:27:16 GMT -5
Oops!
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Post by gailkate on Jun 9, 2015 8:17:50 GMT -5
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Post by joew on Jun 12, 2015 15:49:56 GMT -5
Today we heard this at Mass: Ephesians 3:14-21
As I previewed it, the phrase "rooted and grounded in love" reminded me of this item:
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Post by doctork on Jun 12, 2015 18:04:24 GMT -5
Thanks for posting that Joe. It is a reminder that I live pretty close to the Carter Family Fold and I have not yet been there, at least not since medical school a long long time ago. I need to go there. www.carterfamilyfold.org/I also live very close to the Rex Theater in Galax, and not so far from the Barter Theater in Abingdon. I do have tickets next week for Robin & Linda Williams' show "Stonewall Country."
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Post by joew on Jun 12, 2015 18:24:27 GMT -5
It was only last year that I learned about the Carter Family Fold, and it instantly became a place I hope to visit. It's probably not feasible this year, but I hope it will be fairly soon. Too bad I wasn't aware of it in time to get there while Janett and Joe were still alive.
Lucky you to be going to see Robin and Linda Williams.
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Post by jspnrvr on Jun 14, 2015 6:35:10 GMT -5
Thanks, joe. The Carter Family Fold is still on my "to do" list. One of these days.
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Post by BoatBabe on Jun 15, 2015 8:36:13 GMT -5
Did you play along, Jay? That's a good old-timey song.
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Post by booklady on Jul 17, 2015 16:53:09 GMT -5
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Post by BoatBabe on Jul 18, 2015 10:42:53 GMT -5
That article is quite fascinating, BL! What a gal!
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Post by joew on Jul 19, 2015 4:38:39 GMT -5
Definitely an interesting story, BL.
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Post by booklady on Oct 31, 2015 10:46:03 GMT -5
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Post by joew on Oct 31, 2015 21:33:21 GMT -5
What overweening hubris: to take satisfaction in destroying a man's happiness.
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Post by booklady on Nov 1, 2015 16:06:36 GMT -5
Really. A very sad tale of our materialist "enlightened" age.
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Post by BoatBabe on Nov 1, 2015 18:18:04 GMT -5
What overweening hubris: to take satisfaction in destroying a man's happiness. No doubt about that.
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Post by doctork on Nov 1, 2015 21:40:36 GMT -5
The poorly trained psychiatrist probably mistakenly believed his "treatment" was in the best interest of the patient.
//Sometimes it is difficult to exaggerate how strange, barbaric, and superstitious an age ours really is. //
That is the truth. At some point in the future such therapy and rampant use of antipsychotics will be regarded as the equivalent of treating pneumonia with leeches.
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Post by gailkate on Feb 11, 2016 21:46:47 GMT -5
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Post by joew on Feb 13, 2016 13:22:28 GMT -5
It is fun, and it didn't seem nine minutes long.
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Post by joew on Feb 20, 2016 13:50:51 GMT -5
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