The quote below makes me wonder a bit. Does the public want to be educated? And do they want to be educated by the critic? And, even more, does the critic want to be educated … by an “artist”? Could/does the artist educate the public instead? (Or in addition.)
Can a critic be an artist? Do [...]
The critic has to educate the public; the artist has to educate the critic.
-Oscar Wilde, letter to the editor of the Scots Observer (1890)
First seen at Terry Teachout’s site, here.
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Barbara Day Turner (she refers to herself as BDT most often) is a conductor I’ve worked with frequently. The front cover of the Willow Glen Resident features her quite prominently. Woo hoo!
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Who is there that, in logical words, can express the effect music has on us? A kind of inarticulate unfathomable speech, which leads us to the edge of the Infinite, and lets us for moments gaze into that!
-Thomas Carlyle, on Heroes, Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History (1841)
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Something is up with my ears. This isn’t exactly new, but today I’m going to write about it. Just because. (”Just because” is one of my favorite reasons for something. Who can argue, after all?)
I woke this morning and knew the ears weren’t happy campers. Now I’m at “my” Tuesday morning coffee shop and [...]
to read that Lorraine Hunt Lieberson was back! Alex Ross blogs about that good news as well as some news he says is bad. (I’m sorry to say I’ve not read Richard Dyer so I guess I won’t know what I missed … or at least I wouldn’t have except that Alex Ross has supplied [...]
I’m going back through my old site just for fun (and to make sure I’ve found all the quotes from that site that I’ve not yet transferred over to here). It was sort of fun to reminisce, starting from the very beginning (a very good place to start). And if you’re wondering why I’ve got [...]
I’m listening to Eugene Izotov’s CD Sound In Motion. Clearly oboe is easy. It’s as simple as that. Easy, easy, easy.
Or at least that’s how HE makes it sound! ;-)
It’s really humbling to listen to some of my recordings. I’ve been particularly humbled by his CD and Julie Giacobassi’s English horn and oboe d’amore CD. [...]
Tenors get women by the score.
-James Joyce, Ulysses
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I was reading a new blog, Felsenmusic (which I keep meaning to add to my bloglist), I’ve found (new to me anyway) and ran across this post. Ah yes, I can relate! I managed to cut BOTH index fingers by the time I’d made it through this year’s Thanksgiving festivities. This can be a problem [...]
… and another a complimentary one. Nice!
This afternoon’s performance, again conducted by our Assistant Conductor, was two minutes shorter than last night’s which means it was 3 minutes longer than usual. This is news you can use, I’m sure. ;-)
We have three more performances of Un Ballo (this coming Thursday, Friday and Sunday). I [...]
I’ve heard it said that every time a musician plays it’s an act of faith; will it be music or will it be noise?”
Heard on NPR on the segment Mongolian Reindeer Herders: A Vanishing Breed.
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We always have an Assistant Conductor for opera, and that person usually gets to conduct two performances. We work very little with that individual until the shows; he or she might conduct as much as one act at a rehearsal, but sometimes we don’t get even that. It can make the first performance … um [...]
International Aura Awareness Day.
Can you feel it?
More importantly, the 30th is “Stay Home Because Your Well Day”. I suppose that means only the ill will be going to work on Wednesday. I suppose it’s good I have no opera that night, but I will be teaching at SCU no matter how I feel (sorry [...]
Criticism is easy, art is difficult.
-Phillipe Destouches
Hucbald wrote on the discussion section and said he’d not heard of lemon juice and nutmeg for brussels sprouts. So I thought I’d mention it here, in case you haven’t tried it; both are great! The lemon juice helps cuts any bitterness that some sprouts have, and the nutmeg … well … yum!
But of course [...]
I suppose I was due to slice an index finger again. Sigh.
Oh well, at least this time I have a few days to recover; no opera until Saturday night. Still, bleeding all over the iBook keyboard isn’t a pretty sight. And cooking tomorrow might be a bit interesting … don’t want to bleed all over [...]
You may have the universe if I may have Italy.
-Giuseppe Verdi
(Me? I’ll take a good reed!)
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This, from friend Paul Howe:
From the opening of Anthony Lane’s review of Harry Potter in the latest New Yorker:
Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) is now fourteen, and, while he gives little sign of doing what Lord Rochester planned to do at the same age, there are nonetheless changes afoot. Harry’s voice, like that of his best [...]
You can read it here. This reviewer was at the Saturday, opening night performance.
Both reviewers have said that the first scene is a bit on the slow side, and I agree.
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Life is denied by lack of attention, whether it be to cleaning windows or trying to write a masterpiece.
-Nadia Boulanger
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The Mercury News has a review of Un Ballo up. Richard Scheinin reviewed Sunday’s matinee performance (the same one my husband and son attended), so I’ll be curious to see how my family responds to the comments in the review. Both Dan and Jameson did say they enjoyed the opera. They also had positive as [...]
I adore art… when I am alone with my notes, my heart pounds and the tears stream from my eyes, and my emotion and my joys are too much to bear.
-Giuseppe Verdi
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Well, I was happier with some things today (yes, “the” note was fine), and yet I still wasn’t satisfied.
That’s music for you; it can always be better. Always. Or at least nearly always. Years ago I played something that I was entirely satisfied with. At least that’s how I remember it. I often wonder, [...]
So we had opening night. I think the audience liked it, although of course I’m never certain. If it was all about the oboe I’d be annoyed; I missed one note. One note I shouldn’t have missed. One note that just ticks me off. (My husband, Dan, always reacts with “ONE note. Wow.” or some [...]
