Classical Music, Poetry and stuff

Originally Posted by Prospero http://1.2.3.12/bmi/www.hungangels.c...s/viewpost.gifThis is fun
http://flavorwire.com/188138/the-30-...lts-in-history

13. Gore Vidal on Truman Capote
“He’s a full-fledged housewife from Kansas with all the prejudices.”


Excellent link Prospero! Vidal on Capote: the word 'bitch' comes to mind...but also how unreasonable some comments are -Jane Austen wrote with an uncommon fluency; I doubt Lawrence understood much of Joyce;but his remarks about Melville are astonishing -the execution of Billy Budd is to my mind one of the finest examples of writing in English; Melville, along with Emerson and Thoreau is part of the Holy Trinity of American letters.


Meanwhile, rather than acid remarks, Edmund Wilson in Classics & Commercials, a Literary Chronicle of the Forties, offers something rare: 'A Dissenting Opinion on Franz Kafka', pointing out how poorly organised his papers were but dismissing him for being dishonest and lacking in purpose. In The Bit Between My Teeth, A Literary Chronicle of 1950-1965', Wilson lays into Tolkien with a dimissive piece 'Oh, those awful orcs', believing the Lord of the Rings to be repetitive, lacking characters with depth, and to be more suitable for 9 year olds than adults.

Jericho most of these films about politicians, queens and other leaders are usually bland especially if they are still alive -they dont want to end up in court. The BBC is about to broadcast a three-party 'biopgraphy' of Muhammad, by Rageh Omar who has been to 'the region' and along with the 'facts' about the 'Messenger' there will be the usual 'Here I am in Mecca', 'Here I am in Medina', 'Here I am in Jerusalem' and probably the biting question to some Imam 'What does Islam mean to us today'? And so on. I daresay this will generate more comment when it is broadcast.

I have no doubt whatsoever that Rageh Omar's film will be a very well executed and utterly respectful film which will be scrupulous in not offending any Muslim sensibilities. The BBC cannot afford to ruffle any feathers in the region or the wider Muslim world. No question whatsoever could be asked in this context of the veracity of the archangel Gibreel's revelations or the nature of the Qur'an. There will surely be no interrogation of the perversion of islam implicit in the entire Wahabist vision - which holds the fountainhead of the faith in its grip and exports its poison globally.

Bump.....

Stavros-It's strange that you mention Mitsuko doing Schubert's sonatas-i've been hoping to get the set for about a year. i have a 2-cd set by Pete Klein, which is good, but really want to hear Mitsuko. Schubert is my great love, along with Mozart. Also looking for a complete set of Beethoven sonatas, if i can afford it. I had six years of piano, didn't do much good, but i love the piano repertoire.

Some of Uchida's Schubert recordings have divided the critics more than any other performer I can think of in recent times. When she released her disc with the Sonata in D D850 and the Sonata in A D784 Gramophone magazine published two reviews, one in favour, one against. Her tempi in D784 are extreme, at one point in the mystical andante, one of the most astonishing things Schubert wrote, it sounds like Messiaen rather than Schubert, but it works for me. I also have the complete set by Wilhelm Kempff and once spent a week playing each sonata by each performer back to back -they are both outstanding musicians, but for me Uchida digs deeper into the sub-surface of Schubert's musical world to bring forth treasures I dont hear in Kempff. Another contrast would be to listen to Andras Schiff, whose ability to transform dynamic and exciting music into something bland and lifeless is truly depressing; Murray Perahia is another pianist who kills music every time he plays it. There are a few complete Beethoven sets around, my guess is they all have something to offer -with the obvious exceptions (Parahia and Schiff specifically, Maurizio Pollini is another pianist whose musicianship does nothing for me), and with the Summer sales on there are bargains to be had; Brendel would be a possible target, or Asheknazy. Unfortunately in the UK for real shopping the main HMV store on Oxford St in London remains the best in the UK, otherwise one has to search on Amazon for bargains. I stopped playing the piano when I was I think 9 or 10, big mistake!

Highly recommended in London - Kevin Spacey as Richard III at the Old Vic. He totally commands the stage making a darkness palpable. Directed by Sam Mendes.

Stavros & Prospero-You guys in London make me jealous- I am up in the Blue Ridge Mountains here-one of the most complex & beautiful nature preserves in the world, but you are much more likely to get a good discussion on dealing with bears than on Schubert/Shakespeare & so forth. The plus side is, there are some excellent Music centers and drama festivals in the summer-heard Frederika von Stade singing Mahler during a June rain-shower two years ago-sort of like hearing music in your sleep. Still, I'd love to wander around London for a few days. If there's room for one more American.

Paige -I don't live in London, where there is plenty of room for intelligent, sensitive Americans...and I have no doubt Prospero will be willing to show you around the capital...whereas the Blue Ridge Mountains and Frederica von Stade sound more appealing to me that Oxford Street on a Saturday afternoon, but I had no idea there were bears in North Carolina...I thought they migrated to Canada to get away from the Carolinas Golf Courses...

Highly recommended in London - Kevin Spacey as Richard III

I guess its a step forward from Keyser Soze...

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Originally Posted by Stavros

Highly recommended in London - Kevin Spacey as Richard III

I guess its a step forward from Keyser Soze...

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Actually The usual Suspects was a pretty good film, I thought.

i LOVE the local landscape but had no idea there were bears there either. Did you see my eariier post about your hometown Ashville which I know slightly. (Good friends live not far away in Tryon).

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Originally Posted by Prospero

Highly recommended in London - Kevin Spacey as Richard III at the Old Vic. He totally commands the stage making a darkness palpable. Directed by Sam Mendes.

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Hoping to see it this Thursday.

Actually, I guess this is the right thread to mention the latest in your imaginative and always interesting series of avatars, Prospero.

The eyeball-slicing scene from Un Chien Andalou still has the ability to shock and disturb 80 years on, despite the modern audience's constant exposure to endless gore.

God only knows how the film's first audiences reacted!

Well I hope you can get tickets Robert Louis.... I got mine months back and even joined friends of the old vic in order to be sure of seats. It's pretty much sold out for the entire run but you might get returns.

I have had an intense loathing of Salvador Dali for years, the essay on him Orwell wrote is all that needs to be said, the films are rubbish. Bunuel was quite an amusing sort of film-maker, but sort of like an anarchist version of Woody Allen....

You're right Stavros - Dali was a fake but actually technically a better painter than most of the other surrealists. For me the best surrealist is the infinitely subtler Max Ernst. Bunuel's later films were fun. But this scene is still mightily disturbing.

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Originally Posted by Prospero

Well I hope you can get tickets Robert Louis.... I got mine months back and even joined friends of the old vic in order to be sure of seats. It's pretty much sold out for the entire run but you might get returns.

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Inside influences, dear boy..... :dancing:

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Originally Posted by Prospero

You're right Stavros - Dali was a fake but actually technically a better painter than most of the other surrealists. For me the best surrealist is the infinitely subtler Max Ernst. Bunuel's later films were fun. But this scene is still mightily disturbing.

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One of the first paintings that ever had a real impact on me was Dali's Christ of St John of the Cross in Glasgow Art Galleries, which I saw first as a young child. The unique perspective of the crucifixion from above is till a very arresting image.

Amazing that the dour presbyterian baillies of Glasgow had the imagination and courage to purchase it on behalf of the city.

It is a fine painting.... and though I agree with Stavros by and large regarding the lack of honesty in much of Dali's dealings, loathe is a strong word to apply to this playful shaman.

I think a lot of Dali's earlier work has merit. His later fame and greed corrupted his art. The Sacrament of the Last Supper is in the Smithsonian and the original is a wonder to see. I've a print of The Landscape of Port Lligat hanging in my bedroom.

It is sometimes hard to see the power of some vary familiar works of art because they are so familiar - i.e. the melting clocks. They're now a cliche. But that landscape is nice Trish.

But I still prefer Max Ernst

The key thing about the surrealist movement was their potential to cause disquiet - and for the most part familiarity has made that impossible.

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Originally Posted by Prospero

But I still prefer Max Ernst

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They truly are astounding paintings. Is it true he used sponges for those instead of brushes?

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The key thing about the surrealist movement was their potential to cause disquiet - and for the most part familiarity has made that impossible.

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Sad, if true. Not only does familiarity evaporate the disquiet of older surrealist tropes, it makes newer ones more difficult to invent. Either we spiral into the grotesque or new surrealistic creations become impossible. Still, the Ernsts seem to remain fresh. Why? Underexposure? Or are they just that good?

(Here's Dorthea Tanning's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. One of my faves)

The core of Orwell's criticism is that Dali was a fine draughtsman and stylist, but that the content of his work reveals a nihilist with anti-social attitudes, but that is obviously way beyond the values Orwell espoused. I find that art that needs to 'shock' to make its point has already lost it. Mutilated bodies, juxtapositions of innocent elements made to look perverse -its no different from Lady GaGa and her meat dress or the masks, and so on. The shock value of many renaissance works emerges when you realise that the content of a work of lush colours and beautiful forms is a dreadful act of violence, it is the act that is shocking that registers, enhanced by the form.

Anyway I like John Richardson's essay Dali's Gala in Sacred Monsters, Sacred Masters; he points out that before marrying Gala he had only been in love once before, and that was with the poet Lorca. Apparently, when Lorca was told Dali was going marry a woman, he said: It's impossible, he can only get an erection when someone sticks a finger up his ass...
Richardson goes on to explain that he enjoyed Gala's affairs with young men while for himself, Hating to be touched, he became a compulsive onanist...

A little Pablo:


Guernica:

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Massacare in Korea:

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Les Demoiselles d'Avignon:

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I like this site and have spent hours browsing, hopefully it has some value for those who can't get to see the actual works;

http://www.abcgallery.com/

Some from Dalí
http://www.umelcisrdce.wz.cz/Salvado...razky/temp.jpg
http://nd03.jxs.cz/960/711/279147974e_56616789_o2.jpg
http://dali.uffs.net/galerie/picture...iraffes_01.jpg

Prospero-Yes there are bears here. If you stay on the main highways, you see a pleasant, mostly pastoral scene,with cattle farms, corn fields, wheat fields... but if you trek up into the mountains around here, you can be in untouched wilderness soon. I love it-you see something magical every day, like a quarter-mile patch of wild rhododendron in bloom. I go through Tryon often-let me know if you are going to be back this way. Brevard Music Center just started-they have Mahler 3rd in a couple of weeks.

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Originally Posted by Paige

Prospero-Yes there are bears here. If you stay on the main highways, you see a pleasant, mostly pastoral scene,with cattle farms, corn fields, wheat fields... but if you trek up into the mountains around here, you can be in untouched wilderness soon. I love it-you see something magical every day, like a quarter-mile patch of wild rhododendron in bloom. I go through Tryon often-let me know if you are going to be back this way. Brevard Music Center just started-they have Mahler 3rd in a couple of weeks.

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Hi Paige, sounds beautiful. Do they have other musical festivals round your way? I'm a singer-songwriter and I'd love to do some gigs on the east coast. Got offers around New England, NY state, DC etc, but a few further south would make the trip economically viable. Any thoughts would be gratefully appreciated.

And I'll still be happy to discuss Mahler and Sibelius with you if/when I get there!

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Originally Posted by Prospero

The key thing about the surrealist movement was their potential to cause disquiet - and for the most part familiarity has made that impossible.

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Who is this?


Reminds me of Magritte


http://emilypothast.files.wordpress....pg?w=600&h=766

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Originally Posted by Jackal

Who is this?


Reminds me of Magritte


http://emilypothast.files.wordpress....pg?w=600&h=766

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Almost certainly Lady Gaga LOL.

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Originally Posted by robertlouis

Almost certainly Lady Gaga LOL.

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Lady Gaga is to Rene Magritte as Ed Wood is to Orson Welles.

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Originally Posted by Jackal

Lady Gaga is to Rene Magritte as Ed Wood is to Orson Welles.

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Agreed but I couldn't resist.

Ah Ed Wood, Plan Nine from Outer Space.

They don't make 'em like that any more.

Thank God.

Gaston Vinas:

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More Gaston:

http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ll...cporo1_500.gif


http://artscroll.ru/Images/2008/g/Ga...nas/000053.jpg

"You've got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught. You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!"

-- South Pacific, Rogers & Hammerstien

Check me out Evie i'm flying as high as a bird:dancing::geek::salad:hide-1:

HMMMMMM WELLL! I am a BIG ASS ARTSY FARTSY TYPE! I know I'll be posting a lot here!
Here is a clip of the amazing Linda Eder's rendition to a popular song from "Man of LaMancha.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWP7l0OTXJI

always enjoyed Charles Baudelaire

Les Phares

Rubens, fleuve d'oubli, jardin de la paresse,
Oreiller de chair fraîche où l'on ne peut aimer,
Mais où la vie afflue et s'agite sans cesse,
Comme l'air dans le ciel et la mer dans la mer;

Léonard de Vinci, miroir profond et sombre,
Où des anges charmants, avec un doux souris
Tout chargé de mystère, apparaissent à l'ombre
Des glaciers et des pins qui ferment leur pays;

Rembrandt, triste hôpital tout rempli de murmures,
Et d'un grand crucifix décoré seulement,
Où la prière en pleurs s'exhale des ordures,
Et d'un rayon d'hiver traversé brusquement;

Michel-Ange, lieu vague où l'on voit des Hercules
Se mêler à des Christs, et se lever tout droits
Des fantômes puissants qui dans les crépuscules
Déchirent leur suaire en étirant leurs doigts;

Colères de boxeur, impudences de faune,
Toi qui sus ramasser la beauté des goujats,
Grand coeur gonflé d'orgueil, homme débile et jaune,
Puget, mélancolique empereur des forçats;

Watteau, ce carnaval où bien des coeurs illustres,
Comme des papillons, errent en flamboyant,
Décors frais et légers éclairés par des lustres
Qui versent la folie à ce bal tournoyant;

Goya, cauchemar plein de choses inconnues,
De foetus qu'on fait cuire au milieu des sabbats,
De vieilles au miroir et d'enfants toutes nues,
Pour tenter les démons ajustant bien leurs bas;

Delacroix, lac de sang hanté des mauvais anges,
Ombragé par un bois de sapins toujours vert,
Où, sous un ciel chagrin, des fanfares étranges
Passent, comme un soupir étouffé de Weber;

Ces malédictions, ces blasphèmes, ces plaintes,
Ces extases, ces cris, ces pleurs, ces Te Deum,
Sont un écho redit par mille labyrinthes;
C'est pour les coeurs mortels un divin opium!

C'est un cri répété par mille sentinelles,
Un ordre renvoyé par mille porte-voix;
C'est un phare allumé sur mille citadelles,
Un appel de chasseurs perdus dans les grands bois!

Car c'est vraiment, Seigneur, le meilleur témoignage
Que nous puissions donner de notre dignité
Que cet ardent sanglot qui roule d'âge en âge
Et vient mourir au bord de votre éternité!

— Charles Baudelaire

The Beacons

Rubens, river of oblivion, garden of indolence,
Pillow of cool flesh where one cannot love,
But where life moves and whirls incessantly
Like the air in the sky and the tide in the sea;

Leonardo, dark, unfathomable mirror,
In which charming angels, with sweet smiles
Full of mystery, appear in the shadow
Of the glaciers and pines that enclose their country;

Rembrandt, gloomy hospital filled with murmuring,
Ornamented only with a large crucifix,
Lit for a moment by a wintry sun,
Where from rot and ordure rise tearful prayers;

Angelo, shadowy place where Hercules' are seen
Mingling with Christs, and rising straight up,
Powerful phantoms, which in the twilights
Rend their winding-sheets with outstretched fingers;

Boxer's wrath, shamelessness of Fauns, you whose genius
Showed to us the beauty in a villain,
Great heart filled with pride, sickly, yellow man,
Puget, melancholy emperor of galley slaves;

Watteau, carnival where the loves of many famous hearts
Flutter capriciously like butterflies with gaudy wings;
Cool, airy settings where the candelabras' light
Touches with madness the couples whirling in the dance

Goya, nightmare full of unknown things,
Of fetuses roasted in the midst of witches' sabbaths,
Of old women at the mirror and of nude children,
Tightening their hose to tempt the demons;

Delacroix, lake of blood haunted by bad angels,
Shaded by a wood of fir-trees, ever green,
Where, under a gloomy sky, strange fanfares
Pass, like a stifled sigh from Weber;

These curses, these blasphemies, these lamentations,
These Te Deums, these ecstasies, these cries, these tears,
Are an echo repeated by a thousand labyrinths;
They are for mortal hearts a divine opium.

They are a cry passed on by a thousand sentinels,
An order re-echoed through a thousand megaphones;
They are a beacon lighted on a thousand citadels,
A call from hunters lost deep in the woods!

For truly, Lord, the clearest proofs
That we can give of our nobility,
Are these impassioned sobs that through the ages roll,
And die away upon the shore of your Eternity.

— William Aggeler, The Flowers of Evil (Fresno, CA: Academy Library Guild, 1954)