Unpopular Opinions

[Monsieur Croche]

In a way that is what I find appealing in his music: you think you just reached a climax, but he takes you to one even higher, and yet there is an even higher one after that.  The result: you just got drained emotionally, to the point that you cant listen to anything else for quite a while.  This is impressive.

I've given Wagner many a try over many a decade, and it is to be hoped those were moments when my 'ears and mind were open.'  It is just not, for many reasons, to my taste.  I can well believe what you said, i.e. Tristan und Isoulde has got to be one hell of a complete wringer if you sit through the whole musico-dramatic piece in a theater!  With my personal objections to Wagner, that ain't gonna happen.

The two operas I know do drain me to the point where afterwards I don't want to hear anything else, or even talk about it, are Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites and Berg's Lulu.

Different strokes for different folks....


Best regards.

[Karl Henning]

I've given Wagner many a try over many a decade, and it is to be hoped those were moments when my 'ears and mind were open.'  It is just not, for many reasons, to my taste.  I can well believe what you said, i.e. Tristan und Isoulde has got to be one hell of a complete wringer if you sit through the whole musico-dramatic piece in a theater!  With my personal objections to Wagner, that ain't gonna happen.

I greatly enjoyed listening to Parsifal (should give it a second go in its entirety, someday).

But:

• I did not listen to the whole in one dose.
• I was careful to pay no attention to the libretto.   

[Florestan]

Au contraire, I see nothing in the least silly in the beautifully constructed libretto to Figaro.

I was careless in formulation. I find nothing silly in Figaro, either.

[Ken B]

Robert DeNiro is a mediocre actor. He's been coasting for decades on a few good early performances.

[Monsieur Croche]

Hence the continuing conundrum, why isn't the whoopee cushion used more?

Because it is stuck on someone's ass, and they enormously over-value their worth as a performer, demanding, too, Glenn Gould-like, that their favorite rocking chair is the only one they will perform in, adding shipping and insurance costs to their already vastly over-rated fee.

Hey, some artists are so greedy/selfish you end up never hearing about them ;-)


Best regards

[TheGSMoeller]

Robert DeNiro is a mediocre actor. He's been coasting for decades on a few good early performances.

I think DeNiro should be defined by his best work, not his most recent. However, his role choices of the past 20 years have been disappointing. I find Heat to be the last great role he was in. Rumor has it that he, and I believe Pacino, are in talks to join Scorsese for a film.

DeNiro's best performance? King of Comedy, easily. He plays stalker-crazy quite well.

I've got one...

James Cameron is a mediocre filmmaker. He's been coasting for decades on a few good early films.

[Karl Henning]

Wait—did you mean, James Cameron should be defined by his best work, not his most recent?   0:)       

[Karl Henning]

Disclaimer:  I probably have not seen any really recent work of either De Niro's nor Cameron's.

[TheGSMoeller]

Wait—did you mean, James Cameron should be defined by his best work, not his most recent?   0:)       

I believe that for every artist truthfully. But I liked Ken's quote, so I wanted to play on it. 

[Karl Henning]

Very good.

[Parsifal]

DeNiro's best performance? King of Comedy, easily. He plays stalker-crazy quite well.

A brilliant film. Sandra Bernhard and Jerry Lewis turn in fine performances as well.

[Monsieur Croche]

I have no time to read the longer Stravinsky essays. But it is obvious polemics against Wagner, the Wagnerians (and more generally against "German" high/late romanticism).

How Tragic.

How tragic, too that you have no time to read. 

"The Poetics of Music" is certainly a personal view, and as such will have personal preferences and dislikes, which I'm sure any adult reader would easily see through while not getting their knickers in a twist if Stravinsky did say something less than favorable about a composer of whom the reader is fond.  It is but a slim volume, taking little time to read.  What is said therein is worth thinking about, and the composer shows he had quite a range of knowledge of the rep. 

[Monsieur Croche]

Wait—did you mean, James Cameron should be defined by his best work, not his most recent?   0:)       

So, does that boil down to the flora as conceived and animated in his Avatar?

[Karl Henning]

So, does that boil down to the flora as conceived and animated in his Avatar?

I've not seen that one, and . . . I am disinclined to 

[Ken B]

I've got one...

James Cameron is a mediocre filmmaker. He's been coasting for decades on a few good early films.

I struggle to understand how this could count as an unpopular opinion! 

[Karl Henning]

(* chortle *)

[Brian]

The best scherzo in a Dvorak symphony is No. 4's.

[Sergeant Rock]

The best scherzo in a Dvorak symphony is No. 4's.

That's almost true but...more correctly, it's tied with the Eighth's Scherzo for the number one slot, followed by:

7, 9, 6, 5, 1, 2



Sarge

[(poco) Sforzando]

That's almost true but...more correctly, it's tied with the Eighth's Scherzo for the number one slot, followed by:

7, 9, 6, 5, 1, 2



Sarge

No 3?

[Madiel]

No 3?

I think we're safe not ranking the scherzo of no.3.