Classical Music Chat Room

Started by lescamil, January 13, 2012, 02:37:42 PM

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Cato

Our parish priest today related the following anecdote about himself:

For Christmas, he had received a ticket to an "All-American Concert" with the Cleveland Orchestra.  Bernstein's On the Waterfront SuiteCopland's Symphony #3, and the Violin Concerto #3 by Augusta Thomas.

So on the courtesy bus from the hotel to Severance Hall, Father X  0:) is starting to discuss the works with another priest, who has not heard any of them ever before.   Father X says that, to prepare himself, he found the Thomas work on YouTube.  A woman sitting in front of them overhears the conversation, turns, and asks: "What did you think of Jugglers in Paradise ?

Father X: "Oh, it was one of these noisy modern things.  It sounded like a bunch of First-Graders were given instruments and were told to bang and beat on them and destroy them."

She: "Didn't you like any of the violin melodies?"

Father X: "So you're acquainted with the work?"

She: "Oh yes!" 

Father X: "Well, now and then maybe, but they were just all over the place most of the time, really hard to follow."

She: "Oh, okay.  Well, maybe you'll change your opinion of it after today's performance."

Father X: "You seem to be a fan of the piece."

She: (winking) "I have to be.  I'm Augusta Thomas."

The congregation, of course, caught on where this was going well before he had caught on!  He said that he was 50 Shades of Red and both feet and both hands were in his mouth.  Augusta Thomas took it very well, and said it was fine if he did not like it.  He then politely asked about the premise, and she began to explain it, which he said was a little bit of a help.  Father X thanked her for her patience with an unwilling listener, and she simply commented: "I'm just hoping to roll away the rock."

In this case, not from the tomb of Lazarus, but from the ears of the audience.  And her comment explains why he used the anecdote in his sermon for today's Mass! :laugh:


"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

Karl Henning

Quote from: Cato on April 02, 2017, 11:36:02 AM
Our parish priest today related the following anecdote about himself:

For Christmas, he had received a ticket to an "All-American Concert" with the Cleveland Orchestra.  Bernstein's On the Waterfront SuiteCopland's Symphony #3, and the Violin Concerto #3 by Augusta Thomas.

So on the courtesy bus from the hotel to Severance Hall, Father X  0:) is starting to discuss the works with another priest, who has not heard any of them ever before.   Father X says that, to prepare himself, he found the Thomas work on YouTube.  A woman sitting in front of them overhears the conversation, turns, and asks: "What did you think of Jugglers in Paradise ?

Father X: "Oh, it was one of these noisy modern things.  It sounded like a bunch of First-Graders were given instruments and were told to bang and beat on them and destroy them."

She: "Didn't you like any of the violin melodies?"

Father X: "So you're acquainted with the work?"

She: "Oh yes!" 

Father X: "Well, now and then maybe, but they were just all over the place most of the time, really hard to follow."

She: "Oh, okay.  Well, maybe you'll change your opinion of it after today's performance."

Father X: "You seem to be a fan of the piece."

She: (winking) "I have to be.  I'm Augusta Thomas."

The congregation, of course, caught on where this was going well before he had caught on!  He said that he was 50 Shades of Red and both feet and both hands were in his mouth.  Augusta Thomas took it very well, and said it was fine if he did not like it.  He then politely asked about the premise, and she began to explain it, which he said was a little bit of a help.  Father X thanked her for her patience with an unwilling listener, and she simply commented: "I'm just hoping to roll away the rock."

In this case, not from the tomb of Lazarus, but from the ears of the audience.  And her comment explains why he used the anecdote in his sermon for today's Mass! :laugh:
Cracking fun!

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Cato

Quote from: Cato on April 02, 2017, 11:36:02 AM
Our parish priest today related the following anecdote about himself:

For Christmas, he had received a ticket to an "All-American Concert" with the Cleveland Orchestra.  Bernstein's On the Waterfront SuiteCopland's Symphony #3, and the Violin Concerto #3 by Augusta Thomas.

So on the courtesy bus from the hotel to Severance Hall, Father X  0:) is starting to discuss the works with another priest, who has not heard any of them ever before.   Father X says that, to prepare himself, he found the Thomas work on YouTube.  A woman sitting in front of them overhears the conversation, turns, and asks: "What did you think of Jugglers in Paradise ?

Father X: "Oh, it was one of these noisy modern things.  It sounded like a bunch of First-Graders were given instruments and were told to bang and beat on them and destroy them."

She: "Didn't you like any of the violin melodies?"

Father X: "So you're acquainted with the work?"

She: "Oh yes!" 

Father X: "Well, now and then maybe, but they were just all over the place most of the time, really hard to follow."

She: "Oh, okay.  Well, maybe you'll change your opinion of it after today's performance."

Father X: "You seem to be a fan of the piece."

She: (winking) "I have to be.  I'm Augusta Thomas."

The congregation, of course, caught on where this was going well before he had caught on!  He said that he was 50 Shades of Red and both feet and both hands were in his mouth.  Augusta Thomas took it very well, and said it was fine if he did not like it.  He then politely asked about the premise, and she began to explain it, which he said was a little bit of a help.  Father X thanked her for her patience with an unwilling listener, and she simply commented: "I'm just hoping to roll away the rock."

In this case, not from the tomb of Lazarus, but from the ears of the audience.  And her comment explains why he used the anecdote in his sermon for today's Mass! :laugh:

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on April 02, 2017, 01:15:19 PM

Cracking fun!


The congregation felt the cringe effect  :-[  fairly early in the story!  0:)
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

Cato

Quote from: Cato on April 02, 2017, 11:36:02 AM
Our parish priest today related the following anecdote about himself:

For Christmas, he had received a ticket to an "All-American Concert" with the Cleveland Orchestra.  Bernstein's On the Waterfront SuiteCopland's Symphony #3, and the Violin Concerto #3 by Augusta Thomas.



Quote from: Cato on April 03, 2017, 04:08:58 AM
The congregation felt the cringe effect  :-[  fairly early in the story!  0:)

For those who would like to hear what appalled our parish priest: the Violin Concerto #3 ("Juggler in Paradise") by Augusta Thomas.

Frank-Peter Zimmermann is the soloist.

https://www.youtube.com/v/EUvD0mjlEuA
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

Karl Henning

Say what you like, love it or hate it, it doesn't sound anything like what would happen if a bunch of First-Graders were given instruments and were told to bang and beat on them and destroy them  0:)

The priest really did set himself up there;  and perhaps it is an accident of his structuring the conversation for storytelling, but So you're acquainted with the work? is some distance from a retraction   :laugh:

I understand that she is again Composer-in-Residence for the Chicago Symphony, so she's got a steady gig (and good for her).  At the time of an earlier residency, a friend on the West Coast (one who has commissioned a few works of mine) suggested that I send her White Nights (she was curating some new music concerts).  Her response was (I only mildly paraphrase) "Why don't you listen to more new music?"  So "Gusty" has her own pet prejudices, it seems.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Cato

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on April 04, 2017, 06:17:45 AM
Say what you like, love it or hate it, it doesn't sound anything like what would happen if a bunch of First-Graders were given instruments and were told to bang and beat on them and destroy them  0:)

Yes, I was surprised that the work had such a placid and meditative feel most of the time, and there is even a Mahlerian touch now and then in the last 6 or 7 minutes.

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on April 04, 2017, 06:17:45 AM
So "Gusty" has her own pet prejudices, it seems.

Too bad: perhaps she should "roll away the rock" from her own ears!   0:)  Did she not understand the background and nature of your ballet?   Her loss!
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

Karl Henning

It had much the same feel as the University at Buffalo vibe:  if you write music, but it is not The Right Kind of new music, you're almost a worse enemy than the symphony-goers who have to have their steady diet of Beethoven and Tchaikovsky . . . .
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

eljr

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on April 04, 2017, 06:46:55 AM
It had much the same feel as the University at Buffalo vibe:  if you write music, but it is not The Right Kind of new music, you're almost a worse enemy than the symphony-goers who have to have their steady diet of Beethoven and Tchaikovsky . . . .

QFT
"You practice and you get better. It's very simple."
Philip Glass


dissily Mordentroge

Quote from: Cato on April 02, 2017, 11:36:02 AM
Our parish priest today related the following anecdote about himself:

For Christmas, he had received a ticket to an "All-American Concert" with the Cleveland Orchestra.  Bernstein's On the Waterfront SuiteCopland's Symphony #3, and the Violin Concerto #3 by Augusta Thomas.

So on the courtesy bus from the hotel to Severance Hall, Father X  0:) is starting to discuss the works with another priest, who has not heard any of them ever before.   Father X says that, to prepare himself, he found the Thomas work on YouTube.  A woman sitting in front of them overhears the conversation, turns, and asks: "What did you think of Jugglers in Paradise ?

Father X: "Oh, it was one of these noisy modern things.  It sounded like a bunch of First-Graders were given instruments and were told to bang and beat on them and destroy them."

She: "Didn't you like any of the violin melodies?"

Father X: "So you're acquainted with the work?"

She: "Oh yes!" 

Father X: "Well, now and then maybe, but they were just all over the place most of the time, really hard to follow."

She: "Oh, okay.  Well, maybe you'll change your opinion of it after today's performance."

Father X: "You seem to be a fan of the piece."

She: (winking) "I have to be.  I'm Augusta Thomas."

The congregation, of course, caught on where this was going well before he had caught on!  He said that he was 50 Shades of Red and both feet and both hands were in his mouth.  Augusta Thomas took it very well, and said it was fine if he did not like it.  He then politely asked about the premise, and she began to explain it, which he said was a little bit of a help.  Father X thanked her for her patience with an unwilling listener, and she simply commented: "I'm just hoping to roll away the rock."

In this case, not from the tomb of Lazarus, but from the ears of the audience.  And her comment explains why he used the anecdote in his sermon for today's Mass! :laugh:

Reminds me of a rehearsal of a Stockhausen chamber work I attended where the leader told the flautist she'd played the wrong note.
"How  the f**k can you tell" she hit back, "To me they all sound wrong".

San Antone

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on April 04, 2017, 06:46:55 AM
It had much the same feel as the University at Buffalo vibe:  if you write music, but it is not The Right Kind of new music, you're almost a worse enemy than the symphony-goers who have to have their steady diet of Beethoven and Tchaikovsky . . . .

I know that feeling. 

When I was studying composition, in the 1970s, atonality was still de rigueur at the small school I attended in Louisiana.  My music was entirely too mild, after all I had admitted to liking the music of Poulenc - and was told to try again.  But when I wrote two solo pieces, one for clarinet and one for cello, then had them play them together as a duet, my comp prof didn't appreciate my attempt at stretching the boundaries of form.

8)

dissily Mordentroge

Quote from: San Antone on November 28, 2019, 01:48:37 PM
I know that feeling. 

When I was studying composition, in the 1970s, atonality was still de rigueur at the small school I attended in Louisiana.  My music was entirely too mild, after all I had admitted to liking the music of Poulenc - and was told to try again.  But when I wrote two solo pieces, one for clarinet and one for cello, then had them play them together as a duet, my comp prof didn't appreciate my attempt at stretching the boundaries of form.

8)
Even though I've enjoyed a few atonal works I often have the feeling the composer is throwing a tantrum by refusing to make sense as young children sometimes do to annoy adults. For some reason I find atonalism hardest to cope with in choral works.

San Antone

Quote from: dissily Mordentroge on November 28, 2019, 02:35:39 PM
Even though I've enjoyed a few atonal works I often have the feeling the composer is throwing a tantrum by refusing to make sense as young children sometimes do to annoy adults. For some reason I find atonalism hardest to cope with in choral works.

I do too.  But I have also found much pleasure in listening to some works considered atonal.  Schoenberg's solo piano works, e.g., as well as much of the music by Webern.  I listen to a fair amount of new music, and am not one to denigrate atonal or dissonant music globally; it entirely depends upon the specifics of a work and how a composer handles that style in general.

milk

My son (second boy) born yesterday 2/5/20 morning by c-section. I'm very relieved everyone is healthy. 2 weeks before due for a planned birth and much relief he's so bouncy and not too small (about 7 lbs and change).

San Antone

Quote from: milk on February 05, 2020, 01:21:25 PM
My son (second boy) born yesterday 2/5/20 morning by c-section. I'm very relieved everyone is healthy. 2 weeks before due for a planned birth and much relief he's so bouncy and not too small (about 7 lbs and change).

Congratulations!   ;D

Karl Henning

Quote from: milk on February 05, 2020, 01:21:25 PM
My son (second boy) born yesterday 2/5/20 morning by c-section. I'm very relieved everyone is healthy. 2 weeks before due for a planned birth and much relief he's so bouncy and not too small (about 7 lbs and change).

Congratulations!
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

j winter

The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils.
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus.
Let no such man be trusted.

-- William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

steve ridgway

Quote from: milk on February 05, 2020, 01:21:25 PM
My son (second boy) born yesterday 2/5/20 morning by c-section. I'm very relieved everyone is healthy. 2 weeks before due for a planned birth and much relief he's so bouncy and not too small (about 7 lbs and change).

Good news! That must have been very stressful.

pjme

Quote from: milk on February 05, 2020, 01:21:25 PM
My son (second boy) born yesterday 2/5/20 morning by c-section. I'm very relieved everyone is healthy. 2 weeks before due for a planned birth and much relief he's so bouncy and not too small (about 7 lbs and change).

Heel hartelijk gefeliciteerd! Congratulations. Felicitations!

https://www.youtube.com/v/u-tDjTXiu5I

Good luck...


milk

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on February 05, 2020, 03:45:37 PM
Congratulations!
Quote from: j winter on February 05, 2020, 05:00:50 PM
Outstanding!   :)
Quote from: steve ridgway on February 05, 2020, 09:07:42 PM
Good news! That must have been very stressful.
Quote from: pjme on February 05, 2020, 11:42:29 PM
Heel hartelijk gefeliciteerd! Congratulations. Felicitations!

https://www.youtube.com/v/u-tDjTXiu5I

Good luck...


Quote from: San Antone on February 05, 2020, 01:23:00 PM
Congratulations!   ;D
Thanks so much everybody! I'm exhausted from trying to manage our 2-year old with mama away. Yikes I'm exhausted! Gotta make it until Monday when my wife comes home with the new little guy. Hmmm...then I gotta figure out how to cook something for my wife too! Anyway, thanks all!