Composer Mt. Rushmore

[paulb]

Verdi certainly does not deserve being amidst such exalted company. Unless he's there polishing someone's shoes or something.

with a  personal conviction such as this, why should i even try to give Verdi another hearing.
which i already know the un-prejudiced outcome.

[M forever]

the most beautiful place in america
Mt zion /Grand canyon area.
I went there in sept.

Bryce Canyon is much better. Zion is way too touristy anyway.

[(poco) Sforzando]

You guys have the position of power, for now, later on you will be giving away free tickets in order to make the concert hall look full and lively.

Meanwhile I have to pay $80 to sit at orchestra level for the NY Philharmonic and the same to sit upstairs at the Met; they're having such trouble getting people to buy tickets.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Wagner's 3 great operas will live on, provided sufficient talents can be found to fill the shoes necessary to pull off a  successful Wagner masterpiece. Parsifal sounds to me as fresh and alive as the day it was scored.  Its a  Living opera.

Wagner wrote 10 operas that remain in the current repertoire of most houses; could you tell which are the other two "great" ones besides Parsifal?

[(poco) Sforzando]

Levine was griping at how the old standards, specifically Verdi, was not losing some ground in power, to the recent push by the modernist camp to re-adjust the spot light onto the modern materpieces. Levine said he would not stand for such audacity., "Verdi will live forever".
I had one Leontyne Price Verdi opera, Aida I think,.
Anyway its been too long and only heard parts.

So in other words you know no Verdi. I can't imagine James Levine, a non-confrontational personality if there ever was one, griping at Verdi's continuing interest for the operatic public. If he felt that way, why does he continue to conduct Falstaff, Otello, Don Carlo, and the Requiem?

[Anne]

Wagner wrote 10 operas that remain in the current repertoire of most houses; could you tell which are the other two "great" ones besides Parsifal?

Sorry!  I did not realize you were talking to Paulb.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Sorry!  I did not realize you were talking to Paulb.

Quite all right, I did not realize I was talking to Paulb either.

[Anne]

Quite all right, I did not realize I was talking to Paulb either.

  Then I will say Meistersinger and Tristan.

[paulb]

Wagner wrote 10 operas that remain in the current repertoire of most houses; could you tell which are the other two "great" ones besides Parsifal?

My bad. There's 6.The 4 Ring operas , Parsifal, and Tristan. I  hardly know Miestersinger, which i will try to correct, but can't promise i'll like it. does it offer as much modernism as the others? or stuck in old stylings.? IOW if any hint of Beethoven comes through in Miester or the story offers little psychological ideas, then i may move on.

M, yes i hope one day to see Bryce Canyon. maybe in late may, before tourism cranks up. The europeans that visit the southwest are like so jealous,,,no make that envious that we have such beauty, and not over-populated, at least not yet.
But i suspect south california is about to make yet another massive exodus.

[M forever]

M, yes i hope one day to see Bryce Canyon. maybe in late may, before tourism cranks up. The europeans that visit the southwest are like so jealous,,,no make that envious that we have such beauty, and not over-populated, at least not yet.
But i suspect south california is about to make yet another massive exodus.

So you haven't even been to Bryce Canyon (which is around the corner from Zion) but you decide Zion is the most beautiful place in America? Hmm... What other places *have* you been to? Does that correspond to your making judgments about music that you don't really know either?

Dunno what you mean by massive exodus, but I am leaving California in two days. But I thik they will survive that. 

[paulb]

So you haven't even been to Bryce Canyon (which is around the corner from Zion) but you decide Zion is the most beautiful place in America? Hmm... What other places *have* you been to? Does that correspond to your making judgments about music that you don't really know either?

Dunno what you mean by massive exodus, but I am leaving California in two days. But I thik they will survive that. 

Due to time contraints i had to cut short my thus far 7500 mile journey home.
I went as far as the Lodge, but had to continue west towards the 4 corners and then south to texas then to New orleans.
That entire south utah is stunning.
Now as to my musical journey's, these are places i;ve been to.
I am listening  to a   yiutube clip of Verdi's Aida.this is the 3rd clip. The first 2 i could take no more than 20 seconds worth. this clip of 5 minutes has given me enough idea of the terrain.
Not for me, in any sense. I hate it, as much as i can't stand Beethoven, which i had previously placed the 2 composers in the same pot, and  now confirms why. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmiLeE-8bHI

[Haffner]

That position is already occupied by Deep Purple:

Precisely!That, Master of Reality, and Rainbow Rising are probably my favorite ever Rock albums.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Due to time contraints i had to cut short my thus far 7500 mile journey home.
I went as far as the Lodge, but had to continue west towards the 4 corners and then south to texas then to New orleans.
That entire south utah is stunning.
Now as to my musical journey's, these are places i;ve been to.
I am listening  to a   yiutube clip of Verdi's Aida.this is the 3rd clip. The first 2 i could take no more than 20 seconds worth. this clip of 5 minutes has given me enough idea of the terrain.
Not for me, in any sense. I hate it, as much as i can't stand Beethoven, which i had previously placed the 2 composers in the same pot, and  now confirms why. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmiLeE-8bHI

I see. So you can't stand Beethoven either. I'm rapidly losing interest in this discussion. It's one thing to be discriminating, another to be dismissive.

[paulb]

I see. So you can't stand Beethoven either. I'm rapidly losing interest in this discussion. It's one thing to be discriminating, another to be dismissive.

My feelings about Beethoven comes as no surprise to most forum members here. I've been ventilating  my feelings about beethoven with no concern for proper etiquitte, for years now, both here and the CMG forum, as well on Gramophone and lately over at amazon. Everyone knows how i stand with regards to Beethoven.
Its not my intentions to come across as venemous or scathing in appearance as to how i feel about Beethoven's music. The reaction happens of itself, spontaneously, i am not guilty as would seem the case. And in that regard I call on both Debussy and Ravel for justifying my opinion. I call on both as my witness, they are more believable and regarded in CM than I, as both were supreme masters in the high art of creative expression.

[Guido]

 What makes you so sure Guido that Verdi will "crumble" so easily in time?  

And with regards to Wagner, why don't you see for yourself how easy it is to get tickets for the Ring Cycle in Bayreuth!  After all according to those of you who attacked my suggestions for composers on Mt. Rushmore, a nobody such as Wagner should have great difficulty atrracting a crowd  .  

 marvin

 

Hey, hey , hey - this was not my opinion, I was just wondering which of Mozart, Beethoven and Wagner paulb deemed to be so poor that they would be forgotten with time... My guess of Verdi as the first was merely that he is not generally considered as great as the other three. It turns out that Paulb doesn't like Wagner's music either, which is perhaps predictable...

[paulb]

Hey, hey , hey - this was not my opinion, I was just wondering which of Mozart, Beethoven and Wagner paulb deemed to be so poor that they would be forgotten with time... My guess of Verdi as the first was merely that he is not generally considered as great as the other three. It turns out that Paulb doesn't like Wagner's music either, which is perhaps predictable...

Recently a  HUGE fan of Wagner, provided the recording does justice to the score.
Parsifal a  supreme living masterpiece. The Legend Of The Grail lives on, and speaks volumes to this world.
Mozart IS that phenomenon we call Orpheus.

[anasazi]

Frankly, I'd prefer the original artwork of Mother Nature to the ugly sculpted mugs of four dead old European white men.

I agree - let's get Deep Purple off of there.   

[(poco) Sforzando]

And in that regard I call on both Debussy and Ravel for justifying my opinion. I call on both as my witness, they are more believable and regarded in CM than I, as both were supreme masters in the high art of creative expression.

To justify my opinion of Beethoven, I call upon a Higher Authority.

[paulb]

To justify my opinion of Beethoven, I call upon a Higher Authority.

i am fully aware of Beethoven's god-like status among his devotees. 'the immortal' has one web site devoted only to discussion of Beethoven. And after reading in the K's of posts providing mountainous heaps of  wonderous accolades and praises, I'm  now immune to any  upsetting affects this once had upon me.
Like the greeks attitudes of old towards the various gods, we too must learn tolerance and  a  level of acceptance.

[Haffner]

Like the greeks attitudes of old towards the various gods, we too must learn tolerance and  a  level of acceptance.

Aye.