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[HIP is not about replicating past performance practice exactly, which is also impossible for obvious reasons.]

#1

Composer Discussion / Re: Mozart

Last post by Florestan - Today at 11:14:36 AM

The fact that you play historical instruments does not obligate you to refrain from rehearsing the music properly from a technical point of view. And when do you begin to understand that HIP is not about replicating past performance practice exactly, which is also impossible for obvious reasons.

Looks like we're going in circles, my friend. Allow me to clarify my position once and for all.

@Spotted Horses said:

Speaking for myself, if I admire a composer, I feel I owe it to myself to at least be aware of how the music sounded on the ensemble that the composer write for.

In response to that, I pointed out the well-documented, incontrovertible fact that most ensembles during the Classical Era, that is between roughly 1750 and 1830, were under-rehearsed and semi-professional, therefore they sounded under-rehearsed and semi-professional, ie completely and utterly unlike a HIP ensemble of today, which is comprised of over-rehearsed professionals, oftenly doubling as scholars --- ie, exactly and precisely what the Classical Era musicians were not.

I cannot and will not make my position any clearer than that.

[Blue Lights (BBC)]

#2

The Diner / Re: What TV series are you cur...

Last post by Iota - Today at 11:01:54 AM

Blue Lights (BBC) - Season 2 - Raw, gritty police drama, full of humanity. Even better than season 1 in some of the continuing story arcs.

Yes, just finished this. Pretty involving, with some interesting insights into some of the labyrinthine repercussions of The Troubles, and how nobody comes out a winner. I agree it's a step up on season 1.

#3

General Classical Music Discussion / Re: Your favourite Tchaikovsky...

Last post by LKB - Today at 10:43:49 AM

No recent mention of my favorite cycle here, so I'll plug them by simply remarking that one can do much, much worse than Haitink with the RCO.

[Trevor Pinnock]

#4

Composer Discussion / Re: Mozart

Last post by Spotted Horses - Today at 10:43:39 AM

Oh, yes, the delights of Dutch cuisine! 

I'm not really into the HIP vs. non-HIP, or the PI vs. MI debate, as my repertoire of interest is usually quite distanced from that, but must say that Trevor Pinnock's Brandenburg Concertos on Archiv are fantastic as well.

Through the magic of streaming I sampled the Pinnock Mozart symphonies, and I liked it!

#5

General Classical Music Discussion / Re: What are you listening 2 n...

Last post by Linz - Today at 10:27:56 AM

Bruckner Symphony No. 8 in C Minor, 1890 Version. Ed. Leopold Nowak, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Stanislaw Orchestra Stanislaw Skrowaczewski

#6

The Diner / Re: Pictures I like

Last post by Pohjolas Daughter - Today at 10:06:38 AM

What could go wrong?

   My thoughts exactly!

PD

#7

The Diner / Re: What TV series are you cur...

Last post by Todd - Today at 10:01:36 AM

Somehow or other, the YouTube algorithm calculated that I would like Kentucky Ballistics.  It was right.  (Perhaps it was selected as counterprogramming to Neutrality Studies.)  The channel is devoted to exotic firearms, especially those that fire larger than .50 BMG rounds.  The punt gun series where a 7000-grain lead slug is fired at things like a truck engine and gun safe are a hoot.  The host apparently almost died in an accident filming an episode, so he has real dedication.  If ever I target shoot again, I'll cap out at .308. 

#8

The Diner / Re: Astronomy

Last post by krummholz - Today at 10:00:40 AM

I saw the total eclipse on Monday and captured this image!  It was my first time to experience totality and was absolutely stunning.  Pictures don't do it justice.  It was a very moving experience and hard to verbalize but the closest I can say is in a sudden, the sky goes from sort of dark to night revealing the universe, stars visible, corona jetting way out from the sun, brilliant deep red solar flares visible with your eyes...it's as if the curtain was suddenly pulled away and you see this great cosmic drama that surrounds us which we are a very tiny part of and experience this with all your senses.  It's over in just a few minutes but during that time you feel very insignificant. 

As I understand it, the pinkish jet-like structures at the bottom of your image were prominences rather than solar flares. But they were indeed impressive!

I saw the eclipse from a little hamlet on the Quebec border called Norton, VT. I chose that location to get as far ahead as possible of the high clouds that were marching steadily in, and I was rewarded with a perfect, unobstructed view of the eclipse through totality. I was unable to take any gear with me (e.g. telescope, camera) as others were using the available equipment, but a fellow eclipse watcher in Norton had a 60mm Coronado refractor with Sun filter and even an H-alpha filter. Through the telescope, there was nothing visible at the location of those naked-eye prominences - not surprisingly, since they were only a few times brighter than the corona, and obviously the corona isn't visible through a telescope with an approved Sun filter either.

The only pictures I have of the eclipse were taken with an iPhone and have poor resolution - you can't even see those prominences - so I won't bother trying to post them here.

#9

The Diner / Re: How is the weather?

Last post by krummholz - Today at 09:52:13 AM

Hearing about all the severe weather coming down in the Midwest makes me glad to live in New England, where violent storms are rare - though last summer Vermont lived through flooding rains, then again in December, and we've had some power outage-causing winter storms this past winter.

Y'all stay safe!

Currently between 18º and 19ºC and sunny, though we're expecting rain by tonight. For now, perfect hiking weather, except that most trails are closed because this is really not Spring in Vermont, but the 5th season, Mud Season. (The ones on the local former ski hill are luckily dry, though.)

#10

The Diner / Re: What TV series are you cur...

Last post by Karl Henning - Today at 09:50:29 AM

This sounds like the series from the 1980s... rather than the short-lived 2019 revival.

Yes. I know nothing of the 2019 revival. And Robt Klein is perfect in "Wordplay."