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#1
The Diner / Re: What are you currently rea...
Last post by Crudblud - Today at 03:03:27 PM
Quote from: Ganondorf on Today at 03:40:00 AMI read that Zola work some time ago. Zola is a magnificent evocative writer to be sure but I must also say that his male protagonists tend to be swines. If Zola even half-heartedly agrees with the kind of treatment his female characters receive in his books, then he must be the ultimate sexist.
Entirely possible. I would only counter by saying that my impression of the four or five Zola novels I've read is that he tends to give his men enough rope to hang themselves. Without attempting to psychoanalyse someone long dead, it seems to me that Zola doesn't depict characters like Mouret as noble, only as having the cunning to succeed in a society which generally is shown to be rotten and inhospitable.
#3
Quote from: Daverz on Today at 02:22:57 PMI agree that Hurwitz is intolerant of dissent in his comment section (he banned me years ago), but this is a stupid example.  There would be no benefit to anyone in allowing political comments on Israel/Palestine under a music CD review.  It would just turn into a cesspool very quickly. 

It was what came to mind as an example of his intolerance of dissent. No reason to throw people off the forum just for bringing it up, and apparently Levit's reason for producing the disc was the war.

And that was a really good nap . . . .
#4
Bruckner Symphony No. 3 in D Minor, 1889 Version (aka 1888/89) Ed. Leopold Nowak,  Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Karl Böhm
#5
General Classical Music Discussion / Re: David Hurwitz
Last post by Daverz - Today at 02:22:57 PM
Quote from: (poco) Sforzando on Today at 12:51:30 PMHerman is exactly right. Hurwitz's biggest flaw is his intolerance of disagreement. There are no true "discussions" on his forum because one can never tell how many dissenting comments have been deleted. At times he'll devote an entire video to ridiculing someone who disagrees with him.

A more secure person would welcome opposing viewpoints, but disagree with Dave and you're on the outs. Example: he was reviewing Levit's recent Mendelssohn disc inspired by the October 7 attacks, but Hurwitz has decided that politics has nothing to do with music (which is of course nonsense), and that if anyone were to make a political point in the comments, they would be banned from his site. He's attacked me a number of times, which is why I no longer participate on his forum.

I agree that Hurwitz is intolerant of dissent in his comment section (he banned me years ago), but this is a stupid example.  There would be no benefit to anyone in allowing political comments on Israel/Palestine under a music CD review.  It would just turn into a cesspool very quickly. 
#6
The Diner / Re: What game are you playing?
Last post by hopefullytrusting - Today at 02:09:52 PM
Quote from: DavidW on Today at 12:54:24 PMYou're really taking patient gaming to another level!  And I have a friend is still playing ps3 games.  That is nothing!  You're still in the 90s.

Lol. I've not seen many new games that make me want to play them. Like the newest games I can think of that I might want to play is Fallout 4 or Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, but that is pretty much it.

There are so many games that I've not played that it is likely I might never get to those two newer games (I do own both, but my current computer can't play either, and I have no reason to get a new one, yet).
#7
On mentioning Georg Szell in the 'Finales' thread and what I said about his Tchaikovsky 4 recording it brought to mind other conductors who were perceived as dictatorial, uncompromising and/or possessed of a savage tongue. Names that come to mind as both definite and possible candidates include Reiner, Toscanini, Karajan, Carlos Kleiber, Beecham, etc - the past is virtually littered with these dictators of the podium.

I'm setting up this thread for posts about those dictator conductors of the past, what they did, what they said and what others said about them. The following link makes for interesting reading but something as simple as
Szell sat through a Philharmonia concert under and ailing Klemperer. He was due to take over the orchestra the next day  and at the end on encountering the orchestra leader snapped "Get a good nights sleep, you have a hard day tomorrow."  would be great.

The witticisms of Thomas Beecham make for good reading one of my favourited being his description of the harpsichord sounding like "two skeletons copulating on a tin roof".

This article from Slipped Disc gives us some idea of Szell the conductor

https://slippedisc.com/2018/08/was-georg-szell-as-horrid-as-described/
#8
Quote from: Karl Henning on Today at 01:01:07 PMNot I, surely. Especially knowing how negligible is the chance that he'd address any contrary thesis.

Well, precisely.
#9
Haydn's Solo Keyboard Works - spending a few days on the sonatas plus miscellaneous pieces from the three boxes below in my collection, just a handful of discs from each set. According to the Landon (H.C. Robbins Landon) numbering, Haydn composed 62 KB sonatas of which 7 are lost (Nos. 21-27), but some those (esp. the earlier ones) remained in doubt?

So, in these three compilations, the number of sonatas recorded varies, e.g. Brautigam does 55 (i.e. 62 minus 7) while Pienaar does the least, i.e. 48 excluding some of those in question. I'm enjoying all of these keyboardists; of course, Tom Beghin performances are the most varied using 7 historical keyboards (clavichord, harpsichord, fortepiano) in 9 'virtual rooms' (does it make a difference which has been argued?) - reviews attached for the interested.  Now there are other good boxes out there, including one with Bavouzet (expensive on Amazon USA) - I just setup a Spotify playlist of all of his 11 volumes and will take a listen soon.  Dave :)

   
#10
Quote from: AnotherSpin on Today at 03:08:24 AMI think there is no need to expect technical perfection from a great pianist, especially one who is no longer young. We're talking about a human, not a machine. Or impeccable memory, for the same reason. Even young pianists often play from notes. There is a special charm in imperfections and faults. Pianistic wabi-sabi. 

Cortot is a perfect example of this happening - some fumbles but the overall result is great music.