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#1

The Diner / Re: What are you currently rea...

Last post by Jo498 - Today at 10:52:44 AM

That's a rather bad spoiler! The Moonstone should still be quite entertaining because of the way it is told and the characters. "The Woman in White" might be even better if you like that kind of stuff.

I think the oddest "spoiler" I ever encountered happened to me by reading Fforde's "The Eyre Affair" before ever having read Jane Eyre (I think I had seen a movie but long before, and I am not even sure of that). Not to spoil anyone for either book, I'll say no more (only that the second book of Fforde's series was already so mediocre that I never bothered with any of the others but the Eyre Affair is pretty good, but probably better if one has read Jane Eyre...

[but my abiding memory will be of her working the violin while lying in a bathtub wearing a shower cap, serenaded by a guy banging a yellow plastic duck against the rim.]

#2

General Classical Music Discussion / Re: What concerts are you look...

Last post by brewski - Today at 10:48:20 AM

Before long we'll be seeing PatKop (as she likes to be known) playing Shostakovich in a more conventional setting, but my abiding memory will be of her working the violin while lying in a bathtub wearing a shower cap, serenaded by a guy banging a yellow plastic duck against the rim.

   

-Bruce

#3

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

Last post by DavidW - Today at 10:18:29 AM

My favorites over the past few days:

#4

The Diner / Re: What are you currently rea...

Last post by vers la flamme - Today at 09:29:51 AM

Same thing happened to me with Madame Bovary.

I've got that on my bookshelf, hopefully will read it soon... I'll make sure to skip the introduction

@PD, sounds, and looks great. Never heard anything from Liebermann before.

#5

The Diner / Re: What are you currently rea...

Last post by Pohjolas Daughter - Today at 09:23:39 AM

@Pohjolas Daughter No, I didn't realize that an opera had been made out of it. It's definitely a very dramatic novel, so I could see it making for good opera material. The novel is short, full of witty epigrams, great decadent late Victorian atmosphere, and interesting ideas art and whether or not it can corrupt the soul, etc. Definitely worth a read. And thank you!

Looks like at least a few people have written operas based on it.

The one that I heard was written by Lowell Liebermann.  Doing some googling (and checking to see whether or not my neurotransmitters were functioning today), what I heard was the US premiere of it with the Florentine Opera (Milwaukee, WI) from back in 1999 (though I suspect that it was broadcasted at some point later in time).  Really drew me in to the story.  I remember trying to see whether or not I could find a recording of it.  There's a tiny clip of it here:

PD

#6

The Diner / Re: Non-Classical Music Listen...

Last post by Henk - Today at 09:21:01 AM

I am a 2020s hater. I hate what the World has become. This is the first decade in my life when I feel I don't belong to this reality at all (I have always felt I'm living on the wrong planet because of my personality/neurotype, but before this decade I felt I can connect to the World at least in some ways). I have almost nothing to offer the World and vice versa. Almost all the stuff that is good in the World is stuff that existed before. Sunshine on my face still feel nice. Pop music from 2010-12 sounds still cool. Recently I say the movie "Day of the Jackal" from 1973 and it was surprisingly good! This decade don't get credit for those things.

In order to cope with the misery of 2020s I have been listening to certain type of music from 1990-92 that feel nostalgic. I have been buying that kind of music online on CD. This has helped a lot. I now understand why older people live in the past. I was born in 1971. The World has become too "modern" for me. I am not against advancements in technology, but so much good has been destroyed as a side effect. Artificial Intelligent is cool, but the cost will be insane: a lot of people will be unemployed living in poverty while the profits go to ultra rich people. We are losing humanity. We are losing so much. Somehow we are creating a World were most people do nothing but struggle to survive instead of technology creating us ALL a paradise. So, that's why I rather live in the past while acknowledging only the best things of today. So, I listen to music such as this (a side project of Saint Etienne from 1991):

For me it is totally irrelevant if this kind of music is objectively bad or crap for somebody else. This music means surprisingly much to me.

I can emphatize with you, but hold a less pessimistic view. Maybe you should read Nietzsche, who looks far into the future.

#7

The Diner / Re: What are you currently rea...

Last post by Spotted Horses - Today at 09:13:56 AM

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins while I've been sick in bed these past few days. Damn it, though, I spoiled the mystery by reading the first paragraph of the introduction. Last time I ever try reading an introduction before the book itself.

Same thing happened to me with Madame Bovary.

#8

The Diner / Re: Non-Classical Music Listen...

Last post by Henk - Today at 09:10:12 AM

Been listening to these two albums, recent releases. Superb, it has been some time that I really have been enthousiastic about new music (aside from some jazz releases), John Moreland and Kim Gordon came close, but these two top them imo.





Second album is by Marcus King.

I'll keep playing them the coming months.

#9

Classical YouTube Video Library / Re: Beethoven + God - Op. 27 N...

Last post by Karl Henning - Today at 09:06:52 AM

Using [composer + God] to mean that you really like a piece may have become tiresome by now.

#10

The Diner / Re: What are you currently rea...

Last post by vers la flamme - Today at 09:04:23 AM

But remember that The Moonstone is a classic because of how it gets to the solution of the mystery.

I hoped as much, so I haven't given up on it Actually very much enjoying it so far, though the second narrator who came in around page 200 is annoying me with her preachy tone.

@Pohjolas Daughter No, I didn't realize that an opera had been made out of it. It's definitely a very dramatic novel, so I could see it making for good opera material. The novel is short, full of witty epigrams, great decadent late Victorian atmosphere, and interesting ideas art and whether or not it can corrupt the soul, etc. Definitely worth a read. And thank you!