What are you listening 2 now?

[Florestan]

Fritz Reiner conducting the Chicago Symphony in Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture, Liszt's Mephisto Waltz #1, S. 514 and the Brahms Tragic Overture, Opus 81

Quite the line up.

[Traverso]

A peach, especially the finale.

Indeed the finale is exhilarating 

[Florestan]

Freedom of speech is about whether the government punishes you. Not whether your fellow citizens express their disapproval.

I do agree 100%.

But --- and here's the big but --- it's one thing for a fellow citizen to say or imply: "I disapprove of what you say" and quite another one for the selfsame fellow citizen to say or imply: "Not only do I disapprove of what you say, but you actually shouldn't have said it at all". In my book, the latter instance is a clear indication of how that fellow citizen would act if they were the government. 

[Florestan]

Indeed the finale is exhilarating 

I heard it for the first time on an LP titled "Famous Encores", some 35 years ago. It has never left my mind ever since.

[Traverso]

I heard it for the first time on an LP titled "Famous Encores", some 35 years ago. It has never left my mind ever since.

My first time was a broadcast (30-35 years ago) with Ozawa as conductor,it was a very exhilarating performance.

[Florestan]

My first time was a broadcast (30-35 years ago) with Ozawa as conductor,it was a very exhilarating performance.

We are both old-timers, my friend! 

But hey, as James Dean said: It's essential to die young and as late as possible.

[Traverso]

We are both old-timers, my friend! 

But hey, as James Dean said: It's essential to die young and as late as possible.

Unfortunately (inevitable) our body is slowly being demolished but when the brain connections also start to die, even Verdi's requiem with its hammer blows is not able to reverse this process or do you think otherwise ? 

[Florestan]

Unfortunately (inevitable) our body is slowly being demolished but when the brain connections also start to die, even Verdi's requiem with its hammer blows is not able to reverse this process or do you think otherwise ? 

Absolutely not. Our bodies will fail us sooner or later and so will our brains (hopefully later in both cases.) How sooner or how later depends on many variables, but fail us they will.

[Traverso]

Vanity ,everything is vanity......Will the community ever become wiser or is this inevitably an individual process and will the rest have to be kept in line with sanctions?

Bach

Suite No.3 with the beautiful air (so much misused)

[Florestan]

Vanity ,everything is vanity......Will the community ever become wiser or is this inevitably an individual process and will the rest have to be kept in line with sanctions?

Totalitarianism in a nutshell: sanctioning someone for thinking X because the government not only thinks non-X, but pretends that they are acting on behalf of the vast majority who thinks non-X as well --- while the vast majority couldn't genuinely care less about either X or non-X.

[Linz]

Bruckner Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, 1872/77 Mixed Versions. Ed. Leopold Nowak, Wiener Philharmoniker, Riccardo Muti

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Absolutely not. Our bodies will fail us sooner or later and so will our brains (hopefully later in both cases.) How sooner or how later depends on many variables, but fail us they will.

As we get old, our ability to "make" a (short-term) memory may decline. But the ability to retract the memory (already built) may not decline much. There are several exercise to improve the former. Make memos, repeat things, pay attention, etc.

[Florestan]

Make memos, repeat things, pay attention, etc.

One makes memo, repeat things and pay attention until one doesn't anymore.

Quand vous serez bien vieille, au soir, à la chandelle,
Assise aupres du feu, dévidant & filant,
Direz, chantant mes vers, en vous esmerveillant,
Ronsard me celebroit du temps que j'estois belle.

Lors vous n'aurez servante oyant telle nouvelle,
Desja sous le labeur à demy sommeillant,
Qui au bruit de mon nom ne s'aille resveillant,
Bénissant vostre nom de louange immortelle.

Je seray sous la terre: & fantôme sans os
Par les ombres myrteux je prendray mon repos ;
Vous serez au fouyer une vieille accroupie

Regrettant mon amour & vostre fier desdain.
Vivez, si m'en croyez, n'attendez à demain :
Cueillez dés aujourd'huy les roses de la vie.

[Lisztianwagner]

Gabriel Fauré
Barcarolles

Pianist: Marc-André Hamelin

[VonStupp]

Heitor Villa-Lobos
Symphony 3 'War'
Symphony 4 'Victory'
São Paulo SO - Isaac Karabtchevsky

The liner notes mention an ad libitum chorus in the Third Symphony, which they do not use. A shame, since the São Paulo chorus has been utilized on so many Villa-Lobos recordings.

Otherwise, these early symphonies are beginning to sound like film scores to me.
VS

[Madiel]

I do agree 100%.

But --- and here's the big but --- it's one thing for a fellow citizen to say or imply: "I disapprove of what you say" and quite another one for the selfsame fellow citizen to say or imply: "Not only do I disapprove of what you say, but you actually shouldn't have said it at all". In my book, the latter instance is a clear indication of how that fellow citizen would act if they were the government. 

Perhaps what's missing here is a conversation about all the other citizens who were affected by the speech, in ways beyond disapproving of it.

I've lived through having my country discuss whether or not I should be allowed to get married. So I'm well aware of the mental health impact of being talked about.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Richard Mohaupt violin concerto. Michael Rabin, Dimitri Mitropoulos/New York Philharmonic.

[Linz]

Joseph Haydn Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Frans Brüggen CD 5

[André]

CD1

That's a great set !

[André]

First listen to this set. EXCEPTIONAL! THE most melancholy and bittersweet Mazurkas I've ever heard. The only one I can imagine playing them better is Chopin himself. From now on, my reference set of Mazurkas.

Exceptionally sensitive and perceptive interpretations.