NormanH Posted May 19, 2012 Share Posted May 19, 2012 http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/philip-hensher/philip-hensher-will-nobody-mourn-the-death-of-classical-music-7766906.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbie Posted May 20, 2012 Share Posted May 20, 2012 [quote user="NormanH"]http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/philip-hensher/philip-hensher-will-nobody-mourn-the-death-of-classical-music-7766906.html[/quote]How very depressing[:(] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted May 20, 2012 Author Share Posted May 20, 2012 It's all part of the dumbing down of society. It's not just classical music, it's in all spheres of artistic life, literature, painting, radio, TV, you name it.I am constantly horrified by some of the things that come to my attention. Only a couple of days ago, I read an article which says that if you are running a book club, then you must never recommend that the members read Middlemarch because it would "turn people off"![:-))]Why, I re-read Middlemarch only a few months ago because I wanted to remind myself what a superb novel it is.Depressing? Utterly, and I do not see any reversal of this terrible phenomenon. It's been happening over many, many years now and those of us who still enjoy these things have come to be looked upon as dinosaurs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted May 20, 2012 Author Share Posted May 20, 2012 [quote user="NormanH"]There are a number of lovely clips of her on YouTubehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_IS6sg_0Nw&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHZhkvu1ojk&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLUyY8m3dPA&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh_1CKyZVSc&feature=relatedThose are all great pieces of music, but she could even infuse a spurious potboiler with warmth and feeling:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF5eKVTzubc&feature=relatedor a simple folksonghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjvHg9cBriw[/quote]Just fabulous, Norman, and thank you for posting them.I've had a long rando in the rain with complete strangers in a village I didn't know and then had lunch and now I am home with a very acceptable glass of merlot and Kathleen Ferrier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted May 20, 2012 Share Posted May 20, 2012 "a very acceptable glass of merlot and Kathleen Ferrier"What could be more sublime?Surely the answer to the article I posted is that people who can't appreciate these things are in fact impoverished.I don't judge them as inferior, but I know that great classical music, poetry, and more recently art films have given me an inner life that has supported me through the vicissitudes of health and fortune that I have experienced over the last 20 years.Sad? perhaps, but true? yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted May 20, 2012 Author Share Posted May 20, 2012 I think I know exactly what you mean about "an inner life". I remember an interview I heard with Aung Yang Soo Kyi and she was asked about being under "house arrest". She said that she might have spent the last x number of years in her own home but that her mind and spirit had travelled all over the world.Indeed, one's inner life is there to be enjoyed, whatever one's immediate circumstances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 While listening to Kathleen Ferrier, keep in mind the limerick quoted in the documentary:There was a young lady of NantesTrès chic at si bien élégante;But her hole was so smallIt was no use at allExcept for for la plume de ma tante. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted May 21, 2012 Author Share Posted May 21, 2012 Oh, I'm so pleased that you have now watched the programme. Yes, I remember the limerick but I couldn't think in which polite society I'd be able to quote it![:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 I don't mix in the sort of circles where I couldn't [:P] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted May 25, 2012 Author Share Posted May 25, 2012 Norman, this evening BBC4 TV, interesting programme about Delius.Unfortunately, I only caught about the last third. Trouble is now we have light evenings all of my village seem to be out and about so that, when I come out of the Keep-Fit, I have to run the gamut of kisses and greetings.By the time I have had a word or two with each one, I am easily 20 to 30 minutes later walking home.But, I saw enough to think that you might enjoy it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 Thanks for that. I watched it last night on iPlayer and learned a lot I didn't know about Delius's life, and heard quite a lot of music I hadn't heard before.http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01j0yys/Delius_Composer_Lover_Enigma/I can say I 'enjoyed' it but why oh why do they talk over the music? At one point there was a youngish French chap telling us that in is opinion 'this is the most beautiful moment in Music' . Apart from that being a ridiculous statement I felt like saying "Shut up and let me hear it then"[:@] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted May 27, 2012 Author Share Posted May 27, 2012 Oh, how I agree with your point about commentors talking over the music. I often wish I could strangle them [6]Mind you, I feel the same way when I am watching an interesting documentary and I am concentrating on what is being said and they play some music which is sometimes entirely the wrong music or music from the wrong period (anachronistic)......gggggrrrrrrrrrrr[+o(] (and an icon for the grinding of teeth here)When I want to listen to music, that's what I want, MUSIC, and when I want to listen to a verbal commentary, that is also what I want, WORDS.Is that too much to ask? (icon for total exasperation here) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 Inexplicably I missed this, a production of Handel's Julius Caesar from Salzburg with a dream cast.It is still (just) available on Arte7 here:http://videos.arte.tv/fr/videos/jules_cesar_en_egypte-6691418.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted May 29, 2012 Author Share Posted May 29, 2012 Thank you so very much.The worst of it is that I did know about the programme but alas we are still unable to get Arte here. Don't bloody know why because we certainly had it in our other house (sorry for the swearing but it's one of those things that truly bugs me).I asked a question about it on the Forum soon after we moved here and I tried all the possible solutions suggested but still we remain Arte-less. Will have to get someone who is au fait with these things to twiddle some knobs, I guess.All the equipment is new-ish and cost lots of dosh so no reason that I can see as to why we can't receive Arte.OTOH, there is a barogue season starting around here next month so I suppose you win some and you lose some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 But you don't need to receive Arte by TVYou can see the programme on the Internet, as with iPlayer, except that as you are in France there is no problem of having to go through complicated manoeuvres.You just click on the link I gave to watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 But you don't need to receive Arte by TVYou can see the programme on the Internet, as with iPlayer, except that as you are in France there is no problem of having to go through complicated manoeuvres.You just click on the link I gave to watch. http://videos.arte.tv/fr/videos/jules_cesar_en_egypte-6691418.html and it will come p on the screen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted May 29, 2012 Author Share Posted May 29, 2012 I know, I was thanking you for the link. But, we always got Arte on the TV in the other house. So much better, bigger screen and I could hook the Bose up to the TV and get incredible sound.Just got crotchety because I wanted to hear Ann Sophie von Otter properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 You really need to get your computer sorted with good speakers.I use mine (with a good sound card and speakers with a bass unit) as a CD player, Home Cinema, and as a direct way of watching such broadcasts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 We have a modest Music festival over the next few days, with artists from Eastern Europe and a choir from Barcelona as well as our own little orchestra under 'local boy made good' Jean Bernard Pommier who has now come back home and runs some musical activitiesHere are a couple of clips one of him as a pianisthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TF8DVLy0C8&feature=relmfuand as conductorhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wdiSd4yTXo&feature=relatedThe programme is here. I was delighted to be able to get out to the first concert last night thanks to my Scooter.. http://www.ville-beziers.fr/culture/fiche.cfm?num=1658&affecter=culture Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 Something completely different.I greatly enjoy Madeleine Peyroux who is to jazz what chamber music is to classical She is on tour here in Julyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jeeY80n99Q&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTvpCep2QtE&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pl-cVgAU8K8http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdK21k4lArQ&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YT9EXNhV-gk&list=AL94UKMTqg-9BEnJzWrA8BC_kZJeBkPM-M&index=10&feature=plcp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 This is a charming conceit, so beautifully sung and playedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ep9wONkU2c&feature=em-share_video_user Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted June 7, 2012 Author Share Posted June 7, 2012 Thank you so much. I am only now catching up with the clips.I wanted to listen before replying.Nice programmes for our local Baroque concerts and it's a matter of choosing the venues as well as the concerts! For example, Bach in the abbey of St X or Purcell in the eglise of St Y?And, no, we can't afford to go to more than one or, at most, two.This retirement situation when there is only the fixed income and the necessity to make difficult choices is not a great deal of fun [:(] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 I know! Most of those concerts are at a minimum of 25€ which starts to add up, especially if I buy a ticket for the person who gives me a lift.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted June 7, 2012 Author Share Posted June 7, 2012 I have just found the music for this lovely Swedish folksong (OH commented on how nice it sounded, such a kind remark!) to be played andantino which is just about manageable for me!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXPPMYyJl-g Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Thanks for that. It reminds me of a wedding I went to in countryside like that just a few years ago... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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