tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6644918126688721788.post9135352859057030929..comments2024-03-28T07:13:10.797+00:00Comments on TONE DEAF: Music, great for humilationRoderick Robinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16828395545197001637noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6644918126688721788.post-87047507440997838182013-02-22T12:05:21.481+00:002013-02-22T12:05:21.481+00:00Julia: It's ironic that the instrumentalists a...Julia: It's ironic that the instrumentalists are still gathered up into unsuitable garments whereas many conductors are allowed to opt for lightweight casual clothing (Mao jackets, typically) much more suited to music-making.<br /><br />Can't quarrel with tears as a form of musical response. And here's another irony. At the Last Night of the Proms concert it's traditional during the medley of sea shanties for a solo cello to play a very soulful variant of Tom Bowling. It's equally traditional for the prommers to pretend to cry at this. Whereas I cry for real. Roderick Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16828395545197001637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6644918126688721788.post-88513949280379852502013-02-22T08:33:37.064+00:002013-02-22T08:33:37.064+00:00The choir seats in the Rudolfinum are half the siz...The choir seats in the Rudolfinum are half the size of regular seats, so we've never booked them (Caroline sits there twice a year before her concerts, and says it is fun to be so high up, but only for a little bit as they are so hard and small).<br /><br />My favorite spot to perch is in the balcony, dead middle, as I like to watch the whole orchestra. Luckily ticket prices aren't outrageous. <br /><br />My Czech friends have special outfits and coats they reserve only for concerts. It seems respectful rather than pretentious, but that might be because concert goers here are not just middle class people, but all sorts. Plus, they cry when the orchestra plays Dvorak. Who could resist an audience like that! Juliahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02381204473168533313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6644918126688721788.post-88995608686429922982013-02-22T07:02:59.091+00:002013-02-22T07:02:59.091+00:00Sir Hugh: Not sure it was meaningful. Just part of...Sir Hugh: Not sure it was meaningful. Just part of a continuing saga about the benefits of live music (concerts, recitals) vs. canned music (radio, CDs, MP3).<br /><br />Live music's two benefits are high fidelity and being there at the music's creation. Against these must be set its disadvantages: getting there on a cold winter night, the coughing that always seems to be reserved for the pp passages, the irritation at seeing musicians dressed up in penguin suits, the sheer greed of recital audiences clapping to squeeze out encores, the suspension of belief required when a 20-stone tenor sings the picture song in Flute, etc, etc. Also, and perhaps most important, the slow realisation that one is part of a seemingly smug middle-class assembly whose reasons for being there are often suspect - one reason why I always wear my shabbiest clothes.<br /><br />Julia: "hard to tell what orchestra members are going to do during modern pieces". To which I would add, hard to tell what they're going play... In preparation for the Emerson Qt at the Festival Hall next Wednesday I have played and re-played Berg's Lyic Suite (Julliard, on YouTube) and am coming to the conclusion I may have bitten off more than I can chew, Unfortunately I allowed myself to hear a variant of the first movement in which Dawn Upshaw adds herself to the Kronos and rather wish I was going to hear that.<br /><br />All this familiarity with percussionists. Does that mean you've been booking lots of concerts in the choir seats? That was the favoured practice during the earlier years of our group trips to Birmingham. There seemed to be several disadvantages: the "stereo" was reversed, the nearness of the percussion meant too much of a good thing, and frequently the soloist in concerti became invisible (esp in the triple concerto). Gloomily I had to accept that the (wealthier) middle-class lot got a better crack of the whip in the stalls.Roderick Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16828395545197001637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6644918126688721788.post-41367556742529844622013-02-21T14:32:18.301+00:002013-02-21T14:32:18.301+00:00Unless you've played a piece before (or watche...Unless you've played a piece before (or watched it) it's hard to tell what orchestra members are going to do during modern pieces. I like to try to guess just which percussionist clangs on what before they get around to it, because I'm almost always wrong. (The triangle players are so often hulking, long haired guys you'd think would be kettle drum players!)Juliahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02381204473168533313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6644918126688721788.post-16985380939289226692013-02-20T08:38:21.086+00:002013-02-20T08:38:21.086+00:00I am an enthusiastic believer in “making things ha...I am an enthusiastic believer in “making things happen” - I mean actively arranging to go somewhere, make that phone call, write that letter, speaking to a passer-by etc.<br /><br />Occasionally life sends us a present we had no part in instigating, but most worthwhile experiences have the added satisfaction of the self knowledge that you “made it happen”.<br /><br />Things don’t always turn out as you envisaged in the planning stage, but on this occasion you had a go and came back with a meaningful story to tell, which I am sure will arouse familiarity and wry smile from your readers.Sir Hughhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17908756392825206914noreply@blogger.com