tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post6284207192560947462..comments2024-03-15T20:32:39.815+00:00Comments on On An Overgrown Path: The art of the animateurUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-14066009457883763482010-11-14T15:47:13.442+00:002010-11-14T15:47:13.442+00:00there is an essential difference between the cultu...there is an essential difference between the culture producing those great moments of media you cite and the culture now producing the trite pantomimes: the former culture did not worship money, they valued education and community assets and as such they <i>regularly</i> programmed material that was not popular but <i>enriching</i>, borrowing from the Pops to cover the costs of the Greater Good. Today they cannot for fear of offending their god by not carrying their own financial weight on each individual programme event. It is no longer valid to call it BBC3 or BBC4 because it's Every Show For Themselves, not a cohesive, unified intention.<br /><br />So what we have today is totally logical, and should come as no surprise since their <i>modus operandi</i> has been expected of their culture for as far back as anyone can remember:<br /><br />"<i>The Superior Man knows what is right; the Inferior Man knows what will sell.</i>" (Confucius)mrGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00582052332934960204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-83045742741105592642007-11-08T23:04:00.000+00:002007-11-08T23:04:00.000+00:00A lovely item ... thank you!I've dug around for my...A lovely item ... thank you!<BR/><BR/>I've dug around for my copy of Gould's Stokowski documentary for listening a bit later tonight. Also worthwhile is Gould's sizable essay, "Stokowski in Six Scenes," reprinted in "The Glenn Gould Reader". It talks about the making of the documentary, and also touches on his recording with Stokowski of the "Emperor".<BR/><BR/>And it has a great opening line - "I am not by nature a stage-door John".<BR/><BR/>David Munrow!! Those big LP boxes are around here somewhere ...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-34873912522423930202007-11-08T15:10:00.000+00:002007-11-08T15:10:00.000+00:00Email received from my anonymous mentor:Good piece...<I>Email received from my anonymous mentor:</I><BR/><BR/>Good piece, except that I think it is the dapper Giulini, not the scruffy Fleischman with Previn, and (will you ever forgive me?) practice is the spelling for the noun (under Sarah Walker, whose sloppy diction has just been infuriating me)[Both now corrected - Pliable]. <BR/><BR/>The proper word for the job is announcer. I am not in the least interested in their views of the music or the performance, which are usually insolent and ill-informed. <BR/><BR/>You are so right.Pliablehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10616598845886342325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-88170751454378339432007-11-07T22:28:00.000+00:002007-11-07T22:28:00.000+00:00Elaine, thank you for the fascinating excerpt from...Elaine, thank you for the fascinating excerpt from "Musical Notes from Abroad [1940]", from Musical Times, on your Musical Assumptions web-site! Like you, my eyes were caught by the mentions of Bartok's American recital tour with his wife [the two piano and percussion sonata]; and Paul Wittgenstein's commission of 'Diversions' from Britten (apparently written, in part, in Maine, and premiered in Philadelphia). [Clicking around, I see that Wittgenstein disliked (to no effect) Britten's orchestration; and also Ravel's use of jazz, in that commission. ]<BR/><BR/>What also caught my eye was Prokofiev's "Simeon Kotke" in Moscow. American opera might have been different if that work had travelled the Atlantic for an American production -- either on Broadway or at an opera house -- at about that time!Garth Trinklhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11084463787729969177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-2125575077651465582007-11-07T21:48:00.000+00:002007-11-07T21:48:00.000+00:00Thank you for the word "animateur" and for this pi...Thank you for the word "animateur" and for this piece.Elaine Finehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14248422399226824168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-1272117580051778312007-11-07T20:46:00.000+00:002007-11-07T20:46:00.000+00:00Totally priceless.Bang on cue tonight BBC Radio 3 ...Totally priceless.<BR/><BR/>Bang on cue tonight BBC Radio 3 presents a recording of a Boulez/BBCSO concert from 1975.<BR/><BR/>The concert recording is presented by Tom Service who has as a guest, live in the presentation suite, Sir Robert Ponsonby, who was BBC controller of music in 1975.<BR/><BR/>In the unscripted introduction Ponsonby lays in to the current standards of BBC Radio 3 presentation, echoes every point made in my post and leaves Service lost for words.<BR/><BR/>The, after the last work, Tom Service delivers his signature mistake of leaving the guest microphone closed. (http://theovergrownpath.blogspot.com/2007/09/day-music-died.html) And then does it AGAIN in the link to the next programme. <BR/><BR/>Unmissable. Boulez's Webern, Birtwistle and Ravel are pretty good as well -<BR/>http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/performanceon3/pip/9z6dc/Pliablehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10616598845886342325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-62037338078166800742007-11-07T19:39:00.000+00:002007-11-07T19:39:00.000+00:00I used the word important before reading Garth's c...I used the word important before reading Garth's comment. <BR/><BR/>http://davidderrick.wordpress.com/2007/11/07/animateurs/Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14443978164748794132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-25838425252972791082007-11-07T17:42:00.000+00:002007-11-07T17:42:00.000+00:00Garth thanks for that, and it is indeed good news ...Garth thanks for that, and it is indeed good news that Iván Fischer is an <I>animateur</I> in the making.<BR/><BR/>My experience is that talking about music is something musicians either excel at, or are really bad at.<BR/><BR/>Mark Elder has done great things with the Hallé Orchestra here. But he will insist on delivering pre-performance lectures, which come over precisely as pre-performance lectures.<BR/><BR/>I did write about musicians who talked some time back - <BR/>http://theovergrownpath.blogspot.com/2005/06/and-soloist-talked-beautifully.html<BR/><BR/>Now you've got me thinking about a post on the Robert Mayer Children's Concerts - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_MayerPliablehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10616598845886342325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-87907789876827163332007-11-07T17:26:00.000+00:002007-11-07T17:26:00.000+00:00Thank you for another very important article, plia...Thank you for another very important article, pliable.<BR/><BR/>Iván Fischer -- the founding music director of the Budapest Festival Orchestra and the incoming principal guest conductor (for two years) of Washington's National Symphony Orchestra -- is another humane musician who could probably easily step onto the television airwaves and radio airwaves and bring millions along to the joys of classical music. (Mr Fischer declined the National Symphony Orchestra's offer of the permanent post being vacated by Leonard Slatkin, preferring not to spend too much time away from his young family based in Budapest, and his Budapest Festival Orchestra.)<BR/><BR/>Apparently, his first classical concert for children in Washington (based upon his children's classical programming in Budapest) brought praise from the Washington Post, which described him as “informal and extroverted and pleasingly absurdist, winning the delighted laughter of the numerous children, parents, and grandparents”.<BR/><BR/>This past Sunday, he gave two more Children's classical concerts in Washington, the positive review for which is at (mid-page):<BR/><BR/>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/05/AR2007110501952.html<BR/><BR/>*<BR/><BR/>I'd love for the American Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) to invite Mr. Fischer -- or an alternative, younger, humane musician -- to launch a weekend classical music program for children and young adults on PBS's Public Television and Public Radio (if public television and radio, in America, survives the lack of attention and mismanagement of its current laissez-faire Republican and ADD limosine-liberal Democratic Boards of Governors.)Garth Trinklhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11084463787729969177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-81036454304660702952007-11-07T17:15:00.000+00:002007-11-07T17:15:00.000+00:00Jeff, thanks for that. I'm currently working on a ...Jeff, thanks for that. <BR/><BR/>I'm currently working on a radio documentary about David Munrow. This will include, I hope, a major contribution from a key figure in Munrow's recording career who has not told his story before.<BR/><BR/>The programme should be broadcast on Future Radio before Christmas. I'll post further details here when available.Pliablehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10616598845886342325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-78782620987526291312007-11-07T17:08:00.000+00:002007-11-07T17:08:00.000+00:00Touching to see mention of David Munrow after many...Touching to see mention of David Munrow after many years. <BR/><BR/>God rest his soul.Jeffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05362705229107017257noreply@blogger.com