Comment

Comment by Napoleon Bonaparte on August 12, 2011 at 12:23pm

When Atheists want to 'chill out' they listen to Chris Smith !

http://www.atheistnexus.org/video/nocturne-no-1-chris-smith

Comment by Jaume on March 29, 2011 at 4:53pm

Or an egoist one.

Comment by James M. Martin on March 29, 2011 at 4:53pm

Maybe God really does exist.  It's just that he's a mean old bastard.

Comment by James M. Martin on March 29, 2011 at 4:52pm

Beethoven's Ninth.  Schubert's "Unfinished."  Many more.  We know not the time or the hour and all that....

Comment by Jaume on March 29, 2011 at 4:49pm

I've heard the same argument made about Mozart's Requiem and Bach's Art of Fugue, but never about Bruckner's 9th so far.

Comment by James M. Martin on March 29, 2011 at 4:19pm

The greatest argument for the non-existence of "God" is that had he existed, he would not have taken out Anton Bruckner before this devoted Christian finished his immortal 9th Symphony, arguably the greatest symphonic work in the literature.

Comment by Richard Goscicki on January 3, 2011 at 9:48am

 

Lancaster certainly ended his eminent career on a kinky note with Atlantic City. But the Verdi biog narration was excellent, very respectful, even reverential.

 

Did you ever get into Verdi's life? What a story. He was a beaten, broken man, living like a bum in Milan, when Guiseppina Straponi, the most famous soprano in Italy,
spotted him walking down the street. She stopped her carriage,
called out Maestro, Maestro, ran after him and handed the raggedy man
a score.

 

Verdi hadn't heard that appellation in years. He kept walking, not knowing who she was referring to. Finally, he said, “No, Thank you, but I don't compose anymore.”
(After two flops.) She replied wistfully, looking in his eyes
earnestly, “Oh, please, just read it.”

 

Which he did and the rest is history. The score was, of course, Nabucco and after its premiere Verdi emerged a national hero and patriot. “Va Pensiero” was sung and
hummed all over Europe, spreading like the plague. “Verdi in the
man Italy has been wasting for!” yelled the riotous audience at the
curtain call.

 

And if it weren't for this chance happening, Verdi's career probably wouldn't have happened. So, with all the movies Lancaster made, I remember him best for the Verdi
miniseries voice-over.

 

Comment by James M. Martin on January 3, 2011 at 12:22am

Lancaster was a good actor playing a role, not speaking for himself.  He made his living doing things that were not something he would personally do.  It was within the context that he said it; he also seduced a peasant girl so he could drink her breast milk.  Bertolucci is kinky tht way.  I think it had a great score by Morriconi.

Comment by Richard Goscicki on January 2, 2011 at 6:17pm

James, "au fond du temple saint" has long time been one of my favorite pieces of music.  I once saw Robert Merrill and Richard Tucker sing it at Carnegie in the
early '70s.  My finance's father, who at the time was a member
of the Jersey Symphony and friend of Ferde Grofe, of the Grand
Canyon Suite, said, “now there's a couple of Jewish kids from NYC that
made out pretty well.”

 

To me, Verdi was the master of orchestration. Puccini and Bellini were master of melody, but Verdi was the Commander of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In my time, I've
seen ten out of 26 operas and still look forward to the remaining 16.

 

Quite right, should have said “twentieth century”. He died in 1903.

 

Burt Lancaster once did a laudatory and respectful, even obeisant, narration of a Verdi biog (four-part miniseries) on one of the learning channels; I think is was PBS. So
for Lancaster to say that about Verdi, would make the actor a
consummate phony and pseudo-intellectual. Just as James Mason at about
the same time narrated the life story of Felix Mendelssohn, you
could tell in his voice the reverence of an actor, who interprets
art, for a genius, who creates art.

 

By "pater familias", I take it you mean Mafia don.  It's not something Lancaster would say in real life. 

 

 

Comment by James M. Martin on January 2, 2011 at 12:36pm

Wasm't it in "1900" by Bertolucci that the pater familias landowner, played by Burt Lancaster, utters the hilarious line, "Verdi was full of shit!"  Give me a good modern opera any time.  I like "Nixon" and "Klinghoffer" by Adams and "Peter Grimes" by Benjamin Britten.  But I also love the duet about brotherhood in "The Pearl Fishers."

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