Ed Waffle

I will stop posting (I hope) on this thread after this, because I am not really rational about either PBS or our local outlet here in Motown. They are both execrable. I don't watch it for news--that's why God gave us the New York Times nor for entertainment. I will confess to not liking the music that Alexandra references when it was new, and still don't, so recycling it is makes no sense. What really tore it for me was a was a show on a weekend evening (this was before four hour blocks of Antiques Roadshow ruled its airwaves) that had country music concerts---"Live from Austin" or something like that. Country Music, programmed every week? Apparently there weren't enough commercial outlets for this dreck.

I will stop posting (I hope) on this thread after this, because I am not really rational about either PBS or our local outlet here in Motown. They are both execrable. I don't watch it for news--that's why God gave us the New York Times nor for entertainment. I will confess to not liking the music that Alexandra references when it was new, and still don't, so recycling it is makes no sense. What really tore it for me was a was a show on a weekend evening (this was before four hour blocks of Antiques Roadshow ruled its airwaves) that had country music concerts---"Live from Austin" or something like that. Country Music, programmed every week? Apparently there weren't enough commercial outlets for this dreck.

Yes. Actually I would like to have a total of four channels: 1) Ballet, 24/7 2) Opera, 24/7 3) Boxing, 24/7 4) News--for wars, revolutions, terrorist events, etc. If so, I would probably watch a LOT more TV than I do now, which is just about none.

Yes. Actually I would like to have a total of four channels: 1) Ballet, 24/7 2) Opera, 24/7 3) Boxing, 24/7 4) News--for wars, revolutions, terrorist events, etc. If so, I would probably watch a LOT more TV than I do now, which is just about none.

With apologies to Watermill who, it seems, has an even worse set of PBS stations than does Southeast Michigan. This is from an opera list to which I subscribe. It is from the list owner of Opera_L, a person who does not make mistakes on subjects such as this. I would think one could substitute "ballet" for "opera" and still be accurate. The post is as follows: I'm not sure about the future telecasts, but the word I heard was that money was not as much of an issue as everyone thinks it is. According to my source, the bigger issue is that PBS is less interested in giving opera telecasts airtime. (Of course, money must figure as part of the equation, but the source assured me it's not the sole issue.)

With apologies to Watermill who, it seems, has an even worse set of PBS stations than does Southeast Michigan. This is from an opera list to which I subscribe. It is from the list owner of Opera_L, a person who does not make mistakes on subjects such as this. I would think one could substitute "ballet" for "opera" and still be accurate. The post is as follows: I'm not sure about the future telecasts, but the word I heard was that money was not as much of an issue as everyone thinks it is. According to my source, the bigger issue is that PBS is less interested in giving opera telecasts airtime. (Of course, money must figure as part of the equation, but the source assured me it's not the sole issue.)

Estelle wrote: I should have made myself more clear--I was referring to performances in the provinces--for example Detroit--not centers of culture like Paris, London or New York. One would expect more cutting edge works to do well in these areas for a few reasons. One, of course, is that there is a much greater choice of what to see and hear in the cultural capitals. Another the density of population of active artists is much greater--they would most likely want to see new works.

Estelle wrote: I should have made myself more clear--I was referring to performances in the provinces--for example Detroit--not centers of culture like Paris, London or New York. One would expect more cutting edge works to do well in these areas for a few reasons. One, of course, is that there is a much greater choice of what to see and hear in the cultural capitals. Another the density of population of active artists is much greater--they would most likely want to see new works.

Watermill wrote: Which had been a failure so many times in so many venues that there must be another reason for it. Ballet, opera and music audiences generally do not flock to experimental or cutting edge evenings. They pack the house for something that is familiar. Swan Lake, Madame Butterfly, Beethoven symphonies, Haydn string quartets, Mozart piano concertos play to full houses in the provinces. Work that is not even experimental any more but still unfamiliar (some of which, in my not particularly humble opinion, should stay that way), such as Pina Baush, The Death of Klinghoefer or Karl-Heinz Stockhausen are not big sellers. Actually they aren't programmed very often. Experimental works can be produced at universities, where funding for any particular production is not an issue, or by compamies in workshop type setting, which are cheap. But please keep them off my already too short subscription season.

Watermill wrote: Which had been a failure so many times in so many venues that there must be another reason for it. Ballet, opera and music audiences generally do not flock to experimental or cutting edge evenings. They pack the house for something that is familiar. Swan Lake, Madame Butterfly, Beethoven symphonies, Haydn string quartets, Mozart piano concertos play to full houses in the provinces. Work that is not even experimental any more but still unfamiliar (some of which, in my not particularly humble opinion, should stay that way), such as Pina Baush, The Death of Klinghoefer or Karl-Heinz Stockhausen are not big sellers. Actually they aren't programmed very often. Experimental works can be produced at universities, where funding for any particular production is not an issue, or by compamies in workshop type setting, which are cheap. But please keep them off my already too short subscription season.

This thread seems to have run its course, but.... Years ago at the ballet a beautiful young dancer with technique to burn took the stage in Detroit. I was extremely impressed and wrote about it in alt.arts.ballet—this predated BalletTalk. One of the terms I used in describing this dancer and my response to her was “musical”. Shortly after the post appeared I received an email asking if I really thought this dancer was musical, since the that was one attribute that had never occurred to him concerning this dancer. I realized that I had simply used the term “musical” as another signifier for the term “I was thrilled with this performance.” The definition of musical is one I have thought of a lot since then. One of the first things to understand is that an artist will interpret music. She doesn’t only “play the notes as written” or “dance the steps as choreographed”, but will add her own creative sense to it. If the music is not interpreted one might as well simply read the score or the dance notation. Music has form—to oversimplify, there is the vertical movement of melody and the horizontal shape of harmony. But musical phrases have their own shape, which can be seemingly simple, such as the first few bars of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, with its rhythmic dah-dah-dah-DAH. An example of what musicality is not is the use of “O mio babbino caro” from Gianni Schicchi . It has become overly familiar. Used for lots of commercials and in pieces in movie scores, synthesized into unmusicality so that only the melody remains. You can hear it, it may trigger the hoped for response, but it has little to do with what Puccini, the master melodist, had in mind. Two other examples from the world of opera are Maria Callas and Irina Mishura. Callas, of course remains famous years after her death. Mishura is a mezzo-soprano from Moldavia, currently based in Detroit, who is the toast of the regional opera circuit in the USA but only one of a seemingly endless supply of talented mezzos on the international stage. In 1949 Callas was taking the operatic world by storm. By 1965 her voice was shot. What was always part of her make-up, though, is her intense musicality, her ability, even with her instrument in tatters, to shape a phrase in such a way that you knew that Verdi, Donizetti or Puccini would have loved it. There is a bootleg tape of Callas in Dallas in 1957, rehearsing with conductor Nicola Rescigno and a pick up professional orchestra (there is always a bootleg tape of Callas). The orchestra was having difficulty with the bel canto style of an excerpt from Anna Bolena until Callas sang the final trills with their lengthy ritards a capella for the orchestra to show them the rhythmic peculiarities, which they then grasp. Quite amazing. Callas was one of the only singers (and the only prima donna) who regularly attended all rehearsals, including those for the orchestra or chorus only, so that she could better understand what they would be doing. Irina Mishura has made many of the dramatic mezzo roles her own. She is wonderful as Delilah, Azucena, Ulrica, Amneris. She inhabits roles in the way that legendary mezzos like Guiletta Simonetta did and simply pours herself into the music. In one of the three great arias for Delilah there is a very tricky descending chromatic scale that goes on and on—just the type of thing to fudge, especially in the middle of several performances. We saw five of the six Delilahs that Mishura did her in Motown and she hit every note on that run every time, gave each note its full value and seamlessly blended each to the next. One thing that both of these artists have in common is hard work—really hard work. Singers, dancers or instrumentalists are not born with musicality. It is developed, nurtured and fought for. Which isn’t to say that years of study will be enough—conservatory graduates of schools in the USA can sight read Stockhausen, and learn all three Donizetti queens while on the plane to London. But they can’t interpret and shape musical phrases to increase the audience’s understanding of the music and enjoyment of the performance.

Mel Johnson wrote: I had to restrain my usual response to such a statement, which would be YOU DA MAN!!! or something equally strident and vulgar. We saw Nanette Glushak a few years ago, when her the Capitole Ballet in Toulouse stopped at a community college auditorium in the suburbs of Detroit. It was at the same time that the U. S. Postal Service issued the ballerina stamp. Before the show, a local postmaster presented her with a large reproduction of the stamp. She accepted it onstage. She was wearing high heeled boots, dark brown leather slacks and a heather turtleneck sweater with the sleeves pushed up. She looked great, but would have looked great in a burlap bag. Without overstating the case, Ms. Glushak has the presence and looks that would make a man consider forfeiting his birthright.

A few points: "For Anne Gregory" is a wonderful poem. The point of view bounces around from stanza to stanza (there are only three of them), it has an unforgetable image "...those great honey-coloured/Ramparts at your ear" and is full of Yeatsian wit. Regarding "political correctness", which, thank goodness, comes up less in discussion than a few years ago: I am completely in favor of political correctness. Also artistic correctness, sporting correctness and many other types. My own definition is very simple--if you agree with me you are correct. If not, not. Apply to any form of human endeavor. This is a joke, by the way. Regarding beauty in ballet--at least it is not as fiercely debated a topic as in opera!! There are several threads to it in opera. One is the dramatic soprano problem. Many (by no means all) sopranos able to sing the big dramatic roles--Isolde, Brunhilde, Turandot, the "Trovatore" Leonore, the "Fidelio" Leonore--are HUGE. Not just overweight, but National Football League offensive lineman bordering on Sumo wrestler huge. And since most of these characters are incredibly beautiful there is a very strong cognative dissonance. It is also true that many of the tenors for the big dramatic roles opposite these sopranos--Tristan, Siegfried, Calif, Manrico, Florestan--are no less large. There is very little discussion of their body type not fitting the role, though, although a recent review of a Tristan and Isolde said the protagonists looked like two canned hams propped against a couch. Another side of the casting by looks question in opera has to do with the practices of American conservatories and graduate voice programs. They are increasingly producing very attractive young women who have been pushed into the heavier lyrico-spinto and dramatic rep long before their instrument can handle it. So you have a production of Salome with a singer who looks the part of the Judean princess, can handle the Dance of the Seven Veils without a double and who everyone loves. And who has a five year performing career followed by a lengthy vocal crisis and then begins teaching.

because he can survive anything. However, not everyone seems to think so. In a review from the July Opera a UK magazine that gets to these shores sporadically, the reviewer wrote about a performance of Cosi fan tutte by the Welsh National Opera. It was directed by Calixto Bieito--he had made his British opera debut with this production two years ago and returned to supervise the revival. Bieito, while real enough, is also a metaphor for everything that is many in the opera world consider wrong with director dominated productions. In a relatively short article the reviewer, Rian Evans, used the following terms to describe what he saw and heard (or Bieito himself): pathological cynicism bad-boy reputation unedifying spectacle additional sordid layer vulgarity of musical interpretation tailored to fit his brutal concept crudity of his fundamental approach unfeeling, jeering disdain opted for the lewd rather than the discreet nothing remotely perceptive pointless histrionics sense of general unease grotesquely drawn inelegant circumstances I probably missed a few but you get the idea. Opera seems particularly subject to being "interpreted" half to death. This is not to say that there is only one "classic" way to present a classic, but directors who try to show know more about the theater than Mozart and Da Ponte are way out on a limb.

From Vogue.com: http://www.style.com/trends/focuson/082602/index.html Typical puff piece about a designer although she has a certain cachet as a former ballerina. Says she was a dancer with the "Paris Opera" not the "Paris Opera Ballet", but who knows?

If I correctly recall the credits, part of the funding for the broadcast was from the National Endowment for the Arts. The NEA has to tread very softly on any matter that might offend some idiot congressperson in some ****ing backwater of the USA. The Girl in the Yellow Dress segment showed just how difficult it is to tape/film dance. You are stuck with what the TV director wants to show, so you get a small slice of what is happening on stage. It wasn't very good on TV. I thought it was decent live when the tour stopped here in the Motor City but the tops of the pops music in the third act didn't really fit its dark content. I didn't like that music when it was new and it hasn't improved with age.

By "recent" I should have typed "within the last 100 years or so", although if Bernstein noted it within living memory, probably less than 100 years.

Lolly wrote It is odd and, I believe, a relatively recent part of concert going behavior. And holding applause until after the entire work has been played through is almost perverse in some cases. A single Bruckner or Mahler symphony can fill most of a program. Beethoven's Ninth symphony runs well over an hour. It seems very strange for the ending of the third movement (Adagio) of the Ninth to be greeted with nothing more than throat clearing, foot shuffling and leg stretching. It is one of the most sublime extended pieces of pure music ever written--you almost have to remind yourself to breathe while listening to it. It has also led to sloppy performance practice for some works. Conductors tend to overplay the last few pages of the last movement of some (for example) Mozart or Haydn symphonies, with whipcrack chords, driving rhythms and anything not marked pianissimo played forte (at least) in order to bring off the bravura close that the audience has been waiting for.

The Movado watch advertisement in several of the big September fashion magazines in the USA (Vogue and W so far) feature four really striking pictures of Ms. Dvorovenko. I first came under her thrall a few years ago when she danced Myrtha during a visit by the American Ballet Theatre to Detroit. She danced several other roles in Detroit during ABT visits since then. It was obvious while watching her through binoculars from the mezzanine or from the first row of the orchestra that she is a most beautiful woman—even among dancers, and I think just about all ballet dancers are beautiful. Still surrounded by beautiful women but in the context of a fashion magazine, she continues to stand out as a one in a million (or so) beauty. Not sure how much of this is due to her, to the photographer, the stylist, etc. but Movado, which has featured ABT dancers in ads, really has a winner this time.

A few notes on my favorite period of U.S. movies: Joan Crawford--"Rain" from 1932 is quite a movie. It is (I think) from just before the Hayes Office clamped down and Joan, as the prostitute Sadie Thompson, is perfect. The tape I have seen is very dark--but she shines through. Claudette Colbert--"It Happened One Night" is truly a classic. And it was her 23rd or 24th feature. Don't forget Irene Dunne, who made two hilarious screwball comedies with Cary Grant, "My Favorite Wife" and "The Awful Truth." My all time favorite, though, is Barbara Stanwyck, who could do anything. American Movie Classics used to run "Stan-week" in which they would show many of her movies during a week. She was not only great in film noir ("The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers", "Double Indemnity") but great in screwball comedies. She starred opposite two leading men who were not know as comic actors in two very funny movies: "The Lady Eve" with Henry Fonda and "Ball of Fire" (as Sugarpuss O'Shea!) with Gary Cooper. A great book to consult or read at leisure (or both) is "The Runaway Bride: Hollywood Romantic Comedy of the 1930s" by Elizabeth Kendall, who many will recognize as a dance writer of significant gifts.

From the DanceNY press release Or, alternatively: Caroline Miller patted us on the head and told us to be good and we agreed. Or, alternatively: We were so pleased to get a meeting with Caroline Miller that we will join her in any canard she wishes to throw out. From the Caroline Miller statement: Or, alternatively: We will run listings of upcoming dance events if they are sent to us and if space is available. If George Balanchine comes back from the grave to restage “Midsummer Night’s Dream” we will cover it and may even find space for a review. Caroline Miller may be a fine editor but she should leave the spinning of unpopular choices to those who do it every day. Lots of magazines are cutting back. They must since they are selling fewer ad pages and possibly getting less revenue per page. It is one of the things that happen in a recession. Arts coverage is marginal in many publications. When pages in a magazine have to be sacrificed dance, opera and serious music may be the first to go. Manhattnik wrote: No.

From the DanceNY press release Or, alternatively: Caroline Miller patted us on the head and told us to be good and we agreed. Or, alternatively: We were so pleased to get a meeting with Caroline Miller that we will join her in any canard she wishes to throw out. From the Caroline Miller statement: Or, alternatively: We will run listings of upcoming dance events if they are sent to us and if space is available. If George Balanchine comes back from the grave to restage “Midsummer Night’s Dream” we will cover it and may even find space for a review. Caroline Miller may be a fine editor but she should leave the spinning of unpopular choices to those who do it every day. Lots of magazines are cutting back. They must since they are selling fewer ad pages and possibly getting less revenue per page. It is one of the things that happen in a recession. Arts coverage is marginal in many publications. When pages in a magazine have to be sacrificed dance, opera and serious music may be the first to go. Manhattnik wrote: No.

dirac wrote: Alice Sebold, the author of "Lovely Bones" wrote a memoir, "Lucky". It is a wrenching story of her rape while a student at Syracuse University, her life the crime and her life afterwards. The only reason I was able to continue reading this book (which is riveting) is that I knew the Sebold survived the attack. It is at least one indication how she was able to write a novel from the point of view of a murder victim "Lovely Bones" is also on my list.

Farrel Fan wrote: This is a terrific book. I read it after some rapturous reviews, my wife read it immediately afterwards. It gives a good sense of slice of the 1930s and how Seabiscuit and the men and women around him were seen as real heroes. If I remember correctly, there were more column inches in newspapers in the U. S. about Seabiscuit during one year in the late 1930s than there were about Hitler, Mussolini and Franklin Delano Rosevelt--or something like that. You don't have to know anything about horse racing or horses to enjoy this book.

dirac wrote: Indeed. The same thing happened to me with "The Age of Innocence". Michelle Pffiefer (who I adore in some roles) was not right for Countess Olenska, a character I fell in love with years ago. But the visual/aural memory of Pffiefer in Martin Scorsese's adaption of Edith Wharton's novel is so strong that it can't be extinguished. I am currently reading novels in hundred page gulps. I recently discovered Robert Wilson, a British author of literary spy fiction. He has written several novels but only two have been published in the U.S. The "Company of Strangers" and "A Small Death in Lisbon" both take place in Portugal during the period from World War II until the Portugese Revolution of 1975. Border's was marketing "The Company of Strangers" with a separate wrapper that said "As good as John LeCarre or your money back." Great marketing, since LeCarre, of course, is one of the touchstones for this type of fiction. Additionally "Anil's Ghost" by Michael Ondaatje, who also wrote "The English Patient". It is set in Sri Lanka during the early 1990s, a period of horrible chaos and confusion. Political, communal and ethnic violence were part of every day life, and two different civil wars raged. It is told from the point of view of a young forensic pathologist, a native of Sri Lanka, who returns to the island nation as part of a U. N team investigating political murders and disappearances. She has trained in the charnel houses of Central American and West Africa. This type of fiction doesn't take the place of history but can make it come alive in unexpected ways. I know a bit about Portugal and its disasterous African colonial wars during the 1970s, wars which lead directly to the revolution. And I am essentially innocent of any knowledge of Sri Lanka, other than what I have read in the Times. In each case they are nations on the periphery--the Portugese are aware that they are the westernmost part of continental Europe and that, along with the very long dictatorship Dr. Salazar, has kept them isolated, physically, socially and politically from the rest of Europe. Sri Lanka is also on the edge of a larger and more powerful civilization and must make adjustments as it moves (possibly) from post-colonial rule to democracy. Speaking of movies ruining books, I haven't yet read "The English Patient" and may have a hard time, since Juliet Binoche was such an indelible presence in the movie made from it.