I write about how I’m not terribly smart, and now I get somewhat hooked on this.
Pathetic. In a smiley sort of way. 😉
A meme has been going around that a number of music bloggers have been sharing. Here are the questions:
1. Name an opera you love for the libretto, even though you don’t particularly like the music.
2. Name a piece you wish Glenn Gould had played.
3. If you had to choose: Charles Ives or Carl Ruggles?
4. Name a piece you’re glad Glenn Gould never played.
5. What’s your favorite unlikely solo passage in the repertoire?
6. What’s a Euro-trash high-concept opera production you’d love to see? (No Mortier-haters get to duck this one, either?be creative.)
7. Name an instance of non-standard concert dress you wish you hadn’t seen.
8. What aging rock-and-roll star do you wish had tried composing large-scale chorus and orchestra works instead of Paul McCartney?
9. If you had to choose: Carl Nielsen or Jean Sibelius?
10. If it was scientifically proven that Beethoven’s 9th Symphony caused irreversible brain damage, would you still listen to it?
Now I’m sure you’ve all read the answers at all the other sites and you are all also wondering just why I’ve not answered. Right?
Sigh.
This kind of meme just makes me feel too darn stupid!
So just how many BlogFolk™ played the game? Oh many. A large number of many (at least this is what I’ve found … so far!):
Jessica Duchen’s classical music blog
Whoa. That’s a lot of people who were willing to show up and play. I’m impressed. They sound pretty darn smart too, don’t you think?
Me? I’m still not willing. May I confess: I rarely read a full libretto (I’m sitting in the pit, doggone it!), I’ve never purposefully listened to Glenn Gould (can’t say I’m opposed, I just haven’t. Sorry!), I’ve listened to Ives, I believe I’ve played one Ruggles work in the past (although I could be wrong) and I think I’d choose someone else anyway just to be obnoxious, and if I go on you’ll realize just how ignorant this oboist is.
But can any of these meme players make an oboe reed? Huh? Huh?
Jill Cathey (Thanks, Jill!) sent me an email about a New York Times video about the New York Philharmonic principal oboist, Liang Wang. So take a listen. Quite the covered sound. (Mr. Liang also has a Myspace page.)
There was an article in the New York Times this past week about classical music and musicians in and from China that I had meant to link to, and the very next day this one appeared. In addition, there is this small blurb.
—–
