Stop, Look & Listen

18. November 2008 · Comments Off on Stop, Look & Listen · Categories: Links, Ramble

He could stop, and he could look, but I guess he couldn’t listen (to the horn blasting):

A 21-year-old man wearing earphones walked in front of a Green Line train and was struck by a trolley near Boston College, according to an MBTA spokesman.

I read it here.

I do hope the man is okay. What a horrible thing. But I wonder how many who wear earphones (or earbuds, or are talking loudly on a phone) might have the same thing happen. I don’t know that it’s just that one can’t hear; we just don’t pay much attention when we are listening to something … okay, okay, this is just my opinion. (Or “opiniong” as I usually type.) And what do I know?

The Show Must Go On

18. November 2008 · Comments Off on The Show Must Go On · Categories: Unbelievable

No words.

Ya Think?

18. November 2008 · 3 comments · Categories: Links, MTT

Business Conductor

The city needs to stop subsidizing the S.F. Symphony and other snobby arts organizations that cater to the rich.

I get the feeling the guy who wrote the article doesn’t really care for MTT. I’m gonna guess, too, that his salary is a bit lower. Ya think?

World’s Best

18. November 2008 · 8 comments · Categories: Links, News

Gramophone Magazine, self-declared as “the world’s best classical music magazine”, news:

A survey by the authoritative British professional magazine Gramophone shows that international music critics regard Amsterdam’s Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest as the best orchestra in the world.

On the magazine’s list of the world’s 20 best orchestras, the Berliner Philharmoniker came second, followed, at some distance, by the Wiener Philharmoniker and the London Symphony Orchestra in third and fourth place.

In a commentary, Gramophone writes that The Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest and other orchestra’s on the list clearly distinguished themselves from many of today’s orchestras which all sound alike.

I read it here. So I’d like to see the entire top 20 list. Anyone have it?

BQOD

18. November 2008 · Comments Off on BQOD · Categories: BQOD

So when Pat and I showed up, under dressed, and just as excited about the prospect of free drinks as seeing the performance, we hadn’t considered exactly who the regular attendees of the symphony are – old eccentrics & academic bums. One of my favorite moments was when an older woman sitting next to me turned and cheerfully asked if Pat and I were college professors, and why we were taking notes. After explaining to her that we wrote for a blog, and having her ask me “what is ablog?”

Hmmm. Am I an “old eccentric” or an “academic bum”?

Oh. Just an oboe player, I guess.

I read it here.

English Horn & Oz

18. November 2008 · Comments Off on English Horn & Oz · Categories: English horn, Links, Videos, Watch

And it features Roger Weismeyer! I worked with Roger one year (my final year, his first) in Midsummer Mozart. He helped keep me sane, as it was an extremely rough run for me. In this video about the Nashville Symphony playing the score to Wizard of Oz you can hear Roger, and he sounds lovely.

And I love this:

“For instance, when the witch comes in, the composer put it in the English horn, which can sound quite nasty if it wants to.”

YOU BET! (We EH players can be pretty nasty, too. Tee hee.)

How fun to hear Roger playing after all these years. But I do miss his pony tail! 😉

What We Already Knew

18. November 2008 · Comments Off on What We Already Knew · Categories: Opera

…but now in the news:

General Director David Gockley acknowledged the obvious truth in a brief address to the audience before Sunday’s opening performance of “La Bohème”: The financial picture at the San Francisco Opera isn’t pretty.

-Joshua Kosman

Read the whole thing here.

It’s gonna hit everyone. No doubt.