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Being the high-toned cosmopolitan elitists sophisticates that we are, McDoc and I attended the Symphony on Friday night. We had a subscription to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra this season, and this weekend's performances were the grand finale before the orchestra transitions to its summer pops season [gag! :P -- Ed.].
Friday night's program:
- Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 49 "La Passione"
- Richard Strauss: Four Last Songs
- Béla Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra
I'd been looking forward to this concert for months, because Bartók is one of my most favorite-est composers, and the Concerto for Orchestra is a fabulous piece.
I was eager to hear the Strauss as well; McDoc and I are big fans of the late, late German Romanticism scene; on our first date, we sang through a couple of Mahler song cycles together at the piano (for which I believe we deserve some sort of Nerd Achievement Award!). We had the extreme good fortune of hearing the stellar Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman, who impressed us with both her voice and her stage presence. It's always a delight to find a singer with dramatic talent to match their musical ability. Ms. Brueggergosman showed herself to be a dynamic and charming personality during the post-concert Q&A as well. I think McDoc has a wee bit of a crush! ;)
That's okay with me, because I have Bartók to keep me warm ;). Seriously, though, as a composer myself, I claim him as a sort of spiritual grandparent. In fact, it was through his music that I became interested in this whole modern music business in the first place.
When I was an undergrad, I had a professor who liked to put on random recordings of pieces without telling us what they were first, just to see how we'd react. One day, he put on this crazy string music that turned out to be from Bartók's String Quartet no. 4. He played the piece, without comment, 3 class meetings in a row, actually. The first time I heard it, I said to myself,
That’s not music.
Too aggressive, too raw, and most of all, too dissonant. Shoved me right out of my comfort zone, and I didn’t like it one bit.
The second time I heard it, I thought,
Well, it would make a good horror movie soundtrack.
(At the time, I didn't know that it was the classical composers who influenced the film composers, not the other way around!)
The third time I heard it, I thought,
THIS IS THE GREATEST PIECE OF MUSIC EVER WRITTEN!
And it all went downhill from there! ;)
Now for some Top Comments!
From Land of Enchantment
Bill in Portland Maine rails against change, and yearns for the good ol' days in jotter's High Impact Diaries this morning.
From a kossack who didn't ID him/herself via email, but who might just be bicycle Hussein paladin, if my brilliant powers of deduction have served well:
The Obama Effect in a nutshell.
From mconvente:
Here's an awesome comment thread in droogie's diary. It's about the sexual identity options and the lack of pie... and then some interesting inclusions from our wonderful readers!
This comment starts it.
And this comment really gets it going!
From Benintn:
OK, this is hilarious.
As Stuart Rothenberg delivered his GBCW address to TV news, a diary on the subject made it onto the rec list.
Keith Olbermann says:
...who in the hell is Stuart Rothenberg?
I literally had never heard of him until I saw this diary, and I work at the show next door to the one he's ripping.
Will he be missed?
From rossl:
*bottlerocketheart*'s comment - on this thread - from this diary by USArmyParatrooper - says beautifully why Stephen Colbert is as loved as he is.
From Black Sheep 1:
I want to recommend this comment exchange:
from here to here
. [also from USArmyParatrooper's diary -- Ed.]
From yours truly, virgomusic:
http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2009/6/8/133542/6850/185#c185
wbramh's comment in KingOneEye's Hardball diary would have made me spew my coffee if I had been drinking some at the time.
Seneca Doane fires off a classic one-liner in response to leftyboy666's visual comment in LaughingPlanet's instructive diary.
Top Mojo is here -- yay, brillig!
Top 30 Comments excluding first comments, tip jars, and other stuff:
1) What a schmuck by Dallasdoc — 156
2) And I will always by NLinStPaul — 152
3) Newsweek Cover by Al Rodgers — 140
4) I don't see an option by stunzeed — 140
5) GoBama by JekyllnHyde — 136
6) My vote, by the way by droogie6655321 — 121
7) Let's roll the tape! by kafkananda — 115
8) Tips are the public option here by FishOutofWater — 112
9) Colbert, Stewart by the girl — 110
10) OMG - that camaflouge suit is hilarious! by Blue VA — 90
11) Oddly, by droogie6655321 — 80
12) Breathe by the girl — 78
13) I'm a huge believer... by Darcy Burner — 73
14) Recommended! by peace voter — 71
15) Tips for a President who opens minds by Roatti — 70
16) Newsweek by droogie6655321 — 70
17) Dude! Colbert is a secret Republican! by LaughingPlanet — 69
18) Daily Doll - Cassanova Montreal by funluvn1 — 69
19) That took some courage, brother. by jarhead5536 — 67
20) But Newsweek wont out Rush and by qmastertoo — 65
21) Listen up, Congress by Ekaterin — 65
22) I heartily agree...score another one for Obama... by dvogel001 — 64
23) Have to go to the Dr. tomorrow for the yearly by funluvn1 — 64
24) vampires by second gen — 63
25) This worked for my friend; not for the squeamish! by Eileen B — 63
26) Gawd. Meteor Blades, what if I don't want a... by BenGoshi — 62
27) Don't forget Al Franken! He was there by Julie Gulden — 62
28) I brought friends by Diogenes2008 — 62
29) Hai Triciawyse by leftynyc — 62
30) ASDF by triciawyse — 61
31) SHE'S GONNA BLOW!!!! by PBen — 61
32) A good cure for Mondays by Ekaterin — 61
33) My feelings about Monday's by leftynyc — 61
Top 30 comments with no exclusions:
1) Tip Jar by USArmyParatrooper — 592
2) Tips not for me, but for equality. by droogie6655321 — 480
3) Tip Jar by Rosebuddear — 471
4) Tip Jar by BenGoshi — 384
5) Here's to avoiding the probability of bias by Seneca Doane — 382
6) Tip Jar by AikidoPilgrim — 341
7) Tip Jar by Darcy Burner — 330
8) Tip Jar by Roatti — 301
9) On a positive note... by KingOneEye — 241
10) Tips, flames, recommendations by jtb583 — 238
11) Quite the Deal by Crashing Vor — 172
12) Prayers for endangered journalists by aggregatescience — 155
13) What a schmuck by Dallasdoc — 155
14) And I will always by NLinStPaul — 152
15) Tip Jar by pierredude — 141
16) Newsweek Cover by Al Rodgers — 140
17) I don't see an option by stunzeed — 140
18) GoBama by JekyllnHyde — 136
19) Time... by JeffLieber — 136
20) Tip Jar by slinkerwink — 135
21) My vote, by the way by droogie6655321 — 121
22) Tips, flames, etc... by triciawyse — 118
23) Let's roll the tape! by kafkananda — 115
24) Tips for Whitetips? by Haole in Hawaii — 113
25) Tip Jar by gjohnsit — 112
26) Tips are the public option here by FishOutofWater — 112
27) Tip Jar by AdamGreen — 112
28) Colbert, Stewart by the girl — 110
29) Tip Jar by SmileySam — 109
30) Tips for strength!! by coquiero — 97