Where is everyone?

[ahinton]

On, not in the BBC. The audience was selected by an independent reputable outside poling organization. Had you been paying attention you would have heard the Dimblebee[sic] make that quite clear when pulling NF up on his entirely false assertion.

In the light of Richard's post #28, "NF" might be thought to be an unfortunate pair of initials for this gentleman...

[Beef Oven!]

More acceptable than being king, methinks (though some probably consider him to be a joker and wish that he'd jack it in).

No, they wish him to jack it in and by labelling him a joker, they think they can influence that. They are wrong.

[ahinton]

Another thread goes pear shaped

What? Pear shaped kippers? Whatever next?! Pièces d'hareng en forme de poire, peut-être?

[Richard Barrett]

the fortepiano

This is the thing though - there isn't really such a thing as "the" fortepiano, given that it was under intensive development for a period of well over a century and there was no standardisation in design, or indeed design priorities, during that period. Plus, players tend to go easy on original instruments (as opposed to copies of them) in case they get damaged. Some of the earliest fortepianos in fact sound (to me anyway) more like modern pianos than like the typical Viennese instrument of Mozart's time. But considerably quieter of course!

[ahinton]

This is the thing though - there isn't really such a thing as "the" fortepiano, given that it was under intensive development for a period of well over a century and there was no standardisation in design, or indeed design priorities, during that period. Plus, players tend to go easy on original instruments (as opposed to copies of them) in case they get damaged. Some of the earliest fortepianos in fact sound (to me anyway) more like modern pianos than like the typical Viennese instrument of Mozart's time. But considerably quieter of course!

Unlike certain kippers, then!

[John Wright]

I'm getting back on topic.

Quiet here? Well, I don't login every day but when I do there's always about 40 unread messages. Busy enough for me.

39 to go.....

[Richard Barrett]

I'm getting back on topic.

Indeed. I would say that one reason why people might not be posting very much of late is that they're being discouraged from posting about the single most prominent news subject in the UK at the moment!

[vinteuil]

At the Hatchlands concert he also played K333 in B flat. Not much point in worrying about pedalling in those works - the instrument used did not have any pedals as far as I could see, and I don't think there was any way of modifying the sound other than by adjusting how hard and rapidly the keys were depressed. He is a very accomplished (forte)pianist.

... the instrument may well have had knee-levers - genouillères - which are not as visible to the audience.

[Dave2002]

... the instrument may well have had knee-levers - genouillères - which are not as visible to the audience.

Possibly - I did get very close to the instrument while it was not being played, but I didn't go underneath. I was looking to see if there were any kind of hand stops. There may just have been something, but whatever there was was very unobtrusive, and I'm guessing didn't make much of an audible difference. Nothing too significant that I could hear, anyway.

[BBMmk2]

Hope you are right. Mahler thread - good idea. Favourite 9th anyone...?

That's been done! :)

[Richard Barrett]

Maybe they are all on other sites posting away, leaving this one politics-free.

Nothing is "politics-free", even or especially when it isn't mentioned explicitly.

My current favourite Mahler 9 recording is Abbado with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra - but Mahler is of course like Shakespeare, no single performance can capture all of it. So I wouldn't wish to ignore Maderna, Kubelík, Ančerl, Gielen, Barbirolli and numerous others...

[Beef Oven!]

Nothing is "politics-free", even or especially when it isn't mentioned explicitly.

My current favourite Mahler 9 recording is Abbado with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra - but Mahler is of course like Shakespeare, no single performance can capture all of it. So I wouldn't wish to ignore Maderna, Kubelík, Ančerl, Gielen, Barbirolli and numerous others...

What sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom is that we not only seek to control the external environment, but we seek to control each other. So to say everything is political is to say that all human behaviour is human behaviour. Which isn't saying much.

Maderna's M9 was my favourite for a long while, but these days I'm finding Norrington an interesting take. Especially when one agrees that no single performance or indeed approach can capture it all.

I've been bloody baby sitting for the last 7 hours and I'm now free, so I'm off for a nice walk in the Istanbul late afternoon sunshine.

[ahinton]

What sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom is that we not only seek to control the external environment, but we seek to control each other. So to say everything is political is to say that all human behaviour is human behaviour. Which isn't saying much.

It's saying as much as it needs to say, surely? The likelihood is that the political aspect of so many things in life wouldn't need to have much said about it or to require apologists were it to be generally accepted as a truth in the first place.

Maderna's M9 was my favourite for a long while, but these days I'm finding Norrington an interesting take. Especially when one agrees that no single performance or indeed approach can capture it all.

As Margaret Thatcher never said, there's no such thing as a favourite Mahler 9, although Abbado / Lucerne as mentioned by Richard has certainly to be close to the top of the pack for me, just as Sir Roger de No-Ring-Tone's take on - no, from - it occupies a position close to the bottom; only my opinion, of course...

[Richard Barrett]

What sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom is that we not only seek to control the external environment, but we seek to control each other.

The royal "we" I presume. There was I thinking it was about communication, consciousness and culture; and of course very many other species do exert control over each other, not just apes but dogs, lions, ants etc.

I was forgetting Norrington; and Nott for that matter. And Sinopoli, and Boulez.

[Petrushka]

Indeed. I would say that one reason why people might not be posting very much of late is that they're being discouraged from posting about the single most prominent news subject in the UK at the moment!

Or it could be that they are discouraged from posting by the constant sneaking in of politics into far too many threads.

Personally, I would have kept the basement and let it go its own merry way. The infiltration of party politics into threads that have no connection with it is very wearing and I'm afraid needs stronger moderation.

Re-open the basement, start a thread called 'Election 2015' and leave the music and other threads to those who would rather discuss the subject to which they refer.