Bruckner: Symphony no. 7 BaL 13/12/14

[Beef Oven!]

Incredible indeed, and rather the point I was trying to make in #202. The two 'sides' to his personality were not linked in any way, i.e. loving music neither made nor unmade his murderous propensities. Perhaps it is in the the nature of a psychopath to compartmentalise humanity and inhumanity.

The Wagner/Nazi thing always triggers a Pavlovian reaction, as if Richard were handing Adolf pages of Die Meistersinger (or whatever) with the ink still wet. What was suppressed....e.g. Hindemith, as mentioned by Roehre...was surely much more damaging to art and creativity.

The most sinister thing of all was surely the children's opera, Brundibar. It makes me weep even to think of it. Details from Wiki:

Krása and Hoffmeister wrote the opera in 1938 for a government competition, but the competition was later cancelled due to political developments. Rehearsals started in 1941 at the Jewish orphanage in Prague, which served as a temporary educational facility for children separated from their parents by the war. In the winter of 1942 the opera was first performed at the orphanage: by this time, composer Krása and set designer František Zelenka had already been transported to Theresienstadt. By July 1943, nearly all of the children of the original chorus and the orphanage staff had also been transported to Theresienstadt. Only the librettist Hoffmeister was able to escape Prague in time.

Reunited with the cast in Theresienstadt, Krása reconstructed the full score of the opera, based on memory and the partial piano score that remained in his hands, adapting it to suit the musical instruments available in the camp: flute, clarinet, guitar, accordion, piano, percussion, four violins, a cello and a double bass. A set was once again designed by František Zelenka, formerly a stage manager at the Czech National Theatre: several flats were painted as a background, in the foreground was a fence with drawings of the cat, dog and lark and holes for the singers to insert their heads in place of the animals' heads. On 23 September 1943, Brundibár premiered in Theresienstadt. The production was directed by Zelenka and choreographed by Camilla Rosenbaum, and was shown 55 times in the following year.

A special performance of Brundibár was staged in 1944 for representatives of the Red Cross who came to inspect living conditions in the camp; what the Red Cross did not know at the time was that much of what they saw during their visit was a show, and that one of the reasons the Theresienstadt camp seemed comfortable was that many of the residents had been deported to Auschwitz in order to reduce crowding during their visit.

When Hitler and Wagner met, did they get along? Did they plot some of this together?

I only ask because I'm not up on all this.

Can a psychopath like vanilla ice cream? Truly like it?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Even basic common sense would tell you this.

Oh, that. I concede that veris' suggestion stands up there with the earth being flat.

Don P's point is valid and duly acknowledged. Nobody ignored it.

Veris did.

Shall we start childishly listing all the single and duo programmes and see who wins?

Yeah, go on. I've done mine - you come up with yours: which two (or more)-presenter programmes demonstrate your oft-repeated but as yet unsubstantiated claim that the single presenter format is an "anachronism"?

And why do you think light entertainment can stand duo presentations, but other genres can't?

Because Light Entertainment can be fuelled with and by banter. Programmes that present information and that require viewers to concentrate on a single idea can't. That's why such a format isn't and could never be "anachronistic".

[Beef Oven!]

Oh, that. I concede that veris' suggestion stands up there with the earth being flat.


Veris did.


Yeah, go on. I've done mine - you come up with yours: which two (or more)-presenter programmes demonstrate your oft-repeated but as yet unsubstantiated claim that the single presenter format is an "anachronism"?


Because Light Entertainment can be fuelled with and by banter. Programmes that present information and that require viewers to concentrate on a single idea can't. That's why such a format isn't and could never be "anachronistic".

1. Common sense tells you that the world can't be flat.
2. Veris did not.
3. There are too many duo presentations to list, my 'question' was rhetorical anyway.
4. No wonder people outside this forum think we are a bunch of saddos.

[Richard Tarleton]

As has been pointed out above, Interpretations on Record sometimes had two presenters, both experts. Surely the problem here, which Beef is overlooking but which has been oft-repeated, is that one of the participants did not know his stuff and had nothing to contribute to the discussion beyond slowing it up and wasting time. The same thing happened a few weeks ago here - again AMcG the guilty party, not knowing enough about the subject to make anything but the most banal (and at times misleading) observations [e.g. accusing Christoph Denoth's ornamentation of being unadventurous, proving merely that he hadn't listened].

[johnb]

Has anyone considered the possibility that JD just might actually have preferred doing a "two hander" with Andrew McGregor? I can certainly see how it would markedly ease the pressure on JD (and others in a similar position).

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Has anyone considered the possibility that JD just might actually have preferred doing a "two hander" with Andrew McGregor? I can certainly see how it would markedly ease the pressure on JD (and others in a similar position).

Surely, if you are not up to a job, there are many others who are. But the BBC doesn't seem too interested in employing people outside the Club.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Has anyone considered the possibility that JD just might actually have preferred doing a "two hander" with Andrew McGregor? I can certainly see how it would markedly ease the pressure on JD (and others in a similar position).

He didn't sound as if it was easing any pressure for him - a lot of the time he sounded as if he wanted AMcG to stop interrupting him in mid-flow.

[Beef Oven!]

Has anyone considered the possibility that JD just might actually have preferred doing a "two hander" with Andrew McGregor? I can certainly see how it would markedly ease the pressure on JD (and others in a similar position).

Stop thinking outside the box, please.

[Barbirollians]

He didn't sound as if it was easing any pressure for him - a lot of the time he sounded as if he wanted AMcG to stop interrupting him in mid-flow.

Meanwhile . I am baffled how anyone can describe the EMI Karajan as monumental .

[Richard Tarleton]

Has anyone considered the possibility that JD just might actually have preferred doing a "two hander" with Andrew McGregor? I can certainly see how it would markedly ease the pressure on JD (and others in a similar position).

He did an excellent one-hander on Gotterdammerung a while back - the pressure doesn't get much greater than that, surely?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

He did an excellent one-hander on Gotterdammerung a while back - the pressure doesn't get much greater than that, surely?

That was one of the finest BaLs in recent times.

[ardcarp]

Has anyone considered the possibility that JD just might actually have preferred doing a "two hander" with Andrew McGregor? .

Yes, me.
But only for a nanosecond.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Radio doesn't exist in order to make the presenters happy.

[Tony Halstead]

Radio doesn't exist in order to make the presenters happy.

[gedsmk]

I may have dozed off. Did the reviewer mention the recent Runnicles BBCSSO version? and what about the Blomstedt Staatskapelle Dresden, which is my personal favourite?