More unmerited blessings of my life:
And an unexportable (for the moment) job!
Posted by: richard on January 15, 2004 05:47 PMThe coronation scene from Boris Gudunov really is a magnificent piece of music.
Posted by: Walt Pohl on January 15, 2004 06:22 PMBoris Gudonov is the greatest of all operas. Prokofiev's music to Alexander Nevsky, the greatest movie music, basically picks up where Mussorgsky left off. Score two for the Russians.
Posted by: zizka on January 15, 2004 07:05 PMI hate to disagree, but I prefer "Turandot" myself...
Posted by: Brad DeLong on January 15, 2004 07:16 PMNot to dump a bucket of cold water on this but...
Do you get to enjoy these things outright or do you have to shout " HEY! DADDY'S HAVING A MOMENT HERE! K?"
If you do - I grok and it's OK. I understand.
Posted by: pops on January 15, 2004 07:35 PMHe's thirteen. She's ten. The dog is three and a half. All have been civilized via the whip-and-chair method. So it's no longer an issue.
Of course, soon they will change into real teenagers, and then things will be very different once again...
Posted by: Brad DeLong on January 15, 2004 07:45 PMI checked out Boris from the library and gave it a listen. Didn't do much for me, but maybe it was the particular version. I wonder if you like Modest's arrangement or Rimsky's less modest one. My favorite opera is Moses und Aron, but I'm obviously weird, though not weird enough to be an operaphile.
Posted by: David on January 15, 2004 10:35 PMp.s. what I really like is Boris Badinov.
Posted by: David on January 15, 2004 10:37 PMKeep up the good work, lad!
Philistine that I am, my favorite opera is
Glass' Satyagaha (sp?) followed by Adams'
Nixon in China. Falstaff follows behind Nixon.
At least Falstaff is performed!
Opera, ugh! I'd rather have a root canal done with a Black and Decker drill.
Posted by: Chuck Nolan on January 16, 2004 05:14 AMI wonder what Ayatollah Sistani thinks of opera?
Actually...if you must choose one number from the opera...I prefer Varlaam's song, Boris Christoff singing. (I don't think that the concert recording with Christoff singing the three bass parts has made it to CD, but the vinyl is wonderful. And definitely the original Moussorgksy, and NOT with the Rimsky meddling).
Of course, then there's Glenn Gould's recording(s) of the Goldberg Variations.
Posted by: Barry on January 16, 2004 05:35 AMWhen can we expect "Monty Python meets Boris Godunov?"
Posted by: wvmcl on January 16, 2004 06:43 AMBoris Badinov! Yes!
Also, I'd like to put in a word for Otello.
More Unmerited Blessings:
1. Being born at the right time and with enough gray cells and the right parents to become
2. well-educated in the wealthiest nation of all time (on this planet), which leads to 3.
3. Having sufficient income to enjoy the fruits that this economy provides, i.e. (in no particular order)
3a. Books (how many books do you own, BdL?)
3b. Public health and welfare
3c. Safety
3d. Food and drink from around the planet
3e. The ability to have a new kind of conversation -- an exchange of letters done instantly and made publicly available -- with some very interesting people whom I will likely never meet.
and 4. dogs.
happy new year.
Francis
Posted by: FDL on January 16, 2004 10:30 AM2 more cents: though Prokofiev might have been the best composer to write for film (leaving aside all speculation about what he might have accomplished if he didn't have to bend to the will of a genocidal boor who forced him to write like Mussorgsky whether he wanted to or not - incidentally, I don't understand the word for "greatest" when "best" fits just fine), my vote for the most effective film music goes to the old WB cartoons, although I forget the name of the guy who wrote it.
Posted by: David on January 16, 2004 12:45 PMA scene a couple of years ago in the local junior high:
A new student enters the room. The teacher notices him. "What is your name?"
Five voices, simultaneously, from different parts of the room:
"And WHAT is your QUEST?"
Befuddled newcomer, who didn't realize there was an active Python cult amongst the local adolescencia:
"???"
Posted by: Marcus Sitz on January 16, 2004 01:26 PM"And what is the capital of Assyria?"
Posted by: Brad DeLong on January 16, 2004 02:51 PMwhat is your favorite color?
what's the average flying velocity of a fully-laden swallow?
[and where the hell did a bunch of british knights get coconut shells?]
Francis
Posted by: FDL on January 16, 2004 05:35 PMI forgot to mention that I don't like opera, except for Mussorgsky.
"Alexander Nevsky" obscured the fact that Alexander was a Mongol vassal. Or that it was the pagan Lithuanians who finally defeated the Teutonic Knights (who still exist in Sweden as a Protestant order).
Posted by: zizka on January 17, 2004 07:04 PMWB Looney Tunes music: the one and only Raymond Scott, composer of such greats (or should that be "goods" : "greatest" vs "best") as Dinner Music for a pack of Hungry Cannibals, War Dance for Wooden Indians and of course Huckleberry Duck.
But seriously folks.. (or should that be: now for something completely different).. try Lou Harrison's La Koro Sutro, may not be opera, but it sure is weird
Posted by: Zolotoy on January 19, 2004 03:07 PM