Author: David

Over-educated Curmudgeon, Bit-Bucket Tuner and Budding Brewmeister.
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Polls, Schmolls…

Rabbit trail…

I generally look at polls of the general populace as simply information about what the pollster is seeking from folks who range from well-informed to complete know-nothings (sadly, more of the latter in recent years than ever before, it seems). Polls of persons selected for critical knowledge in a field often yield more interesting information. Of course, there’s also peer pressure to account for even in areas where knowledgeable folk are polled on a topic in which tghey have and exercise expertise, but still, I found one poll that I can at least generally agree with those polled about the top five selections (although I’d argue about the order of ranking :-))

Classic CD (United Kingdom)
June 1999

Top Singers of the Century (Critics’ Poll):
1) Jussi Björling 2) Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau 3) Kirsten Flagstad 4) Tito Gobbi 5) Maria Callas

Classic CD (United Kingdom)
December 1999

Now, while I might argue about the relative placement of numbers i and 2 (Björling’s utterly amazing, but Fischer-Dieskau’s range of artistry is/was greater, IMO), I can accept that ranking as agreeable in general. But while I agree with the inclusion of the other three in the top five, Callas is FAR too far down on the list, IMO. Number three is as low as I’d place her, even as much as I appreciate Kirsten Flagstad’s contributions. I’d be happier with a 1) Fischer-Dieskau 2) Björling 3) Callas 4) Flagstad 5) Gobbi ranking of the top five, but on different days, I might swap my 1-2 and 3-4 spots (Gobbi was a great baritone, but couldn’t really touch Fischer-Dieskau, IMO, and I’d choose either Flagstad or Callas over his admittedly wonderful baritone voice any day, even as much as I am NOT drawn to most soprano voices *heh*).

Just search for some performances by each of these real artists (as opposed to the crap “artists” played on most radio stations) on YouTube for an intro to their world. Worth some time, IMO.

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Third World County Dreamin’

What if…

…All the DC politicians (OK, perhaps three or four exceptions–I’ll negotiate with y’all about the exceptions :-)) were “given” a large portion of the “feddle gummint” lands in Nevada (appropriately fenced with sniper towers in a nicely-designed “crossfire” pattern :-)) and assigned to pound sand for the rest of their unnatural lives?

…All the Prisons for Kids (A.K.A. “public school”) administrators (again, I’d be willing to negotiate a 1% exception) and “schools of education” educraps (no exceptions allowed) were given lovely chains and assigned the task of breaking rocks into sand for the D.C. politicians to pound?

…And parents of children who refused to act in a civilized manner in school and DO THEIR WORK, learning how to read (and to read), do maths, etc. were put to work carrying rocks to the Prisons for Kids administrators and educraps?

…And teachers who failed to teach kids to read, etc., were FIRED?

Well, I’ll tell you “What if”–wake up, you’re dreaming!

*sigh*

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Memorial Day Weekend 2009

The Mansions of the Lord
lyrics, Randall Wallace; music, Nick Glennie-Smith

To fallen soldiers let us sing
Where no rockets fly nor bullets wing
Our broken brothers let us bring
To the Mansions of the Lord

No more bleeding, no more fight
No prayers pleading through the night
Just divine embrace, eternal light
To the Mansions of the Lord.

Where no mothers cry and no children weep
We will stand and guard though the angels sleep
Through the ages safely keep
The Mansions of the Lord.

And to all those who are serving or who have served in our armed forces who are not among the fallen, God bless you as well.

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Go placidly amid the noise and waste…

…And remember what comfort there may be
In owning a piece thereof.

The internet is often very nearly a grab bag of stupidities, false “information” and outright lies, but if one has a decent basic education (a rarity nowadays *sigh*), the ability to read and actually comprehend the language of ones birth and the rudiments of research and filtering capabilities, it is also a rich, rich resource for learning. No, not Wikipedia, although it too has its uses for folks with enough basic knowledge and filtering skills to be able to throw the bullshit flag with authority. No, I’m talking about such gems as the MIT Open Courseware, Project Gutenberg, The University of Chicago Press online books and a myriad of other less easily found but profoundly enlightening sites.

A new discovery for me is the “education” links Gary Garriton has posted at his website that promotes his sample libraries and software. Imagine: a resource anyone who writes music can find valuable, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Principles of Orchestration, available as an interactive tutorial, complete with sound samples that are drawn from the score samples in the book. Anyone who writes music would almost have to salivate over the prospect of having an interactive Principles of Orchestration right on their desktop! Oh, my! Nice! Sure, the book’s now in paperback (not so in my days as a student) and remarkably inexpensive, but the setup at Garriton’s site, complete with forum for discussion, is much more valuable than isolated study.

Anyone interested in learning how to write better music would be well served by hieing themselves over there and getting on with it.

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Testament of Freedom

Rosemary’s post, “Religion and Politics Don’t Mix?” brought Randall Thompson’s setting of some Thomas Jefferson letters to mind the other day, and I thought I’d post a short snippet of a performance of the first number in the work to hopefully entice some readers into purchasing copies of their own. Yes, I’ll link to an Amazon.com page featuring a decent recording of the work, but no I’m not including my Amazon.com linky stuff to get credit for any purchases… because I just want folks to look and perhaps buy and listen to the piece.

I have some small quibbles with the otherwise very credible performance I’ll link, but I cannot be certain whether the sloppy consonants are the vocalists’ fault or something lost in the performance/recording space or lossy compression in the download. So, I’ve included the text to the music Randall Thompson scored both above the snippet and below the fold in order that the text be clear.

Here’s the snippet of “The God Who Gave Us Life, Gave Us Liberty”–the signature opening number of Randall Thompson’s The Testament of Freedom

“The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy but cannot disjoin them.”

Or, if the media player doesn’t work for you, here:

The God Who Gave Us Life, Gave Us Liberty at the Same Time

Continue reading “Testament of Freedom”

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“Consider the dandelions of the field… “

A repeat of this post from my old Blogspot third world county blog (it’s been imported here as well… somewhere *heh*) is long overdue, IMO.

A brief exposition on Matthew 6:28-29

01_dandelions1

“Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”

Weeds are mostly in the eye (and heart) of the beholder. Let me submit for your consideration the lowly dandelion.  Was there ever a more beautiful yellow, a more deliciously luscious green? What a feast for the eyes! And yet, our culture considers the dandelion to be a pest plant; not merely useless, but something to be eradicated. *sigh* Useless? Every part (excepting the seed puffball) of the dandelion is edible.  The greens cleaned and steamed or boiled are not only tasty but highly nutritious.  The root, after cleaning, peeling and then blanching, boiling or roasting is also highly nutritious and useful in many ways. And even the yellow bloom is nutritious and a treat for both the eye and the tastebuds in salads.

And what can I say of dandelion wine? 🙂

And, as much as our society spends to eradicate this nutritious food and lovely flowering plant, it thrives in spite of all the poisons thown its way.  And have you ever attempted to pull a dandelion to get rid of the “weed”?  Unless you get every last piece of the root, it’s more than likely to simply grow back. Lilies of the field? Nah. 

“Consider the dandelions how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”

No matter how our society’s warped values may deem the dandelion to be an obnoxious weed, children who are as yet unpolluted by the depraved value system that would deem such a radiently bold and beautiful flower a weed, bring their mothers glad bouquets of dandelions every spring.

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Real Hope for Real Change

A quick drive by post…

Over at Moonbattery, I ran into this hopeful comment:

…if Jimmy Carter could create a big enough backlash to give us Reagan, four years of Comrade Obama should be sufficient to bring James Madison back from the grave.

By jove, I think there’s some hope there! *heh* (Heck, I’d “settle for” John Hanson)

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Not Intentionally Offensive

OK, so I had some time at lunch I didn’t plan on.

[Please note the subjunctive mood.]

Thinking on the differences between a society where Sharia “law” is paramount and a free society where offensive opinions can be openly uttered and even more offensive questions asked, one wonders what would be the reception in each of those societies to someone who would ask an outrageous question such as,

If one were to desire such a thing, how would one say, “Mohamed was the offspring of a diseased dog impregnated by a drunk pig” in Arabic?

Just wondering, that’s all.

Also wondering how long it will take before Janet Napolitano’s deliberately illiterate goon squad will be by to give me a lobotomy for asking such questions…

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twc Hiatus

This week, I may take most of the week off from blogging. Adding helping some young folks get a house ready to move in is going to take some extra time, and because of the rains (“May showers bring May flowers”? It’s a twist on the old “April showers” thing… :-)), I’m also way behind on yardwork. Those two lil added pleasures (OK, the helping with drywall, etc., is a real pleasure) will mean that most of this week will be a “Write your own twc posts” via linkfests. So, no snark, no politics, no compy posts, no music or YouTube videos, no railing against the coming of the night for Western Civilization. *heh*

THIS is an open trackbacks post. Link to THIS post and track back. 🙂

If you have a linkfest/open trackback post to promote OR if you simply want to promote a post via the linkfests/open trackback posts others are offering, GO TO LINKFEST HAVEN DELUXE! Just CLICK the link above or the graphic immediately below.

Linkfest Haven, the Blogger's Oasis