tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post49211467703762594..comments2023-10-17T08:19:58.196-04:00Comments on FreeThinke: FreeThinkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-54207709502695057892012-12-17T00:44:49.655-05:002012-12-17T00:44:49.655-05:00If I were as wise and resourceful a cook as you, Z...If I were as wise and resourceful a cook as you, Z, I would keep two jars of raisins -- one soaked in Bourbon, as you suggested, and the other in Rum.<br /><br />Raisins are an indispensable part of great cuisine, if used <i>sparingly.</i><br /><br />As I've written before, raisins, walnuts, apples and cranberries with a little butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar make a terrific Holiday Pie filling. If the raisins were soaked in Bourbon, I'm sure it would make it that much better.<br /><br /><b>Have a Joyful Christmas -- no matter what!</b>FreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-15135269809313850282012-12-17T00:38:24.115-05:002012-12-17T00:38:24.115-05:00If you love Wagner, Z, you might also love Mahler,...If you love Wagner, Z, you might also love Mahler, whose work is heavily influenced by both Wagner and Richard Strauss. The contrapuntal use of leitmotivs in a context of rich chromatic harmonies and complex orchestral textures in all three are remarkably similar without really being the same. <br /><br />The songs of Mahler bear a closer resemblance to the operas of Wagner and Strauss in many ways than they do to the lieder of Schubert, Schumann, Brahms and Hugo Wolf.<br /><br />One of the things it's sometimes hard for singers to grasp is that the main interest often lies in the orchestral accompaniment and not so much in the vocal line. All three of these late-Romantic and post-Romantic composers used the voice as part of the orchestra. <br /><br />Bach did that too -- used his soloists as an orchestral instrument -- although the forms Bach used and characteristic harmonies differ greatly from the later composers.<br /><br />Nevertheless, all are branches of the same tree.FreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-90876068806568483742012-12-16T16:32:17.085-05:002012-12-16T16:32:17.085-05:00by the way, I LOVE Wanger..RIENZI is my fave opera...by the way, I LOVE Wanger..RIENZI is my fave opera!Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15989573357446569262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-17306384003459536172012-12-16T16:31:58.313-05:002012-12-16T16:31:58.313-05:00Sorry, I even speak German and most lieder's t...Sorry, I even speak German and most lieder's too dull for me.<br /><br />And yes, our blogs reflect our tastes.......I took a risk saying that, didn't mean to offend or chastise or be churlish! I like almost every other musical genre but ukelele or bad mariachi, so....go figure. And I LOVE rock, as you know.<br /><br />Glad you liked my trick of soaking bourbon in raisins for apple pie (just saw it at my food blog)..bourbon adds an amazing flavor to the pie! I hope you try it! xxZhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15989573357446569262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-40061027743254154812012-12-16T10:21:52.085-05:002012-12-16T10:21:52.085-05:00HAH! You and I just wrote each other simultaneousl...HAH! You and I just wrote each other simultaneously. <br /><br />Further proof that "Great minds think alike" -- at least some of the time.FreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-91881493294302856192012-12-16T10:19:37.954-05:002012-12-16T10:19:37.954-05:00I can understand that association, Thersites, -- t...I can understand that association, Thersites, -- the agitation of <i>Sturm und Drang</i> pervades both the Schubert and the fifth song in this Mahler cycle. <br /><br />The final song seems to me to represent the feelings of a grieving parent struggling with thoughts of guilt that perhaps he could have prevented the tragedy if only ... or possibly an attempt to rationalize his culpability? <br /><br />Since you seem to believe satisfaction in life is derived primarily from acquiring power, think how hideous it must be for the man who has been suddenly deprived of his most precious possessions by circumstances completely beyond his control.<br /><br />Mahler and Schubert both had an extraordinary capacity to empathize with devastating grief and to transform it into eloquent musical utterances of sublime beauty that evoke a similar degree of empathy in the sensitive, receptive listener.<br /><br />It pained to be reminded anew that judy is not the reincarnation of Madeleine after all. ;-)<br /><br /><b>And A Cheery Good Season to You, Thersites!</b><br /><br />~ FTFreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-46267047728466279752012-12-16T10:02:17.663-05:002012-12-16T10:02:17.663-05:00The point that I was trying to make though, is tha...The point that I was trying to make though, is that nothing the father could have done would have prevented the ehrlking from achieving his goal. Nothing.<br /><br />To believe that we can control his access... is foolhardy.Thersiteshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15751286903359745316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-65390604101894238272012-12-16T09:59:55.727-05:002012-12-16T09:59:55.727-05:00the final Mahler piece made me think of it... alth...the final Mahler piece made me think of it... although you're right about the disparity between the immediacy of events.Thersiteshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15751286903359745316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-82513352017823957382012-12-16T00:50:05.003-05:002012-12-16T00:50:05.003-05:00Der Erlkoenig is highly dramatic, Thersites, an ac...Der Erlkoenig is highly <i>dramatic</i>, Thersites, an actual playlet involving three characters -- four if you count the galloping horse represented by the relentless, rapidly pounding accompaniment. The piano part provides the perfect atmosphere for the terrifying drama that plays itself out in the course of a just few minutes. Schubert was only seventeen when he wrote this masterpiece -- absolute proof he was one of the greatest of musical geniuses.<br /><br />Mahler's Songs on the Death of Children approaches this kind of mortality from an entirely different perspective. The Kindertotenlieder are retrospective outpourings of anguish and deep regret. The Erlking places us in at the kill, as it were. <br /><br />Fischer-Dieskau introduced me to the Erlking right after I left high school. I've never been the same since. His clear delineation of the earnest father, the terrified child, and the eerily vicious-yet-seductive Erlking is brilliant in its subtlety.<br /><br />Bryn Terfel, a magnificent artist in his own rite, gives Fischer-Dieskau a run for his money with this opus. Women have insisted on singing it, but I've never heard one who could pull it off with aplomb.<br /><br />The accompaniment is the most challenging in all song literature. It's an exhausting tour de force, and very difficult to play quietly enough to maintain the sense of urgency while not drowning out the singer.<br /><br />~ FTFreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-9687366406098289052012-12-15T18:57:21.991-05:002012-12-15T18:57:21.991-05:00And after repealing the second amendment, Ducky, t...And after repealing the second amendment, Ducky, think how much safer we will be after we repeal the first.<br /><br />We can eliminate the religious aspects of violence by making us all one religion.<br /><br />We can eliminate the temptation to violence when we eliminate free speech and prohibit violent movies, video games, and dissent. <br /><br />No more riots when we prohibit assembly. Ah, think how easier a balanced budgt will be when we prohibit the redress of grievances.<br /><br />Think how much money we can shave off the DoD budget by quartering troops in your home. Hanscom's nearby, isn't it?<br /><br />Certainly if we want to ensure no guns, those prohibitions about unreasonable search and seizure need to go.<br /><br />All HAIL The Iron Fist<br /><br />You'll certainly be safer, won't you?<br /><br /><br /><br />Finntannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09234170229108668040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-42951060616799678552012-12-15T18:57:10.907-05:002012-12-15T18:57:10.907-05:00"Lieder bores me to tears ..."
Well, th...<i>"Lieder bores me to tears ..."</i><br /><br />Well, that's your prerogative, dear Z. No one can <i>command</i> anyone to like something for which they may have no feeling. What we present here reflects the taste and judgment of the management. It's offered strictly on a take it or leave it basis.<br /><br />These songs, while sober in the extreme, as they should be given the subject matter, are recognized as an important milestone in post-Romantic music literature, and considered by those who know and love classical music to be not only sublimely beautiful, but extraordinarily <i>empathetic</i> to those suffering grief at the death of loved ones. <br /><br />These poems by Rueckert may deal specifically with the loss of children, but the sorrow they evoke applies universally to the loss of anyone precious and significant regardless of age or specific relationship.<br /><br /><i>"If a piece of the content washes away, Europe is the less ..."</i><br /><br />Their parents, siblings and friends are certain to grieve the most, but in a very real sense ALL of us have suffered a great loss as result of this random act of violence.<br /><br />Mahler never fails to express musical ideas that have universal significance to those who are receptive to style and intricacy of his unique creations.<br /><br />~ FT<br /><br /><br /><br />FreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-55930307814545509952012-12-15T18:28:36.031-05:002012-12-15T18:28:36.031-05:00"The most pathetic image of all after these h..."The most pathetic image of all after these horrors is the useless freaking SWAT teams running around swinging their big dicks and nobody calling out these clowns for what they are. Yet we are creating them in every small town thinking they keep us safe while the militarization of this culture proceeds apace."<br /><br />Ducky, even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while. But if private citizens are disarmed why do you think the SWAT teams wouldn't still come to any neighborhood to swing their "big dicks", which will be even bigger if there is no question that the citizenry is disarmed. Didn't you come across in your Communist Reader?Waylonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08533895509055020394noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-88943559308564472482012-12-15T15:57:57.567-05:002012-12-15T15:57:57.567-05:00Take my good advice:
Speak quietly. It helps to s...Take my good advice:<br /><br /><i><b>Speak quietly. It helps to soothe the nerves.<br />Yelling –– any harshness –– is abrasive ––<br />An agitating force no one deserves<br />Denying peace, obnoxious and invasive.<br />Refresh the soul with calm, sweet introspection.<br />Opening the mind clears out the dross.<br />Find serenity under prayer’s direction.<br />Needs depart, as does the pain of loss,<br />Only when we lift our thoughts to Heaven.<br />Images of all that’s bright and clean <br />Transcend gloom and sagging spirits leaven,<br />As on the rock of Truth we safely lean.<br />Leave resentment, fear, distrust behind;<br />Endure with patience, and sweet peace you’ll find.</b></i><br /><br />~ FreeThinke - 12/12/12<br /><br />I didn't write that as either a joke or a stunt. The bitter ravings and agitated polemics are DESTRUCTIVE. They are not welcome here.<br /><br />One of the first lessons we must learn -- and probably the hardest -- is to ACCEPT THE THINGS YOU CANNOT CHANGE.<br /><br />Personally, I'm fed up with anger, derision and righteous wrath. So, if you want to hang arujd here, GET WITH THE PROGRAM. <br /><br /><b>Have a Merry Christmas or ELSE!!! GOD DAMN IT!</b> ;-)<br /><br />~ FTFreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-88721954934864099662012-12-15T15:57:42.948-05:002012-12-15T15:57:42.948-05:00thank God for SWAT teams who have protected so man...thank God for SWAT teams who have protected so many of us. It's a shame we need them so much.<br />If we stop taking heroes away from our children, if we stop the ridiculous video games where one shoots at the first thing around the corner, if we pay attention to mentally ill signs..............if only.<br />Take all guns away? How idealistically stupid and laughable.<br /><br />Lieder bores me to tears, but the poetry is beautiful...poignant.Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15989573357446569262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-3878555701811185192012-12-15T15:40:37.179-05:002012-12-15T15:40:37.179-05:00btw - So duckman, how many abortion infanticides d...btw - So duckman, how many abortion infanticides did you help facilitate world wide this year? A million? Ten million?<br /><br />When you have the answer, then we can decide whether a 2nd Amendment revisit should be in order.-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16745768408538827278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-55203729769418945802012-12-15T15:28:50.628-05:002012-12-15T15:28:50.628-05:00How many kids did Herrod have killed? Pharoah? ...How many kids did Herrod have killed? Pharoah? Hitler?<br /><br />Hitler didn't need guns... he just gassed them.-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16745768408538827278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-30745137926078347942012-12-15T15:16:13.967-05:002012-12-15T15:16:13.967-05:00Who knew that GUNS. and culture would lead to the ...Who knew that GUNS. and culture would lead to the first ever recorded murder of children in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medea" rel="nofollow">history</a>.... <br /><br />oooops, it wasn't. How do you explain that duckman?-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16745768408538827278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-20614640137637676602012-12-15T15:05:27.637-05:002012-12-15T15:05:27.637-05:00@Farmer --- A mentally challenged young man just...@Farmer --- A mentally challenged young man just met his Richard Parker, and instead of learning to tame him, blew his brains out. It's a tragedy that 300 million sharp-clawed but de-fanged Americans living inside a tiger's cage can't and won't reverse.<br />--------<br />Bull. A mentally challenged adolescent took his mother's guns, shot her and then executed another 25 people, mostly young children.<br /><br />Now first thing I'm going to do is get down to realpolitik and point out that there are holes in the "well regulated" implementation.<br /><br />Stop with the pop culture dog poop and suggest how we can deal with this issue without the twin bugaboo of the idiots who think more guns is the answer and the defeatists.<br /><br />Maybe we can't stop the school shootings but maybe we can stop poor neighborhoods from being flooded with guns.<br />Maybe we back track and admit stand your ground laws aren't a good idea.<br /><br />The most pathetic image of all after these horrors is the useless freaking SWAT teams running around swinging their big dicks and nobody calling out these clowns for what they are. Yet we are creating them in every small town thinking they keep us safe while the militarization of this culture proceeds apace.<br /><br />We are a sorry people. Ducky's herehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14608115001116619877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-27772956274674151832012-12-15T12:00:38.338-05:002012-12-15T12:00:38.338-05:00...and yes, FT, a spell of magnetism lies in the p......and yes, FT, a spell of magnetism lies in the performing artist's (rhapsode's) "rhetorical" net (Plato, "Ion").Thersiteshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15751286903359745316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-75415123530846737752012-12-15T11:55:28.792-05:002012-12-15T11:55:28.792-05:00Get your own lifeboat, duckman.Get your <a href="http://thersitescorner.blogspot.com/2012/12/reaching-limits-of-ideology.html" rel="nofollow">own lifeboat</a>, duckman.Thersiteshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15751286903359745316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-10508732863700943012012-12-15T11:32:14.445-05:002012-12-15T11:32:14.445-05:00"Often I think that they have only stepped ou...<i>"Often I think that they have only stepped out -<br />and that soon they will reach home again. ..."</i> the fourth of the set has always struck me as the most beautiful of the five. It is almost unbearably touching. <br /><br />That a singer could perform it with such empathetic understanding as that displayed by Thomas Hampson and not break down in tears is one of the miraculous things about art on this high a level. It takes <i>real</i> guts to present so demanding a work as this -- to bare your soul before an audience who may or may not have the faintest idea of what you and Mahler are trying to say to them.<br /><br />Performing artists who succeed in casting the kind of spell that draws audiences in and holds their attention while shedding light on challenging material ought to be recognized for the great heroes they are. FreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-42414425459660328472012-12-15T11:02:31.951-05:002012-12-15T11:02:31.951-05:00Spare us your cheap polemics and feigned outrage, ...Spare us your cheap polemics and feigned outrage, Canardo. This is no time -- and certainly no place -- to entertain the tub-thumping, grandstanding, strident histrionics of Marxists on the rampage.<br /><br /><b>Thomas Hampson and Leonard Bernstein's heartfelt performance Gustave Mahler's Songs on the Death of Children is the focus here today.</b> <br /><br />It may require some time -- and <i>effort</i> -- to appreciate what they have given us, and to show it the respect it has earned, but it would be time better spent than all the bitter denunciations born of impotent outrage, the showy handwringing, and the unbearably crass attempts to EXPLOIT profound tragedy for POLITICAL gain we see everywhere from the left.<br /><br />Go grind your bloody axe over at Regressive Corruptions where Shaw Kenawe has already made a contemptible Feces Festival of of this tragic incident. Go revel in the dung -- where you belong. You're not welcome here today -- unless you behave like a gentleman.<br /><br />~ FT<br /><br />FreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-64265199832073037072012-12-15T10:42:36.056-05:002012-12-15T10:42:36.056-05:00The "floating island" of Delos?The "floating island" of Delos?-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16745768408538827278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-77331547494802429792012-12-15T10:41:21.625-05:002012-12-15T10:41:21.625-05:00Meerkat Island is floating away, ducky. But you k...Meerkat Island is floating away, ducky. But you keep promising to "pilot" us there. Have YOU ever been to Larissa?-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16745768408538827278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-72385196600716734632012-12-15T10:41:05.061-05:002012-12-15T10:41:05.061-05:00When we have no words, AOW, it's best to let g...When we have no words, AOW, it's best to let great artists speak for us.<br /><br />I know of no more eloquent evocation and outpouring of the kind of grief a loving parent must feel at the death of a child than these sings by Gustave Mahler.<br /><br />I had hoped to find a video of the complete cycle sung either by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gerard Suzay, or Thomas Allen, but none were available on YouTube. <br /><br />Kathleen Ferrier, Maureen Forrester and Brigitte Fassbaender have each given a good account of these pieces, but I have always felt the poignancy of the Kindertotenlieder is better expressed when sung by a sensitive man.<br /><br />The poems after all are written by a man (Friedrich Rueckert) from the masculine point of view.<br /><br />Contemporary American culture mocks and scorns the sensitive, compassionate, considerate man foolishly regarding him as weak or effeminate. Sensitivity is no sign of weakness. Instead it is one of the essential components of Civilization.<br /><br />If our culture had not grown so brutish, coarse and lacking in subtlety, it's likely we would not be seeing the sickening trend that regards it as Fashionable to commit wholesale slaughter of the most innocent and vulnerable among us.<br /><br />~ FreeThinkeFreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.com