Are those gold standards?

Or are they oversize?

mike_mccue


Are those gold standards?

Or are they oversize?

Bapu might know...

Ohhh boy ... yeah! Fun time!
 
Favorite Opera Conductor -- Leinsdorff
Craziest Opera Conductor -- Bernstein (West Side Story of course -- but his Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky's are magnificent!)
Best Opera Conductor -- Karajhan of course (Fellini joke, btw!)
Favorite Opera House - Beiruth ... but not for those Wagnerian pastiches! Only those far out sets and lighting!
Conventional Conductor -- Peter Mark and "his" Virginia Opera House
 
Best (Male) Earwax Driller -- Pavarotti
Best (Female) Earwax Driller -- Maria Callas
Best Soprano -- Renata Tebaldi
Best Voice Fight in Opera -- Renata Tebaldi and Birgit Nilsson
  
Best film of an opera -- None
Best Opera Story ever filmed -- Carlos Saura's Carmen -- with dancing instead of singing, and sort of the old dance and here comes the new dance!
 
Favorite Composer with not so great opera - Bernard Herrman -- his "Wuthering Heights" forgot all the great stuff he had done for Sci-Fi films and Hitchcock!
  
Over Rated, but Interesting Opera -- Mary Queen of Scots by Mrs. Peter Mark
 
Best Film Lesson that Opera never got -- "Carmilla" by the ETC La Mamma Group had an awesome version of this play and it had a film in the background of the couch ... just that! And it was breath taking and shows how gutless opera is and has become! And how much better it could get!
  
That should do for a while!

craigb

 These were designed to resonate perfectly with the surrounding harmonics and add a nice residual effect to the overall sound. As a side note- I'm also selling land on the moon and those really nice audio cables.

Starise

craigb

These were designed to resonate perfectly with the surrounding harmonics and add a nice residual effect to the overall sound. As a side note- I'm also selling land on the moon and those really nice audio cables.

Goodness ... I was thinking this was a selective comment on Mick Jaegger or some other singers!

I absolutely lurve the opera.

Except listening to it and watching it...

Those bits I don't enjoy so much.

Well, and there's that time you threw yourself into the orchestra pit thinking it was a mosh pit...

That was a bit awkward.

craigb


Well, and there's that time you threw yourself into the orchestra pit thinking it was a mosh pit...

That was a bit awkward.

In the class that we had with Peter Mark (Virgina Opera Director), one of the things I did do was lambaste the quality of the acting and the supposed expressions that most singers use. Peter, of course, defended it saying that the actors needed to breathe and sometimes this and that.


I explained to him, that he was not learning anything about rock music, and what it was going to do to modern music and eventually something that might not be called "opera" in the future, but basically is. He stated that no rock music had any quality that was worth anything for a stage, that rivaled opera ... and I gave him a list and told him he was wrong.

Had a similar run in here in Portland with a guy from the Oregonian that was upset that there were not enough folks at the Symphony last night kinda thing ... and I told him that if they stopped using Pink Martini, and got into real music, that it might change ... even considering a couple of pieces by Frank Zappa, might get you a few different folks ... the conductor himself, has no talent for music whatsoever, and the choices are soooooo bad ... it's pathetic!

Heck, if he did "Thick as a Brick" it would get more attention than doing the pathetic thing one more time! Or worse, copy the Boston Plops and only do portions of things and not the work itself! How top ten that is!

Hi,

Hey Mike ... your night at the opera must have been really bad!

I don't go to many of them myself, either, btw! Even the MET would not get me ... I can't afford it!

Hi Mosh,
 I'm not sure what you are saying.

 In any event, I really enjoyed the gig. I finished up an advance copy for the producer to listen to and share with the musicians.

 In this day and age, it is difficult to decide how to treat the quiet passages. Do you mix for headphones and iPods, Tiny name brand miniature home stereo boxes, or old fashioned big and powerful living room stereos?

 I think I may have made a good balance.

 best regards,
mike