Monday, November 9, 2009

Hojotoho!

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In a comment to yesterday's post, our friend Cieldequimper asked who were the other composers in the circle around the gazebo. Well, they all wrote operas (although Beethoven, whom we just saw, wrote the fewest of the lot, producing just one), three spoke German, two spoke Italian, one spoke French and all reflected highbrow Midwestern taste in the late 19th Century.

So, knowing a straight line when I hear one, I think we'll move through the collection. Richard Wagner, a disagreeable genius, is well-placed in this HDR-pumped sky. I was once in Los Angeles on business and went to hear Tristan und Isolde by myself at the L.A. Opera. I walked back to the parking lot next to one of the members of the orchestra, who asked me if I actually liked it. I told him I was ecstatic. And then there was the time I heard Jon Vickers sing Parsifal in Chicago. I could go on.

And speaking of Wagner, do you like the smell of napalm in the morning?


YOUR ASSISTANCE PLEASE: It's almost time for the 2009 travel photo competition sponsored by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. I've won a couple of honorable mentions but never one of the top three prizes. This is a selection favorite photos from around the country and the world this year. Please leave me a comment and let me know which one you would submit. Remember, this is a general-interest daily newspaper so nothing too weird. Click here for the set.

6 comments:

  1. OK I voted but you already know what I chose without even looking I'm sure.

    That sky is eerie and fitting. I like it .
    V

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  2. Thank you! Wagner isn't my cuppa tea, though I do like the overtures.
    As for the photo, sorry I don't have a flickr account nor do I want to create one so... I'm hesitating between the first two kids, the children scene in Lhasa with the dog (that boy's face is amazing) and... London Eye.

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  3. The Tibetan Scene 1 photo (the yak herder child waving) speaks to me the most...However, the London Eye photo is stunning. My pick is one of the two, just depends on what you are going for.

    Good luck.

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  4. I admire your pursuit of opera, the photo is an aria and your conversation with the orchestra member is a great slice-o-life.

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  5. What I love about A Now is - everything. All the press, the documentary, all of it. Tanks.

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  6. In my opinion Bob, instead of those I think I'd try to submit last Thursday's arch photo. Its technical quality combined with its very special cropping make it exceptional in my mind. And hell, it IS a travel photo. I'm sure people travel from all over to see the arch !

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