vaporous entities and musings (in other words - BS)

[Dave (imported)]

Manfred Honeck conducted with Noah Bendix-Balgley as concertmaster (He splits concertmaster duties with the Berlin Philharmonic.

Soloist Daniil Trifinov plays Liszt Piano Concerto #1 and was spectacular.

The Symphony played Tchaikovsky's Symphony #4 and the brass was unleashed and just played their lips off.

Next week's concert is all Strauss including a suite from Der Rosenkavalier.

After that, the Symphony goes on a four week European Tour. So if it hits your city, you won't be disappointed to hear them play.

[Dave (imported)]

Music that tells a story.

Today the Symphony was all Straussian -- A suite from Richard Strauss' ELECTRA opened the program. Electra is a one act opera about Electra the daughter who swears vengeance on her mother and her mothers lover Aegisthus for killing Agamemnon in retribution for Agamemnon sacrificing his daughter Iphigenia. Look up THE ORESTIA Trilogy by Aeschylus and Also told by Sophocles.

Manfred Honeck conducted the Suite. It is very much in the style of Richard Strauss. A huge orchestra and big, big music. Electra is a piece of astounding sorrow and solemn brassy music. This is the man who wrote Thus Sprach Zarathustra and Ein Heldenleben. So the orchestra plays it fingers off.

Second piece was Bruno Hartl's Percussion Concerto with Martin Grubinger as soloist on percussion. This is lots of fun to hear. More percussion than you think exists and lots of virtuosic playing. It has the depth and presence to fit between two pieces by Richard Strauss.

The third piece was the suite from Richard Strauss' lovely opera DER ROSENKAVALIER. I've seen Der RosenKavalier on TV and it lilts and waltzes its way into your heart. The story is about the Marschallin, a princess and an older woman, Octavian her young lover, and Sophie who is to be married to Baron Ochs (a big blundering older gentleman). When Octavian as The Cavalier of the Rose delivers the silver rose to Sophie announcing her betrothal to Baron Ochs, the two (Sophie and Octavian) fall in love. It is enough of a reason for wonderful waltzes, light-hearted love, and a bumbling baron. It is up to the Marschallin to give up her young lover to a woman more his age. The libretto is witty and delightful and the audience immediately knows the thrill of young love and the sadness of growing old. The audience immediately knows and understand these characters. We all want to be loved and give love and we all want to stay young and thrill to that first love.

The music is lush, romantic, and gorgeous in the style of Vienna with its waltzes.

The side notes:

DER ROSENKAVALIER was the third opera by Richard Strauss.

The first was SALOME which is the Biblical story of John the Baptist who is desires by the daughter of King Herod and when John spurns her, demands his head on a silver platter. It has the (infamous) Dance of Seven Veils. I did see this at the Pittsburgh Opera once up on a time. The soprano playing Salome decided to perform the Dance of the Seven Veils herself rather than let a ballet dancer substitute (as is typical) she danced (not to well) and when she threw the final veil off was revealed to have on a beige body suit. That was the first time I heard a hisssssssss from the Pittsburgh Audience.

The premier performance of the opera by Richard Strauss also caused scandal because of the rather base and sexual subtext through the music and libretto.

Strauss' second Opera was ELECTRA. Hugely grim with music to match. After Orestes (with Electra, his sister's delight and encouragement) kills their Mother, there is an extended aria for Electra that ends with her collapse and death. Somber theme. Bloody theme.

I have seen Sophocles version of ELECTRA staged. It is solid and dramatic.

So DER ROSENKAVALIER was Strauss' third opera and his librettist at the time, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, suggested and prodded Strauss to write a comedy and something for the audience that wasn't tragic and bloody. It definitely isn't.

Final note: In the movie CITIZEN KANE, at one point Charles Foster Kane marries Susan Alexander (an amateur singer) and zealously promotes her as the next greatest operatic soprano. In the movie, the orchestra behind her rather tiny and unsuitable voice is what is referred to as Straussian. Not every Opera singer can match the huge orchestras and powerful music that Richard Strauss wrote.

[Dave (imported)]

For this day, today:

Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

[Dave (imported)]

I can guarantee that you haven't seen a tunnel opening like this...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lon ... 593f12eb8a

a) The tunnel is 35 miles long and at the deepest is 1.2 miles under the surface.

b) The flying baby of death with wings...

c) the underwear people dancing and prancing ... looks like square-cut tighty-whities

d) the dancers dressed as haystacks (or was it very long haired yaks imported to Switzerland?

e) the Mole people (That's a joke, BTW)

[Dave (imported)]

Q: Name the Four new elements in the periodic table:

A: Nihonium and symbol Nh, for the element 113

Moscovium and symbol Mc, for the element 115

Tennessine and symbol Ts, for the element 117

Oganesson and symbol Og, for the element 118

[Ernie of Maine (imported)]

Ok what are they? You gave them names but that are they?

Q: Name the Four new elements in the periodic table:

A: Nihonium and symbol Nh, for the element 113

Moscovium and symbol Mc, for the element 115

Tennessine and symbol Ts, for the element 117

Oganesson and symbol Og, for the element 118

[Dave (imported)]

They element names are really Nihonium, Moscovium, Tennessine, Oganesson ...

I thought that committee was on drugs at the time, good drugs too.

Personally, I would have named them Portnoy, Mahlerium, Kissmyassium, and O,O,Orgasmium but they didn't ask me.

[Ernie of Maine (imported)]

Yes they are elements,what kind of elenents?

They element names are really Nihonium, Moscovium, Tennessine, Oganesson ...

I thought that committee was on drugs at the time, good drugs too.

Personally, I would have named them Portnoy, Mahlerium, Kissmyassium, and O,O,Orgasmium but they didn't ask me.

[Dave (imported)]

Yes they are elements,what kind of ele

ments?

These four elements complete Row 7 of the Periodic Table...

This article describes them better than I can.

http://earthsky.org/earth/four-new-elem ... odic-table

[Dave (imported)]

If Frank Zappa was one of the "Mothers of Invention" did his kids give him flowers on Mother's Day?

Non traditional like ...