Monthly Archives: September 2011
Amazon Prime – What’s Concealed
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 29th September 2011Amazon offers Prime, which is a premium membership to the online retailer, for $79 a year. The membership includes free two-day shipping on products, as well as unlimited streaming of videos from a library of television shows and movies. The preceding is from an article about Amazon’s soon to be released Kindle Fire. It’s typical…
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Monarch Butterflies in Lubbock
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 28th September 2011This is way off topic, but Lubbock has been visited by an unusual number of monarch butterflies over the last week. For the past day all you had to do was stand in your back yard and watch them fly buy. This is a little early for their annual migration. Perhaps we’re headed for another…
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Opening Night at the Met Streamed
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 27th September 2011Actually it was more like an intermittently babbling brook. The Met’s internet stream had more stops and starts than a broken zipper. If you were listening to Anna Bolena on Sirius’s satellite signal all was well. But the Met’s “updated” feed was a disaster. How much of this imperfect streaming to blame on the Met and how much should…
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Beethoven in Excelsis
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 25th September 2011He came, he played, and he conquered. Adam Golka played all five of Beethoven’ piano concertos before two dazzled Lubbock audiences on Friday September 23 and on the following Saturday. Actually, he played the cycle twice. There were dress rehearsals Thursday night and Saturday morning. This feat, unique in my experience, requires prodigious doses of stamina, endurance,…
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History Minus 101
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 20th September 2011The following is attributed by CBS News to Senator Lamar Alexander (R Tenn): In talking about consensus building, Alexander described himself as a “very Republican Republican,” but he said senators do their jobs with excessive civility. He rejected the notion that Congress is overly divisive and cited more egregious examples from U.S. history — Vice President…
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Shostakovich Plays Shostakovich
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 15th September 2011Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 – 1975) is primarily known as the greatest composer born in the 20th century; though he started out as a pianist. He largely gave up playing to concentrate on composing when he was very young. But later in life he did occasionally perform as piano soloist, though only playing his own compositions. The current Recording…
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Verdi Sing-Along in New York
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 14th September 2011If you’re in the New York area September 18 and 19 you might want to attend the One World Symphony Orchestra’s Verdi sing along. For details go here.
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More Bad News
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 6th September 2011According to the New York Times, James Levine has canceled all his performances with the company for the remainder of this year. Mr Levine whose health has been precarious for some time, fell while on vacation in Vermont. The fall injured his already damaged back and required emergency surgery. Most of maestro Levine’s assignments at the New…
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Salvatore Licitra Dead at 43
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 6th September 2011The noted tenor died in Catania yesterday after being in a coma for nine days. He had suffered head and chest injuries from a motor scooter accident 9 days earlier. He was 43 years old. Je crois entendre encore Yiddish Licitra RIP
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Je Crois Encore Entendre
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 4th September 2011As promised here is the other famous number from Bizet’s opera Les pêcheurs de perles. The aria can be sung in many ways, all of which can be effective if the tenor is good enough. Perhaps no singer was more identified with the song than Beniamino Gigli (1890 – 1957). Accordingly, I’ve included two recordings of…
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