Monthly Archives: May 2012
The I Lombardi Trio
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 31st May 2012Two days ago I posted the the great trio from Verdi’s I Lombardi, Qual voluttà trascorrere, sung by Erwin Schott, Anna Netrebko, and Jonas Kaufmann. Listening to it caused me to revisit the recording of this number made exactly 100 years ago by Enrico Caruso with Frances Alda and Marcel Journet. Caruso interpolates two high notes near the end and likely had his head…
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Jonas Kaufmann
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 29th May 2012Jonas Kaufmann is a German born (Munich 1969) tenor who has moved to the top of the tenorial list in the last five or six years. He has a dark sound which is allowing him to move into the heavier spinto roles in both the Italian and German repertoire. Yet his vocal technique is so good that…
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Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 21st May 2012Dietrich Fisher-Dieskau, who died May 18, was a unique performer. In a very long career he managed to sing and record almost anything that a classically trained baritone could possibly sing. While best known as the foremost interpreter of German art songs he appeared almost as often in the opera house as in the concert hall. The facts…
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Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Dead at 86
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 18th May 2012The great baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (1925-2012) died Friday, May 18 at age 86. I’ll have a longer post about this great artist in a short while. Here is his interpretation of a work by a composer who was likely closest to his heart – Franz Schubert. Der Erlkönig, written when the composer was 18 years…
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Income Mobility in the US
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 14th May 2012Below is a study from the US Treasury Department –Income Mobility in the U.S. from 1996 to 2005. It presents some very interesting data. We are used to hearing how income disparity in the US is increasing. This conclusion is reached by comparing the difference between the lowest and highest groups of earners. Unless you believe that…
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Warren Buffett’s Prostate Cancer
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 9th May 2012Warren Buffett was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer. The 81 year old investor released the following statement about his disease: To the Shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway: This is to let you know that I have been diagnosed with stage I prostate cancer. The good news is that I’ve been told by my doctors that my condition is not…
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Screening for Cancer
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 5th May 2012Below is the PowerPoint presentation of the talk Screening for Cancer that I gave today to Spring Cancer Conference sponsored by the Lubbock-Crosby-Garza County Medical Society. A related presentation can be found here. Screening for Cancer
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La Traviata in HD – The Rerun
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 3rd May 2012Unable to attend the live telecast of the Met’s performance of La Traviata, I went to the replay on May 2, 2012. The production was first staged by German director Willy Decker last season. Decker sets the action in an indeterminate (but approximately modern) time on a mostly empty stage rimmed by a semicircular wall. There’s some pretty…
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