tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post5042859124395785687..comments2024-03-13T07:34:24.149+00:00Comments on The Age of Uncertainty: Tempus FugitSteerforthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07627936539372313828noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-22369911523134530422013-03-18T15:18:46.212+00:002013-03-18T15:18:46.212+00:00Yes, some masterly key changes and a real sense of...Yes, some masterly key changes and a real sense of momentum. I can't think of Schubert without wondering what else he would have composed if he hadn't died at such a ridiculously young age.Steerforthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07627936539372313828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-87518344829766628322013-03-18T12:04:43.800+00:002013-03-18T12:04:43.800+00:00Relief. In Winterreise, I particularly love The El...Relief. In Winterreise, I particularly love The Elf Kingzmkchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08972549292961948240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-86495120657531660362013-03-08T16:28:40.554+00:002013-03-08T16:28:40.554+00:00Chris - I love Barber too, particularly the Violin...Chris - I love Barber too, particularly the Violin Concerto. I would be interested to know if he had been influenced by Franz Schmidt, as there is a strong lyrical element with both composers.Steerforthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07627936539372313828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-12242518797414268992013-03-08T16:07:37.198+00:002013-03-08T16:07:37.198+00:00Steerforth -- the Schmidt is lush and full of text...Steerforth -- the Schmidt is lush and full of texture. Thanks for posting; <br />I hadn't known his work. His sound is in a fascinating place betwen the Romantic and the modern. I couldn't help thinking one of my favorites, Barber, might have been inspired by him. Chris Matarazzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17885109959459471509noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-6962802669128018082013-03-07T16:36:08.446+00:002013-03-07T16:36:08.446+00:00Carol - I think they're great for keeping in t...Carol - I think they're great for keeping in touch with distant loved ones, particuularly in the pre-email era. I remember the excitement of getting a letter with a foreign stamp on the front.<br /><br />Zoe - I've nothing against Schubert - I particularly love <i>Winterreise</i> - but I already had everything I wanted by him. Steerforthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07627936539372313828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-69021628837590918432013-03-06T23:40:01.171+00:002013-03-06T23:40:01.171+00:00Your mother-card dilemma is very poignant but I am...Your mother-card dilemma is very poignant but I am now distracted by worrying about what you could possibly have against Schubert?zmkchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08972549292961948240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-45807192015049803812013-03-05T21:13:16.026+00:002013-03-05T21:13:16.026+00:00You're not grumpy, Steerforth. The greeting c...You're not grumpy, Steerforth. The greeting card industry can be a real pain. Especially when it's cheaper to buy the card than it is to pay the postage to have it mailed, as is the case now. <br /><br />But I persist in sending them because I look upon it as a public relations gesture for my husband's large, extended, and very close knit family. They're wonderful people and have treated me very, very well over the years, and if anyone has earned a greeting card, they're the ones! Canadian Chickadeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12995693884248628958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-11114819750031312172013-03-05T20:12:44.526+00:002013-03-05T20:12:44.526+00:00Dale - That sounds fair enough to me.Dale - That sounds fair enough to me.Steerforthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07627936539372313828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-11641349505030925642013-03-05T20:10:40.505+00:002013-03-05T20:10:40.505+00:00I'm afraid I'll never like Schoenberg (and...I'm afraid I'll never like Schoenberg (and believe me, I've tried). <br /><br />Re: the cards - it's the fact that the words have always meant so much to my mother (and father) that makes me feel guilty when I see her carefully scrutinising the awful verse. But I've come to accept that my role is simply to do a reasonably good impression of the son she wants me to be. Also, I'm genuinely touched by the sentiment behind the sentimental.Steerforthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07627936539372313828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-12462665552059118212013-03-05T19:07:20.767+00:002013-03-05T19:07:20.767+00:00let me know when you get to schoenberg, I'd li...let me know when you get to schoenberg, I'd like to borrow your crib notes. <br /><br />I used to scoff at the garish kitsch of the kind of cards my mother also insisted on - the more sentimental the better, then several years ago I was at a suburban railway station and a small bunch of flowers had been carefully tied to the fence adjacent to the platform, clearly the site of some tragic incident - and pinned to the flowers was exactly the kind of card I hated "to my darling son" in flowery gilt script with pink and purple roses. It was heartbreaking. I've never been able to look at them since without remembering how much grief must have been invested in that card.Grey Areahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18240869670530738753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-12042188158167221652013-03-04T23:56:38.036+00:002013-03-04T23:56:38.036+00:00Your friend's lugubrious greeting card sentime...Your friend's lugubrious greeting card sentiment reminds me of my favourite redemptorist hymn (found in a Victorian hymnbook retrieved from a jumble sale):<br /><br />"One more day's work for Jesus,<br />One less of life for me..."<br /><br /><br />Exits, singing merrily.Dalenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-68707014463753061122013-03-04T18:23:22.121+00:002013-03-04T18:23:22.121+00:00Lucy - Good for your mum. I think that these thing...Lucy - Good for your mum. I think that these things can't be expressed in a banal, sentimental verse that goes:<br /><br /><i>Blah blah blah blan special day,<br />Blah blah blah blah in every way!</i><br /><br />Awful. They could almost be generated by the same computer that came up with those controversial t-shirts on Amazon.<br /><br />Kid - I think it's a class thing. In my mother's world, it's always mum (or mam) - only posh people say 'mother'. To call my mum mother would be as good as saying that I didn't really love her. I don't understand it, but she's too old to change.<br /><br />Carol - I don't give cards to anyone except my mother and sons, although I begrudgingly add my name to cards my wife sends. I find the whole greetings card industry baffling. My wife says I'm being grumpy. She's probably right.<br /><br />Andrea - Thanks!<br /><br />Tim - More Gordon Bennett than Alan, but my mother would make a good stunt double for the late Mrd Bennett. Her comments about an aunt were pure Bennett:<br /><br /><i>"Aunt Bessie used to be able to read people's fortunes in the tea leaves, but she had to give it up."<br /><br />"Why, did she see something bad?"<br /><br />"No, they started buying tea bags."</i>Steerforthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07627936539372313828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-81740508435946636982013-03-04T06:06:26.036+00:002013-03-04T06:06:26.036+00:00'I once rang her from Death Valley and explain...'I once rang her from Death Valley and explained that the temperature was 110f. She replied "Well, there's been a heatwave in Worthing."'<br /><br />You really are the Alan Bennett of the South Coast aren't you?tim footmanhttp://culturalsnow.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-14700224995227635722013-03-04T02:52:37.111+00:002013-03-04T02:52:37.111+00:00Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday! Andrea Thttp://andreatsurumi.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-91837370196242197342013-03-03T22:21:57.987+00:002013-03-03T22:21:57.987+00:00Greeting cards can cause no end of problems. Ther...Greeting cards can cause no end of problems. There are some very funny ones featuring a cartoon character named Maureen. Very sarcastic and often hilarious -- but I only know one person to whom I would dare send one.<br /><br />Most of the time, I go for "straight" and convention, but not too flowery, in hopes that I won't give offense ...<br /><br />BTW -- many, many happy returns of the day to you! All the best, Carol Canadian Chickadeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12995693884248628958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-3699364923977651192013-03-03T19:10:31.460+00:002013-03-03T19:10:31.460+00:00Funny how it's not the thought which you have ...Funny how it's not the thought which you have about someone you send a card to which counts, but the thoughts they think you should have. 'Mother' to me sounds respectful as well as loving - the sort of card an adult would send, whereas 'Mum' sounds a little casual - as well as more something a daughter or child would send. You can't win, eh? Kidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07224781868125924337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-72822569036703557992013-03-03T13:39:09.276+00:002013-03-03T13:39:09.276+00:00Greetings cards really do say such a lot about th...Greetings cards really do say such a lot about the sender. I spend hours looking for a mother's day card for my mum which conveys the coldest message possible without sounding like I've only recently got to know her. She'd die of embarrassment if I got her a sentimental one.<br />Happy birthday, glad your wife came up trumps with the CD choices, another thing which is easy to get badly wrong.<br />I enjoyed both pieces, maybe it's time to get into classical music properly. I think I preferred the second piece, possibly because it somehow left me feeling slightly uncomfortable. I tend to prefer music which has a subtle menacing undertone (which maybe that track didn't have, but I felt 'something' at least). A good sign.<br /><br />The people who make up those vacuous and depressing rhymes for greetings cards get paid a fortune. They're never as bad as the poems on obituary notices in the local paper though!lucy joyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04863146546863419637noreply@blogger.com