Reader Tips

Reader Tips 44 Comments

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, welcome to SDA Late Nite Radio. Tonight, for your delectation, here are Anne-Sophie Mutter and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra performing the first movement, Allegro Non Molto, of Summer ¤ (5:53), concerto #2 in G minor from Antonio Vivaldi‘s The Four Seasons, with our old friend Herbert von Karajan conducting and playing harpsichord. And hold on to your hats, folks, because in a few weeks we’ll be getting into the second movement of summer.

Your Reader Tips are, as always, welcome in the comments.

44 Replies to “Reader Tips”

  3. It is interesting to see how the greats try to touch and anoint the next greats – eg Karajan and Mutter
    But, sadly for Mutter, the days of heroic classical music figures had passed – the man/woman on the street has no idea who Mutter is.

  4. The average man/woman on the street has no idea about a
    lot of things. Just like me, just like you. I wouldn’t lose
    a lot of sleep over it; better to just plan around it.

  6. Yeah, but it’s sad to see historical lines broken – like the conductors of the Berlin Philharmonic – as follows
    * Ludwig von Brenner (1882-1887)
    * Hans von Bülow (1887-1892)
    * Arthur Nikisch (1895-1922)
    * Wilhelm Furtwängler (1922-1945)
    * Leo Borchard (May-August 1945)
    * Sergiu Celibidache (1945-1952)
    * Wilhelm Furtwängler (1952-1954)
    * Herbert von Karajan (1954-1989)
    * Claudio Abbado (1989-2002)
    * Simon Rattle (2002-present)
    Poor Leo – he was shot by a sentry as a result of misinterpretation of hand gestures at the end of WWII.
    Otherwise, quite a heritage of musicians. As mentioned in other threads, I love Furtwangler – his proclivity to ignore posted tempi and just let things run – eg the end of Beethoven’s Ninth
    Sad to think how “classical music” has lost popular favour.

  7. Nigel Kennedy – he should be on the tip of everyone’s tongue – amazing spicatto –
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dct8n7y2Y4
    To me, this shows the critical break in heritage – Kennedy tried to be really different – (whereas Mutter was more of a continuation) – however it didn’t really matter – people didn’t care about this type of music anymore.

  8. Thanks for the Kennedy, Erik, very nice, although technically that’s the third movement, so it’s not really fair to compare it to Mutter’s rendition of the first movement. But don’t be such a pessimist, man, lots of people like classical music.

  9. True that Vitruvius.
    May I make a plug for piece of music that I find interesting – Gavin Bryars’ piece – “Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet”
    I’ve met many people who say “I hate modern (classical) music”.
    This piece is interesting – people can read the back story here
    http://www.gavinbryars.com/Pages/jesus_blood_never_failed_m.html
    Thanks for your post Vitruvius – makes me think a lot about music, and why I like what I do, etc etc!!!

  15. A great choice Vitruvius. Enjoyed it and played it twice. Erich, it may not be “popular” music today, but many of us still enjoy it, and surprisingly, including some of my younger acquaintances.

  17. does anyone have the scoop on how inbred kate’s showdogs are?
    it’s the only path to purebredom; canine incest and all that. and what genetic defects does her ‘best in show’ carry?
    don’t think so? just google ‘purebred dogs genetic defects’ or whatever source of TRUTH you choose to seek out on the subject.
    showdogs bred for appearance only, ie ‘strictly cosmetic’ are like those grotesque hollyweird stars that come out of the operating room looking like ms wildenstein the ‘lion lady’.
    and feel free to google that as well . . . .

  18. Håkan Hardenberger & Yehudi Menuhin J. Haydn Trompeten-Konzert 1. Satz
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMlVpTAYti8&feature=related
    Fun with trumpets…amazing control.
    Nice piece Vit.
    Vivaldi Four Seasons – I Musici 1988
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pe-MIDDfckw
    More fun with Vivaldi, as my wife is a nutters about this musician.
    Antonio Vivaldi – Violoncello concerto RV403 – I. Allegro
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrQvSLnwsVE
    Cheers
    Hans-Christian Georg Rupprecht, Commander in Chief
    1st Saint Nicolaas Army
    Army Group “True North”

  19. Cg: there are good breeders and bad breeders of animals be it canines or bovines or to take it even further in plant breeding as well. The key is to select away from genetic flaws that arise when dealing with purebred production. In cattle this would mean avoiding weak hooves and legs in Holstein (dairy) cows and looking for better calving ease in angus (beef). In dogs labradors and other breeds have hip issues that reputable breeders screen for. Maintaining Purebred lines is essential in order to engage in hybrid and triple cross breeding that delivers superb end-product animals (or plants). It is hybrid breeding that revolutionized corn and other crop production. And triple cross beef cattle – Simmental/Charolais/angus are the mainstay of the industry. In dogs gorgeous hybrids like labradoodles and goldendoodles (my family has one) are the result – getting characteristics of the two pure lines and much longer lifespans and superior general health. It is worth noting that recently the American kennel club has begun to recognize and certify hybrids.
    I have no doubt that Kate is not only a good and careful breedr of purebred dogs, but also -judging by the awards her dogs have won – one of the very best out there.

  21. The AKC does not recognize or certify hybrids.
    Furthermore, there’s no evidence that labradoodles, etc. are any healthier or longer lived than a well bred purebred from which they are derived. (They’re a fad crossbred that hasn’t been commercially exploited for long enough to produce the data, for one thing.)
    Many of the disease conditions in purebred dogs are not due to recessives, (which are more likely to be exposed through close breeding) but are the result of dominant disease genes that have variable or delayed expression. It’s not the inbreeding that makes these conditions difficult to control, it’s the difficulty in diagnosis prior to breeding age.
    The Labradoodle that inherits such a gene from one parent or the other is just as likely to develop the defect as a puppy that was produced from a mate of the same breed.
    One probable example of a dominant disease gene (or risk factor) is struvite (infection based) bladder stone formation in dogs. While there are breeds in which a higher than normal incidence is well established (Schnauzers, Dachshunds), purebreds are still dwarfed in overall numbers by stone-forming crossbreds.
    Purebred _means_ inbred, by the way. There is no way to create subpopulations with the traits and behaviors that were required to do their jobs than to start with a small population of founders and build upon them. Even breeds that evolved from more general use and started with larger gene pools tend to suffer gene pool contraction as breeders select for the best performers.
    While pure breeding (and the predictability that comes with it) may be a lesser consideration for a family buying a kids’ pet, there is no point in crossing your field lab with a poodle to get hoped for hybrid vigour if the coats that are produced as a result become so waterlogged that the dog is hampered as a retriever.
    Purebred dogs were developed to serve humans in specific roles. Mastiffs were to kill or die on the battlefield, Borzoi coursed and pinned down wolves, Scotties went to ground after badgers. The expectations we have of purebreds are often misplaced. The very dogs their gene pools were build from were not selected primarily for longevity, but for excellence in achievement, in a day and age when it was not unusual to lose a percentage of human children prior to adulthood, much less a few puppies in a litter.
    As one final note – anyone who does pedigree research can tell you that in most of our breeds, the bulk of heavy inbreeding was conducted many, many generations ago – by breeders at the turn of the last century. While many breeders (including myself) utilize close family breeding when necessary, the degree to which we use it pales in comparison to those who established the breeds in the first place.

  23. “SO HOW’S THAT WAR ON CANCER GOING?(sic)
    Grant System Leads Cancer Researchers to Play It Safe.
    instapundit ^
    The cancer institute has spent $105 billion since President Richard M. Nixon declared war on the disease in 1971. The American Cancer Society, the largest private financer of cancer research, has spent about $3.4 billion on research grants since 1946.
    Yet the fight against cancer is going slower than most had hoped, with only small changes in the death rate in the almost 40 years since it began.
    One major impediment, scientists agree, is the grant system itself. It has become a sort of jobs program, a way to keep research laboratories going year after year with the understanding that the focus will be on small projects unlikely to take significant steps toward curing cancer.
    This is exactly what one might have predicted from a big government program of this sort, of course. On the other hand, big private entities get bureaucratized, too: “The private American Cancer Society follows a similarly cautious path. Last year, it awarded $124 million in new research grants, with some money coming from large donors but most from events like walkathons and memorial donations.””
    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2281410/posts
    …-
    “Cyclists pedal hard to fight cancer
    Edmonton Sun”

  24. In the Nice Work If You Can Get It Dept: “A CHEEKY artist has been given a £20,000 National Lottery grant – to look at girls’ bums.”
    check Hot Air for the link.

  25. Spengler, Obama creates a deadly power vacuum
    There’s a joke about a man who tells a psychiatrist, “Everybody hates me,” to which the psychiatrist responds, “That’s ridiculous – everyone doesn’t know you, yet.” Which brings me to Barack Obama: one of the best-informed people in the American security establishment told me the other day that the president is a “Manchurian Candidate”.
    That can’t be true – Manchuria isn’t in the business of brainwashing prospective presidential candidates any more. There’s no one left to betray America to. Obama is creating a strategic void in which no major power will dominate, and every minor power must fend for itself. The outcome is incalculably hard to analyze and terrifying to consider…

  26. (WaPo warning) Joshua Muravchik, For Radical Islam, the End Begins
    Is history ending yet again?
    Much as the hammers that leveled the Berlin Wall in 1989 marked the end of the Cold War, so might the protests rocking Iran signal the death of radical Islam and the challenges it poses to the West…

  27. Check this out Kate.
    http://www.akc.org/news/index.cfm?article_id=3810
    pet owners, just like cow calf operators and comercial grain growers benefit from the crossing of purebred strains by getting the benefits of both pure strains (and somtimes living withsome of the downsides – ie waterlogging of coats versus greatly reduced shedding.) and yes in animals this often results in longer, healthier lifespans. (I do not see how dogs would differ from other animal species in this regard Kate).
    The one difference between animals and plants in this regard is the hybrids are less consistent in animals – not all labradoodles look alike for example. This is due to the less rigourous inbreeding in animals. Plants are often from a single parent as they produce thousands of seeds and cloning is becoming more and more common. Perhaps when cloning is adopted as a means of replicating purebred animals this will be addressed.

  28. “Health Canada issues CFL warning”
    Ottawa Sun june 29/2009
    *Compact fluorescant lightbulbs may be energy efficient but there potential hazards have promted Health Canada to warn of effects ranging from too much UV exposure to possible mercury poisoning…

  30. MSNBC caption below AP photo:
    Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, center, speaks with Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, right, and Honduras’ ousted leader, Manuel Zelaya, during an emergency meeting in Managua, Nicaragua, Sunday night.
    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31604879/ns/world_news-americas/
    Wrong!
    That’s Manuel Zelaya center that Hugo Chavez is talking to with his hand on his shoulder.
    Daniel Ortega is the guy with the white shirt on the Left with his hands clasped looking off into the middle distance.
    You’d think these commies at AP and MSNBC would know who their fellow travellers were. Twits.

  31. Whoa. Correction. That IS Ortega Chavez is talking to.
    Zelaya is almost the spitting image of Ortega twenty years ago.

  32. Inforemd soreces say,
    I-IggyTalibanJackyMcGuinty will star/shine in kerfuffles in Kenora on 4$th July. Some threesome.
    Free fireworks by Second Nations and CUPEE.
    Pride is foremost in Kenora, too.
    …-
    “Kerfuffle over fireworks ruffles promoter
    July 4th fireworks extravaganza to welcome back tourists and seasonal residents for the summer
    Kenora was the focus of national media attention this past week as both CBC and the Globe and Mail ran items on local reaction to the news that there won’t be a fireworks display over Harbourfront as part of the community’s Canada Day festivities this year.
    The Harbourfront fireworks show takes place with the ‘Celebrate Summer Extravaganza’ on Saturday, July 4.
    Still there are those for whom Canada Day isn’t complete without fireworks. People who want to see lights in the sky July 1 can go to Keewatin for the fireworks display that’s part of the neighbourhood’s Canada Day kick-off to the week long homecoming celebration, Summer Splash 2009.
    Still that’s small compensation for some.
    “I was surprised to hear the July 1 fireworks are on July 4, especially with a lot of people in town and people coming in from out of town to celebrate Canada Day,” commented Kenora resident Sandy Hanstead. “I was just shocked at the change.”
    “Canada Day is July 1st, it’s our birthday not July 4th,” agreed Diane Bradley in Keewatin. “It doesn’t seem very patriotic.””
    http://www.lotwenterprise.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1630241

  33. The I-Iggy Resurrection: from resurrection to resurrection with shame: I-Iggy’s “apologizing repeatedly”.
    Sample apologies from Iggy: MIaculpaMIaculpaMIaculpaMIaculpaMIa >>>>
    …-
    “Liberal blogger Jason Cherniak and a group of friends resurrected an unofficial group called Liberal Friends of Israel as that storm brewed, trying to staunch the bleeding.
    Ignatieff has been getting things back on track, apologizing repeatedly for his war-crimes remarks, but he faces harsh rhetoric from the Tories.”
    “Grits, Tories battle for Jewish support in next election”
    urlm.in/crao (ctv)

  34. Gord Tulk – I agree cross breeding of animals – domestic – poultry, beef, hogs, has brought benefits. However, the great improvements in crops of late is by genetic modification ( I know the greenies will scream franken food).

  35. Ontario Premier Liberal-socialist McGuinty promised to close all coal-fired plants* in Ontario.
    The incredible words from MSM/Smitherman:
    1. “federally owned AECL was the only one of three candidates whose bid met all of the requirements.”
    2.”Ottawa may want to step in to allow AECL to make a more competitive bid and win the contract.”
    McGuinty lied.
    …-
    “Ontario holds off on choosing reactor builder
    TORONTO — Ontario is putting plans to build new reactors at the Darlington nuclear station on hold indefinitely, citing concerns about costs overruns and uncertainty over the future of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.
    Energy Minister George Smitherman says federally owned AECL was the only one of three candidates whose bid met all of the requirements.
    But he says that bid was still too expensive and suggested Ottawa may want to step in to allow AECL to make a more competitive bid and win the contract.”
    urlm.in/crav (ctv)
    *Ontario Promises to Close Coal Plants By 2014, Reduce Greenhouse …
    18 Jun 2007 … “We will close our coal-fired plants down in 2014 without … will take Ontario halfway towards meeting the Liberal targets, McGuinty said. …
    http://www.redorbit.com/…/ontario_promises…close_coal_plants…/index.html

  36. Murray Brewster, U.S. probing ways to keep Canada in Afghanistan
    Obama Democrats have quietly sounded out power brokers in Ottawa looking for advice on how to convince war-weary Canadians to keep military forces in Afghanistan after 2011.
    Conscious of the deep political and public opposition to extending the mission further, American officials – political and military – are struggling to understand concerns and identify the right arguments to make to the Harper government to “keep Canadian boots on the ground,” defence sources said…

  37. MikeW: agreed re GM foods in the last decade or so, but the huge jumps in yield in corn and some other crops that occured just after WWII were breakthroughs in F1 hybrid breeding programs. The vigour, uniformity and varietal strenghts that resulted are what made corn the king crop
    that It is today – that and triazine herbicides.

  38. Oz, that is a striking similarity.
    for some interesting opinion on the events in Honduras, Francisco Toro from http://www.caracaschronicles.com writes today at The New Republic… http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2009/06/29/fetishizing-the-presidency.aspx#comments
    it isn’t long, and the essential bit is 1/2 way down the page, right in the middle. Silence from the OAS when Hugo Chavez and Rafael Correa pull similar stunts against their assemblies, outrage now. As president, congress, and supreme courts are generally equal in Lat.Am, the only other difference is left vs right.

  39. O’Marxist.
    …-
    “WSJ Update: Obama Worked To Prevent Ouster of (Marxist) Honduras President
    The Obama administration worked in recent days to prevent President Manuel Zelaya’s ouster, said a senior U.S. official. The State Department, in particular, communicated to Honduran officials on the ground that President Barack Obama wouldn’t support any nondemocratic transfer of power in the Central American country.
    “We had some indication that a move against Mr. Zelaya was afoot,” said a U.S. official briefed on the diplomacy. “We made it clear it was something we didn’t support.””
    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2281814/posts

  40. Political correctness runs amok yet again in merry ol’ England:
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/kent/8123664.stm
    School bans black-face Morris Men
    Motley Morris Men dance wearing black make-up in the Border tradition
    A group of Morris dancers say they are “disappointed and frustrated” after performances were cancelled because they wear traditional black make-up.
    Kent’s Motley “Border” Morris Men follow a tradition which originated in the Welsh borders, where faces were blackened using burnt corks.
    Chantry Primary School in Gravesend is one of three event organisers which have cancelled perfomances this year.
    The school said it had to weigh up any potential offence to its community.
    The Motley Morris Men’s Squire, Pete Hargreaves, said it was clear from its website that the dancers wear black make-up.
    “It is the third event this year that we have had cancelled,” he said.
    “We get to the point where everything is set up and then they suddenly realise that we are a black-face Border group.
    “They say people might be offended without investigating why we dance with black faces.”
    Danced for money
    The group was formed in 1981, but said this was the first year bookings had been cancelled.
    Blackened faces are believed to have been used originally as a disguise by Morris men who danced for money and did not want to be recognised.
    Morris dancer Jim Snelling said: “I understand the school’s concern but it is a shame they didn’t take the opportunity to find out or ask us along to have a discussion about this fairly important part of our culture.”
    Head teacher of Chantry Primary, Hazel King, said it apologised for any inconvenience caused to the Morris Men.
    “We organised the event to bring a diverse and fragile community together,” she said.
    “To celebrate all cultures we booked a Morris troupe, having failed to recognise the possible significance for our community of their tradition to perform with blackened faces.
    “We found ourselves in a difficult position of weighing up any potential offence versus not wishing to compromise the Morris dancers’ tradition.”

  41. “Speech Impediment
    Big Brother is actually a Canadian bureaucrat.
    by Michael Taube”
    “Shakedown
    How Our Government is Undermining Democracy in the Name of Human Rights
    by Ezra Levant
    Ezra Levant is not a household name to most Americans. He’s spent most of his career in Calgary, working in the fields of Canadian conservative politics, journalism, think-tanks and law. But if you read this book and hear his story, it’s unlikely you will soon forget his invaluable contribution to the contemporary literature of freedom of thought and individual liberty. (Full disclosure: Ezra Levant is a friend of long standing.)
    In February 2006, Levant was the publisher of a conservative magazine, the Western Standard. After some consideration, he decided to reprint the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed “to show our readers what all the fuss was about.” It was a gutsy move. Whereas most Canadian publications decided against publishing them, Levant thought people should be free to look at these cartoons in print and judge for themselves.
    This decision changed the course of his life, especially after a heated radio interview about the cartoons with Syed Soharwardy, a Calgary imam. Described in Shakedown as a “Pakistani-born, madrassah-trained preacher popular on the Saudi lecture circuit who is the president of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada,” Soharwardy launched a complaint with a human rights commission (HRC) in Alberta following a failed attempt to get Levant arrested by the Calgary police.
    What’s an HRC? It was originally supposed to deal with a relatively mundane issue: helping poor Canadians deal with landlords and employers who, they felt, were
    infringing on their civil rights. Plaintiffs acquired the pro bono service of a government lawyer, and the ultimate goal was to settle through mediation or (in worst-case scenarios) set up a tribunal. As Levant writes, HRCs “were a beautiful idea–that failed.”
    Today, HRCs are the equivalent of kangaroo courts used predominantly by the Canadian left to sue political rivals and soothe the hurt feelings of residents of glass houses. Shakedown details some of the more ridiculous human rights cases that have succeeded in Canada–and sadly, the vast majority of cases have succeeded:”
    http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/016/667smbfm.asp

  42. Can someone suggest why the Royal Canadian Mint has, or should I say had gold on its property? They don’t need any gold to make their funny, I mean fiat money by my hillbilly reckoning.

  43. Two things – First, Obama, who hesitated for days and dithered against supporting Iranians who protested in support of freedom; who declared that there was ‘no difference’ between Ahmandinejad and Moussavi (which wasn’t the issue); and who thus revealed his indifference to democracy and freedom….has instantly jumped to show his support of..the Honduran ‘president’.
    Yes, the Honduran president Zelaya was indeed democratically elected, but he was, like Chavez, moving to deny democracy, moving to take over and repress Congress and insert himself as Ruler for Life. So, Congress and the military outed him, put the second-inline in as temporary president, with elections in November.
    Obama, however, rejects this, and supports Zelaya, and, his agenda of destroying democracy in Honduras.
    Obama is deeply undemocratic. He’s shown it in his treatment of Congress, insisting that they pass bills only because he emotionally threatens them with the collapse of the US ..that they pass bills based only on their ‘trust’ in Obama..and that they don’t READ or debate or discuss these bills.
    And, Obama rejects democracy in foreign relations.
    Second – the Jackson family. They are moving very fast to grab hold of his estate and his ‘children’. I put ‘his children’ in quotes because I doubt if they are biologically Jackson’s.
    Jackson is black; that’s a dominant skin colour gene; those children have white skin – and even though their mother is white, their skin ought to be light black. Not white. They are not biologically, his children.
    I maintain that Jackson was an asexual, perpetual adolescent. But, his family is moving faster-than-light to gain control over his estate and the children..and the money.

  44. Now, I kind of like that Anne-Sophie Mutter. But I wish she’d bloody well speak up!

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