Slog - Comments on ... And You Think You Had a Rough Show Last Night http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/02/_and_you_think_you_had_a_rough_show_last This story in the Guardian, about British ballet dancers during World War II, is impressive: In 1944, when Grey was dancing Swan Lake, a V2 exploded overhead, the noise of the bomb mingling with the crescendo of the violins. "I carried on dancing," says Grey. The only time she can remember a performance being cancelled was in Bath, when the theatre actually caught fire. It puts me in mind of the story of Vedran Smajlovic, the cellist in Sarajevo who sat on a corner for days, in the middle of a heavy sniper zone, playing requiems for the dead. Twenty-two... Copyright 2008 Fri, 16 Feb 2007 17:49:23 -0800 Sat, 17 Feb 2007 14:39:21 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Andrew B The story about the cellist, in turn, put me in mind of Gavrillo the Great from The Saddest Music in the World.

]]> Andrew B http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/02/_and_you_think_you_had_a_rough_show_last#c635744 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/02/_and_you_think_you_had_a_rough_show_last#c635744 Arts Fri, 16 Feb 2007 18:20:46 -0800 Comment by Mischa Elman Fun how if you make it a bassoon, it suddenly becomes a Woody Allen story.
Screw the cello. Anyone can play the cello. You might has well be using a football field as a fingerboard. You can actually watch your bowing, and because the notes are low enough, almost now one can hear when you are slightly off pitch. Screw the cello.
Note that when Bach wanted to honor his recently deceased wife, he wrote her a Chaconne on the violin, not some bleeding psuedo-emotional bit of cello cruft.
Screw the cello.

]]> Mischa Elman http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/02/_and_you_think_you_had_a_rough_show_last#c635836 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/02/_and_you_think_you_had_a_rough_show_last#c635836 Arts Fri, 16 Feb 2007 19:40:09 -0800 Comment by Tone Wow. I had no idea there was such cello hatred in the world, but I'm totally on board. Screw the fucking cello. Piece of shit. I'm playing the cello right now, with my ass.

]]> Tone http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/02/_and_you_think_you_had_a_rough_show_last#c635878 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/02/_and_you_think_you_had_a_rough_show_last#c635878 Arts Fri, 16 Feb 2007 20:24:53 -0800 Comment by keshmeshi I guess no one's heard my cello playing. Trust me. Not anyone can play it and it's painful to listen to those who can't.

]]> keshmeshi http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/02/_and_you_think_you_had_a_rough_show_last#c635901 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/02/_and_you_think_you_had_a_rough_show_last#c635901 Arts Fri, 16 Feb 2007 21:03:43 -0800 Comment by caitlin! So what if the cello's easy? Does that make you love Yanni any less? I didn't think so...

]]> caitlin! http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/02/_and_you_think_you_had_a_rough_show_last#c636059 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/02/_and_you_think_you_had_a_rough_show_last#c636059 Arts Sat, 17 Feb 2007 01:55:25 -0800 Comment by Arlene Spencer These two stories remind me of a conversation, in a class that I took, where the Prof asked us to decide how to end the conflict in Northern Ireland (it was still raging at that time). We decided ala a Star Trek episode that the only way a war ends is when the mothers are tired of burying their children and want them, instead, to have a future.

I think I'd add to our class's answer that a tough/peaceful stand in the middle of the conflict could remind us of that humanity. Was that in a Star Trek episode, too? I am completely ripping Gene Roddenberry off?!

]]> Arlene Spencer http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/02/_and_you_think_you_had_a_rough_show_last#c636333 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/02/_and_you_think_you_had_a_rough_show_last#c636333 Arts Sat, 17 Feb 2007 10:29:25 -0800 Comment by josef @2:

Um, you do know that the two things Bach is remembered most for are the goldberg variations and the cello suites. not even the brandenburgs are as well known.

and, if an instrument is easy to play, composers always find a way to get it to do more. that's why piano literature is so complex. now you could compare the paganini caprices to the koday cello suite - you'd find that the koday actually has quite a bit more notes...

the cello is a sublime instrument - it covers the entire range of the human voice, and can be colored with as much variety.

and no, not anyone can play the cello... go and see joshua roman (he's the seattle symphony's principal cellist) play at town hall on March 16. tell me after you see that whether you think anyone could do it...

]]> josef http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/02/_and_you_think_you_had_a_rough_show_last#c636363 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/02/_and_you_think_you_had_a_rough_show_last#c636363 Arts Sat, 17 Feb 2007 11:36:32 -0800 Comment by hnaaaah?! I love bitch talk in rarified airs!




I'm actually going to the symphony tonight (no shit, Valentines). I'll be watching for the chump that doesn't stand and applaud at the end, and I'll give him a unknowing nod.

]]> hnaaaah?! http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/02/_and_you_think_you_had_a_rough_show_last#c636378 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/02/_and_you_think_you_had_a_rough_show_last#c636378 Arts Sat, 17 Feb 2007 12:03:58 -0800 Comment by him I never knew about that cellist. Sorta reminiscent of that lone Chinese protestor who stopped the line of tanks in Tianenmen in 1989. One person saying, "Enough!" to the violence.

]]> him http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/02/_and_you_think_you_had_a_rough_show_last#c636415 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/02/_and_you_think_you_had_a_rough_show_last#c636415 Arts Sat, 17 Feb 2007 13:18:50 -0800 Comment by josef @8

i'll be at the symphony too. if nothing else, you'll probably love "tabula rasa" by arvo part - it's fairly new, and sort of new age-y; the second movement has a prepared piano that keeps playing the same mystic chord roll. very beatufiul and magical...

there's another masterwork on the program - sibelius' 7th symphony... all in one movement. starts icy cold. never warms, but gets white hot...

there's some happy filler too, but those two - the sibelius and the part - are the pieces to watch.

there's nothing rarified about classical music. it's just music. admittedly, it requires tremendous virtuosity to perform, and great composers generally throw around more complex ideas than rock bands - i mean, sibelius has 20 minutes to develop his symphony, of course he gets more done that you can in a 3 minute song - but you'll be able to understand and relate to everything you'll hear tonight.

]]> josef http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/02/_and_you_think_you_had_a_rough_show_last#c636461 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/02/_and_you_think_you_had_a_rough_show_last#c636461 Arts Sat, 17 Feb 2007 14:39:21 -0800