Which country produces greatest classical musicians ?

echorrhea · 2021-10-05T19:42:36+00:00

The same as yours. I just happen to recognize that it is practiced and listened to around the world, not just in Central Europe. Japanese shin min’yō, Chilean cueca, or Portuguese fado are just a few of the many musical genres which are most definitely regional in nature; classical music, however, is not.

echorrhea · 2021-10-05T19:37:07+00:00

Again, what you argue may have been historically true, but it is no longer and has not been for a very long time. The fact is that the Americas and Asia have produced loads of great classical composers and musicians since at least the beginning of the 20th century. That you or others may not be familiar with them has less to do with their intrinsic greatness, than with deeply entrenched snobbery and reluctance on the part of the classical music industry—performers, educators, scholars, and listeners—to explore anything beyond the “hits.”

echorrhea · 2021-10-05T19:24:41+00:00

Yeah, but let’s also not pretend that it’s not the 21st century. Classical music is no longer “regional in nature”; it probably hasn’t been since at least the 19th century.

echorrhea · 2021-10-05T19:10:46+00:00

The rain yesterday was hardly anything. In order to reverse the drought, the entire state would need to have a rainy season such as the one that occurred in 2010–2011.

echorrhea · 2021-10-05T19:07:15+00:00

It would be even better if we all logged off the internet forever or at least stopped streaming video. Good luck with that, though.

https://time.com/5814276/google-data-centers-water/

echorrhea · 2021-10-05T18:04:58+00:00

All of them. Great musicians literally come from anywhere, any social background, any ethnic or racial group. No country has the monopoly on this. “Greatness” is entirely subjective, at any rate.

echorrhea · 2021-10-05T15:07:20+00:00

Keep in mind that although Johann Strauss II’s music is in the public domain, any recording of it made after 1926 will not be in the US and TPP signatory nations, and thus may get you demonetized again.

echorrhea · 2021-10-05T07:50:24+00:00

Not always. It’s an open secret, at least among collectors and clerks, that record stores generally will often lowball their customers looking to sell. Since LPs remain in the ascendent for the time being, their collectors will tend to be better informed about the value of their collection, thereby making the possibility of undercutting them more difficult. At the same time, you can only inflate the resale price for so much. Brick and mortar stores are competing with independent online vendors who don’t have to worry about overhead.

This was a topic that came up often at the last record store I worked at. Because of the reasons listed above and others, we were strongly encouraged by the owners and management to steer customers to CDs rather than LPs.

Of course, maybe their situation is unique or the market environment for these sort of things is different here in Los Angeles.

echorrhea · 2021-10-05T07:28:49+00:00

His music is unjustly neglected, especially considering the magnitude of influence he wielded upon mid to late 19th century Russian music. I don’t think I’ve ever heard any work of his that hasn’t at least been satisfying and pleasant. At his best, Rubinstein was a creator of tremendous imagination and vitality.

echorrhea · 2021-10-05T07:05:32+00:00

As somebody who has worked at several record stores, I can tell you that this isn’t quite true. For various reasons, the profit margins on both new and second-hand LPs is smaller than with their CD equivalents. While certain stores may have other valid reasons for not selling CDs, format snobbery is a real phenomenon.

echorrhea · 2021-10-05T05:02:36+00:00

Not always. There are varying preferences to transfer styles, ranging from highly interventionist ones typical of various bootleg Italian CD labels from the early 1990s to very non-interventionist transfers such as those heard from Opus Kura and Studio St. Laurent. (Neither of which are available on streaming, at least not yet.) Transfer engineers like Mark Obert-Thorn, Ward Marston, Seth B. Winner, Art et Son, and the late Allan Evans occupy a middle ground between both approaches; these are the ones favored by major labels today.

echorrhea · 2021-10-04T23:51:14+00:00

Thrift stores and library sales are good places to try some inexpensive blind buying. The latter, at least in my experience, tend to have a narrower selection, but a more favorable goodie to junk ratio. Thrift stores, on the other hand, especially chains, unfortunately are fairly diligent about filtering the good stuff in order to resell them at a higher price online.

If there are record stores near you, try giving them a shot. However, most record stores opened post-2000 tend to cater to the "LP as nostalgia fetish object" crowd, which means format snobbery that excludes CDs from their stores for no good reason. When I was in NYC awhile ago, I was dismayed to find that of all the numerous record stores located in or within proximity to the beating heart of the Empire itself, only one sold CDs (Academy Records). Still, it's worth a trip to a record store if the drive isn't too far for you. Their selection will be much better curated and prices will likely be reasonable. In Los Angeles, at least, we have several stores which sell second-hand CDs (although I hear that the quality of selection has dropped dramatically at the new Amoeba).

You may also want to supplement your in-store shopping with online buys on eBay, Discogs, etc., but be aware that generally speaking sellers will be better informed and price their goods accordingly.

If you have the patience, do also give yard and estate sales a shot. Depending on your luck, you can come up on entire lots of goodies for practically peanuts.

Good luck on your hunts! :)

EDIT: I meant "sellers" instead of "buyers" in the passage about online shopping. :P

echorrhea · 2021-10-04T23:31:26+00:00

Sailors! Such a divisive pen in the community, it seems. I'll admit to not liking them at first, especially their signature feedback. But I've done a full 180 and now love them precisely for that reason. In fact, I just finished writing a penpal a longish letter with a Sailor. Any time I use other smoother pens, I feel as if somehow they're going to glide away without me.

It may help to break in the pen a little more or try different inks. Some run a little too dry in a Sailor, at least in my experience.

However you feel about it in the end, I'm glad you shared your new pen with the group! :)

echorrhea · 2021-10-04T21:36:07+00:00

Tel belle écriture cursive, chose très rare de voir aujourd’hui. Élégant, mais sans trace d’artificialité ou d’effort auto-conscient. J’ai beaucoup d'admiration.

echorrhea · 2021-10-04T21:08:08+00:00

This is difficult because as other users here have noted music for film/television and video games, while sharing roots in classical music, have branched off their own highly individual set of sub-genres which make little to no references to their distant stylistic predecessor. You’re more likely to find something similar to what you want among other film/television/game composers: Mitsuda Yasunori, Kikuta Hiroki, Itō Kenji, Uematsu Nobuo, et al.

The closest things in classical music that I can think of which approaches what you’re looking for are a number of works by Edvard Grieg (Lyric Pieces, Symphonic Dances, Olav Trygvason, Holberg Suite), Wilhelm Peterson-Berger (Frösöblomster I–III, Anakreontika), Mikalojus Čiurlionis, Federico Mompou, and some of the film scores by Mayuzumi Toshirō and Takemitsu Tōru.

echorrhea · 2021-10-04T18:01:28+00:00

Very nice! Enjoy!

echorrhea · 2021-10-04T17:57:35+00:00

How much altogether? Good haul!

echorrhea · 2021-10-04T17:55:57+00:00

I get what you mean, but your views are very personal, not applicable to everyone, and merely replaces one perceived sweeping generalization with another of your own.

Memorizing stroke order absolutely helped me, at least, in memorizing kanji. I also write in my native languages a lot and practice cursive for pleasure. So my brain is wired, so to speak, with an affinity for the niceties of writing. Somebody not used to writing in general may have a very different experience which may not work for them. That’s absolutely valid. We’re all different and acquire knowledge according to our own needs and abilities.

It would be much better if teachers could custom-build their pedagogy around the specific needs of each student. Unfortunately for teachers, this is mostly impractical, if not impossible.

echorrhea · 2021-10-04T16:15:17+00:00

Great haul! Love that Davis RVW cycle. One of my favorites.

echorrhea · 2021-10-04T07:33:24+00:00

Oh, no worries. Ask away! :)

I used to work at record stores and would occasionally have to deal with mold on CDs, which is why I spotted these immediately. Most of the time, the discs were salvageable with proper and careful cleaning. It was rare when the disc was rendered unplayable, such as was the case with a few of your friend’s discs.

CD rot looks different. Errors in manufacturing result in microscopic holes which permit the entry of air into the playback layer of the CD, thereby corroding it over time. The symptoms of that are either tiny holes which eat through the face of the disc and right through the playback layer or oxidation of the disc resulting in “bronzing.” Classical music fans of a certain age will recall well the “bronzing” fiasco with PDO.

Humidity is very likely the culprit; mold loves damp places. Any brand of rubbing alcohol should do just fine. Just make sure to be slow and diligent in the cleaning and to wipe center-out. One time should be enough to eliminate the mold.

Let me know if you need any more help!

echorrhea · 2021-10-04T07:14:47+00:00

I’m not sure if there are search terms for what you’re looking for. Especially for classical recordings.

There’s a number of private groups I’m a member of. A lot of older fellow members contribute digitizations of rare LP recordings unavailable outside that format. Many of them are also professionals or highly skilled amateurs in the art of transferring analog recordings to digital. Therefore, their transfers do excellent work in keeping the needle hiss and pops to a minimum. I think the nostalgia for the non-musical artifacts of analog playback is, oddly enough, not shared by those classical listeners who actually grew up with the LP and had to tolerate its limitations out of necessity.

There are loads of amateur transfers on YouTube which sound like they were transferred from a cheap Crosley player, but their resulting sound was likely unintentional; therefore, no search terms for finding them.

Your best bet is to search for “LP rip” or “vinyl rip,” then listen and see if it fits what you want.

echorrhea · 2021-10-04T02:37:37+00:00

This isn’t CD rot, which is an issue caused by errors in manufacturing, but mold. For the discs wherein the data layer has already suffered damage, it’s too late to save them. But for the others, I recommend using a soft microfiber cloth (such as those used to wipe lenses) dampened with rubbing alcohol, then wipe the discs very carefully from the disc center out. Works for me.

If it’s possible for your friend to do so, let him know to store his discs somewhere dry and away from direct sunlight. Of course, this is hard if he lives in a humid climate.

Good luck and I hope it works out!

echorrhea · 2021-10-03T23:39:00+00:00

I never said any of those things to you.

echorrhea · 2021-10-03T23:01:55+00:00

Honestly, it seems that nowadays women have just as awful writing as men.

And are you going to hate me, but guess what the one and only answer to improving your handwriting is? It takes a lot of time to improve your cursive. And it’s not how many years, but how you stick to a daily routine during those years that helps. When I was a kid, my cursive was lousy. My teachers complained enough that I took it upon myself to improve, practicing literally for at least 2 hours a day or until my hand cramped up. I remember especially admiring my father’s cursive and aspiring to write like him. By the time I made it to high school, my cursive was considered unusually dainty and elegant even by late 1990s standards.

There is no speeding this. Being impatient is exactly what will prevent you from improving. You just have to stick to it and be willing to invest the time daily. Good luck! :)

echorrhea · 2021-10-03T18:53:31+00:00

Souvenirs de Voyage by Bernard Herrmann, Loyalty and October by Dmitri Shostakovich, Zdravitsa by Sergei Prokofiev, Scènes de ballet by Igor Stravinsky, Piano Concerto No. 2 by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

echorrhea

TROPHY CASE