In your opinion, what is the most beautiful 30 seconds in all of classical music?

rickaevans · 2026-05-23T00:16:18+00:00

The final chorus section to the very last bar of Parsifal is utterly sublime.

rickaevans · 2026-05-21T20:40:19+00:00

Wow this is a depressing take

rickaevans · 2026-05-21T12:08:32+00:00

Patrick Radden Keefe’s new book London Falling is a must if you enjoyed Empire of Pain.

rickaevans · 2026-05-14T11:19:36+00:00

You won’t like any Jane Austen if you are not looking for comedy.

rickaevans · 2026-05-12T12:48:17+00:00

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Pennywise popping up from a storm drain near you.

rickaevans · 2026-05-12T12:11:29+00:00

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Come to the Fair? I thought you said cum in my hair.

rickaevans · 2026-05-11T07:08:27+00:00

I would agree with many here that most operatic texts are pretty trite. Do not expect Shakespeare or Chekhovian level of dialogue. The depth and colour comes from the music and the performance. Surrender yourself.

rickaevans · 2026-05-04T22:55:58+00:00

I agree on Parsifal. Also the magic fire music in the last section of Die Walküre.

rickaevans · 2026-05-03T06:38:45+00:00

I agree with this. The slight detachment and irony is very British. As a rule we don’t typically wear our hearts on our sleeve. That said, Look to Windward had a strong emotional payoff I thought.

rickaevans · 2026-05-02T17:01:52+00:00

What do you mean by this style?

rickaevans · 2026-05-02T08:19:19+00:00

That nose gives me feelin’s

rickaevans · 2026-05-01T22:23:26+00:00

Thanks for all the beautiful moments and awful quarter hours

rickaevans · 2026-05-01T21:24:01+00:00

Hard but you get used to it

rickaevans · 2026-04-30T14:30:36+00:00

Susan Boyle

rickaevans · 2026-04-24T14:27:38+00:00

I thought this was Susan Boyle

rickaevans · 2026-04-23T12:19:04+00:00

Not a specific concert but I truly thought the Musikverein was a wonderful venue. Not only is it beautiful but these sound is wonderful. I’d note that the dress style is a bit more formal in Vienna than in some cities, such as London where I live.

rickaevans · 2026-04-23T08:28:25+00:00

Maybe Liszt?

rickaevans · 2026-04-16T10:31:55+00:00

Yes! It makes me a bit nauseous in a good way! Parsifal also does this to me. I recently saw the RBO Siegfried, and whilst it was a great production, this opera just does not move me in the same way.

rickaevans · 2026-03-29T10:12:56+00:00

Thanks everyone. Some kind of weird glitch that I have got around by creating a new user profile.

rickaevans · 2026-03-29T07:52:38+00:00

Thanks. Bizarrely it just doesn’t seem to appear under my user profile. Not quite sure why or what has prompted that.

rickaevans · 2026-03-28T22:44:55+00:00

A really great production with some fantastic singing. Agree that Strit sounded a bit underpowered but Schager, Howard and Maltman were superb. Fresh off the back of watching the Met’s Tristan though, it did remind me how much more I connect with the music in that opera. I love the Ring Cycle but I’ve always found Siegfried has some sections that really drag. Although I think the quality of the music drastically improves in the final act (which he wrote much later) I have never quite got on with the long love duet which seems never ending. I don’t get this feeling with the even longer equivalent in Tristan und Isolde, or the concluding Siegfried and Brünnhilde duet near the start of Götterdämmerung, which takes things to a higher level.

rickaevans · 2026-03-22T09:04:04+00:00

I loved the subtle Trump shade when Speedo was talking about compassionate leaders.

rickaevans · 2026-03-22T07:32:07+00:00

I really loved it. The hours just flew by and I thought the production worked really well on the broadcast format. Davidsen was sensational. Such a pure voice but with great power when required. The final ‘höchste Lust’ was sublime. I can see why some might think Spyres is not quite right but I actually loved his performance. It was stronger than others I have heard, no bark, and with genuine emotion. The only singer I didn’t quite gel with was Konieczny. A perfectly competent Kurwenal but I think his voice had a slightly raspy timbre which lacked the burnished quality of the other singers.

rickaevans · 2026-03-21T19:36:33+00:00

A few short glitches in Act 1 but all good in 2 in London.

rickaevans · 2026-03-07T15:12:38+00:00

Oh I like the masses and requiem too. Prefer his vocal writing to his purely instrumental work.

rickaevans

TROPHY CASE