favorite quotes:

jason y passes on this link -- i'd read it when it was published a few
weeks ago. it's an article by alex ross, critic at large, talking
about the lord of the rings and wagner's ring cycle, and the music in
them.

<http://www.newyorker.com/critics/atlarge/?031222crat_atlarge>

seriously, if you haven't seen the ring cycle, do yourself a favor.
get it from the library, set aside a week of evenings (or an evening a
week) and play it on a nice big tv at full volume. it's a pinnacle of
western civilization, and well worth it.

actually, we've got several ring veterans on this list, some as
gung-ho as i am, some less so. what are people's impressions?



favorite quotes from the article:
<<When Wotan steals the ring for his own godly purposes, Alberich
places a curse upon it, and in so doing he speaks of “the lord of the
ring as the slave of the ring.” Such details make it hard to believe
Tolkien’s disavowals. Admit it, J.R.R., you used to run around
brandishing a walking stick and singing “Nothung! Nothung!” like every
other besotted Oxford lad.>>

<<When Tolkien stole Wagner’s ring, he discarded its most significant
property—that it can be forged only by one who has forsworn love.
(Presumably, Sauron gave up carnal pleasures when he became an
all-seeing eye at the top of a tower, but it’s hard to say for
certain. Maybe he gets a kick out of the all-seeing bit.)>>

<<It is the little ring that brings out the lust in men and in
hobbits. And what, honestly, do people want in it? Are they envious of
Sauron’s bling-bling life style up on top of Barad-dûr?>>

...has alex ross been having lunch with anthony lane recently?


<<The Met lacks a Heldentenor who looks even a little bit like Viggo
Mortensen. ...in the opera house you sometimes notice a discrepancy
between what you hear in the libretto and music and what you see
onstage...>>

so true. in the met video of 'valkyrie' you see the twins looking at
each other and saying, "it's like looking in a mirror! i feel i'm
gazing at my own self!" the twins are played by gary lakes and jessye
norman, a bushy-bearded anglo-saxon and a doe-eyed african-american.
the only thing they have in common is the enormousness that makes it
impossible for them to hug and kiss at the same time. heheheeeeee!


--

barry
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