Karen Selwyn wrote:

We've had Evelyn calling people idiots for not inherently recognizing
the superiority of Russian orchestras.

Really? When was this? (I do remember pointing out to some
asshole or other - "mr travel", I think - that one
"accomplished" orchestra is not a substitute for another,
nor is it.) Where did you get the peculiar notion that only
Russian musicians were affected? From all reports, the
sudden ban on instruments in the cabin applied to all
touring musicians equally.

We've had someone explaining
Russian superiority by supplying an analogy referring to musicians I've
never heard of. So far, I sincerely haven't been persuaded that Russian
musicians are superior to the best of American or British or German,
etc. musicians.

No one SAID "superior" - but can anyone who knows anything
at all about classical music claim that the Bolshoi and the
London Philharmonic are the SAME? Or that, if one wants to
hear Hrovstovsky, a recital by Terfel is "just as good"?
(For that matter, I don't think people who like popular
music would say that a concert by one group was "just as
good" as a concert by another, even though both were of
similar fame and popularity.)


Since we've had a ballet subscription to the Kennedy Center for nearly
twenty years, I can only use my experience as a reasonably knowledgeable
audience member of ballet to extrapolate to symphony. I really don't
think Russian ballet companies are better than the best of American,
Danish, British, French, or German ballet companies.

Again, no one SAID "better"! Is that any reason you would
not want to be allowed the opportunity to see both - without
traveling to Russia? Most of my travel to Europe has been
to see opera I can't see in this country. That's not to say
the Met is not the equal of the top European companies, but
they are DIFFERENT - their choice of repertoire includes
operas the Met seldom if ever does, and some of their
singers never appear in the U.S. I also enjoy the Met, on
occasion - one experience does not substitute for the
other. (Only an idiot would suggest that it does.)