EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) 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.)


Saturday, August 12, Mr. Travel wrote: "What's the difference between
qualified people from Russia or the US playing the same music?"

That same day you responded, "Don't display your ignorance, moron!"

You'll respond to people as you see fit, but I disagree that "don't
display your ignorance, moron" doesn't quite mean the same thing as "one
accomplished orchestra is not a substitute for another."

What if someone else had asked that question?

Frankly, I really don't know much about classical music and orchestras,
and I would have welcomed learning something had someone answered Mr.
Travel's apparently innocuous question.

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.

Please re-read my post. The topic of bans on instruments in cabins
wasn't even mentioned much less Russian musicians being singularly
affected. I was trying to find out the answer to the question that has
nagged me since Mr. Travel posted it so I started this thread.

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"?

Please, I'm legitimately interested. Simply stating the Bolshoi and
London Philharmonic aren't the same isn't helping me. Is the difference
interpretation? execution? what? Are there specific recordings I could
listen to to hear the difference.

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?

My post wasn't about travel.

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.)

Then I have an advantage. I've come to prefer abstract ballet to story
ballet since a huge portion of story ballet is simply pantomime. The
premiere companies performing abstract ballets are US companies and they
travel to the Kennedy Center annually.

Karen Selwyn