English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room - 2020-08-05 (page 1 of 2)

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12:00 AM

@RegDwigнt Prokofiev also used the sax. Perfect instrument for Lt. Kije.

Only he didn't have Ravel doing his orchestration.

There are some Prokofiev flute parts I never got comfortable with. I could play them, but it was a nailbiter every fucking time.

Sergei Prokofiev - Symphony no.1, op.25 (complete)

This is a ballbreaker. It looks pretty simple but it is just so damned awkward.

That whole movement is verkakte.

I wouldn't even dare to attempt them today.

Luckily, I don't have to.

I remember doing this in Civic and the first flutist and I would do special sectionals where we'd work for half an hour on just three sections from the last movement to get the timing and the voicing and the intonation and everything else just right. It's not enough to get the notes right, you have to make it sound like that's a single flute doing it. Oh me, oh my. Them was the days.

We'd start at a slower metronome marking and then speed it up to faster than the conductor could possibly expect it. I still can't believe we did it.

And the punchline: When we rehearsed the piece with the whole orchestra the conductor (a Vietnamese guy named Fang Dang Tran or something like that) told Greg (since he was first chair) "make sure to not rush that."

1 hour later…

1:36 AM

One day, a computer will fit on a desk (1974) | RetroFocus

Electronically yours, CopperKettle

2:01 AM

user image

I wonder if this photo is real or shopped

2:17 AM

@CowperKettle: Belarus accuses Russia of lying, warns of revolution plot.

I wonder if that is an effort to get reelected of if the threat is real.

*or if the threat is real.

2:59 AM

@Robusto The majority of Belarusians think it's a made-up threat.

Because prior to this moment Lukashenko freely allowed Russian mercenaries to use Belarus as a transport hub.

But in reality - who knows? In a decade or so, someone may write a memoir.

I think that Putin may hope to gain something in the interregnum if Lukashenko stands down.

The leading opposition candidate said that she only wants to win to get her husband out of jail. If she wins, she immediately announces a new election to be held in 6 months.

These six months may prove turbulent, and one can catch fish in turbid water.

Because the long-term repercussions of the epidemic may be really feld exactly in these 6 months. The economy may start cracking.

The last time, it was the drastic difference in living standards that largely helped Russia to attract separatists in Ukraine.

But Putin risks a lot too, because new, more sweeping sanctions may hurt RUssia a lot.

We need international cooperation, for instance, in case a really good covid drug is invented in the West, or a really rapid and cheap test.

It's complex.

1 hour later…

4:13 AM

twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1290854457136181248

Word of the day: to put about

> But let me change this theme which grows too sad,
And lay this sheet of sorrows on the shelf;
I don't much like describing people mad,
For fear of seeming rather touch'd myself --
Besides, I've no more on this head to add;
And as my Muse is a capricious elf,
We'll put about, and try another tack
With Juan, left half-kill'd some stanzas back.

1 hour later…

Captain Bohemian

5:29 AM

user image

> While I do sing, Any food, any feeding,
Feeding, drink, or clothing;
Come dame or maid, be not afraid,
Poor Tom will injure nothing.

6:02 AM

>Population decrease in Russia, January to May

Январь–май 2014: -34,6
Январь–май 2015: -65,8
Январь–май 2016: -41,6
Январь–май 2017: -111,8
Январь–май 2018: -147,2
Январь–май 2019: -180,8
Январь–май 2020: -221,3

Data from Russian State Statistics Agency

From January to May 2020, 783 thousand people died and 562 thousand were born.

For the USA, I found only this:

cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/provisional-tables.htm

Shows that the population is growing at about 50 000 per month

6:34 AM

@CowperKettle The U.S. Census Bureau keeps track of overall population, although CDC does the disease tracking. census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/… is web page of tables, the first of which is monthly, just totals, not births or deaths. Net increase is about 1.5 million a year, including immigration.

This is 2010 to 2020.

@CowperKettle I think “to put about” is a nautical term indicating a change (possibly a reversal) in direction. From sailing.

Captain Bohemian

7:30 AM

taking care a woman or even girl is harder than taking care of a man or boy.

so professional women need more aid than professional men.

> Копия разрешения прилагается к договору с консультантом.
A copy of the permit is attached to the contract with the consultant.
😹

Captain Bohemian

women don't sleep less than men do.

if a man or boy can't find a paid job, he can be thrown out to wilderness, but a woman or girl can't because she will have some danger after being thrown out.

so it's justified that professional jobs or positions give priority to women in their recruitment.

women poorly educated are more subject to poor treatment than men poorly educated.

7:46 AM

In Russia, the tradition has been to pay more to men because men have to feed their families.

Captain Bohemian

so it's also justified that universities place priority to women when providing scholarships.

it's always justified that lady first.

My sister's co-pupil, a girl from the same class (?) in the University who also studied for a History degree, had it so bad for a period that she fainted in Moscow or in St. Pete. She was studying intensely and had very little money, so she ate little.

She had gone to Moscow (or was it St Pete?) to further her studies of Ancient Greek.

She was a total Ancient Greece enthusiast.

The last time my sister heard from her, she moved to the USA and was researching Ancient Greek manuscripts. She learned the language and history so well.

Thus many talented people leave Russia.

She fainted while she was riding a bus or a tram, and the standers-by helped her.

She could have found a position in Russia to earn money but she was too carried away by Ancient Greece.

And real deep research is underpaid in Russia, to put it mildly.

Captain Bohemian

8:16 AM

it turns out Russia is not good place to study.

then it's not bad that Russian university doesn't inform me the result of my application.

@CaptainBohemian For which university you applied?

I don't know, conditions may differ. It may be good for getting a basic degree.

And I have a friend who works in the Skolkovo Research City. She must be earning a living, I don't know.

8:46 AM

I mean, it may also depend on the subject. Ancient Greece I guess is a tough subject to get funding in any country.

9:06 AM

You should find contacts in Russia who actually are engaged in your target field, and investigate the situation by talking to them.

What do I call a "live demonstration" of a facelift procedure, in which live means "on a human volunteer" and not "via the Internet" or "on a mannequin"?

10:13 AM

Well, certainly not "live"

I know. I should probably as on the main site. And get my fair share of downvotes

I'll do it now

0

Q: What to call a facelift demonstration performed on an actual live volunteer as opposed to a mannequin?

What do I call a "live demonstration" of a facelift procedure, in which live means "on a human volunteer" and not "via the Internet" or "on a mannequin"? I'm translating a Russian text describing such a demonstration for training purposes. Maybe "human volunteer demonstration"? Will it fit?

Matt E. Эллен

@CowperKettle in vivo?

2 hours later…

12:08 PM

How the Pandemic Defeated America from the upcoming September print issue of The Atlantic.

They've already made it available online for free now. No paywalls or registration.

I just read the whole thing. Easily 30 minutes of my time. It is very long.

It's also very good.

12:42 PM

@RegDwigнt This is nothing we didn't already know, living here in the US. Basically, it boils down to "Because Trump" with the addition of "the Republicans" and "out-of-control capitalism."

1:18 PM

@MattE.Эллен Well it's not In Vivo

Matt E. Эллен

@M.A.R. no?

@Robusto I like to think of the issue globally, not just because I'm not an American, but also because while the US has been hit the hardest for various reasons, people are more or less idiots everywhere

@MattE.Эллен What I'm saying is I've often seen it about studies that are literally about things happening inside the body. I haven't seen a surgery called in vivo, for example

Matt E. Эллен

@M.A.R. I see

on vivo? :þ

@M.A.R. But the article is specifically about the US.

@MattE.Эллен In vivo is always used in contrast to in vitro, if I'm not mistaken. Where no such contrast is available it doesn't make sense.

@Robusto my point is not that any of it is new. It's that it's all the bits and pieces all collected in one place.

This is nothing we didn't see coming twenty years ago, living here outside the US.

1:33 PM

@RegDwigнt OK. But they're also collected in another place: my mind.

But that's not my point.

@Robusto Well share a link to that.

You're looking at it.

I posted it here for the benefit of everyone rather than just ourselves.

@Robusto oh. Why is it so chamois. And with icons.

Clean up your brain.

Mine's clean as a hound's tooth. Not so sure about yours.

I do understand why it says "dream" now. But what's the deal with the owl.

And a green orc? That's so 1996.

1:36 PM

Do listen to that flute part I linked in the Prokofiev. It will let you know how to aggravate flutists.

I did. First thing this morning.

As you said, it looks inoccuous.

Or however you spell that shit.

Innocuous.

Same diferrence.

Sometimes things that look hard are easy and things that look easy are hard.

That's deep, man.

1:38 PM

inorite

So anyway. I didn't learn to aggravate flutists by looking at that. Because it's just a bunch of notes that all look easy. Which is why I say, play the fucking instrument. You can't tell what's easy by looking at dots on paper.

I have to say, though, it did sound quite nice.

Which also didn't help. They didn't make it sound hard. Meh. Musicians.

Nov 24 '18 at 17:08, by Robusto

Btw, I recall a story, possibly apocryphal, about some composer (Wagner?) who wrote a piece that contained a passage for brass that was supposed to sound like chaos because the notes were "impossible" to play. And yet the musicians worked hard and played them flawlessly, as professional orchestral musicians are wont to do. The composer attended the rehearsal and when it came to that passage he ran down the aisle shouting "Stop! You're playing the notes!"

@RegDwigнt Well, yes. That's why we put in the effort. If it sounded like shit we'd never work that hard, because it's easy to sound like shit.

Never play all the notes. Otherwise someone will invent MuseScore and a bunch of kids who can't even spell their own name will write whatever.

And then you'll be like, the fuck mate, the flute can't play a triad. In the bass clef. But it will be too late.

It's also why children survive babyhood. Because they're just cute enough that you don't kill them.

Two-year-olds maybe.

Not twelve-year-olds tho.

1:46 PM

That whole Classical Symphony is an utter gem. I've heard it a thousand times and I could still listen to it right now if I had the time.

And they don't have two-year-olds on MuseScore. Yet.

@Robusto hah sucks to be you, I have the time. I told you to look up slacking.

But I don't. Gotta go out and ride.

Yeah be like that.

So I will see you on the flip side, if you're on that side when I get back.

Don't fall over again or anything.

1:47 PM

Laterz.

"Flip side" is not a good choice of words.

Latorz.

@RegDwigнt I'm very conscious of that.

@RegDwigнt Yeah, but I wouldn't see you on that flip side ...

We'll never know until we're both there.

Ima listen to Prokoffiefff then.

Matt E. Эллен

@Robusto I don't think so. in vivo means the organism is alive and the procedure is happen inside them, in vitro means you're not using an organism's body. You can use them independently. It is possible, as @M.A.R. says, that surgery doesn't count as in vivo

>The Contractor shall: Not later than the next day after ending the provision of services, provide the Customer with a Certificate of Delivery and Acceptance of Rendered Services (hereinafter the Certificate) signed on its part.

Do we say it thus in English: signed on its part?

Meaning that the Contractor has only put their signature, and the Certificate awaits signing by the Customer.

Maybe I'll ask on Law SE.

Captain Bohemian

2:26 PM

Do you have hunger pain?

I feel somewhat hunger pain due to prolonged hunger.

2:56 PM

AXIOS on HBO: President Trump Exclusive Interview (Full Episode) | HBO

This has been blowing up for the past couple days, but in case you've missed it, it's a must-watch.

Yes, the whole 40 minutes like.

Well this is what comedy is in 2020

And not because of Trump. Trump is just doing his usual. But because of the journalist. Because he is doing something new.

@M.A.R. no, it is not comedy.

Watch it now. The full 40 minutes.

Comedic tragedy

Like Fargo

1 hour later…

4:01 PM

Odorigui (踊り食い, literally "dancing eating") is a mode of seafood consumption in Japanese cuisine. Odorigui refers to the consumption of live seafood while it is still moving, or the consumption of moving animal parts. Animals usually consumed in odorigui style include octopus, squids, ice gobies, and other similar animals. Consumption of live seafood without remarkable movements, such as sea urchins, is usually not included in odorigui. == Notable dishes == Katsu ika odori-don (活いか踊り丼) lit. "living squid dancing rice bowl". In this dish, a mostly-complete squid is used, and its muscles twitch...

Eaten alive

@CaptainBohemian No, I'm eating too much, sadly. I should go on a diet.

In my city, another thing has been blowing. Not Trump. A local deputy fined 20 000 rubles for helping out to gather citizen signatures for restatement of Mayoral elections.

The authorities are doing all they can to stop the initiative, using illegal methods as usual.

> No one should be shocked that a liar who has made almost 20,000 false or misleading claims during his presidency would lie about whether the U.S. had the pandemic under control; that a racist who gave birth to birtherism would do little to stop a virus that was disproportionately killing Black people; that a xenophobe who presided over the creation of new immigrant-detention centers would order meatpacking plants with a substantial immigrant workforce to remain open; that a cruel man devoid of empathy would fail to calm fearful citizens; that a narcissist who cannot stand to be upstaged w…

Now that's a summary

@CowperKettle Why? Can't they just reinstate the mayor they want?

So, I think that in every printed work of literature I've ever read, the convention for quotation marks was to put commas and periods inside of them: “I don't know,” said Sam.

In Britain, they often use single quotes instead: ‘I don't know,’ said Sam.

Is there anywhere that putting commas and periods outside the quotation marks is accepted in literature?

@TerranSwett I always do the opposite, but yeah, that's probably true

@TerranSwett Aren't these CMoS guidelines, at best?

By "literature" I mean works that tell a story, usually fictional, by narrating a sequence of events, and which usually contain significant amounts of dialogue.

I'm not even sure it's kinda "best practice"

4:13 PM

I have no idea what CMoS says about this.

@TerranSwett Well McCarthy doesn't even use questions marks. How about that.

And he uses periods like he's fertilizing his living room

4:29 PM

@M.A.R. The last time they tried to hold a mayoral election, an anti-Putin candidate won. So for good measure they just abolished the election. It's hard to forge elections in Yekaterinburg, too many democratically-minded election committee members here.

It's easier to forge elections on an Oblast (region) scale.

But still they somehow manage to rig the numbers. It was amazing that Roizman won that time.

I voted against Roizman, because he has a criminal history. But after he acted bravely against Putin, I became his supporter. Still I don't believe him 100%.

Yekaterinburg was a kind of democratic oasis, until the removed the police chief. Under the new chief, the police has gotten more brutal towards political protesters. A man who stood in a single-man picket (protest?) was beaten up and jailed for several days.

Just an ordinary guy from a town 200 km from here, who decided to support Khabarovsk protests by standing in the street with a sign that said I support Khabarovsk or something.

The authorities are acting quite clumsy. This way, they actively create opposition. Because of the Internet, people get to know about such cases. It's not the USSR

@M.A.R. yeah no, that's what it would've been twenty years ago on The Simpsons.

But this is actual reality now.

It's not that it's not funny. Or not tragic. I'm not saying that.

I'm just saying that it's fucking amazing in every sense of the word.

That journalist is something else. I have no idea how he got to this level of trust from Trump. How hard he had to work for it, and for how long.

But now that he's there, it's fucking amazing.

More than once I sat there waiting for Trump to end the interview, or for one of his aides to step in and end it. But it never happens.

The best part is that it's so fucking obvious what the journalist is doing. Every parent has to do that with their kids. Everyone understands what's happening. Except for Trump. Even though he's a parent himself. But he is even more of a child, so you can get away with doing this to him and he never even notices.

That is fantastic.

The real question is, how come no other journalist has accomplished that for the last six decades that Trump's been a figure.

Why does it take half a century and a 27-year-old guy from Australia.

4:48 PM

@RegDwigнt Been there, done that.

So whatcha say.

I say fuck Trump and the whores he rode in on.

In case my meaning isn't clear I can break it down further.

I say don't fuck Trump, do fuck the whores. More namely, the media.

Nope. Fuck 'em all, and everybody who looks like 'em.

People like Trump always exist. But they don't always get where he is. Indeed they rarely do. And never should.

Fuck the enablers.

4:50 PM

Republicans.

Nah.

Not every Republican voted for Trump. And quite a few Democrats did.

Well, you fuck who you want, I'll who I want.

Mkay we just need to coordinate our schedules.

@RegDwigнt That is a misleading statistic.

I am not talking about statistics.

I never mentioned any.

4:51 PM

Trump still has about 82% support from registered Republicans.

Now that's a statistic alright.

But it's not those guys that got him there. Those are the guys who want to get him there a second time.

Also, how come that journalist looks so much like that Randy guy you introduced me to.

Oh, and fuck Faux News while we're at it.

The similarity is really quite striking at times.

@RegDwigнt Which Randy guy?

The one who does the musical numbers.

4:53 PM

Oh, Randy Rainbow.

Yeah that one.

Maybe the next time they can get him to do this? Fingers crossed.

It doesn't seem impossible, apparently.

He does some really spectacular parodies.

Is my point.

He could probably get away with singing throughout the interview.

I now firmly believe that that is actually possible, after watching this thing.

He should have worn the pink cat-eye reading glasses if he really wanted to pull that off.

OK I'm watching it now and it is Fargo, Reg.

4:56 PM

Secretary Of Failure

Also, dude, Faux News is not the correct nomenclature.

It's OAN now.

Even for Faux News, Trump is a tad too much these days.

OAN: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

Now watch that if you want to scream in horror and die of a heart attack.

@RegDwigнt I know. But Faux started it.

@RegDwigнt I am up to date on Last Week Tonight, tyvm.

I actually didn't. I was like, the fuck you need another one that's even worse.

We watch it every Monday.

Got to get that weekly heart attack in ...

I binge watched it maybe two years ago, then stopped for the two years. So now it's catchy-uppy time again.

And you guys have been busy dear Lord.

5:02 PM

Yeah. Retirement was supposed to be take-it-easy time, but it seems like there's never enough time to do everything you want to do. Especially things like hanging around and watching TV.

I must say I do prefer Ravel. Or even unplayable Prokofiev.

The timbre alone is more soothing than Donald's or Ivanka's or what other cartoon names there are.

@RegDwigнt It's not unplayable. It's just hard to get it perfect.

Yeah yeah says the pro playa.

I'll be the judge of what can't be played, thanks very much!

Some Ravel borders on unplayable. The murmuring flute arpeggios in Daphnis with their 12-groups to a quarter note require an enormous amount of stamina.

Today it's the A flat major scale, BTW. If anyone wants to know.

5:11 PM

@RegDwigнt As easy on the flute as it is on the piano.

Yeah you told me as much already. Which is why I specifically picked it as an example now.

Oh, by the way by the way. Did you happen to see that recent TwoSet video where they try to sight-read awful key signatures.

I won't make you watch it right now, or really ever. I just want to relay one bit that I found funny.

@RegDwigнt I don't recall.

Ravel - Daphnis et Chloe Suite No. 2 (Score)

Just look at the first couple pages.

So at one point they had F sharp major to deal with. Six sharps. And they struggled and at the end of it the verdict was, "the fuck, why don't they just write it as G flat major instead".

And then, and I don't know if their editor guy did it on purpose, or if it was a happy accidently, but literally less than ten seconds later they get a different unplayable key signature. With six flats.

And they go "Jesus Christ, six flats. The fuck."

I thought violinists preferred sharps to flats.

Which, of course as you know, is G flat major.

5:14 PM

Ah. Haha.

I found that really funny.

Yes, of course.

@Robusto it's a mixed bag I've not fully grasped myself really. Obviously sharps are easier to play because when push comes to shove, you just move the finger a half tone up at the very last split second. But with flats you might have to drop down to the string below.

It's funny, but on the flute you think of six sharps and six flats as different mindsets. At least I do.

But that's the theory.

In praxis what happens is that F major is wonderful. And even G minor is not too bad.

5:16 PM

BTW, in case I haven't mentioned it before, I think the flute solo in Daphnis suite 2 as the apotheosis of flute solos.

So one or two flats work fine, for our readers who don't know their circles of fifths.

But, say, E major, which is all sharps all the time, my teacher actually hates it with a passion.

And me, I've even come to hate on A major. Which is only three sharps. But the G sharp is the one that just kills all the joy all the time.

I don't like E major on the piano, particularly. E-flat is much more comfortable.

So, executive summary, I would say 1-2 signs are fine, whether flats or sharps. Anything more is shit, again whether flats or sharps.

On the piano the more flats the merrier. First you discover E flat major and it's like the scales fall off your eyes. Or fingers, rather. But then you discover A flat and you're like fuck me this is even better. And then when someone tells you D flat please you go yeah you know what, the more the merrier.

If I'm repeating myself, that's because time is a factor.

BTW, here's that video right at the flute solo point:

Ravel - Daphnis et Chloe Suite No. 2 (Score)

@Robusto well yeah I should think it's the same on every instrument. From what few I've had personal experience with so far.

You can think in F sharp major, or you can think in G flat major, but it's not the same thing. And at a certain point you just flip the switch and it's only one way or the other.

Nobody thinks in D flat minor. It has to be C sharp minor.

5:23 PM

And it helps to understand that the flute "solo" actually works its way into two flutes, piccolo, and alto flute, which all have to sound like one instrument doing it all.

@RegDwigнt Yeah. D-flat minor is the relative minor of ... F-flat major? lol

@Robusto it's quite wonderful how much of the orchestra is still active at that moment. People not only underestimate how loud the flute can be, but also how pianissimo sixty people can be.

Yep.

Like, the flute isn't even loud. It itself is piano.

But you look down the score and everyone else is playing, too.

This is why Ravel was perhaps the top level of orchestration ever.

He had so many colors and he used them all.

The difference between him and Stravinsky or Strauss is that Ravel could do that for any music, not just his own.

Not to take anything away from those other two.

@Robusto That's not even the amazing bit, the really amazing bit is that he had and used them all in his head.

5:29 PM

"This Mussorgsky is too fucking black and white! It needs more cowbell!"

He didn't even have MuseScore or Sibelius to check what he was writing. He just wrote.

Well, duh. Imagine someone of that capability today trying to use General MIDI to express an orchestral palette of that complexity.

It would be worse than being confined to a piano reduction.

Yeah. But it's not that way around that I'm worried about. It's the other way around. People using the crutch to try and imagine, or worse: learn, what an actual orchestra would sound like.

Because a piano reduction is at least obviously a reduction. MIDI pretends it's an orchestra. Which it is not.

I think we're basically saying the same thing.

I'm transcribing Sviridov's Snowstorm right now. A student of Shostakovich's. He constantly has, like, let's just do the simplest example, like a tutti where everyone is FF. Except for one instrument that's only F. Or even just mezzo.

And it's not even necessarily the same instrument always.

And it is exactly right. You listen to a live recording, you understand.

But you start with an empty MuseScore file and no idea about anything, you'd just shrug and mark everyone FF. Because why not, right.

Things like that.

You can't give the same dynamics markings to the flutes and the horns. Or the cellos and the trumpets. Even if it's three flutes and just two horns.

And you might even know that. That they can't be the same. But that's not the same as knowing what the correct ones are.

It's one thing to not do everything completely wrong, and a different thing to do everything completely right.

So yeah no, Ravel wouldn't use Sibelius to somehow magically get worse. That's not the worrying bit. It's all the people who use Sibelius to somehow magically become Ravel.

5:41 PM

I always found Sibelius rather boring. Both to listen to and to play.

The composer, not the software.

Les jeunes filles attirent Daphnis et l'entourent de leurs danses.

@Robusto yeah it's confusing they had to name it like that. Now every time we have to qualify.

Sibelius-not-the-software you have to be in the right mindset for, I think.

I've heard maybe three or four pieces of his live.

The local state symphony is currently led by Esa-Pekka Salonen. Who was previously with the Berliner Philharmonic and whatnot.

So obviously he puts on quite a lot of Finnish music.

I would've never discovered that mesmerizing clarinet concerto otherwise.

Nothing wrong with Finland. Just Finlandia.

Anyway. Sibelius. Yeah most of the time it's all just endless snowy steppes before your inner eye.

Not much happening.

Finlandia is actually a bit more versatile. Some lakes, too. Some gusts of wind.

But you do have to be in the mindset. And bring it with you beforehand.

Bach you can just listen to any time. Or I dunno, Paul Simon or whatever.

And even when you decide you're in a mood for Sibelius it's so easy to switch to Bach or Paul Simon or whoever because how much time do you have left here on earth anyway?

Yeah. It's just that I dunno that Sibelius is in a minority there. Like, Grieg is just like that. Lygeti. Glass. Hindemith. Shostakovich.

5:51 PM

I would listen to any of those before Sibelius.

And for others still, personal preferences get into the mix. Like, I could listen to Chopin all day, every day. But I don't think everyone could.

And, like, I could listen to Chopin but not Tchaikovsky.

I know people for whom it's exactly the other way round.

I'm just the opposite. I find Tchaikovsky endlessly entertaining.

Jinx

See.

I get bored by Tchaikovsky very easily.

Everything Tchaikovsky wrote sounds effortlessly melodic.

Like, the ouverture to Romeo and Juliet, you just skip to the one bit that everyone else skips to. 12 minutes in. The rest is just like you said, fuck my life, my life's too short.

@Robusto well yes that's what I always think going in. Because I've heard the greatest hits. I've heard them all and they were all amazing. But then you sit and listen and wait for 20 minutes before a melody comes up that you can actually hum on your way back home.

False advertising, is what I'm saying.

5:54 PM

I disagree. You're describing Wagner, not Tchaikovsky.

And like, his piano concerto, that's the worst. He blows his load in the first 20 bars and that's it. And then he looks at the watch, and it's still 20 minutes to go, and he doesn't know what to do with them.

It's grown on me over time. Just like Le Sacre did. I can now hum along with every bar. Every note has my attention.

But the barrier to entry is much higher than I would remember it to be if I didn't remember it.

@Robusto yes absolutely. I am still to listen to any Wagner at all.

P. I. Tchaikovsky - Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35 - Itzhak Perlman

But then I watched Lars von Trier's Melancholia, and he has the ouverture to Tristan and Isolde play at the beginning for like seven minutes straight. And I fell in love and checked it out and now I firmly believe it's amazing.

So in that sense I would put it on par with Tchaikovsky.

@Robusto yeah same thing here. The opening bars of the violin's entry are like the best thing ever written since sliced bread. But then you flip the page and it's just some stupid etude with no end in sight. All melody all gone.

Beethoven's Spring Sonata is just like that.

@RegDwigнt Hey, it's in D-major. Two sharps. You are required to love it.

Any violin student that listens to the first couple bars immediately wants to play it. But then they do, and only discover that now it's too late to go back and say no thanks teacher, how about some Mozart instead.

5:59 PM

I disagree. I love the whole thing.

The only person, the only person that never disappoints is Bach.

I literally don't know a single violin player who wouldn't just play Bach for fun. Whatever piece, at whatever time. Just for warming up, or rounding off. Or for killing two minutes in-between.

You pick up any piece at all and it's like ahhhh. A ray of sunshine coming in. Your whole soul opens up.

When I listen to a previously unlistened-to Bach piece I may or may not like it at first. But if I don't, I know I need to hear it again until I do. And he always comes through for me.

@Robusto I'm not talking about loving it here. Not on an intellectual level, and not on a personal level.

I'm still talking specifically about melody.

Tchaikovsky is all about melody. Maybe you just need to listen harder.

You go in expecting that you'd be able to hum along with the whole thing, and remember it forever. That's the promise above the door.

But you walk in and after a minute of humming along you have to give up.

6:04 PM

T's melodies work their way through all the instruments and all combinations of same, unlike, say, Brahms, where the orchestra is a pizza crust which features this or that topping at any given time.

@Robusto I happen to have that exact concerto on my violin stand right now. Total coincidence.

Good luck trying to play it.

And I'm too lazy to stand up and take a photo of the second or third page, but believe you me, I'd rather play a Kreutzer etude.

Meh.

Those are melodic throughout. Just like Bach figuration preludes.

Tchaikovsky will often introduce a lovely melody, but then immediately forget it existed. Not even chop it up and develop it in some way that I don't like. No. Just forget it altogether and do some nonsense for ten minutes.

I want my lovely melody back.

Precisely because that's what I always turn to him for in the first place.

6:10 PM

We will have to agree to disagree on this point.

We've done that before so no biggie.

I'm just trying to screenshot things right now so there'll be two screenshots nonetheless.

user image

Wow. I'm surprised anything is left of that building on the left.

Yeah it was the biggest crop silo in all of the country.

So as a lovely side effect, you can now expect bread prices to skyrocket.

user image

See. That's what I come here for. Because as you said, only he can do this. And I want to play this.

Instead I have to play this:

user image

And the former I only get to play for a minute, and the latter for twenty. The fuck.

No fair.

At least with Brahms what happens in those bits is that you accompany someone else in the orchestra. The flute or the oboe. Or the cellos.

Here you're just biding the time.

Where's the melody. Gimme the melody back, Pyotr. I thought you did melodies.

But yeah I'm finished now. And I see your point. Plus as I said my own opinion on everything changes every ten years anyway.

I just wanted to make sure I explain my point properly. If only because ten years from now I myself might not be able to understand it.

@Robusto imagine the force with which you have to push against the Earth to make that kind of crater.

There was no water there. There's water now, yeah. But before there was just the planet itself.

And of course it was the Russians again. Just why am I not surprised.

6:44 PM

@RegDwigнt I can wait.

@RegDwigнt Good luck with that.

@RegDwigнt Crop silo? Then where did all the ammonium nitrate come from?

> According to the Lebanese Prime Minister, some 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate were stored in dockside warehouse in Beirut, having been confiscated, so the resulting blast might have been almost equivalent to a one-kiloton weapon. The seismic waves recorded were equal to a magnitude 3.3 earthquake.

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