Virtuosos Becoming a Dime a Dozen

An article in the NYT covered the breathtaking technical and interpretative skills of the current crop of concert pianists and young classical musicians in general (Virtuosos Becoming a Dime a Dozen). I submitted the following response:

Sir:

Interesting article. Indeed, when I studied clarinet in the early 60s, it was unusual to encounter a fellow 16-year-old playing the Nielsen concerto, much less the Francaix. As I approach my mid-sixties, I find the solo piano works of Liszt, the entire output of Paganini, and arrangements of Flight of the Bumblebee for inappropriate instruments (contra bass, theremin, etc) to be simply irritating. Musicians push the envelope to pay the bills. The results may stink to the ear.

Can You Detect A Difference?

NYT,tonight:

President Obama acknowledged the challenge in his Saturday radio and Internet address, saying the country’s “urgent mission” now was to grow the economy and create jobs.

“Our job right now has to be doing whatever we can to help folks find work,” he said, “to help create the climate where a business can put up that job listing; where incomes are rising again for people. We’ve got to rebuild this economy and the sense of security that middle-class families have felt slipping away for years.”


Roosevelt 1st Inaugural Address:

Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously. It can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the Government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing greatly needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our natural resources.

I am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the measures that a stricken nation in the midst of a stricken world may require. These measures, or such other measures as the Congress may build out of its experience and wisdom, I shall seek, within my constitutional authority, to bring to speedy adoption.

But in the event that the Congress shall fail to take one of these two courses, and in the event that the national emergency is still critical, I shall not evade the clear course of duty that will then confront me. I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis—broad Executive power- to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.

For the trust reposed in me I will return the courage and the devotion that befit the time. I can do no less.

Old, old school...(pre KAPD!)

Krugman, NYT today

In the long run, however, Democrats won’t be the only losers. What Republicans have just gotten away with calls our whole system of government into question. After all, how can American democracy work if whichever party is most prepared to be ruthless, to threaten the nation’s economic security, gets to dictate policy? And the answer is, maybe it can’t.
-------------------------------------

I give up. Last time America reached this point, the South seceded and we had a civil war. Time to fly my true colors... remember Rosa Luxemburg!

Vote Communists

KPD Spartakusbund