Better than watching paint dry . . .

But not much. Bickerstaff has been waiting a long time for someone to dig up the Vox-Turnabout masters and/or job parts of this superb recording for remastering.  Alas, his hopes have fallen on deaf ears, as it were. Meanwhile, you can get a taste of it on a YouTube video giving us the first movement only, accompanied by surface noise and distortion, with the extra bonus of watching the LP spin round and round. A shame, because the engineering of the original was top notch, as was noted by the venerable Fanfare Magazine at the time of its release.

In any event we patiently await the total remastering of this recording, which also includes Rachmaninoff’s gorgeous Vocalise.

Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, op. 45, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Donald Johanos, Vox Turnabout.

No taste, no brains no conscience.

Radical drag queens are completely wrapped up in their sexuality, which explains their utter lack of objectivity. For them it is only me, me, me, us, us, us. Thus the vandalism seen below,  taking the form of a drag diorama of Leonardo’s Last Supper.

Many people worldwide have expressed outrage over this classless and offensive act, but we may be assured those braindead drag queens will never express even the slightest remorse, most likely because they are unaware of the criticisms, inhabiting the microcosm they do.

Furthermore, even if they were made aware of the outrage they’ve caused, they will react by using their tried and true tactic, hurling the charges at their critics: racists, fascists, Hitlerians, you get the picture. These perpetual adolescents will not stop until they are stopped.

What’s my line – Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

Your Tatler’s favorite TV show is What’s My Line from the 1950s. Not only are the panelists witty and urbane, they are just plain brilliant in the way they discern what a contestant does for a living, often with only the scantiest evidence. Another segment of the show featured “Mystery Guests,” in which the panelists, wearing blindfolds, were charged with determining who that guest was.

The Mystery Guests comprised some of the most illustrious figures in the US; in the arts, business, sports, and politics. Still, it was a real surprise in one episode to see Bishop Fulton J Sheen walking onto the sound stage. His eminence acquitted himself well, but the most riotous moments belonged to panelist Arlene Francis, as you will see in this video.

One of the great ones, Arthur Rubinstein.

I was fortunate enough to hear the great man play twice, the first time at a fund raiser for the Musicians Pension Fund in Philharmonic Hall in New York, with George Szell conducting the New York Philharmonic. They played Mozart K. 466, the  Piano Concerto in D Minor, my favorite.

The second time was near the end of Rubinstein’s life, a solo concert at Symphony Hall in Boston. It was a common belief at the time Rubinstein lacked the depth and chops to play late-Beethoven (as far as I know, he never recorded them. Thus it was a bit of a surprise to see Beethoven’s Sonata Op. 111, the last, on the program. The piece is murderously difficult, but the old man (he was nearing 90) played it with such aplomb I still hear in my head a half-century later.

Here the master plays the B-Flat Minor Scherzo by his beloved Chopin. Enjoy.

Extraordinary Video.

A stunning video from 2021 of the recording session that resulted in the  release below. Such sounds as I’ve never before, it’s a fine complement with the Morales Requiem for Philip II, posted earlier. Josquin de Prez is regarded by many music scholars as the greatest composer of the Renaissance. Watch and listen to gleen why.

The recording itself.

Listen to the release Josquin, the Undead: Laments, Deplorations & Dances of Death by Graindelavoix – Björn Schmelzer on Qobuz.

Thanks to William Tighe.