Memories of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, 10-5-24. A surprising disappointment
Ricochetti with more time than judgment will recall that since October 2019, I have made a hobby of posting classical orchestra music reviews here. This was originally an attempt to train my critical ear for the Mahler Festival, to be held at Amsterdam’s fabled Concertgebouw in May 2020. Just imagine what it would have been! “Ten symphonies played by six orchestras, four of them among the world’s finest. The New York Phil, Royal Concertgebouw, Berlin Phil and Vienna Phil on successive nights. What a show!”
https://ricochet.com/735129/memories-of-the-amsterdam-mahler-festival-may-2020/
America the Beautiful at Disneyland
Gary wrote a fascinating article about Winning the West and its projection format of Cinerama, which reminded me of a movie I saw when visiting Disneyland in 1976. I found more information about it, enough to merit a separate post.
Disney created America the Beautiful for the American exhibit at the 1958 Brussels World Fair. Walt Disney tried to visit a showing of the movie incognito, but he was recognized and mobbed by fans. A special Russian-language edition was shown at the American display in Moscow in 1959, where Nixon and Khrushchev had their famous kitchen debate. It ran most of the time from 1960 to 1979 in a special theater at Disneyland and occasionally thereafter until 1996, when it was permanently discontinued. By 1996 the original prints were badly faded, so the movie lacked the color saturation of the early years. Disney updated the movie every few years and made a special edition for the Bicentennial, which is the version that I saw in 1976. It ran at all Disney locations at various times.
Peak Culture and Then Some
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On rainy days in Junior High, I often hung out in my social studies classroom. There was a variety of board games, but my favorite was Masterpiece. The box of the game was rather like the box of Clue with a collection of hoity-toity personalities, but here contemplating art rather than murder.
Painting of Washington Crossing the Delaware
Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze, MMA-NYC, 1851, Public Domain
As I wrote my other post about pride in Washington crossing the Delaware, I became curious about the painting that celebrates it. The painting is so commonplace that I don’t really give thought to it. But I noticed it was painting by a German-American Emmanuel Leutze, which seemed odd. It turns out he had grown up in America but returned to Germany as an adult. After the failed revolutions of 1848 in Europe, he painted Washington Crossing the Delaware to encourage Europe’s liberal reformers not to despair after their recent setbacks.
Chicken Lemon Grits: Recipe for a Rainy Day
1/2 stick (4 T) butter
2 cups of chicken stock (or equivalent with bouillon)
1/4 cup of lemon juice
1/2 cup of grits (hominy or yellow corn or other)
Salt (maybe)
In a large enough sauce pan, melt the butter, add the chicken stock and lemon juice and bring it to boil. Slowly stir in grits. Depending on whether the butter or stock is salted, it may need a little salt. Simmer for about five minutes or until desired thickness stirring often. Let it cool a bit unless you like molten materials in your mouth. Enjoy.
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Christmas Madness: The Fruitcake Frittata
Are you ready for an adventure? Because this is adventure. Come along with me now on a thrilling ride that will delight your taste buds, if you have any.
For those who scour every word posted in the PITs, you can skip the history. So can everyone else if they want. It’s the recipe that matters, and that’s coming down below.
This week Ann talks to actor amd podcaster Clifton Duncan.
“There are remarkable performances along the way, especially from Clifton Duncan singing the rangy arias of “Greenwillow” and Bebe Neuwirth snarling Elaine Stritch’s songs from “Sail Away.”
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This week on The Learning Curve, Cara and Gerard talk with Rachel Silber Devlin about her memoir, Snapshots of My Father, John Silber, which captures the wide-ranging and remarkable life of the late philosopher, teacher, and president of Boston University. Devlin discusses how her father became known as a vigorous proponent of a traditional liberal arts education, improved the prestige and endowment at B.U., and became a national leader in K-12 education reform. She offers listeners a unique, personal look at a man and an educational leader who had a deep commitment to academic quality, music, and the arts, and capped his career by authoring books on the absurdity of modern architectural fads and the ethics of Immanuel Kant.
Stories of the Week
