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The following talk, recently posted on the TED website, simply blew me away. As someone who tries to communicate enthusiasm for and knowledge about music, I stand humbled and amazed by Benjamin Zander who here not only tells but shows why music is a transcendent force and how we can more fully embrace it. My cheeky headline will be explained presently. Thanks to Harry Butler for the tip.
I hope this link works because HERE you can read a joyful and on-target commentary from yesterday's Wall Street Journal by Nashville's own Ann Patchett about the magic of the Metropolitan Opera's now regular live HD broadcasts at movie theaters around the nation, including here in Music City. Money quote:
Are there words for this? I was in Nashville watching the Metropolitan Opera. I was seeing it on a screen so large that the smallest gesture of a hand, the delicate embroidery on a skirt, was clearly visible. I could see Ms. Netrebko's tongue inside her mouth and see how it shaped the air that made the note. I could see the conductor, yes, the crisp gesture of his wrist, but my God, I could see the French horn player as well. I could look into the eyes of the chorus one by one, every man and woman focused in their part. It was Opera Enormous, every note utterly human, simultaneously imperfect and flawless.
Patchett springboards off her upbringing in Nashville where she was taken regularly to the Grand Ole Opry, where she saw the greats at the Ryman Auditorium in its glory days. That, she says, never translated into a love of country music. I was raised on opera and found my love of country much later on. I came to Nashville to be around more fiddles and banjos. Patchett writes that having modern technology bring New York to her makes living in banjo-town even more fulfilling.
I wonder if Ann is aware that two of the men most responsible for making the Grand Ole Opry a massive success - Edwin Craig and Jack DeWitt - were both opera fanatics. Craig, before and during his tenure as President of National Life and Accident Insurance Co. (owner of WSM), took chorus roles in local opera productions and rode the train to New York every year for opening night at the Met. DeWitt, the chief engineer of WSM who built its nation-reaching tower, built himself a short-wave rig specifically to beam the Saturday night Met broadcasts to his home and have company over to listen in real time. In any other city, the opera would have been on the local NBC affiliate. But WSM, with NBC's very reluctant permission, was likely the only affiliate in the nation that pre-empted the Met for locally-produced programming. Young Ann Patchett should perhaps have been over at Jack DeWitt's house.
Our pals the Infamous Stringdusters released their second album this week, and we made five interview and performance webisodes leading up to the release. They were released through, and can be found archived on, the Bluegrass Blog. Below is part five which most directly deals with making this fantastic record and their working with bluegrass superstar Tim O'Brien, who acted as co-producer. The video is from the Compass Records studios in the old Hillbilly Central building on 19th Ave. in Nashville. The band is poised for a huge summer, and my road documentary about them, Four Days of Infamy, looks like it may screen next March at the Durango Film Festival. All best to the boys as they launch this new project. It was hard to come to this conclusion because I'm so attached to the first album Fork In The Road, but this one's even better. Don't miss these guys if they come to your town.
