Tuesday in Manhattan

02010-05-08 | Photos | 6 comments

I love it when classical critics become poets…

An earthquake in C major: Daniel Barenboim and the Berliners
The final chord of the Brahms is a case in point. On the page, this could hardly be a more familiar or a more simple musical idea – a fortissimo C major chord that the whole orchestra holds for a semibreve, the sort of thing you’ve heard hundreds, thousands, of times. But never like this. This was a gigantic upswelling of musical affirmation that seemed more like a force of nature than the conclusion to a mere symphony: an earthquake in C major. It was a sound that began somewhere in the bowels of creation and exploded up to the heights of the cosmos – or more prosaically, it started with the Berliner’s incomparable double-basses and took in everything and everyone up to Emmanuel Pahud’s flute part.
(Via Guardian Music)

On my list: to experience the Berlin Philharmonic in the flesh on their home turf.
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I was reading the news this Morning (((on the excellent Editor’s Choice iPad app from the NY Times))) while waking up for a phone interview, when I saw the image that leads this article:

Basics – Of Compost, Molecules and Insects, Art Is Born – NYTimes.com

…and I thought, well that’s nothing, wait until artists use genetics as their medium and create animals such as the one pictured for exhibitions. And where will we draw the line? No genetic manipulation in the name of art, period? Or, yes to genetic manipulation, but don’t grow the animal only to be killed and taxidermied so they can be presented in a gallery? Or, artistic genetic manipulation is OK as long as the total number of limbs does not exceed x number? Will sixteen year olds receive bio kits for christmas, you know basic ones for creating multiple heads on a fly or eyes on the back of a mouse? Don’t worry mom, the instructions say that it’ll only live for an hour…
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Very Personal Computing
Jean-Louis Gassée:

The center of financial gravity in the computing world—the Center of Money—has shifted. No longer directed at the PC, the money pump now gushes full blast at the smartphones market.

He backs this up with a striking financial comparison: Apple makes six times the profit from iPhone OS device sales than HP makes from PC sales — despite the fact that by unit sales, HP is the world’s leading PC maker, and Apple is not the leading smartphone maker.
(Via Daring Fireball)

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I have had the iPad since Monday Morning. Here are my first impressions:

The size is good. The screen is wonderful. Video looks fantastic. Email is nice and the keyboard is amazingly responsive. I don’t think I will need a “real” keyboard at all. My typing speed on the iPad is very comparable to my laptop. Web browsing is good, but I would prefer multiple tabs. I would also like the option of multiple user-accounts, which would make sharing the iPad with people on our tour bus easier. The battery-life is very impressive. The tablet is not heavy, but half the weight would be nice… (((of course I realize that this is simply not possible at present)))

I think that about 50% of the time when I would normally open my laptop, I will now reach for the iPad instead. Looking up definitions, checking email, watching a podcast, reading saved Instapaper articles, streaming Netflix – it’s nicer to curl up in a lounge chair with the iPad than with a laptop. I watched a movie in the evening, streaming via 3G AT&T on the Netflix app. Didn’t stutter once, and scrubbing forward worked as well.

I think this thingamajig will be a huge hit, I really do. I just wish we could afford to create an iPad/iPhone Ottmar-Backstage app that streams tons of music (((and in December it’ll automatically stream tunes from Winter Rose, of course))) has an auto-updating tour calendar, this journal, photo slideshows and so on..

6 Comments

  1. Adam Solomon

    Interesting iPad review. Do you type the way you do with a laptop, or is it mostly two index fingers? Glad to know it’s getting good feedback from the people who are trying it out.

    Reply
  2. ottmar

    I prefer to type on the horizontal iPad. When it’s vertical the keyboard is a little too small. I type much like I would on a laptop, but I am happy to admit that while I have acquired decent speed over the years, my typing skills are far from orthodox. Typing on the iPad is certainly faster than on a phone, but it might even be faster (((for me))) than a laptop because of the excellent auto-correction.

    Reply
  3. Adam Solomon

    By the way, the concert in NYC last night was excellent, one of the best I’ve seen. A lot of people sitting near me thought the same thing! If you’re going to one of the shows on this tour you’re in for a treat.

    Miscelleaneous thoughts from the concert:

    -I realized this new album was going to be something special sometime during Backwards Firefly. And that was the first song so, didn’t take too long.

    -The crowd went crazy for Santa Fe, but I thought the song after it (Empty Fields) was infinitely more interesting. Maybe that’s because I’ve seen Ottmar play Santa Fe, like, 10 times now, but I think Empty Fields’ ballad-speeding-up, four-totally-disparate-sections thing was just cool. I would have gone crazy for that like people did for Santa Fe, but that would have been weird. Although I think I inappropriately clapped at the beginning of Cedar Smoke.

    -Of all the songs which Ottmar has posted on this blog, there were four which we didn’t know the name of. I also made a list of the four most awesome new songs played last night. Interestingly, those lists overlapped for three songs (Cedar Smoke, Empty Fields, and Future Green). The exceptions? Jump and Backwards Firefly, respectively.

    -Jump. So that’s what it’s called, eh? Well, it’ll always be Up Beat Thing to me.

    Reply
  4. Brenda

    iPad will reach the third world people of WV in a couple of years to become obsolete in NY but that is ok, slower is good, libraries are good, data is data, and it is ok to wonder and view through the eyes of technology of Today’s current Time of a thingamijig, so thanks for sharing your promotional support of the Ipad because what you share, I receive, as a honest opinion; not a paid opinion.

    Reply
  5. Boris

    Hmm, it is time for webstreaming a concert!

    Reply
  6. Brenda

    Our Charleston FestiVALL has created/purchased an I Phone App that is FREE in Entertainment Categorgy since May 12th. Getting everything in place to promote OL in WV. Smiles and always optimistic!

    Reply

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