Statistics

[ahinton]

Has anyone noticed - and, if so, would anyone care to comment on - the fact that the "Anything but Piano" sector of the forum evidently contains a greater number of posts than any of the others yet by no means the greatest number of thread topics?

Best,

Alistair

[jas]

Where are these statistics? That doesn't really surprise me. Religious debates take up a lot of pages.

[ahinton]

Where are these statistics? That doesn't really surprise me. Religious debates take up a lot of pages.

If you go to "forum" where each of the forum section titles are shown, the numbers of posts to and topics in each display.

Best,

Alistair

[pianolist]

I used to love puzzles like this when I was a kiddie. We had a whole book of them, by Hubert Phillips.

Mr Thalberg has a greater number of posts than Mr Hinton. In fact, if Mr Thalberg were to be exiled on Rockall for the next two years, and Mr Hinton were to post twice daily from now until Christmas Day, 2008, he would just equal his colleague's total. However, added together, the posts of Mr Hinton and Mr Thalberg equal only 73.97% of Mrs Pianistimo's score.

What colour pyjamas was Nils Johan wearing last Thursday?

[henrah]

That word association topic has a heck of a lot of posts in it; and most of the propositions or questions in this forum take a long time to resolve, whereas in the - say - sheet music request forum, there might be many topics but each can be resolved within a few posts.

Pianolist, the answer is: Nils doesn't wear pyjamas. He wears underwear with PianoStreet printed on the back

[ahinton]

That word association topic has a heck of a lot of posts in it; and most of the propositions or questions in this forum take a long time to resolve, whereas in the - say - sheet music request forum, there might be many topics but each can be resolved within a few posts.

Good points both - I think that you have hit squarely on the principal reasons that have brought about the statistical situation to which I drew attention.

Nils doesn't wear pyjamas. He wears underwear with PianoStreet printed on the back

How do you know for sure that it's printed on the back?

Best,

Alistair

[pianolist]

Pianolist, the answer is: Nils doesn't wear pyjamas. He wears underwear with PianoStreet printed on the back ...

Whether the back or front, I want to buy some. 'T' shirts would be even better. If we had some in time for Saturday 11 November (at the Warehouse, Theed Street, LONDON, SE1, at 7.30 pm), we could take a group photograph.

[henrah]

Haha, I love the emphasis on back

I just guess that having it on his front will mean that he can't mooney people whilst advertising this site.

Pianolist, all you have to do is buy some iron-off paper/plastic/whatever-it-is and print the banner above onto it, then make many more copies, buy some black t-shirts and iron it onto them.

[pianolist]

It had occurred to me. I've done sillier things.

[ahinton]

Whether the back or front, I want to buy some. 'T' shirts would be even better. If we had some in time for Saturday 11 November (at the Warehouse, Theed Street, LONDON, SE1, at 7.30 pm), we could take a group photograph.

I don't know who "we" is or will be here, but I hope it's a large "group"...

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

Haha, I love the emphasis on back

Yes - I suppose that some might say that this makes the forum "Backstreet"...

Pianolist, all you have to do is buy some iron-off paper/plastic/whatever-it-is and print the banner above onto it, then make many more copies, buy some black t-shirts and iron it onto them.

Just ensure beforehand that there's no copyright issues involved...

Best,

Alistair

[pianistimo]

ahinton, you have succinctly answered your own question in another post.  the intellectual among us have a need to relax our brains (unless of course, we have duped ourselves into thinking that this is relaxing).  of course, having been out of the loop of education for a year and a half - i am now transferring the energy and efficiency to my daughter (who, by the way, was at 'dave and buster's' last night and won twice some spinning game - of which you have to land on one section to win a thousand tickets).  to say the least, she came home thinking she had accomplished more than the first semester of school.  now, she has also joined drama club.  i think i shall be bitten by the time warp of this - as i have volunteered now for TWO musicals.  one for the kindergarten class and now the middle school version of 'you're a good man charlie brown.' 

now charlie brown is a good case in point of making something out of nothing.  seemingly the existence of charlie brown is 'blah.'  but, something always happens.  lucy makes the statistics of happenings increase about 10 fold.  and, of course, someone is always interrupting schroeder.  i always felt bad for schroeder.  here he is practicing and lucy comes and starts a conversation.  that is just plain rude.

[ahinton]

ahinton, you have succinctly answered your own question in another post.

Dear "pianistimo": nice as it is to see that you believe that I have been succinct, MUST you keep calling me "ahinton"? Muss es sein?

Best,

Alistair

[pianistimo]

muss es sign?  is it a sign?  no, it is just  aterm of endearment to me.  ahinton represents the composer in you.  alistair - the gentleman.  it would be like calling schumann - eusebius instead of floristan.  i tend to go for the intellectual side.  but, of course, if i had assurance that you were somewhat in tendencies as you appear on the forum - i should be quite content to visit you sometime and ask you to join me at tea.  what i mean is - as a gentleman.  you know.  discuss some music.  show me your latest compositions.  i don't think you judge me harshly - and i certainly don't you either.  in fact, perhaps i would understand a bit better about the circular reasonings in 20-21st century music.  although knowing that there is no serialism in your piece - makes me feel better about a piece having a real beginning, middle, and ending.  i like to feel the 'story.'  i don't want to be eating the same gruel at the end of the piece that i was at the beginning, anyways.  composition is a very tricky thing.  to help people understand the method - assuredly means to me, they will enjoy the music much more.  i hope you are writing some kinds of reassurring things intot he program.  some points of interest in your music for people to spot and say 'aha, i hear it.  i hear the section that is now migrating into or suddenly juxtaposing to....'

[ahinton]

muss es sign?  is it a sign?  no, it is just  aterm of endearment to me.  ahinton represents the composer in you.  alistair - the gentleman.  it would be like calling schumann - eusebius instead of floristan.  i tend to go for the intellectual side.  but, of course, if i had assurance that you were somewhat in tendencies as you appear on the forum - i should be quite content to visit you sometime and ask you to join me at tea.  what i mean is - as a gentleman.  you know.  discuss some music.  show me your latest compositions.

Well, thank you very much. I've no idea what you'd make of my music but hope that in some ways I might live up to your idea of a gentleman (though I make no claims on that front, naturally).

i don't think you judge me harshly - and i certainly don't you either.

I hope that I don't "judge" you - or, for that matter, anyone else; you especially, perhaps, given that, for you, there is but one judge (whom I'm sure I need not name).

in fact, perhaps i would understand a bit better about the circular reasonings in 20-21st century music.  although knowing that there is no serialism in your piece - makes me feel better about a piece having a real beginning, middle, and ending.

Even speaking as I do as a non-serialist composer, I should tell you that it would be a misunderstanding to assume that serial procedures in a composition and a lack of shape and structure are in any sense synonymous.

i hope you are writing some kinds of reassurring things intot he program.  some points of interest in your music for people to spot and say 'aha, i hear it.  i hear the section that is now migrating into or suddenly juxtaposing to....'

That is the very thing I have quite deliberately NOT done! For one thing, I consider it potentially (and often actually) insulting to those whose ears, intellectual resources and emotional capacities are perectly capable of figuring out for themselves what's going on in a piece (albeit not necessarily all at first hearing, of course) and, for another, if I could and would want to give anyone a ball-by-ball commentary on something I've written, I might as well write an essay in words about my intentions rather than a piece of music. I hate "explaining" what I've done in a piece - mainly because, if none of what I've done gets through to the listener otherwise, I've failed. Accordingly, the programme note that I have written properly confines itself to a brief historical note on how the piece came about and a résume of its overall structure without going into any more than the most modest of detail; I'd rather people read even that AFTER the performance than before it in any case, but that's up to each listener to decide for him/herself, of course. If you're really that interested in it, you could send a message to my email address and I'll email it to you, however - and, if it's any good at all, maybe it'll encourage you to get a flight from Philly and come to listen to it after all!..

Best,

Alistair

[pianolist]

I don't know who "we" is or will be here, but I hope it's a large "group"...

The Venerable Thali is jetting back from Rockall, Henrah can stay with his dad in Highgate (and bring him along), Wishful Thinker has only to pop up to Waterloo East with his Gold Card, and he can bring his wife, kids and the au pair at a reduced rate, as long as he remembers to close the larder window first. My better half intends to be there. The only pity is, now that Thal has got all oily, working on his Lambo, there won't be anyone to pick up at Gatwick. Muti has a lot to answer for. I bet there are some lurkers coming, though. You'll have practically half of creation there - sorry, I mean evolution.

[henrah]

What's happening on that Saturday? A concert, I presume, but of what and whom? Haha that rhymes
Henrah

[ahinton]

What's happening on that Saturday? A concert, I presume, but of what and whom? Haha that rhymes
Henrah

A concert, yes; more specifically, a piano recital. Here's the info.

The Warehouse, Theed Street, London
Saturday 11 November 2006
7.30 p.m.
 
Jonathan Powell
(piano)
   

Polonaise-Fantaisie, Op. 61                                                                                              Chopin
Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109                                                                    Beethoven
 
*******

Sequentia Claviensis. Op. 28 (world première)                                                                  Hinton


Admission by programme on the door.

Look forward to seeing you there!

Best,

Alistair

[pianolist]

... but of what and whom? Haha that rhymes

Back to the limerick about Khartoum, I see.

[henrah]

Oh cool, it's a world premiere of your own composition! I've never heard any of your compositions before Alistair, what genre would they most likely be stereotyped to?

[ahinton]

Oh cool, it's a world premiere of your own composition! I've never heard any of your compositions before Alistair, what genre would they most likely be stereotyped to?

None, I hope! If you want to lend an ear or two to some other things of mine that are already out there, there are three existing recordings that you could check out (all of which are still available); details may be found by visiting
https://www.sorabji-archive.co.uk/hinton/discography.php

Best,

Alistair

[pianistimo]

dear alistair,

what prompted destroying much of the pre-1985 output?  just curious.  anyways, alistair, you are becoming quite an interesting person (to expend so much time and effort on peons).  and, i agree that talking too much about a piece beforehand doesn't bring any surprises.  i am going to have to buy some of these works.

you met and had mr. benjamin britten mentor you?  that's impressive.  and, all the compositions that you have successfully completed (plus caring carefully for sorabji's archive).  you are a true expeditionist.  i sense quite a travel from your early enthrallment with chopin's fourth ballade. 

i learned the second ballade - and it always sounded scotch/irish to me.  was chopin somewhere on the islands for a while?  was he following liszt around.  and why, from scotland or ireland did he dedicate the second ballade to schumann?  oh well.  just wondering.  back to statistics.

you surely do have good ones.  i guess that we won't worry about the pieces that you destroyed.  although, i'm sure you (as all composers seem to) rued the day you did that!  did you know that mac dowell one night tried to destroy 'to a wild rose' by wrinkling it up and throwing it in the fireplace?  if it wasn't for his wife - it would have been burned up.  and, think of who wouldn't have been able to play it today!  it's one of my favorite pieces.  sort of copelandish in its simplicity and easy melody.

[debussy symbolism]

Has anyone noticed - and, if so, would anyone care to comment on - the fact that the "Anything but Piano" sector of the forum evidently contains a greater number of posts than any of the others yet by no means the greatest number of thread topics?

Best,

Alistair

I have illustrated this new forum wonder multiple times. More so in the chat rooms.

[debussy symbolism]

dear alistair,

what prompted destroying much of the pre-1985 output?  just curious.  anyways, alistair, you are becoming quite an interesting person (to expend so much time and effort on peons).  and, i agree that talking too much about a piece beforehand doesn't bring any surprises.  i am going to have to buy some of these works.

you met and had mr. benjamin britten mentor you?  that's impressive.  and, all the compositions that you have successfully completed (plus caring carefully for sorabji's archive).  you are a true expeditionist.  i sense quite a travel from your early enthrallment with chopin's fourth ballade. 

i learned the second ballade - and it always sounded scotch/irish to me.  was chopin somewhere on the islands for a while?  was he following liszt around.  and why, from scotland or ireland did he dedicate the second ballade to schumann?  oh well.  just wondering.  back to statistics.

you surely do have good ones.  i guess that we won't worry about the pieces that you destroyed.  although, i'm sure you (as all composers seem to) rued the day you did that!  did you know that mac dowell one night tried to destroy the 'wild rose' by wrinkling it up and throwing it in the fireplace?  if it wasn't for his wife - it would have been burned up.  and, think of who wouldn't have been able to play it today!  it's one of my favorite pieces.  sort of copelandish in its simplicity and easy melody.

Pianistimo, perhaps the anything room gets so much posting is because of your desultory ways of posting eh? You quite often deviate from a subject, thus causing more replies. Given the information you gave out concerning how you reply to almost all posts, it is really no wonder that the anything room has the most posts afterall.

[pianolist]

You quite often deviate from a subject, thus causing more replies ...

But that is life, folks. Life is not served up in neat compartments. Threads have a life of their own, which keeps them fresh and stimulating.

Piano playing in the late 20th century onwards has become stale, in my opinion. It needs more anarchy! It needs less attention to urtext, and more excitement. It needs to rediscover the unimportance of wrong notes.

Because it has generally lost God, it has also lost the Devil. I don't so much mind about God, being an atheist, but I'd like a bit more devilment. No more worshipping the seriousness and respectability of Barenboim (just listen to the sublime way he played that chord). No more self-pride from little boys like Lang Lang (what a genius he must be to look so serious).

Two fingers to that. I want a General Custer of the piano - someone who doesn't wash too much. Someone who isn't young and fashionable and dressed in designer gowns. Someone who risks all and is prepared to fail gloriously if necessary.

I don't want a statistical performance, I want the performance of a free spirit.

[debussy symbolism]

Apparently lots of members here are quite recalcitrant at the notions of topics that change focus.

[ahinton]

dear alistair,

what prompted destroying much of the pre-1985 output?  just curious.

Er - common sense, methinks. As a matter of fact, it was not quite the destructive act that it may seem, for I was much more concerned (obviously) about what would be left.  Most of what I destroyed was rubbish (or garbage, in American).

you met and had mr. benjamin britten mentor you?  that's impressive.

I don't know about "impressive", but it was certainly most fortunate. I didn't study with him, but he was a great encouragement to me in what I was trying to do; he also helped me to be able to study at London's Royal College of Music.

i sense quite a travel from your early enthrallment with chopin's fourth ballade.

Well, inevitably, really - although Chopin in general and that work in particular still holds a very special place for me. In fact, I went on "quite a travel" very rapidly after that initial experience, as I met a teacher who had been a pupil of Webern before WWII and was accordingly thrust immediately into the mælstrom that was 1950s and 60s Darmstadt - Boulez, Nono, Stockhausen, etc. - before I'd really gotten accustomed to listening to almost any tonal music (I'd only heard a handful of tonal pieces before this); I discovered earlier music for myself gradually after this - via Schönberg, then Mahler, then Wagner, etc. When I first heard a Mozart piano concert (aged about 15, if I remember correctly), I thought that it sounded very strange - simply because that kind of sound world was hitherto unfamiliar to me (a reaction not dissimilar to that of "funny modern music" that you get from some people when they listen for the first time to a piece in a unfamiliar language).

i learned the second ballade - and it always sounded scotch/irish to me.  was chopin somewhere on the islands for a while?  was he following liszt around.  and why, from scotland or ireland did he dedicate the second ballade to schumann?  oh well.  just wondering.

Whilst Chopin did indeed visit Scotland (and one of his last students was a Scotswoman), this did not happen until some time after he had composed the Second Ballade. By the way, what I wrote about Liszt and the Shetlands was a joke in the context of the thread in which I wrote it (although I have a suspicion that you may not have been the only one on this forum not to have picked up on that!). Anyway, I can't say that Chopin's F major Ballade sounds that was to me at all. Its dedication to Schumann revealed, in a back-handed kind of way, Chopin's inability even to grasp, let alone empathise with, Schumann's way of working; whereas Schumann is famously (and quite understandably) supposed to have said of Chopin "hats off, gentlemen - a genius!", Chopin's "response" was the very formal dedication of this work to "M. Robert Schumann". So, Schumann revered Chopin, but Chopin just didn't figure out Schumann at all, it would seem.

i guess that we won't worry about the pieces that you destroyed.  although, i'm sure you (as all composers seem to) rued the day you did that!

With the benefit of this much hindsight, I do now rather rue the day that I destroyed my fourth piano trio, but that's about it; the remainder of what I binned (which I did at various times) simply needed to go. I've not discarded anything I've written since 1985, however.

Thanks for your interest - and apologies to anyone who needs them for this thread having gone somewhat off-topic for abit...

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

Apparently lots of members here are quite recalcitrant at the notions of topics that change focus.

It should really be a matter of context and each case should be considered (if necessary) individually; some threads go off-topic because contributors aren't really concentrating on what they're supposed to be about (or just don't like them, or something), whereas others may have more of a tendency to invite the kind of expansion and development of which "pianolist" writes.

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

Piano playing in the late 20th century onwards has become stale, in my opinion. It needs more anarchy! It needs less attention to urtext, and more excitement. It needs to rediscover the unimportance of wrong notes.

Loud cheers to that! The late and gretly lamented Shura Cherkassky, in an interview quite late in life, once said "all the young pianists today play so well!". Ouch! Speaking as a composer, the problem with urtext, it seems to me, is that the composer - like the customer - is not always right; may's the time I've found the odd wrong note here and there in a score of mine when revisiting it - and, just occasionally, the "wrong" note's better than the "right" one! Sometimes I have also found that really intelligent and perceptive performers find better ways of doing what i was trying to do - and when this happens, it can really be most rewarding. Music is fluid, anyway, so there's never just one totally correct way of doing anything. The habit of prioritising the business of listening to recordings over that of attending concerts has, to some degree, helped to encourage the opposite view, however. My attitude here is one which also informs my lack of desire to write long programme notes on my works in the manner of the ball-by-ball commentary school - or, indeed, to read others' notes on other composers' works in concert programmes. More than 90 years ago, Delius wrote to complain that music that needed bolstering with explanatory verbiage might not be worth listening to in if denuded of the "explanations"; had he survived long enough, how much more vociferously he would surely have railed at the antics of those 1960s composers who seemed almost hell-bent on making an entire profession out of writing and talking about how they did this and that, what they were "trying" to do in this and that piece, etc.!

No more worshipping the seriousness and respectability of Barenboim (just listen to the sublime way he played that chord).

I know well the kind of thing to which you refer here, but I'm not sure that I agree with you in your citing of Barenboim as illustration, for all that I have long felt that a rather disproportionate amount of his finest achievements have been as a conductor. A musician who prefers the safety of respectability is hardly likely to conduct the music of Bartók, let alone Dutilleux and still less Carter - and he certainly would not want to commission pieces from the last of these; indeed, he seems to have been rather more adventurous as a conductor than as a pianist.

Whilst I'm all for risk-taking in performance, it has to be controlled by a nevertheless adventurous and exciting performer (and I use the term "exciting" here to signify the kind of excitement that results from performers drawing attention to the music rather than themselves), otherwise the results could be dismaying, or even downright disastrous; I always sensed that Michelangeli, at his best, was still taking risks under that iron-hard grip on what he was doing - and the reason I suspect this is that his best performances always sounded so immensely fresh and engaging that one almost had the impression that the music had only just been written.

No more self-pride from little boys like Lang Lang (what a genius he must be to look so serious).

Two fingers to that. I want a General Custer of the piano - someone who doesn't wash too much. Someone who isn't young and fashionable and dressed in designer gowns. Someone who risks all and is prepared to fail gloriously if necessary.

I don't want a statistical performance, I want the performance of a free spirit.

I can't disagree with that!

Best,

Alistair

[pianolist]

I just had a bad experience with a Barenboim recital at the RFH. He bashed his way, in my view, angrily, through a recital programme, and yet the audience received him with unquestioning adulation. Maybe I should just have allowed him an "off" day!

[ahinton]

I just had a bad experience with a Barenboim recital at the RFH. He bashed his way, in my view, angrily, through a recital programme, and yet the audience received him with unquestioning adulation. Maybe I should just have allowed him an "off" day!

Maybe you should indeed. I heard the most terrible recital by Michelangeli in 1990 - one of the most upsetting experiences in my entire concert-going life, in fact - where the ultimate virtuoso recital canceller really should have cancelled (and with amply good reason) but didn't. It was the first public concert he had given since suffering from a serious heart attack on or around his 70th birthday several months earlier. This wasn't so much an "off day" as one where much of the playing was so bad as to be unrecognisable as that of the player (especially to anyone familiar with the astonishing best of his work). It was an all-Beethoven first half and an all-Chopin second half, in the latter of which Michelangeli reached the absolute nadir of nadirs in a performance of a mazurka that was little better than execrable; after this, he sat on the piano stool with his back to the audience for what seemed like an eternity but must have been at least two minutes before leaving the stage. What was perhaps the most distressing of all - even more, indeed, than the fact that he looked as ill as he looked (and sounded) ill at ease throughout - was that, towards the close of the final work, the Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise, he suddenly - and without apparent warning, let alone rhyme or reason - began to play like Michelangeli. I felt quite like an interloper as a member of the capacity audience because there were so very many pianists present - even major figures like Cherkassky (not that there ever was anyone quite like Cherkassky!). The following days, the critics praised the recital to the skies and beyond - even the often hard-to-please Hilary Finch. This fact, however, surely tells us more about certain members of the critical profession than it does about any pianist...

Best,

Alistair

[pianistimo]

dear pianolist,

the general custer that you are talking about indeed exists!  barry douglas!  he even looks a bit like a general and takes command as i've seen no other.  also, he composes electronic and other music - has taken a lead interest in the state of music schools in ireland, and continues his busy performance schedule as though he has all the time in the world.  (which i'm sure he doesn't).  i think his wife and kids live in france - so i think he's pretty busy with a lot of irons in the fire -s o to speak.   now, i'm not saying he doesn't look good washed up...it's just at the tchaikovsky competition of 1986 or thereabouts - he was such a down to earth person - and still seems to be.

dear alistair,

it is becoming quite apparent how much you know about music and especially 20-21st century music.  i will have to read those two to four chapters that you wrote.  thanks for filling me in on chopin's lack of travel to scotland/ireland.  say, did you know (obviously you must) that in terms of measurements in scotland - the 'chopin' equals half a standard pint, and a 'mutchkin' would be half a 'chopin.' 

[pianolist]

Dear Pianistimo,

I haven't followed Barry Douglas' career as I should, perhaps. I remember his appearing many years ago on British television, and my being struck by the way he brought out melodic notes at a blandly uniform level. No pianist from the era which I love would have done that; they were far more sensitive to the rise and fall of phrases, the ebb and flow of vocal lines. That is one small way in which I think pianism has suffered in recent times.

I used to enjoy Cherkassky's concerts, but he wasn't Horowitz or Rubinstein, and the music promoting industry made him into a grand old man on the principle of Buggins' Turn, it seemed to me.

My favourite remains Rachmaninov, and you will rightly point out that he was a pretty clean individual. I guess I'm just fickle in my admiration for dirt. But he shared music in a very special way, I think, both as pianist and as composer. Kreisler did the same on the violin. The mixture of intellect, wit, love and melancholy that both men personified I find to be utterly bewitching.

Two pianists whom I have heard and paricularly liked in the last few years have been Bruno Canino and Alexander Melnikov. Canino accompanied Perlman at the Royal Festival Hall around 2001. Perlman played dismally, but Canino brought the music to life, never upstaging, but always in love with what he was playing. Melnikov stood in for Kissin with the Philharmonia in late 2002, playing a loud Prokofiev Concerto which I don't much care for. But he couldn't wait to play a quiet encore - a Scriabin piece that I didn't know - undoubtedly the best piano playing I've heard in many years.

Statistically speaking, that is.

[pianistimo]

boohoo.  you don't share my love for barry douglas.  well, agreed that he is still a relatively young musician - but has grown by leaps and bounds in last 10-15 years.  i don't know when you last heard him - but he has since conducted and performed in countless prestigious places - so i can't think that he would be entirely devoid of musicality in his phrasing.  perhaps more of a generalist and seeing an entire score picture in his head.  that is why i loved 'pictures at an exhibition.'  you hear a 'concept' of the entire work and not a singular phrase.

but, i think you are very astute at picking out pianists you like.  of course, rachmaninov was a 'great.'  not many people are like you and appreciate his being devoid of the 'romanticism' that was typical of the era and creating his own 'romanticism' with harmonies that are unexplicably romantic.  he was not a 'ladies' man - but a 'musician's' lover.  that is my terminology.

and, i also think that your recent mentions make me want to go and take a listen.  susan

[debussy symbolism]

It should really be a matter of context and each case should be considered (if necessary) individually; some threads go off-topic because contributors aren't really concentrating on what they're supposed to be about (or just don't like them, or something), whereas others may have more of a tendency to invite the kind of expansion and development of which "pianolist" writes.

Best,

Alistair

I think that should the conversation deviate from the initially proposed topic, it is largely a matter of the topic not having enough "meat" in it to really stimulate any sort of discussion. I think that the topics that do go astray are generally very vague and "random", if you will. Therefore it is no wonder that the thread is a hotbed for various opinions.

Best.

[ahinton]

I think that should the conversation deviate from the initially proposed topic, it is largely a matter of the topic not having enough "meat" in it to really stimulate any sort of discussion. I think that the topics that do go astray are generally very vague and "random", if you will. Therefore it is no wonder that the thread is a hotbed for various opinions.

Best.

That may indeed sometimes be the case, although I would not go so far as to claim that it is always so - and no doubt some of those of vegetarian or vegan persuasion may consider taking you to task over you use of the term "meat" here (not that I do so, you understand)...

Best,

Alistair

[debussy symbolism]

Appologies to whomever I may have offended. It is indeed meat and vegetation.

[ahinton]

Appologies to whomever I may have offended. It is indeed meat and vegetation.

Well - for the record, you certainly haven't offended me...

Best,

Alistair

[debussy symbolism]

Thats because I included the word "whomever".

I am glad that I haven't in any way(to the extent of my knowledge) insulted you.