a southern gal in the north

“Norman Lebrecht interviews one of the finest lieder singers of his generation. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau talks candidly about his time in Hitler Youth and as a prisoner of war in Italy where he gave his first recitals; his legendary recordings of song cycles with Gerald Moore, working with prominent conductors Klemperer and Szell and his views on music and singers today.” 

For an enjoyable interview with NO rancour or disrespect – listen here

Preview here

on July 15 there were 4666 ahead of me.

I have been posting lots of photos of the garden – but at FLICKR – so click on the FLICKR box on the side bar on the right and catch up to some of the latest growth and flowerings.

This week – lilies are starting to bloom, the buddelia finally budded and the dwarf blue bush started blooming, the pink bush is dragging behind.  Roses are budding and blooming (need to feed!).  Monarda and the Delphiniums are making a WONDERFUL showing this year… more photos at FLICKR.

The groundhog attacked again – eating all the leaves of the echinacea and the few buds that had survived – i have cut them all down and will be pulling them at some point when i can stand it.  Mr GH also demolished the reviving hollyhocks and they too will be coming out – I AM SO PISSED about them the most.  Also either Mr. GH or the raccoons have gotten at the Joe Pye Weed and ate all the leaves – i cut it back and hopefully it will come back sometime.  Also ate most of the COSMOS one night – so I pulled most of them out and went to the local nursery (where they were having a two flat for one sale) and got a flat each of dwarf and regular snapdragons to plant in place of the cosmos.  Also picked up a few more perennials – some Russian Sage and Veronica to fill in the blue bed. In front of the huge Lobelia and salvias.

Unfortunately Mr GH has dug a hole in the very back corner of the right side of the yard; and that means a trip to HD to get rocks and bricks to close up the hole.  He managed to push all the dirt up around the camellias… sigh that is going to be a pain to work in the tight quarters back there.

Renee Fleming has withdrawn from the Verbier Festival – boy, don’t you feel for those administrators this week!   Ms. Fleming’s absence is due to inflamed sinuses – however buried in the article is a gem – see below.

In Fleming’s absence, colleagues have been ready to step into the breach — though the program has had to be rearranged. Bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff, who is already at the festival, will sing half a dozen Schubert lieder accompanied by Justus Zeyen at the piano, next violinist Radoslaw Szulc, cellist Mischa Maisky and pianist Lang Lang will play the Mendelssohn Trio No. 1. The concert will still finish up with the Mozart Requiem, with soloists Anne Sofie von Otter, Kenneth Tarver and René Pape joined by soprano Barbara Bonney, who is returning to the concert stage after an absence of nearly a year.

PlaybillArts: News: Renée Fleming Withdraws from July 22 Verbier Festival Concert.

July 12, 2007
The Knitting Circle Shows Its Chic
By RUTH LA FERLA

TEVA DURHAM is an unlikely idol, a soberly outfitted, plain-talking mother with a passion for quirky yarns. But to her fans, who snap up her how-to-knit books by the tens of thousands, Ms. Durham is the undisputed mistress of stitchery.

Those admirers, often young and aesthetically inclined, follow her patterns — casting on, increasing, decreasing — with unwavering fidelity. As well they might. Ms. Durham’s artfully crafted stockings and skirts, open-work dresses and cardigans vie in style and intricacy with many of their counterparts on the fashion runways.

Just a few years ago, the assertion that hand-stitched garments could compete with designer wares would have raised derisive hoots from the fashion set, which viewed the needle crafts as the domain of ladies in buns and harlequin glasses. As Ms. Durham acknowledged mildly, “People still think of knitting as, you know, a homey hobby.”

Well, no. Formerly neglected domestic arts like knitting, quilting, sewing and embroidery are being eagerly embraced, especially by the young. Their passion kindled by the abundance of handcrafted looks on the runways, they are blowing the dust off these folksy skills and lending them the bright sheen of style.

“It wasn’t that long ago that people would cringe at the word ‘craft,’ ” said Melanie Falick, who developed a crafts imprint at Stewart, Tabori & Chang. “Ten or 20 years ago, there were far fewer crafters and knitters, certainly fewer who ‘outed’ themselves. Now it has become a badge of honor.”

more here  The Knitting Circle Shows Its Chic – New York Times.

A reluctant ring of the changes
by Martin Bernheimer
Published: July 22 2007 14:53 | Last updated: July 22 2007 14:53

New Yorkers love their Ring, and they love a conservative projection of the mystic myth. While the rest of the world has been exploring modernist reinterpretation – often ridiculous and occasionally sublime – the Metropolitan Opera has clung, stubbornly and proudly, to let’s-pretend realism. For better or worse, it makes a tree look like a tree, a dragon sort of like a dragon. And validating old-school romantic conviction, James Levine has been enforcing spacious, leisurely, poetic grandeur in the pit for 21 years.

Now comes the shock. For the Lincoln Center Festival, the Met has imported a very different, much-travelled Ring from the Mariinsky Theater in St Petersburg, from the company the Soviets called the Kirov. This, for all practical purposes, and impractical purposes too, is Valery Gergiev’s Ring. It hardly adheres to the progressive strictures of Regietheater, a development dismissed by reactionaries as eurotrash. Still, it manages to defy tradition at every turn. If only it could do so with equal parts confidence and competence.

rest at FT.com / Arts & Weekend – A reluctant ring of the changes.

Suddenly I am not so bereft at missing this.

The local team

Sunset on the Hudson

The moon rises

Lyric Opera of Chicago has announced that is has sufficient funding to stay on the airwaves through at least the 2011-12 season.

The company has secured funds matching last fall’s $2 million grant from the Matthew and John Bucksbaum families and General Growth Properties. This contribution enabled the company to resume broadcasts last October after four years off the air.

rest here