Check out Wikipedia; Gustav Mahler is today’s featured article!
I’m not quite as Mahler-obsessed as I was a couple years ago. I was on a coordinated campaign then, purchasing as many recordings of Mahler’s symphonies and song cycles as I could get my hands on. And though I now know most of his works pretty well, some, like the Seventh Symphony, remain a mystery.
Des Knaben Wunderhorn, on the other hand, are approachable, hummable Lieder. My favorites of the set are “Lob des hohen Verstandes” and this song, “Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht?”.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Filed under: Music on July 7th, 2010 | No Comments »
If you watch much baseball, particularly in person, you have no doubt witnessed it: a frantic rush for every home run and foul ball batted into the stands. Occasionally, these balls are caught outright, and the happy fan holds up his prize and receives cheers all around. Far more often, however, the batted ball bounces off a seat or a spectator’s hand, and initiates a mad scramble to retrieve it. Grown men and boys leap over one another, and crawl along the floor to snatch it. It would not be exaggerating to say that, for some young boys, the quest for a foul ball holds greater interest than the game on the field.
The same foolish impulse that animates the men who snatch baseballs from one another in the stands, and the boys who race each other from section to section in greedy anticipation, is the same one that prompts fans to interfere with balls in play. The infamous Steve Bartman incident is the best known, but others occur almost daily, with fans reaching over walls, gloves in hand, to scoop up fair balls.
This obsession reached its logical climax in Arlington last night, when a fan at Rangers Park tumbled from the upper deck to the stands below. He had been reaching for a foul ball and lost his balance. He dropped thirty feet onto fans below. Fans in the park screamed when they saw it happen. The home plate umpire threw his hands over his head in horror. The television announcers were similarly terrified. The game was halted for fifteen minutes, and many players were visibly distressed, with several of the Cleveland fielders clearly mouthing prayers.
Everyone loves a souvenir. But is a $16 baseball really worth all that?
Filed under: Current Events, Rantings, Sports on July 7th, 2010 | 4 Comments »