Welcome to Copper #84!
Being the picayune sort, it annoys me when people celebrate the birthday of one long dead, and say, "this is Mozart's 263rd birthday." That may even be proper usage of the term, but unless you can actually sing "Happy Birthday" to someone---meaning that they're alive---it seems to me that "commemorating the anniversary of a birth" is more like it, rather than "---th birthday".
Again: it may well just be me, and that may be perfectly acceptable in common usage.
Along the same lines, I hesitate to say, "May 6th is my parents' anniversary," when they're both dead. Yes, it is the anniversary of their wedding, 78 years ago---but they were only married for 46 years, until my dad died in 1987.
"Only"? That's a damned long time. Anyway: I'm obsessing again....
We have a very full issue this time around, with some pieces that are a little different from our usual contributions.
Prof. Larry Schenbeck will be taking a sabbatical for a spell. I'm grateful for Larry's good humor and incredible knowledge of music---we expect he'll be back around the fall. Meanwhile, in this issue Larry brings us a group of performances of Prokofiev piano concertos---and thanks for that, Larry.
Dan Schwartz tells us about the landmark album Noir et Blanc; Richard Murison looks into HD Vinyl---and it's not at all what I thought; Jay Jay French tells us about one that got away ; Roy Hall observes cultural differences while traveling the world; Anne E. Johnson’s Off the Charts brings us some unusual cuts from Tori Amos; Woody Woodward hilariously reviews those "best 100" lists; Anne’s Something Old/Something New introduces us to some beautiful organum from Notre Dame; and I wonder if there's a right size to audio shows, in The Audio Cynic; and try to untangle the history of Empire in Vintage Whine.
I'm really pleased to have an interesting, detailed Make It Yourself article from Danish reader Sebastian Schlager on his experiments with horns. Part 2 will be in Copper #85.
The Copper Interview brings us Part 1 of John Seetoo chatting with versatile producer/engineer Jack Joseph Puig.
Rudy Radelic's feature on Axpona concludes in this issue---and thanks to Rudy for his hard work.
Longtime audio industry veteran Michael Stuart Baskin is, like many of us, of a certain age---and has written his memoir, 363 Days in Vietnam: A Memoir of Howitzers, Hook-Ups, & Screw-Ups From My Tour of Duty 1968 to 1969---phew! I'm pleased to be running excerpts over the next few issues. Don't worry---it's more like a gentler MASH than Apocalypse Now. I hope you enjoy it.
Copper #84 wraps up with the mysteries of botany from Charles Rodrigues, and a Parting Shot from---my morning commute?!?
Christian James Hand is tied up in live sessions---we wish him all the best, and hope he'll return soon.
Meanwhile: I'm off to Munich!
Cheers, Leebs.
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