Category Archives: Books & Literature

Glenn Gould: extra hands

Posted on December 11, 2014 by barczablog

Thank you Edward Johnson Building library, once again I found treasure in the collection that never disappoints. I’d grabbed a great mass of scores in anticipation of a couple of gigs, never knowing fully what to play, but wanting to … Continue reading →

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Forbidden Music

Posted on August 18, 2014 by barczablog

Although my luggage for the trip to the cottage included a pile of books on diverse subjects –popular culture, a novel, psychology, and a few musicology books—the one that seized my imagination was the darkest of the group. How could … Continue reading →

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My eyes are bigger than my stomach

Posted on August 9, 2014 by barczablog

I have reading to do. Do you ever go to a bookstore and get carried away with what you see? Of course with a bookstore there’s no time-limit. You can buy books that you read this week, or this year, … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Cinema, video & DVDs, Music and musicology, Opera, Popular music & culture, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Late night reading

Posted on July 15, 2014 by barczablog

Whether it was a virus, a cold or summertime allergies isn’t the point. I’ve been awake at night, coughing, sneezing, blowing my nose, and otherwise trying not to be a nuisance to anyone unlucky enough to be under the same … Continue reading →

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Missing book

Posted on June 18, 2014 by barczablog

No this isn’t a book review. I can’t get my hands on Thomas Piketty’s 700 page book Capital in the 21st Century. Forgive me if I am paranoid about this. Since when was a best-seller impossible to obtain? But try … Continue reading →

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Richard Wagner: A Life in Music

Posted on June 14, 2014 by barczablog

I just finished Martin Geck’s Richard Wagner: A Life in Music in Stewart Spencer’s 2013 translation. Published only in 2012 as Richard Wagner: Biografie you can judge for yourself how good this book must be, that its translation was pushed … Continue reading →

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Nils Dardel and the Modern Age

Posted on June 11, 2014 by barczablog

One of the journeys of my life has been to reconcile myself to fame.  Not everyone gets famous, and often it’s the wrong people.  For this Canadian it is very clear at least how it doesn’t work. It is not … Continue reading →

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Recreation

Posted on June 3, 2014 by barczablog

Eleanor Farjeon used a word in one of her lyrics, a word that always catches my eye. She is not a one-hit wonder.  She’s a two-hit wonder, and her hits are hymns. Farjeon’s contribution was lyrics rather than music. While … Continue reading →

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A Poet’s Love

Posted on May 28, 2014 by barczablog

Writing in Opera’s Second Death, Slavoj Zizek claims that opera served a purpose at one point, before Freud & the invention of psychotherapy.  Watching “A Poet‘s Love”, tonight’s concert from Talisker Players & baritone Alexander Dobson , I had parallel … Continue reading →

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Franz Liszt and Marie d’Agoult letters

Posted on May 25, 2014 by barczablog

I first encountered the romance between Franz Liszt and Comtesse Marie d’Agoult in Impromptu, a film full of famous artists in the script (Chopin, Liszt, Sand) and on the screen (Judy Davis, Hugh Grant, Mandy Patinkin & Bernadette Peters).  Impromptu … Continue reading →

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