tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4051826042602269061.post6445996856422421103..comments2024-03-25T09:01:20.997-07:00Comments on Diary of an Autodidact: War and Peace by Leo TolstoyDiary of an Autodidacthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11849157548643091986noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4051826042602269061.post-84734221122011302652017-02-07T10:20:00.822-08:002017-02-07T10:20:00.822-08:00I'm kind of torn between the Russian Orthodox ...I'm kind of torn between the Russian Orthodox sound and the Renaissance Motet style as my favorite purely vocal style. <br /><br />For a single work, though, my vote for the best is Morten Lauridson's O Magnum Mysterium. <br /><br />Back to Orthodox tunes, I really love playing Rimsky-Korsakov's Russian Easter Overture, which (horrors!) combines the Orthodox hymns with pagan-inspired frenzy. :)Diary of an Autodidacthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11849157548643091986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4051826042602269061.post-13795576401339974122017-02-07T10:14:04.868-08:002017-02-07T10:14:04.868-08:00My wife and I made it most of the way through Les ...My wife and I made it most of the way through Les Miserables during our dating time. (She read it previously.) It does indeed have a lot of extraneous material - including a crazy blow-by-blow of the battle of Waterloo. It is a good read, but a very long book. Diary of an Autodidacthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11849157548643091986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4051826042602269061.post-81830120597203988592017-02-07T04:06:20.857-08:002017-02-07T04:06:20.857-08:00Even though I haven't read it, apparently Les ...Even though I haven't read it, apparently Les Miserable also has quite a lot of detail regarding the French political systems at the time, as well as detailed descriptions. I've really got to get around to reading this at some stage.Dave Sarkshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02162092548346770139noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4051826042602269061.post-29425958613060893392017-02-06T20:37:50.335-08:002017-02-06T20:37:50.335-08:00I think you got the essentials from the abridged v...I think you got the essentials from the abridged version. I too did not like the matronly Natasha. The young Natasha version was much more interesting to me than the tamed married woman. If you decide to read the unabridged version, you can't go wrong with a Pevear & Volokhonsky translation of any of the Russian <br />classics.<br /><br />By the way, there's a musical based on the book that's been getting rave reviews, Natasha Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812.Annhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16098063988095610502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4051826042602269061.post-88236558477203836172017-02-06T14:19:41.819-08:002017-02-06T14:19:41.819-08:00God I adore Russian/eastern European basses. I ha...God I adore Russian/eastern European basses. I have an entire album of Serbian and Bulgarian choral music that sounds a lot like that. How is it they can sing so much deeper than Western basses? It didn't happen so much in this recording, but there are others on my CD that are just freakishly deep.<br /><br />As a side note, the Russian Orthodox do not use instruments in church. Now I don't agree with that theologically, but if you're going to do it, for God's sake do it like the Russian Orthodox. Not like the Puritans, who just vandalized a bunch of stuff, refused to use harmony, and sang the same six psalm tunes badly over and over again.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com