Gary D. Cannon

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FRIENDS

My Friends on Wikipedia

MUSIC

DESERT ISLAND DISCS

  1. Walton: Symphony No. 1, Cello Concerto – Harrell, City of Birmingham Symphony, Rattle – EMI
  2. Walton: Belshazzar's Feast, Partita for Orchestra – Allen, London Philharmonic, Slatkin – RCA
  3. Britten: War Requiem – London Symphony, Hickox – Chandos
  4. Walton: Choral Works – Polyphony, Layton – Hyperion
  5. Mahler: Symphony No. 6 – Cleveland Orchestra, Szell – Sony
  6. Vaughan Williams: Sancta Civitas, Dona nobis pacem – London Symphony, Hickox – EMI
  7. Britten: Spring Symphony – London Symphony, Previn – EMI
  8. Elgar: Symphony No. 1 – London Philharmonic, Boult – EMI
  9. Britten: Peter Grimes – Johnson, Covent Garden, Haitink – EMI
  10. Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 5 and 7 – Vienna Philharmonic, Carlos Kleiber – Deutsche Grammophon
  11. Bach: St. Matthew Passion – Gardiner – Archiv  [if an eleventh were oddly allowed]

MY FAVORITE COMPOSERS

Here are links for a few of my favorite composers, together with my favorite compositions thereof.  Yes, there are geographic and historical biases here... but hey, they're my favorites!  And for those interested in rankings, generally speaking, the more pieces listed, the more I like the composer.

Contemporary, i.e. living and composing today

  • British
    • James MacMillan: Cello Concerto; Veni, veni Emmanuel; A Scotch Bestiary; Seven Last Words; choral music (especially Cantos sagrados, Christus vincit) [favorite living composer]
    • John McCabe: Edward II
  • American
    • John Adams: Nixon in China, The Death of Klinghoffer, Harmonielehre, Lollapalooza, Short Ride in a Fast Machine
    • Dominick Argento: Postcard from Morocco, The Andrée Expedition
    • P.D.Q. Bach: 1712 Overture, Twelve Quite Heavenly Songs, Erotica Variations, Iphigenia in Brooklyn
    • Christopher Rouse: Der Gerettete Alberich, Symphony No. 1, Concert de Gaudí, Gorgon [favorite living American composer]
    • John Williams: music to the original Star Wars trilogy (especially The Empire Strikes Back)
  • Nordic
  • Australian
    • Carl Vine: Symphony No. 3, Celebrare Celeberrime

Post-War Era, i.e. 1950 to present

  • British
    • William Alwyn: Symphony No. 3, Lyra angelica, Fantasy-Waltzes
    • Malcolm Arnold: Symphonies Nos. 2 and 5, overtures, orchestral dances, Concerto for Two Pianos
    • Benjamin Britten: War Requiem; Spring Symphony; Peter Grimes; Billy Budd; Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings; Sinfonia da requiem; choral music (especially Five Flower Songs, Rejoice in the Lamb, Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard, Hymn to St Cecilia); folksong arrangements [second-favorite only to Walton]
    • Howard Ferguson: Partita, The Dream of the Rood
    • Robert Simpson: Symphonies Nos. 3 and 5, Tempi
    • Michael Tippett: A Child of Our Time, Symphony No. 2, The Mask of Time
  • American
  • Nordic
    • Veljo Tormis: Curse upon Iron, Overture No. 2  [yes, he's still alive, but has essentially retired from composition]
  • Other European

Pre-War Era, i.e. 1910–1950

  • British
    • Arnold Bax: Symphonies Nos. 1, 6 and 7, Tintagel, Mater ora filium
    • George Dyson: The Canterbury Pilgrims
    • Gerald Finzi: In terra pax, Cello Concerto, choral works (especially God is gone up and Lo, the full, final sacrifice)
    • Hamilton Harty: Piano Concerto, Violin Concerto
    • Gustav Holst: The Planets, Egdon Heath, choral music (especially Ave Maria)
    • John Ireland: Piano Concerto in E-flat
    • Constant Lambert: Summer's Last Will and Testament, The Rio Grande
    • E. J. Moeran: Symphony in G minor, Cello Concerto, other orchestral works
    • Ralph Vaughan Williams: Dona nobis pacem, Symphony No. 4, A Sea Symphony, Sinfonia antartica, Sancta Civitas, Songs of Travel, choral works (especially Three Shakespeare Songs), London Symphony, Riders to the Sea
    • William Walton: Symphony No. 1, Belshazzar's Feast, Cello Concerto, Viola Concerto, choral works (especially Where does the uttered Music go?, A Litany), String Quartet in A minor, Partita, Hindemith Variations, Crown Imperial, The Bear, Troilus and Cressida, Façade [favorite composer... after all, I run the website]
  • American
    • Samuel Barber: Cello Concerto, Symphony No. 1, Essays for Orchestra, Prayers of Kierkegaard, songs (especially Nocturne and Three Songs op.45), Reincarnations, Violin Concerto
    • Aaron Copland: Piano Variations, Clarinet Concerto, In the Beginning
    • Howard Hanson: Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2
    • Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Violin Concerto, Symphony in F-sharp
  • French
    • Francis Poulenc: Gloria, Piano Concerto, Concerto for Two Pianos, motets, Dialogues des Carmélites
    • Maurice Ravel: Piano Concerto in G, Daphnis et Chloé, Une barque sur l'ocèan, orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition
  • Nordic
  • Central and Eastern European
    • Bohuslav Martinů: Symphony No. 6
    • Sergei Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet, Alexander Nevsky Cantata, Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2, Symphony No. 1
    • Sergei Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2, The Isle of the Dead, Symphonic Dances, Piano Concerto No. 2, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Cello Sonata
    • Igor Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms, The Rite of Spring, Symphony in Three Movements
    • Karol Szymanowski: Stabat mater, Symphony No. 3

Late Romantic Era, i.e. 1850–1910

  • British
    • Edward Elgar: Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2, Enigma Variations, Cello Concerto
    • Hubert Parry: Symphonies Nos. 2 and 4, Symphonic Variations
  • German / Austrian
    • Johannes Brahms: Symphonies Nos. 1 and 4, Ein deutsches Requiem, Tragic Overture, Piano Quintet in G minor (especially as orchestrated by Schoenberg), choral works (especially Warum ist das Licht gegeben den Mühseligen), Liebeslieder Waltzes (both sets), String Sextet No. 1
    • Anton Bruckner: Symphonies Nos. 8 and 9, motets (especially Locus iste, Os justi)
    • Gustav Mahler: Symphonies Nos. 2, 5, 6 and 8, songs [favorite pre-Modernist composer]
    • Richard Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen (especially Götterdämmerung)
  • Central or Eastern European
  • French
  • Italian

Early Romantic Era, i.e. 1800–1850

Pre-Romantic Era, i.e. before 1800

  • Classical Era, 1750–1800
    • Joseph Haydn: Symphonies Nos. 92 and 101 "Clock", Harmoniemesse, Lord Nelson Mass
  • Late Baroque Era, i.e. 1700–1750
  • Early and Middle Baroque Era, i.e. 1600–1700
  • High Renaissance Era, i.e. 1500–1600
  • Medieval Era, i.e. 1000–1400
    • Pérotin: Viderunt omnes, other organa

SOME FAVORITE COMPOSITIONS

ORCHESTRAL MUSIC

Thirty Favorite Symphonies

  1. Walton: Symphony No. 1
  2. Elgar: Symphony No. 1
  3. Korngold: Symphony in F-sharp
  4. Beethoven: Symphony No. 5
  5. Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 5 "Reformation"
  6. Kalinnikov: Symphony No. 1
  7. Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 4
  8. Robert Simpson: Symphony No. 5
  9. Mahler: Symphony No. 6
  10. Tippett: Symphony No. 2
  11. Mahler: Symphony No. 5
  12. Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8
  13. Dvořák: Symphony No. 8
  14. Barber: Symphony No. 1
  15. Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2
  16. Arnold: Symphony No. 5
  17. Alwyn: Symphony No. 3
  18. Bax: Symphony No. 1
  19. Brahms: Symphony No. 1
  20. Britten: Sinfonia da requiem
  21. Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4
  22. Chausson: Symphony in B-flat
  23. Anton Rubinstein: Symphony No. 6
  24. Moeran: Symphony in G minor
  25. Walton: Symphony No. 2
  26. Diamond: Symphony No. 2
  27. Parry: Symphony No. 4
  28. Bruckner: Symphony No. 9
  29. Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5
  30. Sibelius: Symphony No. 7

Ten Favorite Piano Concertos

  1. Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4
  2. Poulenc: Piano Concerto
  3. MacDowell: Piano Concerto No. 2
  4. Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 1
  5. Harty: Piano Concerto
  6. Schumann: Piano Concerto
  7. Ireland: Piano Concerto in E-flat
  8. Gershwin: Piano Concerto in F
  9. Poulenc: Concerto for Two Pianos
  10. Howard Ferguson: Piano Concerto

Ten Favorite Violin Concertos

  1. Korngold: Violin Concerto
  2. Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1
  3. Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1
  4. Barber: Violin Concerto
  5. Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto
  6. William Schuman: Violin Concerto
  7. Harty: Violin Concerto
  8. Walton: Violin Concerto
  9. Brahms: Violin Concerto
  10. Moeran: Violin Concerto

Ten Favorite Cello Concertos

  1. Walton: Cello Concerto
  2. MacMillan: Cello Concerto
  3. Barber: Cello Concerto
  4. Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 1
  5. Dvořák: Cello Concerto
  6. Moeran: Cello Concerto
  7. Finzi: Cello Concerto
  8. Elgar: Cello Concerto
  9. Britten: Cello Symphony
  10. Tchaikovsky: Rococo Variations

Ten Favorite Works for Solo Singer and Orchestra

  1. Britten: Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings
  2. Britten: Our Hunting Fathers
  3. Barber: Knoxville: Summer of 1915
  4. Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde
  5. Walton: A Song for the Lord Mayor's Table
  6. Walton: Anon. in Love

Ten Favorite Shorter Orchestral Works

  1. Walton: Partita for Orchestra
  2. Adams: Lollapalooza
  3. Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis
  4. Respighi: Orchestration of Bach: Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor
  5. Walton: Portsmouth Point
  6. Strauss: Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks
  7. Britten: Four Sea Interludes from "Peter Grimes"
  8. Strauss: Death and Transfiguration
  9. Ives: The Unanswered Question
  10. Rachmaninov: The Isle of the Dead

CHORAL MUSIC

Twenty Favorite Large-Scale Works for Chorus and Orchestra

  1. Walton: Belshazzar's Feast
  2. Britten: War Requiem
  3. Britten: Spring Symphony
  4. Vaughan Williams: Dona nobis pacem
  5. Szymanowski: Stabat mater
  6. Tippett: A Child of Our Time
  7. Duruflé: Requiem
  8. Dyson: The Canterbury Pilgrims
  9. Dvořák: Requiem
  10. Mahler: Symphony No. 8
  11. Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky Cantata
  12. Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem
  13. Bach: St Matthew Passion
  14. Barber: Prayers of Kierkegaard
  15. Lambert: Summer's Last Will and Testament
  16. Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms
  17. Tippett: The Mask of Time
  18. Poulenc: Gloria
  19. Orff: Carmina burana
  20. Vaughan Williams: A Sea Symphony

Twenty Favorite Unaccompanied Choral Works

  1. Walton: Where does the uttered Music go?
  2. Walton: A Litany
  3. Bax: Mater ora filium
  4. Barber: Reincarnations
  5. Mäntyjärvi: Canticum calamitatis maritimae
  6. MacMillan: Christus vincit
  7. Britten: Five Flower Songs
  8. Vaughan Williams: Three Shakespeare Songs
  9. Britten: Hymn to St Cecilia
  10. Badings: Missa antiphonica
  11. Robert Simpson: Tempi
  12. Byrd: Tribue Domine
  13. Copland: In the Beginning
  14. Martin: Mass for double choir
  15. Duruflé: Quatre motets sur der thèmes gregoriens
  16. Poulenc: Quatre motets pour un temps de Noël
  17. Britten: A Boy Was Born
  18. Thompson: Alleluia
  19. Victoria: O magnum mysterium
  20. Bruckner: Virga Jesse

OTHER CLASSICAL MUSIC

Ten Favorite Works of Chamber Music

  1. Walton: String Quartet in A minor
  2. Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 8
  3. Brahms: String Sextet No. 1
  4. Brahms: Piano Quartet in G minor
  5. Schumann: Piano Quintet
  6. Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time
  7. Shostakovich: Piano Quintet
  8. Chausson: Chanson perpétuelle
  9. Barber: Dover Beach

Ten Favorite Works for Solo Piano

  1. Copland: Piano Variations
  2. Alkan: Concerto for Solo Piano
  3. Beethoven: Pathétique Sonata
  4. Beethoven: Moonlight Sonata
  5. Ligeti: Musica ricercata
  6. Alwyn: Fantasy-Waltzes
  7. Bartók: Piano Sonata

Ten Favorite Art Songs and Song-Cycles

  1. Schumann: Dichterliebe
  2. Barber: Nocturne
  3. Vaughan Williams: Songs of Travel
  4. Schubert: Erlkönig
  5. Barber: Three Songs, opus 45
  6. Walton: A Song for the Lord Mayor's Table
  7. Barber: Solitary Hotel
  8. Britten: Folksong arrangements
  9. Walton: Anon. in love
  10. Vaughan Williams: On Wenlock Edge

Ten Favorite Operas

  1. Britten: Peter Grimes
  2. Puccini: La bohème
  3. Adams: Nixon in China
  4. Britten: Billy Budd
  5. Adams: The Death of Klinghoffer
  6. Argento: Postcard from Morocco
  7. Poulenc: Dialogues des Carmélites
  8. Puccini: Turandot
  9. Wagner: Götterdämmerung
  10. Mozart: Don Giovanni

Ten Favorite Film Scores

  1. John Williams: Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back
  2. William Walton: Henry V
  3. John Williams: Star Wars IV: A New Hope
  4. Michael Kamen: The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
  5. John Morris: Clue
  6. John Corigliano: The Red Violin
  7. John Williams: Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi
  8. Ralph Vaughan Williams: Scott of the Antarctic
  9. Cliff Eidelmann: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
  10. Bernard Herrmann: Journey to the Center of the Earth

Ten Favorite Living Composers

  1. James MacMillan
  2. Christopher Rouse
  3. John Adams
  4. Jaakko Mäntyjärvi
  5. Dominick Argento
  6. John McCabe
  7. John Harbison
  8. John Williams
  9. Carl Vine
  10. Henri Dutilleux

Ten Favorite Recent Major Compositions  [at least 15 minutes' duration; composed in the last 20 years, i.e. since 1987]

  1. James MacMillan: Cello Concerto (1996)
  2. James MacMillan: Veni, Veni, Emmanuel (1992)
  3. Christopher Rouse: Der gerettete Alberich (1997)
  4. Christopher Rouse: Concert de Gaudí (1999)
  5. John Adams: Violin Concerto (1993)
  6. James MacMillan: A Scotch Bestiary (2004)
  7. John Adams: Nixon in China (1987)
  8. James MacMillan: Seven Last Words from the Cross (1993)
  9. John Adams: The Death of Klinghoffer (1991)
  10. Carl Vine: Symphony No. 3 (1990)

Ten Favorite Recent Choral Compositions  [without orchestra, and also since 1987]

  1. Jaakko Mäntyjärvi: Canticum calamitatis maritimae (1997)
  2. James MacMillan: Christus vincit (1994)
  3. Thomas Adès: The Fayrfax Carol (1997)
  4. James MacMillan: Cantos Sagrados (1989)
  5. Kirke Mechem: Island in Space (1990)
  6. Peter Winkler: Requiem aeternam (2001)
  7. Dominick Argento: Everyone Sang (1991)
  8. Roupen Shakarian: Other Voices (2002)
  9. Moses Hogan: The Battle of Jericho (1996)
  10. Dominick Argento: Spirituals and Swedish Chorales (1994)

MY FAVORITE MUSICIANS

Ten Favorite Living Orchestral Conductors

  1. Sir Charles Mackerras
  2. Claudio Abbado
  3. Michael Tilson Thomas
  4. Sir John Eliot Gardiner
  5. Vernon Handley
  6. Richard Hickox
  7. André Previn
  8. Leonard Slatkin
  9. Neeme Järvi
  10. Andrew Litton

Ten Favorite Living Choral Conductors

  1. Eric Ericson
  2. Stephen Layton
  3. Sir John Eliot Gardiner
  4. Dale Warland
  5. Stefan Parkman
  6. Paul Spicer
  7. David Hill
  8. Laurence Equilbey
  9. Peter Phillips
  10. Charles Bruffy

Ten Favorite Historical Conductors

  1. Carlos Kleiber
  2. Leonard Bernstein
  3. George Szell
  4. Sir Georg Solti
  5. Eugene Ormandy
  6. Sir Adrian Boult
  7. Charles Munch
  8. Karl Böhm
  9. Bruno Walter
  10. Sir John Barbirolli

Ten Favorite Orchestras

  1. Vienna Philharmonic
  2. Berlin Philharmonic
  3. London Philharmonic Orchestra
  4. San Francisco Symphony
  5. New York Philharmonic
  6. Boston Symphony Orchestra
  7. Chicago Symphony Orchestra
  8. BBC Symphony Orchestra
  9. London Symphony Orchestra
  10. Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

Ten Favorite Living Singers

  1. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone
  2. Placido Domingo, tenor
  3. Philip Langridge, tenor
  4. Sir Thomas Allen, baritone
  5. Heather Harper, soprano

Ten Favorite Living Instrumentalists

  1. Hilary Hahn, violin
  2. Emanuel Ax, piano
  3. Yo-Yo Ma, cello
  4. Lynn Harrell, cello
  5. Joshua Bell, violin

Ten Favorite Choirs

  1. BBC Singers
  2. Netherlands Chamber Choir
  3. Polyphony
  4. Chœur du Chambre Accentus
  5. Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
  6. Monteverdi Choir
  7. The Sixteen
  8. Holst Singers
  9. Dale Warlard Singers (ensemble now defunct)
  10. RIAS Chamber Choir

Ten Favorite Early Music Ensembles

  1. The Tallis Scholars
  2. The Sixteen
  3. Orlando Consort
  4. The Hilliard Ensemble
  5. Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists
  6. Huelgas Ensemble

Ten Favorite Popular Music Artists

  1. Billy Joel
  2. Tom Lehrer  (Does he count as "popular" music?)
  3. ... uh... The Beatles, I guess
  4. ... hmmmm..... yeah, I think that's about it.  I'm a snob.

BOOKS AND AUTHORS

FICTION

Five Favorite Authors

  1. Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None [probably my favorite book], Murder on the Orient Express, etc., etc., etc....
  2. E. M. Forster: Room with a View, Where Angels Fear to Tread, Howard's End, Maurice
  3. Douglas Adams: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency series
  4. Katherine Mansfield: short stories
  5. J. K. Rowling: the Harry Potter series

Five Favorite Books by Other Authors

  1. The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
  2. The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco
  3. The Portrait of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde
  4. The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand
  5. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, by Carson McCullers

NON-FICTION

Five Favorite Books on History

  1. Endurance, by Alfred Lansing – also my favorite book on Antarctica (see below)
  2. Act of Creation, by Stephen C. Schlesinger – about the founding of the United Nations
  3. The Mapmakers, by John Noble Wilford – about the diverse history of cartography
  4. The Professor and the Madman, by Simon Winchester – about the beginnings of the Oxford English Dictionary
  5. pretty girl in crimson rose (8), by Sandy Balfour – more autobiography than history, but that's where I file it

Five Favorite Books on Music

  1. Michael Steinberg's compilations of program notes: The Symphony, The Concerto, and Choral Masterworks
  2. Portrait of Walton, by Michael Kennedy
  3. The Selected Letters of William Walton, edited by Malcolm Hayes
  4. Testimony: The Memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich, edited (or perhaps mostly authored) by Solomon Volkov
  5. What We Really Do, by Peter Phillips

Five Favorite Books on Antarctica

  1. Endurance, by Alfred Lansing – the most gripping re-telling of Shackleton's most famous expedition
  2. The Worst Journey in the World, by Apsley Cherry-Gerrard – about aspects of the fatal Scott expedition
  3. Terra Incognita, by Sara Wheeler – a writer's travelogue
  4. Antarctica, by Kim Stanley Robinson – ok, this is technically fiction, but, hey, oh well
  5. Waiting to Fly, by Ron Naveen – about being a professional penguin-counter

ENTERTAINMENT

FILMS

Five Favorite Comedies

  1. Clue
  2. Groundhog Day
  3. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
  4. Silent Movie
  5. Animal Crackers

Five Favorite Dramas

  1. Amadeus
  2. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
  3. The Bridge on the River Kwai
  4. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
  5. The Remains of the Day

Five Favorite Science Fiction Films

  1. Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back
  2. Serenity
  3. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
  4. Star Trek IV: The Voyager Home
  5. Star Wars IV: A New Hope

TELEVISION

Five Favorite Comedy Programs

  1. Whose Line Is It, Anyway?, both British and American versions
  2. Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister
  3. Fawlty Towers
  4. The Simpsons
  5. Friends

Five Favorite Science Fiction Programs (and the like)

  1. Star Trek (especially Voyager and Next Generation)
  2. Battlestar Galactica (the current version)
  3. Firefly
  4. Doctor Who (the current version)
  5. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (and Angel)

Favorite Non-Fiction Programs (well, mostly non-fiction)

  1. The Colbert Report
  2. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
  3. Mythbusters
  4. Jeopardy!

OTHER ENTERTAINMENT

RADIO

THEATER

SPORTS

TRAVEL

"Been There" - Top Five Destinations So Far

  1. London, my favorite city anywhere
  2. Ischia, an island in the Bay of Naples
  3. Kangaroo Island, three hours south of Adelaide, Australia
  4. Salisbury, England
  5. Estonia

"Not Yet" - Top Ten Spots I Haven't Been to Yet

  1. Antarctica, any and all of it, but especially the South Pole and McMurdo Station
  2. more of England, especially Cornwall, Devon, Oxford, Canterbury, and the great cathedrals
  3. Scandinavia, especially Stockholm, Copenhagen, and the Norwegian fjords
  4. Scotland and Ireland
  5. Saint Petersburg
  6. Prague
  7. Egypt, though not until/if the Middle East calms somewhat
  8. Galapagos Islands
  9. Disneyland (it's been fourteen years since my last visit, and I'm told it's a completely different place)
  10. Chicago

Top Five Spots in the Seattle Area

  1. Woodland Park Zoo
  2. Port Townsend, great for a getaway
  3. Olympic Sculpture Park, newly opened in January 2007
  4. Space Needle, especially for dinner with a view
  5. Seattle Art Museum, recently re-opened

SEATTLE

MISC. LINKS

MUSIC IN SEATTLE

ORCHESTRAL ENSEMBLES

CHORAL ENSEMBLES

OTHER MUSIC

OPERA

BALLET

CHAMBER MUSIC

VENUES

OTHER LINKS

MUSIC

Best online sources to purchase recordings

Best online sources to purchase scores

Choral Resources

Musicology

Music Reference

Music Magazines

Misc. Music

UNITED NATIONS and related resources

MISC. LINKS

INTERNET SERVICES

REFERENCE

SOME INTERESTING SITES

MY FAVORITE WIKIPEDIA PAGES

  1. Recent Deaths, which I check far too often to be healthy
  2. Tunguska event – Cosmic trouble afoot in 1908 Siberia...
  3. Presidents of the United States by Religion – Check out Lincoln for a possible surprise!
  4. Better Know a District, from The Colbert Report
  5. Kangaroo Island, where Marnie and I honeymooned in November 2006
  6. Trans-Neptunian Object, presently the astronomical bodies which I find most fascinating
  7. Charles Joseph Minard, creator of what is probably the greatest graph in human history
  8. Hubble Ultra-Deep Field, which picture is also my computer desktop image
  9. William Walton, the article which I have contributed to most extensively
  10. List of Members of the Order of Merit – But first, guess which five composers are included!

MY FAVORITE WORDS

  1. phenolphthalein – How often does one find the "phth" combination!?
  2. bavard – a French adjective describing one who talks incessantly, derived from the term for the foam developing around the mouth of a rabid, barking dog
  3. passenge – not a word yet, but it should be... after all, what does a passenger do?
  4. arachibutyrophobia – the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth.  Seriously.  There's a word for everything, it seems.
  5. flabbergast – 'cuz it's fun to say
  6. dagnabbit – see "flabbergast"
  7. "Oprah", as spoken by James Earl Jones – see David Letterman's "Top Ten Words That Sound Great When Spoken by James Early Jones", January 5, 1994 [Unfortunately, the link near the bottom of this page seems dysfunctional.]
  8. Qatar – Ah, the "q", but no "u"... plus geographically interesting!
  9. debris – It looks/sounds so hoity-toity, but then consider its meaning.
  10. non-stick – because it rocks

MY FAVORITE YouTube VIDEOS

  1. Carlton Draught's "Big Ad" – not as good quality as the original, but it'll do.
  2. Rachmaninov had big hands, courtesy of Igudesman and Joo.
  3. Dudley Moore creates a Britten/Pears-style setting of "Little Miss Muffet" from the 1960's stage revue "Beyond the Fringe".
  4. Stephen Colbert's speech at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, part 1 and part 2 – proof that at least Scalia has a sense of humor
  5. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert present an award at the '06 Emmys.
  6. And while you're at it, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert present at the '07 Emmys too.

HUMOR

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