Text 17356, 158 rader
Skriven 2014-09-25 10:46:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av NANCY BACKUS
Ärende: institutions 998
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 Pretension doesn't seem to be as big a thing
 NB> here... just folks that genuinely made good... 

I'm not so sure, having done some reading. Turns out
RPO fired the music director who did the women composers
thing, and the 2014 season looks deader than anything
Boston put together since the late 19th century. I also
note that the conductors RPO has been hiring tend in the
swivel-hipped pretty boy direction. Trouble in paradise.

 ML>> What's the financial condition of RPO?
 NB>> I don't know to what extent recording revenues play into the RPO's
 NB>> finances... they do still make some recordings, I think maybe less
 NB>> than they have in the past, but I don't know if they've been depending
 NB>> on them for revenue so much as wanting to preserve certain touchpoints
 NB>> of their existence..  :) 

And reading indicates that the orchestra lost $746K last
year, a big gulp. As a result, the current season, well,
it's so homogenized that I couldn't see me going to
listen even if I were in town and the concerts were free.

 ML> Of course the BSO with its big RCA Victor and then Philips/DG
 ML> contracts was a big loser in the decline of serious music and
 ML> the (latest) technological revolution and has struggled to make
 ML> up the loss, especially to its pension fund.
 NB> There may also be more of a symbiosis with Eastman School of Music

There was, but I think the musicians' union being what
it is, that symbiosis can't be what it once was when
Howard Hanson was the driving force.

 NB> (and thereby also somewhat UR)... From what little I know, I think that
 NB> RPO's pension fund is likely funded other than by recording revenues...
 NB> In any case, there's a lot of cooperation between groups and entities
 NB> here... 
 NB>> I'm also not involved with any of the arts
 NB>> funding groups here, but from the little I see of the "supported by
 NB>> grants froms" notices, it would appear that there's fairly even
 NB>> funding being handed out to large and small alike...  Perhaps there's
 NB>> more sponsorship of smaller groups by larger organizations, such as
 NB>> museums hosting smaller chamber groups, etc...   :) 

It's hard to tell, as I don't have access to the numbers
of the big guys. I may have given you the wrong impression
- our current tendency is to fund smaller groups and let
the big guys fend for themselves. This may in the short
run liven the littl'uns but might hasten the demise of
the adults.

 NB> Sounds like there's a different dynamic at work in funding there vs
 NB> here... even so, one can't always fund everything that could be
 NB> worthy... or, from an individual's point of view, support all worthy
 NB> organizations... one does have to pick and choose, and hope that
 NB> someone else is picking up the slack on the others...  

Sadly, we're among the leaders now - we were the leader
in the 1840s to when the BSO was founded in I think 1881,
but then our role became ceremonial. Now there are fewer
organizations to take up the slack, and we're one of the
only actually healthy funding institutions in New England.

 ML> figures. That might have been a considerable incentive for me
 ML> to get my act together, but for the fact that I didn't want to
 ML> practice, didn't want the musical version of a desk job, and
 ML> thought I didn't need the money. As I've said before, my friends
 ML> envied my freedom, and I envied their financial stability. It's
 ML> still that way pretty much.
 NB> Do you have m/any regrets at this point...?  

Not until I go bankrupt, and I hope that doesn't happen
until permanent unconsciousness comes.

 NB> Possible.  I don't have the contacts I used to have... they've all
 NB> moved on to different orchestras or to different fields... so I don't
 NB> know if salaries have kept pace... I'd suspect though that, like the
 NB> BSO, they didn't raise salaries much, in order to try to keep things
 NB> afloat all these years, especially during the leaner years... 

From various sources:
      RPO   BSO
2005 36100
2007 37630 118040
2009 42000
2010       112840
2011       132028
2013 44070
2014 40600 122720

You'll notice that there was some earthshaking in the
last couple years.
 
 ML> while back then that was as much as
 ML> doctors and lawyers made, as well as perhaps the bottom rung of
 ML> major-league sports players, now any Cisco-certified computer
 ML> technician can make that much or more.
 NB> And now, doctors and lawyers and major-league sports players make far
 NB> more... dunno about some of the peons... Richard never went above the
 NB> high five figures at Kodak, although many of the management were six
 NB> (and above)...

I never made anywhere close to the high fives, but I was
never all that focused on that kind of do-re-mi. I was
making in the tens and some of my friends were well into
the sixes, and they envied me more than I envied them.

 Of course, that was some years ago now... but as well
 NB> since then Kodak went through bankruptcy so probably feels justified
 NB> in paying less to the few employees they've kept...

The rapine of establishments in favor of short-term
gain changed the financial structure of our country
and seriously for the worse in my opinion. Didn't that
wonderful Mr. Marx say something about capitalism
carrying within itself the seeds of its own destruction?
It appears to be true, perhaps truer than he thought,
but in a different way than he thought.

Biscotti fiorentini
cat: Tuscan, Italian, cookies
yield: 12 oz

50 g butter
20 g cream
60 g fine sugar
50 g candied orange peel
35 g flour
salt
30 g hazelnuts
30 g slivered almonds
80 g couverture

Bring the butter, sugar, and cream to a boil over low heat
in a saucepan, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

Chop the dried fruit and orange zest and add to the cream
mixture. Mix in flour and a pinch of salt

Cver a baking sheet with parchment paper and drop the
mixture, widely spaced, in mounds with a tablespoon or
teaspoon (depending on how big you want them). They will
spread quite a bit.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180C/350F for about 10 min
or until the edges of the cookies are browned. Cool on a
wire rack.

Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in the microwave or in a
double boiler. Brush one side of each cookie with
chocolate and let harden, then with a fork or a pastry
bag with a small tip) draw a pattern of lines on the
other side and let harden. These may be kept for several
days in a tin box.

http://www.ricettemania.it
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