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08-06-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
decoud
United Kingdom
Posts 247
Joined on 03-01-2008

Post #: 26
Post ID: 19836
Reply to: 19835
Expertise
fiogf49gjkf0d
Having lived in London for many years, and having been to most of the best restaurants here I can confidently say the Michelin guide is as good a guide to restaurants as Stereophile magazine (say) is to audio components. 
08-06-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
de charlus
Posts 94
Joined on 06-11-2013

Post #: 27
Post ID: 19837
Reply to: 19836
Food in London
fiogf49gjkf0d
There is that, but I cannot recollect having been to a 3* restaurant and it having been crap. That said, whilst all that precision and pretty presentation is all well and good, the sort of food that I now enjoy tends to be of the comfort variety, or unmolested by chefs determined to bend ingredients to their will instead of letting them sing of themselves. A friend of mine is head chef at Balthazar London - French bistro-style food done rather well - and I can heartily recommend that, especially as my best pal runs the bar there with great skill and invention, the "legendary" Brian Silva. Gordon Ramsay - the real Gordon Ramsay, at Royal Hospital Road in Chelsea - has never been less than stunning on my many visits. Back to comfort food though; there's a pub just off Berkeley Square called The Guinea Fowl, which does pies - steak and kidney, steak and mushroom etc - with new potatoes really, really well, and there's also Rules in Covent Garden, game specialists who have their own estate and really do a stunning, ultra-traditional take on classic British food. Also, there's the Pollen St Social, St. John, Hedone, The Ledbury, but best of all, IMHO, are The Fat Duck at Bray (beautiful location too) for classic fine dining, and Dinner, by Heston Blumenthal, which is more on the modern side of things. I defy anyone to get a bad meal out of any of those restaurants. One thing that you might do is go for lunch at Home House; it's a members club, of which I am one, but the restaurant operates as a restaurant at lunchtimes; as dining rooms go, there's simply nowhere more exquisite in town, the frescoes and paintings beautifully hung on the towering walls. Oh, and the wine list is beyond reproach, since I created it.
08-06-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Paul S
San Diego, California, USA
Posts 2,570
Joined on 10-12-2006

Post #: 28
Post ID: 19838
Reply to: 19836
Haggis
fiogf49gjkf0d
In the fall in S. Germany, "federweiss" (fresh, cloudy white wine) is the local thing, but I hope no one would go to all the way to Munich for food.  Of course, they have all sorts of "foreign" food restaurants, so the natives can eat something besides Bratwurst, etc.; but the most interesting villages cleave to local, traditional fare.  The idea I keep having, and never following through on, is to make a special effort to hear the many "radio" orchestras, etc. that (somehow...) also seem to produce that remarkable "regional" tone, along with amazingly consistent quality of play.  Same with CZ, for that matter.  And, as everyone knows, any "touring" orchestra is a crap shoot, no matter how great it is at its best.

Funny but true, the friendliest people we've met in Munich, proper, were invariably Swiss.

Nice modern art museum, though...

Best regards,
Paul S
08-06-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
de charlus
Posts 94
Joined on 06-11-2013

Post #: 29
Post ID: 19839
Reply to: 19838
Germany & disaster
fiogf49gjkf0d
Yes, I did not find Munich to be an epicure's wet-dream, which is a shame since there's so much else about it that's good. Same thing about Frankfurt, except in that case it's even more frustrating since so much good wine comes from near there, since it's on the Rhine. I'll never forget Frankfurt for other reasons though; I was in a meeting with some other wine buyers and producers when, all of a sudden, all our telephones started ringing. Of course, everyone pressed "Ignore" and continued with the meeting; the calls kept coming, with even greater urgency, so in the end I was the one to answer - 9/11 had just happened, and the rather hyperbolic colleague in London who was relaying the news thought that WW3 must be starting. I of course toned it down a bit before informing my colleagues, but we cut the meeting short, and I just made it back to the hotel bar to see the 2nd plane hit. I was trapped in Frankfurt for a few days, had more than my fill of the various "wursts", lots of nice wine and a growing sense of impending doom. Not one of my better journeys...

de Charlus
08-25-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,049
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 30
Post ID: 19981
Reply to: 19329
Free concert tickets in London
fiogf49gjkf0d
Hey, Londoners’, we have change some of our traveling arrangements and we will be hitting only Bruckner.  The September 1 and 2 we will be out of London and therefore we have 3 pairs of tickets to give up. The concerts are:

Proms: Arvo Part / Britten / Berlioz / Saint Saens on Sunday 1 September, evening by Orchestre de Paris and Paavo Järvi.

Proms: Tchaikovsky / Szymanowski / Rachmaninov on Monday 2 September evening by Oslo Philharmonic and Vasily Petrenko .

Proms Chamber Music on Monday 2 September 2013 at Cadogan Hall on 1:00PM.


The tickets are free and will be given to any site member who has home at least one feline or willing to feed at least 3 times any homeless Cat at your neighborhood.

The caT


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
08-29-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,049
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 31
Post ID: 19988
Reply to: 19328
What a wonderfully city!
fiogf49gjkf0d
London is very fine but the Londoners are even better! I really enjoy to people watching here in London. People behave so different in here and in a way so much freer from thos stupid hung ups that so much oppress unfortunate Americans!


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
08-29-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
N-set
Gdansk, Poland
Posts 609
Joined on 01-07-2006

Post #: 32
Post ID: 19989
Reply to: 19988
Barcelona
fiogf49gjkf0d
 Romy the Cat wrote:
London is very fine but the Londoners are even better! I really enjoy to people watching here in London. People behave so different in here and in a way so much freer from thos stupid hung ups that so much oppress unfortunate Americans!


I highly recommend Barcelona, my ex home city, for that! Esp. districts of Raval and Gracia.
Salut!
N-set



Cheers,
Jarek
STACORE
08-29-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,049
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 33
Post ID: 19990
Reply to: 19328
Wow! What a concert!
fiogf49gjkf0d
Wow, what an unexpectadly wonderfull concert! The Peter Eotvos  vailine concerto was super refreshing and the Bruckner 7 by Philharmonia Orchestra and Esa-Pekka Salonen was fantastic. I wish the RAH had better accustics however..... 


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
08-30-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
decoud
United Kingdom
Posts 247
Joined on 03-01-2008

Post #: 34
Post ID: 19991
Reply to: 19990
Circumstantials
fiogf49gjkf0d
"I wish the RAH had better accustics however..... "
Yes, one reason I tend to listen to the Proms on Radio 3, despite living a stone's throw away. But at least you escaped the heat that was suffocating performances earlier in the summer.
08-30-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,049
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 35
Post ID: 19992
Reply to: 19991
Might I have it?
fiogf49gjkf0d
decoud, it was hot and miserable in the Albert Hall. BTW, if you did listen it life AND perhaps recorded it live, both Eotvos and Bruckner than can you make a copy of it for me. We will be 3 days in London next week and I would pick it up as our hotel is 2 blocks from Albert Hall.


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
08-30-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
guy sergeant
United Kingdom
Posts 260
Joined on 08-03-2004

Post #: 36
Post ID: 19993
Reply to: 19992
Re Broadcast on tuesday.
fiogf49gjkf0d
That prom is to be broadcast again on BBC Radio 3 on tuesday 3rd September at 2pm. I'll try to record it but it will only be 16/44 to my CD recorder.

Although you can listen to all of it (in 2 episodes) on the BBC iPlayer now for a further week or so.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007v097/episodes/guide
08-30-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,049
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 37
Post ID: 19994
Reply to: 19990
Well, I did not kill myself…. Yet.
fiogf49gjkf0d
After visit Living Voice’s Kevin in Nottingham (who turner out to be surprisingly nice and interesting fellow) and a attending spectacular Hamlet production in Stratford-upon-Avon we are embarking in 5 day trip across south of England across Canterbury, Dover, Salisbury, Bath, Cardiff, Stonehenge, Oxford or Cambridge, Wales and god know how many other British towns. I hope we did not kill outsell driving before we get back in London next week for more Bruckner.
 


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
08-30-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
decoud
United Kingdom
Posts 247
Joined on 03-01-2008

Post #: 38
Post ID: 19995
Reply to: 19992
Void
fiogf49gjkf0d
Sadly I have no ADC set up, and the digital replay BBC3 offer is of course lossy, 128 kbps aac, I think, though the repeat broadcast should be ok. 
08-30-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
guy sergeant
United Kingdom
Posts 260
Joined on 08-03-2004

Post #: 39
Post ID: 19996
Reply to: 19994
Vox Olympians
fiogf49gjkf0d
Kevin is good company. A shame you didn't spend an evening at home with him. Usually some nice cigars & whiskies to enjoy there!

How did you find the 'shop' and the speakers?

Oxford is well worth a visit.
08-30-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,049
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 40
Post ID: 19997
Reply to: 19993
Meow!!!
fiogf49gjkf0d
Guy, please, please, please records it. The 16/44 is fine as long you do not edit the file. You can ftp it to my server. I am not familiar with BBC iPlayer as I do not know how to save it. decoud, 128 kbps is better then nothing and it would be fun to have it. I hope then release it later on CD or DVD.


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
08-30-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,049
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 41
Post ID: 19998
Reply to: 19996
Surprisingly pleasant feeling.
fiogf49gjkf0d
 guy sergeant wrote:
How did you find the 'shop' and the speakers?
The shop and the speakers were fine, pretty much at pair what I expected. I would like do not share my observations about Vox Olympians performance or Sound.  All that I will say is that the most controversial subject of the Vox Olympians - the “ridicules” tweeters thatOlympians has turned our sounding VERY reasonable.

I did not have surprises how Olympians sound; based upon the topology it was very predictable. What did surprised me is that Kevin himself was actually was able to communicate about sound and his ideas about sound not at the level of a typical industry speaker builder or a level of typical stupid DIY. It was actually interesting to listen him – something that not frequently happened as Kevin did not recited the online quoits or audio bumper-stickers that all of them all do not understand themselves. Instead Kevin demonstrated own independent thinking and was perfectly cable to verbalize own sonic objectives and own ideas how he is trying to render his thoughts by audio methods - it was very pleasant to hear. I will be happy to play him my listening room if he fined himself in Boston and I hope he will find it illustrative to the topological and implementation ideas that I pitched. I do not expend invitation to accidental audio people but I feel Kevin would understand what is going on in my room and I think that it is worth to play interesting music for him as he is able to discriminate results.

The Cat


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
08-31-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
decoud
United Kingdom
Posts 247
Joined on 03-01-2008

Post #: 42
Post ID: 20000
Reply to: 19997
Acquired
fiogf49gjkf0d
I have the iplayer recording, 320kbps: if you'd like it let me know where to upload it, or if you want to drop by to pick it up: I am in Kensington Court, opposite the Royal Garden Hotel, which cannot be far from where you are staying. 
08-31-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,049
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 43
Post ID: 20002
Reply to: 20000
Great
fiogf49gjkf0d
 decoud wrote:
I have the iplayer recording, 320kbps: if you'd like it let me know where to upload it, or if you want to drop by to pick it up: I am in Kensington Court, opposite the Royal Garden Hotel, which cannot be far from where you are staying. 
yep, thank you. I would certainly. Would lik to have. I will be next week in London, Thursday for B4 upto Friday B8. I migh drop by to pick up the file as we will be staing in the same  Hotel near Gloucester and Hyde park gate. However, if it possibly then it would be fun to record the B8 as well. As I get home on Sept 13 we will figur out how to upload it.... Thank you very much.


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
08-31-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
decoud
United Kingdom
Posts 247
Joined on 03-01-2008

Post #: 44
Post ID: 20003
Reply to: 20002
Recordings
fiogf49gjkf0d
No problem: acquiring the bbc iplayer streams is easy: just have no evolved FM recording. I'll send you an email with contact details in case you drop by. 
08-31-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
de charlus
Posts 94
Joined on 06-11-2013

Post #: 45
Post ID: 20004
Reply to: 19997
Oxford
fiogf49gjkf0d
Romy,

I'm so glad that you're enjoying your trip. Now, this is a rather partisan recommendation since I spent the better part of my youth there, but Oxford is truly a wonderful city for a visit; the disparate but wonderful architecture of the various colleges really needs to be seen, and there's lots of good food to be had. Also, when I was there the chamber music scene was very lively, and I have no reason to suppose that this has changed; you will surely find much to enjoy there.

de Charlus
08-31-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,049
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 46
Post ID: 20005
Reply to: 20004
From northern Welsh.
fiogf49gjkf0d
Well, we are planning one day trip from London to Oxford next week. Minwhile, the UK we saw so far is kind of strange. The great museums of London did not do a lot to me, to huge Amy's desapoitment. The concertilized tacky crap of Warwick Castle and Shakespeare museum was literally revolting. The country side on Englang, the little villages  not yet conquested but ugly MBA administration were fenominaly pleasant however. I was made scared by friends before the trip that the British cuisine is garage - what a foolishness !!! We eat like horses, mostly local, and I love each second of it. About the greatest discoveries that I had so far was not the England itself however but the truly stunning  expireance I had being exposed to first in my life production of Hamlet in English. It was truly lighting strike delivered by very good production of Royal Shakespeare Company.  I have seen Hamlet live only years back in Russia but absolutely nothing prepare you to the mind - impact that this thig has in English. The expressionism of  language is truly  standing and I was absolutely mesmerized. Why we do not do out paybacks to sound so consise and so expressive as Shakespeare expresinism is?


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
09-01-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
de charlus
Posts 94
Joined on 06-11-2013

Post #: 47
Post ID: 20006
Reply to: 20005
Purity of the Bard
fiogf49gjkf0d
Yes, Hamlet by the RSC can be a truly seminal experience in the original English; every academic I know working in literature thinks that their particular field is superior to all others "with the obvious exception of Hamlet". Shakespeare gets to the very nucleus of the human experience and expresses what he finds there in images of the first intensity; no excess, no unnecessary verbosity, no sense of strain, all this rendered still more remarkable by the fact that he was working within the strictures of iambic pentameter and blank verse, strictures serving to suffuse the work with an inner musicality without ever overplaying the fact. That the existential torments of a medieval Danish Prince retain the potency to render many persons of taste and intellect practically speechless to this very day well demonstrates the universality of the Bard's matchless understanding of the human condition. I suppose that the dichotomy between poetry/prose and music is that music is entirely open to the interpretation of he/she who hears it, while the likes of Hamlet does not lend itself to personal ambiguity of purpose on the part of the audience, the alinguistic quality that is both the boon and relative drawback of music being quite the opposite. Language is our most unambiguous mode of expression, and when honed to the pitch of perfection that is Hamlet, sensations are kindled within us with a great, almost surgical precision that leaves our minds reeling in the staggering realization that we have been known.
I'm absolutely delighted that you got to see this, and have found so much else to enjoy in my home country. It is excellent that you've decided to see some of the "real" England too; the exquisite little towns and villages one finds scattered about the Home Counties exist as much as living history as functioning communities, and unlike Warwick Castle, you are likely to be warmly welcomed by real people. Oh, and as you've discovered, the food thing is either a myth, or recalls times long forgotten; excellent food, locally sourced, can be found practically anywhere in the country as long as you don't mind a little rusticity with your fare. It's a shame about the great London museums though, but then, I've long wondered how tourists can derive any pleasure or knowledge from such overwhelmingly large collections; locals can simply visit for a couple of hours here, a couple there, and over a lifetime gain an appreciation for the unimaginably great art treasures of England. For those who have only a few days in London, people tend to become quickly overwhelmed, everything becomes a blur, and many then simply act Japanese, ie taking photographs with their spouse next to every legendary artwork they come across, then moving on to the next one without even really looking at anything. Still, they're good if you have an overwhelming desire to see something specific.

Regards

de Charlus
09-01-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,049
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 48
Post ID: 20007
Reply to: 20006
Theat was great.
fiogf49gjkf0d
 de charlus wrote:
Yes, Hamlet by the RSC can be a truly seminal experience in the original English.... inner musicality without ever overplaying the fact. 
yes, this inner musicality, not even musicality but rather some devilish rhythmic  structure with absolutely overpowering intellectual load and aesthetic beautify.  If I read Shakespeare I do not get this devilish hypnotic rhythmic rocking. When I have seen others did it they did not dit it proporly as the did not have that amazing  balance of drama, authority, playfulness, ease and  suprimcy. the guys from the RSC had that all and I NEVER heard any English like this in my life. I was really really out there....


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
09-01-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
decoud
United Kingdom
Posts 247
Joined on 03-01-2008

Post #: 49
Post ID: 20008
Reply to: 20005
Cambridge...
fiogf49gjkf0d
... is more interesting than Oxford, its fine civilisation less unattractively posterized  by those more in awe of it than able to add to it; there is a purity in its otherworldly charm that makes Oxford feel cheaply meretricious by comparison. Shame it is not easy to go from one to the other bypassing London - there was once a connecting trainline but it has been dead for half a century.   
09-03-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,049
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 50
Post ID: 20009
Reply to: 20008
The UK gallop
fiogf49gjkf0d
Our England and Welsh gallop of hunting for castles and cathedrals is over total with visiting the Canterbury Cathedral and returning back to London for Bruckner 4. To my surprise among the all spectacles that I saw the Snowdonia Natinal Park impressed me the most, we actually drove all the way through it. The Snowdonia hills are not pretty and in fact they are empty and but ugly. Still in all their emptiness and non-expressiveness they are beateful in own strange way.... It would be fun to walk over the Snowdonia hills, talk to the sheepskin, smoke pipes, live in the slower time and different sense of denension....


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
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