Two Words, One Answer.
mysterious death
 Into The Light: Symphonic Expressions Of The Spirit $17.98 I'm only reviewing the track which pertains to the performance of Hovhaness' "Mysterious Mountain" symphony on this CD. This performance is very tight and nicely balanced. Unfortunately, this work (which was Hovhaness' Magnum opus) lends itself best to thinking outside the box. For a notably superior "Mysterious Mountain," (in terms of an artful rendition) you'll find this memorable performance and recording to be the most articulate of them all: Hovhaness: Mysterious Mountain. Still, Conductor Lopez-Cobos has his great moments in this instance, chiefly towards the conclusion of the work which is the most emotive that I've heard to date. And the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra was at its best on this one as well. So I can still heartily recommend Lopez-Cobos' worthy version of this terrific composition. I'm a huge fan of the late Alan Hovhaness and if you enjoy "Mysterious Mountain" then you'll almost certainly savor this one, (in spite of the horrific slime green cover!): Music of Alan Hovhaness: Saint Vartan Symphony; Artik.  Journal: The Short Life and Mysterious Death of Amy Zoe Mason $23.00 I have to say, I was quite disappointed in this book. It is a beautiful book -- a quick flip through the pages promises a fun mystery with tons of places to hide a variety of clues. Unfortunately, the pages don't actually deliver on these promises and once I finished, I couldn't help wishing I could ask for my time back. On the plus side, it only took a short while to go through and, as I mentioned before, the pages are quite lovely. I feel like the Atkinson sisters had a great idea with this book but were unable to follow through to tie-in the story and the technique. I glanced at the user rating for this book here on Amazon and was quite surprised to see that it has been given 4 out of 5 stars with 38 reviews. I'm going to have to go flip through the reviews now to see if perhaps I've missed something monumental...(alas, no).  The Mysterious Death of Mary Rogers: Sex and Culture in Nineteenth-Century New York (Studies in the History of Sexuality) $24.95 I think this is one of those academic, publish-or-perish things which find their way into print every now and again. The writer seems to be trying to win the approval of some feminist womans-studies coterie on campus. Thus, opposition to promiscuity is 'prudish' and 'patriarchal', suggestions by journalists that it is unwise for single females to wander certain areas alone is 'misogynist', and so on. It goes on to say restricting abortion can only be a conspiracy against women, never mind that all the 19th century feminists, without exception, favored it's restriction, most notabaly Susan B. Anthony. And, despite thousands of years of human experience, there can never be any good reason to be against promiscuity, only irrational rants by prudish, patriarchal misogyny. And of course, fear of Women's Sexuality. Essentialy, anyone at any time who was opposed to anything the modern version of feminism wants, only did so from low or irrational motives. If the author knew what the arguments were (and are) for modesty, chastity, domestic life, stopping abortion and being opposed to prostitution, and then argued against them, this would have been a different and better book, As it is , if she does know them, there is no sign of it here; assertions are made about things, documentation is provided about the things, but no discussion of the assertions is done at all. Essential reading for your next community-college class on "The Social Erection of Phallocentric Gender Identity". People who want to expand their thinking beyond this particular smelly little orthodoxy, on the other hand, will want to give it a miss. |
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