On Mon, 14 May 2012 22:48:33 -0700, Kevin Wampler wrote:

> On 5/14/2012 7:05 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> On Mon, 14 May 2012 18:28:00 -0700, Kevin Wampler wrote:
>>
>>  (we have a neighbor who's a violin maker who works on
>> instruments for a few members of the Utah Symphony).
> 
> Am I then correct in my assumption that you're an athiest who lives in
> Salt Lake City?  If so, how is that?  The other non-Mormons who I know
> who live there sometimes seem a little frustrated.  (Feel free not to
> answer if too personal/inflammatory for a semi-public setting like
> this).

You are correct in your assumption.  It's not bad, but we want to move to 
Portland (our son graduated from the University of Utah last year, and he 
and his girlfriend are moving to a place in town in July if all goes to 
plan).

We're actually in the downtown area, so being an atheist (but not really 
"out" per se to our neighbors) isn't bad.  Working in Utah County can be 
interesting, but I've got a number of good friends who are members of the 
church.

Sometimes when I get together with lunch with more than one of them, 
though, the talk turns to what's going on in their respective wards, 
which isn't of as much interest to me as what's going on with them.  But 
it's one of the side effects of being in this kind of culture.

It also can be frustrating as Utah is a place with the highest incidence 
of scams (and successful scammers).  It's an interesting correlation.

But I've had some really good philosophical discussions with my former 
boss (who's a good friend as well).  It can be difficult to find someone 
who's secure enough in their beliefs that they're willing to have a 
discussion that has the potential to challenge those beliefs, but in the 
instances where I have, the discussions have been very good.

>> I played in the Greater Twin Cities' Youth Symphonies in Minneapolis as
>> a kid - and toured the USSR in 1988 with the orchestra.
> 
> That's awesome!

It's one of the best memories I have of growing up. :)  We played mostly 
American music, though there was a Bartok violin concerto that a sub-
group performed, and a few other things (like "Moscow Nights").  But lots 
of Copeland and music written by American composers on that trip.

But one year we did perform the Tchaikovsky 4th, and that was just /
fun/.  That orchestra didn't do the Beethoven when I was in it, but I had 
a high school orchestra director who was /awesome/ who wasn't afraid to 
give us original scores rather than simplified arrangements.  We read 
through Beethoven's 2nd and 5th there, and I remember doing the 9th (the 
final movement only, IIRC, it's been a while) at some point along the way.

>> Fortunately, I have good recordings of all three pieces. :)
> 
> Out of curiosity, who are the recordings by?  I've always taken to
> Karajan for Beethoven and have a soft spot for Maazel's Tchaikovsky
> symphonies, but I've focused on breadth rather than depth in my
> classical music listening so I'm pretty ignorant on this matter.

Von Karajan for the Beethoven - I've got the 1950's recordings on CD (and 
ripped to MP3, naturally).  Maazel does good with the Tchaikovsky, but 
I've got a few different recordings.  The thing that gets me often is 
that there are certain tempos that just feel "right", and often when I'm 
listening to a recording, I'll say "too slow" or "too fast" because it 
doesn't feel right to me.  That's part of the reason the Von Karajan 
recordings work so well for me - they're pretty much definitive as far as 
I'm concerned for tempos.

I'll have to look at who I've got doing the Tchaikovsky at home - I 
didn't get a chance to listen last night as I had an interview to prep 
for this morning (which didn't go off due to a technical glitch in the 
phones on my end), but by the end of the week I'll have listened to them 
all again. :)

Jim

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