| Search | Login/Register
   Home » Audio Discussions » Kitties go to London (93 posts, 5 pages)
  Print Thread | 1st Post |  
Page 2 of 5 (93 items) Select Pages:  « 1 2 3 4 5 »
08-06-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
de charlus
Posts 94
Joined on 06-11-2013

Post #: 21
Post ID: 19828
Reply to: 19827
Cessaro & Purite
fiogf49gjkf0d
OK, understood. If you wish to hear Cessaro, along with some interesting source components and amplification, then Purite Audio is the only place that I'm aware of, and I understand that it's set up quite a bit more like the Definitive Audio thing than a conventional hi-fi shop. You could probably email them to see about present installations, and perhaps even arrange for a potentially good Gamma set-up for when you arrive.

Regards

de Charlus
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 #: 22
Post ID: 19830
Reply to: 19827
With The Focus on Music
fiogf49gjkf0d
From your remarks about S. Germany, Romy, it sounds like you are mostly looking forward to the music, itself, as "cultural tourism", and next to any audio installations that might serve music.  In any case, it does seem like one might be more likely to hear good play from "local" groups in that area, which is effectively out of reach, I suppose.  Even Glasgow seems like a stretch to me, though I really have no sense of scale regarding GB, via the roads, traffic, weather, and whatnot.  For our best trip results, when in doubt, we slow down, have a gnosh.

Best regards,
Paul S
08-06-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


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

Post #: 23
Post ID: 19831
Reply to: 19830
Music as "cultural tourism".
fiogf49gjkf0d
Paul, it is hard to define what I am looking. Most likely nothing well formed; still I am always opened to consume new sensations.  I think the summit of the UK trip of this year will be Bruckner 8 with Vienna Philharmonic, ironicly it will be 2 days after Bruckner’s birthday. Regardless how Maazel will be paling it but in my view any person who practices music has to hear Vienna Philharmonic at least once a year. We heard them in NY during winter – it was not the good play and the hall was garbage but still Sound that they able to produce is as orgasmatic as it could be.

South Germany I just absolutely love that part of the world. The Germans on north are kind of cold, too cosmopolitan and no different than New Yorkers of Chicagoans.  The Austrian too full of themselves and too anti-Semitic. The Bavarians are just wonderful, particularly in small towns. I have amassing kind and wonderful memories from exploring South Germany. Amy has a dream to go to Vienna and Linz with me. I think it would be easy to combine my dream to explore more Bavaria with her.

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
08-06-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Stitch


Behind The Sun
Posts 235
Joined on 01-15-2009

Post #: 24
Post ID: 19834
Reply to: 19831
Survival Guide
fiogf49gjkf0d
Cultural visits are no problem in GB, surviving their food is a different chapter. I recommend to invest some time in food research (what is what...)...
Bavaria in South Germany is indeed worth a trip, Munich is great, relaxed, friendly and the food is opposite to England :-) The area South of Munich for example with lakes and tiny villages are great, when you are in that area, go to Beer-gardens, you will like it. Some have musicians on weekends, when you are in Munich go to Augustiner Beer-garden and order their "Edelstoff" Beer. Really good.


Kind Regards
Stitch
08-06-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
de charlus
Posts 94
Joined on 06-11-2013

Post #: 25
Post ID: 19835
Reply to: 19834
GB and GDR
fiogf49gjkf0d
London has more Michelin stars than Paris now as a a matter of fact; I shall be very happy to provide no end of excellent restaurant recommendations for you. It is actually German food that I've had a hard time coming to grips with - unsavory bits of pig in their manifold variety doesn't do it for me, and neither do cold cuts and blue cheese for breakfast. I had some good meals at various wine producers' though, which were mainly traditional, really rich, slow-cooked game stews. I love that kind of comfort food.

de Charlus
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
Page 2 of 5 (93 items) Select Pages:  « 1 2 3 4 5 »
Home Page  |  Last 24Hours  | Search  |  SiteMap  | Questions or Problems | Copyright Note
The content of all messages within the Forums Copyright © by authors of the posts