drnormalvision: September 2023

Friday, September 29, 2023

Top of the Tree

When my August 2023 issue of BBC Music magazine arrived recently (it’s always late) and I read on the front cover, “The 25 Greatest British Composers of all time,” my first reaction was, “There are 25 British composers?”*

My second reaction was “Henry Purcell number one, of course!” (Had I known that the magazine was including George Frideric Handel as a British composer, my reaction would have been to have him and Purcell in a dead heat for number one.)

The voters (“167 of the world’s finest musicians”), however, didn’t see things my way. Purcell landed in the 3rd spot, while Handel limped in at number 9. The top spot went to Benjamin Britten, and the runner-up was Edward Elgar.

Amazing to me was the fact that no-one voted for Lennon/McCartney (joined at the hip) or Sir Arthur Sullivan (of “Gilbert and . . .”), while someone cast a vote for David Bowie.

In the past, the magazine ran polls for the greatest pianist, violinist, symphony, and conductor—proving that silliness is not confined to sports fans arguing who is the G.O.A.T (Greatest of All Time).

Was Ali or Louis or Marciano or Dempsey the greatest heavyweight boxer?

Could Serena Williams beat Martina Navratilova?

Best quarterback?**

Sports polling (except for the fact that it gets people talking or yelling at each other) is particularly silly. How can one compare successes achieved in different eras, under different playing conditions (sometimes even different rules), different training regimens, different traveling requirements, different number of games/contests in a season, different coaching, different equipment (they even hold tennis racquets differently)? To me, the done thing is to celebrate the greatness that each participant exhibited in his/her own era under their contemporary conditions.

In the case of composers or violinists or pianists, listen to the music and enjoy it. Have favorites, even if you concede that they may not be anyone else’s number one. I have great admiration for Rubinstein, Horowitz, and Rachmaninov, who would probably battle it out for top spot in any poll. But my favorite classical pianist was Radu Lupu. Similarly, my favorite movie—which will never come near any poll—is School for Scoundrels, based on Stephen Potter’s book One-Upmanship, with Ian Carmichael and Terry-Thomas.

Consider the following: Your neighborhood movie house is running a special comedy week. On Monday, it’s a Charlie Chaplin marathon. On Tuesday, Buster Keaton. On Wednesday, Laurel and Hardy. On Thursday, the Marx Brothers. And, finally, on Friday, it’s W. C. Fields all day. You can only go one day; which day will you choose?

Your decision isn’t saying who is/are the funniest movie maker(s) of all time. It’s saying who you prefer to watch at the moment. To paraphrase Mae West out of context: Goodness has nothing to do with it.

In conclusion, I sign off with the incontestable number one:

Babe Ruth

***

* When I recalled the great efflorescence of British musical talent in the 16th century (Byrd #5, Dowland #15, Tallis #10, Taverner, and Gibbons—the latter two receiving no votes)—I granted that there were at least 25 great British composers.

** And the silliness is everywhere. I recall reading some time ago in the Telegraph (UK) of a poll that declared that the greatest actor of all times was Judi Dench. I like Judi Dench—but presentism, anybody?

Sunday, September 17, 2023

Show of Hands

Last month at the Republican would-be candidates debate, Nikki Haley displayed a minute-and-a-half’s worth of rationality; she undressed Vivek Ramaswamy on foreign policy and explained to the other would-bes that there was no way a bill totally outlawing abortion would pass the Senate.

Unfortunately, she blew it all when the crew were asked if they would vote for a convicted criminal Trump for president, she joined five other lovers of law-and-order and shot up her hand. She would vote for him even though she said, “[W]e have to face the fact that Trump is the most disliked politician in America.”(1)

However, a week-and-a-half later, Haley went on “Face the Nation” and asserted that

she had faith in the American people not to vote for Trump if he’s convicted of any of the scores of criminal counts he’s been charged with in four criminal indictments. . . .

“The American people are not going to vote for a convicted criminal.”(2)

But—follow this—she had indicated at the debate that she would vote for a criminal Trump. Now, she was more or less praying that she will be let off the hook by “the American people”:

“Oh, I promised to vote for him, but I can’t be held to the promise, because all sorts of other people have rendered the situation moot. So, see, I’m not voting for the criminal I said I would. (Thank you, American people for saving my ass.)”

Nikki Haley has become the frontrunner for the Weasel-of-the-Year Award.

And then there’s Mike Pence on Trump:

“He asked me to put him over the constitution, and I chose the constitution,” he said at the debate.(3) “Anyone,” he said elsewhere, “who puts himself over the Constitution should never be president of the United States.”(4)

And so, at the Republican debate, when asked if he would vote for a convicted Trump, Pence, of course, refused to raise his hand.

WAIT! WAIT! Strike that! He raised his hand signaling that he would vote for the felon.

Thinking about Pence’s agreeing that he would vote for the man who, when informed that the January 6th mob was baying for his Vice President’s blood, calmly replied,

“Maybe our supporters have the right idea.” Mike Pence “deserves it,”(5)

I reached back in history to 1939 and the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, the non-aggression pact between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Cartoonist David Low produced the most trenchant exposé of the outrageous episode: