[bosiemoncrieff]

What sort of coffee preparation to you use? I'm using Sero Bebes in my pour overs, and it's just fantastic. Since the end of Mersha-Mersha, though, I have been dissatisfied with their coffee in my espresso machine.

As much as I hear more musicality from HD600 than KSE1500, it is surely less accurate and in my current highly urban locale, the traffic noise requires the greater degree of isolation. Multibit helps, of course, and I wish I could find the 1/8-1/4 inch adapter so I could plug it into MJ2. Here's hoping the Gadget will help further.

 

[hearditontheX]

Technivorn-Moccamaster automatic drip.

 

[JohnnyCanuck]

Technivorn-Moccamaster automatic drip.

I've been looking at one of their models. How do you like yours?

JC

edit: I finally made my decision and ordered the Technivorm - Moccamaster KBGT 741

 

[hearditontheX]

I've been looking at one of their models. How do you like yours?

JC

edit: I finally made my decision and ordered the Technivorm - Moccamaster KBGT 741

Love it. It was recommended by my favorite coffee roaster. He uses one at home. I like the clean design and that it should be easy to fix in the event something breaks.

 

[JamminVMI]

Love it. It was recommended by my favorite coffee roaster. He uses one at home. I like the clean design and that it should be easy to fix in the event something breaks.

Get a chemex... stay close to your coffee !

 

[earnmyturns]

Just had my first night at the Symphony. MTT was conducting Stravinsky without a baton. The opening piece, the 1947 revision of Petrushka, was tedious. In crudely attempting to tell a story, it fell victim to every crass picture-painting technique known to music, including giving a stupid solo to a bassoon or tuba in the hope that middle-aged dilettantes would find the novelty humorous. I was embarrassed on Stravinsky's behalf; I would have burned the score like Brahms or Haydn rather than let it land as a line in my oeuvre. The whole thing was insipid, childish, and dull.

I loved the violin concerto, however. The "passport chord" which begins each of the four movements was used as a deft aural signpost, and the musical flowering therefrom was fresh and held my ear. Stravinsky didn't overdo anything; the piece is the picture of subtlety, and the violinist handled it with care.

Rite of Spring is fine, and MTT really got into it, but I don't think it's as fine as the violin concerto. It could have ended ten minutes earlier.

MTT was conducting with a baton yesterday. There's indeed something that makes this 1947 Petrushka version sound disjointed, caricatural, relative to the 1911 version I've enjoyed before. The concerto was lovely. Rite was very well done, tempos felt organic, danceable, not mechanically harsh like some other renderings. Brought to my mind a perfect powder skiing run with rhythm adapting dynamically to terrain shifts

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

Tosca was decent. Great soprano, meh tenor. Scarpia was good enough. Tosca got several very nice stabs in, though reverted to the usual crucifix on the chest and candles beside the head in one of many conservative gestures throughout the piece. The Marchesa was depicted, not speaking of course, and one of Scarpia's thugs grabs her and drags her away at the end of the act, I guess to make a point about violence against women. I'm kind of getting tired of reanimating the corpse of fin-de-siecle Italian opera. The more I watch it, the more dated it feels. Wagner ages better. But what we really need is an appetite for sharp operas, written today, with compelling texts and composers who write music that the public's ear can find a way to enjoy.

I'm increasingly convinced that we Americans love conservatism so much because at some level it (and we) are a fraud -- the culture was never ours to begin with so we're preserving something that we borrowed and the country that produced it is doing much more daring and innovative things. It's telling that the core repertoire in symphony halls ends c 1900, and anything thereafter is considered new.

Chemex is a good call, though I do pour-over. I've described in detail my coffee regimen elsewhere, so will simply say here that the promise of a robot barista is an alluring one, but will never get you past mediocrity.

 

[earnmyturns]

It's telling that the core repertoire in symphony halls ends c 1900, and anything thereafter is considered new.

That's was I was thinking about leaving Davies yesterday. It was overall a good performance, with some very strong points, but much that I like (much of) Stravinsky, the SF Symphony ? Going to the symphony has become a combination of nostalgia and signaling. It's especially shocking that I heard riskier, more contemporary productions in the authoritarian Lisbon of the late 60s-early 70s than I'm hearing in "liberal" SF. Looking at the 2018-19 schedule, sure, I can find a few old favorites and some classical pieces I should probably hear more, but very little that looks forward.

 

[Pietro Cozzi Tinin]

I'm kind of getting tired of reanimating the corpse of fin-de-siecle Italian opera. The more I watch it, the more dated it feels. Wagner ages better. But what we really need is an appetite for sharp operas, written today, with compelling texts and composers who write music that the public's ear can find a way to enjoy.

I'm increasingly convinced that we Americans love conservatism so much because at some level it (and we) are a fraud -- the culture was never ours to begin with so we're preserving something that we borrowed and the country that produced it is doing much more daring and innovative things. It's telling that the core repertoire in symphony halls ends c 1900, and anything thereafter is considered new.

I really and strongly agree with you on this point.

 

[artur9]

Just got home from watching Lucia di Lammermoor.

Staging(?) was meh, costuming non-existent: both men and women wore long brown (grey?) coats. Lighting was on the dim side to correspond to Lucia's mental state.

My daughter loved it, proclaimed it great. I really liked the Enrico (Troy Cook) and I thought the Eduardo was quite good (Michael Spyres). Everyone seemed to love the Lucia (Brenda Rae) but she didn't do anything for me. Arturo didn't seem to do anything but show up to marry Lucia.

For me, the Sextet was amazing, followed by Eduardo's arias (esp the suicidal one). The mad scene dragged.

I think next we're watching the broadcast of Saint-Saen's Samson and Delilah by the Met.

 

[GearMe]

MTT was conducting with a baton yesterday. There's indeed something that makes this 1947 Petrushka version sound disjointed, caricatural, relative to the 1911 version I've enjoyed before. The concerto was lovely. Rite was very well done, tempos felt organic, danceable, not mechanically harsh like some other renderings. Brought to my mind a perfect powder skiing run with rhythm adapting dynamically to terrain shifts

I love listening to music...but have never had the same 'rush' that a perfect powder run provides! Spose it might be different if I was good at playing jazz/blues/etc. music...

 

[JamminVMI]

On another note, saw a killer (unintentional pun) production of Jekyll & Hyde today just up from the Schittr, directed by Mike...

Hell, I live here and hadn’t been to a production at this community theatre. Since the wife loves (and has for years) the soundtrack, I took her and grabbed a fellow schiithead and his wife to come with.

Introduced myself to Mike and chatted for a few, then really enjoyed the production. Well acted and sung, thoroughly dark and enjoyable. The Jekyll/Hyde actor was amazing. So hobbies are good things, glad Mike has this one. Well done! If you’re local to LA, recommend!

 

[Zojokkeli]

I've been looking at one of their models. How do you like yours?

JC

edit: I finally made my decision and ordered the Technivorm - Moccamaster KBGT 741

Moccamaster is the standard coffee machine almost everybody has in Finland. It's just a regular coffee machine as far as I can tell. A solid one, but nothing special one way or another.
I got an Aeropress a couple of weeks ago and been loving it ever since. Still a bit newbie in my coffee expeditions and still trying to find my way around the little thing, but coffee has much richer flavour with Aeropress compared to Moccamaster.

Below is a pic of the French President Macron visiting Finland and tasting our coffee. The expression on his face says it all.

 

[wink]

..

 

[audio philestine]

@bosiemoncrieff Verve Coffee is a great recommendation! I picked up a couple of blends, the Streetlevel and the Sermon. The Streetlevel is excellent, nice and full-bodied. Free shipping was another plus.

I'm also a fan of Verve thanks to @bosiemoncrieff. I was lucky to get in on the mersha-mersha while it lasted. It changed my whole way of looking at coffee from medium/dark roast to - wow, these really are roasted fruit beans!

I've been playing the field trying different varieties. Hard to go wrong at Verve. My latest favorite is sakaro for my weekend pour-over with a Bonvita temperature controlled pour kettle. Everything measured by hand, I'm lazy, but after years you can guess pretty close.

For the weekdays, lately it's been la patepluma through a cuisinart brew machine. Yeah, I know, but it's easy and just goes into a thermos to follow me to work and get me going in the morning.

Picked up a capresso gear-driven burr grinder through costco years ago. Maybe not as fancy as the ones others here use, but it works for me.

I'm always ready for another bosiemoncrieff coffee recommendation. His tastes, while more refined than mine, seem to align pretty well with mine.