James
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aspiring2adequacy.bsky.social
James
@aspiring2adequacy.bsky.social
Music, food, books, movies, countryside, nature, environment, extreme childishness, bouts of irritability, occasional interest in gardens.
Reposted by James
New week, new Nature or No Nature!

Rachel Reeves: Your spending choices could be a turning point for nature.

Our 100k strong petition asked you to increase nature-friendly farming funding, which our research shows could reduce costs elsewhere.

So your question today is:
June 9, 2025 at 9:14 AM
Reposted by James
"Fuck this"
"Fuck these two"
"Fuck that"
"And that"
"And fuck this one in particular"
May 30, 2025 at 12:17 PM
#moviesky #filmsky I very much enjoyed this recent offering from #Dreamworks . Witty, charming and poignant, its eco message is whispered in your ear, and it deftly undermines its own sentimentality with some great wisecracks. The animation references both old #Disney and #studioGhibli . I think….
May 26, 2025 at 10:03 PM
open.spotify.com/track/0Znlvx... #Gluck ‘s pared down drama (just the two lovers and the spirit of Love herself) moves swiftly through the story in around 90 mins. In that time Orfeo manages to lose her AGAIN and mood about it. Come on man! Mind you the music’s glorious. #opera #classicalmusic
Orfeo ed Euridice: Overtura
Christoph Willibald Gluck, René Jacobs, Freiburger Barockorchester · Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice · Song · 2001
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May 26, 2025 at 9:53 PM
open.spotify.com/track/2ZeiRB... #HowardHanson ‘s lush, heart-on-sleeve romantic style isn’t for everyone, but here he dials it down a bit in favour of a tautly constructed set of variations. It’s a 12 minute gem, always interesting, never outstaying its welcome. #classicalmusic
Mosaics
Howard Hanson, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz · Hanson: Symphony No. 2 - Lux aeterna - Mosaics · Song · 2011
open.spotify.com
May 26, 2025 at 9:47 PM
open.spotify.com/track/5oxFuJ... #CharlesIves clearly familiar with Faure in this 1897 song but it still feels like a fractured version of something. He’s breaking some rules but not reassembling them into anything else - that’s a few years down the line #classicalmusic
Qu'il m'irait bien
Charles Ives, Leah Wool, J.J. Penna · Ives, C.: Songs, Vol. 5 · Song · 2008
open.spotify.com
May 26, 2025 at 9:40 PM
open.spotify.com/track/0MNxx5... I love #PhilipGlass but I think he just phoned this one in. Great pianist though! #classicalmusic
Piano Concerto No. 3 (2017): Movement I
Philip Glass, Simone Dinnerstein, A Far Cry · Circles: Piano Concertos by Bach + Glass · Song · 2018
open.spotify.com
May 24, 2025 at 3:21 PM
open.spotify.com/track/6Vh9cl... #classicalmusic I think this version of #SamuelBarber ‘s First #Symphony is the finest modern version on record, even with the #LSO ‘s occasional hiccups in ensemble! #DavidMeasham goes for the big gesture in this tightly structured romantic gem.
Symphony No. 1, Op. 9
Samuel Barber, David Measham, London Symphony Orchestra · Barber: Knoxville Summer of 1915, Symphony No. 1, Essays Nos. 1 & 2, Night Flight & Music for a Scene from Shelley · Song · 2022
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May 24, 2025 at 3:15 PM
open.spotify.com/track/6vtFRm... I knew nothing about #GloriaCoates and had never heard a note of her music until now. This #stringquartet blew me away - both ethereally beautiful and unsettling. This last movement is so strikingly original I have no reference point for it. Profound. #classicalmusic
String Quartet No. 5: In The Fifth Dimension
Gloria Coates, Kreutzer Quartet · Gloria Coates: String Quartets Nos. 1, 5 And 6 · Song · 2002
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May 24, 2025 at 2:52 PM
open.spotify.com/track/1E4MPG... This is quintessential #PhilipGlass He’s completely at home with the eccentric scoring - and there’s both charm and raucous energy throughout this piece. #classicalmusic
Concerto for Saxophone Quartet & Orchestra: Movement I
Philip Glass, Dennis Russell Davies, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, The Raschèr Saxophone Quartet · Philip Glass: Symphony No.2 · Song · 1998
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May 24, 2025 at 2:47 PM
open.spotify.com/track/3FlRAQ... #classicalmusic The thing about early #CharlesIves is that you think you’re in the world of the Victorian parlour song but then he does something a bit off. He knows it breaks the academic rules but he doesn’t really care.
The Love Song of Har Dyal
Charles Ives, Jennifer Casey Cabot, Douglas Dickson · Ives, C.: Songs, Vol. 3 · Song · 2008
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May 24, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Good Lord! 😬 #filmsky #moviesky
Margaret Gibson plays a rootin' tootin' six-gun shootin' wild west heiress sent to finishing school in ROWDY ANN (1919).

She fails Classical Dance but excels at Ropin' the Criminal Polecat Tryin' to Seduce Her Roommate
May 18, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Reposted by James
May 13, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Looks about right….
May 14, 2025 at 9:38 AM
open.spotify.com/track/4I3aB6... #classicalmusic #opera This recently revived corker from #GaspareSpontini (no me neither) bored the crap out of me in Act 1 then utterly gripped me from Act 2. High drama, fabulous singing, electrifying playing. Well worth a listen.
La vestale, Act II: Trio avec chœur et Récit. Ah ! Si je te suis chère
Gaspare Spontini, Marina Rebeka, Stanislas de Barbeyrac, Tassis Christoyannis, Flemish Radio Choir, Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset · Spontini: La vestale · Song · 2023
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May 14, 2025 at 9:30 AM
#filmsky #moviesky #KindHeartsAndCoronets Never get tired of this - Ealing’s deliciously dark comedy of the English class system. #AlecGuinness got the praise but for my money #DennisPrice steals the show as the murderous interloper bent on revenge. Total classic.
May 13, 2025 at 10:57 PM
#filmsky #moviesky Blown away all over again by this pivotal western. A commentary on toxic American politics (surely not…), courage, moral choice, agency. An inspiration for #SergioLeone et al. Where the hell is #GaryCooper when you need him? A silvery, b&w masterpiece. #HighNoon
May 13, 2025 at 10:47 PM
open.spotify.com/track/2z83sm... #classicalmusic Of all the beautifully polished songs of #SamuelBarber this lovely, lyrical setting of #JamesAgee ‘s poem is surely one of the most affecting. Just gorgeous.
4 Songs, Op. 13: No. 3, Sure On This Shining Night. Andante
Samuel Barber, Samuel Sanders, Robert White · Sure on This Shining Night: The Romantic Song in America · Song · 1997
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May 12, 2025 at 7:57 PM
open.spotify.com/track/2OJHed... #classicalmusic I just love this! #CharlesIves revelling in the sheer strangeness of 2 pianos tuned a quarter of a tone apart. The editor of the score warns against tuning one piano UP as per Ives’s instructions, but to tune the other one down! Tension apparently…
Three Quarter-Tone Pieces for Two Pianos: I. Largo
Charles Ives, Donald Berman, Stephen Drury · The Unknown Ives, vol. 2 · Song · 2004
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May 12, 2025 at 7:51 PM
open.spotify.com/track/49yN8t... #classicalmusic What a truly great dramatist #Tchaikovsky was. This tale of haunted obsession is given a magnificent performance by the supremely talented, if politically repulsive, #ValeryGergiev
Pique Dame (Pikovaya Dama), Op. 68, TH.10 / Act 1: "O poshchadi menya!"
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Gegam Grigorian, Maria Guleghina, Mariinsky Orchestra, Valery Gergiev · Tchaikovsky: Pique Dame · Song · 1993
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May 12, 2025 at 7:45 PM
open.spotify.com/track/7m2xd5... #classicalmusic The wonderful #JorgeBolet in a live recording of #Beethoven ‘s #EmperorConcerto . Mind you he and the conductor sometimes seem to be in two separate performances…
Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-Flat Major, Op. 73 'Emperor': I. Allegro - Live
Ludwig van Beethoven, Jorge Bolet, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Moshe Atzmon · Jorge Bolet: The Berlin Radio Recordings, Vol. III (Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Schumann, Franck, Grieg, Godowsk...
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May 12, 2025 at 7:36 PM
open.spotify.com/track/6KbhKA... #classicalmusic It’s possible to forget that #CharlesIves didn’t just emerge from nowhere as wildly original experimentalist. He had a solid grounding in compositional theory - here’s his student symphony. Lop off the tiresome coda and it’s pretty good Charlie…
Symphony No. 1 in D Minor: IV. Allegro molto
Charles Ives، Michael Tilson Thomas، Chicago Symphony Orchestra · Ives: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 4 · Song · 1991
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May 12, 2025 at 7:29 PM
open.spotify.com/track/618Ab1... #classicalmusic This late #PianoSonata is one of #Schubert ‘s finest - spacious and kindly, occasionally troubled by shadows. #Volodos is just so thoughtful, revealing just how profound this unshowy masterpiece is.
Piano Sonata No. 18 in G Major, Op. 78, D. 894: III. Menuetto - Trio
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May 12, 2025 at 7:18 PM