Quiz Time

An irresistible quiz from Soho the Dog--

1. Name an opera you love for the libretto, even though you don't particularly like the music.

Michael Nyman's The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat is such a great story, and the music is pretty good.

2. Name a piece you wish Glenn Gould had played.

Ives, Concord Sonata

3. If you had to choose: Charles Ives or Carl Ruggles?

See above. Bite me, Ruggles, you racist bastard.

4. Name a piece you're glad Glenn Gould never played.

Debussy, Etudes (well, at least I've never heard it)

5. What's your favorite unlikely solo passage in the repertoire?

The siren in George Antheil's Ballet mécanique

6. What's a Euro-trash high-concept opera production you'd love to see? (No Mortier-haters get to duck this one, either—be creative.)

Salome merged with Real Housewives of Orange County

7. Name an instance of non-standard concert dress you wish you hadn't seen.

Well, Sumi Jo wore three different gowns, which I guess are standard concert dress, at her recital last summer. Each one was more outrageous than the last: Jens desribed one as "half pastel Papagena, half tie-dye taffeta explosion."

8. What aging rock-and-roll star do you wish had tried composing large-scale chorus and orchestra works instead of Paul McCartney?

Brian May (and Queen).

9. If you had to choose: Carl Nielsen or Jean Sibelius?

Sibelius, as Opera Chic would say in that trendy slang of hers, is teh kicka$$ bomb, fer real.

10. If it was scientifically proven that Beethoven's 9th Symphony caused irreversible brain damage, would you still listen to it?

Yes, I would ignore the warning labels and then sue the recording company that sold me the CD.

Other responses:
Opera Chic | Joshua Kosman | Jessica Duchen | Alex Ross