Lectures

Elderhostels come with lectures, including the almost miraculous work of Mireya Cirici from Barcelona on New Mexican art. I always have to brag. She put up a picture of a Santa Fe scene and said it was a painting by a famous painter who visited New Mexico only briefly, not finding it particularly inspiring. I said it was Hopper. It was. I am having a wonderful time harassing Ron Grinage who is lecturing on Tea and Daphne. I behaved for Tea, but his list of recommended recordings of Strauss is definitely lacking. There is no Kiri Te Kanawa, no Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, no Renée Fleming and virtually no Jessye Norman who is represented only by Ariadne auf Naxos. No Lieder. Jessye Norman virtually owns Strauss Lieder. These singers define a style of ecstatic singing of Strauss that is simply not to be missed. I can't just sit and listen. I fall asleep.