Comments on: A Real Yo-yo!

By: Silicon valley Jim

Silicon valley Jim — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 17:24:46 +0000

They played the adagio (slow) movement from the Brahms violin sonata, Op. 108 (evidently a transcription; Yo-Yo Ma is playing a cello, and not a violin, in the picture). My statement that it was more likely that they were playing a cello sonata was, strictly speaking, correct; it was more likely, but not true (alternatively, I was plain wrong).

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/04/20020422-6.html

As far as I know, there is no recording of the performance; a friend of mine who is part of the department at Stanford presenting a performance by Yo-Yo Ma on December 8 is investigating that for me.

For those of you who are interested in the piece of music itself, but don’t require that it be played by Yo-Yo Ma and Condoleezza Rice, I can recommend the Angel/EMI recording with Itzhak Perlman and Vladimir Ashkenazy. The performance is wonderful, the sound is fine, and it’s mid-price.

By: rgvdh

rgvdh — Sat, 20 Nov 2004 23:48:50 +0000

Does anyone know where one could find a recording of the Rice/Ma performance?

By: chuck

chuck — Sat, 20 Nov 2004 19:31:49 +0000

TomTomTommy,

Oddly enough, I think the Bush team has done a good job. Things don’t look bungled from where I sit and I am happy to have Rice, Rummy, and Wolfowitz continue their good work. That’s why I voted for Bush and was happy to see him reelected. YMMV.

By: Randy Paul

Randy Paul — Sat, 20 Nov 2004 18:50:22 +0000

I find it amazing that not a single prominent liberal or feminist or black (on the left) has broken ranks and spoken out against these racist insults. I find it even more amazing that someone makes that statement without doing a modicum of research:

NAACP president Kweisi Mfume said people who make such remarks "are just as bad as those who hide under sheets and burn crosses." Mfume said Rice is "an example of how far hard work, education and determination can take one to new heights." Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz called Sylvester's remarks "racially insensitive," while Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold said he joined all Wisconsin residents in rejecting the statements.

It's called Google. Consider using it next time.

By: TomTomTommy

TomTomTommy — Sat, 20 Nov 2004 18:06:11 +0000

you guys are talking around the issue. all you have done here is create a another strawman — liberal racism — rather than address the real issue, which is whether or not condi rice is qualified to be secretary of state. you breezed past my concerns about iraq as if that matter has been settled. hello! we ARE in a quagmire, and it is getting worse. that doesn’t mean that the cause is any less noble. it merely means that rice, rumsfeld and the rest of the team has bungled this from the start. which leads me to question her ability to do this job. yes, i am very impressed that she can play the piano. why not nominate stevie wonder for secretary of state? he’s a great pianist, and he’s blind. how about THAT? you guys are the real bigots. you talk about smart black people like you are awed by them, as if they are some kind of rarity. colin powell! condi rice! rod paige! aren’t they amazing! who knew?

By: Rick Z

Rick Z — Sat, 20 Nov 2004 15:53:15 +0000

At heart, what has always terrified the left is the very idea of social mobility. Far better to be the permanent vanguard of class struggle than have to compete with “arrivistes” from the lower orders, regardless of origin. Witness its anachronistic and rather clueless stereotypes of “red state” types, union members, racial/ethnic “underclasses,” members of the military, greedy capitalists, etc.

Having lost all the policy debates of the last quarter century, all that they can cling to is the vain certainty that they alone are fit as a class to oversee a static world of properly servile untermenchen.

By: Silicon valley Jim

Silicon valley Jim — Sat, 20 Nov 2004 15:24:04 +0000

Which, if I were a rusty hobbyist pianist playing a duet with Yo Yo Ma with the world press watching, is exactly what you’d see on my face.

Well, maybe. Brahms himself was a rusty hobbyist pianist by the time he came play his second piano concerto. He cheated outrageously by all accounts, but didn’t seem bothered much. (Yo Yo Ma and Condi played a Brahms sonata for violin(?) and piano)

Not to criticize here, just to shed some light, I hope:

Condi used to do this sort of thing when she was provost at Stanford (where I did my graduate work, and near where I live, so I get e-mails, etc., about these things). She would practice her ass off, and always gave a good performance.

As for the piece, it was likely one of the two Brahms cello sonatas (opp. 38 and 99). There are also three violin sonatas (opp. 78, 100, and 108), but it seems more likely that Yo-Yo Ma would play one of the cello sonatas than one of the violin sonatas transcribed for cello.

I also have $100 that says that Mr. Sylvester can’t answer some very basic questions about Yo-Yo Ma and Brahms.

By: brandon davis

brandon davis — Sat, 20 Nov 2004 05:15:49 +0000

Condi Rice in 2008 ...'nuff said.

By: Swede

Swede — Sat, 20 Nov 2004 05:09:33 +0000

Democrats have, over time, manuvered themselves into the untenable position of having their very survival as a party depend upon the idea of a continuing racial divide in this country. To admit to the existence of successful African-Americans who, in turn, embrace a political philosophy that sees never-ending government handouts as an impediment to Black success, is to admit to their own irrelevance. So, Liberals cynically pit one Black-American against another by attempting to ostracize one while denigrating the other. It is racist at its core, but it’s all they have left.

By: Rick Ballard

Rick Ballard — Sat, 20 Nov 2004 04:06:32 +0000

In terms of grooming for higher office, I would bet that Dr. Rice will go after Feinstein’s seat in ’06 followed by a run in ’08 for the VP slot. I can’t see her going for the top slot until ’16. She’ll only be 62 in ’16 and there’s really no rush.