1. Tales of Hoffmann
2. Brahms Handel Variations
3. Ives
4. Any Debussy prelude
5. Don't know what unlikely means. If it means unexpected or unusual I would select the mandolin solo in Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet
6. Don't know any Euro-trash
7. Opening night at the opera - someone always wears a black cape with red lining.
8. Brian Wilson definitely.
9. Sibelius hands down
10. Yes, if I could listen through my cell phone.

1. I love no libretto.
2. John Cage's 4:33.
3. Charles Ives, but I'd insist on napping during it.
4. Mercifully, he never tackled Rachmaninoff.
5. The clarinet in "Peasant and Bear" from Petrushka.
6. Rice and Bush: Unrequited
7. Performer: none stands out. Audience: Sweats, at a children's Mozart matinee (on an adult, of course; her kids were presentable).
8. Peter Gabriel (his Last Temptation soundtrack is world/electronic, not orchestral).
9. Jean Sibelius.
10. Yes. The first two movements are essential.

_{Give Texas Back to Mexico!}

Pete Townsend has done it three times already.

"Lord! What Fools these Mortals be!"

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

Carmina Burana (okay, not strictly opera)

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

I'll go ditto on Cage's 4:33.

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

Ives.

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

Most Schoenberg; sadly, he did in fact play it. Together they chiefly manage to convey the overpowering impression of Hilti power tools copulating in a metal footlocker.

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

Ringo Starr saying "I've got blisters on me fingers!"

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.)

I'm afraid my heart's not really in this one. After listening to this, it's difficult to imagine taking it any further.

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

Shower cap, bath clogs, a thin coat of black boot polish and nothing else. No, I'm not joking.

Okay, it wasn't actually a classical concert.

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

Hmm. Off the top of my head - maybe Donald Fagen. Now ask me what modern composers I'd pay good money to watch trying to write a non-unintentionally-hilarious rock song.

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

I think Sibelius' weight would have given him the advantage in wrestling, but if kicking were permitted Nielsen was a mean SOB. If the match were between 1911 and 1925, I'd say Sibelius' throat operation would have given Nielsen a clear edge that he would have retained until his own heart attack.

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

It hasn't been proven yet?

(trying to stay away from posting for a while)

1.Jobim's "Waters of March" (ok, it's not an opera either. I don't know enough opera lyrics.) Every time think I love just the music, realize I'm hearing also the sharpness of words.

2.(Sorry, I like Glenn Gould:)) -anything- to make my old piano teacher stop screaming about fingering.

3. Ives

4. Steve Reich's Piano Phase (Gould dead by then) Glad he didn't try two pianos at once, what would he have done with his voice and body.

5. Well, if we're.talking Beatles, "Her Majesty"- at least the first time I heard it.

6. Anne-Sophie Mutter playing all the instruments, Renee Fleming attempting to vocalize: any Morton Feldman piece.

7. Janet Jackson's "rip me off" dress

8. Rod Stewart attempting one. It would be a blast.

9. Nielsen. -but only after listening to so many bad Unitarian hymns sung to "Finlandia" (no, not the vodka).Why not do it to a John Philip Sousa march instead?

10. What?????

_{"A bad treaty is better than a good missile" ~ Andrei Kislyakov}

It's the only thread I've had any fun with in months. Remember fun, agonistas:-)???? I'm a follower, not a leader......

_{"A bad treaty is better than a good missile" ~ Andrei Kislyakov}