What are you reading now?

[Quijote]

Anybody ever read stuff by James Ellroy (Black Dahlia, L.A. Confidential, and so on...)? I used to be a bit sniffy about crime writing, but this guy put me right, no doubt about it. I first read him in Granta (a new writing periodical in the UK) where he was trumpeted as a sort of "jazz" writer, and it was certainly the case that his approach to syntax echoed that. I thought it was fascinating.

[Peter]

It is true that 'Lovelock' has a certain 'cachet' compared to luminaries such as Walter Piston, Arnold Schoenberg, Kitson and Butterworth (whose treatises I have also ploughed through, for greater or lesser enlightenment). Lovelock I always found the most approachable. Besides, he was half Aussie. Well, he was exiled for a few years in Bonn1827's land. By the way, if Lovelock is sexy, what does that make of Warlock?

Well I presume Lovelock had no say in the matter of his name, but Warlock chose his own destiny which ended tragically in a basement flat a few houses along from Oscar Wilde's 'house beautiful' in Tite street, Chelsea.

[Quijote]

It is true that 'Lovelock' has a certain 'cachet' compared to luminaries such as Walter Piston, Arnold Schoenberg, Kitson and Butterworth (whose treatises I have also ploughed through, for greater or lesser enlightenment). Lovelock I always found the most approachable. Besides, he was half Aussie. Well, he was exiled for a few years in Bonn1827's land. By the way, if Lovelock is sexy, what does that make of Warlock?

[Peter]

And the above is an example of how harmony can be sexy!

I think you're taking the name 'Lovelock' too literally!

[Quijote]

And the above is an example of how harmony can be sexy!

[Quijote]

Lovelock, Second Year Harmony, Chapter 7, pp. 47-54, "Secondary Sevenths". What fun, you might say (ironically). Ah yes, philistines, I would reply (with equal irony); for an application of such harmonic principles you need look only at Mozart String Quartet K590, 2nd movement, bars 29-31 between violin 1 and 'cello. Then again, is the passage merely suspensions, or really a sequence of secondary sevenths?
Whatever your view, it is a typical Mozart "fingerprint".

[Sorrano]

Thanks for the recommendations!

[Chaszz]

Sounds interesting! While I haven't really read anything by Kipling, I am certainly very much aware of his writings; I'll have to give his works a read.

Try to be selective, as his work is uneven. I recommend starting with the first Jungle Book. You may enjoy the two stories I noted, and others. It was meant for adults as well as children.

Kipling was immensely popular in his lifetime and fell out of favor for his jingoism, chauvinism and racism in the mid and later 20th century. In spite of being almost a caricature of the kind of man we try not be anymore, he can really write. His poems are very simple, but none other than TS Eliot thought he was a great poet and edited and introduced a book of his poems.

Maugham is another you might want to try if you don't know his work. Three famous novels, Of Human Bondage, The Razor's Edge, and The Moon and Sixpence are very fine. And I have rarely read a short story by him I haven't liked. The most famous is 'Rain.'

[Michael]

Sounds interesting! While I haven't really read anything by Kipling, I am certainly very much aware of his writings; I'll have to give his works a read.

Which reminds me of an old joke:

He: Do you like Kipling?
She: I don't know. I never kippled.

[Sorrano]

I am just beginning to read an old book I picked up in a used book sale, a selection of Kipling's short stories by W. Somerset Maugham. IMO Kipling in some of his stories is one of the greatest prose stylists in English, especially in two stories from The Jungle Book, 'Rikki-Tikki-Tavi' and 'The Comedians.' Niether of these stories is included by Maugham, so it will be interesting to see what he does like enough to include. Maugham is also a favorite writer of mine. Scorned in his lifetime by the high literati as a mere popular writer, IMO his short stories are full of life, mystery and unflagging fascination.

Sounds interesting! While I haven't really read anything by Kipling, I am certainly very much aware of his writings; I'll have to give his works a read.

[Chaszz]

I am just beginning to read an old book I picked up in a used book sale, a selection of Kipling's short stories by W. Somerset Maugham. IMO Kipling in some of his stories is one of the greatest prose stylists in English, especially in two stories from The Jungle Book, 'Rikki-Tikki-Tavi' and 'The Comedians.' Niether of these stories is included by Maugham, so it will be interesting to see what he does like enough to include. Maugham is also a favorite writer of mine. Scorned in his lifetime by the high literati as a mere popular writer, IMO his short stories are full of life, mystery and unflagging fascination.

[Peter]

Continuing my exploration of Ancient Greece with J.C.Stobart. Also reading excellent translation of the Tao Te Ching by Stephen Addiss.

[Peter]

There are punishments for students falling asleep in my class. You have been warned.

The lessons are so far apart it's hard to keep track!

[Quijote]

There are punishments for students falling asleep in my class. You have been warned.

[Michael]

Peter, you are confusing Michael with your posting. A Neapolitan 6th (N6) is not the same thing at all as an Italian, French or German (augmented) 6th. Another term for the N6 is a 'flattened supertonic 6th' which B so admirably uses in the Eroica 1st movement. The IT/FR/D augmented sixths sound in effect as rogue / displaced (and often inverted as opposed to root position) dominant sevenths (to the refined ear), but are written as augmented sixths. I hope this clarifies any confusion on Michael's part.

Huh, what? Sorry, I dozed off ..............