Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Corner View - Collections


One disadvantage of leading a peripatetic life, is that you really can't take a lot of possessions with you. Right now, just about anything I've ever collected in my life is back at my house in England. Maybe it's just as well, as my prized collection of theatre, opera and concert programmes may have a lot of memories for me of great performances at New York's Met, Sydney Opera House, the Royal Opera House, Opera Bastille, and other great opera houses, concert halls and theatres around the globe, the occasions when I saw Luciano Pavarotti, Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo, Kiri Te Kanawa, Cecilia Bartoli, Montserrat Caballe, Marilyn Horne, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Sir Simon Rattle, Claudio Abbado, Sir Georg Solti, Seiji Ozawa, Lorin Maazel, Andre Previn, Valery Gergiev, Daniel Barenboim, Alfred Brendel, Evgeny Kissin, Sviatoslav Richter, Martha Argerich, Itzhak Perlman, Isaac Stern, Maxim Vengerov, Yo-Yo Ma, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Mstislav Rostropovich, with the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw and all of the other great orchestras of the world, but I guess stacks of hundreds of programmes are not the most photogenic things in the world, especially as I keep them in three large suitcases.

So, instead you get a photo of my set of Chinese coasters, which is probably a lot more interesting!

10 comments:

  1. Surely those Programmes should be in at least something non acid??? but suitcases work and will add to the romance!!!
    Nice story. My you've seen a lot of great Diva's... if I may use that word. hee hee.

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  2. I like the illustration ;) that allows me to imagine your "collection" ;) You know what ? I keep some programmes as well !

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  3. You call it a dis-advantage, but can also be a great advantage, to go through the world without to many things... at the same time I can feel the 'comfort' of a collection and what it means to collect through your musical list of names...
    and the coasters look quite nice and maybe they can be reminders of the music that you love...
    happy coasting thru your days...:)

    PS your posts often make me think of the broader topic...this time what comes to mind... "to collect is human, to wander, divine...(something like that!!)

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  4. What an amazing life you are leading.

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  5. Oh. oops!

    Wow.
    Imagine the collection of beautiful images and sounds inside your mind of those performances.
    Are the suitcases part of a collection? :)
    xo
    Andrea

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  6. concert programmes, great idea ... will have our first show at the National Theath of Warszaw at the end of the month, may be I should start !!

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  7. Lovely!
    Your photos and words about all those parts are the best collection.

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  8. i understand, that there is no place for collections in your life. but it isn`t so important, is it?

    you are a funny one ;-) the 4. stool is my sons - and till now he didn`t fall...

    have a nice day!
    dani alias soisses

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  9. I would trade all your travel for everything in my house minus my children.

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  10. and the memories are also collected in your heart!

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