Is Bach Best?

Another article on Bach and Rifkin

Minimal Forces, Maximal Bach. (NYT) "JOSHUA RIFKIN is best known to early-music enthusiasts for having declared, some two decades ago, that the traditional Bach choir is a modern invention. Mr. Rifkin's radical conclusion was that Bach had designed the chorus parts in his cantatas and Passions to be performed by just the four or five solo singers who also take the arias and duets."

I'm a big fan of Rifkin's ideas and that of Andrew Parrott, whom I saw conduct live at the end of November.

Welcome back, Chris

I noticed that Chris and Ann have returned from Kauai. The time away sounded wonderful: " We indulge ourselves. We don't wear shoes. We sleep a lot. We stay in the warm water. We look at the ocean without worrying about the time." I'd be sad, however, if they decide now to move to Seattle.

Also, Karin

Welcome back to Karin. I'm hopelessly addicted to broadband also -- it's wonderful to have DSL coming into the house combined with a house wireless network.

So the debate continues over open source

John Robb listed Open Source as on of the "top flops for 2001" ("Open Source. You get what you pay for"), thereby starting up a little blogging scuffle. I think that diveintomark has perhaps the best pointers into this discussion.

My brief take: The open source/ free software movement has produced some superb software: Perl, Python, Linux, GNU utilities, Emacs, TeX/LaTeX, Zope, ACS -- so John Robb's comment cannot literally be correct -- "you get a lot more than you pay for". It has been very hard to run sustainable businesses based on selling open source products. And I clearly think that the world is big enough for proprietary software as well as open source products -- and needs both. Something for individual purposes. I use Ecco, a commercial PIM, my favorite program. Nothing in the open source world comes close to filling that niche, though I dream about how something like Ximian's Evolution may grow into a mature PIM. I also use Perl and Python, two excellent scripting languages -- and wrote my Ph.D. dissertation with LaTeX (which was so much better for that purpose than something like MS Word.)

Open source is great in that one can, in principle, change the software to fit one's needs. In practice, I have no interest in rewriting the source of any substantial open source project. Open standards, such as well documented XML DTDs or schemas, for data exchange and a mechanism for producing such data from applications are even more helpful -- at least from my perspective as someone who can program but would don't have a lot of time to do so.

Later tonight: My wait for Doc Searls to comment on the success or failure of open source is over.

A review of the Zope book

I found the Book Review: The Zope Book from ZopeZen. What has happened to ZopeNewbies?

I sympathize with Laura

Laura: "Soon to be short on time, anyway. That's what I'm realizing, as I indulge myself over break in spending my time in whatever way I feel inclined at the moment (something I really shouldn't do, even now). I'm realizing that I'm about to slip into superbusy gear, busy as last year (but with less fun, because I won't be spending as much time with kids)."

TV on the web

Thanks to Robert Scoble, I am now looking at wwitv.com, a portal for TV on the Web.

Indeed

Is Bach Best? (Gramaphone) "Was Johann Sebastian Bach a genius or simply a superb technical craftsman? Gramophone tried to pin down Bach’s genius with a little help from some friends." [link from Michael Grover in the BachRecordings group]

Donal Fox

Listen to a musical interview on The Connection with Donal Fox, who said "Bach was the first swingin' cat." Greg Sandow writes about Donal Fox for the NewMusicBox.

Nov Jan

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