The Omniscient Mussel

Feature Article #1

Bye-Bye Bernard

Musical America brings news that will most certainly warm the cockles of Lisa Hirsch, Tim Rutherford-Johnson, The Detritus Review and The Standing Room’s respective hearts.
NY Times classical music critic Bernard Holland will write his last review on 23rd May.
Celebratory Craft Project

Miss Mussel | May 13th, 2008 | Continued

Feature Article #2

Quiz #16 Special Guest Edition

William Hughes won Quiz #14 (the one about the clarinet) two weeks ago, and for his trouble, Miss Mussel decided to let him choose the mystery piece for a future Quiz installment.
Have a listen to William’s suggestion and get those guesses in.
As usual, clues will be provided on Tues and Weds, with the winner [...]

Miss Mussel | May 12th, 2008 | Continued

Feature Article #3

Review: DaCapo Chamber Choir

In today’s Record
You can count on two things with the DaCapo Chamber Choir: an expertly controlled English cathedral choir sound and thoughtful programming that embraces abstraction while steering well clear of pretension. Saturday’s concert at St John The Evangelist, Kitchener was yet another example of how this choir is getting it right.
Entitled Reaching [...]

Miss Mussel | May 12th, 2008 | Continued

Feature Article #4

Please Excuse The Mess

The Omniscient Mussel is under construction from Saturday 3rd May for approximately one week’s time. (That is assuming that all goes well and the website tweaks don’t cause the whole of the intertubes to melt down)
Posting will continue as normal next week but you may have to step over a few things while reading. [...]

Miss Mussel | May 3rd, 2008 | Continued

Feature Article #5

Review: Trio Laurier Shares Spotlight With Sea Asparagus

Reviewing French Wine - Swiss Chocolate @ The Perimeter Institute in today’s Record
Research efforts at the Perimeter Institute on Friday evening were devoted to investigating the properties of French wine and Swiss chocolate, an endeavour that should frankly be afforded limitless resources.
The occasion was a dinner concert with Trio Laurier providing the aural foil to [...]

Miss Mussel | April 28th, 2008 | Continued

Feature Article #6

The Saddest Music In The World

The Walrus has a list going of the saddest music in the world as companion to Moira Farr’s article on music and depression. The usual suspects are there (Tears In Heaven, Joni Mitchell, Patsy Cline) as well a few that are off the beaten track.
Pointing out that there isn’t any classical [...]

Miss Mussel | April 18th, 2008 | Continued

Feature Article #7

Girl Watching, Debris, Nudity And A Mexican Guy

Nick Park and the gang at Creature Comforts head to America in an attempt to answer that age-old question: What is Art?

For those readers that haven’t watched PBS with some regularity over the past 20 years, the “happy squirrel” television guy is none other than Bob Ross.

Miss Mussel | March 15th, 2008 | Continued

Feature Article #8

Why Arirang Made Me Cry

[also appears in Friday's Arts Blog @ The Guardian]
Watching the NY Phil play the Korean folksong Arirang at the end of their concert in Pyongyang, North Korea was profoundly moving. I first heard the encore on the CNN website before seeing the concert in full last night via PBS feed but the effect was the [...]

Miss Mussel | February 28th, 2008 | Continued

Feature Article #9

As Abhorrent As The Worship Of The Golden Calf

Sir Donald’s backhanded defense of opera.
Doubtless there are some people to whom the use of music for illlustrating other things is as abhorrent as the worship of the golden calf was to the law-giver of Israel; but if you wish to break all the commandments of aesthetic philosophy at once you will infer that, because [...]

Miss Mussel | October 23rd, 2007 | Continued

Feature Article #10

Tangentially About Pavarotti But Not Really

Just in case you have been hiding under a rock all day, Pavarotti died approximately 18 hours ago. Miss Mussel is an opera infant and has only heard snippets of the singer when he was well past his prime. He was admittedly entertaining to watch and shades of his former self were clearly evident [...]

Miss Mussel | September 6th, 2007 | Continued

About this Site

Hello! I’m The Omniscient Mussel. Thanks for stopping by. In this space you’ll find comment on things at least tenuously related to classical music and culture with regular features like The Weekly Quiz and Spine Tinglers alongside out and out silliness.
Miss Mussel has been heavily influenced by Emily Post and Sir Donald [...]