Irish cellist goes viral from cottage. Is Joe Biden watching?

Irish cellist goes viral from cottage. Is Joe Biden watching?

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norman lebrecht

November 23, 2020

Patrick Dexter from Country Mayo has been playing one song a day through the Covid second wave from his spectacular backyard.

He’s getting tens of thousands of views on social media.

He should be getting a call soon from President-elect Biden.

Comments

  • christopher storey says:

    The Schubert is truly dreadful, with the rhythm pulled about all over the place, not to mention a gross distortion of the melody at about 3 minutes

    • RW2013 says:

      Ständchen as a Siciliano.

      • Edgar Self says:

        Good call R2 on Schubert’s serenade as a siciliano. Others: the opening of Chopin’s second Ballade in F, and second movement of Moazrt’s piano concerto 23 in A K. 488. Desdemona’s willow song from Rossini’s “Otllo” may be another, with harp accompaniment, breaking glass, and a passing gondolier singing lines from Dante, “There is no greater sorrow than the remembrnce of past joy.”

  • Alan K says:

    You somehow believe that a Biden presidency will usher in a new era of culture at the WH. The activist wing of the democratic factor and their cohorts in Academia view Western Art music as a symptom of White Supremacy. Progressives such as the owner of this website are totally deluded and can not get over their TDS. If one were intellectually honest, one would observe that the last two presidents who brought classical music artists to the WH and actually seemed to care were Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. If I recall correctly Carter fell in love with Classical music when he was on a Navy Sub. Reagan was no connoisseur of high art but brought many great musicians to the WH including Horowitz and Feltsman among others. I doubt “lunchbox Joe could differentiate Bach from Brahms. Trump, Obama, Clinton, and the Bushes were all about mass appeal (although Bush 1 supposed loved opera but would not admit it less it upset his Texas image>

  • Patricia says:

    Pres George HW Bush and Sen Alan Simpson (R-Wy) used to go to the Kennedy Center concerts with their wives. Accompanied, of course, by members of the Secret Service. And Biden, who is not yet the President Elect, wouldn’t know a flute from a trombone. Please keep American politics off of this site. You know nothing about us, except what you hear on the lefty BBC.

    • Alan K says:

      Thank you for your wise comment. I stand corrected on HW Bush going to the KC for concerts. I personally never saw them. Just Gingrich and Greenspan. I am sure there were others but those are just my observations of attending many symphony concerts and opera over the last 30 years.

    • V.Lind says:

      Don’t know what you hear on righty Fox News but in the UK there is a little item called Freedom of Speech.

      It gets reined in occasionally on this blog, which is the right of the owner, but in general there is little restriction on debate.

      • FoxNews is no longer ‘right.’ You Brits have lost much under the current hysteria and your freedom of speech is circling the drain. Don’t get uppity. You have no Bill of Rights. You are *subjects* of the Crown.

    • William Safford says:

      I haven’t read anything about President-Elect Biden’s preferences in classical music.

      I have read about his support of the arts, for example his protecting programs such as the National Endowment of the Arts:

      https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/30/arts/biden-arts-culture.html

      • Alan K says:

        Protecting the NEA is a meaningless gesture if the NEA is just a dumbed down organization obsessed with identity politics.

        • William Safford says:

          Republicans oppose funding the arts. That is why the NEA is minuscule compared to similar programs in most European countries.

          Biden at least has worked to protect what little public funding there is.

          • V.Lind says:

            The NEA is minuscule compared to similar programmes in most European CITIES. (And to Canada: we have a tenth of the population but give a lot more public support to our arts).

    • Fred Funk says:

      Singer at Trump rally.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3eTjBUZSRo

      Like a cat in heat scratching the patio glass…..

    • Doofus1714 says:

      dear Patricia!
      You should also keep Ametican politics off of this site. There are many many Americans who read this blog so it is bound to come up. The BBC is a little left, perhaps compared to Fox or AON etc…
      I am sorry that the election has stirred such irrational ignorance in so many.

    • William Safford says:

      There are those of us who are knowledgeable about American politics.

      Then there are those who regurgitate right-wing propaganda that masquerades as knowledge about American politics.

      It would be nice if the regurgitators would keep their lies off of this site.

      • That is hubris, William.

        • William Safford says:

          It is called being self-possessed.

          A bunch of sock puppets are posting lies and propaganda. The author or authors are ill-informed and bigoted. They are not presenting fact-based differences of opinion, they are lying and twisting facts to their own ends.

          They seem to believe that if they repeat lies often enough, that they will magically transform into the truth. They don’t.

          They show their true colors when challenged with facts and informed opinions.

  • Gary C Woodward says:

    Some sour grapes here. In fact, I expect Biden will again open the White House to music: a far cry from the last four years. And bravo to this musician in Ireland. Give those making an effort a chance. Doesn’t his necessary isolation say something we should hear?

  • William Safford says:

    That’s a cute dog!

    • V.Lind says:

      Isn’t he? Nice life — views like that and a friendly cellist to feed you. Bet the dog is the reason for the social media interest.

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