Day 125

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JANUARY 3, 2019

 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

Captain Olaf invited exclusively the 55 World-Cruisers to the Chef's Table for a beef tenderloin dinner followed by a trip to Los Angeles's Walt Disney Concert Hall to listen to Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 2 conducted by Zubin Mehta and played by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The Symphony is 77 minutes long and the final 7 minutes were truly spectacular as they included the 100 person Los Angeles Master Chorale. The first 70 minutes were difficult. 















I haven't been to a live concert in decades. As I listened to the music I noticed for the first time how restricted in depth the classical orchestra's sound is - basically the orchestra is composed of strings, horns and percussion. It seemed as though the orchestra was playing in mono rather than stereo. Yes, the orchestra could certainly play loud, but it lacked brilliance, if you know what I mean. The audio limitations on the classical orchestra is due to the number and types of instruments used in those earlier times. Electrified instruments such as modern guitars, violins and synthesizers add colour and sparkle to today's music. Here's an example, Yanni's "Santorini":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfSSQ3Vejao
If we are in L.A., then what better song than The Eagles playing, "King of Hollywood". Do you think they had Harvey Weinstein in mind when they wrote the song?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaaktHZgvUM


 But Wait - do you think that today's pop music is not as good as the music we called pop and enjoyed as we grew up? Well, it turns out that there might actually be real proof showing "Why Music is Getting Worse":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVME_l4IwII
 



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