Spam Roundup August, 2015

There's spam, and then there's spam so oddly written it's somewhat amusing. Here's a roundup of some of the "best" comments I received this month from spambots around the world.


That's the name -- don't wear it out

Hi there! AI know this is somewhat off topic but I was wondering if you knew where I could find a captcha plugin for my comment form?

Whats up this is somewhat of off topic but I was wanting to know if blogs us WYIWYG editors or if you have to manally code with HTML.

Hey! quick question that's entirely off topic. do you know how to make your site mobile friendly? [Yes, this blog is titled "Off Topic'd" but enough's enough!]

The Nomura 3" tin lumber truck. Still pulling down
the comments!

Lumbering Along

The Straco Express Layout, Part 23 - Lumbering Along continues to be one of my most popular posts -- among spambots. Really, fellas, it's just an inexpensive vintage Japanese tin toy. Really.

What I do not understood is in reality how you're no longer really a lot more well-preferred than you might be now. [What do you mean "no longer?!]

Wonderful workk! this is the type of information that are supposed to be shared across the web. Shame on Google for no longer positioning this put it upper. [Google "Straco Lumbering Along" and watch what happens.]

Spammers register at general dating services. The attraction must be interested in or the headline of the game who tend to be better? [I find the idea of registering spammers especially attractive.]

Fastidiously yours

Just when I thought spammers were through misusing this word, I receive this:

Hi, this weekend is fastidious designed for me, for the reason that this moment i am reading this impressive educational post here at my residence.

That's all for August. Until next time, have a fastidious month, and try not to get to far off topic.

Kuhlau Piano Quartets Echo Beethoven

Friedrich Kuhlau wasn't just an admirer of Beethoven - they were friends during the last part of Beethoven's life. And perhaps its because of that close association that the two piano quartets on this release share some similarities to Beethoven's chamber music.

In addition to being an amazingly prolific composer, Kuhlau was also a virtuoso pianist and a master of counterpoint -- both qualities figure prominently in these quartets. The piano parts are extremely challenging, although they never threaten to overwhelm the rest of the ensemble. Both have extended fugal sections that (to my ears) are impeccably crafted.

Kuhlau completed his Piano Quaretet no. 1 in C minor, Op. 32 in 1821, and the influence of Beethoven is strong. And no wonder -- Kuhlau used thematic material his friend's third piano concerto in the opening movement. While Kuhlau goes a different direction with the material, the stylistic resemblences remain. Like Beethoven, Kuhlau uses motivic development to move his music forward.

Piano Quartet No. 2 in A major, Op. 50 was written ten years later, and Kulau keeps up with the times. While there's still a Beethovenian character to the music, the expansiveness of the movements and the more lyrical approach to the melodic material reminded me a little of Schubert -- especially in the Scherzo where Kuhlau incorporates a ländler.

The Copenhagen Piano Quartet perform with pristine accuracy as ensemble, which works very well for the contrapuntal sections. Yet they play with the emotive energy this music needs. While Kuhlau may not be as stormy as Beethoven, he still packs plenty of drama into his music. And on that, the Copenhagen Piano Quartet delivers.

Friedrich Kuhlau: Piano Quartets 1 & 2 
Copenhagen Piano Quartet 
Dacapo SACD 6.220596

Vytautas Baceviciu - A welcome rediscovery

Lithuanian composer and pianist Vytautas Bacevicius lived and worked mostly out of the spotlight. Exiled from his homeland by the Second World War, he eventually settled in New York City. Bacevicius resisted assimilation into American culture.

Though born in Poland, he celebrated his Lithuanian heritage, even changing the to the Lithuanian spelling of his name (unlike his more famous sister, composer Grazyna Bacewicz). He never engaged with the New York music scene, and he never returned to Lithuania, thus cutting himself off from his largest potential audiences.

Although obscure more or less by choice, Bacevicius' music is well-crafted and deserves a hearing. Bacevivius developed his own version of atonality that, at least in these works, sounds more like post-tonality to me.

The 1946 Piano Concerto No. 3 has some very distinctive jazz elements. Some sections to my ears sounded like a highly chromatic version of Gershwin, perhaps crossed with Hindemith.

Completed in 1967, the fourth piano concerto is less tonal, and decidedly more original than the third. Bacevivius is an original and imaginative orchestrater, especially when it comes to percussion.

The 1958 Spring Suite serves as an effective bridge between the two concertos. It opens in a light, gauzy manner that reminded me of Martinu. As it progressed, its disjointed melodies seemed similar in style to late works by Shostakovitch.

Pianist Gabrielius Alekna does a tremendous job. Bacevivius demands a lot from the soloist, and Alekna delivers. The Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra directed by Christopher Lyndon-Gee also perform credibly, though in some spots the recorded ensemble seemed a little lacking in detail. Those are minor quibbles, though.

I was glad to see this release labeled "Volume 1." Bacevicius was indeed an original composer, and his music merits further exposure.

Reply All Mark Trail

Two of the many newspaper comic strips I read daily are about as far apart stylistically as possible. Mark Trail has been running continually since 1946, and until fairly recently the artwork seemed stuck in the 1950's (kudos for current artist James Allen for making the artwork more dynamic and contemporary-looking).

Donna Lewis started Reply All in 2011, and uses Photoshop to create collage-like artwork.

Mark Trail is about the outdoor adventures of a globe-trotting wildlife photographer. Reply All is about the personal insecurities of a young woman in the working world.

And yet...

Here's Ken, the marine biologist that brings Mark Trail into an undersea adventure in August, 2015.

Here's Drew, the boyfriend of Lizzie, the heroine of Reply All.

Seeing them both on the same page, I was struck by the resemblance. Are they brothers? Does Drew lead a secret life of adventure?

I'm sure it's just a coincidence.

But still...

Heinichen Masses Show Italian Influences

This release features the final two surviving masses of Johann David Heinichen, written in 1728 the year of his death. Heinichen spent several years Venice learning the Italian style, and it shows. When he returned to Germany in the employ of the Crown Prince of Saxony, he wrote Italianate operas and other large-scale choral works.

The two masses on this release are full-blown "number masses." Each section's text, such as the Credo or Gloria, is broken down into smaller phrases, and each phrase set to its own piece of music.

The Italian influence is quite strong -- to my ears these masses resembled those of Alessandro Scarlatti. Like Scarlatti, the dramatic power of the music owes much to the operatic conventions of the day. Heinichen's melodies are wonderfully lyrical and expressive. But Heinichen's German background is present, too. While the solo sections are sinuously fluid, the choral sections feature rigorously constructed counterpoint that looks ahead to Bach.

Hans-Cristoph Rademann leads his forces with a sure hand; the Dresdener Barockorchester performs with a restrained energy that seems appropriate for works intended for worship services. The Dresdner Kammerchor has a clean ensemble sound, which made it easy to follow the polyphony.

If you like the sacred works of Scarlatti, Handel, or Telemann, then there's a lot hear that you should enjoy as well. I did.

Johann David Heinichen: Messen 
Missa No. 11 in D major; Missa No. 12 in D major 
Dresdner Kammerchor; Dresdner Barockorchester; Hans-Christoph Rademann, conductor 
Carus 83.272