Free Republic

The quiet legend that was Kurt Sanderling is no more. Sanderling, a German refugee in Stalin’s Russia, grew very close to Dmitri Shostakovich during and after the Second World War. He was joint principal conductor of the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra with Yevgeny Mravinsky, effectively his deputy. He would get to conduct the second run of performances of each new symphony after his boss had given the premiere. Mravinsky, a man of deep reserve, had a cold and formal relationship with Shostakovich. Sanderling became a close friend. When I asked him once to talk about it, he refused. ‘I don’t like...

NEW YORK, (AP) -- Mitch Miller, the goateed orchestra leader who asked Americans to "Sing Along With Mitch" on television and records, has died at age 99. His daughter, Margaret Miller Reuther, says her father died in New York City after a short illness. Miller was a key record executive at Columbia Records in the pre-rock 'n' roll era, making hits with singers Rosemary Clooney, Patti Page, Johnny Mathis and Tony Bennett.

A Framingham rapist and Level 3 sex offender is accused of breaking his GPS monitoring bracelet and committing another rape and kidnapping after he violated his probation last month but was allowed to remain free. Prosecutors say William French, 29, raped a woman in Framingham on Thursday, just two days after Middlesex Superior Court Judge Howard Whitehead ordered French to wear a GPS monitoring bracelet for one year because he violated the terms of his probation by testing positive for smoking pot Jan. 4. “This is a terribly disturbing case,” Middlesex District Attorney Gerard Leone said in a statement. “We...

The theme was Russia’s victory over Georgia; the spirit was Second World War defiance; the music was from Leningrad — and the conductor was from London. Surrounded by soldiers and barbed wire, hundreds crowded into the centre of Tskhinvali to see Valery Gergiev conduct the Maryinsky Orchestra from St Petersburg as Russia staged a victory concert amid the ruins of the capital of South Ossetia. From the mournful first bars of Shostakovitch’s Symphony No 7 (known as the Leningrad) in the makeshift arena, it was clear that the theme of the night was a stirring appeal to patriotism and the...

When a train conductor was performing an inspection, he was goosed and fell down; he sues his employer on February 4, 2008.

On the eve of the New York Philharmonic's departure on an Asian tour that will include a visit to Pyongyang, its music director, Lorin Maazel, suggested that Americans are not in a position to criticize the North Korean regime, because America's own record on human rights is flawed. "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw bricks, should they?" Mr. Maazel told the Associated Press. "Is our standing as a country — the United States — is our reputation all that clean when it comes to prisoners and the way they are treated? Have we set an example that should...

A North Attleboro man faces financial ruin because he built a new home so close to dangerous high-voltage transmission lines that fluorescent bulbs inside the house light up without even being plugged in. The electric currents running through the two-story home are considered so potentially harmful that the town’s fire department has strung “caution” tape around the house while an electrical inspector has refused to issue a final permit out of fear someone might get electrocuted. The home’s metallic door knobs and exterior shingles give off mild electric jolts when touched, while flowing currents are strong enough to light up...

A train conductor and candidate for Congress who suggested to his passengers they might want to vote against Sen. John Kerry for president has been suspended without pay

I would like to hear from other people whether they feel that George Bush is a devout Christian or not. I consider myself a devout Christian, and feel very uncomfortable with George Bush painting himself as being representative of my religeon. It appears to me that fundamentalists within all the major religeons - Christianity, Islam and Judaism - are interested in heading our planet toward Armageddon. True Christians, Muslims and Jews ascribe themselves to the principles of religeous tolerence and peaceful co-existence. I am interested in the opinions of others here re: this matter.