Fischer-Dieskau, who died on May 18th, at the age of eighty-six, loomed so large in the world of classical music that he became something like a city monument a statue that no longer fully registers with the crowds hurrying by.

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And, of course, Brazil and India have the same fears of China as global low cost manufacturer as the US. In India, each village has their own little gods of protection and people tend to have god idols in their homes the way a Brazilian might have a statue of Jesus with open arms, like the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio, decorating their book shelves.

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Like a fairy tale come alive in the middle of Manhattan, their statue-strewn exteriors and 18-foot-high ceilings have captured the imagination of New Yorkers and attracted big-name tenants such as Charlton Heston, who rented a penthouse at the peak of his career in the 1950s.

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