“The Merry Widow” Production
02 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in Venues Tags: Performances
“The Merry Widow” looks like fun. I have never seen it. Here is more information. Enjoy!
A New Song to Enjoy
13 Aug 2011 Leave a Comment
in Favorite Recordings, Venues Tags: PostADay2011
Yesterday, my aunt and I shared peach cobbler and coffee at Dogwood Tavern. It’s a sports bar, but they also have music going. One song caught my ear because I liked the melody. An Internet search led me to the band–the Gin Blossoms. The song is “Follow You Down.” I had never heard of the band or the song before now. They are a 1990s band. They formed in 1987, actually. Apparently they have undergone personnel changes and have done solo projects, but it’s good to know they are still recording and performing. I don’t think the 1990s qualify as classic, but I’ll add it anyway. Here’s the video, and then one that showcases the words:
I listened to another of their songs, “Found Out About You,” which also sounds good:
Music and Art: A Great Pairing
08 Mar 2011 Leave a Comment
in Venues, Violins, Vivaldi Tags: PostADay2011
As I listened to tonight’s “Front Row Washington” on Classical WETA 90.9, I was happy to hear The Vivaldi Project concert in connection with the National Gallery of Art exhibit “Venice: Canaletto and His Rivals,” which runs through May 30, 2011. I did not know about the February 20th concert in time to go see it, so I am glad I didn’t miss this. I hope to see the exhibit soon. I also got on the National Gallery of Art’s concert list. I hope I can see at least one, with the rest on podcast.
I am happy to learn that The Vivaldi Project is based in Northern Virginia, so they are not too far away. I will ask the director when the next concert is.
And because I can’t get enough of Vivaldi, here is Cleveland’s Apollo’s Fire performing Vivaldi’s “La Folia, the Trio Sonata in D Minor, RV 63″ from a January 15, 2009 performance. I found them through a Web search.”La Folia” was the last selection on tonight’s program, but I forgot who the musicians were here.
Dvorak’s Violin Concerto in A Minor
29 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
in Dvorak, Uncategorized, Violins Tags: PostADay2011
The first time I heard Dvorak’s “Violin Concerto in A Minor, Opus 53,” it was March 19, 2009. I loved it so much I played it twice in one day. Since then, I always keep an ear out for it. One day, I hope to own my own copy. It starts out very grand, and then somewhere in the middle it has this very cheerful-sounding section that I always recognize, whatever I happen to be doing with music as a background. It seems I’m always at the computer.
Many performers pick different sections to highlight. I prefer the complete version of all three movements. Here is a recording of the second and third movements:
Love’s Joy
29 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
in Favorite Recordings, Uncategorized, Violins Tags: PostADay2011
This morning I woke up to Fritz Kreisler’s “Love’s Joy.” It’s just a happy, hopeful melody, and I love hearing it when it comes on the radio. What more can I say? Enjoy!
Here’s his performance of “Meditation on Thais,” from 1928. He died in 1962.
A Musical Joke
23 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
in Everyday Musings, Uncategorized Tags: PostADay2011
Haydn was well known for having a keen sense of humor. This I know from the few biographical snippets I’ve collected about him so far. In the “Surprise Symphony,” for example, there is a lovely slow movement. Just as listeners are getting comfortable with the beauty of that section and momentary quiet, all of a sudden, the other instruments join in again–loudly. All of this wakes up the sleepy audience (and perhaps a few of the musicians as well). In another of his works, all the musicians start to leave as they finish their parts–much to the surprise of the audience. Unfortunately, I can’t remember the name of that symphony. I will have to look it up. I really should play my Haydn double CD set again.
This weekend, I got a nice surprise. A Prairie Home Companion broadcast its annual joke show–a couple of weeks earlier than I originally thought. And I was able to listen to the entire show! Some jokes I liked, but others I didn’t. Here’s a musical one:
A note walks into a bar. The bartender says, “Sorry, I can’t serve you. You’re a minor.” (Get it?)
Don’t worry; comedy will not be my next career. But I did think it was cute.
A few days ago, I ran across this cool quote in my reading:
“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.” — Aldous Huxley, “Music at Night”
Another new author and composer to research…
Music in Different Words
22 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
in Favorite Recordings, Uncategorized Tags: PostADay2011
Friday night, 1/21/11, as I was watching ABC World News and “Person of the Week,” they featured the story of Allyson Townsend, who interprets the words to many different songs in American Sign Language. She’s a second grade teacher in Texas. Many of her students are completely deaf. She has made music part of the curriculum where she can, and has a big following on her YouTube Channel. She is also getting her sign language interpreting certification, and one day hopes to interpret at concerts and other events. More power to her! She’s great. (Waving two hands in the air as applause!)
Here’s Allyson doing her rendition of Tim McGraw’s “Just to See You Smile,” and explaining how to sign to music, conveying the emotion:
I learned a bit of ASL at camp one year long ago, and later through former co-workers, who shared the book The Joy of Signing with me. Doing the two-handed signs was difficult. I haven’t had to use it in years, and I miss it.
A co-worker who was hearing-impaired once told me that she felt music through speakers and the vibrations in the floor. That inspired her to dance.
Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E Minor
12 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
in Favorite Recordings, Uncategorized, Violins Tags: PostADay2011
Today I listened to Minnesota Public Radio’s “New Classical Tracks.” James Ehnes’ CD was featured. He performed Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E Minor, which I might eventually buy when times are better.
Here is a 2007 video of Sarah Chang performing it at Avery Fisher Hall with the New York Philharmonic:
Cinema Paradiso Reflections
09 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
in Favorite Recordings, Pianos, Uncategorized, Violins Tags: PostADay2011
Cinema Paradiso (1988) is my favorite foreign film, and one of my favorite films ever. It’s about a young Sicilian boy, Salvatore, and his lifelong love of the movies. He eventually grows up to be a famous film director. It’s also his coming-of-age story.
One of my former bosses told me about it, describing how much the film had moved him. I was skeptical. The few foreign films I had seen up to that point I didn’t like at all. One day he came back to the office after a meeting, handed me a free movie pass and said, “Here. I want you to see Cinema Paradiso. You never take a break, so take the afternoon off and enjoy.” I went the next afternoon, and loved it! I thanked him profusely for the movie pass, and it was the latest of many lessons in always taking time to smell the roses. Eventually I bought the video, and I still watch it whenever the mood strikes me. In 2005 or thereabouts, my aunt and I went to a Washington, DC theater to see the director’s extended cut. That version left an even bigger lump in my throat, but it was an even more satisfying story. Ennio Morricone wrote the music for the film. It is by turns, happy, wistful, joyous, sad, haunting, and everything in between.
The other night, I was listening to a podcast episode of Dr. Mark Malkovich’s program, “My Music,” on Rhode Island’s classical station Classical 95.9 WCRI FM. The program featured the music of pianist John Bayless, who covers many modern songs in a stylish, dignified way. He included the love theme from Cinema Paradiso on one of his CDs. Dr. Malkovich included that version on the program, and I kept playing it over and over. I hadn’t realized how much I missed the tune. I couldn’t get it out of my head. Grooveshark lists more than 150 recordings of the melody; I listened to a few. Josh Groban sings the Italian version of the song on one of his newer CDs. Yo-Yo Ma has recorded an instrumental version.
I also went to YouTube. The first video is Ennio Morricone conducting, and a pianist playing the well-known melody. The second is a Polish orchestra performing a version for strings. Below these, I also include the English translation of the song. I don’t know which interpretation I like better.
Cinema Paradiso
If you were in my eyes for one day
You could see the full beauty of the joy
I find in your eyes
And it isn’t magic or loyalty
If you were in my heart for a day
You would have an idea
Of what I feel
When you hold me strongly to you
Heart to heart,
Breathing together
Protagonist of your love
I don’t know if it’s magic or loyalty
If you were in my soul for a day
You would know what is inside me
That I fell in love
At that instant, together with you
And what I sense
It’s only love.
As I reflect on the film, I think about how movies connect people, as pastime, entertainment, as a gathering place, as a shared memory. And I think about how nothing ever stays the same. I guess it’s never supposed to. “The only thing we can count on in this life is change,” another boss always told me. The theater where I first saw the film has closed, and much about the area is different now. I’ve gone through my own unpredictable career ride, friends have come and gone, and these two former bosses have since passed away. I miss them a lot.
But still, good things have happened to me in the years since, in spite of the challenges. I will concentrate on those.
Merry Christmas!
25 Dec 2010 Leave a Comment
I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! I was reading a friend’s blog today and came across a lovely performance of “The Wexford Carol” by Alison Krauss and Yo-Yo Ma. I am very familiar with the melody, but not the words. It’s so beautiful! I hope you like it.
