Mostly Music
segunda-feira, dezembro 31
mamis, to invadindo o seu blog pra pedir procê dar sing out depois de usar se naum quando eu entro ele estah no mostly music!
mtos beijinhos
juuuu
Modern Music
This morning Laura and I are working on the pieces for our concert of Jan. 8. The task at hand: a fifteen minute long dirge in E-flat minor (with organ) called The Twins by composer Stefan Weisman of Princeton. Long and slow, but appropriate as a reponse to 9/11.
domingo, dezembro 30
Summer in the city.
(Before I forget, let me remind you that this was posted by Tom, not by Laura. But it so happens that he is posting from my computer, so that explains the "posted by Laura" that is slightly baffling...)
Here in Rio it is sunday afternoon, temperature is a humid 25 degrees Celsius.It should be hot, brilliant sun, blue sky, nice sea breeze, everybody at the praia....but the last two weeks have been unseasonably wet, with flooding and many landslides in the state of Rio. Laura, Hermano, Dona Nora and I hopped into the car to go for a walk on the Paineiras road
, which is closed to traffic on weekends (weekdays in Brazil are dias uteis (useful days), which must mean that weekends are useless days). There was an unbelievable jam of cars waiting to go to the top of Corcovado.
Finally we got to the parking lot for the Paineiras road
, and at that elevation we were in the clouds. We walked a few hundred meters, and through an opening in the clouds we could see down to the Lagoa
, with the Christmas Tree sitting in the middle. Incredible to be in a wonderful rainforest so close to the city. There were a lot of people walking to the "natural shower"', which I expected to be a waterfall, but which turned out to be a pipe of mountain water about 75 feet above the road - everybody there in bathing suits, and with towels to dry off after. Afterwards we drove down to Catete and picked up a book that we had put aside for Ju, when we were there yesterday, at a very nice used bookstore (sebo in portuguese) off Rua de Catete near the Palace. The owner, Antonio, was there, with two beautiful cats, female and male, named Isis and Osiris. Yesterday there was some samba happening in the street outside, with bass drums, little hand drums, shakers, a guy playing cavaquinho, and lots of beer being quaffed, with barbecue being cooked on the sidewalk. A good time was had by all.....sábado, dezembro 29
A small gift for MEG, the nicest blogger we know..
Music
Amy Lowell (1874-1925)
The neighbour sits in his window and plays the flute.
From my bed I can hear him,
And the round notes flutter and tap about the room,
And hit against each other,
Blurring to unexpected chords.
It is very beautiful,
With the little flute-notes all about me,
In the darkness.
In the daytime,
The neighbour eats bread and onions with one hand
And copies music with the other.
He is fat and has a bald head,
So I do not look at him,
But run quickly past his window.
There is always the sky to look at,
Or the water in the well!
But when night comes and he plays his flute,
I think of him as a young man,
With gold seals hanging from his watch,
And a blue coat with silver buttons.
As I lie in my bed
The flute-notes push against my ears and lips,
And I go to sleep, dreaming.
Work in Progress
we are still writing this one. But since our comments are back (thanks, Cora!) I was anxious to post something and show our four readers that we are not dead!
CRITIQUE EN DIALOGUE:
Laura: Tom, there’s something about this disc that I just don’t get. Why would anyone want to listen to these arrangements rather than a recording of the original? The sound of the Wanamaker organ (at the Grand Court of Lord and Taylor in Center City Philadelphia) has quite an orchestral feel, the tone is varied, and the quality of the recording as captured by Dorian is wonderful. It’s just that I can’t imagine someone coming home and putting this on after a hard day at work.
Tom Moore: So it’s not charming music to listen to in the background. Is that it?
LR: Quite the contrary, I don’t think it’s something that I could sit down and pay attention to. For me it seems like music that has not made up its mind. Is it music for the foreground? Or is it music for a silent film without the film?
TM: Perhaps one of the problems for a listener in 2002 is that this is music that has left an original context behind. The notion of orchestral organ (as opposed to Gebrauchsmusik for the church) is rather like arrangements of Suppe overtures for concert band, for example. Both come from an age before recorded music, where you got your music where you could, whether it was Aunt Matilda at the family upright, the Sioux City Municipal Band at the bandstand in the park, or the organist at the department store. In that sense Conte is a musical archeologist, even more so than the folks who try to recreate the Urtext and the original performance setting of a work. You may think that these arrangements are in bad taste, but you have to admit they are exquisite….
LR: Exquisite is what they are not….they are very impressive, well done, prodigious, fabulous….but also kitsch to the max…even the original was already kitsch.
TM: Wagner, kitsch? How can you resist the crescendo towards the end of the Magic Fire Music!? What a sound! And those adorable chimes…
LR: I was expecting Santa Claus and his eight tiny reindeer.
TM Don’t you think that Conte’s arrangements are convincing and idiomatic?
LR: Well, yes…but…
TM: And his technique at the top level?
LR: Most definitely.
TM: So perhaps we can agree that this is a stunning disc, but whether our readers will like it depends on whether they can dive in to the kitsch and revel in it?
LR: I do like kitsch – I watch Friends…I don’t spend all of my spare time reading sonnets…but this is kitsch of the most grandiose sort…it makes me never want to listen to music again….
TM But I think that there will be readers who will just be carried away….
TM/LR There you have it, folks…listen if you dare, and let us know which side you are on.
MAGIC! Peter Richard Conte, org DORIAN xCD-90308 (78:06)
MUSSORGSKY (arr. Conte): Night on the Bare Mountain. WAGNER (arr. Lemare): Wotan’s Farewell and Magic Fire Music from The Valkyries. DUKAS (arr. Conte): Sorcerer’s Apprentice. NICOLAI (arr. Conte) : Overture to The Merry Wives of Windsor. ELGAR (arr. Conte): Cockaigne Overture “In London Town”, op. 40. ELGAR: Nimrod from Variations, op. 86 “Enigma”.
sábado, dezembro 22
Ah, Christmas! 'Tis the season to be jolly, to send cards to people you never think of during the rest of the year, to go fight for the last white blouse for Manoela in a crowded shopping mall store full of irritatingly thin women. And the season to eat wonderful stuff without guilt and hug friends you love, and see the Christmas tree in Lagoa and feel happy. Enjoy it, we hope you receive all the gifts you crave, eat all the chocolate you can, drink more than you can, kiss and be kissed.
His Books
Robert Southey (1774-1843)
My days among the Dead are past;
Around me I behold,
Where'er these casual eyes are cast,
The mighty minds of old;
My never-failing friends are they,
With whom I converse day by day.
With them I take delight in weal,
And seek relief in woe;
And while I understand and feel
How much to them I owe,
My cheeks have often been bedew'd
With tears of thoughtful gratitude.
My thoughts are with the Dead, with them
I live in long-past years,
Their virtues love, their faults condemn,
Partake their hopes and fears,
And from their lessons seek and find
Instruction with an humble mind.
My hopes are with the Dead, anon
My place with them will be,
And I with them shall travel on
Through all Futurity;
Yet leaving here a name, I trust,
That will not perish in the dust.
Greetings after a quiet week with no postings...
Both of your faithful bloggers are in Rio for the holidays. How nice to be away from the incessant news machine of the United States! Peace is much more evident in Rio de Janeiro. As you drive around the Lagoa (and elsewhere) you can see illuminated signs by the road (the sort that frequently has advertising for restaurants or stores) with the single word, in large letters, PAZ (peace). Nothing else,
just PEACE. Yesterday I also bought a pair of New Year's glasses (the novelty sort you wear for fun), with the words 2002 (the zeros being the frames for your eyes), and PAZ. "Is peace the usual theme for Christmas?", I asked Laura."Yes", she answered. The U.S.A. no longer has a Christmas season -- it's now a "holiday" season, which means that any content whatsoever has been leached out.
"Peace on earth, good will to men" is too religious. "Merry Christmas" is definitely out. Not so in Brazil. "Happy Holidays" is completely unheard of'. It's simply "Feliz Natal" and "Feliz Ano Novo". In this year of atrocity, fuel-air bombs, weaponized anthrax, it's all the sadder that "peace" has vanished from America's Decembers.
(the two of us...)sexta-feira, dezembro 14
Friends and foes, we are so upset: our comments are dead, gone forever. We have not even posted anything, we are so confused. We are trying to find a solution. For now, if you want to send a comment, try my e-mail: laronai@pobox.com
Thanks, and sorry. We will be back, soon.
quarta-feira, dezembro 12
A Revocation
Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542)
What should I say?
— Since Faith is dead,
And Truth away
From you is fled?
Should I be led
With doubleness?
Nay! nay! mistress.
I promised you,
And you promised me,
To be as true
As I would be.
But since I see
Your double heart,
Farewell my part!
Thought for to take
'Tis not my mind;
But to forsake
One so unkind;
And as I find
So will I trust.
Farewell, unjust!
Can ye say nay
But that you said
That I alway
Should be obeyed?
And — thus betrayed
Or that I wist!
Farewell, unkist!
sexta-feira, dezembro 7
To Chloe
Who for his sake wished herself younger
William Cartwright (1611-1643)
There are two births; the one when light
First strikes the new awaken’d sense;
The other when two souls unite,
And we must count our life from thence:
When you loved me and I loved you
Then both of us were born anew.
Love then to us two souls did give
And in those souls did plant new powers;
Since when another life we live,
The breath is his, not ours:
Love makes those young whom age doth chill,
And whom he finds young keeps young still.
BACK TO BACH
No wonder these concerti have been reconstructed from their harpsichord counterparts, and are often played and recorded by violinists - they are absolutely fabulous music, and sound at least as idiomatic on strings as they do on keyboard, if not more so.Being a convert to period instruments, I approached this disc with a certain modicum of wariness. But the very first track, trumpets and all, disarmed me with its lush, opulent sound. When compared to period-instrument recordings, the colors pale a bit, but not for long. The higher tuning does take away some of the velvet qualities of the sound, and the continuo harpsichord seems a bit hidden in the background, as in the old I Musici recordings. At times one could wish for a more audacious, unconventional conception (in this respect one cannot help thinking of Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s landmark recording of 1977, for Teldec, with violinist Alice Harnoncourt).
However, the Stuttgart ensemble directed by Helmuth Rilling compensates for these minor shortcomings in many rewarding ways: if one perceives a hint of nervousness sometimes, that is a small price to pay for interpretations that are never anemic, and vibrate with life. The ensemble playing is warm and enthusiastic, intonation flawless, and the choice of tempi competently adequate in all the pieces. In fact, better than those of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightment under Elizabeth Wallfisch (Virgin, 1994) which, period instruments notwithstanding, surprisingly sounds less baroque than the Stuttgart group.
The young violinists featured here show more than just a very fine technique. They all seem to be familiar with the latest research in historical performance, and they use it to their advantage. They perform with enormous gusto, the brilliant finger-work obediently subordinated to convincing musical choices. Finally, the quality of the recorded sound itself is quite beautiful and full of depth. The overall tone is rich and mellow, the soloists standing out exactly as much as needed. A dense forest, but with the shape of the trees still perfectly distinguishable among the luscious green. Definitely recommended.
BACH Reconstructed Violin Concertos: in d, BWV 1052R; in g, BWV1056R; in D, BWV 1064R; in D, BWV 1045. Helmuth Rilling, cond; Bach-Collegium Stuttgart; Isabelle Faust, Muriel Cantoreggi, Christoph Poppen (vn). HÄNSSLER CD 92138, (51:06)
Fanfare, January/February 2001
quarta-feira, dezembro 5
Another lightbulb joke
How many second violinists does it take to change a light bulb?
None. They can't get up that high!
terça-feira, dezembro 4
Patricia Watwood : "Music and Poetry"
82 cm X 152 cm / 36" X 60" Huile sur toile / Oil on canvas, 2000
Man
Sir John Davies (1569-1626)
I know my soul hath power to know all things,
Yet she is blind and ignorant in all:
I know I'm one of Nature's little kings,
Yet to the least and vilest things am thrall.
I know my life's a pain and but a span;
I know my sense is mock'd in ev'rything;
And, to conclude, I know myself a Man,
Which is a proud and yet a wretched thing.
(Para você, Fausto)
segunda-feira, dezembro 3
The spice of life
I have been complaining a lot, lately, of a bad habit that a few recording companies are cultivating: that of releasing old recordings practically disguised under a new trendy cover, sometimes barely re-masterized, with the thinnest booklet texts and the recording date cleverly hidden in the liner credits.So this is a very good occasion to praise this Archiv Series, intent on re-issuing legendary recordings from their LP catalogue. This series shows respect for the performer as well as for the listener. It does not conceal that these recordings are decades old, quite the contrary, the fact is proudly announced, the graphic presentation tastefully evoking the original cover of the LPs and with the bonus luxury of a little joke: the CDs themselves have a visual finish that perfectly imitates the appearance of a vinyl recording in miniature. The re-masterization is lovingly done, and extensive and informative liner notes are provided. None of that would be any consolation if the performances themselves were not appealing.
The present CD is a 1959 recording of Bach’s Well-tempered Clavier, performed masterfully by Ralph Kirkpatrick, a name which was fundamental in the revival experienced by the harpsichord in the 20th Century. He was not only a famous interpreter but also a scholar respected worldwide, and this release gives us the opportunity to know why. The music heard here is played with passion and vitality, and it is quite apparent that Kirkpatrick’s deep understanding of line and harmony did not make his interpretations in any way intellectual or sterile. There is an instinctive lyricism which pervades and enriches the smallest of details in phrasing, and the polished technique is always subservient to the idea.
An added attraction, which, conversely, is the recording’s only drawback, is the instrument chosen for this heroic task: the sweet, and “fiendishly difficult” clavichord. This rarely recorded instrument was the first keyboard in which dynamics could be produced, and it also has the unique capacity of producing a sort of vibrato (the Bebung), unlike its more frequently heard relative, the harpsichord. On the other hand, the sound is tiny, under-nourished, reminding us of a toy instrument. Not really thrilling, not at all vigorous, sometimes even a bit annoying. In Kirkpatrick’s own words “part of its magnetism resides in the necessity for the listener to allow himself with doubly sharpened ears to be drawn towards that tiny point of focus beyond which illusion becomes reality”.
Anyone who has ever tried to get someone’s attention in a noisy place, or in the middle of a fight, and who found that the best way to achieve that was by lowering the tone of voice until it became almost a whisper, will immediately relate to this choice. Some of us might miss the tone of the harpsichord, objectively more lovely. Still, in a loud, rude, violent world, it is a balm to open ears and souls to this breath of poetry.
BACH The Well-tempered Clavier, vol.1. R. Kirkpatrick (clvd). DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 289 463 601-2 (2 CDs:105:59) (Fanfare, September/October 2001 – p.121)
QUE SEJA INFINITO ENQUANTO DURE...
To a lady asking him how long he would love her
Sir George Etherege (ca. 1635-1691)
It is not, Celia, in our power
To say how long our love will last;
It may be we within this hour
May lose those joys we now do taste:
The blessed, that immortal be,
From change in love are only free.
Then, since we mortal lovers are,
Ask not how long our love will last;
But while it does, let us take care
Each minute be with pleasure past.
Were it not madness to deny
To live, because we're sure to die?
Aren't you just dying to hear this CD?
The music is so intense that it is exhausting. It becomes wearisome. There are moments of great excitement and, occasionally, calm but it is so devoid of effective contrast. It is often formless and lacking in direction and purpose and I feel sure the composer had this in mind since each of the sonatas ends with a fugue which musical form, or device, is very predictable, restrictive and can be academically stuffy. The composer, seeing his loose episodic meanderings, then embarks on the 'respectability' of a fugue as if he wants to be accepted as a composer in direct line from Bach. The piano at Nottingham University is 'tubby' at times and 'suspect' in other ways.
This review is by David Wright, and you can find the rest of it in here.
CRITIC, n: One who boasts of being "hard to please" because nobody tries to please him.
Ambrose Bierce
Bread and Music
Conrad Aiken (1889--1973) (
MUSIC I heard with you was more than music,
And bread I broke with you was more than bread;
Now that I am without you, all is desolate;
All that was once so beautiful is dead.
Your hands once touched this table and this silver,
And I have seen your fingers hold this glass.
These things do not remember you, belovèd,
And yet your touch upon them will not pass.
For it was in my heart you moved among them,
And blessed them with your hands and with your eyes;
And in my heart they will remember always,--
They knew you once, O beautiful and wise.
domingo, dezembro 2
Don't you love a music critic with guts?
I suffer immensely when I have to say that I hate a CD, and I always try to make my nasty reviews as palatable as possible. But I have to confess: I love when other critics are mean! Check this out, and tell me if it isn't great:Whether for ensemble or solo piano, and regardless of the described intent and theory behind the various pieces, this all sounds essentially the same. Lugubrious, drained of all life and passion, melody and human warmth, random patterns of a-rhythmic notes scattered across the soundscape, so pathetic the joke wore off decades ago leaving detritus tedious beyond belief. It should carry a health warning: not to be listened to by anyone not of entirely sound mind. So bleak, stark, draining is this, it might be sold as "Music to Commit Suicide To".
This is by Gary S. Dalkin. ou can read the whole review here. It is worth your time!
From the "Living and Learning" department:
Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.
Hector Berlioz
(Para o Tom)
Viens ! - une flûte invisible
Victor HugoViens! - une flûte invisible
Soupire dans les vergers.
La chanson la plus paisible
Est la chanson des bergers.
Le vent ride, sous l'yeuse,
Le sombre miroir des eaux.
La chanson la plus joyeuse
Est la chanson des oiseaux.
Que nul soin ne te tourmente.
Aimons-nous! aimons toujours !
La chanson la plus charmante
Est la chanson des amours.
sábado, dezembro 1
