I said Sondheim’s Passion wasn’t my fave … but I am much more fond of it now than I was 2 hours ago! The Live From Lincoln Center broadcast was absolutely wonderful.
It seems much more like opera than a musical, though. Although I’ve yet to figure out what the difference is. Hmmm. Neither can [...]
“The pure, piercing wail of an A-440 quiets all the extraneous noise and we begin tuning.”
I don’t know. I realize the sound of an oboe can be piercing, and we can even wail, but when tuning the orchestra? I sure hope that’s not how it sounds!
But this is a fun little read, despite those [...]
I like Wagner’s music better than any other music. It is so loud that one can talk the whole time without people hearing what one says. That is a great advantage.
-Oscar Wilde
(Seems appropriate since we are doing Wagner right now!)
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Of all noises, I think music is the least disagreeable.
-Samuel Johnson
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Musical people are so absurdly unreasonable. They always want one to be
perfectly dumb at the very moment when one is longing to be absolutely deaf.
-Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Anglo-Irish playwright, author Mabel Chiltern, in “An Ideal Husband,” Act 2
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I received the following quote via an email list:
“Classical music is dying in the USA and nothing, short of resurrecting Leonard Bernstein, will halt it.”
I guess it’s time to sell the old oboe. Who will buy? Make an offer I can’t refuse!
But seriously, while I think there are some things we need to figure out [...]
Violinist Ilkka Talvi was concermaster of the Seattle Symphony until his recent firing. Turns out that he started blogging this month and there’s some interesting reading there in case anyone wants to check it out. His very first post (scroll down to the bottom) is one I can easily relate to; I’ve definitely played under [...]
Musical compositions, it should be remembered, do not inhabit certain countries, certain museums, like paintings and statues. The Mozart Quintet is not shut up in Salzburg: I have it in my pocket.
-Henri Rabaud
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These are my hands. Kelsey (my daughter) painted them. So I suppose they are kind of her hands as well.
But, really, they look just like my hands. A friend saw the picture and knew immediately they were mine. I liked that!
I just thought I’d share the picture with you, in case you’ve never wandered [...]
Yep. I just posted some more oboe auditions that are coming up, including New York Philharmonic’s Principal Oboe Audition. (I don’t have the repertoire for that one, so if anyone else does I sure would love to have it emailed to me.) Visit Professional Orchestra Auditions to see the long list.
I’m guessing a lot of [...]
Terry Teachout writes about the oath he took, among other things. It reminded me of what I signed when I took on my job at a particular university. I, too, swore an oath that I would “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic…”. I kind of laughed [...]
“Holy Gosh, I must have doped off, Pop!”
(I am just finishing up with The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. and I couldn’t resist posting this quote!)
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Bartholomew ‘Bart’ Collins: “I don’t think the piano is my instrument.”
Dr. Terwilliker: “What other instruments are there, pray tell? Scratchy violins, screechy piccolos, nauseating trumpets, et cetera, et cetera?”
From The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.
(This movie was one that I loved as a child, although it sure did scare me! Not enough to force [...]
Well, I was the sole chooser of music on my way down to Irvine, but since I was driving Kelsey home, I let her do the choosing for the drive back up. Oh … except that since the radio was set to a jazz station we listened to that as we suffered through LA traffic. [...]
So, if the people written about in this article can walk 33 miles to New York to hear a concert, i wonder how many from UCSC would walk over the hill to hear a Symphony Silicon Valley concert. It’s close to the same distance!
It took the walkers 3 days to walk the 33 miles, which [...]
So here I am in the exciting (not) city of Irvine! What got me here? Let’s see … Tuck & Patti to begin with. Nice latté and lemon-zucchini muffin music. Then I decided it was time for Flying Dutchman. Since rehearsals begin next Tuesday, and I’ve never played the thing before, I thought yet another [...]
GEORGE
White. A blank page or canvas.
The challenge: bring order to the whole.
Through design.
Composition.
Tension.
Balance.
Light.
And harmony.
(And of course this part works because of what you see and hear during this dialogue. If you haven’t seen this, you really must! And now I’ll stop with the Sondheim fun. Over and out.)
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KAYAMA
Rain glistening
On the silver birch,
Like my lady’s tears.
Your turn.
MANJIRO
Rain gathering,
Winding into streams,
Like the roads to Boston.
Your turn.
KAYAMA
Haze hovering,
Like the whisper of the silk,
As my lady kneels.
Your turn.
MANJIRO
Haze glittering,
Like an echo of the lamps
In the streets of Boston.
Your [...]
[A Man:]
Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd
His skin was pale and his eye was odd
He shaved the faces of gentlemen
Who never thereafter were heard of again.
He trod a path that few have trod.
Did Sweeney Todd.
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
[Another Man:]
He kept a shop in London town
Of fancy clients [...]
San Francisco Classical Voice has a nice little write up about the upcoming production! The only thing I’d want to take issue with is Mr. Gereben’s negative comment about our lowest price seats. It’s true we don’t have those $28 seats that San Francisco may offer. But it’s also true that we don’t have seats [...]
Careful the things you say
Children will listen
Careful the things you do
Children will see and learn
Children may not obey, but children will listen
Children will look to you for which way to turn
To learn what to be
Careful before you say “Listen to me”
Children will listen
Some lyrics from Children Will Listen from the musical Into the Woods
(I’ll put [...]
My favorite musical/opera (you choose … no one quite knows what to do with him!) composer is having a birthday today. He is 75.
Let’s see. Favorite musical? Hmmm. Hard to say. I love the first act of Sunday in the Park with George but I think the second act could use tweaking. Into the [...]
The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.
-Johann Sebastian Bach
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I visit quite a few blogs each day. Today one of the writers was bemoaning the fact that a blog visit had brought up a meme that includes the great “desert island” question. You know the one … it can be about recordings or books or even beers (I suppose) … and you have to [...]
I have my own particular sorrows, loves, delights; and you have yours. But sorrow, gladness, yearning, hope, love, belong to all of us, in all times and in all places. Music is the only means whereby we feel these emotions in their universality.
-H.A. Overstreet
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