Not much time to blog right now, so I’ll probably lose the readership I had. But there ya go. I can’t blog if I’m busy with family stuff, right? I’ll be back in sort of full swing on Monday, I hope.
Meanwhile … you can always watch and listen to this:
Or if you want something a little more classical, there are these:
(I’d prefer sitting down for the Mozart, but then I prefer to sit down for everything!)
Now please do return next week. I’ll be sad if you all leave me. :-(
I’m at the airport. Waiting. We always get to the airport plenty early, but that’s fine by me. I have this thing about time. And I get terribly upset if I’m late.
There’s free wireless here, but blogging more than this little blurb would be ridiculous because my brain is not quite in function mode yet. I plan on keeping it that way; may as well be ready to space out on the plane. (And I have my earplugs and noise canceling headphones to help with the noise of the plane.)
One thing I did want to quickly write about:
Last night, as I was walking up the stairs of the dress circle of the opera house at intermission, an older man with a British accent was busy telling the youner woman accompanying him about the opera. “Aside from Porgy and the widow you can’t understand a words they’re saying,” he said. “They may as well be singing Chinese.” Then he proceeded to say that everything was far to rigid but that, “That’s not Gershwin’s fault. It’s ours.”
He was clearly annoyed with the whole thing. And I have a feeling he is always there to critique in a negative way. He had that air about him. I can’t figure out why people like that attend performances.
And now, over & out.
We are just home from Porgy & Bess. I can’t blog right now; I’m far too tired and I have to wake up at 5:30 AM. That’s far too early for a double reed player, trust me! So my thoughts will have to wait. (But JA on EH … you sounded fantastic!)
We have a busy weekend and blogging will, I am sure, be minimal. Then again, addict that I am, I’ll probably find a way ….
:-)
I am mad about music, especially dark classical music, always best for my health :-)
Stanley Drucker was still a teenager when he joined the New York Philharmonic as a clarinetist in 1948. More than 10,000 concerts later, Drucker is now the longest serving member in the renowned symphony’s 167-year history. Named Principal Clarinet by conductor Leonard Bernstein in 1960, Drucker holds the Guinness World Record for the longest career of any clarinetist. On July 31, Drucker, now 80, will make his final appearance with the Philharmonic in Vail, Colo. He spoke with TIME about his career, the future of classical music and the performances he’ll always remember.
How amazing is this? That is one LONG tenure! RTWT
Now it is true that my professional career began when I was 18. But I’m no New York Philharmonic musician. Not even close. Handling that sort of pressure, and the amount of playing, for sixty years is beyond my comprehension!
“Maestro Maazel has shaped and guided me as an artist and an oboist in a direction that I didn’t know existed. He has inspired me to be better every day. I am hoping to share those fruits with my colleagues in the New York Philharmonic for many years to come.”
— Liang Wang, Principal Oboe“Speaking as a member of the woodwind section, I think Mr. Maazel has done more than any other conductor to improve the quality of our sound. We feel ‘safe’ when we play with him, as we always know exactly where to place the beat, and he always lets us feel that we can play with beauty and expression. When I hear the New York Philharmonic on the radio, I am overwhelmed by how lush and exciting it sounds.”
— Judith LeClair, Principal Bassoon
RTWT.
“I don’t see how they could not close,” said Robert W. Wilson, a former City Opera chairman who now serves on the Metropolitan Opera board. “There is a slight chance that they can remain open, but where would the money come from?”
Mr. Wilson is talking about New York City Opera, and this article can’t possibly be helpful. Can it?
I wonder if the opera company will respond. I’ll be checking their blog for a while just to see if they have anything to say about this.
The trouble with music appreciation in general is that people are taught to have too much respect for music; they should be taught to love it instead.
-Igor Stravinsky, From a New York Times Magazine interview, September 27, 1964.
I don’t know how many of you have experienced the First Clapper, but sometimes it can be pretty darn annoying! It’s especially distracting when we are playing a piece that ends with near silence, and the clapper, in order to let everyone know that he knows it’s done, jumps in just a smidge sooner than anyone else would prefer. But still … do we rely on them? What if we didn’t have them? Hmmm?
Many thanks to The Omniscient Mussel for bringing this to my attention!
Working with Martha [Argerich] is like life itself. It’s not easy — it can be quite unpredictable and very irritating. But it is the most wonderful thing there is. She is unbelievably gifted — in an almost depressing way.
-Mischa Maisky
The music from the movie “Little Women” really makes me want to pick up an english horn again…and perhaps sob all afternoon
Google is acknowledging it too! :-)
(The first time I heard this live was at Flint, eons ago, when San Francisco Symphony performed it. Marc Lifschey was on oboe. When he came in with the oboe solo toward the end it was the most incredible sound I had ever heard. What an oboe player that man was! If you never heard him you really missed something incredibly special.)
(Thanks, Janet Lanier, for telling me about this!)
Update
Just located the article that goes with the video. Check it out!
Hassan Anderson will be attending Julliard this coming year, as a grad student. He talks about the reed, and also about his mother and how she sold a car to get his first oboe. Great story.
OK, let’s get this out of the way. I’m ten years old and only ten. But I actually have something to say. It’s about practicing something. I practice classical violin every day for an hour. (Or at least I try.)
I’ve been playing since I was four and a half and have always liked the violin, so I play it. Nearly six years later, I’m still playing the violin and I still love it. This is my biggest problem: My very grumpy reluctance to practice.
Oh dothe rest at Classical Life by Tim Mangan!
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