Mozart: Rex Tremendae from the Requiem Mass in D minor
Mozart: Tuba Mirum from the Requiem Mass in D minor
… includes this:
The orchestra’s well-played ebb and flow in the opening “Palermo” movement gave way to the piece’s short second movement, depicting “Tunis” in North Africa, which is almost entirely an oboe solo accompanied by softly percussive strings. Here, principal oboist Thomas Nugent’s performance of Ibert’s none-too-subtle exoticism was skillful and expressive.
I always enjoy seeing other oboists get great reviews. Congrats, Tom! (Tom and I have worked together, although not recently. Busy lives and all that.)
(Read here.
Dear Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra,
I love you.
Sincerely,
Janiceps. You can be assured my love is real because I took the time to use capital letters in the appropriate places.
That made me smile. Looking at the writer’s picture, she appears to be in her twenties if not younger. I like that. There are younger people who like symphonic music. Or at least one. Anyone else? :-)
Tomorrow is the final performance of Manon. The music did grow on me, and I thought the performances have gone very well, but I’m ready for something different now. Besides, Manon consistently makes the wrong choices and consistently dies. After a while — well — that gets a bit tedious! (I want an opera where the ending is a surprise, okay? But then I also want to be able to see it if we do one like that!)
Yesterday was a reed day, and this afternoon that will continue. I have a few possibilities, but I never truly know what the reeds are like until I use them for work. It’s different using a reed in my studio compared to playing it on pit or stage. Acoustics, along with temperature and other variables, make reeds behave differently. Go figure.
But right now? Right now is latté time. Then it’s three Saturday morning students. I’m hopeful that they remember what pages they practiced this week. Sometimes I’ll ask a student, “Is this the page you practiced?” and the answer I receive is, “I think so.” I have to explain that the answer to my question is either yes or no … and still most students won’t say either of those words. Hmmm. I interpret non-answers as a pretty loud “NO”. Call me silly.
I just read read the news about Alicia de Larrocha’s death. What a wonderful musician. She played at least twice with the San Jose Symphony when George Cleve was the conductor.
As I was on my little morning walk Dan called to say the Prius had a flat tire, so he took the other car to work. This is keeping me home, and causing me to spend the time on reeds that I truly need to spend. So it’s a good thing. Except I DO need to get to the symphony office before 5:00, so I hope he can get home, get the tire repaired, and have a car for me to use before too long. I have a ton of music to pick up for my Opera San José colleagues who are also in Symphony Silicon Valley. Doesn’t it figure that today would be the day this happens? Sigh.
Now back to reeds ….
But it does make me wonder if careerism isn’t trumping institutional loyalty among some principal musicians in some quarters of today’s symphonic world.
Star players seem to be jumping from orchestra to orchestra more casually, and more often, barely sticking around long enough to make a lasting imprint on their ensembles. And that’s a pity.
Yet another article about Mathieu Dufour, the Chicago Symphony Flutist who is playing for the LA Phil this year. (I wrote here and here about the situation.)
This one, though, seems to be questioning loyalty of star players these days. Thoughts? (And who are the other players who have recently jumped ship?)
The first piece, a selection from Johannes Brahms’ Hungarian Dances, struck me as your run-of-the-mill classical concerto, something you’d hear in a used book store. It was beautiful in a staid kind of way, but not exactly riveting.
Neighbour’s son practicing Oboe in garden: Cat a bit annoyed & birds all gone, …oh well… let’s suffer for the art of future generations
I heard an interesting tidbit a while ago. Someone I know had talked to a reviewer, requesting that writer review a concert. The reviewer said, per the newspaper’s policy, there can’t be a review if there was only one concert. Apparently it was only worth reviewing if readers might, after reading the review, attend a following performance.
Is this a policy that everyone has known about all along? Is this a policy every paper follows? Is that what reviews are really about?
I just read that San Francisco Opera’s The Abduction From The Seraglio is sung in German with dialogue in English. Opera San José did Magic Flute this way, and I remember some people criticized this. Well … if SF Opera can do it, I no longer feel the need to be so defensive. ;-)
(We don’t go to this particular opera for quite some time yet. I’m really looking forward to it; OSJ has never done this opera.)
I nevr sounded good on the oboe, mom spent 1400 dallors for nothing. Oh well
(Of course if she spent only $1400 the oboe may not worth anything either. Sigh.)
You all know how I constantly recommend being cautious with internet postings, yes? I guess burglar Jonathan G. Parker didn’t read my blog.
Jonathan G. Parker, 19 was one burglar who could multi-task.
After breaking into a Martinsburg, West Virginia house and stealing 2 diamonds rings worth more than $3500, he had enough time to use the victim’s computer to Google “best escape routes”.
If that’s not enough, he also logged into his Facebook profile and updated his Facebook status that read,
“OMG LOLZ brkin into sum1s house!”
Well, guess what? He forgot to log off his account. Talking about smart. Not only did he get himself into trouble, he also indirectly exposed his accomplice who happened to be a mutual friend of Parker and the victim (yes that’s how he was found out).
Parker faces 1 to 10 years of Facebook-less imprisonment.
(I read it here and I must admit I can’t help but wonder if this is a true story … can someone really be that stupid?)
Thanks, Paul Barrett, for sharing this. We can all use laughter now and then, and babies laughing? Well, that’s just gotta be the most wonderful music of all!
