Hard to top that one…

I don’t attend enough performances of classical choral music.

I’ve been fortunate to witness some amazing concerts; the two most memorable were almost 20 years ago when I was in England as an undergrad.  And probably what made those so memorable was that I was high on the architecture; I am certain that the performance sites deeply influenced my perception of the music.  The first was a boys’ choir festival in King’s College Chapel in Cambridge, which is an icon of Gothic architecture.  The other was a performance of The Messiah in London at St. Bartholomew (c. 1100), which is one of the city’s oldest churches.  Being in a 1000-year-old church and hearing that music performed live is basically like flying.

This past Sunday, I saw Gustav Mahler’s 8th Symphony (also known as “Symphony of a Thousand”) performed by Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony.  I had bought tickets to the concert as a birthday present for my friend M., who is a huge Mahler fan.  I’ve never warmed up to Mahler, but, in this instance, was blown away by the beauty of the work and how skillfully it was performed.  It had little to do with its setting – it was just stunning musicianship. 

This particular symphony is a major production; it involves a massive orchestra, a brass section situated in the balcony, seven vocal soloists, the symphony choir, a girls’ choir, and a boys’ choir.  And even with all that vocal and instrumental power, it was the during some of the “quietest” passages that I found there were tears streaming down my face (which is unsual – I don’t cry easily). 

It was an experience of a lifetime.

 

studio city weekend & pushing friends’ cds/books

Although I have lived in Northern California for over five years now, I had never been to L.A. until last year. One of my best friends, S., lives in Studio City which finally provided the impetus to visit. For this, my third visit to S.’s home, I decided to make the 6-hour drive, versus flying. Family members fretted from afar about my safety – drive to L.A.?! But it was fine. (I’ve driven in a lot of major U.S. cities, and Chicago is worse in my opinion.)

The purpose of the visit was to celebrate the fabulous Baby Z.’s first birthday. S. had rented a tent to provide shade in the back yard, and I helped S. and her mom set-up, decorate, and bake for the party. The party looked great and I think everyone had a great time, especially Baby Z., who, by the end of the party, fervently toddled about and greedily-yet-joyously sampled all her playmates’ juiceboxes.

And here’s the shameless product plug bit. I’m so proud of the accomplishments of my friend Sherry (Luchette), whom I’ve known since we were joined-at-the-hip band & theater geeks in high school. She is an accomplished jazz bassist, music educator, and has written a book titled The Flying Jazz Kittens. The book is about how music teachers can integrate jazz components and appreciation into elemenary music education, and she presents clinics and workshops throughout the U.S. on the topic. Sherry is married to well-known jazz pianist, Tamir Hendelman, who is a member of the Jeff Hamilton Trio and records and performs with some of the greatest jazz performers of our time. Tamir has just released his debut cd as the head of his own trio; the cd is titled Playground. Cd sales in Japan have been great and it will be released in the U.S. in September.

I drove home on Sunday afternoon and was kind of dreading the potentially monotonous drive back through the central valley. But I decided to embrace the afternoon heat and rolled down my windows and turned up my radio. It ended up being a gorgeous drive because it was perfectly timed to watch the approach of twilight and then a stunning sunset. After tiring of listening to things like Cowboy Junkies and Rusted Root, I grabbed a random cd and inserted it. It turned out to be Slip Dunlap’s Times Like This, which was great bluesy-rock-driving-music, but also provides me with an opportunity to push another friend’s cd here. My friend Brien Lilja was the drummer on the album and played with Slim for many years. It was an appropriate close to a weekend spent among talented musicians.

 

goin’ country (guilty pleasures vol. 1)

Over the past few weeks, I’ve read a number of articles concerning artificial intelligence, the possibility that our lives may be radically extended by new science within the next generation, and singularity. I have been thinking a lot about what living 100s of years might be like, philosophically, as well as the separation of intellect and emotion/spiritualism, and how it affects the arts. But I won’t write about that now…

In an attempt to find balance in my world (and so that my head doesn’t implode from my feeble attempts to grasp great scientific and philosophical questions), I plan to write about guilty pleasures from time to time!

My confession for the day is that I am becoming borderline “country.” In the past year or so–and especially after recovering from depression over the past six months–I’ve “discovered” and become a true fan of the Dixie Chicks (great heartbreak remedy) and Dolly Parton (especially “The Grass is Blue”). And I got totally sucked into the CMT reality series “Can You Duet.” (I don’t watch “American Idol,” so give me a free pass on this one.) Naomi Judd is a judge on that series; she said at one point that country music is the music of the people, the music that everyone can relate to. It’s true. I feel better when other people sing so plainly about their sorrows and joys.

So thanks, CMT. For now, some of it is solidly in the camp of guilty pleasure (like the reality series and really really cheesy videos), but I look forward to digging further into American roots music! And I want to learn to play the banjo.