betwixt

i want to be your

breath of fresh air

evasively elusive

lavender in rain

the summer is slogging along, lead-footed. i finally have air conditioning and netflix, so...it's really not as bad as all that. i will be attending msm in the fall for the contemporary performance program...my brain is steadily waking to the fact that i will have to re-look at a lot of music history and theory that has fallen through the cracks over the last year (or so).

i'm dreaming of madeira and bordeaux in late summer; will i get to see the autumn leaves fall in my backyard for my birthday? skip about the lonesome beaches of the philippines in early winter? i am intrigued to see what jobs i can fit into my class schedule, and a critical question hangs in the balance: will i be able to keep my idyllic brooklyn apartment and comfortably commute to harlem 5 days a week? time will tell.

matter of months

i have been remiss, having steadily worked and attended concerts over the last few months. friday night i went to pala and saw "girl with the dragon tattoo" at sunshine, with a nutella crêpe from ludlow st to finish. it made me nostalgic for place st michel crêpes in an envelope so hot you can't eat them for minutes. last weekend i saw music divine sing josquin's missa de beata virgine. i'll be auditioning for that group as well as several others in the coming weeks. no decision yet about msm. i hope the summer will bring a few days at the beach on long island, some interesting musical projects, yoga training...change. making s*** happen.

tomb of judith

date: 1/30/2010 time of death: 8 p.m.
scene of the crime: carnegie hall
primary suspects: pierre boulez, mathieu dufour, chicago symphony orchestra

ok, that concept has been exhausted:the first piece on the evening's program was ravel's tombeau de couperin. isakov, chicago's principal oboist, responded poignantly to boulez's delicate direction. morgan, an oboist friend i met at domaine forget this summer, was in from montreal this weekend; we got $10 obstructed view rush tickets - but we still had a view of the wind section. that's all that counts.

second on the program was dalbavie's flute concerto, premiered in 2006. pahud's recording doesn't do the piece justice. i haven't read about or heard enough of dalbavie's music to qualify this statement, but the timbral effects - spectral or otherwise - were spectacular. dufour was in true form.

the second half consisted of one work, which i saw staged in paris: bartók's bluebeard. voiced by mezzo michelle deyoung and bass-baritone falk struckmann, the chicago brass and acting principal clarinet shone brightly. if i shut my eyes, i could envision the minimalist staging in paris, all inky black and resplendent light. the program overall showed the depth of both the symphony's capacity for understatement as well as boulez's command of the repertoire (well, duh, maybe). i've never seen chicago live - and this was an unforgettable concert.

i awoke in the dark to take my friend to penn station dreaming to tombeau - and that, mes amis, is magic.