Not too very long ago, a foodie friend made the remark that “No one should ever pay for a ceasar salad.” I did not disagree. There is some sort of inexplicable reputation with the ceasar salad that gives the customer a rather unoriginal and sad reputation for having desired it.
That is, until today, when a waitress at [Main Street Bakery] recommended the ceasar salad complement to the entree I had just ordered. It was quite a caesar salad. It wasn’t gussied up with fancy oils or condiments or anything like that. In fact, it was fairly plain. Something was just done right.
Main Street often does food in stranger ways, though. Their gazpacho creation, for instance, was a constant topic of debate in our library department earlier this season. So if I ever return for the caesar salad when the fast-vegetable craving strikes me, I will be wondering intensely if they can make it even more exciting.
August 25 2010 | food and travels | No Comments »
Sometimes, the craziness [pays off]. Congratulations to everyone who had a hand in preparing and/or performing for this. It feels like a good day.
Tonight is the last performance, and tomorrow I re-insert cuts into the parts for sending back. My job isn’t done yet, but I finally feel like I accomplished something grand.
August 21 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments »
Where do you begin when perhaps the most eventful two months of your life are still happening?
I write from the mountains of Aspen with glorious weather and music surrounding on all sides, more coming in every day. And no ever day entirely feels off from work. But that is all right, and truthfully, exactly the environment I need to be in.
So – to start: Upon arriving in Aspen, I was assigned to be the sole librarian for the Aspen Opera Theatre Company. I had never done any opera work before, and it’s been quite a ride. Luckily, my colleagues had all done opera at some point or other and were able to guide.
In the process, I have begun a small site to preserve little treasures found when flipping through music parts to clean them, match them, bow them…all those things librarians have to do with parts. You can view (and submit, if you find anything) these discoveries at [http://heckelphon.tumblr.com]
August 02 2010 | music and travels | No Comments »
There are worse things to do on a day off than play Nintendogs while listening to Leon Kirchner. (Would this behavior have been considered rebellious in some particular time period? Kirchner’s music sounds like it could probably have been the Classical equivalent of the Sex Pistols at some point in terms of cultural reception.)
I somehow stayed on a Yo-Yo Ma and David Zinman kick, listening through the 1996 album of cello and orchestra works by Richard Danielpour, Leon Kirchner, and Christopher Rouse. The last movement of the Danielpour has a motif that mirrors Hitoshi Sakimoto’s main theme from RomeoxJuliet, which was first aired in 2007. I wonder if Sakimoto had heard this concerto before writing the score. It certainly fits both pieces. The Kirchner is quite pretty and expressive, and Zinman has such a respectfully affectionate portrayal of him in the liner notes.
What has become surprising to me, personally, is how much more attuned my ear has become to listening to these compositions. I remember feeling confused by these three concertos upon first listening. But they make sense now and I can hear actual structure and ideas. It probably started with either the Barber Violin Concerto of the Corigliano Violin Sonata: pieces that I could somehow make sense of despite their dissonances and unexpectedly musical harmonies. Now, after performing not a few works abiding by these same principles, this way of listening has improved? I suppose I can’t complain about it.
When I took off my headphones, Dvorak’s Violin Sonatina Op. 100 (Itzhak Perlman) was streaming through my dad’s computer in the adjacent room. It’s still such a cute piece after all these years. I should get around to learning it properly sometime.
June 01 2010 | games and music and musings | No Comments »
FreeCell is for listening to new music. It’s just barely stimulating enough.
One major benefit of being back at my parents’ house is being able to riffle through all the albums my dad owns but I never paid enough attention to when I was younger (He owns 14 copies of the Dvorak Cello Concerto…)
Tonight is the Barber Cello Concerto and Britten Symphony for Cello and Orchestra (Yo-Yo Ma, David Zinman, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. ) – both of which I’ve never heard before (though Barber’s Violin Concerto is hands down my favourite violin concerto.)
Barber could definitely have made this concerto more “modern.” I’m glad he didn’t; My dad probably wouldn’t have bought it if it was. What an amazing recording.
May 31 2010 | games and music and musings | No Comments »
There is no more special or powerful being anywhere than a real mother. It probably takes more skill to be a mother than run a country. For starters, it’s not really an office you can leave once you’ve stepped inside. For afterstarters, they’re so very very scary when they are angry.
But some of us get lucky too. I will never forget my mother teaching me to read and do math. Or the fact that her best dishes are impossible to replicate perfectly and I miss them terribly sometimes. Or the time she explained to me how babies are made, but only on a cellular level (When I asked how the cells meet, she gave me a medical textbook and a smile.)
Or stealing back the N64 from my apartment because she was in MarioKart64 withdrawl.
Besides, who else could say those magic words as truly as a mother? (“You need a bra”)
Happy Mother’s Day, Mum.
May 09 2010 | food and games and musings and semi-facts | No Comments »
Since everyone on the planet at the moment is giving me hell for this, I’m just going to come clean: Yes, it is true, I will be on television again. But just PBS again (Public Broadcasting System for any non-Americans; It’s our public television station) (What are those called in Europe? I am curious now.) and for all of 20 seconds.
So no, I am not and will not be any sort of television “star” and I’m pretty sure that I’ll be some kind of nervous and wibbly mess that makes the producer question why on earth she thought bringing in this violinist was a good idea.
ANYWAYS.
(A few months ago, my quartet was featured on PBS for one of their arts programs because the faculty quartet was unavailable. The producer for that program called about two weeks ago for a promotional project they’re doing. Something about being “articulate.”) (I do like adventures…)
May 05 2010 | music and waffle | 2 Comments »
Nothing like a final paper to make me update.
Paper: Symphonic Literature – preliminary title “PROKOFIEV V. HAYDN!!!: The Direct Influence of Haydn on Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1″
Progress: kind of okay.
Theme?: some of my better totally random discoveries (criteria denoting having never heard of the artist prior and without recommendation prior to listening. They were just sitting near some music that I was consciously seeking.)
Tracks: (all files uploaded onto zshare.net. Music is rightful property of the artists. I don’t own any of these…Please buy their music and support them.)
+ [The Trouble with River Cities] – Pela
(I can’t believe I haven’t shared this one before. This is one of my favourite songs for everything.)
+ [Living Room] – Paris Combo
+ [Shinikaketa Ashi] – Yano Maki
+ [War Again] – Balkan Beat Box
May 03 2010 | music | No Comments »
On the eve of my twenty-fourth birthday, all I can think about (aside from how much grief happened in twenty-three) is my parents. Sometimes people might find it rather difficult to vocalize their appreciation for their parents, but I have somehow found myself doing just that pretty much every Sunday afternoon to the parents who wait patiently for their children to finish orchestra rehearsal. I just never really find that courage to say this to MY parents.
What can truly be said to thank them, though? I’m still alive (perhaps not as happy as they would have hoped) and that’s a big credit to them from the start. At this point, I really have to start to take the steps to end up at that place where I can turn right back around and give them back as much as possible. And to be as little a worry as possible (which is just about impossible.)
What was 23? 23 was destruction and reformation over and over. 23 was perseverance even through perpetual rejection, discovering the darkest sides of me (In other words: I learned to drive.), what it meant to unconditionally love, how painful that can be, and knowing who I am and will always be. (Though I confess, I’d my sense of humour back, please.)
Thanks, Mum and Dad, for all you do. Because of you, I have survived the path behind me and can keep stepping forward – no matter how difficult the path ahead…[/cheese]
—-
(all files uploaded onto zshare.net. Music is rightful property of the artists. I don’t own any of these…Please buy their music and support them.)
+ [Little Secrets] – Passion Pit
+ [Lullaby] (Noir) – Tulivu Donna Cumberbatch
+ [Adieu] (Cowboy Bebop) – Emily Bindinger
+ [Goodbye to Yesterday] (Metal Gear Solid II) – Rika Muranaka
April 17 2010 | music and waffle | 1 Comment »
Upcoming performance:
Saturday – April 10, 2010. 1pm EST
University of Miami – Clarke Recital Hall
Miami, FL
My Master’s recital. Supposedly you can watch from online if you click [here] about a half hour or so before the performance. It didn’t work last time, but maybe it’s worth mentioning for those of you that are interested in hearing me play. The program will cover Ysaÿe, Dvo?ák, Schoenfield, Korngold, and Brahms. Hope you can tune in.
April 02 2010 | music and performances | No Comments »
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