The Transport of Voluptuousness
Photo at left: Barbara Tobler Springtime and love. Love and springtime. It's happening. Even the insects are doing it. I did the six-mile run to the waterfall and back in the Penasquitos Canyon Preserve. The PQ Preserve is one place …
Vision of Life
Music as life and death is rare. However, I assume there are a few songs about death. I just Googled "Death Songs" and one site claims there are 148--so perhaps I'm wrong. Wait, I'm also forgetting almost every opera ever …
Rapture This
Thank the Lord we didn't have a rapture on Saturday because I don't want to live through the tribulation. When I was a kid, my church showed the "A Thief in the Night" series of movies. These movies scared the …
Carmen Reborn
On Saturday night, Carmen opened and was panned by every critic who saw it. The critics were justified. Carmen was subdued and passive, Don Jose sounded worn out, Escamillo merely posed, the secondary roles were great and the chorus was …
The Nine
In case anyone wants to know more about The Nine Worthies, here's a little information. The Nine are split into three groups of three. The Pagans: Hector, Alexander the Great, and Julius Caesar. The Hebrews: Joshua, King David, Judas Maccabeus. …
Whatever, Dude
Lohengrin arrives in the middle of the first act of Wagner's musical drama. Wagner claimed that he didn't write operas, he wrote musical dramas. Sometimes I want to say to Wagner, "Whatever, dude." Lohengrin has shown up to fight for …
What to Listen to
A friend of mine took me up on discussing the merits of Phantom. As we exchanged thinly veiled insults, I became exasperated and finally said, "Stop listening to the tune." "What am I supposed to listen to then?" In Phantom's …
Imperial March
I will admit I went to see the movie Thor in IMAX 3D. I'll also admit that I liked it. Before the previews started, various pieces of movie soundtracks were played over the sound system. When The Imperial March from …
Royals and Rutter
I didn't hear or see anything of The Royal Wedding but I heard John Rutter wrote a new piece of choral music for it. The subject came up at church choir because we were rehearsing Rutter's setting of "The Lord …
Church Gig
The topic of The Royal Wedding briefly surfaced last night at church choir. First to clarify the idea of church choir. Almost every singer in the San Diego Opera chorus also has what's called a church gig. A church gig …
Sushumna Singing
The aforementioned Josh Vincent and I set a Daddy date for the beach today. I took my two kids aged 7 and 4 to meet Josh and his 17-month-old at Powerhouse Park in Del Mar. We discussed the Pelican issue, …
String Yoga
After Faust closed on Sunday, I went over to have a chicken quesadilla at Downtown Johnny Brown's while Josh Vincent and Linda Piatt had beers. Josh is an opera chorister and yoga instructor. Linda is a violist in the orchestra …
Review
I bumped into Greer Grimsley at 7-11 downtown yesterday. Greer is singing Mephistopheles in SDO's production of Faust. I asked him if he ever reads reviews. He said he waits until a show is over and then reads the reviews …
Bach Suites
Just for fun, I listened to some of Bach's cello suites today and I must admit they're better than kale. The recording I chose is from 1936 with Pablo Casals as cellist. Casals was the preeminent cellist of the first …
One Hit Operas
A while back, I posted about "One Hit Wonders" and followed it up with "One Hit Wagner". Dmopbuff made a comment about one hit operas. It's a terrific category. The requirements are an opera that is rarely performed except for …
Adoramus
I've just noticed there isn't much classical music I associate with Easter. There are a few pieces for Good Friday. Both Haydn and the French composer Dubois composed pieces based on "The Seven Last Words of Christ." I wouldn't call …
Boring
The funny thing about this topic of classical music being boring is that I tend to find pop music boring. There are songs that I love such as Crazy by Patsy Kline, Sway by Dean Martin, One by U2, or …
There's a Difference
I've been thinking about trying to understand how the non-classical music patron hears classical music. I say I've been thinking about it because I'm not sure how understanding it will help me proselytize, I mean, apologize for classical music. I …
Just Joking
It has come to my attention that I recently threw a musical term out there that should have been defined. The term is scherzo and I was referring to the third movement of Sibelius' 1st Symphony. In Italian, scherzo simply …
I Fell Off my Magic Cloud
Yesterday, I was driving along the 163 toward downtown to get a costume fitting for Carmen. My seven-year-old daughter was with me and we were listening to Ravel's La Valse. As the introduction section concluded and the waltz began I …