Hard to find qualified movers during lockdown.
“Swiss Miss”
“The Music Box”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21V0SdlmTMU
Category: Daily Dispatch
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Lockdown Moving Find Qualified Movers Now
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Sir Thomas Beecham Wit and Wisdom
“The British may not like music, but they absolutely love the noise it makes.”
“A musicologist is a man who can read music but can’t hear it.”
“Brass bands are all very well in their place – outdoors and several miles away.”
“If an opera cannot be played by an organ grinder, it’s not going to achieve immortality.”
“Her singing reminds me of a cart coming downhill with the brake on.”
“There are two golden rules for an orchestra: start together and finish together. The public doesn’t give a damn what goes on in between.”
“Composers and musicians have always starved and, as this is a sentimental country, we think the tradition should be continued.”
“Beethoven’s last quartets were written by a deaf man and should only be listened to by a deaf man.”
On Beethoven’s 7th: “What can you do with it? It’s like a lot of yaks jumping about.”
On the harpsichord: “…like two skeletons copulating on a tin roof.”
On the cello: “Madam, you have between your legs an instrument capable of giving pleasure to thousands, and all you can do is scratch it.”
Happy birthday, Sir Thomas Beecham (1879-1961)
More about Beecham here:
https://www.theguardian.com/friday_review/story/0,3605,468909,00.htmlBeecham conducts Delius:
Beecham conducts Berlioz:
Beecham conducts Schubert:
Beecham conducts Liszt:
Beecham conducts Balakirev:
Beecham conducts Handel (as arranged by Beecham):
Beecham conducts Sibelius:
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Lynn Harrell Legendary Cellist Dies at 76
The music world has lost a giant of the cello – Leonard Slatkin described him as a bear! – and of course, that means a tremendous loss for us all.
Lynn Harrell has died at the age of 76.
The son of baritone Mack Harrell, Lynn matured into one of the world’s most sought-after cellists. He recorded with Ashkenazy and Perlman and Zukerman and Kipnis, and Boulez and Maazel and Marriner and Levine, among others.
I remember seeing him in Philadelphia, when he was in his prime, in a wondrous performance of Witold Lutoslawski’s Cello Concerto. About 20 years ago, his career as a performer was jeopardized by carpal tunnel syndrome, which led him to undergo corrective surgery.
Harrell made go-to recordings of works by composers from Shostakovich to Victor Herbert. Like so many artists who have held an honored place in my record collection for decades, it’s a shock to realize that suddenly 30 or 40 years have passed.
R.I.P., and thanks for all the music.
Schumann: Cello Concerto in A minor (with Marriner)
Beethoven: Cello Sonata No. 3 in A major (with Ashkenazy)
I. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqHsPIe7n0Q
II. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89J6uLwiuUM
III a. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bcqa02-FkOU
III b. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH5tsTPewdwHerbert: Cello Concerto No. 2 in E minor (with Marriner)
Brahms: Cello Sonata No. 2 in F major (with Ashkenazy)
Lalo: Cello Concerto in D minor (with Chailly)
Beethoven: String Trio in G major, Op. 9, No. 1 (live, with Perlman & Zukerman):
Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor (live, with Mattias Bamert, on the strad formerly owned by Jacqueline Du Pré)
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Julian Grant Dances in the Dark with PSO
Julian Grant has extended an invitation to dance at the edge of the volcano.
I interviewed the Princeton composer in advance of two scheduled performances by the Princeton Symphony Orchestra of his concert work 五代同堂, or “Wu Dai Tong Tang” (Chinese for “Five Generations, One House”), which were to have taken place at Richardson Auditorium on March 21 & 22. Sadly, COVID-19 swept through New Jersey before the concerts could be given, and before my preview article could be printed. So Mr. Grant and I both eagerly await the Princeton premiere of 五代同堂 on some future season.
Happily, this was not the first of Grant’s pieces to be taken up by the PSO. In 2016, the orchestra performed “Is It Enough? Perhaps It Is…,” with its roots in an influential chorale setting by Johann Sebastian Bach, and in 2014, it tackled “Dances in the Dark.”
“Dances in the Dark” is the featured work on this week’s “At Home with the PSO.” Hear Julian Grant introduce his own music, read the program note, and then listen to the Princeton Symphony Orchestra performance:
https://princetonsymphony.org/home-pso/music-play-it-forward
Grant serves on the boards of both the PSO and Trenton Music Makers. As a composer, he has written 20 operas, in all shapes and sizes, including “Hot House,” which was performed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 2012. His opera “The Nefarious, Immoral and Highly Profitable Enterprise of Mr. Burke & Mr. Hare” – about the infamous “resurrection men” who provided cadavers for dissection at the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh in the 1820s – was given its premiere by Boston Lyric Opera in 2017.
五代同堂 is informed by his years living in Hong Kong, Beijing, China, and Tokyo. From 2002 to 2007, he also served as music director at St. Paul’s Girls’ School in London, a post previously held by Gustav Holst, Herbert Howells, and other notables.
“At Home with the PSO” is a gateway to original online content – performance webcasts, musicians’ recipes, photo albums, and more – with fresh material being introduced weekly.
While you’re at the PSO website, be sure to check out the Virtual Gallery. Explore artwork and creative writing by student participants of the PSO Bravo program by navigating a 3-D space. Click on the speakers located throughout the gallery to hear Saad Haddad’s Clarinet Concerto, the PSO co-commission that inspired the works adorning the virtual walls.
https://princetonsymphony.org/
Also, search under “Cooking with the PSO” to learn how to cook “Mushroom Beef Barley Soup” with violinist Margaret Banks. (More recipes archived at the bottom of the page.)
You can learn more about Julian Grant by visiting his website, juliangrant.net.
Further examples of his music are posted on his YouTube channel, easily reached by following this link:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzcaUueh5wi_gR_BREJ_JO6ghvKn614t7
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Met Opera Streams Bel Canto Borodin Week
Bel canto and Borodin bookend this week’s offerings from The Metropolitan Opera.
Now entering its seventh week, the Met’s “Live in HD” encore series will include Donizetti’s “Three Queens” trilogy (Monday-Wednesday), Nico Muhly’s adaptation of the book that also inspired Alfred Hitchcock’s “Marnie” (Thursday), Verdi’s “Aida” with Leontyne Price (Friday), Verdi’s “Luisa Miller” (Saturday), and Alexander Borodin’s “Prince Igor” (Sunday).
The operas stream free, for 23 hours, beginning each day at 7:30 p.m. (“La Cenerentola” is available until 6:30 this evening.) You’ll find teasers and bonus materials when following the link.
https://www.metopera.org/user-information/nightly-met-opera-streams/week-7/
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