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 …
Ice Ice Baby
So what of this Sibelius and his 1st Symphony sounding like Tchaikovsky's 7th? When Sibelius premiered his 1st Symphony in 1899, some critics responded that its orchestral vocabulary sounded like Tchaikovsky, and they were right. Tchaikovsky wrote six symphonies. When …
Athenaeum
I heard that Lulu Lemon has men's apparel. As I wasn't feeling too confident about walking into a store with Lulu in the title, I grabbed a gal pal and headed over to La Jolla. As we were wandering down …
Washes the Dust
Each of us has a soundtrack to our life. There are certain pieces of music that, when we hear them, can take us right back to a specific event. Not only does the music bring back the memory it also …