Saturday, August 16, 2008
The Cotswolds
Cirencester
Saint John The Baptist Church, Cirencester
Stow-On-The-Wold
Saint Edward’s Church, Stow-On-The-Wold
Broadway
Stratford-Upon-Avon
“The Merchant Of Venice” At The Courtyard Theatre
This day will be devoted to a leisurely drive through The Cotswolds as we make our way from Bath to Stratford-Upon-Avon. Along the way, we will stop at one Cotswold market town and two Cotswold villages that lie directly on our route. Our day will end in Stratford with a performance by The Royal Shakespeare Company.
We plan to leave our hotel at 9:00 a.m. Within an hour, we should be in Cirencester, the largest town in Cotswold District and an important market town.
Cirencester was an important Roman town—in fact, it was the second largest settlement in Roman Britain, with a population of 15,000 persons—and there is an excellent Roman museum in the town (that we will not visit).
We will walk around the center of the town for an hour, after which we will visit Saint John The Baptist Church, known informally as “The Cathedral Of The Cotswolds” owing to its size and grandeur.
In The Middle Ages, the profitability of the wool trade made The Cotswolds the wealthiest area of Britain. This vast wealth resulted in small towns and villages erecting magnificent houses of worship of a quality and on a scale normally unimaginable in small localities. These imposing Cotswold edifices became known, over time, as “Wool Churches”, and the most impressive “Wool Church” of all is Saint John The Baptist at Cirencester.
Saint John The Baptist Church is one of the most elegant medieval churches in all of England, as well as one of the largest. It was erected around 1520 in the English Perpendicular style, the fourth or fifth church to be erected on the spot since the Roman Era.
The church lies just off the central market square, and was constructed in the style of a cathedral, with a nave, side aisles and chapels. There is a large central tower with twelve bells, and a lavish church porch, the largest and most complex such porch in Britain. The Gothic exterior is prominent for its amazingly-intricate stone carvings. The church is one of the greatest masterpieces of the English Perpendicular style.
Saint John The Baptist Church is known for its four medieval chapels. The chapels were created by wealthy locals, who used their vast fortunes to create elaborate chapels (and tombs) devoted to their own memories. Some of the tombs, memorials and monuments in Saint John The Baptist are among the finest and most important to be found in all of Britain.
We will spend an hour or so exploring this great church, after which we will depart Cirencester and head for the village of Stow-On-The-Wold.
Stow-On-The-Wold lies on the highest elevation in The Cotswolds, and was formerly the site of the largest and most important sheep market in England, where as many as 20,000 sheep changed hands in a single day. The sheep market has been long gone, but the town is today one of the most popular Cotswold villages for visitors. Stow-On-The-Wold has a population of only 2,000 persons, but the town is filled with excellent restaurants, excellent booksellers, antique shops and what must be Britain’s finest shop for handmade chocolates.
We will have lunch on our arrival. After lunch, we will spend an hour walking around the village, situated around an enormous central square. Stow-On-The-Wold is a beautiful village, the most charming of all Cotswold villages my brother and I have explored, and we look forward to a return visit.
During our time, we will explore Saint Edward’s Church, an 11th-Century Norman church (the tower is 15th-Century) associated with The Civil War. Stow-On-The-Wold was the site of the final battle of The Civil War, and Parliamentary forces defeated the Royalists in a battle in the town’s market square. After the battle, 1000 Royalist soldiers were locked in Saint Edward’s Church as prisoners until, one by one, they were walked to the town square and executed. According to eyewitnesses, after the slaughter was over, the ducks of Stow-On-The-Wold swam in rivers of blood in the market square for days.
From Stow-On-The-Wold we will drive to Broadway, the final Cotswold village we will visit. We will walk around Broadway for an hour or so, another of the most attractive of the Cotswold villages.
Several renowned persons resided in Broadway at some point in their lives. Among the village’s former residents are John Singer Sargent, Edward Elgar and Ralph Vaughan Williams. E.F. Benson spent time in Broadway, too, and the village of Broadway was the model for the fictional village of Riseholme in his “Lucia” novels, where his heroine Lucia resided before departing Riseholme and moving to the fictional village of Tilling (taking her legendary recipe for Lobster A La Riseholme with her).
We won’t miss any E.F. Benson associations on this trip!
From Broadway, we will complete our drive into Stratford-Upon-Avon and check into our hotel.
We will walk around Stratford-Upon-Avon a bit, have an early dinner, and proceed to The Courtyard Theatre to attend this evening’s performance of Shakespeare’s “The Merchant Of Venice”, performed by The Royal Shakespeare Company.
The Courtyard Theatre is a two-year-old theater erected near the permanent home of The Royal Shakespeare Company, built as a temporary home for the company while the original theater complex undergoes extensive restoration. My brother and I have not visited Stratford-Upon-Avon since 2004, so we have never seen the Courtyard Theater. It will be torn down once multi-year restoration of the permanent facility is completed.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Day Seventeen: Stratford-Upon-Avon
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, Stratford-Upon-Avon
Shakespeare’s Birthplace, Stratford-Upon-Avon
Hall’s Croft, Stratford-Upon-Avon
Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-Upon-Avon
This entire day will be devoted to attractions in Stratford-Upon-Avon associated with William Shakespeare.
My brother and I have already seen literally everything worth seeing in Stratford-Upon-Avon—twice, in 2002 and 2004—and if we were traveling by ourselves we would not return to Stratford for many, many years.
However, Josh and Josh’s sister have never been to Stratford, and my parents have not been to Stratford since the 1970’s, and my brother and I thought it made no sense NOT to return to Stratford since we would all be in the immediate vicinity.
Returning to Stratford DOES give everyone an opportunity to attend a performance of The Royal Shakespeare Company in its home theater, and Josh and Josh’s sister will be able to visit the Shakespeare historic attractions for the first time.
This will be a very easy-going and mellow day, because there truly is not all that much to see in Stratford-Upon-Avon.
We do not plan to get out and until 9:30 a.m.
Our first stop will be Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, situated in a residential area one mile from the center of Stratford.
Anne Hathaway’s Cottage is the most picturesque of the Shakespeare properties, lying in an idyllic setting surrounded by parkland and other handsome houses.
The Cottage is not a cottage at all—it is a twelve-room Elizabethan farmhouse, with an elaborate thatched roof, that fully reflected the prosperity of the Hathaway family.
The entire house may be visited, and it is filled with 16th-Century fixtures and furniture, some of which was actually owned by the Hathaway family. A beautiful English garden is attached, alongside which is the Hathaway orchard.
Of the three Shakespeare properties we will visit, Anne Hathaway’s Cottage is the one that is most typical of what we today think of as “Elizabethan”. It is a charming place to visit.
From Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, we will go back downtown and visit Shakespeare’s Birthplace, probably the most-visited literary landmark in the world. Shakespeare is believed to have been born and spent his formative years in this house.
Shakespeare’s father was a successful businessman, and the scale and luxuriousness of the property are indicative of his moneyed status.
One approaches Shakespeare’s Birthplace through a large Visitors’ Centre, which holds a comprehensive exhibition about Shakespeare’s life. The exhibition is excellent and informative. From the Visitors’ Centre, visitors proceed through a tree, flower and herbal garden to reach the Shakespeare home. The house is full of period fixtures and furnishings, and is quite interesting.
We will tour the entire property, and have lunch afterward.
After lunch, we will walk to nearby Hall’s Croft, home of Shakespeare’s daughter. The house’s name comes from John Hall, the wealthy physician Shakespeare’s daughter, Susanna, married.
Hall’s Croft is an imposing residence, and one of Britain’s finest Elizabethan homes still intact. It is filled with period paintings and luxury items, as well as tools and instruments associated with the typical medical practice of the time. There is a dramatic walled garden on the property, probably used in Shakespeare’s time to grow herbs useful to a physician.
From Hall’s Croft, we will walk to nearby Holy Trinity Church, the church in which Shakespeare was baptized and worshipped, and the church in which he is buried.
Holy Trinity Church is the oldest building in Stratford, dating from 1210. The church is approached along an avenue of lime trees, said to represent the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve Apostles. It is situated on the site of an ancient Saxon monastery on the banks of The River Avon, a lovely spot in a park-like setting with many trees and plants. It is the most-visited parish church in Great Britain.
Shakespeare is buried in the church’s chancel. His wife and Susanna are buried alongside him.
We will explore the church, and explore the church gardens, after which we will have the remainder of the day free.
We will probably spend a couple of hours strolling the banks and bridges of The River Avon, and then return to Holy Trinity Church for the 6:00 p.m. Sunday Evensong Service.
After Service, we will find a suitable restaurant for dinner.
Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, Stratford-Upon-Avon
Shakespeare’s Birthplace, Stratford-Upon-Avon
Hall’s Croft, Stratford-Upon-Avon
Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-Upon-Avon
This entire day will be devoted to attractions in Stratford-Upon-Avon associated with William Shakespeare.
My brother and I have already seen literally everything worth seeing in Stratford-Upon-Avon—twice, in 2002 and 2004—and if we were traveling by ourselves we would not return to Stratford for many, many years.
However, Josh and Josh’s sister have never been to Stratford, and my parents have not been to Stratford since the 1970’s, and my brother and I thought it made no sense NOT to return to Stratford since we would all be in the immediate vicinity.
Returning to Stratford DOES give everyone an opportunity to attend a performance of The Royal Shakespeare Company in its home theater, and Josh and Josh’s sister will be able to visit the Shakespeare historic attractions for the first time.
This will be a very easy-going and mellow day, because there truly is not all that much to see in Stratford-Upon-Avon.
We do not plan to get out and until 9:30 a.m.
Our first stop will be Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, situated in a residential area one mile from the center of Stratford.
Anne Hathaway’s Cottage is the most picturesque of the Shakespeare properties, lying in an idyllic setting surrounded by parkland and other handsome houses.
The Cottage is not a cottage at all—it is a twelve-room Elizabethan farmhouse, with an elaborate thatched roof, that fully reflected the prosperity of the Hathaway family.
The entire house may be visited, and it is filled with 16th-Century fixtures and furniture, some of which was actually owned by the Hathaway family. A beautiful English garden is attached, alongside which is the Hathaway orchard.
Of the three Shakespeare properties we will visit, Anne Hathaway’s Cottage is the one that is most typical of what we today think of as “Elizabethan”. It is a charming place to visit.
From Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, we will go back downtown and visit Shakespeare’s Birthplace, probably the most-visited literary landmark in the world. Shakespeare is believed to have been born and spent his formative years in this house.
Shakespeare’s father was a successful businessman, and the scale and luxuriousness of the property are indicative of his moneyed status.
One approaches Shakespeare’s Birthplace through a large Visitors’ Centre, which holds a comprehensive exhibition about Shakespeare’s life. The exhibition is excellent and informative. From the Visitors’ Centre, visitors proceed through a tree, flower and herbal garden to reach the Shakespeare home. The house is full of period fixtures and furnishings, and is quite interesting.
We will tour the entire property, and have lunch afterward.
After lunch, we will walk to nearby Hall’s Croft, home of Shakespeare’s daughter. The house’s name comes from John Hall, the wealthy physician Shakespeare’s daughter, Susanna, married.
Hall’s Croft is an imposing residence, and one of Britain’s finest Elizabethan homes still intact. It is filled with period paintings and luxury items, as well as tools and instruments associated with the typical medical practice of the time. There is a dramatic walled garden on the property, probably used in Shakespeare’s time to grow herbs useful to a physician.
From Hall’s Croft, we will walk to nearby Holy Trinity Church, the church in which Shakespeare was baptized and worshipped, and the church in which he is buried.
Holy Trinity Church is the oldest building in Stratford, dating from 1210. The church is approached along an avenue of lime trees, said to represent the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve Apostles. It is situated on the site of an ancient Saxon monastery on the banks of The River Avon, a lovely spot in a park-like setting with many trees and plants. It is the most-visited parish church in Great Britain.
Shakespeare is buried in the church’s chancel. His wife and Susanna are buried alongside him.
We will explore the church, and explore the church gardens, after which we will have the remainder of the day free.
We will probably spend a couple of hours strolling the banks and bridges of The River Avon, and then return to Holy Trinity Church for the 6:00 p.m. Sunday Evensong Service.
After Service, we will find a suitable restaurant for dinner.
Day Eighteen: Oxford
Monday, August 18, 2008
Winston Churchill’s Grave, Bladon
Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford
Bodleian Library, Oxford
Radcliffe Camera, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford
Our day in Oxford is still a work in progress.
Check back later in the week.
Winston Churchill’s Grave, Bladon
Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford
Bodleian Library, Oxford
Radcliffe Camera, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford
Our day in Oxford is still a work in progress.
Check back later in the week.
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Life Is Good
Our week at the lake was very nice, but too short, as it always is.
It was no different than last year’s week at the lake, except—unlike last summer—we had no guest this year. I wrote about our week at the lake last year on July 8, 2007, and I shall not repeat that exercise, as to do so would merely involve writing the very same things all over again.
My nephew is a year older now, of course, and he was even more fun this year than last year. He loved playing out in the yard all day, having fun with his toys and having fun with the dog. He knows he’s the center of attention, and he likes being the center of attention. He keeps an eye on everyone and, if someone is missing, he wants to know where that person is and what that person is doing.
The only thing he didn’t like was having to take his afternoon nap, but he never likes to take his afternoon naps when we are all together because he fears he will miss out on something interesting or something fun.
It was my mother who always took him indoors for his nap, and she always stayed with him until he fell asleep, and then she or someone else would remain in the next room until he woke up.
In fact, someone was assigned to watch my nephew all day, and to be at his side all day, from the time he got up in the morning until the time he went to bed at night. This was to prevent him going into the woods by himself or going to the lake’s edge by himself.
He was not any problem at all.
We returned home last night, and my older brother and his family returned to New York late this afternoon. We were sorry to see them go. I miss them already.
My middle brother is home for good now, and living in my parents’ house until Josh and I leave for Boston, at which point he will take our apartment.
For the next four weeks, until we go away, my brother will help my mother with some things around the house, and play golf, and go swimming, and try to enjoy his free time until he starts his new job on Tuesday, September 2.
He wants to go to a Twins game, so Josh and I will go with him to a baseball game sometime soon, and he wants to drive down to Pella, Iowa, for a weekend, so Josh and I may join him for that excursion. My father was born and raised near Pella, and my brother wants to return to Pella for a look around (none of us has been to Pella since 1993, when we attended my paternal grandfather’s funeral, because no members of my father’s family any longer live near Pella).
My brother is very excited about our upcoming trip, and I am pleased that he is looking forward to it so much. He is the Anglophile in the family, and he will find every stone, every tree, every gable, every road sign to be of great significance, and endlessly fascinating.
We will depart on the evening of July 31, a Thursday night, and Josh’s sister will fly up from Oklahoma City on Monday to join us a few days early. She will come early so that we do not have to worry about any missed connections on July 31 (she will fly with us nonstop to London from MSP).
This will be the first trip outside the United States for Josh’s sister, and I earnestly hope that she will have a wonderful time. Because of her, we will spend our first two days in London so that she may experience a few of London’s highlights. She, too, is very excited about our upcoming trip.
Our itinerary is almost finished. We are now at work on our itinerary for the final day of our trip, Monday, August 18, a day we will spend in Oxford. Because of the odd open hours for the various colleges and the many university attractions, Oxford is very tricky—and since we will be able to devote only one day to Oxford, mapping a strategy for Oxford becomes trickier still.
The fact that the Ashmolean Museum is currently undergoing substantial renovation and enlargement has made our task easier. We will skip the Ashmolean, which is supposed to be somewhat of a mess at present, with many sections of the museum closed and with many of the museum’s most important artworks loaned to other institutions during the course of the renovation.
As things stand now, our plan for Oxford is to visit the Sheldonian Theatre, the Bodleian Library, Radcliffe Camera and three of the colleges: Christ Church, Magdalen and Merton. However, our plans are only tentative at this point. We will firm them up in the next few days.
Preparing our itinerary has enabled me to get to know Josh’s sister much better. Over the last month and more, she and I have been in constant contact, talking on the phone and exchanging email and IM messages on a nightly basis as we have prepared our itinerary, selecting attractions that will be pleasing to everyone. I am pleased that I have had this opportunity to become closer to her. She is a remarkable and precious young lady.
If I have any concerns about the trip, they are twofold: first, I fear my mother will not have an opportunity to view much art on this trip (we will only visit two art museums, both in Saint Ives, and neither museum is of great significance); and, second, I fear my brother will be bored out of his mind by a third visit to Stratford-Upon-Avon (he and I have already seen everything in Stratford, twice, in 2002 and 2004).
My mother and my brother tell me that I should not worry. My mother insists that she loves the itinerary we have prepared, and my brother insists that we must take everyone to Stratford since we will already be in the immediate vicinity.
It is my hope that everyone will be happy.
I do not worry about my father or Josh. This will be precisely the kind of trip my father most loves, and precisely the kind of trip Josh most loves.
We will not hear any music on this trip.
While in London, we will studiously avoid The Proms. Last year, we all became “Prom’ed out”, intensely disliking the venue, finding The Royal Albert Hall totally unsuitable for serious orchestral concerts.
While in the provinces, we will not attend any concerts because there will be no concerts, at any of our stops, we want to hear. We will be touring near Glyndebourne, but we did not even bother to check for tickets—we assumed that all Glyndebourne performances have long been sold out.
Somewhat to our surprise, we have discovered that we will be able to attend some high-quality serious theater during this trip.
We will see two plays in London, one at The National Theatre and one at Donmar Warehouse. We will see two plays at Chichester Festival Theatre. We will see a play at Theatre Royal, Plymouth. We will see a play at Theatre Royal, Bath. We will attend a performance of The Royal Shakespeare Company at its home theater in Stratford. A varied program of Michael Frayn, Enid Bagnold, Somerset Maugham, Ronald Harwood, Alan Bennett and Shakespeare should appeal to all of us, I believe.
How many persons know that Enid, Lady Jones, was married to the Chairman of Reuters? Or that Michael Frayn has written a new play about Max Reinhardt? Or that Ronald Harwood has written a new play about Richard Strauss and Stefan Zweig, which will be produced in tandem with his Furtwangler play?
The centuries-long history and current activity of the British stage never cease to amaze me. British theater is always in a constant state of rejuvenation.
On the topic of rejuvenation, while at the lake I learned that I shall be an uncle again before the year is out.
I am very excited.
Life is good.
It was no different than last year’s week at the lake, except—unlike last summer—we had no guest this year. I wrote about our week at the lake last year on July 8, 2007, and I shall not repeat that exercise, as to do so would merely involve writing the very same things all over again.
My nephew is a year older now, of course, and he was even more fun this year than last year. He loved playing out in the yard all day, having fun with his toys and having fun with the dog. He knows he’s the center of attention, and he likes being the center of attention. He keeps an eye on everyone and, if someone is missing, he wants to know where that person is and what that person is doing.
The only thing he didn’t like was having to take his afternoon nap, but he never likes to take his afternoon naps when we are all together because he fears he will miss out on something interesting or something fun.
It was my mother who always took him indoors for his nap, and she always stayed with him until he fell asleep, and then she or someone else would remain in the next room until he woke up.
In fact, someone was assigned to watch my nephew all day, and to be at his side all day, from the time he got up in the morning until the time he went to bed at night. This was to prevent him going into the woods by himself or going to the lake’s edge by himself.
He was not any problem at all.
We returned home last night, and my older brother and his family returned to New York late this afternoon. We were sorry to see them go. I miss them already.
My middle brother is home for good now, and living in my parents’ house until Josh and I leave for Boston, at which point he will take our apartment.
For the next four weeks, until we go away, my brother will help my mother with some things around the house, and play golf, and go swimming, and try to enjoy his free time until he starts his new job on Tuesday, September 2.
He wants to go to a Twins game, so Josh and I will go with him to a baseball game sometime soon, and he wants to drive down to Pella, Iowa, for a weekend, so Josh and I may join him for that excursion. My father was born and raised near Pella, and my brother wants to return to Pella for a look around (none of us has been to Pella since 1993, when we attended my paternal grandfather’s funeral, because no members of my father’s family any longer live near Pella).
My brother is very excited about our upcoming trip, and I am pleased that he is looking forward to it so much. He is the Anglophile in the family, and he will find every stone, every tree, every gable, every road sign to be of great significance, and endlessly fascinating.
We will depart on the evening of July 31, a Thursday night, and Josh’s sister will fly up from Oklahoma City on Monday to join us a few days early. She will come early so that we do not have to worry about any missed connections on July 31 (she will fly with us nonstop to London from MSP).
This will be the first trip outside the United States for Josh’s sister, and I earnestly hope that she will have a wonderful time. Because of her, we will spend our first two days in London so that she may experience a few of London’s highlights. She, too, is very excited about our upcoming trip.
Our itinerary is almost finished. We are now at work on our itinerary for the final day of our trip, Monday, August 18, a day we will spend in Oxford. Because of the odd open hours for the various colleges and the many university attractions, Oxford is very tricky—and since we will be able to devote only one day to Oxford, mapping a strategy for Oxford becomes trickier still.
The fact that the Ashmolean Museum is currently undergoing substantial renovation and enlargement has made our task easier. We will skip the Ashmolean, which is supposed to be somewhat of a mess at present, with many sections of the museum closed and with many of the museum’s most important artworks loaned to other institutions during the course of the renovation.
As things stand now, our plan for Oxford is to visit the Sheldonian Theatre, the Bodleian Library, Radcliffe Camera and three of the colleges: Christ Church, Magdalen and Merton. However, our plans are only tentative at this point. We will firm them up in the next few days.
Preparing our itinerary has enabled me to get to know Josh’s sister much better. Over the last month and more, she and I have been in constant contact, talking on the phone and exchanging email and IM messages on a nightly basis as we have prepared our itinerary, selecting attractions that will be pleasing to everyone. I am pleased that I have had this opportunity to become closer to her. She is a remarkable and precious young lady.
If I have any concerns about the trip, they are twofold: first, I fear my mother will not have an opportunity to view much art on this trip (we will only visit two art museums, both in Saint Ives, and neither museum is of great significance); and, second, I fear my brother will be bored out of his mind by a third visit to Stratford-Upon-Avon (he and I have already seen everything in Stratford, twice, in 2002 and 2004).
My mother and my brother tell me that I should not worry. My mother insists that she loves the itinerary we have prepared, and my brother insists that we must take everyone to Stratford since we will already be in the immediate vicinity.
It is my hope that everyone will be happy.
I do not worry about my father or Josh. This will be precisely the kind of trip my father most loves, and precisely the kind of trip Josh most loves.
We will not hear any music on this trip.
While in London, we will studiously avoid The Proms. Last year, we all became “Prom’ed out”, intensely disliking the venue, finding The Royal Albert Hall totally unsuitable for serious orchestral concerts.
While in the provinces, we will not attend any concerts because there will be no concerts, at any of our stops, we want to hear. We will be touring near Glyndebourne, but we did not even bother to check for tickets—we assumed that all Glyndebourne performances have long been sold out.
Somewhat to our surprise, we have discovered that we will be able to attend some high-quality serious theater during this trip.
We will see two plays in London, one at The National Theatre and one at Donmar Warehouse. We will see two plays at Chichester Festival Theatre. We will see a play at Theatre Royal, Plymouth. We will see a play at Theatre Royal, Bath. We will attend a performance of The Royal Shakespeare Company at its home theater in Stratford. A varied program of Michael Frayn, Enid Bagnold, Somerset Maugham, Ronald Harwood, Alan Bennett and Shakespeare should appeal to all of us, I believe.
How many persons know that Enid, Lady Jones, was married to the Chairman of Reuters? Or that Michael Frayn has written a new play about Max Reinhardt? Or that Ronald Harwood has written a new play about Richard Strauss and Stefan Zweig, which will be produced in tandem with his Furtwangler play?
The centuries-long history and current activity of the British stage never cease to amaze me. British theater is always in a constant state of rejuvenation.
On the topic of rejuvenation, while at the lake I learned that I shall be an uncle again before the year is out.
I am very excited.
Life is good.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Safe Arrivals
Everyone arrived safely yesterday.
My older brother and his family arrived late yesterday morning, and we all went to the airport to retrieve them and bring them home. We stayed in the rest of the day, catching up on things and playing with my nephew. My nephew had a ball all afternoon and evening, what with so many persons (and a dog) to play with him.
My brother from Denver arrived very, very late last night. It was almost 12:30 a.m. when he pulled in. We were all waiting up for him (except my nephew). We were very glad to see him. I made him a big breakfast to welcome him home, and then we put him to bed after his long drive.
This morning we went to church, and my brothers had an opportunity to visit with friends and acquaintances. We have otherwise remained home today, getting some last-minute things ready for our week at the lake.
We will head out early tomorrow morning, and return sometime Saturday evening.
In the excitement of our departure, I hope we don’t forget the dog.
My older brother and his family arrived late yesterday morning, and we all went to the airport to retrieve them and bring them home. We stayed in the rest of the day, catching up on things and playing with my nephew. My nephew had a ball all afternoon and evening, what with so many persons (and a dog) to play with him.
My brother from Denver arrived very, very late last night. It was almost 12:30 a.m. when he pulled in. We were all waiting up for him (except my nephew). We were very glad to see him. I made him a big breakfast to welcome him home, and then we put him to bed after his long drive.
This morning we went to church, and my brothers had an opportunity to visit with friends and acquaintances. We have otherwise remained home today, getting some last-minute things ready for our week at the lake.
We will head out early tomorrow morning, and return sometime Saturday evening.
In the excitement of our departure, I hope we don’t forget the dog.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Music For Independence Day
For the last couple of weeks, Joshua and I have been listening to six discs of American music, a preparation of sorts for Independence Day.
My parents and I have a longstanding practice of listening to American music this time of year, and Josh and I have been maintaining this tradition.
The discs we chose this year did not involve any “tough” music, unlike a couple of the discs we chose last year (I do not think that Josh derived much enjoyment last year from Gunther Schuller’s “Symphony 1965” or William Schuman’s Symphony No. 7—in fact, that Gunther Schuller work from last year made Josh grind his teeth). Instead, this year we stuck to a more “populist” vein.
The discs we chose this year were:
“After The Ball”, a recital of Victorian songs performed by Joan Morris and William Bolcom, on the Nonesuch label
Antheil’s “Ballet Mechanique” and other Antheil works, performed by the New Palais Royale Orchestra And Percussion Ensemble under Maurice Peress, on the MusicMasters label
Music of Jerome Kern, performed by the Audubon Quartet, on the Centaur label
American orchestral music of Ives, Barber, Copland, Cowell and Creston, performed by The Academy Of Saint-Martin-In-The-Fields under Neville Marriner, on the Decca label
Choral Music of Samuel Barber and William Schuman, performed by The Joyful Company Of Singers under Peter Broadbent, on the ASV label
Orchestral Music Of Aaron Copland, performed by the Columbia Symphony Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra under the composer, on the Sony label
“After The Ball: A Treasury Of Turn Of The Century Popular Songs” was the very first recital disc that the husband-and-wife team of Morris-and-Bolcom ever made. Recorded in 1974, it made Morris and Bolcom virtually household names among music lovers in the U.S., and the popular team followed up “After The Ball” with numerous other recordings of light, popular repertory over the next three decades.
None of the ensuing discs, however, has probably developed the high reputation that “After The Ball” has always enjoyed from the day it was first issued.
“After The Ball” is a very special disc. Morris is ideal in these parlor songs, sentimental ballads and novelty numbers, capturing the particular ethos of the era in which these songs were written—and without any “archness” ever creeping into her performances. This cannot have been easy. In other hands, such material might have invited maudlin, even camp, treatment. Morris avoids any such dangers, singing these faded old songs simply, without adornment, without excess emotion, and free from any undercurrent of contemporary “interpretation”. This is the disc for which Morris will always be remembered.
From this recording, it is clear that Morris was a lovely singer in the 1970’s. Her timbre was not interesting and there was little color in her voice, but her intonation was pure, her phrasing simple, natural and eloquent, and her enunciation always clear but unaffected.
In 1974, as captured by the microphones, this was a voice of sheen and bloom that was very affecting. In later years, this sheen and bloom were gone (last autumn, Josh and I and my mother listened to Morris’s “Orchids In The Moonlight” disc, recorded in 1996; Morris remained a stylist in 1996, but any special vocal quality was gone).
I was surprised how many of the songs on “After The Ball” I had heard before, and so was Josh. In addition to the title song, we already knew “Good Bye, My Lady Love”, “A Bird In A Gilded Cage”, “I’ve Got Rings On My Fingers”, “Meet Me In Saint Louis, Louis” and “Wait Till The Sun Shines, Nellie”. Wherever had we heard these old songs before? In most cases, we had no clue, but they had entered our consciousness somewhere along the way.
One genre of popular song from turn-of-the-century America is omitted entirely from Morris’s anthology: the genre known as “coon songs”. Indeed, the most popular song in America for much of the 1890’s was Ernest Hogan’s “All Coons Look Alike To Me”, followed by “The Coons Are On Parade” and “New Coon In Town”. In fact, coon songs were a national—and worldwide—craze in the 1890’s, coinciding perfectly with the advent of ragtime.
Irving Berlin wrote coon songs. Much of the repertory of John Philip Sousa’s band was comprised of coon songs. Sophie Tucker got her start as a “coon shouter”—a singer of coon songs—in Vaudeville.
Coon songs were particularly popular in London, Paris, Berlin and Vienna and, to a lesser extent, in Scandinavian countries and the Latin countries of Italy and Spain. Even Russia spent a decade in the thrall of coon songs. The genre only died, in the U.S. and elsewhere, several years after World War I (although it continued to thrive in Germany through the 1930’s, despite—or perhaps because of—Nazi efforts to suppress coon songs).
Many coon songs were written by black songwriters, including the ones generally acknowledged as most offensive. Ernest Hogan was black, and late in life he defended “All Coons Look Alike To Me” on the basis that the song had been “good for show business”.
The liner notes of “After The Ball” fail to make note of this forgotten genre, creating a gaping hole in what purports to be an anthology.
Josh hated “After The Ball”.
“Ballet Mechanique” made the name of New Jersey-born George Antheil known throughout the world at the time of its premiere in Paris in 1926, but Antheil’s fame was short-lived and he was virtually forgotten at the time of his death in 1959.
Antheil later arranged “Ballet Mechanique” for conventional orchestra, but the original version—and the version heard on the MusicMasters disc—called for instrumentation of three xylophones, four bass drums, gong, two pianos, sixteen synchronized player pianos, pitched electric bells, siren and three airplane propellers (of different pitches).
“Ballet Mechanique” was the height of modernism in 1926—the Paris premiere created a sensation, and the first American performance in 1927 caused a similar commotion—but it quickly faded from view. This was so for two reasons: its instrumentation may have been unusual, but its music materials were feeble, weakly developed and weakly manipulated; and Aaron Copland, vastly more talented than Antheil, was soon to dominate American modernism with a steady stream of more bracing and more finely-crafted works.
The MusicMasters performance was recorded shortly after a 1989 Carnegie Hall concert at which the 1927 American premiere of “Ballet Mechanique” was recreated. There is very little actual music-making involved in “Ballet Mechanique” once basic tempos have been set. The music merely drones on for 27 boring minutes before it is over. The piece does not improve with repeated listens.
The rest of the disc is devoted to Antheil compositions that were programmed along with “Mechanique” at its 1927 American premiere and at the 1989 concert recreation.
Most interesting is Jazz Symphony, the only interesting Antheil work I have ever encountered. It is a fine piece, a one-movement orchestral essay, tightly-constructed, that is free and breezy (if not particularly jazzy). It sounds, in part, as if it might have been written by George Gershwin had Gershwin enjoyed the benefit of a conservatory education. It also sounds, in part, like Darius Milhaud, but with a German twist.
The other two works on the disc, both chamber music, made no impression at all. Antheil’s String Quartet No. 1 was forgettable—vacant, devoid of interest, expression, personality and character. The performers were the Mendelssohn Quartet.
The Second Sonata For Violin, Piano And Drum was similarly vacant. The gimmick of adding a drum to the classic violin-piano duo added nothing.
The MusicMasters label is now defunct, and this disc has long been out of print. This disc may have some degree of rarity attached to it now, since the disc is currently selling for 76 pounds on Amazon United Kingdom.
Goodness gracious! Perhaps my father should try to unload it at such an inflated price while he may.
Josh hated the Antheil disc.
I have no idea whose inspiration it was to arrange Jerome Kern songs for string quartet, but someone in the Audubon Quartet clearly liked the notion, and this disc is the result.
Many of Kern’s most enduring songs are on the disc, including my two personal favorites, “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” and “All The Things You Are”, two of the very, very greatest American songs ever written. Fourteen songs are on the disc, in all, plus a medley from “Show Boat”.
I love Jerome Kern—I think Kern and Richard Rodgers were our greatest songwriters, greater than Gershwin, Berlin or Cole Porter—but hearing an hour of Kern’s songs arranged for string quartet was not an enriching experience.
Some of the tunes outstayed their welcomes because the arrangements were too long (in a couple of cases lasting eight minutes or more). Some of the tunes cried out to be sung, because the lyrics are as important as the melodies. Some of the tunes might have worked in orchestral arrangements, but the string quartet medium was not a good choice to bring a few of these tunes to life, any more than a pipe organ arrangement would have been apt.
The arrangements were credited to Charles and Elliott Weiss and Howard Schatz.
The disc is primarily a curiosity, and an odd one at that. I have absolutely no idea why I bought this disc—it must have been a lack of lucidity on my part.
Josh hated the Kern disc.
The Neville Marriner/Academy Of Saint-Martin-In-The-Fields disc of American orchestral music was a tribute to the American Bi-Centennial and originally appeared on the Argo label. The disc includes Charles Ives’ Symphony No. 3 (“Camp Meeting”) and four shorter works: Samuel Barber’s ubiquitous Adagio For Strings, Aaron Copland’s Quiet City, Henry Cowell’s Hymn And Fuguing Tune No. 10, and Paul Creston’s A Rumor.
These are nice, neat performances, and this is a lovely disc. The Ives receives a very smooth, suave, highly-molded reading—much different than the kind of performance Leonard Bernstein, for instance, offered in Ives—and it works beautifully. In fact, this is my favorite recorded performance of the Ives Third, more observant of the hymn-based nature of the work than most American performances. I doubt that I would want to hear Marriner in the larger-scaled Ives Second, but in the more intimate Ives Third he is excellent.
The remaining performances come off well, too. Marriner’s reading of Quiet City is one of the finest versions ever recorded. The Cowell is charming. I believe that this is the only recording of the Creston piece ever issued, and I can easily understand why “A Rumor” is never recorded—it is the weakest composition on the disc.
The disc of American choral music by Barber and Schuman is devoted mostly to Barber. The disc features Barber’s Agnus Dei, a wordless choral arrangement of the Adagio For Strings, and includes nine other Barber works, three of which are songs arranged for chorus, including “Sure On This Shining Night” and one of the Hermit Songs.
Several moments in these Barber choral works are of almost indescribable beauty; many more, alas, are not. Barber was an extraordinarily uneven composer. One or two inspired bars are often followed by pages and pages of dull writing. One or two good ideas are often surrounded by a dozen hackneyed thoughts. This makes for frustrating listening. Moreover, I detest Barber’s choral arrangement of the Adagio For Strings—I’d much rather hear the piece on a calliope.
There are only two Schuman works on the disc: Perceptions, settings of eight aphorisms of Walt Whitman; and Mail Order Madrigals, settings of texts from a 19th-Century mail-order catalog. The Schuman works are intended to be witty. They are not.
The performances do not help matters. The Joyful Company Of Singers is a chamber choir, but the group lacks a chamber choir’s clarity of textural utterance. The group also lacks richness of tone, and it would not be inaccurate to describe much of the singing on this disc as “hooty”, a common problem with even the finest of English choral groups (and The Joyful Company Of Singers is certainly not among that number).
Josh hated the Barber/Schuman disc.
The Copland disc includes the original, chamber orchestra version of the complete “Appalachian Spring” as well as “Lincoln Portrait” and the suite from “Billy The Kid”.
“Appalachian Spring” was recorded in 1973 with a group of pickup musicians in New York. Ani Kafavian and the late Paul Jacobs are among the notable musicians who participated in the recording.
“Appalachian Spring” is a marvelous score, and this is a marvelous recording—I have loved it for years. There is a sweet, almost beguiling, quality to this performance that is very affecting. It is not as hard-driven as many recorded performances of the suite from the ballet for full orchestra, and all the better for that.
Josh loved “Appalachian Spring”, and we listened to the work over and over and over. It has become one of his favorite pieces of music.
“Lincoln Portrait” and “Billy The Kid” were recorded in London in the late 1960’s, and the performances are not quite up to the high level of “Appalachian Spring”.
The “Lincoln Portrait”, not one of Copland’s finer pieces, does not come across in this recording. The speaker, Henry Fonda, is all wrong for the text, and he sounds as if he is embarrassed to be part of the project. Further, the sound engineers were unsuccessful in creating an acoustic satisfactory for both orchestra and narrator. Both sound artificial, airless and dry.
The suite from “Billy The Kid” is another great Copland work, and it holds together well despite being stitched together from a number of old cowboy ballads. It is, in fact, one of my favorite Copland works.
Copland’s own performance is good, but I have heard better recordings of “Billy The Kid” from Bernstein and David Zinman.
We shall have to listen to more Copland. Josh has decided that Copland is one of his favorite composers, and by far his favorite American composer.
That’s an assessment I can understand.
My parents and I have a longstanding practice of listening to American music this time of year, and Josh and I have been maintaining this tradition.
The discs we chose this year did not involve any “tough” music, unlike a couple of the discs we chose last year (I do not think that Josh derived much enjoyment last year from Gunther Schuller’s “Symphony 1965” or William Schuman’s Symphony No. 7—in fact, that Gunther Schuller work from last year made Josh grind his teeth). Instead, this year we stuck to a more “populist” vein.
The discs we chose this year were:
“After The Ball”, a recital of Victorian songs performed by Joan Morris and William Bolcom, on the Nonesuch label
Antheil’s “Ballet Mechanique” and other Antheil works, performed by the New Palais Royale Orchestra And Percussion Ensemble under Maurice Peress, on the MusicMasters label
Music of Jerome Kern, performed by the Audubon Quartet, on the Centaur label
American orchestral music of Ives, Barber, Copland, Cowell and Creston, performed by The Academy Of Saint-Martin-In-The-Fields under Neville Marriner, on the Decca label
Choral Music of Samuel Barber and William Schuman, performed by The Joyful Company Of Singers under Peter Broadbent, on the ASV label
Orchestral Music Of Aaron Copland, performed by the Columbia Symphony Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra under the composer, on the Sony label
“After The Ball: A Treasury Of Turn Of The Century Popular Songs” was the very first recital disc that the husband-and-wife team of Morris-and-Bolcom ever made. Recorded in 1974, it made Morris and Bolcom virtually household names among music lovers in the U.S., and the popular team followed up “After The Ball” with numerous other recordings of light, popular repertory over the next three decades.
None of the ensuing discs, however, has probably developed the high reputation that “After The Ball” has always enjoyed from the day it was first issued.
“After The Ball” is a very special disc. Morris is ideal in these parlor songs, sentimental ballads and novelty numbers, capturing the particular ethos of the era in which these songs were written—and without any “archness” ever creeping into her performances. This cannot have been easy. In other hands, such material might have invited maudlin, even camp, treatment. Morris avoids any such dangers, singing these faded old songs simply, without adornment, without excess emotion, and free from any undercurrent of contemporary “interpretation”. This is the disc for which Morris will always be remembered.
From this recording, it is clear that Morris was a lovely singer in the 1970’s. Her timbre was not interesting and there was little color in her voice, but her intonation was pure, her phrasing simple, natural and eloquent, and her enunciation always clear but unaffected.
In 1974, as captured by the microphones, this was a voice of sheen and bloom that was very affecting. In later years, this sheen and bloom were gone (last autumn, Josh and I and my mother listened to Morris’s “Orchids In The Moonlight” disc, recorded in 1996; Morris remained a stylist in 1996, but any special vocal quality was gone).
I was surprised how many of the songs on “After The Ball” I had heard before, and so was Josh. In addition to the title song, we already knew “Good Bye, My Lady Love”, “A Bird In A Gilded Cage”, “I’ve Got Rings On My Fingers”, “Meet Me In Saint Louis, Louis” and “Wait Till The Sun Shines, Nellie”. Wherever had we heard these old songs before? In most cases, we had no clue, but they had entered our consciousness somewhere along the way.
One genre of popular song from turn-of-the-century America is omitted entirely from Morris’s anthology: the genre known as “coon songs”. Indeed, the most popular song in America for much of the 1890’s was Ernest Hogan’s “All Coons Look Alike To Me”, followed by “The Coons Are On Parade” and “New Coon In Town”. In fact, coon songs were a national—and worldwide—craze in the 1890’s, coinciding perfectly with the advent of ragtime.
Irving Berlin wrote coon songs. Much of the repertory of John Philip Sousa’s band was comprised of coon songs. Sophie Tucker got her start as a “coon shouter”—a singer of coon songs—in Vaudeville.
Coon songs were particularly popular in London, Paris, Berlin and Vienna and, to a lesser extent, in Scandinavian countries and the Latin countries of Italy and Spain. Even Russia spent a decade in the thrall of coon songs. The genre only died, in the U.S. and elsewhere, several years after World War I (although it continued to thrive in Germany through the 1930’s, despite—or perhaps because of—Nazi efforts to suppress coon songs).
Many coon songs were written by black songwriters, including the ones generally acknowledged as most offensive. Ernest Hogan was black, and late in life he defended “All Coons Look Alike To Me” on the basis that the song had been “good for show business”.
The liner notes of “After The Ball” fail to make note of this forgotten genre, creating a gaping hole in what purports to be an anthology.
Josh hated “After The Ball”.
“Ballet Mechanique” made the name of New Jersey-born George Antheil known throughout the world at the time of its premiere in Paris in 1926, but Antheil’s fame was short-lived and he was virtually forgotten at the time of his death in 1959.
Antheil later arranged “Ballet Mechanique” for conventional orchestra, but the original version—and the version heard on the MusicMasters disc—called for instrumentation of three xylophones, four bass drums, gong, two pianos, sixteen synchronized player pianos, pitched electric bells, siren and three airplane propellers (of different pitches).
“Ballet Mechanique” was the height of modernism in 1926—the Paris premiere created a sensation, and the first American performance in 1927 caused a similar commotion—but it quickly faded from view. This was so for two reasons: its instrumentation may have been unusual, but its music materials were feeble, weakly developed and weakly manipulated; and Aaron Copland, vastly more talented than Antheil, was soon to dominate American modernism with a steady stream of more bracing and more finely-crafted works.
The MusicMasters performance was recorded shortly after a 1989 Carnegie Hall concert at which the 1927 American premiere of “Ballet Mechanique” was recreated. There is very little actual music-making involved in “Ballet Mechanique” once basic tempos have been set. The music merely drones on for 27 boring minutes before it is over. The piece does not improve with repeated listens.
The rest of the disc is devoted to Antheil compositions that were programmed along with “Mechanique” at its 1927 American premiere and at the 1989 concert recreation.
Most interesting is Jazz Symphony, the only interesting Antheil work I have ever encountered. It is a fine piece, a one-movement orchestral essay, tightly-constructed, that is free and breezy (if not particularly jazzy). It sounds, in part, as if it might have been written by George Gershwin had Gershwin enjoyed the benefit of a conservatory education. It also sounds, in part, like Darius Milhaud, but with a German twist.
The other two works on the disc, both chamber music, made no impression at all. Antheil’s String Quartet No. 1 was forgettable—vacant, devoid of interest, expression, personality and character. The performers were the Mendelssohn Quartet.
The Second Sonata For Violin, Piano And Drum was similarly vacant. The gimmick of adding a drum to the classic violin-piano duo added nothing.
The MusicMasters label is now defunct, and this disc has long been out of print. This disc may have some degree of rarity attached to it now, since the disc is currently selling for 76 pounds on Amazon United Kingdom.
Goodness gracious! Perhaps my father should try to unload it at such an inflated price while he may.
Josh hated the Antheil disc.
I have no idea whose inspiration it was to arrange Jerome Kern songs for string quartet, but someone in the Audubon Quartet clearly liked the notion, and this disc is the result.
Many of Kern’s most enduring songs are on the disc, including my two personal favorites, “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” and “All The Things You Are”, two of the very, very greatest American songs ever written. Fourteen songs are on the disc, in all, plus a medley from “Show Boat”.
I love Jerome Kern—I think Kern and Richard Rodgers were our greatest songwriters, greater than Gershwin, Berlin or Cole Porter—but hearing an hour of Kern’s songs arranged for string quartet was not an enriching experience.
Some of the tunes outstayed their welcomes because the arrangements were too long (in a couple of cases lasting eight minutes or more). Some of the tunes cried out to be sung, because the lyrics are as important as the melodies. Some of the tunes might have worked in orchestral arrangements, but the string quartet medium was not a good choice to bring a few of these tunes to life, any more than a pipe organ arrangement would have been apt.
The arrangements were credited to Charles and Elliott Weiss and Howard Schatz.
The disc is primarily a curiosity, and an odd one at that. I have absolutely no idea why I bought this disc—it must have been a lack of lucidity on my part.
Josh hated the Kern disc.
The Neville Marriner/Academy Of Saint-Martin-In-The-Fields disc of American orchestral music was a tribute to the American Bi-Centennial and originally appeared on the Argo label. The disc includes Charles Ives’ Symphony No. 3 (“Camp Meeting”) and four shorter works: Samuel Barber’s ubiquitous Adagio For Strings, Aaron Copland’s Quiet City, Henry Cowell’s Hymn And Fuguing Tune No. 10, and Paul Creston’s A Rumor.
These are nice, neat performances, and this is a lovely disc. The Ives receives a very smooth, suave, highly-molded reading—much different than the kind of performance Leonard Bernstein, for instance, offered in Ives—and it works beautifully. In fact, this is my favorite recorded performance of the Ives Third, more observant of the hymn-based nature of the work than most American performances. I doubt that I would want to hear Marriner in the larger-scaled Ives Second, but in the more intimate Ives Third he is excellent.
The remaining performances come off well, too. Marriner’s reading of Quiet City is one of the finest versions ever recorded. The Cowell is charming. I believe that this is the only recording of the Creston piece ever issued, and I can easily understand why “A Rumor” is never recorded—it is the weakest composition on the disc.
The disc of American choral music by Barber and Schuman is devoted mostly to Barber. The disc features Barber’s Agnus Dei, a wordless choral arrangement of the Adagio For Strings, and includes nine other Barber works, three of which are songs arranged for chorus, including “Sure On This Shining Night” and one of the Hermit Songs.
Several moments in these Barber choral works are of almost indescribable beauty; many more, alas, are not. Barber was an extraordinarily uneven composer. One or two inspired bars are often followed by pages and pages of dull writing. One or two good ideas are often surrounded by a dozen hackneyed thoughts. This makes for frustrating listening. Moreover, I detest Barber’s choral arrangement of the Adagio For Strings—I’d much rather hear the piece on a calliope.
There are only two Schuman works on the disc: Perceptions, settings of eight aphorisms of Walt Whitman; and Mail Order Madrigals, settings of texts from a 19th-Century mail-order catalog. The Schuman works are intended to be witty. They are not.
The performances do not help matters. The Joyful Company Of Singers is a chamber choir, but the group lacks a chamber choir’s clarity of textural utterance. The group also lacks richness of tone, and it would not be inaccurate to describe much of the singing on this disc as “hooty”, a common problem with even the finest of English choral groups (and The Joyful Company Of Singers is certainly not among that number).
Josh hated the Barber/Schuman disc.
The Copland disc includes the original, chamber orchestra version of the complete “Appalachian Spring” as well as “Lincoln Portrait” and the suite from “Billy The Kid”.
“Appalachian Spring” was recorded in 1973 with a group of pickup musicians in New York. Ani Kafavian and the late Paul Jacobs are among the notable musicians who participated in the recording.
“Appalachian Spring” is a marvelous score, and this is a marvelous recording—I have loved it for years. There is a sweet, almost beguiling, quality to this performance that is very affecting. It is not as hard-driven as many recorded performances of the suite from the ballet for full orchestra, and all the better for that.
Josh loved “Appalachian Spring”, and we listened to the work over and over and over. It has become one of his favorite pieces of music.
“Lincoln Portrait” and “Billy The Kid” were recorded in London in the late 1960’s, and the performances are not quite up to the high level of “Appalachian Spring”.
The “Lincoln Portrait”, not one of Copland’s finer pieces, does not come across in this recording. The speaker, Henry Fonda, is all wrong for the text, and he sounds as if he is embarrassed to be part of the project. Further, the sound engineers were unsuccessful in creating an acoustic satisfactory for both orchestra and narrator. Both sound artificial, airless and dry.
The suite from “Billy The Kid” is another great Copland work, and it holds together well despite being stitched together from a number of old cowboy ballads. It is, in fact, one of my favorite Copland works.
Copland’s own performance is good, but I have heard better recordings of “Billy The Kid” from Bernstein and David Zinman.
We shall have to listen to more Copland. Josh has decided that Copland is one of his favorite composers, and by far his favorite American composer.
That’s an assessment I can understand.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
In The Works
My older brother and his family will be coming home for a week on Saturday morning, June 28.
My middle brother will be coming home for good the same day, although he will not arrive until midnight or so, because he will be driving from Denver.
We will allow everyone to rest on Sunday, but on Monday we will all go up to the lake, where we will remain until late Saturday afternoon.
This is our annual week at the lake, always scheduled for the week that coincides with July 4. My family has always gone up to the lake for this week since before I was born. It is family ritual, never-varying, and everyone always looks forward to it.
This weekend, we will not go up to the lake to prepare the house in advance, as we normally do. I have convinced my mother that the house needs no preparation except for a quick vacuuming and dusting, which can be done as soon as we arrive. Instead, we will stay in town this weekend, and get some jobs done around the house and yard, and start buying the food we will take with us to the lake the following weekend, and start packing a few other things for July 4 week. By doing these jobs this coming weekend, it will prevent my mother from running herself ragged next week, trying to do far too much and all by herself. We will get all advance preparations completed this weekend so that my mother can relax and enjoy the week before her family arrives.
When we return from the lake, Josh and I will have three more weeks of work before we leave our current positions. Our last day at work will be Friday, July 25. The following Thursday night, we leave for Britain. As soon as we return from Britain, Josh and I will almost immediately depart for Boston.
There are almost too many things in the works to digest.
My middle brother will be coming home for good the same day, although he will not arrive until midnight or so, because he will be driving from Denver.
We will allow everyone to rest on Sunday, but on Monday we will all go up to the lake, where we will remain until late Saturday afternoon.
This is our annual week at the lake, always scheduled for the week that coincides with July 4. My family has always gone up to the lake for this week since before I was born. It is family ritual, never-varying, and everyone always looks forward to it.
This weekend, we will not go up to the lake to prepare the house in advance, as we normally do. I have convinced my mother that the house needs no preparation except for a quick vacuuming and dusting, which can be done as soon as we arrive. Instead, we will stay in town this weekend, and get some jobs done around the house and yard, and start buying the food we will take with us to the lake the following weekend, and start packing a few other things for July 4 week. By doing these jobs this coming weekend, it will prevent my mother from running herself ragged next week, trying to do far too much and all by herself. We will get all advance preparations completed this weekend so that my mother can relax and enjoy the week before her family arrives.
When we return from the lake, Josh and I will have three more weeks of work before we leave our current positions. Our last day at work will be Friday, July 25. The following Thursday night, we leave for Britain. As soon as we return from Britain, Josh and I will almost immediately depart for Boston.
There are almost too many things in the works to digest.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Where Is Our Milton Friedman Of Conductors?
Things are looking up on the American orchestral scene.
One month ago, the Chicago Symphony named Riccardo Muti its next Music Director, the best possible appointment for Chicago short of luring Riccardo Chailly to these shores. Muti is a very good match for Chicago, I believe.
On Friday, the Cleveland Orchestra extended—again—the contract of Franz Welser-Most. Welser-Most will remain in Cleveland at least through 2018, a most welcome piece of news. One year ago, when Welser-Most accepted the post of Music Director of the Vienna State Opera, he told friends that he planned to leave Cleveland when his contract expired in 2012. I am most pleased that Welser-Most changed his mind. He is, by a long shot, the finest conductor working regularly in America.
Now it will be interesting to see what the Philadelphia Orchestra does. I am told that Philadelphia’s prime target is Vladimir Jurowski—not because Philadelphia actually wants Jurowski, but because Jurowski is the best candidate Philadelphia expects to be able to land—but I am also told that the orchestra is desperately seeking a superior candidate. Myself, I think that the Philadelphia Orchestra can do much, much better than Jurowski.
Given that there have been some very poor, even inexplicable, American orchestral appointments in recent years—Marin Alsop in Baltimore, Alan Gilbert in New York, David Robertson in Saint Louis, Robert Spano in Atlanta—it is reassuring that our two finest orchestras remain committed to hiring and retaining the very finest conductors.
At least Chicago and Cleveland will not devolve into provinciality. The same cannot be said for many other U.S. ensembles.
I have never understood why America, for over a century, has produced the finest orchestral ensembles in the world, and yet has never been able to produce conductors of the same quality.
The Cleveland Orchestra puts to shame even the finest of European ensembles, and the orchestras in Chicago and Philadelphia, depending on the repertory, are just as fine as the orchestras in Amsterdam, Berlin, Dresden and Vienna. Given this, why are the conductors we produce such turkeys?
I could not help but snort when I heard about Michael Tilson Thomas’s meltdown last week with the Chicago Symphony—a meltdown in rehearsal and a meltdown in performance. Since Tilson Thomas’s engagements with prestigious ensembles are few and far between, I would have thought that he would have arrived at rehearsal fully prepared—especially since the works on the Chicago Symphony program have been in Tilson Thomas’s repertory literally for decades! And how could Tilson Thomas possibly have come to grief in Dvorak’s Eighth Symphony, a work the musicians of the Chicago Symphony can play—and balance—in their sleep?
The Peter Principle, clearly, is at work here. Tilson Thomas, age 63, possesses the skills to work with regional-level ensembles, but he lacks the skills to work with international-level ensembles. International-level ensembles know this, which is why they so seldom—if ever—engage him.
The sad part is not that Tilson Thomas is not particularly good. The sad part is that Tilson Thomas is much better than most of his American confreres, who are even worse than he is. For whatever reason, we do not produce good conductors.
As a nation, we produce good economists. Where is our Milton Friedman of conductors, capable of training and perpetuating generations of fine baton-wielders?
One month ago, the Chicago Symphony named Riccardo Muti its next Music Director, the best possible appointment for Chicago short of luring Riccardo Chailly to these shores. Muti is a very good match for Chicago, I believe.
On Friday, the Cleveland Orchestra extended—again—the contract of Franz Welser-Most. Welser-Most will remain in Cleveland at least through 2018, a most welcome piece of news. One year ago, when Welser-Most accepted the post of Music Director of the Vienna State Opera, he told friends that he planned to leave Cleveland when his contract expired in 2012. I am most pleased that Welser-Most changed his mind. He is, by a long shot, the finest conductor working regularly in America.
Now it will be interesting to see what the Philadelphia Orchestra does. I am told that Philadelphia’s prime target is Vladimir Jurowski—not because Philadelphia actually wants Jurowski, but because Jurowski is the best candidate Philadelphia expects to be able to land—but I am also told that the orchestra is desperately seeking a superior candidate. Myself, I think that the Philadelphia Orchestra can do much, much better than Jurowski.
Given that there have been some very poor, even inexplicable, American orchestral appointments in recent years—Marin Alsop in Baltimore, Alan Gilbert in New York, David Robertson in Saint Louis, Robert Spano in Atlanta—it is reassuring that our two finest orchestras remain committed to hiring and retaining the very finest conductors.
At least Chicago and Cleveland will not devolve into provinciality. The same cannot be said for many other U.S. ensembles.
I have never understood why America, for over a century, has produced the finest orchestral ensembles in the world, and yet has never been able to produce conductors of the same quality.
The Cleveland Orchestra puts to shame even the finest of European ensembles, and the orchestras in Chicago and Philadelphia, depending on the repertory, are just as fine as the orchestras in Amsterdam, Berlin, Dresden and Vienna. Given this, why are the conductors we produce such turkeys?
I could not help but snort when I heard about Michael Tilson Thomas’s meltdown last week with the Chicago Symphony—a meltdown in rehearsal and a meltdown in performance. Since Tilson Thomas’s engagements with prestigious ensembles are few and far between, I would have thought that he would have arrived at rehearsal fully prepared—especially since the works on the Chicago Symphony program have been in Tilson Thomas’s repertory literally for decades! And how could Tilson Thomas possibly have come to grief in Dvorak’s Eighth Symphony, a work the musicians of the Chicago Symphony can play—and balance—in their sleep?
The Peter Principle, clearly, is at work here. Tilson Thomas, age 63, possesses the skills to work with regional-level ensembles, but he lacks the skills to work with international-level ensembles. International-level ensembles know this, which is why they so seldom—if ever—engage him.
The sad part is not that Tilson Thomas is not particularly good. The sad part is that Tilson Thomas is much better than most of his American confreres, who are even worse than he is. For whatever reason, we do not produce good conductors.
As a nation, we produce good economists. Where is our Milton Friedman of conductors, capable of training and perpetuating generations of fine baton-wielders?
An Alteration Of Plans
The “theater day” our landlady and Joshua and I had planned for this weekend was cancelled.
Because of performance schedules, it was not possible for us to see “Harvey” and “Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure” on a single day—neither production offered a Saturday matinee or a Sunday evening performance this weekend, and we did not want to undertake two separate theater outings this weekend.
Further, our landlady, who makes a point of seeing practically every theatrical production in town and who knows practically everyone in the theater community in the Twin Cities, had been informed that the “Harvey” production was somewhat of a disaster, miscast and misdirected, and that there was nothing that could be done at this point to salvage the show. That turned her off “Harvey”, and that also turned Josh and me off “Harvey”.
Our landlady had also been informed that the production of “Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure” had not settled yet, and that it would be advisable for us to wait and catch a performance later in the run. That turned her off seeing “Sherlock Holmes” this weekend, and it did the same for Josh and me.
Consequently, we did not attend any theater performances this weekend. Instead, on Saturday night, Josh and I had dinner with our landlady. She gave us a dinner of pasta, seafood and vegetables, all served in a cream sauce. After dinner, we watched the television movie, “Sybil”.
Our landlady had seen an earlier television version of the same material, and she had read the book on which both television productions were based. “Sybil” was new territory for Josh and me, but we did not care for it. It was not our cup of tea.
Today, after church, my parents and our landlady and Josh and I went out to lunch, and afterward we went to see a film: “The Rape Of Europa”, a documentary about art theft in The Third Reich and the efforts, over the last decade, to identify stolen artworks and to return them to the surviving members of the families that used to own the works.
This is a fascinating subject, much in the news over the last few years, because the U.S. government has been the leader in pressing this issue worldwide, both enlarging potential causes of action and extending applicable statutes of limitations so as to allow claimants to file suit in American courts, thereby forcing European governments—which had tabled the matter decades ago—to re-open and re-examine a thorny issue that those governments believed to have been long settled.
As a result, since early in this decade, museums throughout Europe have been required to cough up artworks and ship them to their rightful owners, who most often reside in the U.S.
This has caused a great deal of resentment among European governments and European museums—state museums in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain, Britain and the Netherlands have been required to give up ownership of some of the finest masterworks of Western art, only to see them re-appear weeks later in U.S. collections.
Had this issue been adequately addressed in the decade following the war’s end, it would have been long since resolved. However, European governments in the late 1940’s had other, more pressing matters to address—feeding their populaces—and they either ignored the issue of art restitution, tried to sweep it under the rug, imposed proof-of-ownership requirements that they knew could never be satisfied, or legislated absurdly low-ball figures for compensating art owners (the latter two routes were chosen by Germany and Austria).
Art restitution issues have festered for over half a century, and many Europeans believe that recent recovery claims are all about heirs making a quick buck, and not about returning stolen artworks to their legitimate owners. To such Europeans, I say: your chickens have come home to roost.
The documentary film covered a fascinating subject, but as filmmaking it was entirely inept and as a serious examination of the issues it was facile if not crude, lacking all thought and nuance.
Why was this documentary even given a theatrical release? Rightfully, it belongs on PBS.
After the film, we all went to my parents’ house, where we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening. Our landlady loves my mother’s pork roll made with a special apricot-apple filling, so my mother prepared that for dinner, as well as two completely different kinds of cole slaw—one sweet, one sour—that go especially well with the pork roll. My mother also made a special potato dish, made with onions, cheeses and cream. For vegetables, we had steamed lima beans and glazed carrots. For dessert, we had raspberries and ice cream.
The dog had a nice dinner, because he was served not only his Sunday-night chicken but some of the pork roll and potatoes as well. I’m surprised that my mother didn’t cook him a steak, too!
Josh and I have nothing on the schedule for the coming week.
For the last week, Josh and I have been talking to my brother in Denver and Josh’s sister literally every night, preparing for our trip to Southern England. We have been discussing what attractions to visit, confirming open days and hours, checking theater schedules, and making hotel reservations. We have been keeping everyone up-to-date on our progress.
We have completed the first five days of our itinerary, soup to nuts, and Josh and I will take a break for a few days before we go back to work on the remaining thirteen days of our itinerary.
Because of performance schedules, it was not possible for us to see “Harvey” and “Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure” on a single day—neither production offered a Saturday matinee or a Sunday evening performance this weekend, and we did not want to undertake two separate theater outings this weekend.
Further, our landlady, who makes a point of seeing practically every theatrical production in town and who knows practically everyone in the theater community in the Twin Cities, had been informed that the “Harvey” production was somewhat of a disaster, miscast and misdirected, and that there was nothing that could be done at this point to salvage the show. That turned her off “Harvey”, and that also turned Josh and me off “Harvey”.
Our landlady had also been informed that the production of “Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure” had not settled yet, and that it would be advisable for us to wait and catch a performance later in the run. That turned her off seeing “Sherlock Holmes” this weekend, and it did the same for Josh and me.
Consequently, we did not attend any theater performances this weekend. Instead, on Saturday night, Josh and I had dinner with our landlady. She gave us a dinner of pasta, seafood and vegetables, all served in a cream sauce. After dinner, we watched the television movie, “Sybil”.
Our landlady had seen an earlier television version of the same material, and she had read the book on which both television productions were based. “Sybil” was new territory for Josh and me, but we did not care for it. It was not our cup of tea.
Today, after church, my parents and our landlady and Josh and I went out to lunch, and afterward we went to see a film: “The Rape Of Europa”, a documentary about art theft in The Third Reich and the efforts, over the last decade, to identify stolen artworks and to return them to the surviving members of the families that used to own the works.
This is a fascinating subject, much in the news over the last few years, because the U.S. government has been the leader in pressing this issue worldwide, both enlarging potential causes of action and extending applicable statutes of limitations so as to allow claimants to file suit in American courts, thereby forcing European governments—which had tabled the matter decades ago—to re-open and re-examine a thorny issue that those governments believed to have been long settled.
As a result, since early in this decade, museums throughout Europe have been required to cough up artworks and ship them to their rightful owners, who most often reside in the U.S.
This has caused a great deal of resentment among European governments and European museums—state museums in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain, Britain and the Netherlands have been required to give up ownership of some of the finest masterworks of Western art, only to see them re-appear weeks later in U.S. collections.
Had this issue been adequately addressed in the decade following the war’s end, it would have been long since resolved. However, European governments in the late 1940’s had other, more pressing matters to address—feeding their populaces—and they either ignored the issue of art restitution, tried to sweep it under the rug, imposed proof-of-ownership requirements that they knew could never be satisfied, or legislated absurdly low-ball figures for compensating art owners (the latter two routes were chosen by Germany and Austria).
Art restitution issues have festered for over half a century, and many Europeans believe that recent recovery claims are all about heirs making a quick buck, and not about returning stolen artworks to their legitimate owners. To such Europeans, I say: your chickens have come home to roost.
The documentary film covered a fascinating subject, but as filmmaking it was entirely inept and as a serious examination of the issues it was facile if not crude, lacking all thought and nuance.
Why was this documentary even given a theatrical release? Rightfully, it belongs on PBS.
After the film, we all went to my parents’ house, where we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening. Our landlady loves my mother’s pork roll made with a special apricot-apple filling, so my mother prepared that for dinner, as well as two completely different kinds of cole slaw—one sweet, one sour—that go especially well with the pork roll. My mother also made a special potato dish, made with onions, cheeses and cream. For vegetables, we had steamed lima beans and glazed carrots. For dessert, we had raspberries and ice cream.
The dog had a nice dinner, because he was served not only his Sunday-night chicken but some of the pork roll and potatoes as well. I’m surprised that my mother didn’t cook him a steak, too!
Josh and I have nothing on the schedule for the coming week.
For the last week, Josh and I have been talking to my brother in Denver and Josh’s sister literally every night, preparing for our trip to Southern England. We have been discussing what attractions to visit, confirming open days and hours, checking theater schedules, and making hotel reservations. We have been keeping everyone up-to-date on our progress.
We have completed the first five days of our itinerary, soup to nuts, and Josh and I will take a break for a few days before we go back to work on the remaining thirteen days of our itinerary.
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Catching Up And Relaxing
Joshua and I did not do much this weekend.
We stayed home all day Saturday, catching up on things and relaxing. It was a very mellow day.
Today, after church, Josh and I went over to my parents’ house, and we heard all about their weekend in New York. Nothing happened in New York, really, but my parents had a good visit with my brother and his family, and they loved spending time with their grandson. My nephew is, truly, a bundle of joy for everyone.
The dog was in good form today, full of spunk and devilment. He was very happy to see us. Josh and I took him to the park and ran him and played his favorite games with him. He had a ball.
My mother made us turkey medallions for lunch. She served the medallions with oven-roasted potatoes, green beans, carrots and a cranberry salad.
For dinner, we had roast chicken with stuffing, escalloped cabbage, beets, white corn and cinnamon applesauce, all preceded by a cold crab-and-pasta salad. We had blackberry cobbler for dessert.
We really did not do much of anything all afternoon or evening, except chat and play with the dog and talk to my brothers on the phone. It was another very mellow day.
Next weekend, I think Josh and I will go see a couple of plays with our landlady. The Guthrie Theater, Jungle Theater, Park Square Theater and Theater In The Round all opened new productions this weekend, and I think we may try to catch two of the plays next weekend.
We are trying to decide, right now, which two plays to see. The four choices are “Harvey”; “The Gin Game”; “Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure”, a modern adaptation of the 1889 William Gillette classic taken from Arthur Conan Doyle; and “The Secret Fall Of Constance Wilde”, a 1997 play about Oscar Wilde’s wife by Irish playwright Thomas Kilroy.
We are leaning toward the two oldest vehicles, “Harvey” and “Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure”, thinking that it might be fun to see the old-fashioned comedy “Harvey” first, followed by the old-fashioned Sherlock Holmes mystery. We may see the other two plays later in their runs.
We’ll make final plans later in the week.
We stayed home all day Saturday, catching up on things and relaxing. It was a very mellow day.
Today, after church, Josh and I went over to my parents’ house, and we heard all about their weekend in New York. Nothing happened in New York, really, but my parents had a good visit with my brother and his family, and they loved spending time with their grandson. My nephew is, truly, a bundle of joy for everyone.
The dog was in good form today, full of spunk and devilment. He was very happy to see us. Josh and I took him to the park and ran him and played his favorite games with him. He had a ball.
My mother made us turkey medallions for lunch. She served the medallions with oven-roasted potatoes, green beans, carrots and a cranberry salad.
For dinner, we had roast chicken with stuffing, escalloped cabbage, beets, white corn and cinnamon applesauce, all preceded by a cold crab-and-pasta salad. We had blackberry cobbler for dessert.
We really did not do much of anything all afternoon or evening, except chat and play with the dog and talk to my brothers on the phone. It was another very mellow day.
Next weekend, I think Josh and I will go see a couple of plays with our landlady. The Guthrie Theater, Jungle Theater, Park Square Theater and Theater In The Round all opened new productions this weekend, and I think we may try to catch two of the plays next weekend.
We are trying to decide, right now, which two plays to see. The four choices are “Harvey”; “The Gin Game”; “Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure”, a modern adaptation of the 1889 William Gillette classic taken from Arthur Conan Doyle; and “The Secret Fall Of Constance Wilde”, a 1997 play about Oscar Wilde’s wife by Irish playwright Thomas Kilroy.
We are leaning toward the two oldest vehicles, “Harvey” and “Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure”, thinking that it might be fun to see the old-fashioned comedy “Harvey” first, followed by the old-fashioned Sherlock Holmes mystery. We may see the other two plays later in their runs.
We’ll make final plans later in the week.
