THANKSGIVING MUSICAL HUMOR

HILDEGARD VON BINGEN - "O TU SUAVISSIMA VIRGA" - SEQUENTIA

When I listen to Sequentia's incredibly beautiful performance of Hildegard von Bingen's exquisite music, I imagine I'm hearing Hildegard herself singing.  Their project to record all of her music, which began in 1982, is now complete.

THE HEAD AND THE HEART - "RIVERS AND ROADS"

Thanks to my favorite economist.

HAPPY MARDI GRAS!

Grandpère et moi

At left, Tom and I from another year. We are quietly at home on the great day of revelry otherwise known as Shrove Tuesday.  Perhaps some folks around here will get shriven today, but my guess is not many.  They'll be too busy watching parades and partying. 

Look at that kick!

On Saturday, we reveled in Lockport, Louisiana, gathering at the Center for Traditional Louisiana Boat Building for a party with lots of tasty food, a parade a block away, and good Cajun music.


On Sunday, at St John's Episcopal Church, we had our traditional pot luck lunch after the 10:30 service and then gathered outside to watch the parades.

The Prescriptions

This year, we had musical entertainment by The Prescriptions, a five-piece band, which plays "primarily music from the late sixties, seventies, and eighties" and perform very well, indeed.

Fr Ron on the harmonica

Fr Ron, an Episcopal priest who says he's retired but works as a consultant in the Episcopal Church and serves half-time as our priest-in-charge, is a member of the band and plays guitar (above on the right) and harmonica (on the left).  Ron works more than half-time for our church, because he's always there when we need him.

The rain that was predicted came once the parade started, and I decided to leave.  The stalwarts who stayed, including Grandpère, were rewarded, because the rain stopped as I was on my way home. 

Growing up in New Orleans, I saw enough parades to last more than one lifetime.  From my quiet place at home, I wish for all the revelers a great day and a safe day this Mardi Gras.  Laissez les bons temps rouler!  

CHRISTIAN TETZLAFF - BACH SARABANDE - PARTITA IN D MINOR

"Bach's music confronts the player and the audience in a very personal situation, in a very alone way," he [Christian Tetzlaff] explained.  "And I try at that moment to put away pretensions - in levels of violin playing, pretensions of being a strong man, of being invulnerable - and instead say, 'This is where all of us have common ground.' Most of the time, we try to tell oursleves 'I'm confidant' or 'I'm doing well.' But then, in a moment alone at home, you feel how close you are to some kind of abyss." 

He continued, "Music, even at terrible moments, can make you accept so much more - accept your dark sides, or the things that happen to you. Maybe it's just because you see that this is a common trait for all of us. You see that we are not alone." He said this with such quiet intensity that it seemed the opposite of sentimental.  "And that's what the concert situation is about for me, when I'm sitting in the hall and also when I'm playing myself.  It's about communication - I almost want to say 'communion.'  As a player, you really don't interpret anymore.  You listen, together with the audience."

Tetzler says he is not a religious man.  What shall we say of him?  He is spiritual but not religious?  Earlier in the article the author, Jeremy Eichler, says of Tetzlaff:

Tetzlaff is not a religious man, but he describes his art in frankly spiritual terms.  Performing music, he says, "is the job that has the most to do with the belief in the existence of a soul.  I deal in Berg's soul, in Brahm's soul - that's my job.  And you can challenge me, but I find that music is himans' most advanced achievement, more so than painting and writing, because it's more mysterious, more magical, and it acts in such a direct way.  Trying to turn lead into gold is nothing compared to taking something mechanical like an instrument - a string and a bow - and using it to invoke a human soul.

Something beyond the senses, something ineffable is evoked by music, art, and words, which I've had great difficulty describing.  Tetzlaff's description as soul meeting soul articulates for me what I have never been able to put into words.  It's not that I never notice mastery of the skills, or technique, or style, because I do, but either a soul to soul encounter happens, or it doesn't.  When I hear Tetzlaff play Bach, we three meet soul to soul, and, in a concert hall, I'd encounter the other souls listening with me.

With my slow internet connection which allows the video to play only in fits and starts, along with my poor sound system on my laptop, I can't say whether the video is of good quality or not.  I can but hope.... 
 
The quote is from "String Theorist" in The New Yorker by Jeremy Eichler.  Unless you have a subscription, you can read only the abstract of the article.

I TAKE IT ALL BACK...

...the snark about the royal wedding. I just finished watching the entire ceremony in Westminster Abbey, uninterrupted, no fits and starts, no commentary. It was beautiful. The Anglican liturgy, the music, the sermon, the prayer composed by the royal pair, the Abbey, the deportment of the bride and groom, all of it was too lovely for words.

And, Leonardo, the Queen's dress was, too, mellow yellow in the softer lighting in the Abbey. I first saw the dress in bright sunlight on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in one of my earlier, disjointed viewings of the celebration.

In the scenes showing the trees decorating the Abbey, as the camera zoomed closer to the gorgeous Gothic stained glass window, the setting seemed to be the outdoors. The pans of the architectural elements of the Abbey and the shots from on high were breathtaking.

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!

Photo by John Stillwell/AFP/Getty Images