I had a singularly pleasant experience today. I took a nap this afternoon after classes with my music on, and it played through to Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto. I woke up to the transcendent moment in the second movement where Berg quotes Bach’s chorale Es ist genug verbatim. It was a wonderful way to wake up.
Category: Journal
Broken Oates
A video for Broken Bell’s “The Ghost Inside” using the music video from Hall and Oates’ “Private Eyes”
Seriously, this might be the best thing I’ve ever seen. The slightly unsynchronized mouth is a little creepy, but it’s amazing how well the original video lines up with the Broken Bells song.
School has been overwhelming of late, and that’s why I haven’t been blogging as consistently as I would like. I’ve always had an independent streak in regards to school and, for right now, I’ve set “not getting kicked out” as my bar to clear. Still, I’m trying to balance demanding classes, instrumental lessons and other musical activities while keeping my sanity. It’s not easy.
My organ lessons are moving forward once again, after a couple weeks of illness and school breaks. I once again have access to the organ in the Agnes Flanagan Chapel at Lewis & Clark College. I’m working on short pieces by Bach, Handel, Helmut Walcha and Clerambault.
Both of the choirs that I sing in are coming upon performance time. In the large choir, we’re singing Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzes (the video above is #15, one of the most beautiful in the set). In the chamber choir, we’re singing a bunch of pieces on the text “Sic Deus dilexit mundum” (God so loved the world). John Stainer’s setting of the English text:
On my own time, I’ve been deeply immersing myself in the music of Björk. A couple of years ago, I gave her music a shot, but didn’t get into it (I now know that it’s probably because I started with Medúlla, her least accessible and most abstract album). After reading Alex Ross’ atypically hyperbolic assertion that all thinking people listen to Björk in his new collection of essays, Listen to This, I thought that I should check it out and decide for myself. My conclusion will have to wait for another Post, but in about a week I’ve listened to all of her studio albums.
Home Again
I’m visiting home for a week during my fall break. This theoretically means that I’ll have some posts up. I will also be reading/listening to some of these things:
- Alex Ross’ new book Listen To This.
- My biannual reading of The Count of Monte Cristo.
- David Mitchell’s The Thousand Autumns of Jacob DeZoet.
- Finishing up Andras Schiff’s lectures on the 32 Beethoven piano sonatas.
- Catching up with some of the recently released pop.
New Addition to the Blogroll
One of my dear friends, Rachael, is now blogging at http://rachaelreviewsmovies.blogspot.com/. She has informed, eloquent, and idiosyncratic opinions on movies and, though I rarely completely agree with her assessment of a movie, I’m glad that she’s blogging.
David Carr's Tribune Exposé
David Carr’s exposé of Sam Zell and the Tribune Media Company in today’s New York Times is truly astounding. There are tales of frat boy antics, incompetent management, the plundering of employee’s retirement funds, and, ultimately, a bad situation for everyone involved. It’s a bombshell. Go read it.
The story hit home for me because the Los Angeles Times is one of the hardest hit newspapers under this regime. I used to go to the library to read the Times because we only got a local paper delivered, and it felt like a big-boy newspaper. Then, at a certain point, I realized that it had gotten bad, and stopped reading. I’d love to see the City of Angels with a proper newspaper again, especially since it’s a city with a huge government in a state with a government larger than many countries’. The local issues could use the coverage.
hammer & jack 