wednesday as told by thursday morning

Wednesday really felt like a hump day this week, where Monday and Tuesday were the uphill climb and Wednesday hit a plateau, and now Thursday and Friday just seem like fun.

I am listening to all four Brahms symphonies this week. I found the scores on the music score version of the Project Gutenberg. And the mp3s I downloaded from iTunes for 12 bucks. Yes, all 4 symphonies, 12 bucks. eMusic had them on 4 separate CDs and was charging 48 tracks, which is more than I am allotted for the $15 monthly fee I pay. So I used the iTunes gift card my sister gave me for Christmas. It felt very fortuitous. It was my favorite gift card experience to date. In general, I find gift cards to be an obligation to go somewhere, do something, possibly even to spend a little more so that you don't have any money go to waste. Online gift cards seem less stressful so far.

Here's my favorite Brahms movement so far.



I'm also listening to Berg and Webern quite a bit. Laura lent me a copy of Lulu, and I made it half-way through last night. And I got to see the Violin Concerto last week at the CSO with David Robertson conducting. I first saw him conduct the Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris, and ever since then, there's been a special place in my heart for him. I also saw him conduct the New York Phil with Megan (the musicologist studying opera) and then met him afterwards. He also conducted the concert the next day, the Civic Orchestra playing mostly Webern and some Mahler. One thing that I love about Webern is that his entire catalog fits (mp3) on one CD. Quite the diminutive. Each piece is short, and there are only 30 or so opuses. How much better it is to see it live! On recording the delicate, pointillistic textures just get lost, the colors all fade and blend together. And the audience seemed to enjoy it, which is unusual. Boulez, in his pre-concert talk, said that he's been struggling to get this music accepted for over 50 years, and the music itself is almost a century old. New York had their own brush with Webern this year and had three different people speak about how to listen before the performance. Which sounds pedantic and condescending. But, especially for the older audiences, the blue-hairs, Webern is not the reason that they go to the symphony. And their fossilizing brains either have lost the capacity or the will to open their ears to new sounds. Let's throw some snide quotes: "new" sounds. And so I started my own Webern listening project with what I heard last week. I might throw in Mahler's 6th, since I have that recording already.

In personal news, I feel much better. I got new tires yesterday, and on the way back, on my brand-name smart phone, I got an email that I had been waiting for. But by then, I had stopped expecting it. See, for me, the Secret doesn't work; or maybe it does, but in reverse: as soon as you stop wanting something, you get it. Or maybe the Secret isn't about these mundane worldly concepts but about deeper things. Imagine yourself having spiritual awareness and, sooner or later, you will.

I went to the Red Arrow Roadhouse last night. They, along with several other local restaurants, have $10 specials during the week - because otherwise it would be deserted. The Roadhouse was fairly crowded, mostly the over-50 crowd, but a couple younger locals too. The $10 special applied to all of their entrées (except the ribs), normally priced $5-10 higher. So I got a steak on some bread with a salad and fries. And it wasn't half bad. Although it got dry by the end; I think the juices got sucked into the bread. It seemed like the perfect place to read Sartre, so I finally finished the introduction to Les Jeux Sont Faits and started in on it.

And then, finally, here's a thought from Thoreau: "I have been anxious to improve the nick of time, and notch it on my stick too; to stand on the meeting of two eternities, the past and the future, which is precisely the present moment; to toe that line."