OMFG, Mendelssohn.
Apr. 8th, 2006 03:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jan_andreaOkay, even if you don't like classical music (philistine...) you absolutely MUST go find a copy of the Mendelssohn Octet.
Because, OMFG. It's just amazing. AMAZING.
I downloaded a copy of the score (and parts -- score! -- free!) and have been reading along as I listen, and holy farking crap, it is pure fucking genius. I mean, no question, Mendelssohn was just incredibly gifted, esp. with chamber music -- I love his orchestral works, sure, but he really shines in chamber music.
And the kicker in the Octet is that he was 16 -- six-teen! SIXTEEN!!!! -- when he wrote it. Never in a million years could most grown adults pull off something like this, but he was a KID. I remember listening to it when I was 16 and being impressed; now that I'm nearly twice that old (and almost as old as Mendelssohn when he died -- he was only 36), I'm absolutely blown away. It's a piece I've "known" for half my life, but I hadn't seen the score before, and wow -- it really makes a difference in my appreciation :)
I thought maybe our little chamber orchestral ensemble might be able to play it, but no way. It's wicked. And while it's scored for 4 violins, 2 violas and 2 cellos, no one has an easy part. Granted, the first violin part is the hardest, but even the 4th violin player has to be really good. We might be able to hack the Andante, maybe, but never in a million years could we do the rest. Just amazing.
It is one of the great tragedies of the world that he died so very young (him, Mozart, and Schubert -- I bet Mozart would have broken out of the Classical mode and done some really great work if he'd lived longer), and I wish there were a way to bring them back and see what they could have done if they'd lived longer. Well, them and Jimi Hendrix, as he was pretty much the Mozart of the 60s.
I really want to get a quartet together over the summer -- a good quartet, with four strong players (inasmuch as I can dream and call myself a strong player :). I already have a second violin (though she's not quite as strong as I'd like; maybe the pressure will force her to get better?) and possibly a violist, but we need a cellist. Not sure where to look for one outside of UNH. Anyone in the area on my FL who knows a cello player, let me know!
And choral people, what would you recommend of Mendelssohn's choral works? I really don't know much of anything about them.
Watched "Junebug" last night. It was better than I'd expected, but the ending really, really bothered me. I mean, bad enough that Ashley is so alone anyway, but then the baby dies at birth and what does her family do? Leave her absolutely alone at the hospital! That drove me nuts. Poor, poor dear! I can't imagine losing a baby and then just being left alone in an unfamiliar, scary place like that. Christ. It seems to have really affected me because I dreamed that I was "in" the movie (or they were in my life, anyway) and I was helping Ashley give birth the way I did with Sophie, sort of kneeling over a pillow, instead of flat on her back, and the baby was fine and then we went to sleep with the baby between us, nursing. (Because the other thing that bugged me about the movie was that she likely wouldn't have any support for breastfeeding had the baby lived, even if she'd meant to do it.) Obviously I have taken the film far too much to heart, which I suppose is the mark of a good film.
Kids are good. Sophie got over her cold and is fine, Stephen is still enjoying school, though perhaps not as much now that the novelty has completely worn off. I hope he likes it next year, but if not, I'm thinking it mightn't be bad to move to homeschooling. Not sure though. I don't want him to hate school and therefore hate learning; I'd rather be teaching him myself, subjects he enjoys, and make sure he loves learning even if he doesn't like schooling. We'll see. Sophie really wants to go to school -- often when we drop Stephen off, she goes and sits in the line behind him :) Wicked cute. His original teacher is now on maternity leave, as she and her husband recently adopted a baby girl (I made them a sling :) and so he's got a new teacher -- she seems quite nice and very eager, like the previous one, which is good. We're off to the library shortly; it's been ages since we've been, since Stephen started school, but we'll certainly do the summer reading program this year, which means at least weekly visits. Can't wait until the weather is nicer -- I love winter and spring, but mud season, yuck. And we've had stupid temperatures lately -- 30s and 40s, instead of the 50s I want. Could use a lot more sun, too. It ought to be spring!
Wonder what the summer will bring in terms of orders. I had 25 this week (!!!!) which is way more than I usually have in a week, and which is kind of crazy. I don't advertize or anything; it's all word of mouth, mostly on www.thebabywearer.com but also on other boards because of the sewing patterns. I like sewing, but would also like more time to play with Sophie and Stephen, practice violin/viola, etc. Maybe I'll let my stock run down a little and see what happens.
Rambling now, should be going.
Because, OMFG. It's just amazing. AMAZING.
I downloaded a copy of the score (and parts -- score! -- free!) and have been reading along as I listen, and holy farking crap, it is pure fucking genius. I mean, no question, Mendelssohn was just incredibly gifted, esp. with chamber music -- I love his orchestral works, sure, but he really shines in chamber music.
And the kicker in the Octet is that he was 16 -- six-teen! SIXTEEN!!!! -- when he wrote it. Never in a million years could most grown adults pull off something like this, but he was a KID. I remember listening to it when I was 16 and being impressed; now that I'm nearly twice that old (and almost as old as Mendelssohn when he died -- he was only 36), I'm absolutely blown away. It's a piece I've "known" for half my life, but I hadn't seen the score before, and wow -- it really makes a difference in my appreciation :)
I thought maybe our little chamber orchestral ensemble might be able to play it, but no way. It's wicked. And while it's scored for 4 violins, 2 violas and 2 cellos, no one has an easy part. Granted, the first violin part is the hardest, but even the 4th violin player has to be really good. We might be able to hack the Andante, maybe, but never in a million years could we do the rest. Just amazing.
It is one of the great tragedies of the world that he died so very young (him, Mozart, and Schubert -- I bet Mozart would have broken out of the Classical mode and done some really great work if he'd lived longer), and I wish there were a way to bring them back and see what they could have done if they'd lived longer. Well, them and Jimi Hendrix, as he was pretty much the Mozart of the 60s.
I really want to get a quartet together over the summer -- a good quartet, with four strong players (inasmuch as I can dream and call myself a strong player :). I already have a second violin (though she's not quite as strong as I'd like; maybe the pressure will force her to get better?) and possibly a violist, but we need a cellist. Not sure where to look for one outside of UNH. Anyone in the area on my FL who knows a cello player, let me know!
And choral people, what would you recommend of Mendelssohn's choral works? I really don't know much of anything about them.
Watched "Junebug" last night. It was better than I'd expected, but the ending really, really bothered me. I mean, bad enough that Ashley is so alone anyway, but then the baby dies at birth and what does her family do? Leave her absolutely alone at the hospital! That drove me nuts. Poor, poor dear! I can't imagine losing a baby and then just being left alone in an unfamiliar, scary place like that. Christ. It seems to have really affected me because I dreamed that I was "in" the movie (or they were in my life, anyway) and I was helping Ashley give birth the way I did with Sophie, sort of kneeling over a pillow, instead of flat on her back, and the baby was fine and then we went to sleep with the baby between us, nursing. (Because the other thing that bugged me about the movie was that she likely wouldn't have any support for breastfeeding had the baby lived, even if she'd meant to do it.) Obviously I have taken the film far too much to heart, which I suppose is the mark of a good film.
Kids are good. Sophie got over her cold and is fine, Stephen is still enjoying school, though perhaps not as much now that the novelty has completely worn off. I hope he likes it next year, but if not, I'm thinking it mightn't be bad to move to homeschooling. Not sure though. I don't want him to hate school and therefore hate learning; I'd rather be teaching him myself, subjects he enjoys, and make sure he loves learning even if he doesn't like schooling. We'll see. Sophie really wants to go to school -- often when we drop Stephen off, she goes and sits in the line behind him :) Wicked cute. His original teacher is now on maternity leave, as she and her husband recently adopted a baby girl (I made them a sling :) and so he's got a new teacher -- she seems quite nice and very eager, like the previous one, which is good. We're off to the library shortly; it's been ages since we've been, since Stephen started school, but we'll certainly do the summer reading program this year, which means at least weekly visits. Can't wait until the weather is nicer -- I love winter and spring, but mud season, yuck. And we've had stupid temperatures lately -- 30s and 40s, instead of the 50s I want. Could use a lot more sun, too. It ought to be spring!
Wonder what the summer will bring in terms of orders. I had 25 this week (!!!!) which is way more than I usually have in a week, and which is kind of crazy. I don't advertize or anything; it's all word of mouth, mostly on www.thebabywearer.com but also on other boards because of the sewing patterns. I like sewing, but would also like more time to play with Sophie and Stephen, practice violin/viola, etc. Maybe I'll let my stock run down a little and see what happens.
Rambling now, should be going.
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no subject
Date: 2006-04-08 10:58 pm (UTC)I was just going to post about Junebug. I thought it was OK, and I was curious as to why Amy Adams got an Oscar nomination because normally a movie in which a baby dies puts me under my blankets in tears yet this movie didn't move me (I should say baby or even an adult child - I completely lose my shit at that scene in Goblet of Fire, you know the one - "my boy!! my boy!!"). I didn't feel like people were really sad, or greiving and I wasn't really sad about Junebug. I therefore feel that Amy Adams and others did not do such a great job. Did you see Brokeback Mountain? I feel the same way - that I should have been more moved - I didn't buy the grief, or rather the absense of it. JMHO.
Just a link to a terrific classical performance (I am not sure if you saw it already).
no subject
Date: 2006-04-09 01:29 am (UTC)a sapeasily emotionally manipulated by pretty much everything (gawd, I even tear up at some *commercials*, so it's just as well we don't have commercial TV...), so that's probably most of it. I just kept imagining myself in that situation -- I guess that's where it mostly comes from. In "Junebug", I don't think any of them were, like, publically sad -- they all kept to themselves, but I think they really all were sad. I haven't seen BBM yet. Just read the "I cannot quitte thee!" parody :) Just the idea of someone losing a baby and then being *all alone* hours after it happens really bothered me, if not necessarily the execution of the plot.no subject
Date: 2006-04-09 04:51 am (UTC)I wonder why Ashley even had to stay in hospital?
no subject
Date: 2006-04-09 12:36 am (UTC)I forget; you're in Boston? The closest I could be next year would be Pittsburgh. So no Octet for us, I guess!
(...going to go play the Prometheus overture, the Paganini 1st Violin concerto, and the New World in about an hour...)
no subject
Date: 2006-04-09 01:31 am (UTC)Wow! to your upcoming concert! Do you play violin or cello mostly?
no subject
Date: 2006-04-09 04:29 pm (UTC)Paganini is, of course, just technical and not really melodic at all, but hey, it was paired with some melodic stuff.
I remembered reading your post about the BSO a few months ago, so I thought I had that right. I'm in Phoenix, but am moving in a few months, and will have to establish a new batch of people to play with... but I won't be terribly near to Boston in any case. Too bad!
no subject
Date: 2006-04-09 01:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-09 01:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-09 01:39 am (UTC)You may get a small serge of orders around the 21st-a local babywearing advocate is holding a workshop and she has your site listed on hers for 'more info or making your own'. There are a *lot* of preggo's around So. Maryland right now too, hopefully you can get some buisness from it!
Glad everyone's over the crud!
no subject
Date: 2006-04-09 01:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-09 02:14 am (UTC)Thanks in advance, will still look up the Octet tommorrow!
no subject
Date: 2006-04-09 09:25 am (UTC)